SNOWFLAKES IN AUGUST

December block from Piecemaker's 2002 Calendar quilt.  I had the background fabric left over from another project and thought, how perfect for a snowy winter scene.  The pine cones , raccoon, and cardinals make this a charming block.

The hardest part of making this block was finding frosted fabric in spring as this fabric is used primarily for Christmas quilts and hard to find other times of the year.

The pattern called for cardinals made from ribbon embroidery.  That was beyond my skill level-no matter how much I practiced making ribbon cardinals, they all ended up looking like red blobs.  So back to my default skill-applique.

Pretty cute raccoon, yes?  I had to practice the pine cones also until I came up with this stitch which is kind of like a herringbone stitch which turned out very effective.

I have ordered the thread to begin quilting these blocks.  100 wt invisafil in antique white for top thread and wonderfil 80 wt deco-bob for the bottom.  We will see.  Next week I will show you the last block February, also a frosty winter scene, and my last remaining problem child.

AND NOW.....

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

A beautiful building which is the proposed Wetlands (what? wetland in the desert?) Visitors Center in Abu Dhabi.  

Photos from Davis Edwards Design

There is a lot of new cool architecture these days.  All structure-bending and looking unbelievably impossible that it does not collapse.  New materials and methods I suppose but what a feast for those who dislike predictability.

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Post linking up with:

Patchwork and Quilt at www.quiltingpatch.blogspot.com 

Sew and Tell Monday with Bambi at http://bambisyr-evaj.blogspot.com/
Monday Making at http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/
Design Wall Monday at https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

LongArm Learning at http://cheekycognoscenti.blogspot.com/

Free Motion Mavericks at http://lizzielenard-vintagesewing.blogspot.com/

Keep creating, stay well, stay cheerful

LONGARM LEARNING NOT JUST ON TUESDAY

Merry Mice from Helen Godden's Midnight Magic BOM.  Painted with Jacquard Lumiere paints on a muted black scroll fabric from Timeless Treasures and micro quilted with 50 wt aurafil.  I loooove the colors in this block .  The painted area is about 8.5 inches or 2.3 cm.

Speaking of centimetres, did you know that only 3 countries in the entire world are not on the metric system?  Of course, the US is not.  Also Burma and Liberia.  That's it.  Kind of embarrassing to be so backwards.  I notice on Amazon, lots of articles show measurement in metric.  My daughter in India writes about the heat saying it is 42 degrees...I mean...how bad could that be...well in Fahrenheit that is almost 108.  I am making an effort to learn the metric system ...one more way of being in touch with the rest of the world.

Usually Missouri is hot and steamy in August but the past week or so has been about 80 degrees with lower humidity.  It has been lovely weather.  It is humidity that takes such a toll and makes life so hard.  Humidity makes winter colder and summer hotter.

Next on my quilting agenda is my 12 calendar blocks.  I am always nervous I will just ruin my beautiful work with some lame quilting job but generally turns out okay.  The nervousness makes me procrastinate.

AND NOW....

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

 Cakes beyond your wildest dreams

Tortik Annushka is a Moscow-based, cake designer who also has a school for pastry chefs and on line classes for aspiring cake designers.  Google her or check one of her media sites for more of these unbelievable masterpieces.

And just in case you thought this was a big hoax and nothing so beautiful or realistic could be a cake, I give this:

Pretty amazing and pretty fun.

Post linking up with:

Patchwork and Quilt at www.quiltingpatch.blogspot.com 

Sew and Tell Monday with Bambi at http://bambisyr-evaj.blogspot.com/
Monday Making at http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/
Design Wall Monday at https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

LongArm Learning at http://cheekycognoscenti.blogspot.com/

Free Motion Mavericks at http://lizzielenard-vintagesewing.blogspot.com/

Keep creating, stay well, stay cheerful

NOVEMBER SUNSET

November scene from 2002 Piecemaker's Calendar quilt. Jennifer Sampou's ombre sky fabric was used for the background.  This was also one of my problem children-the trouble in part was choosing fabric for the trees.  I wanted them to be quaking aspens but fabric that evoked that image blended into the background so I had to search on.  

So many leaves in lots of colors.  Silk ribbon is delicate and one uses short lengths to embroider or else the ribbon shreds.  I would embroider in one color for a few leaves then travel to another spot and embroider more.

 Beautiful colors, yes?

And November is the month that (around here anyway) Canada Geese migrate. Tho here in our lake region, a lot of migration is east-west also as the geese find a more desirable part of the lake system to be in.

A short blog....not a lot to say except I am inspired by Kamala Harris!  She gives me hope.

AND NOW....

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

A CAPE SUGARBIRD

HER HOME AND FLY ZONE IS SOUTH AFRICA

Photo by Cameron Brock from the Audubon Photography Awards.  She captured the bird,yes, but the way she caught the beautiful pastel colors in a kind of abstract wash is just brilliant.

I am linking up with these wonderful quilt sites

Needle and Thread Thursday at http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/

Finished or Not Friday at http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

Off the Wall Friday at http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Whoop Whoop Fridays at http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot

Free motion Mavericks at http://lizzielenard-vintagesewing.blogspot.com/

Patchwork & Quilts at https://quiltingpatch.blogspot.com/

Keep creating, stay well, stay cheerful

 TIME OUT FOR PAINTING AND QUILTING

This froggy is a design from Helen Godden's Bom Midnight Madness.  Block was painted in Jacquard Lumiere paints and quilted on my Tiara (16" sit down Sweet Sixteen) in black 50 wt aurafil mako.  The class began in February and I thought I could switch back and forth between projects as each of Helen's monthly blocks were published but my brain would not have any part of it - no switching allowed.  

So now that I have completed all 12 months of the appliqued, ribboned calendar blocks, I am going to paint and quilt for a while.  I have this project and a couple others I might paint and quilt while the scary crazy quilting of the calendar quilt is in the back of my mind.

Here is Helen's webpage if you want to look at her projects-they are all wonderful and coupled with instructional videos. https://helengodden.com/

The wily fox.....quilting with dark thread on your painted surface takes a lot of confidence or at least daring-do.   It is never perfect as you can see but it is effective design.  This type of quilting is very free wheeling-no rulers, and the only marks are directional as for the firefly glow.

Shrooms Block -probably all poisonous.  The blocks are micro quilted.  Each painted area is 8 1/2 inches in diameter.

Okay, those are the three painted and quilted so far.  I still have not shown all the calendar blocks but I wanted to put this post out today because Cheeky Cognoscenti has begun her new linky party today and I love her blog and sense of humor and wanted to contribute.

Linky party is every Tuesday at http://cheekycognoscenti.blogspot.com/

That is all for today except:

AND NOW

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN....

An idea if you have extra time on your hands during the plague and want to organize your books.

Don't you think this is witty and creative.  I love art made in unexpected ways.  These book shelves were created using 4000 books by artist Vincent Magni.  Google his name to see some of the other amazing works he has created.

Oh Scrap at http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/
Patchwork and Quilt at www.quiltingpatch.blogspot.com 

Sew and Tell Monday with Bambi at http://bambisyr-evaj.blogspot.com/
Monday Making at http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/
Design Wall Monday at https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/
Colour and Inspiration at https://www.cleverchameleon.com.au/blog/

LongArm Learning at http://cheekycognoscenti.blogspot.com/

Free Motion Mavericks at http://lizzielenard-vintagesewing.blogspot.com/

Keep creating, stay well, stay cheerful

LANGUID WEEPING WILLOW IN THE AUGUST HEAT

At least there is a stream in which to cool off or perhaps go fishing.  The little mice are playing in the marshy area among the cattails.  

My aim was to use washed out greens and even some gold-greens for the leaves to show that summer is moving towards an end, things are dying out, losing their bright summer looks.  The leaves are pointing downwards to contribute to the lazy, slow summer feel.

August was my most stubborn problem child.  No background was right and the foreground was too blue or too green, and the mice always hid in the fabric. After a lot of trial and error I arrived at this final version.

Lots of water side vegetation.  Do you like my pretty ceramic fish?  When I get to the crazy quilting part of this which is seeming like my life's work, there will be more of these small delights among the 

rest of stitching activity. 

I am thinking now about the quilting.  I will machine quilt it but not sure what size thread.  Maybe 100 wt wonderfil invisafil?  I have used that before and my Tiara, Queenie,  likes that thread.  I might use a few colors like pale blue, pale gold, pale pink or maybe just use a light cream as invisafil sinks into the fabric.

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All set up to begin fabric painting.  I am painting Helen Godden's Midnight Magic BOM.  You can see more on her webpage https://helengodden.com/store/midnight-magic-bom-2020/.  Her class prices are listed in Aussie dollars which translate into about 66 to 75 cents in US dollars depending on the currency values at that moment.  She has excellent painting and quilting videos for each block

 

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This photo reminds me of my father who was born in 1911.  He was in 1st and 2nd grade in San Francisco at the time of the 1918 -1920 pandemic.  He told me everyone in school wore masks for most of this period.  Here it is 100 years later and we are back at it.

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AND NOW

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

Incredible moths...first the dead leaf moth in brown and then the walking leaf moth in green.  Photographs by Robert Clark.

These camouflage experts are fascinating.  Here are some more:

And then there is this moth which is just plain amazing.

I am linking up with these wonderful quilt sites

Oh Scrap at http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/
Patchwork and Quilt at www.quiltingpatch.blogspot.com 

BOMs Away at https://www.katiemaequilts.com/blog/
Sew and Tell Monday with Bambi at http://bambisyr-evaj.blogspot.com/
Monday Making at http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/
Design Wall Monday at https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/
Colour and Inspiration at https://www.cleverchameleon.com.au/blog/

Keep creating, stay well, stay cheerful