Adding Interest

The complete background is very common so it needs a focal point.
What else do you put on an ocean beach  ..... A Sandpiper (sp)

After scouting a number of photo sites I chose this one. Nice clear design and minimal mottled feathers. I've moved away from using embroidery thread to harder and larger quilting thread. It goes faster and the thread is much less expensive.

First the cartoon is drawn and coloured on a piece of stablizer. This was a stiff piece so I didn't need a hoop.

Then add colour.

I was undecided about the order and went back and forth a few times.
The white was last.

Here he is on the beach. The legs are just yarn for now. I won't add the legs until I stitch this guy on.
The hold up is the foam. It needs a better finish.

Tired of This Long Winter

Tomorrow may be Valentine's but unless the sun shines it will just be another dreary cold day.
My son came over and shoveled the last heavy snowfall last night. That was a welcome early gift!
But after listening to the wind howl as I went to sleep I wanted some warmth for these tired achy bones so this morning I decided to go Tropical.
This is nothing new in technique and was actually inspired by my daughter's art work.

In fact I used some of the material I had assembled for her wedding quilt in Tropical colours.

Just a simple strip construction. The only trick here is staying level.
The sand was one of my fabric scores from Saturday.

I do feel a little warmer,....... but I'll still turn on the fire.

Looking for Inspiration

I've been casting about for a few days now, for something new to tackle, a process that drives hubby up into his little cubby.
It's not fun and I understand I can be...not pleasant? .....moi?.

Yesterday, I took a little road trip with a friend to a bead shop. I did bring some home, but in the end I was not inspired.
HOWEVER.......
We also scoured a thrift shop and I brought home some more shirts.

Some were luscious texture and some were soft plaids and stripes. Ive been collecting those, for a proper quilt that's been at the back of my mind since I BOUGHT ( yes, you read that right) a pattern last May.

I spent 3 hours today cutting up shirts. (Tried on a few LOL.) And then paired then with the FQs I had set aside as possibles for this quilt. This pattern call for a lot of FQ, 30+. I don't think I'm going to go all the way with that.  Reusing some of the materials is where my head is right now.

This is another Long Term thing. There is a lot of hand embroidery, which I may tackle as the weather warms up and I move away from "Jane".

In the mean time, I used this day productively and cleared some of the endless loops from my head.

In the mean time, these will be put away, again, together. When its time............

Felted Tree - Final

Not a very elegant name yet. One will come to me by the time I get around to adding a label.

I was very unhappy with this for a while, so I took a holiday.
I worked on my hand quilting, and tried to finish some beading. (It takes on a life of its own!). Watched a silent film...really?..Really!

Next morning I added the missing horizon line. This made all the difference for me.

I went ahead and finished all the micro work. It seemed to go much faster now that my mind wasn't worrying other things.

There are a few minor things to tidy up but I consider this finished. The jury is still out on the technique (though I was thinking of tackling a Bear tomorrow...).

And thanks to Hubby for using his BIGGER camera to capture the colour properly! XXX
(ps. I watched "The Sheik")

Celebratory Block

Here it is, The MIDDLE block for my Jane Stickle quilt. (Dear Jane)
To remind you, or if you're just visiting, I spend 3+ years, hand sewing the 276? 5 inch blocks in her famous civil war era quilt. It went on the frame in late March last year. I'm definitely on schedule. I have another year+ before the next Guild Quilt Show in 2018.