treading water

I've been MIA here for a few days and with not a whole lot to show for it. We had almost a week of crappy, rainy weather and I feel like I've lost the best part of the swimming season - a big deal for me because it is the only physical exercise that I get and for me, time spent in the water is as much restorative for the soul as it is for the body. I did get in the pool today and got ahead of the falling leaves with the net..the water is still warm and clean and the sun was strong enough to chase the chill of the breeze. Feeling much better now and can face another Shift of Fools (I have to work the day job this weekend).

I think I've solved a knotty presentation problem with a piece I'm preparing to enter in Quilt National. The piece is large with several layers of cloth and completely hand stitched – a recipe for a Bitch to Hang -which would be a provocative name for anything else that I undertake with this same combination of materials and methods. You read it here first...”A Bitch to Hang”. Another six or eight hours of stitching and fiddling on a sleeve and it will be ready to photograph.

My show at Phoenix & Dragon comes down next week and I plan on taking these giant bad boys with me. While Colin is taking down the show, I will put these up on the spacious wall and hopefully get some quality shots. Three birds with one trip across the metro Atlanta top end..otherwise known as the race track from Ben Hur. Now all I have to do is get them completed.

Oh...the prizes are in the mail, Dazzle is on a camel bound for Australia (two weeks the PO told me!) and there is a basket of beautiful cloth under the work table that has been whispering to me "come, sit down and play. leave off with that deadline crap. who cares anyway" 

another year, another Con

Nothing exciting from me but my son Colin is attending DragonCon 2012 this weekend and has sent back some pictures including this one which could be a fabulous quilt..

those broad strokes

It's been so long since I fired up the Janome and rocked that free motion foot...speaking of which I really need to find a replacement for this one, silly little open toed plastic bugger anyway. If you have any recommendations for a freemotion foot  that will fit the Janome 6500 I'd welcome the info.

I'm using a different sort of support for this one for the first time. Not a batting but a synthetic mattress pad. Weird stuff but I have acres of it so the price is right. It has no warp or weft like fleece but very stable with no stretch or give at all in any direction, needles like it's not there and not too heavy or thick although the size of this piece makes me feel like I'm making sails. (the oval in the center of this image 8" across) . There's just enough depth to show off the  machine stitches.

I am looking forward to more Broad Strokes using up those Usual Suspects.

Giveaway results..

I didn't forget..oh yes I did and Sweetie is mad at me about her new flea collar so there was no persuading her to pick a winner this time so I  it did it the old fashioned way..names scribbled on paper snips and drawn from the hat. First pick goes to Jeannie and second to Phyllis King. email me with your snail mail addresses and I'll get the out to you by the weekend.  Thanks for playing!

I will be doing more with this technique in the near future..stay tuned.

hunkering down

Some of the colors have gone soft and wishful while others remain fierce. The mixes are getting tired this late in the season. And of course, when I wasn't looking for it, a Stygian black blended from a little of this, that,and the other! The white spots are from soy wax resist. There are a few more pieces done with a second round of soy stewing in a dark sable brown and will have to stay until tomorrow.