Green Acres is the Place To Be....

 

Farm livin' is the life for me. I had to hum that song from the old Green Acres tv series while making this peaceful quilt. The center is a beautiful painted image digitally printed on fabric. And the surrounding border blocks are the ones I made from scraps. I have stacks of those blocks, which I learned are called Switch Plate blocks. An apt name. Having them on hand makes putting together a quick quilt like this one quite easy. The only thing I needed was to piece square units for the corners. I showed another Cowboy panel quilt quickly made with similar blocks here. My husband Jack has claimed this pastoral quilt to hang in our home because it reminds him of our horse farm. We don't have big red barns here in Florida, but we do have green pastures and contented animals.

Here's one of those contented animals. Other than horses, our critters are rescues that have found their way here one way or another. This is Scooter. He arrived at our barn one October morning over a decade ago. Shivering and full of fleas, he melted our hearts. The vet estimated his age at the time to be only about 12 weeks old. So I'm not sure where he came from, or how, but we just love our Scooter. He has enough mixed breeds in him that we just call him a Florida Brown. What would be your best guess at his dominant breed? Would it surprise you to know that his DNA test results showed Weimaraner? It did surprise us!

Iggy, the Silver Tuxedo cat arrived after running out in front of our daughter's car on her way to work. She took him home and secured him for the day, but knew her two cats would not welcome a kitten. So we took him in. I shared his story and "baby pictures" in this post. 

Freckles the Quarter Horse is the one horse we have now. After Jack broke his hip in a fall two years ago (not horse-related he is quick to point out), we were unsure if he'd be able to ride again. The good news is that he is able to, and Freckles gets ridden nearly every day. Part of Freckles' mission has been to take part in competitions with the University of Florida Western Equestrian team. Student teams from several colleges draw for the horses they will ride in each class. The horses are loaned to the home team by various supportive horse people. The students love to draw Freckles as their ride, and he's been a popular guy. He's retired from that now that he's aging.

But he's still up for his daily rides in the paddocks at our farm.

Another resident of Oak View Farm is Abby. Abby came home with Jack from her mis-adventures as a drop off near the Interstate. Very thin, young, and needing some TLC, she's been here for nearly 10 years now. From time to time we discuss whether we need to down-size from our 10 acre farm as we grow older. But this crew is a big part of our consideration, and they love it here! So we all agree- we'll stay for now.

A Trip to The Appleton Museum for Art Deco...

Our local museum in Ocala, The Appleton Museum of Art, put on a very well-done exhibit titled "Skylines to Hemlines: Art Deco." It began with a poster describing Art Deco as a movement in arts and architecture that was internationally popular during the 1920s and 1930s. It might be thought of as "between the two World Wars". The style originated in France, but its popularity quickly spread worldwide. And the characteristics include streamlined shapes and clean, simple lines. Symmetry like that seen in the graphic image above is also a characteristic.

The exhibit also began with a timeline showing the span of popularity for Art Deco, and it highlighted important historical events. In our case locally, even the filming of the Tarzan movies at Silver Springs (home of the famous glass bottom boats) throughout the 1930s and beyond was featured on the timeline. The wool tapestry fragment above depicted scenes of warfare, including the powerful searchlights used to spot enemy aircraft during nighttime raids.

This textile fragment from the late 1920s shows a military transport Zeppelin along with US and Japanese flags.

This colorful portrait poster was the work of French artist jean Chassaing and featured celebrated performer Josephine Baker, an American-born singer who spent her career primarily in France. According to the information with the poster, even her hairstyle, known as an Eaton cap, features the clean, simple lines of the Art Deco era.

Of course fashion reflected the Art Deco era as in this silk chiffon and velvet dress.

Woolen swimsuits, mostly one-piece style, were on display.

The appliqued designs in the woolen suits (also waterproof) fit the style.

Here's another example of symmetry, line and shape that mark Art Deco architecture. It's very pleasing.

 This was one of my favorite images in the exhibit. The architecture and fashion were certainly expected features in this event- they were both in the title, after all. The surprise to me was the number of everyday household objects that were included to reflect the Art Deco style. There were radios, beds, dressers, mirrors, hairbrushes, brushed chrome and brass coffee pots, cigarette cases, jewelry- so many common yet familiar items. With music of the era playing in the background, the exhibit was a pleasure to view. It's on until the 14th of January, so there are a few days left if you can fit a trip to the Appleton into your schedule. But if not, do enjoy these photos!

Sparkle Plenty...

 

Makeup artfully applied? Check. Sparkly outfit? Check. It's time to ring in the New Year! This fancy girl is ready to party. She is another of the fun-to-make Art Warrior Dolls from a class taught by sisters Celeste Beck and Merri McKenzie of Goatfeathers Studio. I've made several of these dolls before, but this one was stitched from a kit I picked up from our Fiber Art Bee free table. It had been donated by the sisters. All of the sparkly fabric, netting, and canvas for a face were in there. I just had to paint the face and do the stitching and stuffing. She got done just in time for the holidays.

Yes, she has a heavy hand when it comes to applying makeup, but it is the season after all. These dolls are such fun to sew and their personalities just develop in the making. She needs a name though. Suggestions are welcome.

You'll notice a couple of scraps left from the doll in this sparkly flower, too. A quilting friend, Joanne in Pennsylvania, and I have each made a fiber book from muslin. We are sewing pages in our own book, and then swapping through the mail to work in each others' book. Each page has a small stitchery based on a theme.  This is a fancy flower I sewed for Joanne's book. I'll show more of the pages soon. So far we've made pages on faces, flowers, vintage, rusted fabrics, and redwork embroidery. It's lots of creative fun and the pages are about 6" x 6", making each one quick and easy to complete. We've got only  three empty pages plus covers left to fill and our fiber books will be complete.

Finally, I had some sparkly green scraps left from the flower which were just right for making Snappy Pickle! He was the brainchild of artist Kecia Deveney. She taught an online workshop in designing the whimsical stuffed pickles as part of the Holiday ARTfest 2023. There were lots of chuckles over the pickles that came from her workshop and were posted on Facebook. Snappy has ample sparkle, a mega-watt smile, and a great big personality. Plenty of sparkle and shine for the holidays here. Wishing you a happy and healthy 2024! 

Angels We Have Heard On High...

 

These fun wooden ornaments are the result of an online class titled "Angels Among Us" taught by P'zazz Art Studio on Facebook. In just three hour-long evening classes, participants learned to draw and paint cute angel designs on an ornament, a greeting card, and a journal page. One lesson also covered the lettering, which is a specialty of the instructor.  

A few special techniques included the gold metallic highlights and the use of molding paste to create texture on the angel wings. 

Participants could make changes in hair styles, and some even drew and painted male-looking angels which are more reflective of Biblical descriptions of angels.

And on the backs of each ornament, we wrote a message in white acrylic marker. I chose The Priestly Blessing from Scripture. The replays of the lessons are available continuously, so I can practice and repeat the painting skills as often as needed. I'm never a fan of my writing, so did appreciate the lettering instruction, especially. These make lovely hand-crafted Christmas greetings and I'm sure I'll be making more. Christmas blessings to you!

Mary Poppins Might Be Jealous...

 

Do you remember Mary Poppins' Magic Bag? Her umbrella and her bag were her two fashion accessories that were also very functional. From that bag came all sorts of things like a lamp and a hat-stand along with lozenges and cough syrup. (I loved all of the PL Travers Mary Poppins books as a child.) Well this colorful big tote bag reminds me of Mary Poppin's bag, though I have yet to try and fit a hat-stand inside. I almost could. No doubt Mary Poppins would have loved this bag. I took a class last fall to learn to make the roomy tote and I just love it. It features assorted Australian Aboriginal print fabrics and a Kookaburra & Jabiru panel. It's called The Aussie Dream Tote.

My usual tote bag projects are simple affairs with handles and that's about it. This project seemed daunting to me as it has two zippered pockets, an inside pocket, and bottle pockets. I was pleasantly surprised that my skill level was up to snuff and I was successful with sewing the bag, especially with the zipper insertion method that was used. I just love this roomy bag and am so glad I took the class.

You can get a better idea of the bag size in this photo with Gabriele Bullard (right) of Fabrilish, the designer of the bag and pattern. She came to our recent quilt show with a display of her Aussie Dream Tote kits. (Gabriele's mannequin is covered in Aboriginal print scraps by the way.) After showing the bag at the guild show-and-tell, a number of members were also interested in taking the class, so Gabriele will be teaching it again after the holidays.

I ran into fellow class members Celeste Beck (center) and her sister Merri McKenzie (right) at the quilt show in Jacksonville, FL. They, too, were carrying their Aussie Dream Totes to hold all those purchases. Celeste chose the kangaroo design for hers. One fun thing about quilt shows (in addition to the quilts and vendors) is seeing how quilters display their love of fabrics in what they wear and carry. All three of us are also wearing our fiber necklaces made during a workshop I taught at the Gainesville guild. And we all sported button bracelets crafted at a Fiber Art Bee meeting. The totes certainly caught the eye of some show-goers who stopped us to ask about the pattern.

Behold, the Humble Button...

They won't wilt and they won't fade! Check out these fun floral bouquets made using buttons and floral wire. I'll bet you have a good-size button jar or tin in your sewing room that's just chock full. I certainly do. So when our Fiber Art Bee group had a button workshop to learn to make fun things using them, I took to it like a duck to water. And it's been non-stop since then. So much color and such a variety of ways to put the buttons together- everything looks good together. Don't they have an almost Seuss-like look? 

A few beads also found their way into the button flower stems. In addition to the fun of making the flowers, I also enjoyed several trips to local thrift stores to find inexpensive vases in which to display them.  My one rule is the vases needed to be under $3, and I found some beauties!

The bouquets look so bright and cheerful sitting on a desk, shelf, or windowsill all around the house. And yet, there is a limit. I want to keep making them and using up buttons, but have space for only a few. So some of these bouquets have been welcomed into a new home after I donated them to our quilt guild's shopping boutique for a recent show. That button box is not empty yet, so I'll keep making these!

The supplies are simple- buttons in assorted colors and sizes, and wire or wrapped floral wire. I prefer handling the floral wire as it seems to have a bit more substance than jewelry wire. It does want to fray at the ends, so I coat each end lightly with clear glue- or even clear nail polish would work. That helps when it's time to thread the wire through the button holes. Just bend the wire in half so the mid-point becomes the top of the flower stem and thread the two wire pieces through the buttonholes. Thread several buttons to make a stack, starting with smallest and working to largest. Twist the wires together for about a half inch or so and add more buttons. You can see that my button stems each have three to five stacks. Then twist all the way to the end of the wires and arrange the stems in a vase. Add some glass marbles at the bottom of the vase to counterbalance the weight of the buttons if needed. So get you some buttons, and start stacking and twisting!

Happy Fall Y'all...

 

I noticed the blessed relief in temperatures here in Florida lately where it actually began to feel like fall. That prompted an urge to decorate for it. But when I looked for my selection of autumn decorations, they were nowhere to be found. I couldn't believe they weren't here. Finally, I concluded that I must have donated them somewhere in a fit of "downsizing" last year. So when I saw the cute Halloween tea towel on our sewing group's "free table", it came home with me. It wasn't long before I was auditioning it for a wall quilt project. I had lots of those wonky circle blocks already sewn, and when I started playing with them and the towel, this "make-it-work" quilt top happened. I still need to quilt it, and I better get at it soon if it's going to hang up this year.

On that same "free table" I found this lovely bouquet of fall silk flowers and it came home, too. Voila! Instant fall decorating.

What happened next was a nice surprise. While hunting for our bike helmets (it's cool enough to do that now, too), we found a tote labeled "Fall Decor." Lo and behold... inside I found the pumpkins, light swag, and other fall items to add to my display. Neither my husband or I remembered storing them away so efficiently. But I'm glad we did! Several of the pumpkins are ones that I painted and I really enjoy looking at them. Lessons learned: keep looking for lost items and make sure to label things in totes!