In the Deep Freeze

We've been below zero for several days now. The Waxwings were gathered & looking extra fluffy in a tree by our driveway.

We had our traditional Thanksgiving at the Meyn's house. I made a cranberry jello-creme pie, yam casserole & pear salad for my contribution for the dinner. Brandon & Bryan came too.

On Saturday morning we met again at the Meyn's for breakfast. It may be bitter cold outside, but warm food & friendship indoors more than makes up for it.

Here's a picture for you Anita. Bryan using the Force to levitate the ball in the tube. He was very good at it.

The Sentinel ~ my final Fiberactions Challenge

 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnm   

That first line was from Broccoli. He has missed me, because I was working the past 2 days, & haven't been home much.

Below is the piece I made for the last Fiberactions Challenge.  The word was 'Structure', & I chose to build a 'Cairn'. It's a rock structure that hikers build to mark paths, or spots to alert other hikers. This one is placed by a river to mark a safe crossing.  

The first photo  shows the quilt how it looked when I first finished. As I had it hanging on the wall, I realized there was a hole in my stack of 'rocks' , & it bothered me. I made the rocks from the Shibori pole wrap process that my friend Sandy Winfree taught me this past summer.                                                       

After contemplating how I might fix that hole, I found a real rock that looked very much like the ones I made from silk. I threaded some long pieces of thread through a button, then glued the rock to the top of the button, & stitched the threads through the quilt (a process I learned from Allie Aller).

The raven standing guard by the Cairn is the one I made entirely from thread, free-motion on wash-away stabilizer.

The leaves are all from fabric that I straw dyed this past summer, appli-quilted in place over the couched yarns for branches. The challenges have been a lot of fun, but I've decided to challenge myself this next year. Changes are in the wind for us. Warren will retire. I will have to go back to full time. I am thinking about what I'm going to do next......we'll see.

In the meantime, I'll warm myself by the fire.

A Fond Farewell

Today I made the above card for our friend Elle. Her husband, our dear friend Dr. Richard Neubauer, died recently. Today was the Memorial service. The service was nice. There were about 300 people there. Several people I hadn't seen in years. Afterward, we went to the Bear Tooth Grill with Mindy & John, Kate & & Brooks, & Grace. All us girls had worked together in Richard's office about 20 years ago. It was a nice reunion.

To-Do list finished.

I feel a nice sense of accomplishment. My 'To-Do' list is completed. (Now I need to make a new one). I got all the stuff that my friend gave me sorted & organized. The ribbon reels & put on dowels & placed them under the shelves where I keep my larger cones of thread. Now Lily is clear so I can load the next large quilt, which will be Shirley's. I'll photograph the top today, & start working on quilting designs for it.

This last photo is a sneak peak of the 'Structure' quilt, that I just finished for the Fiberactions final challenge. I've enjoyed doing the challenges, & they've forced me to produce when I probably would have just worked on customer quilts. It's always good to stretch my inner artist!

New To-Do list:

1. make 2 cards

2. Photo Shirley's Quilt top

3.draw designs for above

4. work on quilting Tracy's bear quilt

5. Write holiday letter

Crow Vs Raven

In my last post I made 2 Ravens out of thread. A few of you thought they were crows. I wanted to show you the difference between the 2. This first little video shows the 2 side by side.  The Raven is a bigger smarter bird.  I have been lucky enough to have some close encounters with Ravens, & I have a real  affinity for them.


They have  a voice like no other bird, & this next video is the only one I could find that captured it.
It starts at 5:18 in the video. Enjoy.



                            

Threadplay RAVEN

I have done a little Threadplay this week. For my first attempt I used one of my Raven photos. (I always use my own photo or drawing, so I don't infringe on anyone else's copyright). As you can see, the first bird didn't end up looking at all like the original. My problem? Well, the hoop I was using for my stabilizer was a little loose, for one thing. The stabilizer also has a little grain line to it, & I was only using one layer.

So I tried again. This time I used 2 layers of stabilizer, laying them perpendicular to each other, & stitched a grid pattern on the 2 layers before chalking my outline on the whole thing, & stitching out the bird. The bird on the left, is still a little smaller than the original, but he's proportioned much better. I'll keep the one on the right, & call him a baby bird, but he won't be used until I find the right project for him.

Yesterday I taught my Threadplay With Wire class at Quilt Zone. My students all made Dragonflies. Kathy here sews fast, so she decided to make a Star too. It was her own idea, & I thought it turned out really cute.

Thursday, when I went to my Quilt Guild meeting, Pat came in with a large garbage bag full of stuff that she thought I might like. It included several rolls of white wire ribbons, & white silk floral bits. Also bags of lace & embroidered trims. All great fodder for Crazy quilting.  I'm thinking I can paint or dye the white stuff any color I want. Even some of the trim would be fun to over dye. Now that I've sorted it all out, & made a big mess of my studio, I want to get down there & clean & do some rearranging....Hopefully I can get there, just as soon as the other things on my To-Do list are done....

1.Make bread ~DONE

2. take down Halloween & put out Thanksgiving decorations.~DONE

3.Post ALCQ blog for this week.~DONE

4.Finish project for Fiberactions due on the 15th.DONE

5. Clean up this mess!DONE

Too bad I have to go to work tomorrow!
to be continued Tues....