'Tis the Season :: Guild Challenge TimeI

I will probably be a little quieter here than normal for a couple of weeks. It is guild challenge time again. Most of my sewing time for the next few weeks will be spent on this project.

Above is the only sneak peek I will be showing you of this project. Many guild friends read my blog. I'd like for them to be at least somewhat surprised by my entry. Although those that know me well will probably be able to easily pick out mine.

We are doing a Scavenger Hunt challenge this year. For full details, click this link to go my guild website. It is definitely a "challenge" for me!

I'll leave you with one other photo, not quilting related. I took it this morning.

Mist rising from the fence

This morning when the sun hit our fence it caused a spooky mist to rise from the fence. There is really nothing "spooky" about it. It rained yesterday evening and the fence was still wet this morning. When the sun hit the damp fence the moisture began evaporating. This doesn't happen often because we don't get much precipitation around here. But when it does happen it looks really neat. And it doesn't last long. I've tried to photograph it before but was unsuccessful because it stopped before I could find my camera and get outside. I was quick this morning.

Art Group Homework - Photo Extension

I have struggled with this assignment for a while. Last week I just got frustrated with it and started over. I pulled out a few fabrics, pinned them to my design wall with the photo and went to do something else.

When I came back I realized that I had been trying too hard. After weeks of arranging and rearranging fabrics for this I finished it in an hour. Sheesh!

I only used three fabrics plus the photograph printed onto photo fabric. You should have seen the large pile of fabrics I had pulled for this! I wish I took a photo but didn't think about it until after I had already put all the fabrics away.

For the first time in a couple of months I will have something to show tomorrow when we meet!

Sunset

On Wednesdays after work I usually have to go pick up my son at his BFF's house. They live outside of town to the southwest. Last week the sun was setting about the time I was driving out there. I parked at their house, grabbed my camera and shot a few quick photos.

In the photo below I was looking southwest. The color of the clouds changed so quickly.

In the photo below, I was looking west, directly towards the setting sun.

I was worried that I wouldn't make it to their house in time. I kept looking for a place to pull over, but was worried that I might get stuck in the mud if I did. So I just kept driving. I barely made it.

I do have some finished tops to show you. We had windy, snowy weather this weekend so I couldn't take pictures until this morning. I'll edit them and get posts written today.

Photography

While taking some photos one morning this week in my sewing room I noticed an interesting shadow.

Can you guess what could be making this shadow? See below.

Happy Summer (or Winter if you live south of the Equator)!

Frost

Yesterday morning was one of those fogging, frosty winter mornings where everything is covered in frost. It looks magical! I took a few pictures but it was also really cold (like negative numbers cold) so I didn't stay out very long.

No time to chat this morning! I've got to get sewing!

Merry Christmas!

I may take a short break from blogging, but then again, something may happen that I just want to share with you. So don't be surprised if you don't hear from me until after Christmas (and don't be surprised if you do).

In either case, I hope you have an enjoyable holiday however you choose to celebrate.

Snow Hats

I learned the hard way not to cut back all my plants in the front yard when they die back for the year. I lost several things the first year due to my ignorance. The dead flowers are a very interesting perch for snow, another reason not to cut things back.

Snow!

Finally, we got some snow at our house. Despite still being sick, I couldn't resist walking around (well bundled) with my camera for a few minutes. I snapped a few photos from the neighborhood and on campus.

I just love how snow can transform the mundane into something interesting.

Inspiration from Mother Nature

Doesn't the red in the center of the petals look like it was done with a paint brush?

Ganzia

My next door neighbors have beautiful flowers in their yard. I let myself into their backyard recently and took some photos of their flowers. (They don't mind and weren't home to ask anyway) This ganzia caught my eye. There are little gold lines around the center that look like stitches to me.

Creativity Challenge

Sandy over at Quilting for the Rest of Us posted a challenge about a month ago. I took her challenge.

The idea was to make something, anything, using a photograph Sandy took as inspiration. Here is her photograph.

It is the side of a boat or barge and the shadow of a person.

Here is what I made using the photograph as inspiration.

I pieced this last month in my art group meeting. We were doing some straight line free piecing. It hung out on my design wall until yesterday when I quilted it and attached some binding.

Spring Break

Been perusing the Favorite Photos file again. This one was taken February 11, 2004 from the kitchen window of our house in Macon, GA (before we moved). This is Maggie sampling the "bird soup," one of her favorite drinks.

Today is the first day of Spring Break. It has been busy! I took Parker over to the Science Fair on campus this morning. He had a vision of what it was like that I knew was not accurate, so I wanted him to see reality. I'm not sure what he thought, but he seemed to enjoy looking at the projects after getting over his disappointment with reality. He was thinking it would be more like an invention fair where you could try out really cool things like an anti-gravity room. Then we went to Walmart, the grocery store, home to put away the groceries, back to the grocery store so Parker could buy something out of the trinket machine because he didn't have his money the first time, then to the paint store. We watched Stuart Little 3 (again!) this afternoon and now "mom needed a time out" so I'm hiding in my room. I have no idea what we are having for dinner.

Here's a funny story about Parker. We had our Parent/Teacher Conference on Tuesday. His teacher asked who Parker's new little friend is. She has been babysitting him during recesses and PE because Parker doesn't want him to get stepped on outside and she was just wondering who she was babysitting. It's Stuart! Luckily, his teacher appreciates Parker's imagination and goes along with it as long as it doesn't interfere with the workings of the classroom. I made a good choice and he should be in her class again next year.

Spring Snow

We woke up to 3 or 4 inches of snow this morning. I had another busy day lined up but I managed to take a few photos before getting started on my day.

Another Favorite Photo

This photo was taken October 6, 2006 in our backyard. Yes, I've been looking through my Favorite Photos file again. A friend came yesterday and purchased most of the largest baby items I had to part with. Getting a little money for these things makes parting with them a bit easier. I bought a couple of plastic bins to store the few items we are keeping. Mainly some books and a few cute plate sets and baby spoons.

On the quilting front: I've finished the top of my king size mystery quilt and stay stitched around the edges for my long arm quilter. A photo will be coming soon. I've also already made the binding. I am working on the backing, just sewing together the largest left-over pieces from the front. This quilt is killing my neck and left shoulder. It is so heavy! The top is heavy. The back is heavy and getting heavier because I'm not done with it yet. I can't tell you how many times I've been sewing and suddenly realized that the quilt is not moving under the needle anymore because my chair has rolled onto it and it's stuck!

Winter Wonderland

We had three days of unusually overcast and foggy weather. Yesterday afternoon the clouds moved off and the sun came out. So did the photographers. The white trees against the blue sky was spectacular! I took lots of pictures yesterday and will be posting the good ones here as time permits.

Yes, the sky is really that blue here. The only thing I did to these photos was resize them.

Favorite Photo

I guess everyone has a few favorite photos of their kids. This is one of my favorite photos that I have taken of Parker. It was taken March 27, 2004 in our backyard in Macon, GA. Parker was 22 months old. He is standing on a stump at the top of the slope in the yard. He had just fallen off the stump and tumbled down the slope bit. If you click on the image to make it larger you may be able to see a scratch on his nose and his face is a bit dirty. The flower pot he is holding has dirt in it that he was playing in. We were all outside sprucing up the yard because we were getting ready to put it on the market. We moved from that house here to Alamosa at the end of July 2004. He tumbled down the slope and before either Tony or I could do anything, he jumped up and ran back to the stump. We asked him if he was alright and he just gave us that smile as I snapped the photo.

I've been looking through a lot of older photographs recently. I try to make a scrapbook for each year and I had gotten a bit behind. I'm glad to report that I am starting on the album for 2009. So I'm caught up. It feels good!