Little shopping trip and a few extras

Needed a couple of things at the grocery shop this morning so we went to Waterdown, ON along my favourite local road. I have been watching the Virginia Creeper and the Wild Grape along there for weeks waiting for the right amount of colour change. ALMOST there today so I took a few pictures. One of these days, you may see one of these done in fabric:-)

I really like the chartreuse leaves against the slatey blue of the little grapes. The fruit is PROLIFIC this year!

I also like the flat blue with the shining red leaves of the Virginia Creeper.

Shot into the sun on a breezy morning but what a glorious brocade of colours!

Love this but I would tone down the emerald green background to a softer, yellowish green.

How do you like the little grapevine hoop!!

I also photographed a most marvellous hydrangea given to my Aunty at Easter. Here are a few photos I did of it. ALSO quilt material!

Am I having fun??

You betcha!

Isn't this colour amazing!!

I have LOTS to keep me busy now. I am quilting the Gloriosa and will post some pictures later this afternoon on this post when I add it to the posts on the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com I will just add the Gloriosa pics at the end as you have seen the quilt recently. I AM enjoying some VERY heavy thread painting. Hope YOU like it too.

As promised, here are a few pics of Gloriosa at her current state, partly thread painted. L O N G way to go to finish but this is a start!

A few shots of the thread painting to date. 

Just starting on the big bloom.

The petals on the smaller bloom.

Centre of the smaller one...

...and the whole, untrimmed piece this afternoon waiting for me to get some energy to finish the stitching on the rest.

NOW it will go to Needle and thread network!

Not generally my bag, but.....

Look at it! It is undoubtedly pretty but normally not the sort of thing I do. I was asked to do something for Christmas for a class , so I did this. It is  GREAT little project for brushing up one's machine quilting technique! I quilted all round all of those little bits with Invisible thread so it is nice and textured but not gaudy with all sorts of thread colours. I am beading it a bit and , as you see, binding it. The binding will be 1/2 inch but still needs turning. I have plans for the four corners too so watch this space. I will post the finished product before sending it to the shop for display.

The whole piece. Obviously a printed panel- by Robert Kaufman.

A little closeup so you can see the quilting and the beads.

Then, There is the Gloriosa, waiting patiently in the wings . It is almost finished except for e few minor touches and then , ready to layer and quilt. I THINK I am happy with it. We'll see.

Not a very nice picture as it is mixed up with the pieces under it but you get the idea. It is coming along well .I will do a bit more on the big centre and then layer it. By next week, I hope it is all done.

I am REALLY hoping to get this done by this time next week so stay tuned, watch this space. I am posting to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com I have already visited the site. There are some LOVELY posts there this week! Drop in .

Glorious Persistence

I admire persistence! Sometimes it can drive one mad but in the end, I DO admire it! Several years ago my Mum brought me a straggly little plant from the driveway of a friend's house in NS . It was a Gloriosa Daisy and it grew and proliferated EVERYWHERE! I liked it but I have a LOT of composites in the garden and was not sure , seeing how wildly this grew, that I needed yet another. Eventually, I yanked it all out and chucked it- I THOUGHT! Well, Lo and Behold, this year, ONE single Gloriosa daisy grew in the gravel of our driveway. It bloomed - gloriously, as is its wont and so, I left it there with a mass of yellow Rudbekia and kept photographing it.

Here are a couple of pics of my glorious Gloriosa. The bottom one is the photo I am working from .

Lovely photo of the total chaos that is our dining room! Did I ever claim to be a housekeeper when I am working?

And here is what I am doing with them. I am further along now but this gives an idea of progress to date. I am going to post this WIP to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com Not sure if I will be finished this by next week as I have a diversion to tackle in the meantime , but stay tuned. Hope you are all enjoying the superb fall weather we are having here in sunny Burlington just now.