Tuesday, June 03, 2008

I made this sign about 2 years ago, for our back driveway address. Warren finally put in the post & mounted it on a backboard, & put it out this last week. I felt the black numbers were too dark though, so I went out there this morning with my copper paint & messed around on it a bit. I started with the #1 on the right, painting it solid, bu I think I might actually like it better like the 5 is, just dry brushed, so I'll let it dry, & sand it down, & play with it more later.
I noticed this old stump while I was out there. I love dead old stumps. They have interesting shapes & textures.
I thought this part was interesting.
I liked the fine moss at the base too.
I discovered several fiddle head ferns around it too. I think I may go out tomorrow & pick a bunch for our supper. We're having company over, 2 of the RT girls from Warren's department. It might be fun to have fiddleheads with our Alaskan meal. We're having Red salmon on the grill, & Double Muskey Jalapeno' rolls..
When I got done playing around outside, I went down to my studio & got some work done that I've been putting off for about 3 years now. I have a large quilt mounted, ready to get quilted on Lily, but I'm waiting for a shipment of thread for it, so I decided to finally make the curtains for under the sink in the kitchen. I had intended to use a completely different fabric, but when I started auditioning the fabrics, this was what won. It's an upholstery fabric, with some weight & sheen to it. The color went better with the dishwasher & refrigerator than the other fabric I'd bought for this purpose.
The dark red bands are a cotton batik from Holland. I don't think I ever showed a picture of the fridge, once we got the door panels on.
There's my new red coffee pot too. I love it.

I think I figured out what my hand-work project will be this summer. I got this very fragile old beaded silk from Ebay several years ago.
It's most of an old dress I think. The hand beading is amazing on it.
I've decided to arrange it on this piece of orange-pink batik cotton, & stitch it down by tacking the beads in place (no, not every single bead, but a lot of them). Then I am going to layer a piece of tulle over it, & hand quilt it into a quilt. It's heavy enough, I may eventually mount it on to a canvas frame, I'm not sure yet. I'll see when I get there.
It looks like I had a visitor on my deck some time today. I was in the studio, so didn't hear it.
I would say it was a baby bear though, as Mama bears have feet quite a bit bigger than mine.
Last night I had a moose staring at me through the studio window, while I was putting the quilt on the frame. That's Life in the wild kingdom!
I found a cryptoquote I've kept for a long time. Some day it'll be made into a quilt.
"A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water."
~Eleanor Roosevelt
Ain't that the truth!

7 comments:

Guzzisue said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Guzzisue said...

is it scarey to think the bears have been that close? biggest thing we get in our garden is a fox

Melodie said...

You are always thinking! That beaded piece is cool! It'll be awesome when you get done playing with it.
I didn't know that fern was edible! How do you prepare it? Or is it a salad additive? I think an apple is the only thing I've ever eaten that I picked from the yard! (There's an apple orchard outside my back door...... and a peach orchard across the road!)
The little cabin is shaping up nicely. I wish they could come up with a way to tone down the white that shows around the panels on the fridge! I'm still thinking on what to do with the white handles on mine.

Elaine Adair said...

Such an interesting post, about a lot of things, but mostly I love the old stump photos -- yes, old trees and stumps have a LOT going on that a quilter would like.

Lise said...

Hello from a very hot southern Norway!! The days are warmer than in Spain at the moment - and best of all are the bright, warm nights out in the garden...Love your last post, your sign is great, the silk is lovely, and the bear's paws made me laugh. No bears very close here, but a wolf was killed by the local train close to us a couple of years ago.And, we live in Oslo...

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh.....love to pick and eat fiddleheads! We like to eat them just picked on the trail or if any make it home...then sauteed in butter and garlic. Yummmmmm.

Rian said...

The sign looks great. Doesn't it feel good to finally fix something that has been bugging you for so long?

I love the red coffee pot. I got a red mixer that I'll probably rarely use, but it looks great on my counter and it makes me happy to look at it.