Fashion Floss & Summer Fun

Fourth of July is coming. The perfect time to share this flag quilt 

that hangs in the airport in Bend Oregon. Here is my back story.

 

I purchased this book a few months back.  

Great inspiration for the fashion projects I want to start when I take a break from my vessels. Complete with patterns (you can see mine copied on newsprint behind the book), 

great tips on hand sewing, stencil designs, stitch examples & more.

I almost missed this quilt on the wall as I was leaving the airport on my recent Bend trip.

Serendipity ensured and I took a closer look as the technique looked familiar.

  

 

Sure enough, the card on the wall confirmed

the quilters had used Alabama Chanin for inspiration.

I adore the look & slow hand made quality of the work.

The huge stash of embroidery floss I was given by a friend

will come in handy for the hand stitched elements once I get started.

With doing so much sewing I have accumulated a pile of spent spools.

 Ran across a suggestion to use them for storing floss. Brilliant little idea. 

So much better that the clothespin method in the link above. Looks nice but a pain in the end.

Stylized rose is the latest stencil I've created & started using. 

Pictures of completed projects with this to follow. I could use this in an Alabama design.

 It's summer & the great lakes are gorgeous. 

The colors are amazing along the shore line. 

This is Waugoshance Point at the tip of the lower peninsula. 

A great place to hike and camp in old CCC cabins. 

We flew to Lake Superior for the day to the mouth of the Two Hearted River,

 made famous by Ernest Hemmingway.

The above shot was on our way back home.

Am I lucky or what? 

Thursday Musings & A to Z Reflections

This picture is Lake Michigan looking out on the Manitou Islands. Hubby & I did a hike along the Lakeshore Sunday & this was the view. We are surrounded by incredible natural wonders in Northern Michigan. We have camped on both those islands. Check out my post about North Fox island which is just out of view in the above picture.

On to my reflections on my third year of the A to Z Challenge.

 It is truly a challenge, but well worth the effort.  It opens doors into the life and habits of other bloggers and lots of interesting subcultures. The discipline it requires is one of the main benefits. This time I did many posts ahead and scheduled them to appear on the appropriate day. The A to Z prompt is great because it's a wide open jumping off point that can work for everyone.

Some thoughts on the logistics of the challenge this time around.  The Google forms the captains utilized were helpful & well done in my opinion. Cross posting my posts in Facebook garners the MOST traffic for me. I do not use Twitter. Cross posting to Google plus seems like overkill to me. Time consuming enough to respond to comments on each post during the month and visiting as many other blogs as possible. With approximately 700 participants it would be a daunting task to visit them all. As my interests & blog lean to the artistic I find the categories a great filter. Only 17 in our category???  OK you visual artists, I want to see you step up next year. 

On a personal level, the discipline of creating a blog post for 26 days out of a month is a great exercise. I jot notes on ideas every time inspiration strikes. I have created a document with all the titles for each of the 3 years for reference as well as one with ideas for 2019 and beyond. That one gets additions all the time. I plan to use the list for my commitment to post once a week.

Pictures of my activities in the studio and elsewhere are a huge part of my blog. Images speak volumes. My iPhone is my main tool and it is so easy!  Dropbox is my friend. I have used it for years & it makes moving images between devices effortless as well as creating albums to share. It's great for travel to keep things organized and not clog up your storage.  

Being a newly retired mid lifer I consider the Cresting the Hill blog a real find.  Because of the A to Z challenge I now have friends in Australia! Can I come visit? She & a friend have created a great community of women who share great thoughts.

On to other things.

Did you know I have an Etsy shop? there is a link at the upper right of the blog. More items will be added there shortly. I've been very busy painting fabric, cutting & using new stencils,
finishing more boxes and bags.

 The process for a lidded box that is completed.

The triangular shape was an idea I wanted to try. This is a taller version I created to house all those remotes that clutter up the coffee table. I like it!

  I am in two shows this summer. Art Rapids June 9 to 22 has accepted 5 of my pieces this year. In July the Peninsula Library is having a fair where I will have my work.

That is quite enough for today. happy Spring!

Summer is Good

Where do I begin? I'm going to venture off into summer fun not exactly related to paper, fabric or books in the next few posts, but there is fodder for creativity in everything. So here goes.

Last week end El Galeon sailed into West in Bay in Traverse City. We took the opportunity to go take a tour on board. I did quite a bit of sailing a couple decades ago & seeing this replica of a 14th century ship was exhilarating to me. This was her first time in the Great Lakes. She's sailed 45,000 miles on the ocean so it's about time.

 

The details really got me. Hand stitched leather covers for the posts!

So much teak and line. Man's ability to come up with simple machines to help him do work is amazing to me. Something to ponder and appreciate in our world driven by technology.

 Volunteers shared lots of knowledge about life on board back in the day. The conditions were awful, so this is not to be romanticized. Bugs, rats, no fresh water, all food salted pickled or smoked. Wine was the beverage of choice always...wow.

They had one cabin made up like it would have been for an officer. Small and sparse, but better than carving out a space on the deck with the other common folk.

Back to my own home for dinner for 4 on a perfect summer evening.

The hydrangeas are spectacular this year!

Volunteering at the Crooked Tree Art Fair Saturday. Hopefully I can take some photos there of art work of interest.