It's a Jungle Out There...

That's what Iggy thinks, anyway. And after the start he had to his week, it's a reasonable opinion. On Monday, he ran into the street during the busy morning traffic. Our daughter was able to safely avoid him and pull over to effect a rescue. That was after she got elbow deep into the wheel well of her car where he ran to safety. She drove him the few blocks back to her home and secured him in an area with food and necessities; and away from her 3 cats who were not happy to see him. So she ran late for work that day, but Iggy lived to tell the story. Talk about drama!

She kept him overnight and loved him, but knew 4 cats are too many for her to care for and work, too! She asked if we would take him to the Humane Society for surrender while she was at work, and we agreed. But when we saw him, we just could not. So he came home to see how things might work with our other animals.

We named him Mimi at first, but a vet visit confirmed that we were wrong. So Iggy it is. He has all the other pets pretty well intimidated. Just one tiny hiss, and they give him quite a wide berth. Here is a meet up with Abby, who actually moved her pet bed closer to my husband just to get away from him- yet he followed her. If you look closely, you can see that frightening hiss is being delivered and Abby is frozen in place.

Of course Iggy provides constant laughs and many photo ops. Just so cute! It will be the peaceable kingdom here in time, I'm sure.

Our front garden area must feel like a jungle to Iggy- the vet estimated his age at 7 weeks and he weighed in at all of 1 1/2 pounds. By the way, when he was rescued, there was nobody around the area, and our daughter drove the neighborhood that evening to see is there was a mom-cat or any signs up for a lost kitten. He does eat food, so is likely newly weaned.

He's a tidy boy, and after a little romp out in the jungle- er, garden- he came in to get cleaned up.

Iggy seems pretty happy here. He even has his own porch fountain which is endlessly fascinating. Wait until the water is in it!

Currently our farm population is three horses, two cats, two dogs. Only one horse was born on the farm, a Quarter Horse my husband used to show and now rides each day (when both are sound). The other two, I call Patch and Brownie, are also rescues. My husband is boarding them to provide them with more favorable conditions than they were in. Both dogs and both cats are strays or rescues. We didn't plan to run a rescue ranch when we moved here, but we have a heart for animals and sometimes things just work out that way!

After a guy has spent the day exploring and tearing around the place, he just needs a nap and can hardly keep his eyes open. He did a little face-plant into the sofa, and it was lights out. Zzzzz......  Iggy is a ton of fun and a great little guy. He gets to stay.

You Can Always Go... Downtown..

Things'll be great when you're downtown... everything's waiting for you. Remember that Petula Clark song? Well, we took her advice this week and things were great downtown in Ocala, Florida. The purpose of the visit was to see the wonderful exhibit of hand-dyed tapestries and quilts created by Kay Koeper Sorensen of Quilts + Color. Kay's exhibit, Florida Ice, is on display until April 26, at the City Hall. Should you happen to be able to visit, you can get further details at Kay's blog. 

Every piece just glows from within! Quite mesmerizing.

And Kay points out that each one is a treat for her to discover as her process goes along.

You can't pick a favorite because every one is so beautiful. And this is just a sampling.

Kay has included a bio, an artist statement, and a very interesting explanation of her process. I thought it would be particularly helpful to those visitors who may be unfamiliar with ice dyeing and wondering how she makes these beautiful pieces.

"Maybe you know some little places to go... downtown." We do! One of them is Harry's on the Square. New Orleans style with excellent food make it a popular restaurant. Mardi Gras all the time.

It's complete with interesting wall art.

Delicious food- I had the crab cakes. Yummy.

And more art on the historic brick walls. The building itself is old and nicely preserved, so the ambience is very appealing.

Ocala has a quaint downtown with attractive shops fronting on the historic square. Isn't this inviting?

The center of the square has this bandstand where music events, art walks, and  other gatherings are held.

And there are a couple of Horse Fever horses painted or finished creatively by local artists on display. Ocala is in the heart of Horse Country, rivaling Kentucky for the number of thoroughbred horses along with many other breeds such as Gypsy Vanners, Paso Finos, Quarter Horses, mini horses, and more. There's more to Florida than theme parks, and Ocala is in the center of a beautiful rural area.

The Olive Oil Market on the square not only offers tastings of oils and balsamic vinegar, but also has this striking display of salt lamps. They have such a warm glow and offer some health benefits, too. We brought one home.

So, maybe I'll see you there... we can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares, and go downtown!

Can You Judge a Book By Its Cover?

What's more fun than making your own good book? And every bit of it is recycled or upcycled! This handmade journal began with a bit of denim, an image from decorator fabric sample, and vintage linens. And I added a few experimental things like the fiber bead at the bottom of the roses and the wrapped and beaded cord couched along the spine.

There's so much texture happening on the cover, that it needed to continue on the pages inside. That's where a video by Kristen Robinson came in. You can see a preview clip of it here. Kristen showed how to use the vellum liners from cereal and cracker packages to make wonderfully crinkly and transparent pages for a journal! What fun this was to make.

Things are embedded in the pages by pressing them between two layers, using a non-stick pressing sheet to protect the iron. Then some stitching and paint are added before binding the pages into the book.

Even interesting little thread nests can be included. You can see the brown and white twine I chose to bind the book in this center spread.

The doily just begged to be included and I like how it looks when seeing through various layers.

Ledger paper and sheet music along with the hearts give this book a vintage feel. And the painted areas can be used for journaling. I haven't tried writing on the pages yet (for some reason I tend not to write in my journals), but Kristen says that permanent markers like a Sharpie or paint pens will work well. I wish you could hear the sound when picking up the book or turning the pages- it's so crackly and inviting!

The back of the book needs texture, too, so here is another decorator fabric sample with some embroidery on it. The lace wrap is a vintage piece of crochet that will be used as a closure. It's not stitched in place yet, and will need a button attached at the front for easy opening and closing.

Well as you can see, cracker packaging now occupies some space in my sewing room. No wonder it gets so full of a strange assortment of supplies!

Meditative Mandalas...

My, but these geometric circle diagrams are so soothing to work on. And I can't seem to stop. I'm enrolled in an online course titled Mandala Madness taught by Barb Owen at How to Get Creative. There are more than ten video projects that Barb walks us through. I'm enjoying them all, but the Zendala shown here may be my favorite. It's a combination of Zentangle-inspired art and the Mandala. I gave several of my black pens, a pencil and blending stump a workout completing it.

Barb does everything mixed media, fiber art, sewing and more. So of course I want to make everything she does. One of our lessons was making Mandalas on fabric using Sharpie markers and metallic paint. I used one of the pieces in a journal cover.  The results are completely unpredictable which adds to the fun. As you can see in the fabric underneath the journal, some of the markers did not bleed, but retained the freely drawn shape.

I added free-motion quilting to the piece used in the journal.

This began with plain white muslin and is ready to become something else now.

We also learned to draw Mandalas on paper, then color them in with inexpensive markers. Each one follows a pattern. This is the basic 8-section Mandala.

A 6-section one. I'm a big fan of adult coloring books, so to have my own drawings to color adds yet another element to the enjoyment. And it is meditative. Mindless or mindful, whichever you prefer to call it.

 And a 12-section one. I will probably go back to each one to add more penwork and embellishments. Plus there are several lessons I have yet to complete.

Some time ago, I also took a Mandala Magic class with Alisa Burke. This pink one was one of my first efforts. And the card is a representation of her artwork that was sent along with an order. I've placed the paper Mandalas in a Dylusions square journal with black cardstock pages. They stand out so nicely against the black background.

There are lots of pages in the journal, so I'm also using it to display artwork from others I've received in the mail or in swaps. This Betty Boop card is one that Robbie Payne of Robbie's Paw Prints blog made from a quilt image and sent for Valentine's Day. Isn't Betty just full of personality?

And these are some ATC's from a swap I joined several years ago. The journal keeps them all corralled and it's fun to leaf through. All the wonderful color keeps me inspired.

Fun Quilt Class with Quiltville's Bonnie Hunter...

Our quilt guild has been anticipating a visit from Bonnie Hunter for several years, and she finally came to town to present to a packed house. Organizers had booked her far in advance and she did not disappoint. Bonnie's energy, enthusiasm, and positive attitude are admirable. And her methods for cutting and sewing her wonderful scrap creations are well-thought-out and efficient. This centerpiece quilt demonstrates how the simple strips and shapes cut from scraps shown at the top of her quilt can combine to make so many appealing patchwork blocks.

Known for using assorted fabric scraps and for her "leaders and enders" system of sewing efficiently, Bonnie had piles of her colorful quilts to show us during her trunk show program. The guild members had a show-and-tell in which they displayed more than 30 quilts they'd made using her patterns and methods. Several were based on her popular mystery quilt series. I showed one of mine made using her Scrappy Trips blocks.

The day after the lecture, 40 happy quilters showed up at our meeting place to learn and sew a Pineapple Blossom quilt like Bonnie's sample shown here. Bonnie offers many free patterns and tutorials on her website, linked above.

We made good progress on our blocks and enjoyed visiting and chatting while we sewed. Here are some of my tablemates at work. Most of the light in the room came from our machines and plug-ins, so pardon the photography. Quite a few members like to bring their vintage Singer Featherweight machines to class because they are so portable and reliable. Bonnie had the opportunity to sew in her hotel room using a guild member's Featherweight that was once owned by Aunt Bee of Mayberry fame. She was delighted and wrote about the experience here on her blog.

But the raciest model is this custom painted purple one! Debra Johnston was sewing on it, and it's one restored by her husband Johnny, The Old Sewing Machine Man. I don't know if that color made it sew faster, but Debra did get a lot of blocks completed.

We'll be making 20 blocks total, and worked on 12 of them during class. Here are four of mine arranged side-by-side to show one way they can be set together. I'm about halfway done with my blocks, so it will be awhile before I can share the finished project. If you visit Bonnie's YouTube video of her day in Ocala, you'll see more images. I'm in her video wearing an orange/blue plaid shirt and just one shoe. I'm most comfortable sewing barefoot. How about you?

And the Tie Goes To...

Homage to Menswear, an upcycled quilt project made from years-worth of my husband's neckties and ones gifted to me by his co-workers. The bag of ties had hung around the sewing room long enough! They needed to find a home in a project. And this is the result.

While I was deconstructing and preparing the ties, I noticed that the labels were pretty interesting, too. Hidden away on the back of the neckties, they needed to face front and be part of this recycling effort. While most of the ties are paisley, dots, stripes and other standard menswear, a few maverick prints stood out. Notably, this one of the children's artwork. It was from a tie produced as a fundraiser for UNICEF some years back. 

There were a couple of "joke" ties in the collection, too. My husband worked in banking, so the money tie was a fun addition. The decorative stitches also serve as the quilting in this piece, sewn in Crazy-Quilt style.

Still lots of silk pieces and labels left over, so I turned them into Prairie Points and added them to the bottom edge of the quilt. The beads serve as a little sparkle, plus they weight the silk because it wanted to curl a bit.

And once I got the beads out to add them to the quilt.... well, I HAD to get in a little more practice at making charms. So many pretty beads. It's fun to work with them. I find that nearly everything quilty or crafty appeals to me so much that I want to try every kind of project! Of course that leads to a remarkable amount of fabric and supplies. But I'm working my way through, bit by bit. Up next? Mandalas! Paper ones, fabric ones, and who knows what else? Stay tuned. The Mandalas are coming.

Charmed and Tagged for 2018...

This accordion-fold sewn book almost put itself together. I wanted a quiet but quick project to work on over the holiday week, and this was just the ticket. Pawing through paper scraps and images was relaxing and fun. And so is sewing on paper! After taking Mary Ann Moss's online class Stitch Bookery last summer, there are so many papers that just beg to be sewn into a book. This one began by making tags from black cardstock.

Next came collaging various images and background papers into small, pleasing layouts. To secure the papers I used decorative machine stitches rather than glue. I did discover that my sewing machine occasionally skips stitches when sewing on paper. Maybe if I slow down a bit it would help.

I also discovered that not all decorative stitches are suited to sewing paper. Any that sew in one spot repreatedly to form the pattern are likely to perforate the paper so much that it can't hold together. Noted. Junk mail, calendar images, pretty scrapbooking papers can all be found in this sewn tag book. And each hole is looped with crinkle ribbon for a pretty topper.

And what book is complete without its own jewelry? After exchanging hand-made fiber beads at Christmas, I decided to use some of them as charms on the hair band closure of the book. It's a first foray into bending wire and forming the charms and it's a bit hard on the hands. There is more to learn about this technique, but I am a willing pupil! After all, I know I have more paper and images that need to reside in a tag book of their own. And they, too, will need jewelry.