Marty's Fiber Musings: April 2012

Just about the time .....

I run out of things to blog about....I walk outside!

All's quiet on the home front

when suddenly..........all hell breaks loose!

Can this kid scream I'm hungry any louder?

Look Dear....we have twins!

Who dropped their kid off! They're multiplying ~

and then we start all over again! A mother's work is never done ~

and it's only Monday morning!

We aren't the silent type: she and I ~

While doing my (almost) daily exercise (the other day)....I ran across a picture/article about bullying - especially bullying lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender - and the Day of Silence to protest. This morning....in reflection, I sketched my own poster while reflecting on the act of bullying ~

While I'm not LGBT, I do agree that those who are should not be subjected to bullying. But, taken further, anyone, regardless of sex or sexual orientation or race or social status or income level or religion or........should be subjected to bullying.

But, really, now....how is a day of silence going to help? Shouldn't a bully and/or a bullying action be brought to the attention of all. Instead of being silent, shouldn't the hurt and harm, the cause and effect be talked about. Talked about with enthusiasm and commitment with the expectation that the why and how and where and when questions be answered. Talked about at all levels, from a young age, at home, at school, at church, in town and out of town. The bullying act should be talked about with family, parents, friends, co-workers, committees, organizations......The bully should be made public. Those surrounding the bully should know who and what he is and what harm he has done.

But since I'm not the silent type, perhaps I'm not understanding how stuffing away, ignoring and pretending hurtful things don't happen is going to solve a problem.

I once had a supervisor who said and did hurtful things. One day I asked her "why?

Her reply "just because I can."

Bullying, harassment, intimidation, and control will continue as long as the power is given to

"those who can."

Down and Out ~ thursday

No matter the perspective.....nobody loves you when you're down and out!

Nobody loves you when you're down and out
Nobody knows you when you're on cloud nine

Nobody loves you when you're old and grey
Nobody needs you when you're upside down

Everybody's hollerin' 'bout their own birthday
Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground

Nobody loves you when you're down and out
Nobody sees you when you're on cloud nine

No, I'm not down and out (not yet, anyway), but I had these pictures of this old wheel barrow that I edited and wanted to put a story to. Thursday! Now, that's a good thing!

The Marley Man

Dale? When I hear the name Dale I immediately think Earnhardt. Same thing goes for Bob...just has to end in Marley.

Busting out the Batik

A Moda Bake Shop Recipe: The 'You Zig, I'll Zag' Quilt designed by Rebecca Silbaugh of Ruby Blue Quilting Studio. Rebecca has patterns galore in the Ruby Blue shop.

The cutting directions are given for a layer cake, but I wanted to use some of my batik,, so I just cut 2 1/2" strips across the width of fabric and that worked just fine.....only 35 1/2 inches are needed for each block. I used 28 different batiks so had to double up on some since the pattern calls for 41.

The instructions for sewing together was pretty straight-forward....unless you get confused and pulled from the wrong stack. Start with two different 2 1/2" squares, then pull a like 4 1/2" rectangle. Now find a different 4 1/2" rectangle and partner it with a 6 1/2" rectangle. Now pull the 6 1/2" and 8 1/2" rectangle partners for the last round. A finished 8 1/2" block. It'll make sense after you finish cutting and get started sewing.

With all 41 blocks lined up, I discovered it made a square quilt......and I wanted rectangle, so I made 9 more blocks so it zigged 5 blocks across and zagged 6 blocks down.... for a 58" x 70" finished size.

Another reason for my madness....I didn't have enough of my triangle fabric for the outer border so decided to stop it at this point. What....I'm de-stashing my batik fabric and did not want to go for more!

The day was too pretty not to go outside for the final picture...of course, the wind was blowing which explains away the slight blur!

I like it! Thanks Moda and Rebecca for this great recipe.

Look who's ready to fly ~

This Robin fledgling is one handsome guy and he's ready to leave the nest

Look who flew the coop.....from that tree to this one was exhausting work. Will someone please turn off the light!

it was a serious kick quilter's butt morning

just me and Paul Simon.....

me paul betty and al revved it up on the elliptical machine.....can you feel the rhythm? step step step step. If (??) I keep this pace, I'll be a fraction of myself in just a few more months!

Pictures of Spring

daffodil tee pees

elephant garlic heads reaching to the sun

gnarled beauty of rosemary legs

first blush of clematis

hard concrete urn softened by the sweetness of green springs

bee having a drink of dew from his personal sunflower bowl

a picture perfect post card from me to you on a most beautiful spring day

Linked to Communal Global's Tuesday Around The World

Our Deepest Fear

I'm feeling a little fearful this morning....pretty downright doubtful of my worth...wearing my heart on my shirt sleeve...wondering about friendship....how to please...how not to be myself so those around me will feel satisfied. Withdrawing into the shell, avoiding the hurt.

But this excerpt about our deepest fear from A Return to Love

by Marianne Williamson continues to repeat itself in my head as my reminder that I will not play small nor shrink. I will continue to grow and ask questions and stretch myself to be more, not less than I am. I will liberate myself from the fear I'm feeling today.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?" Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

One Seed

Oxalis in Full Bloom

Yes, my Oxalis is in full bloom! But, where does it come from and why doesn't it go away like other annuals? I've been digging this stuff up by the wheelbarrow loads and all the thanks I'm getting for my efforts is more Oxalis. It's multiplying as fast as some say rabbits multiply. I've never had a rabbit so I'll leave this to the experts to prove or disprove.

But - anyway - this morning I decided once and for all to do the right thing for myself....I would go to the Wikipedia source book and see how to do something with my Oxalis other than take a pretty picture of it.

What I learned did not help me in my eradication plan.....you see Wikipedia tells me that "when escaping from cultivation outside their native range (that would be from my neighbors yard into mine), with their ability to reserve energy in their tubers, makes them quite resistant to weed control techniques."

I'm slow, but: I had already figured that out!

What I didn't know!!! as I dig each tuber out in my effort to eradicate the little buggers....I'm separating each little bubil (a Wikipedia word).....it is detaching itself from the mother bubil to produce new plants. No wonder my garden is knee deep in Oxalis! I'm reaping what I sow.

Wikipedia went on to tell me that there's a use for Oxalis....eat it to help reduce scurvy. It's raining right now, but I'll be out doing my gathering a little later today. Now that I know what I know, watch out Oxalis, here I come!

A Dr. Seuss Saturday afternoon in the herb garden

What flower is this? i am remiss
cannot remember
oh remorse

{edited} Vicki helped me remember.....it's the red hot poker flower! Help is fun and help is good and help should never be misunderstood.

"Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one."

"If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good."

"From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere."

Three of my favorite quotes from Dr. Seuss

In the mail from Ludid Ryu:

What a wonderful mail day I had....a package full of handmade items from Ludid as a part of Craft It Forward.

Now it's my turn to continue with the project. Here's how it works.....

For the first five who leave a comment on this post, I will send you something handmade by me. Once you receive my package, you will need to post about what I sent you and continue with the

Craft It Forward project by sending something handmade to the first five who comment on my post.

Anything can be sent as long as the items are handmade by you and sent before the end of 2012.

Paper piecing can put a new spin on little things

A paper piecing pattern from Piece By Number. To get the scrappy look, print 8 of Beth's PDF blocks, pull a miscellany of scraps, select a background fabric, then paper piece to completion. Square up the 8 blocks, tear off paper, piece two by two to make two 12 1/2" blocks. Or, you could print 16 and make a 4 x 4 to put a new spin on your quilt. Find more Piece By Number patterns HERE. Just follow the links.

I made two of Beth's free color wheel geese blocks then surrounded them with the scraps....not yet quilted!

It's my photoshop....I'll sketch if I want to

A Pink Coneflower: Sketched and Painted in Photoshop

I stepped outside this morning

.....and found flowers in full bloom

the potted herb harden

the purple coneflower

and blue iris

common sage

clematis in the color blanc

sedum filled bunny crossing

Egg--actly how to hard cook an egg!

Hello Peeps: I'm not sure how I've missed knowing eggactly how to hard cook an egg all these years, but the other day after emptying the egg carton, I stumbled upon this information printed inside the carton lid......

In case you can't read this, I'll reprint it: There are three easy steps

Place the eggs into a saucepan. Fill with cold water. Be sure the water covers the eggs by about two inches.
Bring the water to a full boil. Once it's boiling, put a lid on the saucepan and remove it from the burner. Let the eggs stand for 12 minutes still covered by the lid.
Place the eggs under cold running water until they are completely cooled. Safely tap egg on a hard surface to crack the shell. Continue peeling until the eggshell is completely gone.

Now Peeps...I'm no spring chicken but I've never hard cooked an egg this way.....as a matter of fact, I've never even boiled an egg this way. My grandmother never taught me to cook an egg this way and neither did my mama. Whatever happened to putting the eggs in the pan, covering them with water and turning on the heat. Now is the time to go about your business and when you remember to go back into the kitchen, you turn the heat off since the eggs are no doubt good and hard boiled by this time. Works every time for me.

And for more great tips, visit greatdayfarms.com

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.

Paper Piecing made easy: by the printed numbers

Pat made this one easily enough: She says....after she finally finished her first house the remaining ones in the neighborhood were constructed in record time!

And Linda's paper pieced wall hanging is amazing!

Elaine decided a couple of years ago that we should make these paper pieced Christmas tree blocks and give them to 12 of our best friends as door prizes: Here's her Christmas tree. It was a Christmas tree lot of piecing....but we love her anyway!

And Dorothy's vibrant paper pieced birdhouse ~ The black border just makes these bright colors come to life. Dorothy brought this pattern with her from Florida and continues to share it with her Louisiana friends. We are birders too!

And me and Mr. Rooster just got along beautifully once I figured out what was suppose to be background and what was rooster! From American Patchwork & Quilting April 2001.

I have another paper piecing project up my sleeve. Piece By Number has paper pieced patterns to love. I'm especially intrigued by the Colorwheel Circle of Geese blocks....a free pattern PDF download.

And Christina at The Sometimes Crafter has given us a fabulous paper piecing tutorial on her blog. Then we can hop on over to the flying geese quilts and blocks Flickr photo group for even more paper pieced eye candy.

A project for the purist DIY...er!

Now this I like....really like....making crochet hooks from sticks. I just might do it!

My whole body is smiling!

An Architect's Dream: In Abstract

It's an Architect's Dream.....featured on April 5 Quilter's Pastiche. Sure wish I had gotten the credit for being the proud designer and maker of this abstract art quilted wall hanging. And I'll bet the other three artists are wishing for the same thing!

Proof is in the pudding: Marty In Motion

Be Inspired.....by lace

I am the proud recipient of Vicki Welsh's newsletter each month....wouldn't want to miss a single issue!

Vicki's April news was fantastic: all about her hand dyed fabrics, projects, color palettes, links to tutorials, and what inspires her. And Vicki wrote last month about how she is containing her desire to roam, sharing how she is setting aside time to focus and get the job done. I love her approach to nibbling away to a completed project. It's always about time management!

At the very tail end of Vicki's April news in bold type was Inspiration...by lace. Curious that I am and always wanting to be inspired, I clicked on the link to Polish artist NeSpool and you should too. While every post in her blog is inspiring, this one in particular caught my eye, lace on Oak Beach....and it only lasted a week. This, no doubt, took a lot of time and energy to make and hang these lace art pieces....and they weathered in only a week...and she seemed thrilled that they lasted so long and relished in the delight her art gave to the young and old alike in that short space of time.

There is a lesson here. When an artist's work is finished, it is no longer their own: The NeSpool Gallery.

I'm having a beautiful morning....how about you?

Cats Rule! We just pay the bills!

Good Friday.....and this has nothing to do with quilts or art or anything really important, however, while visiting art quilter, Kathy York's place.....Aqua Moon Art Quilt..... I was reminded that a blog post doesn't always have to be centered around a work of art or a wonderful recipe, or what we did in the past hour......it can be all about the creatures we live with and how we make our home their home.

Kathy's been watching a lot of TV and came up with the idea to put shelves on the wall for her kitty critters to have a safe place to jump and to give them that top-of-the-world-feeling.

The HuMan and I did that same thing a couple of years ago...on our screened in back porch, we hooked stair step chairs for our kitty critters!

So, when they need a diversion from their inside activity: