Quest for dirt

This photo is deceiving...at least to me.I think it looks like a tumultuous sea under a layer of fog but it is just a little creek feed by our geothermal wonders. At lunch today we went on a quest for dirt. It is very hard to come by around here this time of year and Rugby doesn't believe we will ever see dirt. We found a little.

The steam freezes on the brush and creates amazing formations.
The clumps of "snowflowers" turn the ugly dead twigs into something wintery wonderful.

Rugby was more interested in the flock of geese nearby,which I could not get a shot of because she kept tangling me up in her leash.

She did get a chance to get very muddy which was great fun until it was time to get back in the car. ;-)

Here is a shot looking back towards home, I live just over the hill at the base of that fabulous mountain.

Sure is a beautiful day.- J

Great American Granny

Many moons ago I made up a few patriotic granny squares with some left over yarn I had and then I put them away for another day.

I have been deeply motivated to finish lingering UnFinished Objects lately so I added a few more rows to them and stitched them all together.

There are several shades of blue, a couple different reds and two different whites.They were made over several years so the dye lots vary...and because I wanted a variety of "red,white and blue".
I wonder if these colors would appeal to those who are not American? Australians perhaps? Brits?

After trimming it in stripes this afghan has turned out even more patriotic than I thought it would and it has a nautical feel to it which I didn't expect. Yar! ;0)

I thought I would put it on my front porch chair this July but I have decided to put it up for sale in my shop.

Independence Day(or maybe Bastille Day?) Fun ...five months early! ;0)

Recently I have been...

Recently I've been embroidering this wee lad... sewing this incredible sparkly shamrock fabric around him...

learning about using natural light to photograph my habaneros...
.

and the icicles on my neighbors house...

but I always come back to her! ;0)

Oh how I love my little Rugby.

Quicky for me!

Once I laid my eyes on the stylish lady adorning a pillow given to Amber over at A Little Bit Biased ,I had to make her. I Had to copy her and make one for myself. So I did. I love the tweedy texture on the wing-back chair, it was so much fun to stitch.
I printed the image and traced it onto white fabric and then I embroidered it in colors similar to Amber's pillow.

I didn't have a printed fabric that would complement the little lady and her pup but I soon found this wonderful Japanese fabric at this ETSY shop and I received it in just a few days. I think I have a tiny bit of turquoise gingham I can add to the mix.

Now comes the hard part...I always have trouble at this point in my projects. Should I add green ric-rac?

Should I pull out more of the Turquoise by adding these solids?

Maybe I should add pink? I am not sure but I do know that this will become a tote bag for me.

Notice how I made the pup look like Rugby? She is sitting at my feet right now. ;0)

Pillowy Paisley Mushrooms

I am on a roll with the embroidery projects. I am determined not to start a new project until I finish something, so I have been concentrating on the many finished blocks of embroidery I have to make into...something.

Such as this Mushroom/Bug block.

which I think I will surround with orange...

and surround the orange with this Good Earth Paisley print.

Ohhhh yeah! Groovy

Now it needs something to class it up a bit...

Olive fringe left over from this beauty...that's the ticket! ;0)

Shiny New Cousin!

I have a shiny new baby cousin! His name is Nolan and he is SO very preciously perfect. I just want to snuggle him and smell his wittle head.

Oh man he is too cute...I might bite my lip off if I keep looking at this pic. I think he is made of the finest velvet, warm velvet. ;0)

I posted awhile back about an UnRuly "word" quilt I was working on but I needed to keep it a secret. Now that the tiny recipient has met the world I won't hide it any longer, plus his Mommy will be away from the computer for weeks as she will be very busy playing with his toes. I am calling it "Golden Slumbers". It all started with these three fabrics.I cut them into strips and made words and stitched the words together.I used a few lines from a poem by Thomas Dekker but I remember it as a part of the song "Carry That Weight" by the Beatles.

I thought the Chocolate Brown fabric, which is called "Grass Menagerie", would make great sashing and I used solid squares for the corners. After I had pieced it all together I decided it needed some embroidery. Just to make it more...me. No prob. I just used my handy light box to trace the cute little critters from the chocolate fabric onto the seafoam fabric...and start stitchin'.

Ribbit...

I plan to do a bit more embroidery on the top and I still need a backing fabric. I am going to use the Turquoise dot fabric for the binding and with luck and diligence Golden Slumbers will be wrapped around my new little cousin soon .

Here's to new baby skin! ;0)

Edit- Here is the Poem...
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise.
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby;
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

Care is heavy, therefore sleep you;
You are care, and care must keep you.
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby:
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

Thomas Dekker

;0)

Let it Melt

I am desperate... I must find the BBQ! My Hubby is out shoveling and I am melting what I can on the woodstove. The snow is so high we can't throw it up over the snowbanks! Crazy Snowy