Finishes

I have two very special needlework finishes to share today:

Silk Parasol, a piece I have been working on since 2004 and finally finished on Christmas Day 2007. I stitched for my mom and just had it framed. Here it is:

And Village Sampler by Prairie Schooler:

I started this in 2005 and finished it two weeks ago. It's my favorite PS piece and I am so happy to have it not only finished, but framed and hanging in my living room as well.

Cats and Quilts...

Anyone who has read any of my myriad pf blogs in all their various forms, knows that I have two cats, used to have three. I have recently been preoccupied with the connection between cats and quilts. Here's why:

I decided that there are some traditional patterns that I probably will never make. I'm out of the " cut little pieces and precise sew them together" realm of quilting. I like to use simple shapes and let the color and texture of the fabric speak for itself. Having taken that decision, I've been checking around for some of my favorite quilt patterns already made up into quilts. I thought I'd collect them and maybe use some of them to augment my own quilts.

So, I turned to the place where all things can be found....Ebay. I found several sellers who had good feedback and seemed reputable. I started collecting. I've collected 7 so far. Including a gorgeous 1930's wedding ring and a couple really nice lone star quilts.

I also collected one that is called Stars at the Crossroads. I love star blocks! This quilt is in colors of rose, blue and green. The pattern and age of this quilt is not so much as to make me unwilling to put it on my bed for the summer.

I washed the quilt, repaired a few loose seams and prepared it to grace my nicely made bed. I no sooner got the quilt smoothed over my chenille bedspread when my almost 12yr old Oriental Shorthair cat, Boo Boo, hopped on the bed and rolled on the new quilt like he'd never in his life laid on anything so comfortable! It was if he knew the quilt was new to the house and he had to make sure it had an appropriate amount of his cat hair on the new addition.

Why is it that cats are so drawn to quilts? Mine aren't drawn to tablecloths or placemats or even towels. Is it because they grew up in a household where quilts are lovingly made? Are they attracted by the good energy to comfort and warm that quilts possess? I don't know.
What do you think? Post a comment and let me know.

Painting on gauze

In my endless quest to find something else to paint and put in a mixed media quilt, I bought some 100% cotton gauze. It thought it would add interesting texture to something I haven't even thought of yet. When it got here, I rushed it upstairs and cut off pieces. Then I started to paint. The paint sort of stuck in globs. I used my brayer to spread the paint around, but still it was still pretty gloppy.

At first I didn't like it at all and had half decided to dunk the gauze in my paint-dye (which is just paint diluted with water) instead of painting it. I put it aside to dry and didn't think about it too much. I took it out today and decided I really do like the way it looks. I used a bit of it in my newest project covered with layer of organza. I'm sure I'll find more uses for painted gauze.

Pictures!

Pictures based on my last post:

This is a painted dryer sheet with flowers painted with watercolor paint.

Thread painted flowers. Specialty machine stitching with varigated thread.

Framed with bugle and seed beads, with gold, square beads on the corners.

Mid-April Already!

Goodness gracious! It's mid-April already and I was SURE I had blogged at least once or twice in April. I couldn't believe it when I looked at my blog tonight and saw that I hadn't blogged since 30 March!

We were in Florence, Italy from Sunday to Thursday last week. Florence is a beautiful city and we had a lot of fun. The food, the wine and the people were exceptional!

I have been working on a few projects. I decided to paint some used dryer sheets just for the heck of it. I used Lumiere paint and I LOVED the result that I got. I took some black and white flowers that I had cut from other fabric and painted them with watercolors. They came out good, too. I decided to combine the dryer sheets and flowers into small quilts; they are about 12x10 or so.

I used metallic paint on the dry sheets, so they contrast nicely with the softer colors of the flowers. I have four quilts planned. I am fairly far along with one of the four. I did some thread painting on one of the flowers, did some fancy machine stitching and then did a bit of machine quilting. I decided the piece needed beads, so I beaded the inside of one flower and beaded a border around the whole piece with bugle and seed beads. The piece is crying out for more beads, but I haven't decided if I should do leaves or just abstract designs.

Once again I need to take pictures, which I will try to take and post tomorrow night. Given the choice between working on a project and taking pictures, I'm almost always tempted to work on the project.

The Scent of Old Roses

I finished this piece yesterday. It actually went together quite quickly when I just let my mind wander and allowed myself to be creative. Sometimes my brain tries to make rules for my creativity and then I get stuck.

The background fabric is something I painted and posted in an early entry. I added a photo that was a piece of clipart which I tinted sepia in my photo manipulation software and printed out on fabric. I fused it and the piece of fabric beneath it to the painted fabric. I added lace and sewed beads to the piece. It does have a piece of fusible batting between the piece and the backing.

I'm beginning to think about embellishing more small quilts for wall hangings. This piece is going to my mom.

BUSTED!!!

When I met my DH in 2002, I had three cats. He assured me that while he was a "dog person," he could live with the Unholy Trinity, as the three spoiled brats were known. At least one of the cats, who has since passed away, wasn't very kind to Bob and gave him no reason to change his mind about preferring dogs to cats. And so it has been for the past 6 years.


Three weeks ago, we took in a friend's cat. The friend was going out of country for a month or so and needed a place to stash her 5 yr old red tabby female cat named "Kitty." Kitty has stayed with us before, but it still required an adjustment period to get the Gruesome Twosome (my remaining cats) used to having a guest.

Kitty stays in the spare room with Bob at night. She is used to sleeping with people, and the Twosome always sleeps in the bedroom with me. Kitty has her own food and own "facilities" in her room. During the day, she has the run of the house. The house is so large that the three feline inhabitants could easily avoide each other all day long. But, you know they don't.

Kitty has developed an attachment to Bob. She sits next to him on the couch and walks past me to hop on his lap when she wakes up from a nap and just wants to see what "her Bob" is up to. This 8lb. cat has stolen Bob's heart. Bob has teased me about rearranging my stitching or laptop to accomodate one of the cats that wants to be petted or to take a nap on my lap.

Well, tonight, Bob is BUSTED. Little Miss Kitty Princess-Thang, as she has been nicknamed, hopped on the couch next to Bob. He immediately shifted so she could sit next to him. When it appeared that she wanted to sit on his lap, he moved his laptop. Of course, she just walked over his lap. She was just passing through, but hadn't checked him out in 30 minutes or so. Not only has Miss Kitty developed an attachment to Bob, he's developed an attachment to her!

In case anyone doesn't believe me...here are the pictures to prove it!