Hiking at Little Lost Creek (a Missouri park near my parents), we realized just how spoiled we are to live where we do. I know ticks are on the rise near us, and with climate change I am really looking forward to a Lyme disease vaccine. Right now though, ticks are far less common in this part of the country and so in Missouri we were far under-prepared.
Read moreSkull Quilt!
I bought the Pixel Skull pattern by Simpson Designs Studio last year and finally have it done!
The pattern recommends a black skull on a white background, but I am all about color. I decided a hot pink skull on a yellow background would be my favorite combination. I used up some of my scraps and bought some material to fill in what I needed.
Cutting the material for this took me several hours each day for a few days. After having it cut I had other projects to get back to, so had it set aside for a some months.
I pieced it into blocks, the blocks then into strips horizontally. This way if I was off a little I could center the design and the shape of the skull would hide it. I was really happy with myself because I wasn’t off on it and it lined up well!
Here the top is done. I skipped the border the pattern calls for and opted to keep it patchworked to the binding.
I hand quilt and have been binding my quilts before I finish them. The hand tension doesn’t warp them and the binding keeps the edges nice and avoids it fraying a bunch.
Finished!
Katy Trail with Cory
Growing up in MO we would ride bikes on the Katy Trail. I have good memories of it and have wanted to have Cory go with me when we visit my parents. This time we had the time, Dad had the bikes, and so Cory and I rode while Dad was our pit crew. He was getting over strepthroat, so wasn’t up to peddle, but wanted to come along. He met us at each stop on our route and we would refill our water and drink Gatorade that he had in the truck. It was a lot of fun!
Read moreMom's Garden
Last year Cory and I made a small flower bed for my mom's 70th birthday. This year for her birthday we added to it and also planted another (more established) lilac.
Cory with what is left from last year.
This year we extended the flower bed to the end of the porch. It’s hard work as all the topsoil was taken when the house was built. Cory adds in soil and compost and we mulch around plants, trying to enrich what they have.
Here you can also see the lilac we planted!
Zion National Park
With a roadtrip being necessary to attend the funeral for Cory's grandma, we decided to add some fun on the way. We try to do this when we have to make such a long trip as we never know when we next will have the time or be in the area. We decided on going to Zion National Park on our way home as it was our last of Utah's National Parks we hadn’t been to. It proved to be SUPER crowded as it was Memorial Day weekend(we had completely forgotten with our traveling). The radio stations were predicting 92,000+ people over the weekend in that park alone! We heard this, of course, after we were already at the park and witnessing the chaos firsthand.
Read moreMesa Arch Painting
We went to Canyonlands National Park a few years ago and it has been on my list to paint since then. Mesa Arch is the place I’ve had in my to-paint folder from this trip, but I have taken a while to decide how to tackle it. I think as the process for this is different than most of the images I paint, I want to share with you the way I am going about it.
Here you can see the arch and the landscape beyond it in detail. To get this photo I was standing close to see through the arch, and using the panorama setting on my phone to include the arch itself in the image. This causes a fisheye affect to the arch as it’s up close, while keeping the landscape beyond accurate to what is there. The tone of this image is also coming off really warm.
This photo is taken at a bit of an angle to the arch and while it obscures most of what is in the distance, it keeps the foreground very accurate and shows that there is a bump with the arch going over it so you see the full shape of the arch.
This image best shows the landscape through the arch.
This shows the arch in the angle I want to paint it from, but having to back up to this distance it blurs the background and I want to include that in my painting in more detail. It also has the most light reflected off the rock and so has a very light color. I plan to paint with more staurated color than this.
My goal is to paint the arch where I can keep it accurate to it’s shape without distortion and to paint the background in detail to have it framed by the arch. I am painting it on a 24"x8” birch panel in acrylic. This means I am essentially making a composite image where the arch is from photos taken from a distance and the background is taken from standing at the edge of the arch. Here I have gotten the shape of the arch down.
In this progress picture I have started working on the background. It’s important to work the background before the foreground, so the arch is really there as more of a placeholder than anything.
The National Parks are for all of us.
Happy Trees
Over the weekend I finished up four of these tree pillows (two for me, two for my cousin). I found the pattern online, altered it a little (as for me it wasn’t quite working), and made them into pillows.
After all the sewing I needed some time outdoors, so Cory and I went to the Salmon River.
Walking along the Salmon
Cory and I have loved exploring around the Salmon River. It’s some of my favorite forest- the river is as clear as glass, the forest mossy with large old growth trees interspersed.. Idyllic. We found a new-to-us trail on this river recently and went hiking, with plans to go back on more trails we saw while out there.
If the news feed is bringing you down, remember to take a walk in the trees.
Latest sewing project!
My friend's birthday was Monday so I made her a quilt! She and her family bought a house a little bit ago and she’s been working so hard on it, while working full time, that I wanted to make something to go in the new house. So, thought I would post and share what I have been working on the past couple of weeks.
Polar Bear Quilt
I was looking through fabrics online for the quilt I made Cory for Christmas, when I stumbled upon this polar bear panel. I had to have it. Polar bears have been a favorite of mine my whole life! I decided immediately I would make a quilted throw for winter time. I like that it works for the whole season instead of being designed around a holiday. I sketched up my plan and bought batiqs, this aurora print that was in the series with the panel, Kona solids and the pinkish purple flannel clouds that I used for the backing.
I started this quilt with a rough doodle of what I was thinking before getting to work.
The top before quilting.
Hand quilting took forever as this time I quilted swirls through the sky and border and followed along lines of major design elements in the panel.
Before the quilt I made a polar bear pillow to make it a set for us to have out in winter. It was a fun way to use my holographic thread in the quilting of the pillow top.
