Mobile stitching

Trying to create a habit of taking projects to work on with me everywhere.  Sometimes I forget but yesterday I had a long wait in a waiting room and made good progress on the little Agnes cloth.  It's for Liam's quilt but hasn't been stitched down yet.  The second example is an experimental combining of 2 cloths.  Both pieces use techniques from Jude's workshops.  These are so light and manageable and fun to work on that it makes waiting into treasure time.

It's been pretty cool lately, perfect for walking; here's a scene from relatively nearby, Jewel Lake(perfect name):

Mistaken identity and a beginning cloth

When my former neighbors moved away, their pair of doves moved over here.  Earnest and Molly.  They had a baby, Edgar.  This was 3 or  4 years ago.  Then one of the pair died mysteriously.  I assumed it was Molly who died, because the remaining dove was quite a singer and supposedly the males are the best singers.  Earnest and Edgar, although father and son, live separately because they fought when they were first introduced.  Nevertheless they perch near each other and sing to one another.  Every spring Edgar curls up in his food bowl and acts broody.  After a while he's himself again.  This spring, Earnest curled up in his food bowl and became broody too...His food bowl is above eye level so I don't look in there every day, but the day before Fathers' Day when I peeked in, this is what I saw:

Oh no!  Either someone has played a trick on me, or Earnest is Molly.  And has been for quite a while. This is very confusing and unsettling.  He/she isn't very interested in the eggs now, I suppose because they aren't fertile.  That's the nature story of the week.

In the Spirit Cloth workshop we are making bases to build a story on later...here is one of my bases before I basted it:

And here is the same cloth after basting...it has a soft depth and is light and wonderful to hold:

Catching up slowly

This is a close-up of progress on a portion of one cloth I've shown before and have been working on...the birds are indigo dyed cloth from Glennis...the cloth is woven from bits of fabric collected over the years

I started it in Jude Hill's cloth to cloth workshop; now I'm taking her Spirit Cloth workshop and today is the day to start something new for that.  It is all exactly what I need to learn and is keeping me Busy.  This cloth I decided to call "Texas", because 2 weekends ago I went to a family wedding in Texas!! My cousin is an amazing horsewoman and let me ride this beautiful horse:

 

She is leading us, thank goodness, and this doesn't show how fervently I am holding on to the saddle horn. 

Lastly, here is a photo of some wildness in the big park nearby. I love how, in spite of their differences, these plants are all getting along so nicely together.

A small hanging and a visitor

This is a very small hanging...8 inches square, that I created to show in our library.  They used to have an annual big-quilt show but space became a factor, so they turned it into a mini-quilt show.  Mine is called "Romance at the dog park" and uses hand-dyed fabrics.  I made it several months ago, during Glennis' Shibori workshop, and before Jude's Cloth to Cloth workshop, where I have learned skills that will enhance this sort of cloth in the future.

Lately, when I sit outside to sew, a hummingbird instantly appears and I have been thinking, Oh how nice to be appreciated by a hummingbird.  Several times the little bird seemed to be acting a little less friendly and perhaps even a bit aggressive, but Oh well, I thought, it's still nice to be appreciated by nature in this way.  Then, today, as I got up to leave, my eye was drawn to a patch of green in the apple tree, and what did I see but her nest...with her in it.  Can you see her eye and her tiny beak pointing skyward?  The nest is miniscule and has lichens decorating it!  I think she was saying "Hello and keep your distance."

AND, I'm starting to create a shop!  You'll see it on the sidebar.  Feedback is welcome, as I have limited experience with this sort of thing.

Workshop cloths Report #2

I've been stitching away in Jude's cloth to cloth workshop and here's where my 2 cloths are now.  In the top one, I cut the circle from the background, rotated it, then replaced it inlay fashion. In the bottom piece, the blue birds shapes were cut into the pine needle cloth, exposing the blue fabric underneath.  It's fun to work this way; dynamic and ever challenging in the design sense.  I'm a little behind in the lessons because there is so much to explore and it's very satisfying to do so.