Back on schedule

Well, I’m finally back on my normal schedule…..housework and office in the a.m.,  studio in the afternoon and evenings.  It feels good to be back to normal, or whatever is normal for me.

This morning I took a walk with my camera and discovered we have one tree with COLOR!   Yes, COLOR in capital letters!!  Here where I live there are bits and snippets of color, but the property has mostly oaks that turn brown and cedars that don’t turn on it, so seeing a tree with bright vibrant color was a pleasant surprise.  Isn’t this just gorgeous:

Now it’s not as pretty as the colors in Ohio were, but it has some glorious orange, red and yellow in those leaves:

The colors are similar to the backing of a customer quilt I quilted with a pantograph before I left:

On another note, I’ll be teaching a Painted Quilt class at Quilters Loft in December.

This is the class for you if you’ve ever wondered how to use Shiva Paintsticks.  We’ll be covering techniques such as rubbings and stencils, we’ll be working with blending colors and adding layers as well.

During the class you’ll be making the painted blocks, and you will take home the pattern for completing the quilt once your blocks have cured (and we’ll go over various methods of curing the paint).

 

Have a great day and enjoy the fall colors!!!!!!!

Sunday Morning Walk

Come with me on a Sunday morning walk around the front yard.  Pull up a cup of coffee if you like, as I’ve taken lots of pictures to share this morning.

The roses on the front side of the studio are first year plantings and seem to love the east facing location:

Yesterday the butterfly bush was bringing in beautiful yellow and blue butterflies.  I’ve got to look up which species they were.

Beside the butterfly bush is an area I really need to tend to.  Somewhere in that mess are 5 hosta plants!

Of course I don’t know what the plant is that’s taken over.  Here’s a closeup and if you know what it’s called, please tell me!

By now the sun is almost above the tree line.  It won’t be long before the temps start climbing today.

When I came home last week, I found the crepe myrtle in full bloom.

And I see today the spiders have been busy building webs in the rock pile.  One day this rock pile will be moved to line all the gardens, but it’s one stone at a time here moving them.

We used the first few loads of rock to build rock walls.  They make a nice background for some late blooming coneflowers.  The big bed of coneflowers has gone to seed now, almost time to harvest the seeds.

I was suprised by the veining in the clematis this morning.  I don’t recall seeing this much definition in years past.  I wonder if it’s because the plant is aging, or if it has something to do with our lack of rain?  Once again the rain goes 5 miles north of us and 5 miles south of us, but we’re in the middle of a band of dryness.

As always, my faithful girl is waiting for me when I come back from a walk.  Today the little noisemaker was outside with her!  But he’s not making much  noise, apparently he barked himself hoarse while I was on vacation and his voice hasn’t returned properly yet.

Hope you enjoyed the walk this morning!

Heat, dew, and bowls

Isn’t that a strange title, but that’s what’s on my mind this morning.

Listening to the weatherman on the late news last night, I heard him say the predicted heat index for today will be 107!  Now I don’t think it’s going to get “that” warm (hear that noise, that’s the sound of my being an ostrich and burying my head in the sand!).   But, there are signs of it being pretty warm (alright downright hot and humid) today.

First sign, at 8:30 this morning it was already 80 degrees!

Second sign, heavy dew on the plants:

Of course the heat and humidity we have is causing all sorts of sprouting to take place:

(that’s bird seed in the holes on the feeder platform)

All this brings me to the conclsion that maybe it will be hot today!  Hence, after a few chores this morning, I shall spend my day in the studio.

And speaking of the studio, there are a few new pieces under works, which I’ll show at a later date.

Yesterday I delivered the little wholecloth sample to Quilter’s Loft for the class I’ll be teaching this fall.

And I’ve gotten a few fabric bowls done in the last few days:

This one was all done with my hand-dyed fabrics and yarns.

The next two snippets are of completely commercial fabrics and yarns:

All three of these bowls were done using Isacord embroidery thread.  And while I love it’s sheen and the way it handles in the Bernina, I would really like to find a thread with the same weight and sheen, and yet variegated!  Any suggestions?
Well, I’m off now to find more coffee and rethink the days plans….it really might be just a wee bit too hot out there to venture outside much!