Onward

There has been a bit of blueness here, but it is moving on. Here's Alex with his lap-robe.  I think he liked it.  That's Agnes' tail in the foreground.

After Thanksgiving I sat on the couch for 3 days and made bee earrings...

 

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worked on some patches for Liam's quilt (the velvet in the background is from Diane Cransac,

inspired by Jude's methods, started a penguin for Liam's quilt:

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and wrapped some gifts.  Last weekend I went to a pottery sale and watched a friend wrap pots in newspaper upon which her husband had been practicing calligraphy.  A lightbulb went off in my head and I thought rather than buying more paper, I would wrap gifts with newpaper embellished with seasonal poems, like this:

I know that the calligraphy has a way to go, but still....!

That's all for now...

Three creatures

The highlight of this week was a trip to the Honkey Donkey Farm...we saw many many miniature donkeys...they are very sweet creatures, healthy and quite affectionate.  Although they are small, they bray like a big donkey, and that is probably the main reason it wouldn't be wise for me to have one here.  Well, the flies would also be a problem, and it would be better to have two, so they wouldn't get lonesome.  So, it doesn't look like any mini-donks are going to be living here, but here's a photo anyway, thanks to my friend Susan, who invited me on this wonderful outing and took the picture:

And here is a baby spotted mini-donk:

I'll bet you knew this was coming...here is the Spotted Pony...he is floating down the Nile:

(not finished yet, but coming along)

What, more nurses??

Yes, a couple more, at least for now.  This first one is the Queen of the Nice Nurses.  I'm working a little bit with faces, thinking how important they are, and how changeable, like the seasons.

And this one is called " 'You'd make my job a whole lot easier if you'd take your meds." nurse'.  I'm not sure how to punctuate that.  I was working on this in my doctor's waiting room and someone asked me about it, so in the course of the conversation, I mentioned the title...a couple of the patients looked a little alarmed, or embarrassed, but the woman who'd asked about it, I think she was a caretaker herself,  nodded her head.  It's not completed yet and includes some hand-dyed fabric from Heike's shop.

Update on the Nurses

Here is Nurse #1.  She's almost done...just needs something around the edges.

And here is Off Duty Nurse.  She's been having a good time and just needs a little more stitching and a cover-up for the back.  There's another Nurse in the works...maybe two, and I'll do a new posting really soon, I think. 

I've been experimenting with the font size, wanting it to be easy to read...so far there haven't been any complaints, but I'd welcome feedback...

Enjoy these last few days of summer everyone...:)

Found face

One day, on Jude's blog, there was mention of a "face plant" challenge posted on Arksparktheater.  The idea is you make a face on the street or in the forest then leave it there for someone to find, after taking a photo of it.  Well, this morning after yoga, at the local demolition project that I've mentioned before, was an earth mover, resting after its labors; this ready-made face was staring me down from up in the sky!  I don't know if it will count for the challenge, since I didn't create it, but, it was so amazing that I had to show you anyway.

That's a little strange so here's another white sand beach scene. This is Lake Anza in Berkeley, where I went to stitch one afternoon. Oh summer!

And speaking of stitching, I've been making patchwork beasts in Jude's class; we have only one week more...this is one I've been working on.  So far it's called Off Duty Nurse but that may change when her features and limbs are added.

It's a great deal of fun and also challenging.

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Home again, home again, jiggity jig

What a lovely trip it was.  Here is a scene from the last leg of my journey, looking out the parlor car window on the Amtrak Coast Starlight, of the Pacific Ocean, somewhere near Los Angeles.

And here are the trains from the West (L.A.) and East (Chicago) meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  It would have been easy to get on the wrong train (except for all the announcements warning us not to).

I worked a lot on this block for my grandson's quilt of my great great grandmother.  The photos were printed on silk for me by the Pixeladies, then I stitched over it to make sure it will withstand multiple washings etc. This sort of image has the added feature of being a little like a movie, because as the fabric moves around, in the course of being used, the facial expression changes, so the interaction can be very like a conversation. 

This is the beginning of a spotted pony I'm making for Jude's Patchwork Beast online class. These classes have been so wonderful; I will miss them...they have helped me see cloth differently and interact with it more lovingly.