Wandering the Oak Forest

A look at what is on the cutting table.

2012-01-07T06:58:00.001-08:00

This design has been popping up in my head all through the holidays. I’m still in the planning stages. The smaller sets of squares are sewn but not attached. I have many many more to cut and make. I still need to make 16 more large square sections before this would be large enough for a bed. I had not thought to use batiks for the background, I was planning to use solid colors as I usually do, but the teal called to me. I love it.

In person it is luxurious with metallic flashes , glitter of gold, shimmer of silver velvet. Thank you Gustav Klimt for your amazing art… without it I don’t know that this WIP would be coming into being.

A rich and Jeweled quilt is being planned.

2012-01-06T18:43:00.001-08:00

I have had precious little time to sit and submerge myself into online surfing for inspirations. The holidays just passed, I felt like I was a Christmas elf making gifts and treats. Amid all the raucous there was no time to write any blogs or update Facebook. Heck this year I did not even mail Christmas cards. How taboo, that is not like me heck last year I made each one. But know this family and friends I love you all. You know how life gets… Busy, busy busy.

Now that it’s over and I have healed from ringing in the new year, I am back to my eclectic ponderings. Steve bought by a fabulous book about the art of Gustav Klimt and it is so wonderful. The colors and gilt. I love it. I am planning my next quilt based on Klimt.

I was pushed in this direction when I ran across Wendy Ryan Folk Art Blog, in her painting I saw soft silver velvet, shimmering gold and flat black.

I have been gathering fabrics, I have the perfect silver rayon velvet, it is a blouse from the GAP … goodbye blouse.

This evening I been painting fabrics to achieve the metallic tones like I envision in my piece. I have found some gorgeous teal, green and blue green batiks to become the background.

Last night I went to Sew night up at Sew Katie Jean and after I gossiped and chatted with everyone I knew I did a bit of sketching, trying to flesh out ideas. I also found out I was the winner of the shops stocking challenge!!! For a prize I got $50 to spend, which I promptly did. I won’t go into details but that fabric is for another awesome quilt AFTER I finish this one.

If only I had good lighting, these fabrics shimmer with life in person.

I’m off to create, peace be with you.

Cytel

How to Make a Beautiful Garland to decorate with.

2011-11-23T07:42:00.001-08:00

The things you need:

Twine as long as you would like your garland

Wire 19 gauge or a little thinner will work

Pliers cutter for wire and flat with teeth

Garden clippers

Foliage go on a walk and gather yourself a decent selection of healthy beautiful branches, berries, little fruits.. whatever you would like to decorate with.

Step 1: cut your twine as long as you would like your garland, fold it in half and tie a knot in the center

Step 2: Using your wire cutter cut 3” pieces ( or longer if your foliage is really thick) cut about 25 to start. fold them into U shapes.

Step 3: Lay out twine and begin to cut your branches into pleasing 10” or so long lengths. You want the foliage to be leafy and full. I lay them out a few feet along the twine to see how it will look before I wire them on.

In this years garland I used Evergreen boughs as the main foliage and then I used smaller branches of fall leaves from an Ash tree with berries and an Oak tree with nice big leaves.

Other times I have used Eucalyptus, olive and pomegranate.

Step 4: At the end you start with tie the end of the twine to the middle of your first branch. this will help anchor the end.

I always point the cut end of the branch toward the center of the garland. the leaves down toward the ends.

Lay out your second branch over lapping the cut end of the first branch by a few inches.

Use a wire and pliers to catch all pieces of branches and twine and twist them securely.

Continue working your way to the center of your garland, overlapping and wiring branches and leaves in a pleasing arrangement.

I leave the wire ends a little long and not completely twisted until I am completely finished with garland. You can use the excess wire ends to wire on berries, lights , ribbons… whatever.

Step 5: When you reach the center of your garland, start placing your branches the other direction, cut end to the center. Foliage toward the end of the twine. using some smaller cuts of leaves and branches overlay the center area so the foliage hides the branch ends.

Continue as before, overlapping and wiring until you are at the end. Tie the end of the twine to the center of the final piece of foliage.

You can now use the small wire ends throughout your garland to attach berries, bows, ect.

I just fold the excess wires over whatever little thing I am attaching.

If you want a bow, tie one with ribbon and leave the ends really long, gently wrap them around the garland anchoring with wires here and there.

You are finished! Now go hang it up and enjoy.

I have made these 50 feet long to wrap the whole front of my house… so you can make them as long or as short as you need.

Miniature Sparkle Houses

2011-11-02T18:07:00.001-07:00

Christmas is coming, right around the bend…. and I hope to make almost all my gifts for my fabulous family and friends. Which means I better start getting busy, I wrote my list and checked it twice… both times I found errors. So I probably better go over it a time or two again as the BIG DAY approaches.

I write this blog in hopes of inspiring other people in this world who may stumble upon it to CREATE. Reach inside find inspiration and make things. Use what is around you, cruise the net at high speed and see what others are doing. Stop rampant consumerism ( half of it gets tossed or re-gifted anyhow) and make a little gift that will be appreciated because it came from your heart, made with your own two hands.

This year I am making all sorts of fun ornaments, and I am sharing them here. Today it is the sparkly houses.

In my last post I linked a tutorial about making paper houses. I have now made a few of my own, with my own patterns. Mine are much smaller than the tutorial’s version, about 1:60 scale. They would look great with an N scale train running by.

I have been getting very creative, I used tiny scraps of lace for curtains, model railroad windows and doors, bits of lichen for bushes. All these are really is paper, paint and glue.. and what a cute village I have. It will be hard to give them away, I really would like my own little glittering village.

You know they are adorable, are you inspired? Go make something.

Finding inspiration online.

2011-10-13T08:02:00.000-07:00

I almost always post my own creations here on my blog, but today I want to post about Little Glitter Houses by Howard L. Lamey, also known as Putz Houses. They were very popular at the turn of the 1900's and with today's renewed interest in handcrafting I think they are a perfect project or even a purchase. You can make your own or buy a kit, or even have a custom house made.

I love them, and of course I will be making at least one or two sometime soon. I just wanted to share this inspiration with others who may also enjoy the challenge. Howard L. Lamey has shared instructions for a basic house as well as instructions on upgrading the small house to a church.

Happy creating!

2011-09-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

Using the tweeds and fabric from yesterdays dye jobs.

My husband thought of the bow tie and spectacles isn’t that to cute ?

Next bird in the works is another owl, this one in the pinks like the bird above… all cut out and ready for stitching.

And last but not least I’m cutting out fabric 9 patch mug rugs.

Dyeing tweed, wool and silk for little Christmas birdies.

2011-09-20T16:52:00.001-07:00

A year or more ago my dear Mother-in-law gave me three jars of dyes. A Yellow, Fuchsia and Turquoise… basically the three primary colors. I pondered and pandered about how to use them, as there no instructions or even a brand name… what fabric would they work on? Anyhow today I decided to stop screwing around and just experiment.

I did not have any extra pots or pans to donate to become a dye pot so I decided to use a freezer Ziploc bags, a ceramic bowl and then microwave the contents instead of boiling them.

I think I have acid dyes, check out Dharma Trading company to order your own. So after seeing that acid dyes are for fabrics that come from a creature such as wool from a sheep or silk from a worm. I promptly went to my stash and cut the arm off an old wool suit, cut some pieces of tweed, cut chunks off my silk/rayon, a scrap of pure wool felt and store bought wool/rayon felt.

I say dying was a smashing success. The fabrics that contained rayon are the lighter ones in the photo, rayon is made of plant and acid dyes do not work on plant based fibers. Yet the wool part did take the dye, the silk velvet is so pretty. I can’t wait to make something from it.

The moral of this story is, I should have been playing with dyes long ago. The microwave worked great, I only nuked each bag about 5 min until the water was clear. I am now eyeing all my fabric wondering if I should throw it into the vat.

Now, what am I doing with wool and felt and silky soft velvet?

I'm making my holiday gift stash… these will become ornaments. I plan to make at least 20 and I’ve just started fleshing out patterns. I do love birdies, this will be fun.

Now imagine these cute little birds made from the colorful wool felt and tweed pictured above. So cute…

I’m off to create!

Scrappy Little Table topper

2011-09-02T18:30:00.001-07:00

I love all the prints that went into this cute little table runner. I made a bunch of cute apron a years or so ago and the scraps from that project ended up cut into triangles. I have some grand plans for all those scraps, but I left then in a drawer until I don’t quite know what my plan really was….. So after a few layouts, I decided to just commit and make something cute, colorful, small and playful.

The results are so fresh and happy, I love it. It will make a fine little gift for someone special.

Project of the day, Paper piecing. I’ve never done it, but it looks doable. I made a pattern on a super cool freeware program called Quilt Assistant . You open a picture and you make your own paper piecing pattern. The website has a PDF tutorial that covers all the basics. I thought the pattern making was a cinch. What I have not found out is if I can actually make it.

My first project will be the farm house and red roofed barn. I think I made it 12”x9” or so.

We have some fun plans for this Labor day weekend, how about yourselves? Anyone going on a fun end of summer adventure?

We are going to head out to San Francisco in the morning with a couple of good friends, I get to drag my awesome husband and friends to Peapod Fabrics. Peapod has some fabulous, cuter than possible fabrics, and I will of course be buying something for a future project.

We are then heading to Cha Cha Cha for a divine Spanish Tapa’s style lunch. Seriously, this little restaurant rocks, I can’t wait. If you find yourself in the Haight & Ashbury area, GO THERE!

Then the real party begins, we are going to booze it up, go see some Giants and meet up with a bunch more friend's, party a little bit more…. at the end of the day we shall stumble to our hotel and pass out from exhaustion.

Have a good weekend my friends!

Cytel

One more room complete!

2011-08-19T13:49:00.001-07:00

The office / music / guest room is all finished except for the curtains.

Check out the change … Top is the “after” photos, we painted the walls, built an office desk into the closet. Stained the concrete floors and framed out areas to hang the guitars. If you check out the lower photo of the office you can see what a wreck it was…the floor was blahhhh concrete with old paint and dried on glue. Nothing was organized. we have to much outdated oversized UGLY furniture… my fault I’ll drag home almost any free furniture.

Anyhow now we just love it and it is so great to see a nice clean,cool ,modern room that was transformed from chaos in just a few short weeks.

Before… what a mess eh?

Because I’m not one to sit back on my laurels and do nothing I have thrown myself into the Sacramento Modern Quilt Guild’s Free Spirit Habitat Challenge.

I was given fat eighths of these 6 fabrics above. These are from Jay McCarroll’s fabric line called “Habitat” made by Free Spirit. Remember Jay was a winner on Project Runway a while back. Our challenge is to use these as the focus of our quilt and we can use solids for any other fabrics we may need to complete the look.

I love challenges especially when I am pushed outside my usual comfort zone. For me I would not have sought these fabrics out at the store, but after I came up with various ideas I came to really like them.

Here are a few of the concepts I thought about…

The picture on the right was the winner. I am now hard at work stitching the stars to the background, and I need to make one more large star to complete the layout.

I inspired myself with my last post.

2011-07-29T11:33:00.001-07:00

I talked of my quilt and my plans for the music room, and by the the time I published the post I was ready to stain the floors and paint the room.

So now it is empty and I am on hands and knees with wire brushes, razor scrapers, scrub brushes and Goof-Off prepping the concrete for staining.

Fingers crossed for smooth sailing….

I’ll post the results next week.

Wonky Squares is done

2011-07-28T08:30:00.001-07:00

It is now finished, quilted and washed. I made it for a twin bed we have in our office/ music room. It really goes perfect for what I have planned in here.

We removed the carpets from the floor… if you ever read my blog a year or so ago you would know the story of all my flooring… needless to say it is all slowly going away and being changed out.

So anyhow, as of now the floor is just plain concrete slab, The walls are boring white…

My plan is to use the dark earthy colors from this quilt ( and they are earthy, my photo is capturing a lot of light) mainly a deep purple color to stain my concrete floor. I will do it like I did in the Master bath, a simple design with a translucent brown over coat. We bought a few more guitar hangers so now we have 5 guitars on the walls, more on the floor stands… keyboards, amps all sorts of stuff. I want to make the room masculine, and for it to have a musical/ creative vibe. I’d like to paint 3 walls in one color and the fourth wall a dark color, make some heavy curtains with a sheer golden curtain behind so gusts and musicians can block out the light and just shut themselves in. My concern with wall colors is this is a small room, and dark will probably make it appear smaller… perhaps the dark color will be the one wall and a lighter color on the other three… I don’t know.

This quilt picks up the colors of a couple of the guitars, like the midnight blue. the golden yellow… my whole color scheme is based n this quilt. I need help choosing wall colors, I always pick odd colors that are just to much to handle…. anyone want to help ?

I think I will make a nice floor carpet to go with this quilt and the overall room theme, I am really leaning toward deep maroons and purples and gold's… just think about it makes me want to go fabric shopping.

Mexican Artists, I thank you.

2011-07-03T17:02:00.001-07:00

I just got home a few days ago from Cabo San Lucas Mexico and I am inspired. While Cabo was a blast, with fantastic food friendly people and an ocean to die for. What really got my inner muse inspired was a small town to the north called Todos Santos.

Todos Santos is a smaller quit town with an artistic vibe. There where art galleries and vendors not unlike Cabo but the art was so superior, the ceramics of fishes, geckos, dishes of every sort, the skeletal Catrina’s with their flowers and veils, glittered day of the dead art, inlaid urns … lordy I wish I had taken more photo’s. below is just a snippet of the beauty you can see there and around Mexico.

After immersing myself into this place for the last two weeks my muse has found me yet again. Today I sat in my Hot 100 degree garage and cut and embossed tin cans… made paper clay, painted and made a huge art mess in my kitchen.

Up on the left you can see a little of the paper mache Catrina’s I am working on… Oh I am super excited, now I have an excuse to use lots of glitter and sequins!! Oh how I love sparkles.

On the right you can see the tin art for my patio wall I am making. I plan to also make some birds and a mermaid…

Below is the near finished pieces, all they need now is a wire to hang from.

Cabo Here we come!

2011-06-15T18:23:00.001-07:00

I'm totally excited… we will be in Cabo San Lucas this time next week. I am so very excited

To make things even better I found not one but 2 fabric stores near my rental. One within walking distance, OMG what will I buy.. what will I make???

Don’t yet know, stay tuned to see….

Now I’m off to work on a tan so I don’t get scorched down there. And yes I know it is not wise to lay out. No need to inform me of that. I do wear sunscreen, so keep all helpful advise to yourself.

Cheers,

Cytel

The Grandpa Bertal Tomato

2011-06-10T07:22:00.001-07:00

The story goes something like this.... When I find a more accurate account I shall edit.

Anyone who ever played the game telephone knows how a story changes through its many telling's and the 1930’s where a LONG time ago.

Near the end of the Great Depression My grandparents and another family had one car among about 9 people, they loaded it up and set out for the Great Northwest from somewhere near Nebraska. They took turn riding in the car on the car and walking beside the car.

Grandpa Bertal carried with him some special tomato seeds and when they settled in Bonners Ferry, Idaho he planted them, and shared the seeds with others. The tomato’s story was at that time, not told to his kids. Perhaps they ate them for years not knowing he carried them and found them special enough to save and share.

Well Grandpa died in the late 80's I believe, and our family had not seen these tomatoes since long before that... he either never mentioned this story of bringing them and he also grew to old for gardening. So the tomato's were no longer known to my family.

Last year My mom had her 40th high school reunion up in Bonners Ferry, while there she met a nursery man, who was so pleased to see a relative of ol' Bertal. He told her the story as he knew it of these special tomatoes and gave her a few precious seeds.

She shared with me a few of these and of the nine I planted 3 came up.

What I find interesting about this tomato versus other varieties is the leaves. They are very wide and fairly smooth. I have yet to eat one but as you can see from the photo, I have 2 growing and more to come…

I would love to know if this is a regular known Heirloom, for certainly it must be an heirloom if he saved the seeds from his farm back in the 1930’s. Or is it one of the many, that may have died off if not for the seed savers of the world.

I will of course save my seeds like a good steward of the earth would do….

Crazy Quilt and Fabric Painting.

2011-02-22T22:05:00.000-08:00

Idle hands are the devils instrument.

My hands are never idle, I always am doing something, and generally it is a sewing or fiber related project.

This week I have been busy painting some fun little motifs to crazy quilt upon. It started last week when I received a lovely note from a dear friend with a hand made little card. I have not written or called my friend in ages so I decided to make her a nice little post card with a UFO ( un-finished object) I had laying around for the last year.

Last year I painted this beetle and did a little patchwork quilting around it, started the embroidery then buried it in a pile of things I "would get back to."

Here is the finished postcard it is about 4"x 5" or so, and I sewed heavy paper to the back and wrote a note to send. I imagine it will be a nice surprise in the mailbox instead of a bill or a pile of junk mail.

I was so happy with my results I broke into my newest fabrics Moda Cross Weaves, very similar to Kaffe Fasset shot cottons. The warp and the weft are different colors or shades of colors and it gives the fabrics a homespun, earthy feel.

I broke out my paints and painted up a few designs. My least favorite was the seahorse, so I figured I would take the bull by the horns and start the embroidery with that one.
I decided to try some new and more difficult stitches, this one to the left is a weave across two threads, I am doing it in segments to create coral.
In this photo you can clearly see the warp and weft of the cross woven fabric as well, I really like it.

I am really pleased with the seahorse so far, while I thought it was blah at first I found lots of inspiration and an feeling really good with the results so far. I still have a more fauna and flora I want to add, more kelp and seaweed, perhaps a sea flower or a fish.... not sure yet

For a larger view just click the pictures.

.

WIP Modern Patchwork

2011-02-07T09:47:00.000-08:00

Funky, Folksy and functional... a patchwork table topper from my leftover parts of a much larger project.

Still Working on it, I have been hand stitching and embroidering every inch of it. The texture is just what I was going for. The backside is an added bonus, because it is as interesting as the front and there are no knots or stay strings showing. So it is reversible.

My inspiration started here on The Silly Boo Dilly site. I am drawn to all her quilts and patchwork creations. Then I began to investigate the techniques that she is inspired by such as Japanese Boro and found a whole new source of ideas and things to ponder in my own future work.

I am also drawn to the quilting style of Gee's Bend, which is a utilitarian quilting style using old work clothes and used fabrics as not to waste anything. It is also visually striking, wonky, modern and to me, very interesting.

Sunday was for Sausage making

2011-01-30T21:56:00.000-08:00

Steve and I were very very productive today. I finally got the sausage stuffer attachment for my beloved Kitchen Aid, so today was sausage making day.

We ground meat, chopped onion, pounded spices, mixed and stuffed until we had 46 sausage links. Then we packaged and froze the bulk then had a few for our supper. Damn they were good. I think the thing I may actually love the most is I know exactly what is in my links and there is not a snout, an ass, an ear or any strange preservatives. Only good old fashioned meat from the parts of the beast I do like to eat.

We made four different kinds of sausage links today, the first was Pork Italian sausage, then Pork Sage breakfast sausage. Next came my favorite, the Chicken Apple and Chipotle links and finally the Chicken, Basil, Feta and Sun Dried Tomato.

This was our first ever attempt at sausage making, and it was awesome. they links are really good, and will only get better as we tweak our recipes.

For dinner we roasted a few with red peppers, potatoe, onion and mushroom.... yum.

So what to Sew ...

2011-01-27T07:28:00.000-08:00

I've been working on these wonky squares, I LOVE them, they don't conform to rules and I don't need instructions to create them. They are not perfect each is unique and not one of them is truly an actual square.

As you can see from the photo with the cats, I had sewn together my first 5 squares thinking I would make a patchwork quilt or throw with only squares. After I pondered and thought a bit about what I was making, I decided I like each square separate and not crowded by its neighbor.

So the new plan is more like the second picture, I will place them randomly throughout on a solid background. This will be a twin quilt for our music/office/guest room. Anyone what to bet me how long it will take to complete?

With that in mind, here is another new project... yes I have like 5 projects going at one time.
This one is really inspiring to me. Although I wonder, if even though I painted a sketch and laid out fabric samples can others see the vision I see and can they see the alluring beauty of it?

I intend this to be an art quilt to just hang on the wall. It will be about 36"x36" I think. So far it is nothing more than an idea.

2011-01-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

So I had previously mentioned the Sketchbook Challenge.... This is pretty much what I have done so far this month. I looked at other peoples books and I am amazed how much art they can cram in a page. I'm not generally into drawing I sometimes sketch a quick idea out then translate that into whatever medium I am working with... So this challenge is fun and a great exercise for my creative self.

You will see in a future post that I did indeed make a bunch of wonky squares for a future quilt in colors very similar to those in my drawing.. My cat Fred was most defiantly was curled in a ball while I sewed and sketched. Why, just today I worked in my garden and planted some veggies like lettuce and peas.

Below is another page expressing some ideas and thoughts I had after visiting the San Jose Quilt and Textile Museum.

Congrats to my most talented daughter..

2011-01-06T08:35:00.000-08:00

Alexis was chosen to be one of the two artists who's music will be played on GRAMMY Career day 2011 in San Francisco. A panel will introduce her and then play her music to the 700 attendees . After that the panel of music industry professionals will offer feedback and to her.

Thank you powers that be ( Chris, Pat both of you ) this is such a neat opportunity. I am just so excited for her, and I hope that somehow, someway she will be able to incorporate music into her career someday. No matter what I have always been the lucky one to be able to hear her singing day after day these last 13 years... she started singing at about 3 years old... Love this child.

Check her out on Reverb Nation
http://www.reverbnation.com/alexissnyder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8hWNWn9Mq8

Seed is one of her original songs, we had and unfortunate incident a while back in which our terabyte hard drive was dropped and broken... gone is all of our music and photos, so now she will have to re-record a lot of music that was lost to this disaster. Oh, well such is life. So for now the public ( you) only get to hear these older covers and the couple originals recorded and uploaded before the disaster. In the meantime please listen and enjoy a new young musician.

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-01T19:45:00.000-08:00

The New Year began with a somber tone, our family lost someone very, very dear to us... it was a tragedy that defies logic and I will miss Jerry very much. I hope the next year will bring as much joy as this one brought pain.

To calm my frenzied mind I resorted to what I always resort to when I need distraction... my crafting. It is a way to escape, much like putting together a 1000 piece puzzle ( we did a few of those too) or reading your way through 800 pages in a day or two ( did that as well).

Since mushrooms seem to be sprouting everywhere in this torrential rain that in moving through, I figured I'd sprout a few right in my kitchen. So to hopefully satisfy a request I recieved via Etsy I made a few without the wooden bases.

I am in a fungus mood... so you will definitely be seeing more in the near future.

Teeni Weeni Mushrooms

2010-12-11T11:14:00.001-08:00

I really, really need to get crackin on making a few more Christmas gifts, but I have mushrooms on my mind.

I was inspired to make these little fellows this morning... I hope to make a few more, perhaps a purple one...

Sketchbook Challenge

2010-12-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

One of the online artist groups I belong to is putting out an interesting challenge for others. It is the Sketchbook challenge.

I plan to participate because I think it will not only chronicle a year of my life in pictures and words. I think it will also help me stay in a creative frame of mind.

I am inviting all of you to participate as well. You don't need to be an artist to take up a pen, a crayon, some watercolors or even a simple pencil then draw something from your day. You could even glue in found objects, make a collage, doodle. Regardless it will be a creative and fun exercise.

The Blog is called The Sketchbook Challenge, you will find all the info you need there.

There will be a monthly theme, the artists there will show pages of their own blogs and share the inspirations behind the pages. They will be sharing techniques and tips.

As one of the featured artists Jill Berry states " you can spend the year learning to draw, ( I think anyone can do this) or you can not. But the year will go by anyways, might as well give it a go."

So my friends instead of posting random thoughts just to your wall post them to your journal as well and then illustrate the page.

Let's get creative !

Cytel

Baking Time, and How to Custom Color Your Own Sugar Sparkles For Your Cookies.

2010-12-06T17:30:00.001-08:00

It is time to make boxes of cookies for our friends and neighbors. So of course we made a production out of it.

We just made 3 kinds and managed to burn the first tray of Snickerdoodles. If you keep up with my blog you know I am sort of prone to burning things.

After the initial batch of torched cookies we figured out our oven and made Snickerdoodles, Spritz and the best darn Lemon Meltaways with a colored crystal glaze.

You can find the recipe of the Lemon Meltaways here

To make them festive and pretty you will do one final step of dipping them in a small bowl of colored sugar crystals, right after you dip in glaze and dab exess glaze off on the back of a fork.

To To make your own custom sugar colors

Gather together:

a bottle of white sparkling sugar, mine is Wilton's brand

Wiltons icing colors to dye the sugar.

a 1/2 -1 tsp granulated sugar

In a small ramekin pour about 1/3 cup of sugar crystals and the granulated sugar. With a fork take up the tiniest amount of icing color. You can see in the photo the small amount on the tine of the fork, start with just a drop and begin mixing. I stir with a mashing type motion until my color disperses evenly. Add more color as you see fit. With icing colors you can mix colors and create new colors. So play around a bit. My green was yellow, and blue sugars mixed. My red was a bit of burgandy and red mixed. Yellow takes more to color that other colors but always start with a little and add until you reach the color.

These cookies are so damn good you will want to make 2 batches, because your family will devour one batch right away....

Happy Holidays,
Cytel

Our Thanksgiving Feast AKA year of the flaming oven.

2010-12-03T07:27:00.000-08:00

Last year my husband and I went above and beyond to create the most amazing dinner and experience for everyone who came to spend the holiday with us. This year I decided I did not want to compete with our success so we would just keep it low key but go with some less traditional foods. Obviously we would put on a feast that would be unforgettable , just not so extravagant.

We had quite a crowd, My mom came from north eastern Oregon and stayed for 10 days. I miss her so much already, it has been years and years since I was able to spend that much quality time with her. Steve's mom, sister and her family were here as well, our house was quite full with 10 of us for 3 days. 60 meals were prepared over 3 days.. we consumed a vat of butter, a wagon load of carbs and we all need to diet now.

Everything was going well, we were making a BBQ prime rib and my famous or perhaps infamous roasted duck. Along with all sorts of fabulous sides.

About 1.5 hours before serving time I removed the duck from the oven to pour out the fat that accumulated in the bottom of the pan when I failed to grab both sections of the damn thing, I pulled out the roasting rack and that was all I had in my hands a roasting rack and a duck but no pan. The pan of drippings, mind you there was not just a scant 1/2 cup it was more like 4 cups of juice and fat just fell into the oven draining into the vent holes in the bottom. I have a gas oven so the floor of the oven is above the flames that heat it up there are long opening for heat to pass up through. All the juices went down into where the flame element is. Well at first it didn't seem so bad. I wiped up what I could see, turned on the fans, it was starting to smoke pretty bad....but nothing to worry about So I put in the Yorkshire puddings. Figuring I'd clean it after cooking.

Smoke was pouring out of the oven but we checked it and figured it would burn off and I'd just have a mess to clean later. Pretty soon it was not just annoying smoke but horrible black thick smoke, Steve opened all the windows and turned the whole house fan on to clear the air for breathing. Now it is like 37 degrees in five min from the fan. everyone is donning coats and covering up with blankets.

I opened the oven and HOLY HELL flames erupt out of it, smoke is curling through the kitchen and my daughter yelling to call the firefighters... someone said pour water on it....
NO water
NO firefighters, I can handle this just calm down people.

I poured salt a lot of it all over the flaming oven bed, pulled the Yorkshire puddings. They were a bit blackened but still edible. Thankfully I was house sitting the neighbors house, so my sister-in-law suggested we use their oven to finish the puddings, while we sorted out our own mess.

My first thought was sure I'll burn down not just my own house but theirs too... Happy Holidays! Ok we'll cook them over there....

Anyhow, since it was freezing in our house the oven cooled off quickly and in the 20 min the puddings needed to finish cooking my husband and I unscrewed the bottom plate of our oven and cleaned up all the salt, the grease, the juice from the duck and put it back together in time to cook the stuffing and whatever else we ate.

I like to make certain our holidays are unforgettable I think I managed to do it once again. We won't remember what we ate but we will all remember the flaming oven.

What will I do next year, how could I possibly top this experience?

Happy Holidays from Chef Cytel!

Little Paper Birds

2010-11-29T22:20:00.001-08:00

Little woven birds crafted from paper.

Available in my Etsy Shop.

A gift for you.

2010-11-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

I drew up these bird ornaments last night to share with all my friends. I just ask that you use them for personal use and do not sell my designs.

You need:
X-acto knife, I like the smaller one with a very pointy blade
extra blades at least a 5 pack
8"x11" white cardstock
colored cardstock for the background
craft glue ( I thin mine is a small Tupperware with a little water)
paintbrush for the glue
a self healing mat or other cutting surface. Not your dining room table

Right click on the picture below and choose "print picture". Print onto the back side of your white cardstock. I am sorry if the bottom of the picture gets cut off by font on the printed page, but you can draw in the bottom yourself. I am just not savvy enough to know how to set up my blog to let you print a picture perfectly.

Anyhow, I start cutting the smallest details first, such as eyes and wing details. Then I cut the smaller sections away that are in the leaves and between thin branches. I leave the bigger section for last, they help anchor the paper while you cut.

Practice a few times and don't worry about perfection, your human not a machine, inconsistency adds charm... that's what I say.

After you cut it out, apply a thin coat of glue to the printed side being careful not to get glue on the from of your ornament. Place it on the colored cardstock and press the paper down flat. when this is dry carefully cut along the outer edge and cut out the top hole for adding a hanger.

I hope you enjoy this little tutorial. If you have any questions just ask.

Cytel

While I have not been blogging I have been busy crafting away...

2010-11-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

My Husband found this gem on the side of the road. I grabbed it for a friend who is sore need of a working machine. It works! It is old but good. The best part is the cabinet it lives in, it is really pretty or it will be when it gets refinished. Makes me want one for my sewing machine.

Also,
I finally completed the face of my big queen sized patchwork quilt. I tried so hard to make a layout where matching colors did not touch. Yet never the less when I sewed it up many mistakes popped up. I probably had one drink to many while sewing :) Despite that I just went with it, I'm not ripping it out to fix it. Mistakes add character.

Now I have to put it together... I have never quilted something so large. Any advice?

Silhouettes and Paper Cutting

2010-11-12T12:21:00.000-08:00

The holidays for me are a time when I create an array of gifts. I try not to duplicate items I made in the years past.

So in my quest to make something new I found yet another craft that sweeps my imagination away. It is also very easy on the pocket book, which for many of us can be quite a blessing.

What I found for this years mini gifts are paper cut scenes, or Scherenschnitte. This is a craft brought to us by our ancestors. Paper carving has been a folk art in most countries spanning since paper was invented.

I recall cutting silhouettes in grade school to give as gifts to our parents. Not to mention pretty much everyone have cut a snowflake to display in the winter.... another example of Sherenschnitte in our daily lives.

One of the best things is it is so accessible all you really need is scissors, or and X-acto paper and a mat or cutting board. I love the folk art charm of the pieces and have quite a few ideas I hope to make.

Above is a selection of ornaments I have been making, They are just 5" tall and a couple inches wide. Each scene takes me a while to think up and draw out, but once I begin to cut it is pretty simple. The main thing is to try to keep the scene connected so the paper stays whole. Another thing to be wary of is accidentally slicing way to far across a scene, it probably happens to me when I've been at it a while, or if the blade is dull... but I almost cut the head right off my Turkey while making the menu frame for my Thanksgiving party.

I am working on this to showcase our menu, it is 8"x11"and I have not decided what color to use in the background, likely it will be an Autumn orange. The center will be empty and we will print something and frame it for the table. I think my mom is going to LOVE it and she will be coming down to have the holiday with us this year, so it will also be a gift for her. Maybe we can take out the menu and replace that with a photo of the family gathering.

I hope someone out there is inspired by this post to create something beautiful for themselves or as gifts to others.

Peace,

Cytel

Fall Crafting Season is officially here

2010-09-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Too bad the chill in the air only last until the sun begins to shine each morning. It is going to be 98F this weekend. I just want a nice 60 degree day to bake bread and make comfort foods.

In honor of a somewhat cool day last week, only got into the 70's I decided to make myself a hat. Yes, I could buy one that was made in China for allot less, but that is not my style.

I found a decent pattern on Etsy and first made a fedora.

Unfortunately It is a little small, good thing I used inexpensive fabric instead of the wool I want for a final hat. Regardless I think it is very cute, and it is going to Etsy as a sample product. The hat is for someone with a 22.5" head, my head is bigger, good thing I have big hair to balance it all out.

Hat #2 is an Irish cap, it is to big... just a little to big. Yet despite things I want to change it is really cute, I cannot wait to make a perfect one to wear everywhere.

I did not get photos yet, so I'll just wait until I make a second hat with a better fit before I show it off.

I ordered yet another patter from Etsy , and older vogue hat pattern, still waiting for it to arrive, it shipped from Australia so it may take a bit of time.

In other news from the Oak Forest, it is harvest time, and although I have the tiniest garden ever I still managed to put away a fair amount of tomatos and pickles. Plus I just got myself a Lil Chief smoker and and making a big ol batch of venison and elk jerky. YUM! Thank you to my family who provided my meat :)

Sunshine and silk scraps make for a pleasent and beautiful creative weekend.

2010-07-31T12:51:00.001-07:00

I have a bag of hand painted silk scraps my mom-in-law gave me after she was done with her own creations. Knowing I am a packrat to the extreme she knew they would never be wasted while I’m on watch :)

Anyhow, I have been in some odd creative funk lately and have been thinking WAY to much and accomplishing nothing. Then by the grace off all that is right in the universe I read something that snapped me out after 7 long months of almost no creating.

It was just a simple statement by another artist …” You need to make time your your art if you don’t no one else will”

Ha! what have I been waiting for? For my husband to get out my beads and make dinner so I can craft? For my daughter to suggest I go take over the kitchen table with wool and scraps and beads and fibers?

I needed to also recall my own saying “ less thinking more doing” and start doing more art again.

Concrete Staining part 3

2010-06-30T07:09:00.000-07:00

After the floor is cleaned, and taped off in the desired design the fun begins.

I want a light border tile followed by a darker inner border tile and the center to be earthy and brown but lighter that the border.

The first step is to sponge and dry brush on a semi opaque light color. I used a clear concrete stain and added white acrylic to make the color. go around in a random and unplanned manner dabbing and sponging your tiles. We wanted light and dark spots so I purposely add more stain to some places and less to others. Just stay on one side of the tape and keep a wet towel handy to scrub off any paint that gets away from you.

When the white drys the second color is added. I want to tie in my main color throughout all three different tiles I plan to paint. So I started with the brown stain I will be using for the center and main floor. To that I added a bit of yellow ochre tint-all as well as a bad of burnt sienna tint-all. Tint-all is a pigment that can be used in small quantities to color your paint, it is available in the paint dept of hardware stores, I got our at Home Depot.

Using a couple of bluebird tail feathers ( thank you my lovely cats) I began the rock veins, I followed behind and sponged them here and there to soften the look. To really add a natural look and depth to the stone, I went around a finial time with the brown but darkened it up with the yellow and a bit of tint-all grey. experiment and play, rocks in nature are not perfectly colored so neither should yours be. I used a fan shaped paintbrush to create the finial cracks and veins on my white border.

Inner Border, I mixed two batches of stain, the fist the brown stain from the main center, plus burnt sienna and yellow and a tiny bit of grey, the second a very saturated mix of the same three colors, but added a lot of grey until the mix was near gunmetal colored.

With the lighter of the two I went around filling the border with random darker and lighter spots taking care to fill my entire space, no grey concrete showing, and cleaning up any paint I got onto existing areas where it did not belong.

Go around with the darker stain but use a lighter hand so the light and the dark both show, but because I want this part dark I made certain the darker stain was more prominent.

Steve went around for the third layer with a clear stain with only yellow ochre and dry brushed here and there sparsely to add the rich depth we wanted.

The central tiles, here I mixed brown stain with a fawn colored opaque acrylic and my yellow and sienna tints, dab and blot it here and there until the surface is covered. Layer two for the center tiles was a white mix similar to the boarder but a bit more translucent. I just slothed it randomly and thickly here and there leaving some grey concrete exposed covering parts of the fawn stain, a very random and not planned pattern. Let it dry.

After it dried we taped off our borders with painters paper, the next step can be messy and splatter your other hard work so plan accordingly.

This was a two person job if your surface is large.

I took a weed sprayer the kind you pump, filled it with the brown stain and pumped it up until I could pump it no more. The stain is thick and if you do not pump it well you get big ugly splotches as opposed to a fine spray.

I sprayed the floor heavier in some spots lighter in others and Steve went behind with a roller feathering it out and smoothing the color.

We went around after the first coat and added some more color to places we missed or places that needed a little more color ( such as the glue line we did not completely remove and the spray painted J.A. that was on the slab.)

Let it dry... then remove all your tape and see the fruits of your labor.

After you have rested, sweep the area very very well, remove all the beasts from the house so they don't run through like our cat did. And seal the floor with a concrete sealer. Steve put down two layers, and we used a wet look, shiny sealer.

We are done, isn't it a beauty?

Concrete Staining part 2

2010-06-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

We ripped up the carpets then we set forth to clean, and scrape off the glue and white residue that is on concrete. We rented a big rotary polisher/scrubber thingy, put our rubber boots on and scrubbed some more. It took a full day to get the concrete clean enough for our intents and purposes.

I did my measuring and computing for the faux tile design I am going to stain. then we had to tape it off in the proper grids.

After all the cleaning and scraping, sanding, scouring and so forth there are still many bits of residue and discoloration in the concrete. My back is sore and I also think that because I am using Behr concrete stain (which soaks into the concrete and residue) instead of an acid stain ( which would react with the chemicals in the concrete) the residue and white stuff will blend and add character. So we are done with the scrubbing.

After all the cleaning let it dry then use some sort of concrete repair or thin set concrete to fill any holes or gouges, large cracks etc. Allow that to dry then sand smooth. Vacuum, use a damp cloth to pick up any extra dust allow to dry again...

Then you can tape off your design. Or use stencils, etch with a dremel whatever you desire. after that is over make certain there is no particles etc and begin the staining.

I wanted to point out a problem we have to deal with on our floor.... the spray painted J.A. you can see it above in the photo. I am hoping it disappears with the many coats of stain that we are going to

put down.

I will post more later after I actually stain the concrete.

I think this can save you a huge chunk of change on changing your flooring, *but* it is labor intensive and you need to stay focused and complete all the steps if you want a nice looking finished product.

Stay tuned... see If I stay focused and end up with a nice looking finished product.

Goodbye nasty carpets.

2010-06-26T09:23:00.000-07:00

Here we go, removing the nasty carpets from the front room. Carpet removal is easier than I thought... its those damn little tack strips that are nailed into the concrete that are difficult to remove.

The plan is to scour the concrete, make faux grout lines in a complex yet do-able design, stain with 3 colors, and seal this floor by tomorrow.

So I better get off this computer and get my rear end back to work :)

My first fabric design

2010-06-10T17:21:00.001-07:00

This is my first fabric design, it is subtle and monochromatic but I have only just begun!

It took a few days to figure out how to draw in inkscape and create designs from my drawings.

Here is the sketch I made, I tried to keep it simple and still very "Cytel" I needed to be able to trace it in Inkscape.

I took the leaf and manipulated it in various ways until I got the green swatch above. So I am going to order a swatch of fabric and see how the colors and design actually look in a fabric.

This is another plan coming together, the orange flower with the green vines. I need to play and tweak it more I want the background to be colorized. I'm not to certain of the color combo, but I still have learning to do in regards to coloring in inkscape.

This whole design reminds me of Cinderella's pumpkin carriage. Hmmmmm

Spoonflower, and the home textile designer.

2010-06-08T08:04:00.000-07:00

I discovered Spoonflower a while back and the possibilities were really astounding. As anyone that knows me can tell you I am a crafty momma and I LOVE fabric and art... so this site combines these two loves and lets the home textile designer create and print high quality fabrics from their imagination and get it custom made.

I'm smitten, I have many ideas in my head but the real challenge is not drawing it on paper but in a program. I did some sketching last night, but this is not really my intended design just ideas. I want a provincial motif with a border in bright colors.

As for getting it into a program I have many hours of learning ahead of me, but I found Inkscape and Gimp both are free programs that are like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. I would post my progress but I have not figured out how to format the file into a .jpeg.

So check back and see if I figure out this fabric designing, beautiful creations could come of this.

We are home, welcome to our new house... Bathroom first.

2010-05-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

We closed escrow less than one month ago and immediately set to work making this house into our home. I will swear that the previous owner did not clean but maybe every few months ( or less) and worse than that the master bathroom must have served as a kennel. Use your imagination... it was gross.

Anyhow I wish I had a photo of how we received it, but We wasted no time and immediately removed the stained blue carpet and under pad to expose the concrete. The two pictures here shows the linoleum that was there in the other half.

While we would love to be able to spend any amount of money to make our dream bathroom, we have been spending plenty just to afford this house. So in light of financial responsibility we are going to keep it cheap. Our plan was to use a staining technique on the concrete to create the illusion of something more grand. We are very pleased with the results.

We had to remove old linoleum, that was a feat in itself, there was glue plus some sort of white stuff that was like plaster it must have been used to level the concrete. We used a small floor scrapper with a razor blade to remove most of the white layer and glue, them we switched to a disc sander and water to remove the rest. We had to give up on some of the white spots, they were small and impossible to remove so we figured they would add character in the finial floor.

The next step was to scrub the entire floor with lots of water and a stiff brush while my husband Steve shop-vacced it up. After that TSP cleaner, a stiff brush and a shop-vacc.

Boring stuff done, now time for the fun part!

We decided on a brown stain with green tints. I was trying to get a natural stone look. I bought some clear stain and a green avocado tint to mix my own green we had the store mix us up some brown.

At Steve's suggestion I used a feather to create the green lines and "cracks" and a paintbrush to feather and soften the color. You can see here how the green alone looked.

After the green dried I used a pump sprayer like you would use for killing weeds and sprayed the brown on in a random somewhat patchy design. I let it set for a minute or two then rolled a dry paint roller over to feather it and blend it. I went over some parts a few times to darken them while leaving other parts nearly untouched. After the floor was dried we added two layers of high gloss sealer. I was concerned it was going to be very slippery but it is not.

After the gloss was added it became difficult to photograph because of glare, but it looks really good.

So after two weeks of working on the bathroom in the

evenings here is our finial result. We are so happy with it. We
plan to rip out the carpets in the front rooms and stain the concrete in there as well, until we can afford what we really want... very nice hardwood.

All in all we spent $125 to do this and that includes the carpets, towels and shower curtain to match.

Happy April!

2010-04-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

It has been a month since I last posted a word here. We are still in the PROCESS of buying a house. We should close around the 19Th of April. I'm not going to hold me breath, so far we have been packed since January ( the last deal fell through), I feel lost without my stuff.

I have been looking around Flickr at my contacts art and creations, inspiration is all around me. I've half a mind to unpack my stash just for some creative relief. I did try to locate a paintbrush for an hour the other day... I ended up huffing and puffing about how chaotic moving is and how much this sucks... but never found the paint brush.

I'm dying to garden, anyone who knows me knows I love dirt and all it has to offer. I've cleaned up the garden here, I will sorely miss it. As of today I have two pea patches, some lettuce and Swiss chard left here oh yes and a couple of potatoes are volunteering. I hope the new tenant likes to garden. The weather has been so pleasant, like it is begging for me to come out and plant early spring things. Alas, I cannot, I must wait for the new garden at my new home. Steve, my husband, is going to build me at least 3 big raised beds. He promises it will be one of our first projects to get done. Hallelujah !!!

One thing fun about moving is I feel like my next craft room will be much more organized in the beginning at least. My daughter and I have been separating the supplies as they are unearthed from wherever they had been stashed, I have a lot of supplies, that is what it boils down to.

I do have to admit I have bought more fabric in spite of the fact I am not going to be able to use it for a few more weeks... I could not help it. Whats worse, the shop I got this wonderful fabric from is closing and I feel the need to go get even more! Do I need to rationalize out loud why I need more? Probably not, but... Its on sale, its yummy and pretty , I'll make something fabulous and probably sell it... I need it. Thats right I need fabric :)

What I really need is to move so I stop feeling lost and chaotic.

Till next time,

Craft on.
Cytel

Home Purchase back to square 2

2010-03-02T08:12:00.000-08:00

Update:

We got a loan all lined up YEAH!!! Previously you may know we found what seemed to be a pretty nice house, with a pool. It lacked a decent yard for my future garden but I was going to deal with that. I had a number of ideas. Anyhow we should have been closing in about 2 weeks... After they moved out we went back to see our new dream house OMG. We sent in the inspector and appraiser. HOLY S***T these people were horrible, they either lived like scoundrels or just destroyed as they left.

There was putrid standing water under the house that smelled like death. When you turned on the kitchen sink a meat like substance, looked kind of like fake crab meat came up in the shower stall in the bathroom. Not just a little either.. a 1/2 gallon at least. The vents from the furnace and water heater were broken off at the top so carbon monoxide just spewed... this is only the tippy top of problems. there were many many other repairs. To top it off the house was filthy and disgusting the cherry on top was a bookcase with books they left behind covered in puke. Grossssss. Anyhow I'd rather rent forever than buy a money pit like this.

So we have a loan and we are searching for another house. Wish us luck.

To tame the wild feeling I have been getting from this house buying I started my newest felted painting. It is only just started, but it is really turning out well.

Painting with Wool Fibers

2010-02-27T07:33:00.000-08:00

I've started another of my Indian portraits in my First Nations series.

I don't know how I stayed away from it so long. Needlefelting is so soothing and calming. Pulling bits of wool fiber, combing together colors until I find just the right tone. Stabbing it relentlessly until I finally have formed the picture I wished to portray. It is a forgiving and is easy to manipulate.

I am choosing to do this one in black and white.. perhaps a bit of sepia just here and there.... like how a photo will age and the edges turn brown as the years pass. Plus my wool is not strictly pure shades of black, grey and white.

If any of you Wallowians have wool from your flocks or even know of anyone who shears I can always use new kinds and colors from different breeds in my work. I work with all sorts of wool from goats, rabbits, sheep and fibers from nature like cotton, silk, soybean.

The house buying is going... the previous owners (slobs) have moved out and we are beginning inspections. So far it looks OK at best... it is completely filthy and smelly. Smashed in vents, a smashed in door, dart holes all over a wall, dog crap all over the concrete . They just did not clean up after themselves ever since we made an offer a month and a half ago, I don't understand people. Also just seeing how dirty they lived leaves me to wonder if they always lived like that ... did they take care of the house this poorly all along?

Happy felting

Cytel

The home buying battle is nearly won!

2010-02-25T11:48:00.000-08:00

Nearly and almost... but not quite. I have faith that it will be done by mid March and we will be moved in by April. YAY!!

In the meantime I decided to get over myself a little and make another wool painting. This one is indulgent and fanciful, I love it. It will be available in my Etsy shop when I am completely happy with all the little details.

My next picture is already on the table, it is a black and white American Indian portrait.

I did not fall off the face of the planet.

2010-02-16T06:33:00.000-08:00

But It felt like it.

I have not been around the web much lately nor have my creative juices been flowing. I have been stressed to the max trying to buy a house. The stress of waiting to find out what various banks and lenders think has turned my eyebrows white ( which I plucked immediately) and my hair is greying at an alarming rate.

You would think that buying a house would not be to difficult with the housing market in complete shambles and empty houses on every street I walk dawn. Wrong, lenders don't seem to want to deal with the self employed. I thought I was part of the American backbone, a small business owner ... Our problem seems to be we earned to much money last year and it is worrisome for the lender...? Is it really a strange thing that my upholstery business has flourished in this harsh economy? I after all fix and repair what people used to throw away and buy new.... Now they cannot afford to be so wasteful and I am making a good living.

I just want to buy my own house not my landlords.

Anyhow, this is the stress that is causing me to age, to disappear and that has stolen my creative energy.

I am willing myself to no longer dwell on it, I have gotten out my wool and my paints, maybe something beautiful will come of this.

Happy New Year, May it be prosperous and fulfilling.

2010-01-01T23:00:00.000-08:00

This year I have only one real goal and that is to delve deeper into my creative side , do my art and see where that leads in my life. I feel successful in my business, I'm very very proud of my child, and I'm happy. To soon my daughter will go off to college then on to her own life and I want to be doing what fulfills me. Therefore, more projects.

So to begin I have started a sampler of sorts, basically I'm embroidering a printed fabric I found at Ikea. It is a perfect canvas to practice stitches on. I have always admired embroidery, it is so textured and needlework can be really amazing. I want to be able to manipulate fibers in ways that are lush and full of life.

Here are a couple of pictures of the stitches I have learned. The leaf to the left is not as wonderful as I had imagined it would be but it is not finished and that will defiantly help.

The pomegranate above is composed of buttonhole stitches, lots of them.

The leaf is a square filling stitch and the stem in the middle is couching.

Im my quest to explore art more I am taking an online class, it is called Color Theory it is taught by Judy Perez a quilt and fiber artist. I just received the textile paints that are for the class and immediately got to playing.

I found right off that the paints bleed all over the fabric when I added water to thin them. I briefly read that there is other ways to thin them so they don't bleed... so I will have to look into that.

Anyhow, after a few little mistakes and learning opportunities I painted a hummingbird, a beetle and a dragonfly. The dragonfly was my fist attempt and you can see how much improvement there was between it and the others.

After painting I messed around and sewed some scraps around the pictures... pretty cool so far.

These will probably be post cards for my parents. I think they will enjoy that.

Smoked Duck with Cranberry Mango Chutney

2009-11-29T09:40:00.000-08:00

Smoked Duck

This takes 3 days to make. You will cook and serve on day 3. This can be a finicky dish to prepare, it is really best to make a dry run before you try to impress guests. Read all the instruction thoroughly before starting and do not skip any of the steps.

5-6 Lb Muscovy duck ( each duck serves about 4 ) make as many as you need
¼ cup salt per gallon water used to brine.
1 orange cleaned and cut into quarters
1 onion quartered
one large rosemary sprig per bird
fresh thyme, marjoram, garlic
Adobo seasoning ( a seasoning mixture of salt, garlic and oregano, wing it if you can't locate it)
pepper

hickory smoke chips

Thaw bird at least 4 days in advance of serving.

Day 1
remove from package, pull out any pin feathers, trim off the neck flap, and all excess fat from around cavity. Rinse clean. Often ducks found at supermarkets are pre-brined but continue as though it was not. If your duck is still a little frozen that will be ok, it will thaw.

If the bird you have has not had the skin pricked all over then you must do it. You need to prick the skin many times but only prick the skin and fat, do not pierce the flesh if you can manage. Often the pre-brined ducks are also pierced if this is the case skip this step.

Brine the bird. In a large tub or food safe bucket mix together ¼ cup salt per gallon water to cover the bird or birds. Before adding raw bird taste water, you want a pleasant saltiness, not overly saturated, make the brine to your taste. Add bird or birds. Keep cold , and brine for one day.

Day 2
after 24 hour brine, remove birds from brine drain pull the necks, livers, hearts and whatever else is in there out.

Pat dry.

Stuff cavity with the orange and onion quarters as well as a rosemary sprig. Tie the legs together and fold the wings back and over themselves.

Mix your herbs, garlic, pepper and Adobo in a bowl then liberally apply to the surface of the ducks. Place ducks on a roasting rack in the roasting pan you plan to cook them in. Do the back side first then the breast ( so the herbs don't fall off the side you will see.

This is a dry marinade stage, if you have a safe refrigerator that you can leave the ducks uncovered for 24 hours in do that. If not cover ducks keeping them elevated off the floor of the container so the juices do not soak the back let rest over night. You want the duck skin to dry out.

Day 3 -Day of Serving
soak the smoke chips or make 2 foil packs with the dry chips, pierce a few times and set aside.

About 7 hours before you serve your duck remove and let stand on counter. Light your smoker. We use a standard Weber BBQ to do this. I have cut a coffee can down to 2 inches tall and drilled out 1” holes in the bottom. This is the smoke pan. You need to light 8-10 coals Use a bricket chimney and NOT LIGHTER FLUID you do not want the ducks to taste like lighter fluid.

When the coals are ready pour them into the coffee can pan pull to the side in a location that you can access to add smoke chips as needed.

Place the rack right from your roasting pan in the smoker if it fits. If not place the duck directly on the rack. add a few chips cover tightly, open a vent a little to keep the air flow.

At this stage you are not cooking the duck you are adding the smoked flavor. So keep only enough coals in the smoke pan to create smoke not create heat. Add coals as needed. Add wood chips as needed.

Smoke duck for 2 hours.

Heat oven to 225 F remove the ducks from smoker and cover with a lid or with foil as tightly as you can. The duck will now slowly cook for 3.5 hours steaming off some of the fat. The more tightly covered the more fat will drain. Check them after 2 hours and drain the fat if it begins to accumulate in bottom. You don't want the ducks to touch it after it has rendered off. Keep tightly covered and remove from oven at 3.5 hours.

Let the duck rest for 45 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 F uncover ducks and place in the hot oven for another 40 min. This is the stage when you are crisping up the skin.

Carve the duck tossing out the fatty parts of the skin.

Serve with Mango Cranberry Chutney or a sauce of your choice.

Cranberry Mango Chutney

1 bag fresh cranberries picked through and cleaned
2 large mangoes peeled and chopped
1 medium apple peeled cored and chopped
1 whole sweet red pepper
1 ½ cup sugar
1 cup finely chopped onion
½ cup white vinegar
2 TB finely chopped ginger root
1 TB lemon juice
2 tsp curry powder
½ tsp each nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt
1/3 cup chopped crystallized ginger

Combine everything in a large stainless or enamel saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered 40 min or until fruits are tender and mixture is thickened. Stir occasionally.

To can, ladle the hot mixture into sterilized jars fill to within ½” of rim to allow for head space. Process 10 min for ½ pint jars and 15min for pint jars.

Excellent as an accompaniment with poultry.

Recipe for Grilled Lamb

2009-11-29T09:30:00.000-08:00

Grilled Lamb Rack with a Wild Mushroom Cabernet reduction sauce

This is dry marinated 1 day in advance of serving
though if you had to you could do it a few hours in advance.

Frenched lamb racks- (purchase enough for the amount you wish to serve. ) Frenched lamb racks have the rib bones protruding from the meat. You want to look for lamb racks that are somewhat trimmed down. You do not want or need the fat so don't pay for something you have to throw out.

Trim the lamb up. Turn them curved side down, carefully slice off the layer of fat along the bones and the silver from the meat. Careful trimming off the silver, you do not want to mangle the meat nor loos much of the meat in the trimming.
Wrap bone end in foil to protect it on the BBQ.

Herb Marinade
This herb marinade is caked onto the lamb you will be using very generous and equal amounts of seasonings. Just mix this into a paste and cake onto the lamb, it should be a thick layer

dry marjoram
fresh crushed garlic
pepper
salt

Cake this herb mixture onto lamb, place in a refrigerator over night.

BBQ over direct heat

BBQ your lamb in the center of the grill over the coals. Throw smoke chips in to add a wonderful smoky flavor. About 8-9 minutes per side until they are medium rare.
Serve with the mushroom Cabernet sauce

Wild Mushroom Cabernet Sauce

you can double this recipe it is excellent over mashed potatoes.
Can be made in advance and reheated.

1 ounce dried wild mushrooms or about 1 cup fresh. We used a mixture of morel, porcini, oyster and crimini
½ cup beef broth
½ cup Cabernet wine ( not to cheap, you want a decent flavor)
corsage of fresh thyme, bay, and marjoram tied into a bundle
3 peppercorns (I place these in a metal tea ball so they don't end up in the final dish.)
1 TB olive oil
2 TB flour, use gluten free if you need to. This is to thicken the sauce
salt to taste at the end

If you are using dried mushrooms rehydrate them 20 min prior and then rinse them 3-4 times to remove any unwanted bits of sand or dirt. Drain and squeeze dry.

In a small saucepan heat oil and sauté mushrooms until mostly browned and crispy add flour stir until the flour is a bit browned. Add the herb bundle, the peppercorns, wine and broth. Bring to a low simmer and simmer for 20 min or longer to reduce and thicken sauce. Adjust seasonings and add salt if you wish.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-29T08:42:00.000-08:00

We threw tradition into the wind and did not miss it at all.

We had a five course meal with plate service so most of our family was able to just sit, sip wine and chat. My husband and I designed the menu and all the recipes are our own. Our

daughter and our niece served the plates and pulled the plates. Just like a real restaurant. It was divine. All though we went to so much trouble we all were able to sit down at every course and enjoy it with the family.

Here is the menu:

Oyster Rockefeller

broiled oysters served with a creamy spinach sauce topped with hollandaise and smokey paprika

Harvest Salad

baby greens served with apples, pears, blue cheese, dried cranberries candied pecans and a pomegranate vinaigrette

Grilled Rack of Lamb

served medium rare with a Cabernet wild mushroom sauce, on a bed of horseradish mashed potatoes and honey glazed baby carrots

A Smoked and Grilled Duet

Smoked duck with cranberry mango chutney and a skewer of marinated beef tenderloin served on a bed of mashed sweet potato

Creme Brulee

with a chocolate wafer and fresh berries

I am certain almost everybody loved it. I know that as a hostess I was very happy with the results, it was just as I had planned. And there was a lot of planning.

Here is my daughter and Emily my niece looking very intent as they serve the lamb course.

If you are interested in recipes stay tuned... They will follow in future posts.

Our dog and Emily... Look how worn out he is after all the begging he had to do.

My wool paintings are finially framed!

2009-11-22T09:04:00.001-08:00

I still would like a bigger shadowbox, I have other beautiful arrowheads including a large spear head I wanted to display.

On the bottom of the frame and the bottom left, you are seeing awls and needle implements used to sew and manipulate leather and whatever else needed to be sewn.

12"x13" Wetfelt background,

needlefelt portrait

Wool

Jan 9 2009

While this may look like Chief Joseph it is not. The chiefs of these tribes wore very similar ornaments.

This is my rendition of Chief Plenty Coups of the Absaroka or Crow tribe. I know you have all seen him before, but it looks even better in a frame.

I actually framed all my wool paintings now, wohoo! It was a little pricey, but they will be here for my grandchildren not destroyed by my cats....

Now that they are complete I feel I can start another painting. A couple of ideas come from the Art Nueveau style, and because I recently learned that I am a distant cousin of Kay Nielson something related to his work.

Shoe Makin Time.

2009-11-20T06:19:00.000-08:00

I have always secretly habored the notion of being a cobbler... I want to make shoes.

So yesterday I woke up and I was shot through with inspiration. I would use my nice brown sweater that tragically was washed in hot water and make a pair of moccasins to use as slippers.

So I gathered my moccasins to examine, scoured the net for ideas or patterns. I still had not found a shoe that was what I wanted to make. So I gathered my slippers, my uggs and any other shoe around the house that I thought I could make. I set about to make a shoe. I drafted a pattern, it looked like it was going to work, and I sewed one up. I made slip on boots.

Yikes! I should have taken a photo... in my husbands words "thats hidious"

The boot I created was somehow twisted, so when it was on there was a large ill fitting area and the fabric twisted over the foot.It was also HUGE! I guess I added plenty of seam allowance. Definatly not what I wanted. But I could see the potential and I could see the mistakes. So I used a razorblade to dissassemble my creation, made some changes. Added a front zipper, took in the back...

And here are my new boot/ slippers

They are washed wool outer, the lining is Faux fur the sloes are three layers, leather, jute and velveteen.

They fit better than I dreamed they would, they are very very warm.

I am thrilled.

While there are still a few tweakes and I would like a more finished bottom edge I have decided

I will definiatly be making more. I have some fur pelts that were given left to me from my grandparents. My grandfather was a trapper in the 1920's and somehow there are still a few pelts of the little critters left. one pelt is a little dry on the leather but I think it will work. I also have a ton of leather to work with, but I'm leaning tword a brown or a black.

Velvet handmade felt and the food dyes.

2009-11-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Top of the morning to everyone who reads this little blog.

In my previous post you saw I was experimenting with kool-aid to dye stuff, well I moved quickly on to Wilton's cake icing dye. Success!

I browse the Internet regularly for inspiration generally I love texture, color, fiber, sewing, and vibrant items. I came across an English Artist I find intriguing, check out her blog here.

She combines wool and velvet, huge color and embroidery in delightful and fabulous ways. So I found my muse.

Here is a tray of the velvet and wool felt scraps I dyed this weekend, sort of pretty don't you think?

It is really to bad I do not have 100% silk velvet to dye I think it would be much brighter, but since I don't, I'll make do.

The wool really took the cake dyes well, the colors are rich and deep, yeah! Possibilities seem endless right now.

Anyhow, now I am playing with ideas and testing out my applique skills. I am not certain what I am creating.

You can see in the first photo where my musing has taken me. I am thinking of cutting the design out and sewing it to another piece.. maybe a tote bag or a journal cover. my mind is still wandering and I don't know where it will end up. Yet just having the possibility of creating something new and fresh gets me out of bed each morning. I just wish I had a studio so I could spread out all my projects.... basically I want to make a big mess and revel in it.

On another note, my angels are selling quickly, got an order for 12 of them yesterday! yeah *clap, clap, clap*

Kool-Aid Dye for Fabric, Experiments in Color.

2009-11-13T06:37:00.000-08:00

Last night I began some new experiments. I have a number of creative ideas involving fabrics, but I need color combos that are unavailable.

So I thought I'd try Kool-aid, I have heard of this method it can be used with any protein based cloth such as cotton wool, linen etc. I choose silk/rayon velvet because I want the lush texture for my plans. I also wanted cheap and easy in case I hate the results. So Kool-aid is the answer, all you need is vinegar, water and the color of your choice. Plus it smells very good.

Here is where I got my instructions

Here is a color chart for those of you who want to try this yourselves.

I think this is a very affordable alternative to expensive dyes for when the kids want to Tie Dye.

You can see in the above photo some of the colors I chose, I bought them before I saw the color chart.. so I have a small selection of color. Also please note the right hand side the "INVISIBLE" Kool-Aid.. yeah that's for making magic cloaks, it is of course it is invisible just as it states. I guess I did not see those large capital letters while I was buying. I also found the "Lemonade" to be to faint of a yellow so I dumped it and choose a brighter blue for that bottle.

Anyhow the process is very simple, soak your fabric in hot water, lay it on a large saran wrap in a pyrex. Paint, pour, drip your dye over the fabric and then secure the saran wrap. Microwave in two minute increments until the liquid in your item is clear.

Bam! You have dyed fabric.

In this last photo you can see the results of the dye over the white silk/rayon blend velvet. The pink piece farthest to the left is so pretty, I am

very pleased. I dyed it twice with the reds, once

would have been enough if I had followed instructions and microwaved until the liquid was clear. In the end I nuked that piece 6 minutes and the color is lush.

All in all I like the dyes I will be doing this again, I want richer colors in the blue and greens... It may have been my choice of fabric, silk dyes easy but rayon must not. My next experiment will be dying wool felt with the same colors. All these fabrics are for the same project, So I would like similar colorways.

Holiday Items are being listed on my Etsy Shop

2009-11-12T13:50:00.000-08:00

These little handcrafted Angels were a huge hit at the Los Gatos Historic Homes Boutique sale last weekend. I am listing them in my shop until Christmas. They are very ethereal and delicate looking. Each is unique and crafted from lambs wool.

Support the modern Arts and Crafts movement, buy local, buy handmade!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween, today is my 16Th anniversary... its been a crazy, sometimes rocky often smooth ride. Somehow we have managed to raise a really sweet and wonderful daughter. We found a way to work together at the same business for 13.5 years. There were times when it was difficult but I love him and he loves me and we have found a path that works for the both of us. A toast to another 16 years...

On to my garden news.

The weather here is slowly changing from the hellish hot summer to a wonderful crisp autumn, but the nights are dipping to near freezing temps and I still want to grow a garden. Being blessed to live in California our temps are very mild in comparison to, say, my families place in Montana.

I found a great idea in Mother Earth News on these row hoops. I now have a mini greenhouse at a fraction of the cost. When it is summer I can remove the plastic and put a shade fabric over instead. Basically it is just a 10' PVC pipe stuck on a piece of re-bar in the ground and then covered in heavy plastic sheeting.

So I made one yesterday, about 8' long, it was very easy and cost me $20. Better yet I have 2/3 of the roll of plastic left and for $14 more I will have another one of these at least 2 times as long.

We are going to try to eek a few more peppers off the pablano plant, you can see them in there still blooming and setting fruit. That bed is also full of carrots, radishes and a mixture of either broccoli, cauliflowers or cabbage.. I am uncertain. The cat dug up all my starts a while back and mixed them all up. I just did my best to save the little shoots and now it will be a surprise to see what I saved. Nice kitty.

I plan to plant lettuce in there or in another one as well as bok choy. I think my winter garden is going to do well. Right now I have a ton of kale and swiss chard but they are infested with aphids and although I try I am having a hell of a time getting rid of them. I hope the cool weather means they will go away soon.

I wanted to show this mini hooped greenhouse set up to all my gardening friends, maybe you can get a head start next spring by erecting one of these.

Last but not least we got a new cat recently.. his name is Gus, he is a sweet and loving cat that actually likes to snuggle and be pet, unlike Ms Kitty and Jude. Jude actually howls and growls at you when you pet him... kinda scary.

Here you can see Jude and Gus playing through the bathroom door. They spend hours laying there attacking each others toes. Gus is the grey one.

Old Tee Shirts Recycled into a Rag Rug.

2009-10-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

Don't throw away your old ratty tees, cut them into inch wide strips and crochet a rag rug. Shabby, chic, and a great way to recycle what could just be thrown out. Our great grandmothers would be proud of our thrift, there was a time when people used everything until you just could not eek another moment of life from it.

So here is my salute to the old ways. A brand new rug to stand on after a shower. Whenever I look down on it I will see old shirts that we wore while making our life memories.

Fall has arrived and I'm feeling creative.

2009-10-19T07:19:00.000-07:00

Why is it I need rain and dreary skies to get me in my crafty state of mind. It would not be so bad if I did not live in a place that is warm and sunny all but 3 months a year. Okay so maybe its not warm , but the sun always shines in California. October is kind to my creative self, the weather is cooling off and it even has rained!

Sneak preview of Lexi's Alice in Wonderland dress, It is made from sheer blue fabric with a good drape. It hangs and spins beautifully. I cut the apron from a play dress we have had around here since she was just a little girl. I just need to finish the neck and the apron and this costume is ready!

She found some darling black shoes to go with this. Wait till you see it on her.

We went to San Fransisco again this weekend. I love it there. I bought a couple of new Cd's, the soundtrack from Whip It and Pink Martini's Sympathique.

Now I have music to keep me company while I decide just how I will use all the fabric I got at a fabulous little store in the Sunset district called Peapod Fabric.

The store is tiny but the space is used so well. Every fabric in this place was one I loved and felt I needed. Well when I win a lottery or just come into lots of cash I'll buy it all!

Here is most of what I bought, aren't the owls cute? I also found cotton rickrack that is in good natural colors not the horrid primary colors you find at Jo-Ann's. I wish you could really see the patterns on these. I need a new camera, mine has had a little humidity damage and every picture is poopy and I cannot focus up close. What a drag.

What will I do with all that fabric you ask? Well, I plan to make aprons, I've been on a little apron kick and I have a place to try to sell them in November. If they don't sell then they will go on Etsy and go out as gifts for Christmas.

In keeping with my self sustaining lifestyle, I started packaging all the seeds I harvest and save every year. I have a long way to go with this project... there is still 3 or more kinds of lettuce seeds I saved as well as flower seeds and pepper seeds. Somehow I also need to save seeds from this one tomato that volunteered from last year. It is so yummy and such a fast grower I feel I should try to capture it.

The Mania Continues.

2009-09-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

Here is the photos of my latest and greatest!

Who could resist this adorable blue apron... hopefully not many because it is for sale :)

I don't know if I'm putting it on etsy or just waiting for the Los Gatos boutique. I'll probably wait.. I will decide by the weekend.

Below is the heavy utility Apron #3 this one is recycled jeans embellished with leather, lace, and linen/silk fabric samples.

I learned a new skill with my apron making. I learned to make my own bias tape! What a boon, now I will never be stuck with icky color match ups you get with ready to use commercial binding.

So this means the binding on this apron is made from a shimmery linen/silk blend.

The belt tie is not quite done. I think I'll put a bow in front or at least a knot, I think it adds something that is missing right now.

If you have any suggestions or comments about anything let me know! Or even any good ideas you think I would be able to incorporate... just leave me a note.

Ta Ta for now,

Cytel

Apron Crazy

2009-09-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

I am apron crazy right now, I just finished two new ones. One is sweet Cherry's with red, white and blue plaid as well as an adorable ruffle. The other is a utility apron for heavy work like painting upholstery, gardening. It is made of old denim, leather, old lace, some silk samples my cousin gave me.. (Thank you!) and could not be anymore cute.

Unfortunately I have no camera batteries so no pictures.

We are also so close to haveing a down payment for a house... YES!!!

A gift for a friend.

2009-09-14T22:19:00.000-07:00

I recently visited my dear friend and while I was there we visited a fabulous quilt shop. In this den of beautiful fabric Amanda found a cute panel of fabric with a vintage style apron printed on it. The pattern was called Antique Treasure Patt# 9861 for those of you who want to try to find it.

Anyhow I decided to make it reversible and I recycled my old skirt for the printed details on the neck and the pockets. I also used a bit of the lace I have been hoarding.

The pocket details.

I really like it, I think I might be giving these out for Christmas.

Quilting, Cleaning, Canning and Exploring.. Labor Day Weekend in a Nutshell.

2009-09-08T16:40:00.001-07:00

Three days off, whew I was a busy woman!

My mother recently showed off some of her amazing quilts she has been working on and it kindled a spark of creativity in me. ( A new spark... anyone who knows me I have no lack of creative inspiration )

Here is the center of my future quilt, my plan is that it will fade to maroons on the top and greens on the bottom. I was thinking of appliqueing a flower motif in the center, but am still undecided.

Here are my color selections, pretty safe spectrum to work from .

It is Harvest time here in the Central Valley... never ending harvest it feels like. So I canned and cooked up a feast this weekend. Strung my chili peppers up and hung them to dry, planted much of the fall garden. I also discovered I have a nasty cutworm infestation . I'll have to go get something to stop the little critters.

After a very busy Saturday we were up at the crack of dawn for a fabulous breakfast made by Steve. We were served California style Eggs Benedict, with avocado, fresh tomato and bacon. It was sooo delicious! We were off to the city of San Fransisco by 8:00 am, where we explored and shopped the Haight Ashbury area. Lexi hit many a thrift store and scored a sweet striped shirt and a couple of pins for her backpack. Steve found a patch for his backpack that says " FUCK WAR" . I agree ... F it.

Lex making out with a resident of the Haight district.

We met up with our cousins and explored the very beautiful and very humid Conservatory of Flowers. This purple one was called a bat flower... very exotic.

Hey look we found the offices of one of our favorite websites... cool Eh?

Monday we just cleaned up our very cluttered garage and used Craigslist to get rid of all the useful stuff we no longer need.

Peace my friends....

Cytel

Prime Growing Season is Upon Us.

2009-08-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

Today I want to address composting and getting ready for a winter/fall garden.

As any gardener knows rich organic soil is the perfect place to grow tasty veggies. In this new more aware green era I think even more folks are trying to grow their own "Victory Gardens". To make it sustainable and prolific for years to come you should most defiantly have a nice compost heap. The added nutrients you will be putting in the soil will replenish what your garden took and save you money next season from having to buy additives.

It is not hard to find materials to start a heap, we use all our kitchen wast, dog hair clippings, some grass clippings, coffee grounds.. just about anything except meat products, NO BONES!

I use two metal garbage cans both are drilled on the bottom with holes to allow for drainage and ventilation.

I began my first compost can in the beginning of the summer. The first thing I added was a bowl of kitchen scraps, some newspaper, some grass clipping, a bit of doggie poo ( activates your compost very well) a container of night crawlers leftover from a fishing adventure and a scoop of garden dirt.

Let the rotting begin! It is now three months later, I have a lovely black and rotted matter that I can now add into the soil around my plants.

My first can turned to compost so quickly I wanted a second can to add new fresh scraps too. You can see the sort of stuff that goes in. In this second can I used a large shovel of the compost I had already made. Instantly it became active with the creepy crawly bug life that a healthy compost will have.

See the grubs below? They are in paradise.

I love the garbage cans as a composter, first off they are affordable I think I paid $17 each. They have lids that aid in heating up the cans, they also keep the smells contained. Trust me compost has a very prolific odor... kind of gross and kind of good in a deep earthy way. They are also clean and you don't have some giant rotting pile of food waste bugging your neighbors or cluttering the scenery.

I use a pitch fork to turn the pile about once a week, or I roll the can around on its side. Rolling is not to easy if the can is full and heavy though. My first can filled up really fast before the rotting began, but after the rotting began it is reduced to 1/3 of the original volume. There is plenty of books to buy in regards to composting, but really you don't need one. Just throw all your organic materials in if your pile is to wet and soupy, remove the lid add some dry leaves or dry materials.. even paper waste will work. If it is dry add more wet materials or even a bit of water.

Nature knows what to do, so let nature take it's course.. be happy if you see grubs and bug life they aid in the decomposition.

I wanted to share this photo of my winter squash, I grow mine in the ground but I string it up in the air. I love this little trick, my plant id huge and is not taking up almost any space. The fruits are very strong and they don't need any sort of support as they grow heavy and ripe. This method also helps shade my house, and I can see the plant from my office window.

Summer is quickly passing and It is nearing the fall growing season.

The average date of my first yearly frost is November 14th. Luckily I was able to plan ahead and I have began my winter veggies in little homemade pots.

The pots are newspaper that I cut into about
4 1/2" x 7" strips. I glue them into tubes, then pinch the bottoms as I fill with dirt. Wa-La a growing pot for nothing more that a few min of cutting gluing and recycling.

I have my starts in a wagon so I can move then to and from the sun. It gets so blasted hot here I cannot start the seedling in the garden directly they would just burn up.

So far following the planting guide listed below I have begun growing artichokes, swiss chard, cauliflower, turnips, cabbage, and broccoli .
While the page below is for my growing season, and zone those of you in other cooler zones should adjust the plant dates.

I found lots of good garden info online, but so far my favorite page is : http://www.sacramentogardening.com/edible_gardening.html

Happy gardening, my your plants grow large and your compost rot fast!

After the great escape...

2009-07-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

After our outdoor adventure I came home to find about 20 cucumbers ready to be used. I ate two while I was watering then showed my husband the rest.

He decided that we should make a crock of pickles, so we are giving it a go. It smells like pickles... I put my finger in and tasted it.. tastes like a pickle brine.

It has to ferment now for 3 weeks, then to the jars.

The garden was prolific in the three days we were gone, I made a Mexican dinner with the Passilla peppers, squash blossoms and cilantro.

I broil the peppers to remove the skins, place a small bit of colby jack inside, place in an oiled pan. Place the squash flowers on top, salt and pepper. Add a mixture of two eggs and a bit of sour cream that has been whipped up, pour over the top and bake until it is puffy and golden, 20 minuets or so.

We love it.

We Escaped!

2009-07-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

We escaped our pampered city life and found our way to the Sierra Nevada National Forest. Lucky us, we found a perfect spot right by a stream and set up our pop-up.

We so needed this, we used to go camping every weekend of the summer, we just don't have time to camp like that anymore. It is so refreshing to just enjoy the fresh air, get up when its cold and damp, make coffee outside, you understand.

We took the our daughter, kayaks, the dog, a map and some crafts.. No, I can't leave home without them.

We drove all around the area, and found this old cabin. This is near Loney Meadow, where a family has had cattle grazing since the 1860's. The meadow was named for a family named Loney, so I'm guessing this may have been theirs.

wild speculation really.

The plant life was

amazing, many wonderful flowers. The one on the left here was 4-5 feet tall and everywhere in the swampy meadow. I believe it is called Miniature Gila lily

Lexi took the kayak across Lindsey Lake, shot the lake photo as she climbed up the hill to a waterfall.

We where walking the pathway at the far end, getting our dog Titan worn out so we could also take the Kayaks out.

He is a very large dog, but we wish he could ride in the tiny cargo area in the rear of the kayak... we tried to get him to ride there. He looked hilarious sitting there, and he was good for a little while. A very little while, about 2 minuets, but about 20 feet from shore he freaked out and jumped out.

So then we decided to walk him.

I'm so glad we bought these kayak's , they are so much fun and you can just zip across a lake to some secluded place. And claim it for your own for a while.

I can't wait to go back.

Bird Tutorial, Part 3

2009-07-10T06:56:00.000-07:00

This is part 3 of a three part tutorial, chick here for part 1 , or here for part 2.

So your bird is now dry and ready to be brought to life. You need to fill him. Use fiberfill, wool, cotton or whatever you have around that will do the job. When I put stuffing into small areas such as a beak or in a head I use a wooden pencil with an eraser, the pointy end is useful for getting small fluffs of stuffing into tight areas. The eraser end has a bit of grip and is also good for getting the stuffing to move where you want it.

When stuffing the beak, use small amounts at first so you don't create a lump.

Fill the body and leave the hole at the bottom open. This is a good time to add a heart to the inside or anything else you may want in there.. lavender petals.. whatever.

Making the wings, go through your fibers and pick an assortment of yarns, fabric scraps etc that match your bird. Or if the tail on your bird needs trimming use the trimmed off bits to create wings.

I cut little bits of colored yarns and scraps making two piles, one for each wing. I then sew them on.

If the wing is not pleasing for me to look at
I add embroidery or in the case of this green bird I added matching green wool and needle felted it along the top edge of the wing.

Now we will form the wire feet. pick a wire that is about 24g or somewhat sturdy, cut off a piece at least 36 inches long.

Fold it in half, and then hold it up against the bird breast area, make a bend about a thumb length or the length of the breast, down.

This will be the part that is inserted into the bird to add stability, so don't be stingy with the length of the interior wire. It should reach well into the bird.

When creating the feet I find it best to fold both sides of the wire at the same time so the feet are the same size.

From your first bend travel down the wire and place a bend where you think your birds ankle would be. Then out to the middle toe, on my birds this is also the longest toe.

Bend the wire back to the rear claw, then out to a second toe.

Leave the excess wire hanging for now and twist the first two toes and rear claw. If all looks good create the last toe and wrap the remaining wire around and back up the leg to add strength.

Insert your new wire legs into the bird body, if for some reason the hole where you stuffed you bird is not in the correct place for the legs cut a slit about an inch long where you want your legs to stick out from and insert them in at that spot. I push the wire up inside right along the chest area, you can feel it from the outside. Use your thumb to make room in there if you need to. Add stuffing to fill in hollows.

To close the holes I use the same color wool I used on the belly in Part one when I was wet felting. So use a matching wool and needle felt the holes shut. Needle up and around the leg wire that is inside the chest as well, this helps hold it in place. You can and should do this from the outside, careful not to stab the wire or you will end up with a broken needle in your bird.

This ends our tutorial, it up to your imagination to enhance the bird from here.

Wet felting a Bird with a Resist Part 2

2009-07-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

Hello, If you landed on this page and have not completed the first tutorial please click here...

Part 1

After your initial felting with the sander or by rubbing with bubble wrap. Pinch the fiber and pull up, if it is all sticking together and starting to felt you can remove the resist. If not rub and felt some more.

Remove your resist, I do it from the bottom of the belly, later I can use this opening to house the leg wires.

Pull the resist out of your bird. Now put your hand or fingers into the bird and work the belly and the back, the parts that were the edge of the resist.

Also poke your finger all the way to the beak and work that. I will also roll the beak like I am making a clay rope, this helps toughen it and makes it pointy.

Be certain to pull open the inside of your bird especially the head, so it does not felt flat. Check and recheck the head, it can really shrink up if your not careful. I tend to work the body more than the tail, the body needs to be stiffer. The tail looks nice when it is still a bit soft.

I roll the bird in my hands,to help the felting process. I do this for a few minuets, stopping to open it up, rubbing or rolling just parts I want to shrink such as the neck or beak. If the beak is to long or unshapely, just trim and roll in your palms to heal the cut.

Now it is time to go to the sink or water source. I alternate between hot and cold water roll and massage while removing the soap.

Open it up and pull it into it's 3-d shape, concentrate on the shaping. If something is to big use a washboard ( or something with ridges)to rub the spot. That will shrink it fast. After all the soap is removed and you have checked its form, Roll it in a dry towel and squeeze out the remaining water.

I then lay my felt in the sun to dry, or if it is winter I put it in the oven for a while. I do not have tons of patience when I'm crafting, I want to work until my project is done. Waiting for wool to dry is boring.

Here ends part 2.

Part 3

Making a Bird Using a Resist.

2009-07-08T22:40:00.000-07:00

This project assumes you have some experience in wet felting as well as perfunctory knowledge in using a resist.

The first thing is to design your resist. I draw what I imagine my 2-D design to look like, then I add 25% . After that I add another 15-20% to the parts I would like to be fat after the felting is done and my creation is stuffed. So on the picture to the left I added to the belly the back and around the head and beak. The reason in the whole thing will be shrinking and we don't want our creation to look gaunt or skinny.

I then cut it from paper and use a plastic bag such as a grocery sack or Saranwrap to wrap it thoroughly. I run it through the sewing machine to tack down the edges.

This method the resist is not waterproof, but it works for me. Please note my resist is missing a tail area, I will later make up for this blunder with a triangle section of bubble wrap.

Choose your colors, silks, and fibers you wish to embellish with. I used silk scraps and yarns which I will be cutting into long thin "feathers". I also have picked a variety of wool roving's.

Place your resist under the bubble wrap or plastic sheet so you can see it.

Begin to pull small wispy amounts of roving and color your bird. I like to layer colors in cascading colors so you can really see a fade of color from the belly to the back.

As you lay the body color be certain to make a number of layers and fill in any thin spots. The beak is easiest if you pull small wispy bits and place them vertical to the tip then add a thicker bit horizontal . This will wrap better in a later step.

Another thing you will want to note is that on this side you are laying colors in the reverse order you will be laying them when we cover the resist and create the other side of the bird. The first layer of this side is the outside layer of your finished bird. I keep notes if my layout becomes elaborate.

To do the tail, I fist lay down a bit of colored roving, I leave many gaps so the fibers and silk can really mesh and nuno through here. After I lay the wool I lay the silks, yarns and fibers, then another layer of wool bits just as you see in the photo. Tufts here and there overlapping thinly. Basically just enough to catch the silk.
Now when you are ready to call this side finished gently spray your wool layout with soapy water. I don't bother with hot water, mine is room temp and it is just 1/2 tsp ivory liquid soap and water.
Spraying will make it easier to wrap it over the resist.

Gently pull your resist out from under the plastic and place it on top of your arranged out wool.

Mist the bare resist as well as the surrounding wool. Gently pull the wool over the resist, add a triangular piece of plastic to the tail area to keep the sides from felting together. (or you could have designed your resist so this was not a problem, I did not. )

Now in reversing order layer the colors so your bird is the same color on either side. On this side the first colors you lay are the last colors from the other side, the colors from the inside of the bird.

When your resist is covered and you are ready to felt mist your project.

I used bubble wrap over the top to jiggle it gently just to set the water and the wool so I can flip it.

Flip it over and wrap the wool that is hanging over the edges onto the other side. Check for thin spots, fill them in if you need to.

Now spray your project until is is good and wet.

You can proceed to felting using either bubble wrap and screen , rubbing gently at first then felting and forming.

Or you can use a sander. I have a little Black and Decker with a Velcro bottom cover with a bit of vinyl so it does not snag. I set that on first the beak area, then move it down the body. I leave in motion on each section about 15 -20 seconds.

Flip the bird and repeat from beak to tail.

To continue the tutorial ... Part two

Growing Agriculture In Your LIttle Space on Earth.

2009-07-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

First off I"m not one to spout moral authority, but some things I am passionate about enough to tell the masses ( or the 12 people who might read my blog).

It is my factual opinion, ( George Carlin would have loved that) that everyone should attempt to grow some of what they eat. If every neighborhood was lined with nut trees, fruit trees, the knolls growing squash, nasturtiums, onions... so on and so on, Our communities would become closer. We would know our neighbors better, hunger could be eliminated or substantially reduced. After all a couple zucchini plants can supply a whole cul-de-sac at its peak.

By growing and sharing you become more harmonious, there is great satisfaction in looking around your garden and seeing strawberries that will be in your Margarita later, or tomato's and cucumbers for the salad you are going to have at dinner.

By growing and filling your space you will invite in wildlife, providing local birds with food from insects or seeds. Plants clean the air, they can be lovely to look at. Here where I live they help keep the yard cooler.

You do not need to be confined to a garden plot to grow food. Garden vegetable plants can be very lovely. An Artichoke has a wonderful silver foliage. They do best in mild temperatures but my brother's family grew them in Livingston Montana in one season, from seeds no less and had a decent crop. You can grow lettuce, in between violets, onions and nasturtiums. All of which are wonderful to look at as well as yummy to eat.

Another awesome thing about growing is you can just plant that gruesome sweet potato from the pantry when it begins to spout leaves... and 3 months later your crop will come in.

Another added benefit to growing and intermingling your plants is that in nature plants are intermingled. By mimicking natural planting, you will deter a horde of plant eating bugs, or plant disease. They may eat one or two here and there, but by not providing a whole crop in one place the bugs or disease will not spread to all the local plants.

My how time flies in the warm summer months.

2009-07-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hello to all my friends out there, I miss being able to sit down at my PC and peruse all the art and blogs as I did in the spring and winter months.

My job is booming, I bet I could just work 24/7 if I did not put my foot down.

My daughter is on the Gator's swim team, and doing well! We have a swim meet every weekend on Saturday. We have to be there ready to swim by 7AM... arggg I want to sleep in till at least 7am. Alas t'is not gunna happen :)

We bought ourselves a couple of Kayaks.. wowza they are SO much fun. So we have been carving out a few hours a day about 3 times a week to run down to Lake Natomas and kayak about.

Now you might be seeing why I have no time to dilly dally.. I'm a busy momma.

In June my husband and I went to the Dominican Republic for about a week. It was gorgeous and wonderful. Blue oceans, tropical breezes and thunderstorms. Banana flowers, parrots, white sand.... ahhh what a wonderful time we had.

Don't think my poor child was at home being watched over and wishing she were there.. She was on her 8Th grade trip to Washington DC. They literally toured all the sites non-stop for 6 days. She slept for 16 hours when she got home.

While I have not been doing much art, I have been gathering inspirations all over the world. I am particular to birds and have 3 in the works. I am excited to share them with you. Hopefully next week I will have time.

Also while in the DR I found they have a mineral found only there in a 1 km area, called Larimar. I bought a fair amount to make into some jewelry.. it is a very pretty stone. It is a very light turquoise, like the Caribbean ocean.

Also Happy July 4th!! We are off to the bay area, for parting with family, and blasting off fireworks! ( we are just watching someone else blast them off )

May Showers and the Sunshine

2009-05-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

The rain was fast and furious this weekend, yet it is warm out. We are having a few sunny hours right now, and it is so lush and freshly wet that I had to go snap a few photos of my garden.

I let the onions go to seed last year, therefore there are lots of "volunteers" growing all over. Right now I have planted Pablano peppers, red bell peppers, 5 early girl tomato's, potato,

lettuce, peas, carrots, spinach, sugar snap and regular peas, garlic, strawberries, artichoke, patty pan, summer squash, cantaloupe and a

cucumber. I'm not done yet. This weekend is Mothers Day and I'm going to put my family to

work. I want a new raised bed built and planted by Sunday. I hope they are excited about it as I am.

Here is my Herb trough

there is sage, marjoram,

thyme,

chives and the basil is just pushing up through the dirt.

My loyal assistant.. Jude.

He is being peaceful, usually he is like a bad puppy, attacking your feet and biting. He is one interesting cat.. he fetches and retrieves like a puppy. I think living with Titan has made this cat think he is a dog.

Check out these Calendula plants, they bloomed last week,

now a new bloom is growing up in the center of the dead flower. I never knew they did that, learned something new today :)

Last but not least, the cute little garden gate I made from scrap and branches. Not only is it a pleasure to look at it keeps Titan from my garden.

New Style Wristlet

2009-04-10T07:44:00.000-07:00

As you can see I have a new style I have made... what do you think?

The top one is the prototype so it is just some fabric I had that does not mean anything to me... turns out it matches a tote bag I made last year. They are now a matching set.

The bottom wristlet is all mine, I made it from purple velveteen, and black leather. I took it to Vegas where it served me well. Im keeping this one.

I Have some nice fabrics to choose from, so this weekend I'll probably make a few of this style and see how they fair.

I also have another beaded nuno style wristlet I need to finish. I beaded it in the mornings while in Vegas... yes I took my crafting with me. I just can't stop :)

It is beautiful, it is reminiscent of blue sodalite... Pictures coming soon.

Im using up my fabric stash!

2009-03-31T19:35:00.001-07:00

I have been looking at a growing pile of fabric scraps from all the upholstery jobs I do trying to decide just what am I going to do with all this. I have tons of fabric, nothing very large though... well this weekend I played around and finally came up with a nice pattern for 5"x7" wristlets. I love the pattern now that I have finally figured out how to make the zipper lay perfect, have it fully lined and just plain use up fabric that would have been trashed.

I cannot throw away any old dresses, and old clothes.... basically if the fabric that was used to make something was decent I will hoard it.. I may be mental. Yet then again, I cannot see throwing something with life and beauty away into some trash heap to rot until the end of time. So I'm cutting it all up to line or grace the little pouches.

They are great for holding your cell phone, cash and ID on a night out.

I'm going to Vegas this weekend... wonder which one I'll use?

I'm also making some super fabulous Wool Nuno felt with turquoise and blue silks. This will also be made into little wristlets.

Wool painting complete

2009-03-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

17"x14"

merino, corridale, wools

Needlefelt girls, wetfelted background

2009

I just loved the image of these two girls, hair tousled by the gentle wind. I hope I captured them in a way that portrays love and contentment to you.

It took me a long time , but I think I'm finally done with this one.

I'm sitting here, looking out my window at a blue sky broken with clouds. I can not decide If I should just relax or try to accomplish something. I think I'll dig out all my half started art projects and attempt to finish something.

Then again, I could just start yet another one and see where it takes me.

Work is very busy, but I was able to score a ton of really nice leftover upholstery, the scrap is only about 14" wide but 20 feet long perhaps... what to do with it? I'm a pack-rat to the extreme. So me saving all this scrap drives my hubby bonkers. I cannot throw it away though.. it is beautiful, expensive, brand new and I am recycling it :) I'm greening the planet one scrap of fabric at a time!!

Work, Work, Work, its all I've been doing.

2009-03-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

I'm alive and doing well if anyone is interested :)

I've been so very busy with my upholstery I haven't had time for fun artistic creations.

Below are some seats that gave me a hell of a time the past week. They were ugly as sin when they arrived here. Someone ( my client) had tried to spray paint the fabric back to red, then changed their mind and decided to spray it black. Needless to say, shortcuts don't usually work.

I recovered them in a black vinyl and black velveteen automotive fabric. My biggest problem was I did not even think of the stretch of the original fabric when I chose the new fabric and I was sweating bullets trying to get the cover over the frame without ripping it open.

In the end they were beautiful and the client was so very happy. Yeah!!!

Now we are refreshing an entire restaurant, and I have about 60 booths and backs to do. The restaurant is not closing down to remodel so it all happens in the off hours. meaning night, morning and everything must be complete by the opening each day. Sigh... it can be stressful.

I am working on a beautiful felt picture, it is coming along wonderfully, hopefully I can do more with it this weekend.

Peace.

WIP, the challenges of felting a face.

2009-03-03T08:03:00.000-08:00

Good Morning,

I'm posting a work in progress today, to the left you will see the photo I am using as reference and below that you can see one of the girls faces. I am having a heck of a time capturing the facial expression. Of course my original photo does not help the situation, it is 1.5" x 2" or so.

On my piece the eyes are not right, maybe to much white.. or perhaps the features are spread

to far apart. The eyes look like they are glaring...

So this is what I'm struggling with at the moment. I'm no where near done. Today I'll hang my WIP in the garage while I do upholstery work, and hopefully I will see where the picture has gone wrong.

On the other hand, the other girl in this picture is wonderful, smiling and I am very happy with her.

Look flowers :) Spring is coming, the March rains are bringing up flowers all over. This is my favorite time of the year. The wet weather is not totally great, but the green grasses, the newly emerging leaves.. flowers and darting birds all make me very happy.

If anyone has suggestions to help me with my felting please let me know.. I appreciate any help I can get.

Cytel

The felt is flying

2009-03-01T16:47:00.000-08:00

"The Successful Raccoon's Guide to Intimidation"

This is for the Felting Forum challenge to use four randomly selected words in a felted peice.

Raccoon, Book, Navy Blue, Intimidation.

I am pleased with the end result, and I was so dragging my feet to get this done.

Now that I am finished with that I am back to creating another picture..

here is a little hint...

Winter Fun when the Rain Comes Calling

2009-02-23T18:12:00.000-08:00

I've been pretty busy the last couple weeks, no time to blog on and on about it I guess. I took my wonderful daughter skiing, the snow was very new and very deep. I had a number of falls and wow was I sore.

It was tons of fun and I hope we can go back soon. My husband does not ski but he does like snow, he has some crazy notion we ought to go snow camping next weekend... omg I think I'll freeze to death...

As of my last post I was making mushrooms and fairies.. they are getting much more elaborate now.

Here is a teaser of what I am now felting up. What you can see here is my second Faerie she is holding a life sized strawberry. She is made with merino, silks, wire, and her beautiful hair is some wonderful handmade yarn from Feline Fibers in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. She is sitting on an oak log, with an acorn cap bowl at her feet. I am working on the mushroom house, I think it might be for a mouse... or maybe a pixie. I know this is not the faerie's home, it is much to small.

This mushroom house is so fun, I have always loved miniatures and this suits my personality so well. I am working on a rock fireplace with a burning log, complete with lighting effects. This is all wool except the inner workings which are secret :)

My next plan is to make a small nest bed with a little quilt, the occupent of this little house and who knows what else.

Im also cooking some yummy potato sausage and kale soup to warm my soul on this rainy and cold night.

Rainy days means mushrooms aplenty

2009-02-11T07:19:00.001-08:00

Mushrooms! I'm working and felting all day long. These are the fruits of my efforts.

Last night I put the finishing touches on 16 of these. Im surrounded!

Hot Coffee and a Warm Kitty

2009-02-08T07:46:00.000-08:00

Hot coffee and a kitty to warm my lap. What more could I want on a chilly Sunday morning ?

Yesterday was such a great day. I got up very early and had 3 hours of alone time around the house. That was like a gift all by itself. Then I readied myself and went to my local yarn shop for roving. I finally found a nice big piece of wool bat for my Chief Plenty Coups Indian picture. Now I am one step closer to getting the arrowhead project done. I just need a custom frame. Lucky me my husband said he will make my frames all i have to do is buy him a miter box and a saw. No problem, I'll go to the hardware store today :)

On my way to the Yarn shop I called a friend and we decided to go to Downtown Sacramento to IndieSacramento (Sacramento's largest trunk show & craft bazaar). The show was wonderful, the sellers we great, the church it was held in was beautiful. In the garden beds there were beautiful statues of St Francis.

Most all the vendors have Etsy shops so here is a shout out to the ones I purchased from...

My purchases included a fab cat-alope shirt from Wear Yeti for my teen age daughter, which she loved. I bought myself some lovely earrings that look like tiny Italian tiles from Shrunken Cat Heads. They are so beautiful and Cori Cooks was a pleasure to chat with. I hope to meet her again someday. I also purchased a ceramic pot with a wonderful glaze from someone ... but I cannot find her information.

This wonderful abandoned and rotting old house was next to the church... I wish I could just take it over, there is much beauty in this old beast.

But look at the rot, it seeps from all the corners. If it were mine I'd have my studio in the room at the top. Ahhh to dream...

So As we left the craft show, we saw a park so we decided to take a stroll... turns out it was an outdoor museum and it was free day at all the area museums. Heather and I took full advantage.

Turns out we were at Sutter's Fort. There were folks dressed in period outfits, they shot off a cannon.. which was loud and surprising :)

Here is the spinning and weaving room at the fort.

After we did this we walked about twenty blocks had lunch, explored the Capital Mall gardens. We found a tree of giant oranges and partook. It was delicious.

At the end of the day I returned home to my family and we went to see a movie...

Coraline in 3-d . It was fun and cute.

All in all it was a wonderful day :)

Im filled with excitment..

2009-02-07T06:29:00.000-08:00

I'm filled with excitement this morning and I don't know why. The moon and stars must be doing it to me. I have nothing going on today that is really that interesting.. but I do like this strange euphoria I'm feeling :)

Last night I worked on the word challenge piece, and Ive decided for certain I much rather do flat felted paintings than 3-d sculptures. I could barely keep my eyes open by 8:30 pm. So I went to bed. The up side is I got plenty of sleep, my family is still in their beds and I have the whole house to myself for a few hours.

I'm working on another thing that has been floating around my head. It is a way for me to combine another of my craft loves with felt. I am making a necklace with a silver center pendant woven through with long cords felted from merino and silk. I have only just begun, I am now at the point where I have to decide if I should add a stone to the piece, or perhaps some sort of bead work or perhaps some silver baubles soldered on here and there. I have a number of sketches and ideas. Of course everything is so easy to make in your imagination. Nothing ever comes out the way I first imagined it... so this is a WIP ( work in progress)

The wonderful thing is silver and felt look great mixed together, so I'm excited to see what will become of this.

I hope everyone who falls through the w.w.web and lands here in my blog has a happy, crafty and creative weekend!

Rainy day

2009-02-06T08:02:00.000-08:00

Yeah, as much as I can't stand the rain we really need it. I think we might go on water rationing this summer if the lake level does not get back up to normal ranges.

Yesterday on http://www.feltingforum.com/ one of the members came up with a fun and unique challenge. We get 4 random words and we must felt something using all four words in one piece.

My words:

Raccoon, book, intimidate ( or intimidation) , Navy blue

Ohh fun and interesting. I have got 3 of the four words forming a picture in my head.. but I am intimidated by one and don't quite know what or how I will incorperate it in.

Recieved a wonderful exchange gift from New Zealand yesterday

2009-02-05T08:16:00.001-08:00

I recieved my fiber trade from Tess in New Zealand yesterday, wow what fabulous fibers. She even made me a little bear from mohair her own goat makes and merino. It is really cute. You can see the mohair and the goat Lucy-bug up in the corner. I feel quite lucky and I just want to go sift through it until something inspires me .

Well I must go work, my bills won't pay themselves I guess.

2009-01-28T07:50:00.000-08:00

Good Morning,

I have finished my Shepherdess fiber painting. I loved making it. My picture was inspired by a photo of a Baluch herder child. You can see the original image in the above photos. The Baluch nomads have been herders for centuries, because of my love of wool I thought this image was very fitting to be made with wools. This fiber painting is made solely from loose wool fibers and silk fibers. I needle felt them onto a felt base which was wet felted. If you are new to the world of felt please google Needle felt or wet felt. It is one of the most pleasurable art mediums I have ever worked with. I am now in search of the next picture that will inspire creativity in me.

In the meantime I'm working on cars this week. That's my hand taking a bolt out from the tracks of a seat :)

I do upholstery for my living. So although it seems like I'm always home having a good time, I am always home.. just working my bootie off in the garage.

On another note, despite it being January and frosty every night, the days have been incredibly warm. My garden was singing out to me. So I weeded, and worked on the rows. The radishes, carrots and onions are quite happy. I wish I had planted more winter veggies last fall. If I had the fore site to do so I could be growing Kale, cabbage and other greens.

Oh well , there is always next year.

Rainy and Slow at Denio's Farmers Market

2009-01-25T12:27:00.001-08:00

Chilly and rainy out today. We managed to drag ourselves down to our favorite farmers market to get our weekly produce. I felt a little bad for the vendors the place was dead, usually it is extremely packed.

I also was able to get three ounces of Lavender for a few bucks. Now my wool will smell good and be moth free for a while.

We saw some strange veggies there today, I'll have to look up some recipes to see how to use it...

Spiny Chayote.

Deal of the day was 5 yellow bell peppers for $1. I'm going to roast and peel them, then marinate with herbs and oil for sandwiches. Yum!

Saturday the rain is gently falling.

2009-01-24T08:27:00.000-08:00

I thought I was going to be working in the garden this weekend, but with the rain comes the mud... I'll stay inside.

I had a bust week at work, and it has spilled over into my weekend. I have one more car seat to repair and return then I can do my own thing.

This week I'm working on a Baluch nomad child she is cradling a baby goat, although my goat is more like a lamb. It has been a very pleasing and relaxing project. I started poking last night at 5 pm and at 10:30 when my husband went off to bed I realized I had been at it for 5 and half hours without a break. It did help to pass time listening to my husband and daughter singing and playing music for the songs they are recording.

I have decided to use as many different fiber types as I can in this one. So far I've used Corridale, Alpaca, Lincoln Locks and silk. This picture is just a teaser... She is a WIP and I feel there is many more hours till I am satisfied with the final picture.