I finished Margaret's Lone Star quilt yesterday & delivered it to her today. I'm sorry to say I didn't get a picture of it finished, maybe she'll send me one when she has the binding done so I can post it on my web page. She said she was very happy with the quilting, & even her husband thought it was good, so I guess I passed.

We did a lot of running around today, groceries, banking, errands, the usual Friday stuff. We got home around 4pm, & I decided I'd better get the little neck purse done that I had to make for the next teacher coming to the ALCQ guild in September. I made it pretty plain, a tone on tone black print, & black cording.

One glass bead for the closure.
I've got my bags packed ready to leave for Michigan on Sunday. My 1st ever, quilt customer Dori called yesterday & has another quilt top ready for me to quilt when I get back home from Michigan. I've done 5 for her now. I called the hospital & signed up for some time to work starting back Sept. 22nd, so at least I'll be making some money again. It's been nice having plenty of time since I've been off, but no money is no fun either!

Tomorrow will be a bread baking & cooking ahead day so my DH doesn't starve to death while I'm away! Actually, I'm sure he wouldn't starve, but he'd be living on pizza & Subway. He doesn't cook much, (except yummy soup in the winter).

You know those poisonous mushrooms I posted pictures of a couple of posts ago? When I was pulling into the driveway, coming home from my PT appointment, there was a squirrel hauling one across the driveway. Apparently they aren't poison for squirrels, (unless of course he was planning suicide, or murder).

I stepped out into the back yard tonight, to snap a few end of summer pictures. The berries are getting redder & riper, & leaves are starting to turn a little.
I love the wild daisies blooming in the yard.
But most of all I love these leaves from a wild current bush.

While I was out there, my neighbor stopped by & said we had a BIG Grizzly bear in our yard on Sunday. She said it was here for about 15 minutes. I had found our side door on the garage ajar, & had wondered if a bear might have tried to get in there. There were things piled in front of the door inside, that wouldn't let it open more than a few inches. I wondered if the bear might have smelled the birdseed stored in there, or the fish in the freezer. I was just glad he wasn't in there when I went to get stuff out of the freezer!

Working in the Studio

I've been in the studio most of today, & will be going back when I'm done posting this. I'm working on my friend Margaret's Lone star quilt. It's one of those quilts I always admire, because I'd never piece one myself. I'm having fun quilting it. There are a few threads hanging in the picture, I have since buried them.

I am taking clues from the fabric on how to quilt it. The borders are Patricia Campbell's Fossil fern.
The plain squares are a subtle petroglyph print, so I am making rings of similar figures. I'll background quilt it with a quieter thread in little swirls.

I was afraid I'd be learning all over on Lily, after a good 5 weeks of not using her, but it's been fine. I can't stand for a long time, but my saddle seat stool works good. The knee is doing well. I have to start "lunges" on Tuesday. That thought frightens me a little, but Ginny has never hurt me, & I trust her, so I'm sure it'll be fine.

Oh, & thanks for the warning about the red mushrooms, but not to worry we know they are poisonous, we would never eat them, I just like taking their picture.

Signs of autumn are already starting to pop up here & there.
I love these mushrooms that grow in the yard every end of summer.

The elderberry bushes are ripening. Soon the birds will eat all of the berries.

I went to Physical therapy today, & when I got home there was a mama & baby moose in the back yard. I honked & hollered trying to get them to move on so I could get out of my car. It spooked the baby, but I got the feeling the mama might be deaf. Finally my DH came to the back door & told me to run! Now picture this. I just got finished with physical therapy, so by the time I got home from downtown Anchorage, my knee was pretty seized up & I could hardly walk! I ran like a gimpy turtle! The moose didn't seem to care, thank goodness!

I got a back end shot though the bedroom window. Below is the baby, I took that from the deck.

The last couple of days I've worked on the 2nd set of ABC's. I'll be taking this one to Michigan with me.

I made it longer & narrower than the 1st set, & embellished with some beads along with the silk cocoons. I dyed those with inks.

I also finally found a use for the Egyptian beetle wings that I'd bought years ago. They are the iridescent green.

I painted some more Tyvek & sprinkled it with embossing powders for texture, then heated with the heat gun after cutting out the leaf shapes.

FUN, FUN, FUN!

Calendar Girls Meeting at My House

It was my turn to host Calendar Girls. No that guy on the couch isn't my DH, it's George Taylor. George called me right before the ladies started arriving to ask if I had any DMC wool embroidery yarn because he knows I save EVERYTHING, & of course I happened to have some. He needed it for the classes he's taking with Gail Harker, so I told him to bring his stuff along & join us. So he added a new dimension to the Calendar "Girls". He didn't want to stay & join though. The funny part about the yarns he needed, they came from Jackie. She gave them to me several years ago, because she felt she'd never use them, & thought I would.
I was hoping for a sunny day, but it was the same gray cool summer we've been having all summer. A few of us still went out on the deck & did a little fish printing.

Mary Huey had never done it before . We had a good time with it.

The Old Crazy Quilt on my bed

The old crazy quilt on my bed that Amy asked about & Kathy recognized, is one that I made from some old blocks that were raffled off at a guild meeting when I was living in Michigan. They were given to a guild member by the family of a lady that had passed away, & they knew she was a quilter. She didn't really want them, I think she kept one to put in a frame, & the rest were divided into groups of 4. We bought tickets for 25 cents each, & I bought $10.00 worth. I NEVER won raffles, but wanted to win at least one group of these, & everyone there knew it. They were going to draw 4 tickets, & mine was the LAST ticket drawn. In the end everybody gave me the blocks they won too, because they felt that I wanted the the most, & they said they knew I'd actually do something with them.

I ended up making this quilt, that I use maybe 3 months out of the year. & it's sister lives with my friend Kathy, which I made for her out of the 4 blocks that she gave me. Maybe we can get her to show that one!

What I've been up to

Besides watching the Olympics, this is what I've been doing these past couple of days. I've packed up 4 boxes of "Stuff" for classes in Michigan. Most of which will be left there.
& one big box of quilts for my Trunk show/ Lecture. I'm afraid the postage is going to be more than I'm making!

Today I had my Physical Therapy appointment. Ginny , my PT, says I'm a little bit ahead of where she would expect me to be, & that I am a good poster child for the knee surgery. I was pretty achey when I left there though.

She suggested I get a big ball & use it in the evening before bed to loosen up my Quad muscle, & maybe then I'll be able to sleep better.
So here it is. My big ball. Poor Broccoli is freaked out by it. I guess I won't be seeing him much at night with this in my bedroom!

End of the ABC's

Here it is all finished. The ABC's of Embellishment ready to go to Seams Like Home for the class sales next weekend. I mounted all of the letters on to a Vinyl background, with a fabric sleeve. On the sleeve I put a few Tyvek leaves & some Shiva stick rubbings.
The second set of letters I made , I put in an album to take to Michigan with me next month.
This week after I get everything packed & shipped I'm going to see if my knee can stand long enough, or if the saddle seat will be OK to work on Lily again. I want to get Margaret's quilt quilted, then I need to get going on that Irish Dance dress! Hope will be coming sometime next weekend for the next fitting.

The rest of the ABC's

Tuesday we did a lot of running around town. Wed. I had my Dr. appointment , & all is good with my knee. I also renewed my driver's license, I forgot it was due in May. The pharmacy pointed out that is was expired. Yesterday we went out for an early supper & the movies. We saw "Mama Mia" & I LOVED it. Very cute movie. The music was still running through my head when I woke up this morning. We also saw Journey to the Center of the Earth. Unfortunately they don't show it in 3 D here, but it was cute, & short.

Today I had intended to go to Quilt Guild, but woke up late, so instead I got busy working on the rest of the ABC's.

R is Rusted fabric, & a Rock.

S is Singed Silk on top of Sandpaper, a Stamped Silver Star, Six Sequins, all Stitched with Sulky Silver Sparkly thread, & a Sea Shell.
T is Thread on Top, & Trim, which I used a Sacking needle to bury the ends.

U is Ultrasuede.

V is Velvet & Velcro.

W is Wool strips Woven together, & Washers.

X is Xpandaprint in white, applied over a stencil cut from an old X-Ray. I dusted a little Pearl-ex powder on top too.

Y is Yarns.

Z is Zipper.

Now I'll edge each individual card, & make a background quilt to attach them to, & I'll be done.

Happy Birthday Dear Daughter & more ABCs

Today is my beautiful DD Michelle's birthday. Happy birthday Michelle! You were a beautiful baby & you still are! I wish I could spend this day with you.

I've been feeling a bit like a mad scientist lately with the crazy stuff I've been playing with in the studio. What a mess!

I Embellished E with more Embossing powder in the background, then added some Embroidery. Thanks Anna.

Some Green Gauze jumped on with the Gold G, & the Glow-in-the-dark Glass Glob.

My sister Em thought I should add an Insect to the letter I, & what better insect than the Alaska State Insect, the dragonfly? I also Inked a few more I words on to it.

J was made from Jute. I added some Jewelry & Joy too.

Keys made K.

Lace & Leftover Lutradur made the Letter L.

Moss & Mirrors are M.

N is Needlefelting & Nuts.

O is an Ornament & Orange Oil painted dots.

P came from a Purple Paper Paint sample with Pearl Piping & a Pin.

Q is of course a Quilt. I thought about adding a Q-tip, but even I have my limits!

This afternoon we went out for a lunch at Applebee's & a movie. We went & saw the Batman movie," The Dark Knight". It was quite dark. Don't take your kids there. I like Christian Bale, but this movie seemed sadder to me. I was disappointed in the trailers at the beginning too. I had read that the next Harry Potter trailer for "Half Blood Prince" would be on with Batman, but it wasn't. It was Warren's turn to pick. Next time we're going to "Mama Mia!"