it's a rainy day here....

so my plans to spread mulch have been squashed. It will give me time to continue going through all my fabric and deciding what to keep and what to give away. I have taken a whole carton of fabric to quilt bee this week and shared with my quilting friends. There will be more to share as I go through it all. I am determined to, once again, have a house that is neat and organized....well, relatively speaking.

click on the images...

what to keep and what to give away is the dilemma...

I came across a couple of projects that never were completed....actually one was never started so I've made an attempt...

red hats

I have 12 of these embroidered hats ( 6 different varieties ) that i bought on ebay many years ago. I'm trying to draw a quilting block to start putting this together. Red is not a color I'm really comfortable working with but I'm going to get this done. I always like adding black and white and have lots of different black and white checkered fabrics. I hope to have at least one block done by my next post. If you have any ideas, please share them. I'm very open to suggestions.

Also found this little project I had started in one of Jude Hill's classes. Hoping to get 2 pouches made after doing a bit more stitching.

the backgrounds are upholstery type fabric

....and I'm still playing with the PDF doodle download that Karen Ruane has in her shop. You can find it here. So many possibilities....

the doodle printed on some of my hand dyed cloth

also printed on cardstock and tissue paper for wrapping small gifts...

I'd better get busy before the day is gone. Time seems to be moving too quickly, lately.
Hope you all have a great weekend. Create something....anything....it always give me a lift and i bet it will do the same for you.

a full week...

I did lots of playing with the filters in Photoshop Elements this week. I used the images of the beautiful Amaryllis bulbs that have been blooming for the past few weeks right on my kitchen table.
Here's one image that I used for some ledger work.

click on the images for close-ups...

Photoshopped image of the Amaryllis seen in my last post

I printed it on watercolor paper, did some painting with watercolors and with this Colorpoint paint I found in my closet from years ago. I cut out some areas from one of the paintings and put it down on another...just had a great time playing.

watercolors, dimensional paint over printed image

I've done some free motion quilting and hand stitching on this but it's not quite finished. Will show you the finished page next time. It has evolved slowly.

I spent a good amount of time this week straightening out my crafts room. I haven't seen the tops of my work table in a long time. Nice to have that surface back. I built this work table about 20 years ago from a steel frame and plywood. I even added a padded section for ironing that is right next to my sewing machine.  I'll take you around the room with pictures. The room still needs some cleaning out and organizing but, at least, I've made a good start.

a small cutting board here. a much bigger one in another room...paints, brushes, glue, needle book, journal, etc., etc.

more paints and beads under the table, spun yarn in baskets, ironing surface and....

sewing machine, threads. window behind that hanging quilt

old books, machine quilting books, lots of threads for hand stitching

haven't gotten to this mess yet. baskets with ufos, all of dad's photography up top. the drawers are filled with things from fabric to computer equipment. i bought this hutch when i got my first full time job when i was 18.

I wont show you the closet in this room that is chock full of stuff that needs sorting out. Hopefully this motivation that hit me will last a while longer so I can get it all done. The closet is full of yarn and different collage papers, lots of raw wool for felting and spinning and every other craft project I've tried in the past 25 or so years. Very little fabric in this room...that stash is in my bedroom since I ran out of room here.

The Downton Abbey coat is moving along. Just need a couple more rows to finish the back.

the back...ready to start one of the front panels

It was 29 degrees here this morning but I've already received some of the seeds I will plant this Spring. Will have to wait till the end of March, at least, but I'm ready.

Hope you're all having a great weekend.

all about white...

in organization mode here but only with things white...i've always loved white and have lots of bits and pieces of things that needed some organization and deconstructing. in the past couple of years i have been very influenced by Karen Ruane's stitching. she works almost exclusively in white. she posted a ruffle/flounce yesterday...you can see it here...that sent me rummaging through my stash. i found one that is from an old wedding dress gifted to me by a friend. it was not in great condition and needed some mending. i think i will be able to use it for what i have planned.

click on the images for close-ups.

white trim

white cloth and old garments that need deconstructing

mending a white ruffle...will add some tatting to the band

 i also did some crocheting in white over some lace made with cheesecloth and free motion embroidery.

the crochet was done on a white cording that was incorporated into the lace

and finally...even my bobbin lace is being done in white as i hope to include it in a white cloth and lace piece sometime in the future. bobbin lace is a very slow craft for me as i usually only work on it when i am in lace class on Tuesdays.

bobbin lace in white 30 weight cotton thread

our weather here in Austin, TX has been unusual for this time of year but very pleasant. we have even gotten some rain which is desperately needed. the flowers are blooming and there is green everywhere. there was a very interesting segment on CBS Sunday Morning today called 'Flower Power'. it's only 6 minutes long and i think you will find it interesting. even flowers have the sense of sight and touch. the video is here.  have a good week and stay safe.

loving the light...

that comes through the kitchen shutters this time of year during the afternoon.

did a bit more embroidery on this blue scrim-like shawl and am feeling much more comfortable creating bullion knots.

bullion and french knots on lace

in my quest to find better ways to organize, i uncovered some of these hanging pockets that i've had for years. it might work to catch all the bits and pieces lying around from projects being worked on. we'll see if this works. i'm willing to try anything to get rid of the chaos on my cutting table.

all these little things just get lost on the cutting table

and finally...the shawl. it's almost finished. the scalloped edge is worked perpendicular to the shawl and each scallop is 24 different rows. it takes me about 30 minutes to do each scallop and there are 25 in total. if i lose my place in the pattern, i'm in trouble.

5 scallops completed. that blue thread is a lifeline that i told you about in the last post

this week i learned a new way to join a new ball of yarn. it's called a russian join and works like a charm. here is how it's done.

Click on the images for close-ups.

Wishing you all a great week and hopefully some calm weather.

a bit of blanket stitch for TAST 2nd week...

just under the wire with the blanket stitch. new stitch will be posted tomorrow.

a swirling blanket stitch on the magic cloth

still sorting, purging and organizing going on here. can't remember the last time my cutting table was this exposed. nice to have a place to work. hope I can keep it this way...

cutting table ready and baskets with projects and scraps

wanted to share with you a documentary I watched this weekend that was quite good. it was a documentary of Frank Gehry, the architect, and his process in designing and developing a building. it was nice to hear what goes on in his head during his process. think you will enjoy it, if you get the opportunity. it is called:
SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY. I watched it on Netflix and here is a trailer to give you an idea of it.

Frank Gehry also has some wise words for his students that you can see here. he advises to Be Yourself. these are both under 2 minutes long.

sorting fabric...

I have spent the past 2 days sorting fabric and haven't really made a dent. I'm determined to give away lots of fabric that I know I'll never use. My goal is to have it all organized when I finish. Lots of it is already organized. It's just that there is too much around for which there is no place. I actually enjoyed going through bins and stacks and finding pieces that will go into my magic cloth.

just a bit of what's already been gone through

I also removed all those orange hexagons from my cloth, wrapped them around tin cans and dropped them in the dye pot. I like them much better now, and played around with some ideas.

just playing around with some ideas

I unbundled the silk/linen that was wrapped around the copper pipes. I like the fringe effect the string wrapping gives. I'm learning how to wrap the string to give different effects.

silk/linen in colorhue dye and then wrapped around copper pipe and simmered in the dye pot.

 

And finally, this article was posted on facebook by Fabienne Dorsman-Rey: The Unleashed Mind: Why Creative People Are Eccentric. I found it very interesting. You can find it here.