Crazy Quilt and Fabric Painting.

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.




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WIP Modern Patchwork

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

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 ...

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.

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..

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!!!

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.