October! At last!

I've been busy with autumn and Halloween snail mail and crafty projects for the last week.  We also took another quick trip to Blue Moon Gardens in Texas on Saturday and bought Fire Bush Lime Zest, some ornamental peppers, some Henry Duelberg salvia, and a butterfly bush.  I've started clearing out a place to plant them and some lettuce.  

The owners of the nursery are getting ready for the Scarecrow event in late October, but they already have a few scarecrows busily tending the garden.

 My Favorite

There are several more scarecrows in progress on the porch where they work on them, and they will be popping up all over as the month progresses.  I wish I could see them all in the garden, but I don't imagine we will be making another trip over there any time soon.

Outgoing Mail

to my daughter, Erin

to Anna (my first Halloween Mail)

Then some postcards to the grands.

to Bryce Eleanor

to Mila

to Max

I've been making some rosettes, too.  They are easy, but a bit tedious because I have a tendency to miss the mark on the scoring and have to be careful not to skip a space.  Two ideas in mind about how to use them, but not sure yet.

Now that October is here, it is time to begin moving my Halloween decorations downstairs. 

Reading:  Finished the latest book in Sherry Thomas' Lady Sherlock series.  The Hollow of Fear provided another engaging adventure, but the series that benefits from starting with the first book. 





From my review of the first book:

A Study in Scarlet Women.  Charlotte Holmes is brilliant.  She is also a fallen woman.  Deliberately so--although things did not turn out as she planned.  

When her father reneged on his promise to pay for her education, Charlotte decides that losing her reputation would put her out of the marriage market and carefully chooses a man to aid her in her quest.  Her plan to keep this quiet and use it to pressure her parents goes awry, the scandal is public knowledge immediately.  Oops.

Charlotte is intelligent, observant, and logical.  However, her life has been limited to the safe and secure strictures of society, and she is unprepared for the difficulties she is about to face as a social pariah with no practical skills.

There are a number of things that bothered me about both books, but for some reason the characters kept me absorbed.  Charlotte is never the typical heroine (she seems to fall somewhere on the Asperger's scale).  Mrs. Watson charmed me.  The two form the consulting detective business and solve some murders.  And I had fun.  :)

 I've thoroughly enjoyed this series of a gender-flipped Sherlock Holmes.  

Last Minute Details

A cat pillow to accompany Cat.

Coffee dyed and grunged the fabric with cinnamon and vanilla,

pieced the strips, added batting, and some straight line quilting,

then made the awkward cat and appliqued him to the block.

On the back, a little quote I saw on a tee shirt.

Cat and pillow

were stuffed into 

a bag for a late birthday present.

I found the cat fabric in my stash.

Not sure why I bought it in the first place,

but several years later,

it made the perfect bag for Cat stuff.

And finally,

the third snowman.

Yesterday, I whipped up two more fabric bags for gifts
because
in a Christmas message from Naomi Bulger, she lists
some distressing facts about wrapping paper:

• The making of paper involves the harvesting of trees, the processing of wood fibers into pulp, and the disposal of the product
• According to Greenpeace, every kilogram of wrapping paper made emits 3.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide during production
• Most wrapping papers have very little in them that is recyclable or reusable: they are made with synthetic ink, plastic film, bleach, chlorine, and metal-based foil and glitter 
• Many rolls of wrapping paper also come wrapped in their own film of plastic, while others are made out of (non recyclable) foil
• Laid end-to-end, the wrapping paper thrown away each year from the UK alone would stretch around the equator nine times
• In the USA, the combination of wrapping paper and gift cards at Christmas time contribute to more than 100,000 trees being cut down 
• Another USA statistic I read was that every year, four million tons of wrapping paper and holiday shopping bags go into landfill 
• If you think you can at least put all that wrapping paper to a merry use by burning it in the fireplace, please hold back: decorative paper has been found to contain lead, synthetic inks, plastic film, chlorine, and metal-based foils, all of which release toxic and carcinogenic compounds into the air when burned

   
Whoa!  Had no idea!

I had already made the bag for Cat, 
and used two fabric gift bags from Michael's,
(wish I'd bought more since they were on sale).
After reading the above information, 
I decided to make more reusable fabric gift bags for the final two gifts.

My contribution is small this year,
but from now on, I plan to make fabric bags for most gifts.
I've been in a rush these last few days,
but the bags were a quick job.
Simple and easy--
and if they are reused, a benefit to the environment.

Today, relaxing and visiting with Suzie who is up from New Orleans.
I'm afraid the last project won't get finished,
but my creative energy has about run out.
I'm taking the day off... :)

The high today is supposed to be 28 degrees lower than yesterday!

Studio Mess

has not improved much because I keep interrupting cleaning and organizing with playing and making new messes.

Bryce Eleanor will be here on Saturday, and Mila and Max will hopefully be here on the weekend of May 15, so my play has taken a different direction.       

I'm saving tp rolls, boxes, and milk cartons and experimenting with possibilities.  Little houses and some crowns are looking good for crafty activities.

Turned out to be a perfect size for a tp roll!

Make the roof, paste on doors and windows--a little home for tinies.

We can also paint the rolls,

cut out doors and windows,

decorate the exteriors with 

trees or flowers.

Idea sources:

Kifli es Levendula

(I don't have those wonderful papers

for the roof, but we will figure something out.)

Krokotak

(So many fun ideas at Krokotak! 

I love these charming little houses.)

---------

I kept to my "NO NEW FABRIC"

intention for nearly two months.

But...

I couldn't resist Jennifer Jangles new collection!

I wanted all of them, but settled for 

just a few half yards.  

I'm watching two Kdramas

(Sensory Couple and Falling in Love with Soon Jung)

 as a reward 

for efforts to clean and organize studio.

We don't talk about actual results,

it is the effort, and sometimes, 

just the thought that counts.

While watching, I make fabric beads or more pompoms.

Time to return my cleaning schedule--

both upstairs and downstairs.

Crafting, Quilting, Reading

Craft

I want to make pom poms and have found some good instructions on line, but then I found an inexpensive pom pom maker and ordered it (and a book and more buttons) from Amazon.  My package, for which I was so eagerly waiting, was supposed to arrive on Monday.  But the delivery gods must have been confused by all the bad weather we've been having, and it didn't arrive.  Nor did it arrive yesterday.  

After checking the tracking information, I discovered that it had been delivered.  Just not to me!  This morning, I contacted Amazon and the problem has (hopefully!) been resolved.  They are re-sending my goodies, and they should be here tomorrow.  My thanks to Amazon for the prompt response.


Fidget Quilt #7

I've done a lot of hand quilting on some of the previous fidget quilts, but this one is entirely hand quilted--and even as small as it is, it took me hours and hours to get it done.  I love the process of hand quilting, but combined with the time it took on the beads and the quilting, I realize that given the purpose of these little quilts, I need to do more machine quilting than hand quilting.

The birds and flowers are machine appliqued in Syko style, machine quilting around raw edge fabrics. This is the same way I did Bryce Eleanor's drawings--fast and fun and a style I like.  I have already washed it because I wanted to see how the embellishments held up and because I love the crinkled look of a washed quilt.  Everything did well, except that the wooden buttons may age a little faster than expected.  The quilted beads did just fine.  The pocket is from a vintage napkin.

Books/Reading

The Child Garden by Catriona McPherson 

Although I wondered at first if I'd like it, the plot and characters engaged me completely very quickly.  I spent a lot less time in the studio and a lot more time reading because I got so involved.  This was a NetGalley offering (love me some free books!), and I'll have to hold my review for my book blog until closer to publication.  

That doesn't mean I can't tell you to look for it when it does come out!


Just Interesting

One of my favorite sources for news is The Guardian.  I like many things about this source, including the fact that it has a uniquely British take on what happens in the world.  As Americans, we are accustomed to looking at the news from our own sources which are often biased by party affiliation or agenda, so I like seeking other sources that avoid that particular dilemma of Republican/Democrat, conservative/liberal leanings.  I'm sure American sources have mentioned the following, but I missed it.

 The world population is currently seven billion, but there is a 70% chance that the number of people on the planet will rise continuously to 11 billion in 2100, according to ground-breaking analysis. It overturns 20 years of consensus that the global population will peak by 2050 to about nine billion people.

Eleven Billion!  That is positively scary.  Here is a link to the entire article.  

Spell Book/Altered Book

When I began this recent "do something each day" interlude, it was with sewing, both by hand and machine.  Then the my focus shifted to clay and eccentric figures for Halloween, and the fabric and sewing projects began losing prominence.  

For the last week, I've slowly become more involved with altered book pages for my Halloween Spell Book.  Not really getting pages done, but getting them prepped and painted.  At first, I found this process annoying:  gesso a couple of pages, let dry.  Even using the heat gun, this is tedious.  Then, however, as I began looking at Pinterest and visiting altered book blogs, it started to be fun.  Gesso and paint.  Sew some pages. Make a niche. Fold pages.  Use acrylics, use water color.  Make tip ins.  Add pockets.  Use scrapbook paper.  Use fabric.  Use alcohol ink.  Make alcohol inks (haven't done this, but have a link!).  Make molding paste (haven't done this either).  Make pop ups (working on this).

loose pages in progress for pockets or tip ins

layered in wax paper, ready to cut into shape

Well, you get the idea.  It was boring.  Then it wasn't!  When I get tired of prepping pages, I'll have to work on content.  I've found some neat spells, some clip art, some free printables, etc., that might work.

I've moved back and forth between all three technique areas, but each one becomes a focus for a while and gets most of my attention.  My spell book has been much more fun than I thought it would be because I'm playing around and experimenting with different techniques.   I don't really plan for the spell book to be open so if the inner pages turn out to be crap, it won't matter.  

OK - so I've spent almost as much time (well, probably more time) looking for ideas than actually playing with the pages; I'll find an idea I think I can do and run upstairs to try. Remember how much fun Vacation Bible School was when you were a kid?  All of the crafty things the teachers planned?  This feels like the same kind of fun.  Scissors, and paper, and glue!

On the other hand, I'm beginning to feel a little guilty about all of the sewing projects I had in mind, including a new cloth doll.  And there are 3 , no,  5 clay figures in progress that need some attention.  Shoot, I'm getting my knickers in a twist just thinking about all I want to do. I know it's early, so a Margarita is out, but maybe a Mimosa  would soothe my ruffled feathers.    

Dance Parties and Dragons

I went to watch Bryce Eleanor at her horseback riding class Friday afternoon.  I nearly melted in the 96 degree heat with about 80% humidity.   And I wasn't wearing long pants, boots, and a helmet like B.E.  When the class was over and  she took off her helmet, her hair was wringing wet.

When we got back to the house, she went straight to the shower.  Not really.  We negotiated, and the popsicle came first.

Friday night, she planned a dance party.  Apparently decorating is involved when preparing for a dance party.  She got into the drawers where I keep some seasonal decorations and created an eclectic theme that included Valentine stuff, glittered rats,  Halloween and St. Patrick's Day and Valentine's banners, Christmas decorations, etc.

She sent an invitation to Fee, but by the time she finished decorating, she had pretty much lost interest in the dance party.  Fee and I were spared after only a few minutes of dancing "like there's nobody watching." 

Saturday morning we worked on creating black cats (like Lucy) by painting t.p. rolls and making a cat face and then, a dog and a dragon out of air dry clay. She is much fascinated at the moment with Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout and the dragon Toothless. 

We had to put them in the oven to speed up drying because she MUST take the dragon home.  She liked the silver effect of the aluminum foil so we didn't clay over the legs.

I made the dog, but it wasn't as cute as B.E.'s dragon.  The dragon ended up with iridescent purple puffy paint eyes, but no other enhancements or embellishments.  

The dog, on the other hand, eventually modeled a black tutu (from a left over bit of gathered black tulle, a green collar, and a purple leash).  

After dog was dressed in the tutu, she decided it had to have puppies.  B.E. shows no interest at all in dolls and turns up her nose at the ones I make, but she is always big on animal and animal babies.   We had to make 3 tiny puppies to go with Mama Dog.  Didn't get pictures of the finished puppies before Chris picked her up, but they were no more than an inch long and had wire legs stuck in the clay.

As usual, I had a lot to do after she left--just to be able to walk from room to room.  The studio, which admittedly was already in a state of disarray, now has fabric all over the floor.  She auditioned quite a lot before deciding what to use for the tiny collar and the leash.  I wanted to just make a small cut and tear the fabric for the leash, but she insisted on cutting it.  Not exactly straight, but plenty long.

Admired the perigee moon last night.  So pretty.


UPDATE:  Amelia took a pic of B.E.'s work and shared it with me.  Thanks, Amelia!

I've been absent for a while.  
Trip to Hot Springs for Thanksgiving, reading, and a little embroidery.  
Then my iPad died and had to go to the iDoctor. 
 An unpleasant story that I will skip 
as I've complained ad nauseam  on my book blog.  


To catch up a little, I never showed the all the blocks I quilted from Bryce Eleanor's drawings.  Here are a few more.

I saw a neat idea on Pinterest about attaching lace (or fabric) 

to windows or walls with corn starch.

Which is easily removed.

I tried it with lace on the bottom window panes on the door.
The photos don't show the pattern of the lace,
which is easy to see in reality.

I like the additional privacy,
but it is difficult to take a good picture.


Even with the light on....

It may occasionally frustrate the cats,
who have always spent a great deal of time
on the chest and looking out the window,
but they manage to get over it.

While I fidgeted 
because I didn't have my iPad,
I embroidered scraps.


I don't know what I will do with them,
but they kept my hands busy.

May use them to patch something.

I also embroidered some hearts,
which I'll take pics of later.

Without my Kindle, which was on my iPad,
my reading led to books with actual pages.

I read an ARC by Anita Shreve--
Stella Bain, a story set during WWI.
I really enjoyed it!

Fee had a copy of Sycamore Row by John Grisham
that I confiscated.
I liked it, too.
It is not a sequel to A Time to Kill,
but it does feature Jake Brigance and Clanton, Mississippi.

Then Fee gave me an early Christmas present,
a Kindle Fire.
I downloaded all my books from NetGalley,
and I'm back in business!