Christmas Stockings

The past couple weekends I've worked on stockings for the newest grandbabies, Maeve,

 Jocelynn, 

& Daddy of Jocelynn, Michael. All will be shipped with Xmas packages soon (I hope).

Yesterday my DH, Warren & I took a lamp-work bead class together. My back has been hurting for no particular reason since Thursday afternoon, but I'd paid for the class, & by golly I was gonna do it! We left a little early, but it was fun, & I learned what I needed to learn to get my own lamp-working at home going. I've ordered a couple of thing to get going, & hope to have it up & running by next weekend! I needed, glasses, gloves, & another section for my kiln. I also want to try some Precious metal clay work too (eventually). One step at a time.

Painting Flowers on Fabric

My Calendar Girls quilt group chooses a different theme each year for our calendar. The challenge for our next year is "Flowers". I started looking through my old photos & found some inspiration in my Barcelona trip album. In Barcelona, we walked down the Las Rambles several times. There were painters, & artists, & flower stalls. It was like an outdoor market every day. I also loved the textures of the stones & old buildings.

I decided to do flowers on fabric, by painting them with my Dynaflow paints.

I also did little fantasy thread flowers on Solvy (wash-away stabilizer).

I made a back ground quilt, using my own hand-dyed & hand painted fabrics. I layered sheer silk (which I painted), & silk strips that I dyed.

I scattered the thread flowers across the surface & quilted.

The flowers that I painted, I also layered them on wash-away stabilizer, (Solvy Heavy)

thread painted then cut out & washed them. I dissolved the stabilizer enough to make it invisible, but left enough in the fabric to make it dry stiff. I shaped the flowers while still wet, then let them dry, so they have dimension.

I also made leaves, the same way. I decided I didn't want to use the blue flowers, & the others, made me think of Nasturtiums, so I made leaves like Nasturtium leaves.

I also used wire, beads, &  floral tape to make some buds.

Here is the almost finished quilt. I will be beading the centers with glass beads, that I intend to make myself. I've taken a Lamp-working class in the past (several years ago), & I have everything I need to get started, but feel like I need a refresher, so Ive signed up for a class in 2 weeks.

Here is one of the leftover blue flowers, made into a pin/card for a friend's birthday. I used a few seed beads in the center, & sewed a pin to the back.

A question for you all- plus: Eco-Dye - & a Peek Into My Studio

1st a Question for quilters/fiber artists/Mixed media artists: (I posted this on Facebook too)

If you saw a quilt with Redwork (or Black thread) embroidery, that has been embellished with a few beads & buttons, would you call it "Mixed Media"?
This has been bugging me for a while.

Last weekend I took advantage of the nice weather & last of my summer plants to try some Eco Printing on silk. Note I said "Try" & "Eco Printing" , but it turned out more like dye.

I did 4 pieces, the above were flowers I had planted. Below is Elderberry,

The next is Geranium.

&  this last is Devils Club. (Which I had to wear gloves & handel with care.)

I had soaked the silk in a vinegar solution, then rolled them & steamed them all in a pot for about 2 hours.

Left to set in a plastic bag for 5 days, this is how they turned out below, left to right, Devils Club, Elderberry, Poke-flower & greens, & the square is Geranium.

The geranium was the most succeful, but even that wasn't great. Oh well, I can always over-dye & paint them!

Next is a Comfort quilt that I've had for at least 2 years now. Barbara Clinton pieced the top, & I quilted it last weekend. I had a mishap while quilting it. Having arms a bit short to reach acrossed my longarm frame, I have to stretch a bit to advance the rollers on the far side of the frame. I lost my balance (just call me grace), & I accidentally rolled the top roller nearest me with my body. It tore the quilt top where it was stitched already, just a little 1/8 inch tear in the top left corner where the bright green pinwheel now resides. I made 3 pinwheels & scattered them across the top, to cover the 1 little rip. Thank goodness this was only a comfort quilt. I learn something new with every quilt I do, this one was a lesson in coordination! I actually think the pinwheels improved the top, so I'm ok with them.

 I also did a little rust dying on cotton. Here are the 2 pieces below.

& this weekend I made a crafty mess, doing 5 Quards.

Here are 4 of the 5. Can't post the 5th until after Tuesday.

After I got the Quards all done, I cleaned up my mess, putting the studio back in order for the next mess!

I think the Synthroid I was put on 2 months ago is working! I have way more energy!

& I put all of my summer clothes in storage & winter clothes out. It's been spitting snow off & on today.

Nothing big yet, but the mountains are all white, & it's only a matter of time before we have a yard full!

Happy autumn to all!!!

Catching Up Alaska to Aneheim

A partly cloudy Autumn day, we decided to do a little hike, on the Johnson trail, along Turnagain Arm.  The new header on the blog is a panoramic shot we took of each other in one fell swoop! It was fun trying to get it, & I was pleased with the final product.

Lots of berries along the trail, & we saw fresh bear scat on the path, on our way back down the trail

Sitting on this bench over-looking the inlet, made me dizzy!

Going backwardin time, this was our yard last weekend. I posted a video of the interaction here.

Last weekend was our Anchorage Log Cabin Quilt Show. This was a quilt that I quilted & bound for my friend Carol, who has been ill. I finished it just in time for the show.

I used a King Tut cotton Variegated thread for the feathers & bubble filled wedges around the blocks, & used Sulky Holoshimmer for the radiating lines & background quilting.

Carol got out of the hospital on Saturday, & made it to the show on Sunday, in time to see that we got a Viewer's Choice ribbon! Here we are together, 2 sisters by heart. My friend Carol Wight Jones, & me.

                                                  

Here's Carol with the ribbon hanging.

Our calendar Girls display, with our landscape quilts for this next year's  calendar.

   

My friend Rachel Korshin, made another exquisite Traupunto quilt.

She got a Viewer's Choice also.

This was the raffle quilt, with Gail Ramsey & Jane Ferguson selling tickets.

This nod to the 4th Ave theater quilt, was made by Gail.

My fiernd Jackie Carley made this tree quilt for the small quilt Auction.

This large Storm at sea quilt was also a Viewer's Choice winner. It was an excellant quilt show!

Going even further back, the end of August we flew down to LA, California, & spent a week at the Worldmark just a couple of blocks from Disneyland. My daughter Michelle & her family, & her partner Sean's parents, Jackie & Russ met us down there & stayed with us. We had a BLAST!

These were the view from our rooftop deck. We watched the fireworks from up here at night.

Disneyland was everything we had hoped it would be.

We had a lot of fun, kids young & old.

                                       

                  

We spent 3 days playing in the parks (California Adventure & Disneyland both).

Below is the River ride where Warren lost his hat.  We got really wet, & I loved every minute of it. It was 97 degrees! These Alaskans were HOT!

                                         
 Back at the condo we spent time in & around the pool. Warren & I really enjoyed getting to know Jackie & Russ.

I loved seeing the kids too. Sean Jr turned 2 yesterday. Happy birthday big boy.

                                     

& the other thing that happened recently, we have another grand daughter, Maeve Patricia Price, born to Brandon & Laura on Sept. 4th. I can't wait to hold her in my arms!

Gand-babies are just the BEST!