Holiday's End

We had a great time with my son Brandon & his lovely Laura. We enjoyed their company for our holidays. They left early on Wednesday, & I've been working.
Today I played a little in my studio. I pulled together a few items to submit to Somerset Studio. They are asking for things to go into their "Nature Preserved" theme. I thought my October JQ fit the theme, & had a couple of other things that might work, so I'll send them all. Below is the card I made to go with the items, I used a piece of my rusted fabric, & some hand painted cheese cloth, along with one of my calling cards cut up.

This is a wall hanging, I made a while back, using shells & coral bits that Brandon had given me from Kwajelein.

This little Birchbark angel was a gift for us this year, from our friends John & Kathy Jolman. John made her, & then embellished her with some vintage beads that they got at a Pow-Wow.

This is a full view of the basket we got from Brandon & Laura. I think I should wrap it in cotton & turn it into a snowman for the holidays next year.

This ceramic plaque came from my dear friend Ilene. Just thinking of her & her hubby Stu, makes me smile.
Speaking of hubbies....my DH was playing Paul Bunyun today, & sliced a bit of skin off of his finger with a saw, while trying to cut a piece of firewood. Lucky he has a nurse for a wife!

I hope you'll all have a safe & Happy New Year! Love & Best Wishes to all!!

October Journal Quilt

Here is my October Journal quilt. It's made with real leaves, that I collected outside. I layed them on a piece of a potato bag (it was a colorless mesh bag), then I used Modge-Pdge on them. It's for decopage. You could probably use white school glue too. After bothe sides were covered & dry, I layed a piece of gold tulle over the top & quilted around the leaves. I put a few bits of painted, & burned dryer sheets for borders, did some hand beading, & a bit of funky yarn for the edges.

It was fun!

Termination Dust & Sept. Journal Quilt

Here is my September Journal Quilt. I used Lutradur (which I painted) for the backing, then layered on a piece of my rust dyed fabric, followed by a crinckled layer of tissue paper, which I had used to mop up some of my fabric paints, topped with a layer of antique gold Tulle, then layered on burned strips of lame' fabric, & leaves made from painted dryer sheets. The edge is a chenille-like thing with wire in it's middle.
It rained all day yesterday, until the evening. When the clouds lifted a bit, there was Termination Dust on the mountain tops behind us! I was happy to see it! I love this time of year, the colors, the smells, the cool fresh air. Fires in the wood stove, & cozying down at home. I spent the whole day cleaning up my studio space, so now today I'm going to go & start messing it up again! & hope & pray I don't get interrupted by getting called into work! It's a shame we have to work for money, isn't it?

August Journal Quilt

The 2 pictures are from last August, when my sister Melodie was here, with her 2 grand-

daughters, Jenny & Sarah. We went blueberry picking with my friends the Meyn family. We had a great time, picking berries from their secret spot. We never even considered going this August, because it's rained heavily, almost every day , but I was remembering the fun we had, & decided that would be a good subject for this month's JQ.

I didn't do much new this time, other than using the fusible black bias to define the edges. The picture, I just painted with mostly Versatex fabric paint, but I also used a touch of Metallic copper paint by Behr.
I did most of this last night, along with my September Journal Quilt, so now I'm ahead instead of behind! I got September done so that I'll have 9 (3 rows of 3) to hang next weekend at the Anchorage Log Cabin Quilt guild show.

Tomorrow I have to work, UGH! & I'm on call. Double UGH! Today I worked on cleaning & vacuuming. I rearranged our DVDs. I'll post a picture late. I don't want to mess this post up (since this is my 3rd try!) September starts tomorrow already. I have a theory that time goes faster the closer you live to the poles (North or South). At least that's how it feels to me!

Winter Journal Quilt

Here is my little journal quilt for January. We were experiencing a beautiful Hoar Frost when I made this. I'd had the yarn for years, just saving it for the right project.
The woven background of black & gray have random winter words written on them with gel & Pigma pens. The greenish Aurora running through the borders is actually "Whisper", a transparent cellophane-like fiber that is supposed to be for making big bows for packages & floral arrangements. It looks clear by itself, but became iridescence against the black snowflake background fabric. I made the 2 ravens from polymer clay. I love the ravens up here. They cavort & chortle. I can't help but smile watching them . They're such funny fellows.