Something About Nothing

 While visiting my sister, she asked if I could mend a quilt her Grandmother had made for her. I happily accepted the assignment as it would give my hands something to do in the evenings while we watched movies. I picked up some perle cotton, and needles and then ordered myself a thimble. My sister sacrificed a cotton shirt she hadn't worn in years. There were several place like this where the fabric had torn, or worn away. Patches were applied, raw edged, and stitched down with gusto.  And the fabric was great to use on both sides. It's all set to enjoy for a few more years. Most importantly the cat loves it.

While I was in California, I took Sara Trail from the Social Justice Sewing Academy , some of the blocks she had sent me to hand embroider. She sent me back home with 20 more blocks. Hahaha There was a quilt that needed the blocks hand embroidered ASAP because the exhibit where the quilt was going to hang was already in progress. I spent every day stitching on these wonderful blocks the children had put together. They are always so clever. Often they come with a note, such as this one, that helps me to know what direction the block is to go. I do my best to fulfill their vision. Once in a great while a little more needs to be added to fulfill their vision. . . . . . because the kids don't always have time to finish. A few other blocks. I forgot to get photos of them all. I love creating hairstyles on all the figures. The kids always inspire me to do my best. They asked for the rectangle to look like a land acknowledgment, and I really enjoyed making marks that looked like words. I ...

This idea came to me from a friend. She wanted to know if I had any wintery pieces. After thinking about it, I remembered a snowflake piece, and another small piece of a girl in a parka. I decided I needed to make a wintery face. I searched for photos online of beautiful women, and drew a few ideas. At first I thought I wanted her to look up at the sky, but after drawing this face, I knew she was right. Winter looks you right in the eye. She is bold, not bashful, yet cool, thus she would be shades of blue. July 5, 2021 My original thought was to shade her facial features with stitches, but after embroidering the outline of her eyes on a courthouse steps block, I decided she didn't need the shading. I thought she should have curly hair so the snowflakes could be catch in her hair, but I wasn't sure what stitch to use to create the look of curly hair. I looked online to see what other people have done to embroider an afro. Most of the things I saw were a solid background, and the...

FYI: In an attempt to catch up the blog with the last year AND stay up to date, I'll be attempting two short posts a week. One that will show what I am currently working on, and one that will be back dated. Hope it doesn't confuse anyone too much (myself included!) I'm currently working on this 18" square, improv pieced art quilt. I'm thinking about entering it in to the Springville Quilt Show this summer. We'll see. I have an idea for a larger piece too, so if I'm lucky, I will have two new pieces to enter. If not then I will enter one of the pieces I created for my Art Cloth Mastery Show (more on that in another post). This piece is created with hand dyed fabrics. I was experimenting with gradations of color by adding neutral gray or black to blue. I really love the dark grays I made with these combinations. You can see the progression of the piece from the top left, down to the bottom right. This is the current state of affairs. I will start quilting the...

FYI: In an attempt to catch up the blog with the last year AND stay up to date, I'll be attempting two short posts a week. One that will show what I am currently working on, and one that will be back dated. Hope it doesn't confuse anyone too much  (myself included!) During the Pandemic I couldn't concentrate on the projects I should have been working on. I still felt the need to do something productive, even if it had nothing to do with what I "should" be doing. I used my birdie stamps as inspiration for a garden embroidery on Essex Linen .  First stamped birdie embroidered, and flower garden begun. I had no idea where I was headed. I stitched whatever felt right. All the pretty colors. Wonderfil Perle Cotto n, 8 wt. Although things were locked down a bit, I still chauffeured my daughter to her doctor appointments and waited in the car. I needed something to keep my hands busy. About a month after I started, I decided it was done. For some reason I really love the...

I keep saying to myself that I am going to be better at keeping up with the blog. Sigh.  This has been a very long month. Living in a pandemic is weird.  I am fortunate. I know this. I have so much, however I am still in mourning for what was. This is my busy season and I had a lot of plans. Plans which had to be postponed or cancelled all together. These plans have been mourned.  And despite these losses, I am so fortunate. My husband still has his job, and although he goes in to work everyday he does not come in to contact with the public. I know others do not have these privileges. I have a home, food, bed, and a pesky cat. I recognize these privileges, and am working each day to be busy and happy. Some days I am successful, and some days, well, not so much. But that is okay. The 100 Day Project was starting at the beginning of the Stay at Home orders,  and I felt extremely stressed trying to come up with a project. I had several ideas, but couldn...

I decided to use the stamp images I created to make some kitty cat post cards for the Stay Pawsitive fundraiser to benefit victims of the Camp fire in Northern California. I used Mistyfuse to fuse some black kitties on to my free motion quilting samples from a while back. After machine stitching them down, I added some details with hand embroidery using Wonderfil Eleganza and Spagetti threads.  Keiko made sure I did everything just right.  I also made a couple more sad hound dogs. They are all ready to go help out the displaced animals in California!