Saturday, October 28, 2023

Making stuff with yarn, paper, fabric and beads!

 

sitting on the easel on hall table already!

light neutral scraps sewn improv fashion. Raw-edge applique bird, machine quilting, and hand beaded around the edge.... I call it Quiet Tweety-bird   and am entering it as my offering into Joy's Table Scraps for this month! 

I talked about this last week, that post is ( here...) including the inspiration for the bird



instead of batting I used peltex which is stiff but easily machine quilted. I put binding on the bottom edge so it can sit well on a mantel or easel. Then I used size 8 perle cotton to do a buttonhole stitch by hand, placing a bead on each stitch.

easy peasy. I used a mix bought long ago on sale at Michaels.... glad I had it to use! 

I prepared a sleeve to hand stitch to the back of kaleidoscope. A 6.25" strip of brown tree fabric across width of fabric, sewed with wrong sides together to make a tube. Carefully pressed the seam open to the back center of long tube, placed that seam side next to quilt and will whip stitch. Then I'll be able to hang it in the family room sliding the curtain rod through with no seams to catch the rod.

I tried an abstract painting using just a fan brush plus watercolor paints this week... just on an index card as an experiment....here are two colors painted in stripes with fan brush dragged through while paint was wet

what if I tried more colors over them, dipping fan into wet paint and diff direction

how interesting... kind of like Seurat's dots of color, I see how this could be used... then as I am wont to do, I went one or two steps too far, painting more lines!

still fun...

I also tried this with gold ink, VERY cool, and used it as background to design a composition for a friend's beloved cat, who left us too soon... I'll keep that pic for later

Next up some knitting... a finish! Just in time for the heat to break and snow to start, all at the same time. My cowl was knitted in the round with moss stitch, new to me. 

used wool-ease yarn in 'cranberry"

 a new to me way of binding off a knitted project... stretchy cast off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha_WXEGE4yg

and it's done, fits well and feels terrific

started a pair of socks for me 

I knit at night while listening to TV, and it can be hard to put down... just one more row to see the color show up!
 

so that's about it for creative time this week... please tell me what you're making! 

linking to: 

https://thejoyfulquilter.blogspot.com/2023/10/october-2023-abc-table-scraps-challenge.html

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts

https://songbirddesigns.blog/monday-musings-6-26-23/ 

finished or not

off the wall Fridays

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Thursday, October 26, 2023

I Like Thursday # 373 ghost tales

 

welcome to this week's list of likes... it's beginning to look a lot like Halloween. 

our heat is finally breaking, going from mid 80's to possible snow on Saturday night. We'll see. 

Reading... 

the library took back the last two audio books before I was done so I'm now listening to another: 

 reading on blogs:

I loved this post, thoughtful, timely, meaningful by Melva: https://melvalovesscraps.blogspot.com/

Watching on videos: 

dog math

https://youtube.com/shorts/lfBI93aG-nQ?si=fL1FMOfgaIjLQ5Dc


At first I thought, meh when looking at him cope with fresh pineapple but kept watching and BOING!!! 

awesome list of life hacks to try!  I WILL be using the vege peeler to thinly slice cheese and making his cheese chips in the oven! 

the delish fettucino was from stonewall kitchen
I used these things to try a new to us recipe for beef stroganoff... but with ground chicken and chicken stock... it was okay but bland. Ya never know when you try an online recipe. (oh we ate it though) 

We cook with that marsala wine, and keep a bottle in the fridge, so good. Can't find it now tho...

I liked this ointment for dry feet:

finished my knitted cowl this week, pictures on Saturday's creativity post!

oldie but goodie, Dancing Skeletons

Our prompt this week is      ghosts!

about ghosts or paranormal... have you ever had an encounter with a spirit, seen one, had a family member show up after they passed to spirit form on their way to Heaven? Known when someone passed before being told?

do you ever go on ghost tours ? Do you know anyone who says they've had an encounter with one passed on?

does it scare you to think about? 

On a stay at the Sonoma hotel, we turned off the lights to sleep and woke to every light in the room on. The hotel manager said it was their ghost likely since it's happened to other people. 

When my spoo Cole passed, I had encounters with him. Once I had gone to bed, and was shocked to feel him land on the bed turn around and sink down into the covers! I felt him leaning on me. I turned on the light and dh was asleep already... I saw an indentation in the covers and felt him jump down. 

I was grieving long after his passing, and taking a lot of walks. One one, I was stopped in mid stride when I felt him say to me "Mama stop grieving now, I'm here and okay and will see you again. But you must stop pining for me, it's holding me back" 

I had a teaching friend who told me the night her sister passed, she saw her clearly at the foot of my friend's bed, and she said she loved her... then she got a call later with the bad news... after that my friend had a lot of intuition or awareness of what was going to happen. Oh the same night, my friend's little daughter had a visit from her autie too, in spirit form saying goodbye.

we have visited a lot of old towns and always take the ghost tours... lots of history and fun. I loved Occoquan VA, Williamsburg VA, Annapolis MD, NewPort RI, towns in Massachusetts, etc. Never saw one on those but fun stories about the past, and fun to walk around after dark.  

what about you? I hear the most interesting stories when I ask friends about this... they are sure of the messages from loved ones.... 

Milo's moments

 Milo:  MAMA!  Look it's dead! it's dead in a lump on the ground! Yea! it's scared me for days now moving around across the street but now it's dead! Let's go look at it closer and maybe, rip it up just in case! Come on, bark! Barkbarkbark!

 
Mama: stop barking! have you noticed it looks dead in the daytime and alive at night? It's not real.

Milo: OH IT"S REAL alright! What kind of things does that!?!

 Milo: Barkbarkbark! It's getting up! ARGH! Mama come look!

Mama: (petting a squirming poodle who doesn't want reassurance) 

 Milo: If you're not going to do anything, let me go do it! It's big and scary! I can still reach it not, let me at it! 

Mama: If you bite it, it will fart and fly away! Let's just close the blinds shall we? 

I cannot believe you! Okay, your fault if it comes over here then.

now please visit these people to see what they liked this week: 

please visit these people to see what they liked this week!

new this week, 

welcome: chasing my stories

grammajudyb.blogspot.com

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Saturday, October 21, 2023

Creativity round up this week, Owl be seeing you....quilting, painting and Ink-tober

 

I finished up the painting workshop and although I didn't do all lessons, I feel like I learned so much.

(quilters, the fabric art is near the bottom of this post in case you're wondering! Lots to show)

The painting above was inspired by Tamara LaPorte. She urged us to let go the idea of perfection and acknowledge parts of ourselves we might believe to be undesirable. 

I chose to interpret on this whimsical bird, these three things about my body, plus a roundish shape.

Big Feet... I grew up in the top percentages for height til I stopped growing at 5'7" so my feet were always bigger than my friend's. People pointed out this flaw, as if I could change it, and used it as a way to put me down. Must humans do this? no, no they don't have to find ways to make others feel less than

Open mouth, I grew up holding everything inside and being a "good quiet girl" and when I started acknowledging my opinions the pendulum might have swung past the middle! lol  I might now be too quick to express myself but I try to temper that with tolerance and acceptance of others. Kindness. 

I feel my arms are a bit short, I have trouble sometimes reaching parts of my body or objects in back of the fridge. It causes a bit of trouble now that my spine is injured, for instance reaching to tie sneakers sometimes causes my vertebra to slip a bit. 

I AM LOVE

 Why do we give people power to make us feel less than? Why do we compare ourselves to others? 

I think it's a waste of time unless it's something you can change or want to change. It can get in the way of leading the most powerful life. 

I do not say brag about these characteristics, I say accept them as part of you in this life. Right? 

Ink-tober has encouraged me to draw more.... mostly on little scraps of paper so I feel free to learn

the prompt this day was "plump"

Seems to be more acceptable these days to be a bit plump... but when I was a teen the model Twiggy was  the it girl...

Prompt was pentangle acropolis

I am always surprised how easy pentangle videos make elaborate patterns easy, in little marks that add up to a big design. I tried to use my stick pen and ink (gold) on this one... a fail but it's all good


Joy asked what made this a pentangle... well a pentangle teacher did it in small steps, repeated lines.. black ink? Not sure.  This time the repeated lines turned into a flower. I like! 

In fabric this week:

scrap pile to pull from

 I wanted to use my neutral light scraps for RSC's prompt this week. I chose skinny strips, probably trash for most sewists, and as I like to do, sewed one to another, over and over til it grew into this

8" X 10"

pretty on it's own but I wanted to do something more with it. I always like pieced backgrounds but hate to cover them up with applique! I pulled this book off the shelf


what cute birds! kind of  fall-like

I dug through the fusible backed fabric scraps to build this...

Hee hee! my friend Diane called it curious bird. It's primitive in style, which I like but don't often try that style. It's now quilted (no photo yet) in plain straight lines, to add some texture but no distracting lines. It's on peltex stiff stabilizer so it can sit up on a desk or mantle on it's own. 

I only need to finish the edges, and suspect I might do a hand buttonhole stitch in embroidery perle cotton, maybe with some beads on the edge. 

It took a few hours to design and make, a fun afternoon spent listening to my audio book. After I finished the hand work on the binding of Kaleidoscope. 

all the stuff on the design wall show up on the photo too! grrrr

I cannot aim the digital camera right ever. This is very square, around 50" square 

It's pretty heavily quilted, and only needs a sleeve to display in in the family room for Thanksgiving

lots to see, places to look at when not looking at the TV below it. It was a challenging quilt, starting with designing it on paper, careful piecing and organizing, being careful to keep sections oriented correctly. Each stage was lovely and now it's done. Feels good to finish doesn't it? 

I love the connection between us.... please leave a comment so I know you were here, or email me at lapaylor@gmail.com and tell me what you think

Linking with

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts

https://songbirddesigns.blog/monday-musings-6-26-23/ 

finished or not

off the wall Fridays




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Thursday, October 19, 2023

I Like Thursday # 372 intuition, good eats, and a big poodle

 

I Like colorful trees against a blue sky
welcome to this week's list of likes...

 I thought this ghost tie-dye idea was clever... a short video 

https://youtube.com/shorts/nksOgPC5kq4?si=CY2zA7bgx7vP74gj

our prompt this week

Have you ever had your palm read? or tea leaves? Maybe you have a friend who has a lot of intuition or sees what's coming?  Are you really intuitive or psychic?

I think humans have innate knowledge, a gift from God... it's not exclusive and not to be feared.

 There have been times after prayer when suddenly I know what's going to happen... It comes in a flash and I sometimes confuse it with my tendency to worry. I now know if it comes instantly it's from God and happens, if it's my own worry it doesn't usually come to pass. 

I was lonely after a break up and prayed for a mate... life dragged on and one day, out of the blue, the message was, I'd meet him in July. The month was getting old, I fretted. I was invited to a contra dance, got dressed and drove there, and well, long story short, there was my husband-to-be. The room blurred and he was in focus, as we approached he asked me to dance with him. A year later we wed. 

I have had several intuition moments, and cherish each one

I was an actress in the Renn. Faire for years so I had many a palm reading... one time the person said I would have 3 major relationships but no children. I blew that off, hoping for a family. As it happens I married a bit late (and had endometriosis) and never had children sadly. One time I went with friends to a tea leaf reading, my first time. The woman said I'd be moving to a place with very large bridges. I blew that off since I had hopes to marry my current Canadian boyfriend.

well.... as it turns out, we didn't marry, I got meningitis and returned to Tampa ( a place with the three big bridges) to recover... had another major relationship that didn't work out, then met my now husband of 30 years....

anyway, I think there are people who are able to access inner knowledge, what about y'all... any stories to tell?

Reading on audio books: interesting read, following  one couple through life


fine dining


 

this week we tried a new recipe for braised cabbage with caramelized apples and onions, recipe by Martha Stewart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09bufttZnZg

we had a vege heavy dinner, chicken for protein, cabbage, brussle sprouts, and sauteed yellow squash... cooked the way my southern family cooked it. I have made it since dh and I met, and he didn't know he'd like squash til he had it. It too caramelizes a bit with the onions. Lots of freshly ground pepper, and a bit of salt season it, along with the butter. 



 

It's pretty Southern to have a vege heavy meal. The only thing we're really missing is fried okra!! 

This week we also  made apple crisp to have for desserts ( with home made whipped cream). Lasagna with the left over (turkey) meat sauce from spaghetti earlier, and a 4 bean salad to have as sides at lunches...  I felt good making the pound of ground turkey last 3 meals! 


oh and we got out the molasses cookie recipe and made some Fall cookies...no cloves for me tho

I don't love to cook but I like savory food, so... 


this looked like a fine way to use up our box of chicken stock: https://www.abundanceofflavor.com/greek-lemon-chicken-soup/

I made it work with what we had on hand... cans of chicken, orzo, fresh lemon juice and zest 

I made some art this week, and renewed my love of this golden ink

Milo's Moment

Mama: where's Milo???!

not in his crate

not in his day bed...

he usually stays by one of us all the time.... (Mama hunts around the house calling MILO)

Mama: Oh there you are honey, why didn't you come when I called? What are you doing in here? 

Milo: shhhhh the blinds are open so I can snuggle up and look outside at the same time. Plus you yelled at me.... you know how sensitive I am. Mama yelled, and all I was doing was barking, FOR HER to warn her someone was out of their house! She yelled at me!

Mama: sorry baby, your barking was making my ears bleed! 

Milo: it's okay I guess... you know a cookie would let me know you are sorry and I'm a good boy...

 


please visit these people to see what they liked this week!

grammajudyb.blogspot.com

               friday smiles at a stitch in time






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