Just Round The Corner!

Finally.....got down the knack of rounding photo corners using the round rectangle brush! I'm a little slow.....to say the least!

Pumpkins Galore!

And Along Came A Spider.....and!!

I've really been practicing and improving my photoshop skills....thanks to Kim Klassen's skinny-mini eCourse. The greatest! Yes, I'm smiling.....at my little pretty!

Pumpkins!

While in Seattle last week, I found these pumpkins neatly grounded (displayed) on a counter top in Etta's....a restaurant in Seattle and thought it made just the perfect pre-Halloween picture. It also suits my mood of the day completely! You see, I've grounded myself until I can get a few projects completed! Is that wishful thinking....or what?

To Sell or Not To Sell

I'm making a brave effort to make my sales go faster...easier...free of etsy fees...so will be posting new items here. Guitar flouncy purse is 10" deep and 14" wide with a 14" drop on the shoulder strap....just enough to hang about waist level. It is made of cotton fabric and has a metallic snap closure. $45.00/$5.00 S&H

I'm Energized!

I was so energized to learn yesterday that I've been invited to participate in The Art Quilt Blog. So, naturally, my first post was to showcase a few of my favorite art quilts. Here's one.....but go see more.
















Curated by Chris Daly, The Art Quilt Blog features quilt artists from around the globe. It's new and growing - add it to your favorites/feeds/facebook/twitter....grab this link and post it in your blog.....just spread the energy (translate joy) around.

{Echo} Week 24- Liquid

{Echo} Week 24 - Liquid.....wow! I love my partner's choice of liquid - WATER. Gotta go see Autumn's blog - it's wonderful.



And here is my choice of liquid - LIQUOR.



No - while I do enjoy an occasional glass of wine or an extra dry martini - sometimes a simple scotch and water, oh and can't forget the refreshing sip of gin and tonic (with a twist, of course) - I'm not a liquor lush!

While I was in Seattle last week visiting a friend, I had occasion to have lunch alone. Ann was participating in a seminar which gave me lots of free time to roam Seattle downtown. If you get a chance to go there, then go there. Anyway, back to lunch alone at the Steelhead Diner on Pine and lst Streets, since I didn't have a reservation, my option was to wait....and wait....and wait....or be seated at the bar. I choose to be seated. The bar was right up front with a great window view of the Pike Street Market and the water and rows and rows of liquor bottles. I need this barkeep at home...he was sooooooo tidy!

How timely that I took this picture 'cause when I got back here to my home computer, I discovered that the {Echo} prompt of the week was liquid....and I do consider liquor very liquid.

What did I have for lunch....you ask. A wonderful minimal calorie buttermilk battered fried chicken sandwich with fries. Oh, yes, a tall glass (of water). It was lunch time, remember, and I had lots of shopping yet to do.



When one dines alone....one is allowed to take pictures of just about anything one chooses. Yes, that includes liquor bottles and food - drool!

My time moved south again!

My time changed by two hours last night! I haven't changed with it. What has been 8 a.m. for me the past 10 days is now 6 a.m. My body will adjust someday...but in the meantime, I missed the breakfast hour.

But I didn't miss the opportunity of making this ordinary street corner shot into one I could manipulate into a nice little street corner.
I remember thinking this was a nice blue color on this utility van...why else would I have taken a picture with a blue van as the prominent feature??? When I downloaded all my photos this morning, I was not so impressed with this picture as I should have been. But there is a moral here - never delete a picture until you rethink it! Took some major cropping, but instead of seeing a blue van, I saw a lovely little street corner.

I arrived home safely and soundly - more later after my next nap!

So little time to sleep in Seattle!

I couldn't resist playing around with the grass-on-water photo. Love the simplicity of it.

So much to see, so little time. We got into Seattle around 1 yesterday and I don't think I've stopped. So much to see. I've taken many pictures and will have to get back home to sort through where I've been this week. It's been a whirlwind tour these past 7 days - I head home Sunday and will arrive late! 'Til then - Marty

The View from up here!

Sailboats in Port Townsend Bay:
Beautiful little Episcopal Church:


Golden leaves and red berries:


I've been on the road for the past few days and have not had my hands on an internet service. I simply refuse to invest in those little items you pay through the nose for just to have service 24-7 while traveling.

Anyway, the past few days have been very busy, so here's just a couple of things I found while touring in and around Washington State and thought I would share before we headed out for wine and cheese! Coming from the flatlands of Louisiana, I thought the views were pretty spectacular.

Go Figure?

Let Me In

Just Twist Me



Hello Darkness: My Old Friend

And the answer is still "NO"

There's an end to this story!

He's finally beginning to trust me again. It's taking a long time for him to accept my apology. He just couldn't understand my zeal to get him 'fixed' and doesn't feel up to totally trusting me yet. Trust has to be earned and is very fragile. I knew that based on my own life experiences, so why did I think he would quickly jump right back into my life as if nothing had happened?

A new handmade purse for the road!

As I said earlier in the week....I'll be leaving on a jet plane very early Friday morning and I'm already getting the jitters: no, not about flying, I love to fly....it's all about leaving my sewing machine behind for 10 days. How scary can that be? So, I've been frantically sewing up ideas. Like printing on fabric and sewing into a piece of wool....and there you have it - a new handmade purse for the road!

I've been multi-tasking.....

.....and am getting quite good at it!
While the toenails were drying.....


I made a doll quilt.....AND watched a passer-by have a nice bath!



While at my sewing station this morning, this little fellow dropped in, took a very quick bath, then headed on South. Does he know something we don't? It's been such a warm day, I wondered why his hurry. He barely stayed long enough for me to get this one shot of him. I thanked him for posing so prettily.

Time has not been on my side.....

But I did want to take the time to let you know that I'm still here....just very, very busy! I'll be leaving on a jet plane early Friday morning and still have lots to do to get ready....did get a cut and color yesterday and today will be the long overdue pedicure. Sorted through closets and pulled out most of my needs...it takes a lot to get ready!

Independence

This came to me in an e-mail entitled "What I love about kids." I call this "independence." This parent should be thrilled that baby girl takes care of her own needs! I guess this picture has been floating around cyber-town and I'm just now seeing it...not sure whose child this is but she is too cute for words.

"Hi" Note Card

After Need I tell you that you simply must click the photo to enlarge to get the up-close-and-personal view! I took a picture of my original note card....the one with a snippet of fabric sewn on, then a flower and a "Hi" penned in....with the inside water-color painted to mimic a vase....yes, that's the one. Then I added the wonderful clip art from "The Graphics Fairy" as the background...all on black. Reprinted this as my newest "Hi" note card. Don't miss that the order of the alphabet in the clip art is HI. Not ha ha!

Before



Grins back to you and happy Monday.....

Marty

In my spare time

.....and make journal covers.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday!

Here are my interpretations of this week's scavenger hunt items:

1. Pink - I made this little ceramic bookend for my grandmother when I was very young. Yes, I also made the Rag Andy too and still cherish the pair as they were returned to me on her death. I took the liberty of duplicating her in this picture to enforce the pink theme.

2. Books - From my bookshelf. Don't take this as an endorsement of the quality of her writing! She is a native Louisianian (and I do like to support the locals).

3. Fall Colors - Even thread comes in all the fall colors.

4. Leaf - Variegated Lirope.....one of my favorite little grasses to pot up. It adds a spot of cheer on a garden table regardless of the season.

5. Orange - Why do I like Fiskars? Because they are orange!

Check out more scavenger hunters and their finds here. This was my first week to join the hunt and it was quite a lark!

The items for next week are - (1) side lighting (2) Jack O'Lantern (3) faces formed in nature (4) sunset (5) warm. My work is cut out for me!

Christmas Cards....Yikes it's not even Halloween!

This may be my Christmas card this year. There is, of course, plenty of time for me to alter that plan! I do like to take pictures of my art quilts and put them into cards. Whimsical trees - whether in art quilts or holiday cards - that's a good thing!

Art Quilts

Winter scape art quilt - the sun is just peeking into the full blue sky over the lonely little leafless winter tree.
Another thread-sketched winter tree -
This is my "dead of winter" art quilt -


Spring revisited -

No, I didn't complete all of them yesterday, but I have been busy...there's more! Later

{Echo} Week 23 - Minimalist

Autumn and I continue to partner in fun in our quest to meet the Flickr {Echo} challenges that Chrysti and Susan throw out to us. What a fun challenge this week was - minimalist.

Minimal attire is my interpretation and Autumn's interpretation is minimal landscape. There is nothing minimal about our imagination is there? This challenge took a lot of thought provoking moments around our homes with camera in hand!

The biggest challenge on my part was getting hubby to cheerfully(?) cooperate in this picture-taking session! Now I'm off to Penny's to find him new socks. He deserves them....

Marty

It's a jungle in here....but no one is fighting

the saga continues.....
This batik jungle was roaring by the time I figured out where to place each of these 12" blocks. But in spite of all the seam ripping and re-placement of blocks, I like that they aren't misbehavin'.

That said...I wanted to use as many of the same batik fabrics for the back of the ain't misbehavin' quilt; however, by the time I finished with the piecing, I decided it was too good looking for a backing. It is now my batik folly quilt top. Abandoned, but big and well-fed yellow cat agrees with me!



Two quilt tops - Yes, I can! Now I need more fabric!!!

baby turkey dust bath

baby turkey dust bath
Originally uploaded by lilfishstudios

Too cute! Lil fish studios and I are easily entertained! Just had to pass this video on.....

Choices

A little pot with a single flower given with love says I love you so much better than all the red roses the corner florist has for sale.

I had a choice this morning....photography or quilting? Quilting or photography? Okay....my choice of the morning was photography. Now that I have that out of my system, I can finish that quilt back I started yesterday. That will be another blog post.....later.