Design Wall Monday – May 31, 2010

Oh, boy!  Do I have fantastic things on my design wall fence today! 

I just returned from a 4 day workshop by Ann Johnston on Dyeing with Black Dyes.  We made our own and use some commercially prepared.  Then she encouraged us to desgin!  Wow!  What things emerged as we gathered courage by the second day. 

We dyed on multiple types of fabrics including silks.  The results were so wide and varied that we learned much in the 4 intense days.  Here are some of my pieces.  The orange is a piece that I overdyed with black dyes later to see what happened when I did that.  The first piece there is from a stamp that I made from plexiglass and craft foam.  The middle is from a roller run over fabric on top of some bubble wrap.

Now to decide what to do with them.  I didn't know what I wanted to learn from this until I got there and when I learned it, it was what I had been wanting to know.  Now a lot of things I see make more sense.  And I know what I will do for the challenge from the guild......... Circle of Life..............(grin)

glen

Day 3 dye class

My fingers are totally dyed black!  My workspace is a mess, and I am loving it.

Here is a sample of what we are doing!  If you ever get a chance to take a class from Ann Johnston DO!

All of these fabrics are from the same four black dyes.  We make each dye using a different method.  The reddish ones are silk.  Silk takes the dye differently, but they were in the same dye bath as all the others.

Here are some exciting pictures from the last three days

here are some exciting pieces

Dyeing and weight pulling dogs

I am in the 3rd day  of my 4 day workshop on Dyeing by Design by Ann Johnston.  Go to her website to see her fabulous stuff.  She is a wonderful teacher and really laid back.......oh, that LOOKS like 1/4 cup!  My kinda woman.

And the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog National Specialty is going on in Springfield MO this week.  Big news out of that one is that Bridger, a 4 year old boy pulled 4009.7 lbs in the weight pull for a new world's record! 

And my good friends Bob Kiar and Larry Hauskin's dog Elsa won Best Veteran Bitch in Sweepstakes.  So that was exciting!    Elsa and Dutch showed together when I was showing my boy.  Bob was a huge help to me when I was just learning about showing.

No pictures.......no time!  But I will download some wonderful stuff we are doing in a couple of days. 

So STAY TUNED!
glen:  dying to dye!

......and Turtles

Not the Mutant Ninja kind but the slow lost kind.  Whatever is this doing in my back yard?

Frank said he moved a larger one away from the carport a few days ago.  I came in searching for Frank to remove this one, interrupting his viewing of the BP news conference on the Top Kill effectiveness trying to plug this oil spill. 

He carefully placed Mr. Turtle on the other side of the fence.  The last turtle we had ended up being a ball for the Swissys before I got him out of range of canine frolickers.  That was a few years ago.

Check out this guy's curiosity.

glen

Dying to Dye!

I have taken a few dyeing classes over the last year abouts.  I love it.  There is much to learn and I have not had much practice in the workings of all the techniques.  When the opportunity to attend the workshop that Ann Johnston is teaching I jumped at the chance!  It is a four day workshop beginning tomorrow that explores the process of black.

I have spent most of today rounding up supplies and finding things that can achieve texture and things that keep the dye contained.  I have no idea what to expect in this workshop.  But whatever it is I am so looking forward to doing it.

Maybe it will be a process paper! 

Here are some of the things that will work for texture...............

and here are some of the creative thinking ideas I had, a dog's brush with two types of bristles, some foam brushes and some regular paint brushes.  A Kitchen scrubby.  A sea sponge. 

My creativity will be tested among the very creative people I will be sharing this weekend with, that is for sure.  Next week I will show you what great works of art I have accomplished!  LOL. 

glen

Process Pledge - Are you up for the journey???

I, ________________, pledge to talk more about my processes, even when I can’t quite put them in the in words or be sure I’m being totally clear. I’m going to put my thinking and my gut feelings out there.

This is from rOssie at http://r0ssie.blogspot.com/2010/05/process-pledge.html.  She is pulling a ton of bloggers together into this project. 

I like this idea.  Really, I like it a lot.  I think it will help me develop a process rather than just plunging into a quilt.  Most of my quilts are taken from ideas floating around out there.  I see something like a pattern in a staircase or the windows of a building.  Or a quilt someone has made.  I try established patterns and techniques to learn from them and will often take a class from someone whose work I admire.  I joined the three local quilt guilds to see what others are doing and what things are out there. 

From all of this I pull an idea to begin with.  Rarely do I sketch it, I am not an artist nor am I classically trained.  So I do not have the habits of artists.  But even as I am sewing and cutting, my quilt is evolving and changing.  So nothing is ever the same. 

I have recently become enamored of modern quilts.  I don't know why I didn't think of them earlier!  I love them.  So I have all this traditional stash that I am forcing into modern quilts.  What a hoot!

This is one I made for the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog National Specialty Raffle for the Health or Rescue Fund.  I can't remember.  Aughhh!  Anyway.  I accidentally flipped the bottom row somehow and didn't even realize it till too late.  I was on a close deadline, so it was not an option to undo work.  But it was my own design even before the flip mistake.  And it will bring some money into the cause. 

The process on this quilt was simply to make squares within squares and put them together in a pleasing display.  This is where this process pledge comes in.  If I were "forced" to look at the process, this quilt would have been better.

So, here it goes, working on the process along with the quilt.  I will grow from this, I am sure.  And learn a lot about myself and my quilting along the way. 

I am up for the journey!

glen

Patterns

I found some patterns in my mother's chest of drawers.  Should I sell them?  Or give them away?

glen

Mom's birthday bash

Today was my mother's 79th birthday.  Although I had to keep reminding her that it was her birthday.  We brought her a new television yesterday and Frank went over this morning to set it up on a wall bracket.  We had made plans for my brother and his family to come in town for lunch. 

When I got there I said, today is the day Kenny is coming.
Oh, she said, why is he coming?
It is your birthday today, I said cheerfully.
Oh?  she says, dubiously.
Frank is putting up the TV we got you for your birthday, I announce.
No! she says adamantly, I can't afford a TV like that.
I say, but we bought it for you for your birthday!
Oh, she says.  Can we go get some coffee now?

We walk down to the dining room to get a cup of coffee and encounter several ladies along the way.  I cheerfully announce to each group, Oh, today is my momma's birthday!

Oh, they all squeal in that old lady kind of way.  Happy Birthday, they tell her.

Is it my birthday? she leans in and asks me skeptically.

Yes, I assure her, it is.

When Kenny arrives she says, oh, how did you know where I was?

He says, glen told us and we came to see you for your birthday, and presents her with a nice yellow daisy plant.  (I bought a TV, he brings a plant.  Inheritances should not be equal.)

Oh, she looks at me, is it my birthday?  Really?

Yes, I assure her again for the umpteenth time.

I am thinking that she may have had multiple happy birthdays today, each time was a new treat.

glen

Other People's Squirrels and Miniature Quilts

I am happy to say that my squirrels do not act like they are at home with me......yet!  But I have a quilting buddy in Texas whose squirrels are hilarious!  They really make themselves at home.

(I just hope my squirrels do not read blogs!)

We had a Sassi Stripper meeting tonight.  And it was the first real meeting that I have not presided over in like 3 years!  It felt GOOD!  Linda did a fabulous job of President-ing.  And she looked great. 

We had a wonderful program from GSQA Circuit teacher Sherry Herringshaw.  Sherry does scrappy quilts and the most beautiful and tiny miniature quilts you ever saw!  And many of the ones she showed us had ribbons attached to them!  This one, a Log Cabin Quilt, is 11 by 11 inches.  Yep, those are 1 1/2 inch squares with 13 bars in each one!  Unbelievable! I have done a few of these miniatures, well, not actually like these, I would have shot my self between the eyes had I attempted this one!

She does truly beautiful work. Another thing she does is Angle Play classes.  I took several of these from her a few years back.  They involve angles and very geometric blocks.  Here is mine.  (oh, it is not a miniature, by the way!)

The last class I took from her was a scrappy square.  She teaches scrappy techniques in choosing the fabrics to make the quilt flow.  She is a great resource and we were glad to have her tonight!

Thanks Sherry!

Wednesday at the Old Folks Home

Mom will be spending the night at her apartment at Lake Sherwood Village for the first time tonight.  I felt like I was putting my kindergartner on the bus for the first day of school.

She says, I will be fine.
I said, I know. (my eyes glistening)
She says, Are you OK?
I said, yes, maybe...
She says, go feed your dogs, I will be fine.  I have the TV to watch.

And I thought........,maybe it is me......

glen

We had a horrible storm on Sunday last. My gauge said 3 1/2 inches, however Frank went around telling everyone it was 8 1/2 inches. He must need new glasses. 

But it SEEMED like 8 1/2 inches though. It stormed and stormed and stormed. And of course that was the day we were moving my mother's stuff. Frank fell on the wheelchair ramp twice, Dan looked like he was having a heart attack and my whole head shut down amidst the 1/4 inch layer of dirt, dust and rat droppings.

We found quite a few mice and one dead rat. Behind the furniture.
I am so glad to get my mother out of there. She seems to be adjusting to the new place OK so far. Of course, she still stays here with me at night. But today I finally found all the bed clothes and washed everything like sheets, blankets and towels. So I think we might try to let her stay there tomorrow night.

Thus far, I leave to go eat lunch and let the dogs out at home and tell her to go down and eat lunch in the dining room, and she does. And she makes it back.  So that is a step toward independence, mine.....

We had a wonderful conversation about the key. I asked, where is your key? I don't know, she replies, gesturing wildly with the key banging into her wrist on one of those plastic key chains. Think about your arm, I said. She holds both arms out to me and says, look no key! I say, Look at your key on your arm, whereupon she plunges her hands into her pockets to look for her keys..........

glen: I need a break....do you think they will have heavy liquor at the High School Graduation I am going to tonight?
 
PS> Look!  No squirrels on the bird feeder, there are actually BIRDS on the bird feeder.  Although the horrid creatures have disabled the newest expensive feeder.  I have to buy more metal blanks and glue them to the remaining seed windows they broke through!

Design Wall Monday 5-17- 10

I have waited for this day.  I am soooo excited, I think Design Wall Mondays are my FAVORITE DAYS of the week.  Funny thing is that no matter how early I post, I am always somewhere near number 30!  LOL 

I have spent much of the last week dealing with moving my Alzheimer Mother to Baton Rouge from Laplace, LA  So my sewing time has been short.  I did manage to get a flock of chickens together however.  And for that I am grateful and excited.

It may be the same thing on the design wall next Monday, we have a LOT of unpacking to do at the assisted living apartment and getting her used to new routines will not be easy!

glenda parks - Greatest Problem Solver in the Universe!

Bet you didn't know that about me,did ya???

So the conversation goes like this:

Mom:  I have a big problem. 
glen:  oh, oh....what is this big problem you have?
Mom:  I don't have any pajamas to sleep in tonight.
glen: Well, you slept in pajamas last night.
Mom:  Yes, but I don't have them now.
glen:  well, where did they go?
Mom:  I packed them up and brought them somewhere.
glen:  where?
Mom:  That is the problem.  I don't know where I brought them to. It might be one place, but then it might be another.  I just don't know.  But I do know, they are not here.
glen:  OK.  When did you do this?
Mom:  Early this morning.
glen:  When we left this morning you didn't bring anything with you.
Mom:  I didn't?
glen:  Nope.  So they must still be here.
Mom:  In this house?
glen:  Yep.  In this house.  Do you want me to come help you find them?
Mom:  excited now..........Yes, can you?
glen:  Of course.
(we walk down the hall to the bathroom off the guest room, where her pajamas are hanging on the peg.)
glen:  are these what you wanted to wear tonight?
Mom:  Yes......is that where they were?
glen:  Yes.
Mom:  You can solve just about any problem, can't you?
glen:  can you tell Carrie that?  Or how about Frank?
Mom:  ha ha ha.  (she still knows a good joke when she hears one!)

about 5 minutes later.........
Mom is standing in the middle of the hallway, just standing there.
glen:  did you need something else?  Can I help you with something?
Mom:  well, I was going to do the thing, but it is not something I can do without the stuff to do it with.  Did you know that?
glen:  maybe, I am not really sure.  Were you going to put on your pajamas?
Mom:  yes, I guess I can do that while I get the stuff going on the other thing.
glen:  OK.
Mom:  see, you can solve all the problems.  Does Frank know that?
glen:  probably not.  You should tell him.

Yardage count

Whatever it was last week it has grown this week!  I bought about 50 yards at the quilt shop that is closing sale yesterday!  And cousin Karen gave me fabric from her mother's stash.  Her mom has been gone maybe 2 years now.  Karen picked some really fine vintage pieces and brought them to me.  Wow!

And then there were all those polka dots I couldn't pass up at the quilt shop!

The Dove, My Mom and a Rainy Day at the Quilt Store

Aughhhhh!  The Quilt Store is closing!  No one in the city knew that was happening until yesterday.  We are all in shock!  But I did put my jaw back in place long enough to spend $200 in fabric and books and patterns at the 50% off everything sale today! Yeah, buddy, can't let grief keep you from profiting at a great sale!

Neither did the rain that came down in torrents.  Or is it buckets?  Either one it was a much needed rain event.  I love my yard after a rain.  The colors look so deep and forest-y.  It reminds me of a freshly washed garden in some dark lush forest. 

I bought dots and African women, bright gradations and some chedder Civil War.  What a mixture!

And yesterday when I saw my cousin Karen, she brought me some wonderful fabrics from her mom's stash of fabrics.  There are some totally fine vintage pieces in there.  And a couple of things that don't look like Aunt Evelyn at all!  LOL.

My tiny little tomatoes produced another two ripe babies.  So I brought them in after the rain slowed a bit and gave one to my mother and I ate the other one.  Mine was delicious, I could taste the sun in that tiny burst of seeds and ripe flesh.  My mother's, on the other hand, was tough and nasty.  Sigh.......

While at the quilt store sale I had two people tell me they loved the blog! Thanks Andrea and Jessie! You made me feel wonderful and I really really needed a pick-me-up after dealing with my mom for the last two weeks! You have no idea how wonderful you made me feel! Thanks to both of you!

AND.....While I was at the Quilt Shop spending all my money intended for the next two weeks in one place, I talked to Andrea who was much more an expert on doves than I am.  She said that when the babies first start to leave the nest, they live on the ground for 3 or 4 days until they can get their wings strong enough to fly away.  And that is just what this baby did.  Frank kept saying it was a young one.  And it lived in the azalea bushes until yesterday when I saw a dove fly from the ground up to the roof.  I hoped and hoped that that was the one on  the ground!  I guess it was.  All I had to do was to keep the cat from finding out it was there. 

Fortunately I have a lazy cat!

glen:

Dove - not the soap, the bird

Valerie and I will go down in the morning and begin packing my mother's stuff.  I purchased some boxes and have collected some boxes.  On Sunday we will go back with a U-Haul and move furniture.  It will not be pleasant I would imagine.

She has been saying some pretty upsetting things about me, but I guess that is a way of releasing her frustration about the move.  Forced moves are tough.  And I don't have any other way to care for her anymore, so she must be here in this city with me.  So we begin.

I found a poor dove that appears to be damaged sitting below my bird feeder.  It looks alert, but doesn't fly away.  In fact, Frank was able to pick up and transport it via the cat carrier to the back of Dale's yard where we thought it to be safer then up here with Cali the Cat.  By morning it was back under the bird feeder again.  So there it stays.  We put out some water and made sure that bird feed was nearby.  It seemed to be testing its wings this evening.  But when we returned from dinner it was settling down for the night in the garden bed.

And the sunflower is a gift from the birds.  They drop their seeds and the sunflowers grow for free!

glen

Found some chicks!

Yes, I found some chicks.  They are on the Patchpieces Website if you want to get them yourself.

http://www.patchpieces.com/files/struttinchick.pdf

I have made four so far, and plan to sew up a batch tomorrow.  Now my mind is humming.  I can put them in between two hens on a row.  Or have additional rows and stagger the chickens.......oh.....the possibilities are endless! 

And I am SOOOO excited!

As you can see they need feet.  But that can be dealt with later after I have made a ton of them.  And they are the absolute perfect size for the hens. 

So far this is...like.....my favorite quilt!  LOL

glen:  off to make more chicks!  (I love them!)

Chicks, chicks, chicks.  I have finished 16 of the chicken blocks.  They are GORGEOUS!  Totally! (Mary is soooo jealous of my flock of chickens.........I know she is.  I may have to make her some chickens just to get her started on chickens! LOL)

So I decided late this afternoon that I wanted to put a top and a bottom border of baby chicks on the thing to make it not square.  I have this thing about quilts not being square.  So I tried to find chicks in a pattern.  I swear I have seen them somewhere, but where is the question.

I googled for about 3 hours and found no chicks.  Well, that is not true.  I did find some chicks, but not like I wanted.  I found a lot of chickens, but no paper pieced chicks.

So if you know of a pattern somewhere, TELL ME!  I want chicks!

I can't wait for the Design Wall Monday on Judy's blog.  I just can't wait!

So back to chicks.  I have most of the fabrics left over so i think the chicks will be perfect for this one.  I could even dump a whole row of chickens, add the two borders of the chicks and use the extra four chickens in another quilt.  Maybe with some COWS!

glen:  chicks, don't forget to look for some chicks for me!  I will love you for it!

PS.  maybe eggs?  If I can't find chicks, maybe eggs??????

Happy Mother's Day tomorrow all you chickens!

I want to wish all the Mom's out there, whether you have kids, dogs or kitties as your babies, a very Happy Mother's Day.  Today I am going to spend the day working on Chickens! (Mary, are you listening, I am ready to finish 8 Chickens today!)  The two dark ones may be troubling but I will find a way to work them into a portion of the quilt.  I am thinking maybe 12 in a quilt rather than the 16 called for, but then 16 makes for such a nice sized quilt.  Oh.....decisions.......do I ever make a quilt the way they tell me to????

Tomorrow we will go to Carrie's house for a mid day meal of some sort and hob knob with the inlaws.  I found some really nice hanging petunia baskets for $3 a piece in the damaged plant shelf at Lowes' yesterday.  I brought them home, cleaned up the dead heads and leaves that didn't look so hot, watered them and shot them with some fertilizer and they actually look pretty good today.  So I will bring those to Amanda and Fayne, the SIL and MIL of Carrie.  And I found a needy looking bougainvillea that I will bring to Carrie since she has been lusting after one.

She is mom to my granddog Hugeaux after all!

Oh, look, my first panoramic shot with my new Mother's Day camera!  This is my back yard standing on the patio looking out.  How exciting, can't wait to get this baby rolling on the vacation!

Taking mom home.....for now

We are getting ready to head back to Laplace taking my mom home for the week.  We will be there next weekend to move her stuff to the new place in Baton Rouge.  I will be able to get to sewing once again.  When she is here I am totally consumed with her, she needs direction constantly.  Which is why I can't have her live here with us.  Neither Frank nor I would have a life.  So I am dealing with that emotional baggage as well.

But I did take some photos with my Mother's Day present from Frank.  A NEW CAMERA!  My "old" one is perfectly fine but it has a spot on the lens inside and I can find no one to clean it locally.  It will cost $150 to send it off plus whatever they do to it.    I bought this new Sony Cybershot for $229.

And it has a panoramic Sweep feature!  Cool

Here are some of the tomatos and the baby birds in my other tomato plant.

glen

Mom

My Alzheimer Mom is here for the week and I have been very very busy dealing with her.  It is time to move her into an assisted living apartment.  We put down a deposit yesterday amid her shaking her head and repeating NO!

But it is the best thing.  She will go back to Laplace this weekend to tell everyone the news.  Stan's kids no longer want to care for her but she doesn't really understand all that.  And she is a handful.

She and I ate lunch there yesterday and tomorrow we will go to a Cochon de Lait there .  They will be roasting 4 pigs and doing Cajun dancing with a Cajun band.  And a French teacher will be there to help everyone speak French!

My mom is SLOW.  The word was invented for her and she intensified it.  Snails outrun her getting dressed.  See Dutch waiting?

Sigh.  My Alzheimer Aunt was just practice for my mom I guess.

And I am not a patient person.  By any stretch of the imagination.   But it is amazing what one can do..........

glen

Design Wall Monday 5-3 and I sure wish I had had a camera for the snake!

My design wall is hopeful this Monday.  It is blank, totally blank.  But that is OK, because on my cutting table are the seeds that will fill the design wall during the week with a blue Sailboat.  The pattern comes from the newest issue of Quilts and More and I absolutely fell in love with it.  I pulled blues from every corner of my room to put together a wonderful pallet of fabric. I think I have found just the right combination.  It may be a bit more scrappy than the book shows, but then maybe not.  I think I can do it without buying new fabrics.  We shall see, it hasn't been done that often!

The second part of the title the "I sure wish I had a camera" part happened just minutes ago, before I came in to post to the Design Wall.  We heard a boom sound and felt the house shake.  So Frank got up to do his husbandly duty and protect his family.  He took a big dog with him.  He checked the corner of the immediate back yard, nearest where the crazy lady resides.  He was real quiet, stepping lightly over to the corner to listen and see if they had made the noise somehow.  Stepping lightly because he was in his stocking feet.  I stepped out on the patio to keep an eye on him. 

When all of a sudden he screams, a not so manly girl scream, and starts high stepping back toward me as fast as he can.  His knees are coming up as high as his chin and he is nearly levitating.  The dog is no help, he hasn't left the patio with me.

I see a lightening fast ribbon of 2 1/2 foot long snake in what sounded like a a not so manly girl scream, high stepping AWAY from Frank with his snakey little knees coming up as high as his chin, definitely levitating across the grass!

Frank said  he felt something on the top of his foot, looked down and saw that snake. 

The rest is history!  And I am busting a gut!

glen:  soooo glad it was not me!

A Glutton for Squirrel Punishment

That's me.  I found a squirrel baffle at Lowes' today.  So what did I do?  I bought another shepherd's crook and hung the feeder that I originally started out with!

So far neither the squirrels nor the birds have found it. 

But on the up side.  I did see a Red Finch at the other feeder yesterday.  Gorgeous.  Couldn't get a picture of him though.  Maybe later.

And they are taking out the dead Bradford Pear in the front yard and thinning the Arizona Ash out of all the dead branches.  Leftover from Hurricane Gustav where the AZ Ash lost its center main branch in the winds.

That is not Frank in the tree however.  If it were, we would be at the Emergency Room by now.  The guys are doing a good job, and it almost looks like the picture of the quilt of the house I did in 2008.  I don't think I listed that as a UFO.  I should have.............

glen