This n That

I've been enjoying walks with the Scruffy dog, taking in the colors of Autumn.

Don't these just make you want to dive into your stash and start pulling fabrics?  They do me!  But I haven't.  The only thing I've done in the Studio since the last post has been to finish this top and hang it in the closet for eventual basting.

Other than that?  And our Thanksgiving interlude?  It's still about the nuts.

So many still on the ground, waiting to be added to the bucket.  Job security...until the weather turns.  And then?  Full speed ahead, and it will be "Happy Christmas!!" before you know it!

P.S.  I almost forgot!!  SAQA is having a little quilt sale between now and the end of the year.  Some of the quilts that traveled with the "This is a Quilt" exhibit are offered for sale on their website.  Why do I mention this?  Well, my little offering (they're each 8" square and placed behind mat board), "Ice" is one of those available.  They're offered in alphabetical order, by title.  Happy browsing!

Gone Gleaning

I feel like I've been gone from Blogland for ages.  Blogging?  What's that?  Quilting?  ditto.  I've got nuts on the brain, and they seem to be all I have time for.

I showed you a picture in my last post, of the nuts on the ground.  There are 3 nuts in the photo.  Almost worse than where's Waldo.  With Waldo, he's usually visible.  With the nuts?  They're often under piles of leaves.

Gleaning is a tedious business.  But, with the price of nuts this year, and what we paid to produce them, I can't stand to leave them on the ground.  Over the past three weeks, I've gleaned about 1/3 of the property.  That number is depressing, until I convert it to acreage.  I've gleaned about 5 acres, for the most part, by myself.  I've picked up 700+ lbs of nuts.  Again, for the most part, by myself.  I have a crick in my neck and a hitch in my gitalong, but I also have some money in my pocket, so it balances out.

Quiltwise?  I've limited myself to projects that are short and sweet.  If it takes more than 30 minutes of focus, it hasn't been touched.  The following projects were all done in bits and spurts.  Some of the postcards required 6 interludes of attention before finishing.  I'd put down a layer then run off to more pressing chores, none of which, by the way, involved pressing.

I also finished piecing a second strip quilt.  The level inside the box finally receded.  I didn't even have to keep the light on in the Studio overnight.  :)

Tomorrow's goal?  To take the day away from the nuts and focus on finishing a quilt.  If I don't finish, I hope that I get very, very close.  Wednesday?  I'll be back to gleaning.  What a nut!

Cleansing Rain

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

Folliot S. Pierpoint, 1864

Amen.

Found It!

wow.  How do you find your lost camera?  Give up, and buy a new one.  As soon as you bring it into the house, the old one will magically materialize in the car.  Go figure.

I think I will keep the new camera, as I need a better camera than the back-up camera I've been using for a few months.  It's been good enough, but not great.  It was good enough to get "Strelitzia" accepted at Road to CA.  A bit of a surprise, but a good one.  ;)

So.  What was on the camera card?

A birthday postcard for Naomi,

 Some fabric weaving, destined to be another card or something,

 Pixel with her ears flipped back - husband thinks it's amusing...

 The golden leaves of autumn gingkoes,

And gleaning for nuts.

 It was a lot easier last week, before all the leaves fell.  Now?  It's gleaning by feel, rather than sight.  It helps to have sensitive feet.  :)

And that's all I've got for you.  Today I finished a postcard, then gleaned for 5 hours.  We're about 1/3 of the way through the orchard.  With this year's prices and our minimalistic crop, we need to cash in every nut possible.  Looks to be a long week...especially if the promised rain starts falling tomorrow.  Glean faster, glean faster!

No Pictures...*sigh*

I could weave all kinds of stories of the fabric creations I've been working on...including some with woven fabric.  But this might be all fabrication, as I have no way to document said work.  I can't find my camera.

arg!!

While I always have it at hand, I'm constantly setting it down and having to look for it.  This time, I seem to have misplaced it permanently.  I've been searching for 3? 4? days, and have yet to find it.

I remember taking pictures out at the walnuts, of the nuts hidden among the leaves on the ground.  I've been gleaning on a daily basis (sans today), and have some quilt ideas percolating as a result of the experience.  But said images were not downloaded.  Perhaps I lost the camera amongst the leaves?

I don't think so.  The last time I really remember holding it was when I took pictures of a cute blue postcard with some red-streaked fishies swimming across it.  It was a birthday card for a friend on the other side of the country.  Somehow between the outdoor photo shoot and the computer I lost the camera.

I told the maids (I admit it, I'm spoiled twice a month) to look for it, but to no avail.  I've looked under the bed, thinking Pixel took it, but no luck.  I've wandered through the backyard, searching for flashes of red - perhaps Scruffy (nee Homeless) buried it?  The reason I bought a red camera was so that I wouldn't lose it.  Or so that I could find it, each time I lost it.

Ollie ollie oxen, free free free!!  Come out, come out, wherever you are!!

nuthin.

I suspect that the next time I see my camera, if I see my camera, it will have been run over by a tractor and ground into the earth. 

I guess it's time to buy a new one.  Lucky me.

A Few Quiltlets, A Few Costumes

I've been dawdling, not getting down to business.  Rather than focus, and do something Important, I've fiddled with strips and postcards.  In between, I made some quiltlets, in celebration of a couple of birthdays.

Monica, my middle son's bride-to-be-some-time-next-year, needed a card, so I made one for her.  Hopefully it has arrived in Missouri, which is where they now live.  I added some crazy patchwork around a snippet from an antique applique/embroidered pillowcase.  (It was stained and torn.)

 For my youngest, I stuck with the beach theme, and scattered some beads, coral, and shells along the shoreline.

 Here he is, with his quiltlet.  I have LOTS of photos of him holding quilts up for photography.

All my kids can moonlight as professional quilt-holders.  :)  Here he is, back in high school, with a new birthday quilt.

 Here he is again.

 And again,

 and again, with his brother, (the one who's getting married),

 

 Here he was, in college...

Can you tell I like to make costumes?

Speaking of which, I just received some photos of Belle.  Here she is, during the candlelight art walk around the Cantor Art Center, back in October.

 Isn't she beautiful?

I'm pretty pleased with the way her dress turned out.  woohoo!

It was nice to receive these in my inbox.  I also received a, "We regret to inform you" note from Road to CA.  If I entered two quilts, and only got one email, is that a good sign?

Finally, I recently joined the online presence of Postmark'd Art.  You can see my page here.  :)

See me smile.  :)

And now, I think I'll go play around in the Studio some more, even if it's nothing Important.

Unauthorized Multiplication

Have you ever noticed that if you open a box of scraps, sew for 2 days, and make an entire quilt top...when you look at the box, there are more scraps than there were when you began, even if you didn't add ANYTHING to the process except thread?

 It's baffling.

And makes me wonder what, exactly, that fabric does, when the lights go out.  ;)

Wave of Creativity

I was going to call it a storm, but it wasn't, not really.  A storm would have lasted longer, with more obvious results left behind.  It was merely a wave, a blip on the screen.  But if you catch it, and ride it to shore, you can feel the exhilaration, even if it is short-lived.

wow.  I must be tired.  I'm babbling.

Yesterday's task was to begin cleaning the Studio.  After retreat, it was used as a dumping ground.  Oh my.  I excel at dumping.  But as with most of my studio-cleaning efforts, I once again attempted to sew my way out of the mess.  You'd think I would realize that it can't be done, but that never stops me from trying.

Postmark'd Art is nearing the mailing deadline for Round 18.  All cards need to be mailed by Nov.30.  I started my blanks weeks ago, fusing on the backgrounds, but I hadn't made the time to finish them.  hmmm.  If I finished them, I could check something off my list.  Well, you know me and my lists and my goals.  Let's get 'er done.

The theme I signed up for was seascape/shoreline.  I thought there was some flotsam & jetsam in there too, but it wasn't on my printout.  oh well.  I added it anyway.  These are the cards I made.  They go in today's mail.

 Each card has a chunk of polished abalone,

 and some puka shells,

 I zig-zag'd yarn around the edge,

 oh, and added trim "trash."  My current motto:  no trim is too small...bad news for those trying to make headway when sewing through stash.  ;)

It turns out that I made a couple of extras, so I'm sending this one to my sister.  She's had a rough couple of months, and I want to let her know I'm thinking of her.

 This one is set aside.  I'm sure it will find a home in the not-too-distant future.  It may also need a sailboat added to that dark blue strip, but I need to find the right print before I commit to that idea.

While I was at it, I made the binding for that Sew Eclectic Design Board piece that I put together at Retreat.  It's just about sewn down.  I think I'll make the sleeve and label today, so I won't have to think about them again for a while. 

Actually, I have a stack of labels that need to be made.  Perhaps that should be my goal this week: to get caught up on labels.

It's not much of a goal, but if I tack it to a larger goal of "clean the Studio," I might just have something to show for my time.  And we all know that goals are good, right?

Happy Stitching!!

Quilt Shopping

A couple of weeks ago my friend Sharon urged me to check her website because she'd updated it.  Well, I looked at it, clicked on a few links...and bought myself a quilt.  It's a beautiful little thing, called Colorado Country Road IV.

"Colorado Country Road IV"

Sharon L. Schlotzhauer 2013

When it arrived, I liked it so much I went back to her website and bought another.

"Colorado Country Road III"

Sharon L. Schlotzhauer  2013

Was I done?  No, not yet.

Common Threads, the quilt guild based in Hanford, had a boutique on the Saturday of PIQF.  I wasn't able to attend, but I did make known my interest in a quilt for sale.  If it didn't sell, I urged them to call me.  They did.  Now I've added this one...

Autumn Road

Debbie Van Fossen 2013

It's big enough for my bed, and is perfect for autumn.  Thank you, Debbie, for putting your wonderful quilt up for sale.  I promise to give it a good home!

I wonder if there's something in the air?  Better be careful...around here it seems to be quilt-buying weather.  :)