Hold Yer Horses, Spring's A-Comin'

 

I needed a horse for my Out of Asia challenge so I did some sketching with watercolor paints and a brush.

It's funny, but I think I like the first one best.

I sketched it onto fabric with a blue washout pen.  I'm going to quilt/sketch with the threads in the photo -- the spool with the grey plastic is 28 wt cotton Aurifil.  I wanted to use thick black thread, but I don't have any.  I found this in my stash -- I probably I bought it to use for tree trunks, but I think it will be fine for a horse.  I don't know if it's apparent from the picture, but it's a variegated black and brown.

And spring is finally here -- these little tulips are always the first thing to bloom in my garden each year.

Lemonade with Limes

So my attention was drawn to this cool little tutorial by Jane LaFazio (here) and I decided to play along.  I looked at the tute, walked away from the computer, then went and created my own. After finishing mine, I went back and looked at hers again and I see that she had much more intense color -- something for me to work on.

I didn't have Jane's plate to inspire me, so I went to my little lime tree and used a photo of it to fill in some of the background.

My DD gave me this plant for Mother's day and was mightily disappointed that it didn't grow fruit right away (it was only 11 inches tall) -- but as soon as I brought it in for the winter, it bloomed and now it has these little tiny limes!

And I've been playing around with my photos of the sandhill cranes that hung around our little park this fall.  I drew it in the sketchbook with pencil and had fun painting it with watercolors.