Now the magic happens....

Making loud pants, as part of the Alpha Challenge. 

Erie Canal boat ride

One day we went on a tour of the Erie Canal. It was so interesting! Did you learn about the Erie Canal in school? We did, although all I remember about it was the song, "15 Miles on the Erie Canal." Did you learn it, too? I remember all the words. Portions of the canal still remain, much as they were.

I asked to sit in back with Sammy on the drive to the canal, so that we could read books together. So nice to have some quality time with her. I really enjoyed it.

Sammy likes to talk. A lot!

Okay, now we are on the tour boat. I was concerned it would be hokey, but it wasn't.

There were only ten of us on the boat, plus the captain. Sammy was very curious about the concept of captain. Would he be anything like Captain Hook?

Sammy is modeling the croquet dress I made her recently.

No, the captain wasn't anything like Captain Hook. He was a 39-year veteran "canaler," a fount of information on the Erie Canal system.

Colorful tugboat we saw along the route.

Here we are entering a lock. You can see other boats already here, waiting.

After the lock gates closed behind us, the water level sank. We could see the walls rising around us.

We sunk maybe 20 feet lower than we were before.

When we looked out the back of the boat, the lock gates were exposed, with little spurts of water coming through here and there.

Then we were all set to continue down the canal. I have just a few more photos of the rest of the canal trip, that I will share next time.

Holiday projects aplenty

At last I can share some of the things I made for Christmas. I made this stocking and donated it to a silent auction at Flying Geese Quilters in December. One Dresden plate block, cut up and appliqued to the stocking shape. I used my sashiko machine here.

I made an upcycled sweater as part of a challenge for Fibreye. I used an old J Crew pullover sweater, overlaid with silk chiffon which I dyed at the last retreat in the Diane Ricks workshop.

This is the front. I was inspired by Christopher in the last season's Project Runway; he put "shredded" silk chiffon on a lot of his clothing, but not on sweaters.

I made this wall hanging, kind of a riff on my previous VW tree quilt. I used the sashiko machine again. It ended up being a gift for my friend Linda.

Detail.

Another detail.

Well, that's a start. I will post more holiday projects soon, now that I've finally figured how to efficiently access the photos from my phone. :-) Hurray!

May update

The cats' old condo was looking worn, so we got rid of it and bought this spiffy new one. The cats wouldn't have anything to do with it until I sprayed it with catnip spray.

I still haven't seen Olive on it, but Matilda seems to like it.

I went to a retreat at Casa de Maria in Montecito last week. There were various fiber workshops, and one of them was a felt heirloom book. Mine isn't done yet, but here is a peek at it, in progress. My theme is, "When We Were Children." It has photos of some of my relatives when they were children, from my grandparents down to my grandchild.

We did Zentangles, too. Again, mine isn't finished yet. We painted, then drew on MPC (Multi-Purpose Cloth), available at Joanne in the home dec department. I'd like to eventually use it somehow - maybe as a pocket for a tote bag?

We did our own projects, too. I started this cute little sundress for Samantha.

We saw this fabulous primitive red and white quilt on the drive home. This was in Summerland? I think. What is it about red and white quilts that is so appealing?

Man, I can't believe it's already May 9. I gave a mini-workshop on Saturday afternoon, teaching English paper piecing to 5 willing Flying Geese quilters. It went well, I thought.

back from Visalia and more

My trunk show at the Orange Blossom Quilt Guild in Visalia last night went well! They were such a warm, friendly, encouraging bunch of women. At the beginning, they didn't know me, but when I showed them my quilts, many of them recognized them from various places. I'm very glad I made the long trip up there.

Here are the t-shirts I recently embellished, to go with the tiny skirt I recently sewed for Samantha.

tiny skirt

I recently made this tiny skirt for Samantha. It was so simple; I added rickrack and yoyo's for interest. I hope it fits! I embellished a little pale green t-shirt to go with it, with more yoyo's. As soon as I photograph that, I'll post it. The Clover yoyo maker is the way to go! Easy as pie.

What I've been doing lately

I have a couple of new quilts underway, but I can't show them yet. However, I can show you two finished clothing projects.

First, here is a tiny baby sweater I recently finished. It will hopefully fit Samantha next fall/winter. I am enjoying getting back into knitting! And the thing I like about making baby sweaters is that they go fast. I did this one in about three weeks.... I actually knitted another sweater before this one, but it turned out so boyish that I'm embarrassed to show it. I'm hoping that a heart or flower embellishment will save it. I'll show it at some point. (maybe)

This photo shows the sweater before I sewed it all together, plus the ball of yarn and the pattern book. As baby designs go, it's kind of chunky and primitive. Hope it looks cute on her.... I have already started another sweater!

I made this sundress last week. I mailed it off right away, because it's meant to wear now. I found a pattern online which I changed quite a bit - I didn't do the bias tape hem they suggested, and I added a tie in the back to make it more form fitting. I hope it will be adjustable so that it will fit Samantha for a while. I will post the designer's name of the original design next time.

This view shows everything untied. It was pretty fun and easy. Maybe I'll make more.

fun with fabric

I've been experimenting with some of the dyed fabrics I made in Rayna Gillman's class. I made some more stamps with fun foam and stamped away. Even the dyed fabrics that I had been disappointed with seemed to benefit from the extra layers.

Once again, Matilda has to be in the photo.

Notice the two baby hummingbirds on one of my stamps!

It occurred to me that these fabrics might look great in clothing. So I made a blouse, mixing in some other fabric that I also stamped on. What do you think?

My dressmaking skills are still rusty. I'm still figuring out current-day pattern sizing versus current-day me sizing!

clothing bug and hummingbirds

I've been bit by the home-sewn clothing bug, at least a little. I was pretty excited about it all until I wore my homemade blouse today, and the sushi chef asked me if I was trying to save money by sewing my own clothing. (sigh) Some people just don't get it, I guess, that some people sew because it's FUN, not because we're cheap. I made the blouse from a super-simple pattern, but I cut it out from a quilt top I'd bought a while back (simple squares of fabric), so it looks more complicated than it really is. I attached a bead with tied silk ribbon at each square's corner - hard to see in the photos. Anyway, it was fun, and now I have something else to wear to meetings with artsy craftsy people.

The other exciting news is that we've discovered a hummingbird's nest in our atrium, right by the window! It's perched delicately on a branch of Heavenly Bamboo, and is smaller than my fist. And I have a small fist. I think the cats knew about it way before we did. So we've been watching the parent birds coming and going, but today we definitely saw babies for the first time! I believe there are two. One of them is in the bottom photo - notice that his beak is still short. It will gradually grow out.

The colors of the bird and nest look different from one photo from the next, I think because I used a flash in one but not the others.