Family, gardens (and yes!) Quilts

Sometimes, it seems as if I will never get back to the stewdio to sew!

We've had a lot of family company over the last couple of weeks due to my FIL's 80th birthday. No two people arrived or left on the same day, so it made for interesting meals, trips to the airport and plans for who was going to use the car on which days. This is a picture of my BIL, Brett,from Oregon after a long family day!


This past week, I've finished projects for clients and I've driven back and forth between the LQS (40 minutes away) three times. The LQS is closing July 1, which is sad, but I am happy for the owners who will be able to spend more time with their new grandchildren.

So besides company in and out with all that goes with that, we've also been working in the garden between severe weather, trying to get everything done. Here's the garden, and we should soon be harvesting squash like crazy! My grand daughter Kaitlyn loves it, so we planted a lot for her. I wonder if squash is related to bamboo as it seems to grow as we stand by it... Did you know that bamboo can grow 36" in 24 hours? Wait until you see how much that zucchini has grown in the next posting! I am going to wait until Wednesday to take another picture of Kaitlyn in the same spot, so you can see!


Here they are just one week later:

Here's the garden shed (which still needs to be painted) and part of the garden. We had to re-do just about everything 3 times because the rains kept washing everything away. We finally got smart and built some raised beds to plant in. Next year, we'll have double that!


Here is one bed of tomatoes, which are also a big favorite on our summer table.



And my "drunken" green beans (because of the pretty wine bottles marking the rows).

We've done our best by going green at this house as much as we can. We purchased two recycled totes that were used to hold soap for the car wash in a previous life, then "plumbed" them together with a spigot for a hose to the garden. That's 550 gallons of free water! In one inch of rain, and our size of roof, 400 gallons of water is available for reuse! Isn't that just great?


We are making our own grass mulch this year for the garden, too. You can see part of it in the garden beds around the zucchini plants in the above picture. Of course, that required and investment of real money for a lawn sweeper. Hubby mows in one direction, then I drive along in the other with the Gator sweeping in the other. By the time we are finished with the three acres, we have a LOT of grass clippings for the garden. Want some? LOL!

We decided we would go back to making our own compost, too. Instead of purchasing a new composting bin which are really quite pricey, we are constructing a bin from a recycled large trash bin we bought at a garage sale. We drilled 3" holes in the bottom so it can make contact with the earth for the worms to crawl into it, and more holes along the side for air exchange. We can't just have a "heap" because of the rural location of our home - lots of animals would root through it, I'm afraid.

So - no quilting/sewing for me except for client's quilts. I have one more to do before I can get to my own. In the meantime, please enjoy one of my friend's quilts. I've been invited to play with the BAG Ladies (Bohemian Art Group) of which she is a member. She also is going to have a new book (YAY!) out with the Kansas City Star books next month on her landscape/trees methods. Her name is Jane Kennedy and she is from Lone Jack, MO. Isn't her work just wonderful?

And voila! Leaves!

I've been fiddling dee dee with the leaves for the Bonsai since Thursday last. The lady who commissioned this piece for her husband cried when she saw it. Good tears, thank heavens. So now, I have his birthday of April 30 as a completion date, which is a good thing.

It's another good thing that I photograph the work in progress since now I see the pot is somewhat askew. I have to tidy that up, and the works are ready to appliqued tomorrow. And in the meantime, I have to think how I am going to make sure the leaves that are hanging over the green border edges don't get lost. Something will come to mind, I'm sure.

I must go bead shopping tomorrow too for just the right beads. Not to glitzy, but perhaps pearlized - silk white and taupe? I will quilt and bead at the same time, following the subtle branches in the kimono silks.

Bonsai!

Here is what I am working on this month. I've had this commission now for over a year - I MUST finish! I truly wish I would have been given a deadline! As usual, I've spent the last year collecting just the right fabrics and the fibers, and I've completed the darned thing in my mind at least three different ways. Today I am working on the leaf structures.

Here's what I start with when making my own fiber structures. Just a wad of of bunch of different fibers all whacked up. If you need to relive tension, then this is a good exercise for you! Then I put them all between a fold of Sulky Solvable, and stitch the heck out of it - another good stress reliever. When that's done, just soak it and the Solvable washes away. Let it dry, then cut into the shapes you want.


Here's Hubby with my new leaf fiber mat!

I've tried several different ways with the backgrounds. But I think I like the simpler vertical panel only one the best. The other choice I had was to put a green border on the top, but that just takes away from the tree. The light color panel on the left is a vintage kimono silk with plum blossoms woven in it - the next one to it (beige) is another kimono silk with tree limbs woven in it. The batik has subtle oriental bits in it, along with trees on the hillside.


I still have the pot to do, and of course, those leaves!

These clumps of leaves aren't doing it for me yet, but I'll work with them, and the next time you see them, they'll be swaying in the breeze!

Time Warp

My goodness! Where has the time gone? Last time I was writing about Thanksgiving, and now it's almost Christmas. Would someone please stop the clock for a couple of days so I can get caught up?

The most exciting news is that one of my pieces, Phenomenal Woman/Inside Out was selected as one of ten pieces to hang in the State of Kansas Governor's office until April. AND mine hangs right beside the desk where she works.


You can see the all the pieces that were selected at the Kansas Art Quilters Web Site. I am quite honored to be sharing space with these talented artists!

I've been busy meeting some commitments I made a while back. I managed to get TWO sweatshirt jackets completed. The first jacket was for Linda, who is making a pair of merino wool hand knit socks for me as a trade. She doesn't like to sew, and I don't like to knit so this is a good trade, I think! I know she looked pretty happy with it on when I gave it to her on Monday!


The other was for some Christmas $$, and it was sent out yesterday to Texas for a Christmas gift from a daughter to her mother. I hope they like it as much as I do!


Of course, I couldn't sew these successfully without my little helper elf, Stephen. He thought he and and his alligator were going to sew, and he was so proud of himself! He loves the straight pins, and he tells me there is just a certain way they should be aligned in the pin cushion. He is quite good at handing me the pins I need, and he loved putting them back in the cushion as I was sewing, too. Now, whenever I sew by myself, I feel there is something magical missing!