Woodland Ridge: The Walk

 Directly behind the building at Woodland Ridge Retreat is a path through the woods that leads to this beautiful lake.

I walked down there in the afternoon and, since I forgot the bug spray, became fresh meat for the local  insect population.

I heard lots of bird sounds, but it was hot and they were hiding in shady places.

On my last morning, I walked down the road to the trail.

I enjoyed the view of the river from the trail bridge.

There were interesting webbed creations on some of the bushes.

The view through the bridge coming back.  I am so looking forward to returning here and perhaps spending a day walking the trail.

And this is my unfinished piece.  That is a chalk outline of a heart at the lower right that I am currently cogitating.  It's for after the dashes in the upper right corner.  

Holiday Design Potpourri

 Today my design wall has the beginning of my Color Palette Challenge for May.  I took a break from my journal quilts because I was busy finishing the faerie project.

This is the little faerie cottage with its embroidered stuff in the flower boxes.

And the back side showing the machine quilting. I'm finishing up the hand work on this -- it's almost ready.

To see other design walls this holiday Monday, click here to visit Judy's blog. 

Fauna for the Faerie Forest

 I needed some birds and bunnies to keep the faerie company.  So I got out my trusty Tsukineko inks and used them to color in some pencil sketches of birds and bunnies.  I had ironed the fabric to some freezer paper to stabilize it while I used the pencil.

With the colors inked in, if I missed a stitch, I didn't have to worry about white fabric showing through.



The first set of cardinals that I drew were too large for this project.







Using a small needle, I covered the little drawings with thread.   Hand embroidery seemed like the best way to go with these.  They're quite tiny.


I cut them out, leaving a small seam allowance -- somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 inch.

 I used appliqué glue to make the seam allowance stick to the back.

Then I stitched them onto my quilt.  I'll have some more photos next time.

CQ 4x4s

These are the CQ 4x4s that I created to swap.  I sent them out yesterday.

They are four inch square and each one is a stand alone bit of art with bits of fabric, threads, and beads.

Scraps of fabric were stitched to a Peltex base with the stitch and flip method.  I started with hand embroidery and switched to machine.  The beading was all done by hand.  Unfortunately, you can't see all the beads in the pictures.  But they're there.


In exchange, I have received these:

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Autumn 2009

I am participating in Blogger's Quilt Festival. It is hosted by Amy from Park City Girl and coincides with Quilt Festival in Houston this year. Bloggers are sharing a quilt of their choosing and this is one of my favorite quilts. It features a scene from the front porch of my house during my favorite time of the year. It is small, only 12" by 12," but it packs in a lot of stuff.

"From the Front Porch: Summer"

The dragonfly was made with Angelina fibers for the wings, and a baroque pearl and some other beads for the body

.

I made the butterflies and some of the flowers using the caning technique with polymer clays. I hand embroidered with floss and silk ribbons

.

I had some fun with the embroidery buttons on my machine and variegated threads.

Rosie, my Bernese Mountain Dog, was created using fuzzy fibers on a separate piece of fabric, then appliqued to the quilt using a stumpwork technique.

I used hand-marbled , hand-dyed, and commercial fabrics. I had a lot of fun making this and I hope you enjoy it too. Thanks for visiting.