Like a moth to the light....

We left our outdoor light on by accident last night and found these visitors. There are so many different kinds and one big Luna moth.


This one, all curled up, looks like a piece of wood. Amazing.


Golden and beautiful.

A little bird

Funny little thing. Done with a slow hand...

What's on my design wall:

After a visit to one of my favorite fabric shops, and after choosing a color palette outside my comfort zone, I decided I could use this time ( what I consider a quilting slump) to make a twin size bedcover for our new house. IF we ever get to build it. But that's another story. After I saw all these fabrics I thought about just cutting squares and stitching them together, but the more I looked at it the more it reminded me of one of my favorite children's book authors, Dahlov Ipcar. She's a Maine author and illustrator who is still painting every day as she heads further into her 80's. Here are just a few of her books:

I'm planning on 6 or 7 large squares with some sort of animal applique (machined), and the rest will be small squares within squares, or strips of fabric. I think this project is just what I needed and I'm really happy to be excited about seeing how it comes out.

Running Chickens...can't see where he's headed yet. And...

Kitty without a mouth, only temporary.

What's up:

I've done something artsy. It's not much, but its a start. This 2 month hiatus from creating is getting me down. I wander around the house purposely avoiding my studio, but now I see the door has opened a crack. I sigh a lot, and talk to myself a lot, reminding myself that it's SPRING and what can be so bad when everything is so beautiful. And it's true. Life is good. With more to come!

Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches

...for a children's classroom quilt, my latest journey back into the quilting world. Something easy, mindless. The children each drew on a white square with fabric crayons and once it was together I spent the day yesterday machine quilting it. Like I said, easy. Apparently, these little bugs are classroom pets, along with the birds and gerbils. Progressive, eh?

Back for Now

Sorry I've been away for a while. My husband and I spent a week of vacation in Florida, sitting on the beach and sharing meals with very good friends. It was a much needed vacation, as if there could be any other kind. My father passed away almost two months ago and in that time we've emptied his house of 60 years of belongings, (his wishes in his will, asap), plus stripped wallpaper and painted to update things for a hopefully quick sale. "We" refers to my 7 siblings and many grandchildren and a couple of great grandchildren. For anyone who has had to go through this process, I know you know how difficult it can be. But I sent a note to our real estate agent today and said we'd be ready NEXT WEEKEND!!! So good, and so good to get back to real life and quilting. IT feels like it was all another lifetime ago. Time to put it all behind me and move on.

Martha, Hannah, in foreground and Ella Jane in the back. All hard workers!

I'm practicing curves. 'They' make it look so easy.

Tuesday view from my kitchen window

Daffodils ready to open, birds at my feeders and April showers in March. I'll take it.

Birthday gifts

I've been keeping my mind occupied by making a birthday gift for my lovely niece Jess from a recycled black oil sunflower seed bag and an old table runner of my mothers (see red square in the middle of the card?) . One with a big stain in the middle making it not so good for it's original purpose. The bags of birdseed these days are so pretty, at least this one was. So this bag has two sides and two different colored handles depending on which side you look at. IT also has a couple of pockets on the inside which I think is one very important necessity in a carry-all.

A Conversation in the backseat

Me to my 5 year old granddaughter:

"So, Charlotte, do you know what we're doing now?"
"No."
"We're on our way to the cemetery to bury Papa." ( my father) Do you know what a cemetery is?"
Silence.
"A cemetery is where you bury people who have died."
"Yeah, like we buried our cat, Rosie?"
"That's right. You can bury people or cats or dogs, or fish....."
Pause.
"Actually, Nana, fish get flushed down the toilet."
Oh, sorry Charlotte. I forgot.

p.s. for all that have read my previous post, my sister and I finished our socks and they are keeping our father's feet very warm for all eternity.

UFO's

I just spent a few days with my sister and her family in Northampton, Mass., an interesting and unique town. But while I was there we decided to do a joint knitting project for our father's 80th birthday. We're each going to make one sock. Talk about interesting. Interpreting directions in our own particular style. He won't care if they don't look exactly the same, as long as they keep his feet warm.

Tricia decided to pull out her old knitting projects and I have to tell you, I felt more than a little glee at her unfinished projects, because, well, I have my share as I know many others do too.
The baby sweater was done, (so close to done!!), a while back. She didn't say how far back, but my guess it was at least 9 years ago. She calls it the sweater for the "baby with gorilla arms", which may be why she never completed it? The stripey blue mitten was for nephew Ian, who is now 24, started when he was maybe 9 or 10 I'm guessing. The solid blue is for nephew Stephen who turned 22 this year. Same story.

Need I say anymore about why she's only making one sock for dad's birthday?

Happy Valentines Day

We spent the night in Portland last night and woke up to a town decorated by a secret Cupid:

All the shop windows along Commercial Street in the Old Port were decorated, as well as
a big heart hanging from the roof of the Museum of Art,

a symbol of love in the window of the Children's Museum, and


love at Starbucks. Even our cups had pretty red hearts on them.

I can't say I get excited about Valentine's Day, but I do love hearts. And here are some more for you.


Hope you could spend the day with someone who means 'love' to you.

Walking

Every afternoon I try to get out and walk for an hour. Sometimes I walk along the road, but in the winter there's too much to explore. I'll be walking along the road and suddenly a snowmobile trail will shoot off across a field and disappear into the woods. Hmmm. It's like discovering a whole new world that was there all the time. And quiet. In Julia Cameron's book, Vein of Gold, she talks about walking meditation. It's just that, meditating while moving. I've solved a lot of design problems on this deserted narrow gauge railroad bed, leaving some work or another on my design wall in exchange for a breath of fresh air. I always come back refreshed and calm. A bit tired sometimes, but always a bit better than when I walked out the door.

Photo EZ

I've had this in my fridge for a while, quite afraid to use it...silly me. It's SO EZ! It's also expensive and I didn't want to waste it since I had no design in mind to try, but when I saw this leftover fennel frond sitting on my counter, it seemed like just the right thing to try it out on. Silkscreening has never been easier. I remember using time intensive and chemical-ly intensive materials in the past and never wanted to go there again. Follow the directions carefully and it's a piece of cake.
All you do is put your design, which can be printed on a transparency or regular piece of paper ("developing" times vary depending on which you use) on top of the film, sandwich it between plexiglass, and stand in the sun. If you can find some. Soak the film for 10 minutes in water and that's it. Ready to use.

She'll soon be 5....

..and will have a new dress to wear. As long as it's not TOO pokey, TOO itchy, TOO tight, or TOO buttony..too buttony?

Hot Cookies

Care to join me on this beautiful Sunday afternoon?

Surrounded by Beauty

And No School!

Photoshop 101

This is just me playing, not part of my class. I do like the idea of laying text on a background though. It gives the boring words a little kick in the butt. I can see at least three things I could improve next time...well, maybe more. Learning curve is BIG on this venture.

Sign seen during recent N'oreaster

ayuh.

Cousins

What could be better than three girls cousins waking up together after a great Christmas party the night before?!