Beautiful Blooming Paperwhite

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted. Have been very busy getting ready for Christmas doing the baking, decorating, etc. Not doing as much of it as in past years, due to still recovering from my back surgery. Really enjoyed having our sons celebrate Christmas with us.  Needless to say, didn't do too much fiber art during the last week or so. Hoping to start machine quilting on my Circles Pizzaz quilt after New Year's Day and finish my fun fabric manipulation piece, which is quite labor intensive.

Meanwhile to inspire you, here is a picture of my blooming paper white flower that I bought at Trader Joe's. It's been a fun plant to watch grow and blossom in its unusual glass vase that allows you to see the bulb and roots.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year's!

More Progress on New Project

I've been working on  a new project.  For this project you need to quilt the border first,

 as it would be to difficult to quilt after the center is finished. The center will  be done

 in a fabric manipulation technique.

The piece pictured below was done a couple of years ago, and is similar

to what will be in the center of my new piece, yet different. 

Super Moon

Hope you had a chance to check out the super moon earlier this week. Below are a few pictures of it from our house. It was a beautiful late afternoon with a rosy dusky sky complemented by contrails.

Started a new fun project but it's not quite photo-ready yet. I took out lots of my fabrics from the past decade or so to inspire me to make something new. My studio looks like a giant fan attacked it, stuff is flung everywhere. But I do have a couple ideas of where to creatively journey next. Stay tuned.

Other than that we have been dealing with a broken clothes dryer. My husband and I tried to fix it. The drum belt had broken. I was very proud of us. We got it all apart to discover a broken belt and metal bit on the one end of the motor shaft. We tried to JB Weld that together, put back on the belt, put it all back together and it worked for about 30 seconds before there was a 'ping' and it ground to a screeching stop. Oh well, can't say we didn't try. We've had that dryer for about 12 to 15 years, so not bad. 

Circles Pizzaz Ready to Quilt

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Ours was nice and quiet.

I continue to feel a little better every day following my back surgery. Saw the doctor last week and he said everything was looking good.  I still have to wear the back brace for FOUR more months. It is a good thing in that it keeps me from moving in ways I shouldn't.  He gave me permission to drive short distances.  WAHOOOO!!!  I must say my husband was  really sweet doing all the shopping, etc.  I'm up to walking 30 minutes a day.

Over the weekend I finished sewing together the Circles Pizzaz quilt which I started in February of 2016. I took a guild sponsored class byJudy Cisneros, http://judysisneros.com/  She was a very  good teacher. Sewing these blocks together were quite challenging due to the curved piecing. Through sewing these blocks I have become much more comfortable with curved piecing. Her book titled Circles Pizzazz is well written with many tips on doing the curved piecing.

Below is my quilt ready to be quilted. To plan the quilting, I like to print out a picture of the quilt and use an overhead projector marker to draw on a transparency placed over the photo.  I'm thinking of following the dynamic curved lines, using a multicolored thread on the black areas and a black and white thread on the colored part.

Below is a picture of the backing.  I like to use up some of the many fabrics

 stuffed into my dressers and cabinets. 

Beautiful Red-tailed Hawk

Spending a lot of time walking around outside, since I still am not able to drive or sit normally, etc., yet.  Saw this beautiful Red-tailed Hawk the other day from our barn. It sat in the tree for a good 20 minutes looking for some prey below. Maybe an idea for a quilt.

Playing with Layers

I had fun playing with paint, stencils, found objects, etc. the last few days and here are a couple of my more successful experiments. It was fun to just play with no purpose in mind.

I'm feeling better every day. My rash  from the surgical tape used on my back dressing has finally calmed down. That was nasty stuff!  Today I was able to shower and dry myself!  Yeah! Progress!

Finally Finished Shibori Quilt

Except for attaching the sleeve and the label I finally finished my shibori quilt. It's been difficult with my back issues to sit or stand very long so it was done in many mini sessions. I really like how it came out and hope it gets accepted into the SLO Art Museum's upcoming Dimensions Show. I'll find out by November 15th.

I used my own arashi and itijime dyed fabrics and it is hand stitched with a big stitch. Here's a couple closeups of it.