Black Inchies

I thought this would be a Black and White exercise.

When I looked at the list of subjects ages ago, my little pea-sized brain started to whirl about and I made a list of every black thing I could think of. Then, a couple of days ago, I started making my silly Inchies (BTW, my good husband says we Inchie People should get out more! How much fun is HE?) Here is what I made. Enjoy? Maybe :-)

But I made myself Black and Blue with this subject

The dreaded Black Hand!!!

And We have all been Blackballed

Anyone have a Blackberry? Not me. I have an iPad!

It IS a jungle out there- a Blackboard Jungle?

All this heat and we may end up with one of these from overuse of electricity!

Sad thing, a Black Eye!

Now THIS made me laugh when I thought of it so I made ONE inchie to go TWO ways- Blackjack , and ...

Jack Black!

And at last, this post Fades to........

BLACK!

BTW, don't forget to link to everyinchiemonday2012.blogspot.com and see everyone else's brainstorms.

Circles for Sketchbook Challenge

Circle game

 See lots more circles at sketchbookchallenge.blogspot.com . Look at the flickr group. Enjoy!

Mountain Inchies

The Biggie! Mt Everest

Mt Rundle

                                                                       

Mt Hood

Kilimanjaro

Matterhorn

Mt Fuji

Here are my mountain inchies. I am in a huge rush so will say more later today. See more Mountain Inchies ateveryinchiemonday2012.blogspot.com

Are you sick and tired of seeing this now???

The Fatsia Project is FINI!!! All but the mounting, that is. Oh, and I need to make a label. I THINK I am happy. I used a variegated thread for the background quilting and , in hindsight, maybe a solid colour would have been better. It kind of borders on too busy I think.

I have thought of all sorts of ways to hang this but have decided to pester my long suffering husband and get him to make me a little 3/4" x3/4" frame and stretch the bound edge around it so the piece stands out from the wall. I will leave 1/4" of binding showing but cut it a couple of inches wide so there is enough to wrap round the frame.The quilt is quite realistic, almost like a painting so I like the idea of hanging it like a painting.

Cropped a bit too much by the photo but you get the idea.

For certain of my kind online friends( you KNOW who you are !) I took some detailed pictures because I know you like to see the details :-). Enjoy the penultimate post on the Fatsia Project- I HOPE!

Detail of some background quilting and the thread painting.

...and more detail...

...and my favourite berry!

...and most of the big leaf. Too bad it was rolled in on itself. The leaves are spectacular big palmate things with shiny surfaces and prominent veins,

Sketchbook Challenge for July

The theme this month for Sketchbook Challenge is Circles. I have added a few "circles" to my photostream on Flickr. You can see everyone elses's at sketchbookchallenge.blogspot.ca/ My stuff is VERY mundane. There is some really great work posted on the site but I have not had much time to do any new things for it. Enjoy the site!

Details and garden breaks

A very nice white lily that was given to me. Nice that the squirrels left the bulbs alone!

I have started doing the details on the Fatsia piece. It is very intense work, lots of stitching, LOTS of thread colour changes. I am finding I need a break every twenty minutes or so. At this rate, I will still be working on this at Christmas!

-a blue petunia fix before tackling the thread painting

Look what I found in the Celsiana rose bush! I thought it was waiting to be hatched, but, alas, it was broken :-(

Slightly fuzzy shot because I CANNOT hold still! This is metallic thread making the shiny bit on the rolled up Fatsia leaf. I should post a proper leaf. They are FABULOUS!

Finished the leaf  so out to the garden again!!

Huge hemerocallis Chicago Atlas

...and the white lily again

...and a surfinia petunia . They are NOT thriving here in our garden this year. Planted too late, I expect.

OK, back to the details. I have begun working on the berry centres now. LOTSA work!

The big stem that carries the berries

My favourite berry

Coming right along but I have to stop and make dinner now so....

One last look . This is hydrangea Endless Summer.I LOVE this one.

So, a slowly productive afternoon. Is it nap time now??

Border Inchies

Borderline rude, bordering on the ridiculous etc! Borders define the edges and the extremes. Borders create safe zones, no go zones and borders emphasize what is inside them - or on the other side from them. Here are my Border Inchies. This lot was actually finished midweek last week, and then I forgot to post them last night!!

Some are just pretty edges ...

Like this...

..and this...

..and these two.......................................................................................................................................................

...and some

...are not so pretty but do the job

 And still others create a long line, the Longest Undefended Border in the World, between our Country and our Mega Neighbour to the south...

And Happy Birthday to both of our great countries !

 And lastly, that easily recognized but now rarely used border that indicates tragedy and sadness...

Is anyone else out there old enough to remember the stationery edged in black that we used when someone passed away?

Be sure to check out the other Border Inchies at   everyinchiemonday2012.blogspot.com

Ready to stitch

It has come down to the wire now with this little piece. By the way, it is17.5 inches by 20 inches as it stands at the moment. I will be making a practice piece to try my new needles and new threads before I work on the quilt top.There is tearaway stabilizer as well as a lot of layers of Wonder Under and , of course, the cotton fabrics to get through. Eventually, once I have done some thread painting, I will add the batting and backing and actually quilt it too but for now it will be all edge stitched with invisible thread , then some thread painting. It is going to be a HOT Canada Day weekend ( and our 46th anniversary on the first too) so I shall be indoors , sewing merrily and staying cool.

This is what I will be working with. You can see that I have altered the top left corner a little and am ready to sew. Good luck to me !

For the Needle and Thread Network

A fuzzy photo of a stunning specimen of Fatsia Japonica in my cousin, Lorraine's garden in Lancashire.

My interpretation so far! It is getting there :-)

This is a long slow process. It is great fun but also greatly frustrating. All of my fabrics are my own hand dyes and I am very happy about that. However, try as you might, you sometimes cannot get just the perfect fit for that reddish berry in the top right of the big bunch, for example. The berry itself is ok, but the little light patch on the blossom end is elusive so far. I will have to spread out my fabrics and shop around for the perfect spot to cut. All my lovely fabrics are looking more and more like holey cheese! Holey cheese, Batman! Hope I can find a bit today as it is making me crazy. I chose NOT to put the lighter bits behind those berries on the right and am now suffering the consequences of artistic licence. C'est la vie artistique, I guess. Wish me luck.

Check out needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com

Feather Inchies

I think these four Inchies are my very lamest EVER and I almost did not post them. I am tired and lacking inspiration just now. Sorry about these , but here they are. The good thing was that it WAS a little tryout for the Neocolour crayons! Lots of possibilities there - once I make friends with the colours!