Daisy Wants a Cracker

Aftican Batik

African village and it's inhabitants  batik

A couple of years ago we took a ride to the Deerfield Craft Show.  When this show is going it is quite large and there are many craftsman there trying to sell their wares.  I found this piece along with many others at this vendors table.  He said that his mother makes these along with others in her village.  I have since forgotten his name and where exactly he comes from with his batiks, maybe Kenya, not sure.  I know that I have his card somewhere and I will come across it one day.  When that day comes I will credit him and his mom with this lovely piece.  (Here is a fine example of posting right away, those things that you know you are going to remember can sometimes fool you and you forget.)  If I find out that any of the information regarding this piece is incorrect I will correct it.

This piece depicts villagers and the homes they live in.  It's not a large piece, around 10 inches long and 4 or 5 inches wide.  The colors are vibrant and the lines are clean.  Very skillfully done.  Hope you like it.

It's Coming Out Day for The Misses!

The Misses all folded into nice neat stacks of fat quarters.

Introducing Miss Enya, Miss Mina, Miss Nula, and Miss Dotty.  (from left to right)

Introducing Miss Ida L'Azur , Miss Katy, Miss Pat, and Miss Sarah.  (from left to right)

All The Misses dancing around!

    This coming out Day the The Misses!  They have arrived an hour or so late - they were picking our the right color to wear.  These are fat quarters of 100% cotton.  Kona cotton is what the design is printed on so you know it's one of the best cottons around. 
   This is a design that I did really quickly one day in my sketchbook.  It's been in my mind to do something else with it other than keeping it closed up in a book.  So here it is.  Hope you like my creation.

Out of UFO Land

Purple Pansy Quilt

Purple Pansy Quilt center, bias binding and backing detail.

A pile of binding after it was measured and cut.

Mitered corners make a neat finish.

   This small lap quilt or wall hanging has been deemed completed and can no longer stay in UFO Land.  It must find another home!  With a center of half square triangles and purple borders it was machine quilted using a variegated purple thread from Coats and Clark 100% mercerized cotton, Size 50.  The fabrics used are all 100% cotton commercially printed from a variety of manufacturers and designers.  You may recognize some of them.  I especially like the outside border and the striped bias edging.  I think I will call it Purple Pansy Quilt. 
    In an earlier post I was playing with a variety of layouts, auditioning them for this quilt and this is where the triangles landed!

Still in UFO Land

Proof that I have had the pedal to the metal!  Here I am stitching away to finish another UFO!

  What you thought I fell off the planet?  No no no, just been working on some of those UFO's  - five lap quilts done so far this year.  Four more are ready to be quilted and (shh, don't tell anyone) another blue and white striped triangle quilt has been started.  I know, I know I am supposed to be finishing not starting new quilts.  But I am using up my stash which is the flip side to my UFO endeavors.  Of  course I am not quilting these by hand but rather on my machine so of course I can finish more of them that way in a shorter time.   I do favor hand quilting, just so you know..  Thought that I would make a landing, just to touch base.  LOL

  Also I have been working with a designer to create some quilting pendants that I will be showing soon and hopefully be able to sell.  They are coming out quite nicely.  My designer is showing his great talents and I am impressed with what he has completed so far  He has taken my ideas and made them bloom.

  Also I have sent some of my fabric designs  off to be printed and the first sets have arrived!  I will take photos of  them sometime this week and post them one week from today (if I can wait that long!).  I am very pleased with the results.  All are printed on Kona 100% cotton. 

  So watch next Sunday - one week from today- for the "coming out" of The Misses fabric line.

The Ugly Duckling Quilt

The Ugly Duckling Quilt showing some of the squares and the binding (striped fabric) as well as the plaid backing flannel fabric.  With the extra binding fabric I made a pillow case for her .

This is the striped flannel fabric I used for the binding and the pillow case.  The roll is the binding after it has been cut.

 A few years ago my DD wanted to make a quilt and thought that it would be funny to make a quilt with some ugly flannel fabric.  So the quest began to find what she thought would be "ugly" flannel fabrics.  She succeeded to an extent, the fabrics that she found did not all go together.  But as every quilter knows you can always make lemonade out of lemons!  Shown here is the result of the fabric collection that she put together.  She cut out all of the squares and I made a pleasing arrangement out of them.  Unfortunately I did not take a photo of the whole quilt so that you could see it (maybe she will read this and send me a pic).  I found a striped fabric that pulls it all together and a plaid backing.  I venture to say that this quilt will become a favorite as it is warm, cozy and soft.  It also doesn't need batting, so it isn't a quilt in the truest sense of the word.  I think that batting might have made it too heavy. 
  She is now on a mission to find some more "ugly" flannel fabrics to have me make her brother one!  Let's see if we can make some more lemonade!

Indigo Days

Indigo favorite of mine, this was carefully measured, marked, pressed and stitched.  Then repeatedly immersed into the indigo dye bath.  Time consuming but worth the extra effort.   It is actually a nice blue with white.  This photo has a grey cast to it.   

Clamped and folded, immersed into the indigo dye bath.  Allowed to dry and then immersed in a second dye of yellow.  This is the result, the photo is true to color.

Indigo fold and clamped.  Love the contrast of white and blue here.

This is called Indigo Pond as it reminds me of floating leaves on a pond.  Easy!

Indigo Stitched.  This also shows me that I need to have a design board to mount my pieces on so that they can be photographed straight on.  Too much is lost even on a small angle.

Another favorite of mine.  This one is called Indigo Stripes.  It has not been ironed flat as the texture is wonderful here.

Here is a close up of the texture.  Not quite sure that I have captured it, maybe some back-lighting would help.

  I just love indigo.  It's so much fun to do as it comes out a beautiful emerald green sometimes kind of a yellow green and just get bluer as it oxidizes.  Repeated dips into the dye bath are required to get a deep blue so it can be very time consuming but it is well worth every minute put into it.  Hope you enjoy these pics of my indigo efforts.

New Year's Guilt Free Garbanzo Bean Salad with Olive Oil and Lemon Juice

   So now that the new year is under way and we have all eaten our way through a myriad of home made cookies and pies and all sorts of delicious treats I thought it would be nice to have a little something that isn't going to break the bank or for that matter the scale.  Some of you who may be feeling a wee bit guilty about having over indulged during the holidays can now throw that guilt out the window and treat yourself to this delicious salad.  The only fat in this salad is in the olive oil that is drizzled over it.  Olive oil is tasty and good for you to boot.  So go ahead  make some of this for yourself and your family.  It is great tasting and fast and easy to make.  All ingredients can be doubled for a larger crowd.  This serves 4.

 

Garbanzo Bean Salad with Olive Oil and Lemon Juice

        Ingredients:
             1 19 oz can garbanzo beans
             1 vine ripened tomato,  diced 
             3 T basil gently cut
              2 T chopped parsley
              1 small can sliced black olives
              1 clove garlic, mashed
              1/2 diced red onion
              salt
              pepper
              lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
              olive oil about 1/4 cup, extra virgin

Combine garbanzo beans, ripe tomato diced, basil gently cut, parsley, sliced black olives, 1 clove garlic mashed and diced red onion in a bowl.  Sprinkle with salt and let rest 1 hour.  After an hour combine  thoroughly  fresh ground pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. Stir gently to coat. Let rest 10 minutes.  Serve with a slice of crusty Italian bread.  Beat you have more than one serving MMMMmm.