I have just a few things to share with you this week starting with one of my two rainbow scrap challenge blocks this year. The color focus is on orange scraps this month, and using them.
I chose 4 duos this week, cut them into 2.5" strips, sewed cut sewed cut sewed them into blocks of orange
Orange covers a large spectrum of color, from yellow orange to pink orange (coral)
I tried to blend some as they will not be together in the final quilt top, but mixed in with all the other colors.
Orange makes a quilt sparkle, even just a bit of it in whatever tint you choose
close up of the pink/orange block to show the words
I started basting the hexies for this month's spiral hexie block
I played with the idea of another small embroidery piece done with fabric shards
like a rose kind of, or a like life, making some order out of chaos
I am not doing much other than morning pages right now in painting/drawing
a mix of gouache paint, and inktense ink pad with brush. Tried to control the slanted leaf brush, but the bristles tended to separate. I must be doing something wrong. At the end I did the hyacinth in blue/purple, lavender and white dots of posca pen.
I'm woefully behind on Index Card a day challenge but with focus I'll catch up
this one was from the prompt pretzel
pencil, and inktense pan set on top
of course this spring green quilt is still in progress, each step of sewing together joining strips defies my design ability. It's almost together into a cohesive top... started the week kind of like this
curvy piecing to put those scrappy strips next to a straight one, decided the bottom set needed to go into a different project...
feeling proud of myself for making a decision the borders started going on, and from looking at it as a picture I saw those two light green strips looked like railroad tracks... GRRRR
I do not want to unsew anything so how to mitigate, applique a little light green on the border?
note I also cut wee leaves out of dusty greens to applique onto the bottom area between the first two scrappy strips and love it in person
they will be free motion quilted in the next stage if ever I get there!
so here's to overcoming anxiety about my country and life, for long enough to be my true self,
welcome to this week's list of little likes starting with another yard ornament, or is it a house ornament?
Anyway, I love the way it looks against the stone, the beautiful plants/flower baskets and the bench next to it all on the front porch of this house. The house next door has a kokopelli tucked into a tree stump
I enjoy walking and looking at what each person adds to their yards.
I notice things such as the roof on this house turret is the exact same shade as their shiny VW bug
which was charming in the shade... I had lessons in driving a stick shift (manual transmission) on several cars but truly learned the feel of it driving my friend's VW bug and I still love the look of them
I have lots of cute yard ornaments to show you in the next few weeks, but flowers catching my eye this week were
a glorious display of purple iris!!!
yellow iris, amid an Enormous rose bush
Sunlight catching this tree and making it glow
a gloriously blue sky with mighty clouds building up to rain
I kind of see a bunny or puppy facing to the left
our teenaged yard bunny, always likes this particular area of the yard
it's getting bigger daily!
til an eagle hawk or owl dismembered a bird right there overnight.
Bunny, be careful out there....
Bunny: I saw the feathers right on my prime eating and napping area, luckily I can come up on your porch still, so stay inside mama!
I do not like the taste of store bread now, so we tried a new to us recipe for faster loaves and it was fast and it is perfect sandwich texture and the house smelled great while it baked. Recipe :
I tried half recipe to make one loaf, and let it rise IN the loaf pan, even at high altitude it only took the 28 min to bake. Try this one!
We visited the donkeys again this week, and they were in a field of orange flowers...
and their horse friend...
and we met Phoebe, a 9 year old collie, who had just visited the groomer and had butterflies in her top hair.... so cute.
we had a good visit with her mama, and talked about pets we've all loved, vet care, etc
(I always keep my eyes and heart open to the right rescue for us, but not happening yet)
We visited with one of Milo's friends a doodle named Murphy, and his mom too
She told us she had a toy poodle she once took into the movies with her in a purse. She had popcorn water in a small tupperware and her dog was silent except for one burp!
Luckily her husband patted his stomach and said, excuuuuuuse me!
I'm still trying to paint and quilt, especially morning pages/doodles
progress on my spring quilt
Reading
I just finished Blackmoore by Julianne donaldson the third book I read from her and LOVE her style
Starting another Jana Deleon in swamp mysteries series
yep
Conversation Starter this week:
do you swim? Who taught you? Do you still enjoy swimming and where? Were you ever on a swim team? Are you comfortable in the water? Pool, lake, or beach?
I became afraid of drowning when I was about 4, from sinking in a pool and it took a long time for family to notice. I did take swimming lessons, as a child, learning to float, tread water, and tried to learn to do the crawl.
I not only retained my fear of face in the water, but developed some kind of ear issue where water won't come back out or dry with alcohol. I got a lot of ear infections then wised up, now ever shower or rain blowing into my ears, gets stuck and causes trouble.
Even with all that I love the beach, love floating on a plastic chaise, love the feel of pool water swirling around my skin, love the buoyancy feeling, everything but face in the water.
I kind of maneuver around with a breast stoke, or puppy paddling look which might save me if needed!
Diving is awful to me, never mastered diving boards as a child. I'd pick the beach first, in fact while on vacations in Florida I am the one down at the beach while friends stay at the pool. Lakes? ewww too much to step on for me there.
My sister lived on a lake in Florida, and I once tried skiing and got up but man, it was scary. An alligator in that lake ate one of her dogs!
Now please visit these folks to see what they liked this week (let me know if you want to join us)
I have a few things to share but it's been like walking through mud this week....
The color of the month on rainbow scrap challenge is orange. I do like orange and it's energizing. I cut colors to make this month's spiral hexies, and will baste them this weekend I hope.
the orange bits and scraps ready to use
I hand sew at night in front of the TV but in the studio I'm trying to finish the green spring leaves top, and find myself having trouble making decisions. I pulled some fabrics including this one I hand dyed years ago....
so I cut strips of them and auditioned them for setting the piecework....
I know I'm depressed and fearful and it's sapping my energy right now
a morning doodle painting
but I thought making art and working with color would lift me up.... but even it's become harder daily
(thanks for listening)
I spent time this week learning while watching Sketchbook Revival lessons but concentrating was hard
One of the lessons was on brush lettering, writing then adding lines to look like caligraphy so I wrote "Energy" as an intention, just wrote it with a fountain pen, not doing the actual lesson
then filled in with color from my ink set and a brush, using also some old gouche colors on the palette.
I quite like how cheerful it is, just on printer paper, like the flower with word stem
back to the green piece....
I forced myself to commit to fabrics and at least the bottom half is sewn in making it look tidy
I love the leaves. I am adding slips of tiny fabrics now and then, laying it on, then stitching over the scrap grasses, you can click on pics to enlarge them and find the additions
I don't mind a bit of fraying, but the stitches stop nearly all of that.
My plan was to applique seedlings when the top was together but might save that for doing on a simple background later.
I banked back and forth from lessons on Sketchbook Revival this week, to studio time sewing. Plus
ICAD is back, prompts every day for 61 days, making art on an index card....
I've done this challenge for years and it's amazing what comes of it!!! I'm behind of course, (no energy from depression) but did the first one.... what would you make to represent glimmer?
I found this online search of glimmer, printed them tore it off the paper, surrounded the image with metallic paint that shimmers in person. Just a glimmer of paint. Light is a glimmer here. The quote gives me a glimmer of hope...
I've been walking a lot, and on this day wanted to find some orange in nature. I like this tree's mix of orange and green. (just a glimmer of orange lol)
One lesson I watched had us drawing a portrait starting with four lines and one watercolor pencil
draw, then add water, and voila! I love her, and kept this journal page open to see all week
another lesson had us using many supplies in black to make an abstract garden
start with plain pencil in non dominant hand, scribble. Move on to stabilo crayon, then eraser done over areas, then water soluble pencil again, markers, ink and voila! I love it too. I did this lesson before when she first showed it and this shows that we bring our current lives and what we've learned to the table.
speaking of black and white, I tried sketching a portrait from a historical photo again
and realized how much I rely on watercolor paint... and how difficult a line drawing is to do
My journal has some old printer papers in it and I enjoy reclaiming them this way
It was challenging to draw downcast eyes, and that hair... I am always learning
this was a morning doodle.... watersoluble colored pencils traced my coffee cup, then blend with plain water.... I see some zendoodles or mandalas in the centers or quotes I might need to remember....
that's it for now, go check out the Index card challenge, it's free and a great site to explore
here's a gratuitous orange/pink flower in honor of the focus color this month
welcome to this week's list of small likes.... starting with white fences and photography with depth
abundant blooms on rose bushes promising lots of pretty pink blossoms
pink is happy
white blossoms on trees, not the pollen making my eyes hurt but clusters of light
slices of home made cinnamon bread that look like they are smiling
two raisin eyes, a tiny nose, and sideways smile!
more lawn sculptures seen on a walk
A painted purple poodle on my sketchbook cover
with stitching of bright threads holding a button, and French Knots
making enough carrot salad, and potato salad to have with a lunch sandwich all week
(no pics)
Return of summer tv shows like Love Island, and the start of Destination X where people have to figure out where in the world they are with only clues. Brokenwood has been terrific as always.
Reading on audio
A Traitor in Whitehall by Julia Kelly a mystery involving those at secret work during WW2
now I usually stay away from that era as I see similarities with today but good writing and fabulous readers caught me.
Chatting with neighbors who have also lost beloved animals.... somehow sharing loss helps, knowing another person understands the bereavement. We all hope to recover and love again, not replacing as you cannot replace a loved one, but you can love again.
a fellow blogger had a funny meme this week
Health Experts" : make sure to have 4 servings of fruit a day
Me: pushes lime off the edge off the rim and into my margarita
"consider it done"
speaking of food, enjoy this short video, I laugh over and over hearing that crunching!
makes me think of Cole buddy, who could make any cookie sound so good with his crunching...
miss you my little gentleman
See my pretty boy in this post about keeping your people busy
I enjoyed playing with neighbor kids, but we seldom played til it was over.... I think it made me a faster math person, I loved the chance cards, the money so colorful tucked under my side of the board.
how about you? did you play monopoly or any of the newer versions?
