In response to a question of construction

I have put this post together in response to a question about how I do this by a very kind Flickr Friend. At the risk of boring you stiff, here is how I make a multicoloured leaf.

This was where I was earlier this afternoon when I decided to try to log the steps in making a leaf.

My Flickr Friend didn't know if I had painted these or if they were made of fabric so I shot a closeup. If you look in the bottom right corner of this photo, you'll see leaf number three. That is the one I will make as a demo.

Step one involves tracing a pattern piece on top of my enlarged cartoon on a piece of Freezer Paper. For the non crafty types, Freezer Paper is paper on one side and a waxy surface that melts when heated, allowing you to stick it onto something to make a pattern, on the back side. You can see through it reasonably well so I just cut a bit of FP big enough to cover the shape I want and I trace over it with a PERMANENT marker on the PAPER side.

Here is my pattern ready to choose the base fabric for my leaf.

I looked through my fabrics to find a darkish brown, nicely mottled for the major part of this leaf.

Here's what I chose. Remember that my background will likely be fairly dark so I want shady but lively browns and not REALLY dark.

Now, with the waxy side down on the fabric, a good warm press with a heavy iron will make the pattern adhere to the fabric. If you were using a print fabric- you'd iron the pattern to the RIGHT side of the fabric. As this is dyed, pick the side you like best and use that as your "right side".

Now, you cut away the excess fabric with scissors. You do not have to cut TOO neatly. A bit of extra around the edges is good at this point.

Next, I cut my fusible material, in this case, Wonder Under. It has paper on both sides and it is WONDERFUL!

Just place your pattern down on the concave curl of the WU and snip around the pattern leaving a bit of a border.

Then, lift the pattern off the WU and remove the TOP paper of the WU. It should come away with no stickum on it! The remaining bit will have paper on the back side and will be sticky on TOP.

The WU is separated here and ready to heat fuse the pattern and fabric 

Centre the pattern on the WU and carefully flip it over . Then PRESS ( not iron) by pressing down on your hot iron until the fabric and WU are stuck together. Doesn't take long!

Now CAREFULLY trim the edges of the pattern along the lines you've drawn. 

At this point, you have a brown cotton leaf shape with a FP pattern fused on top and WU fused under it. You'll see some little patches with dotted lines around them. These are my sunny highlights or deep shadows. Once the pattern is cut out neatly, lift the areas of FP where those patches occur and carefully cut them away from the main pattern REMEMBERING NOT TO CUT THE FABRIC UNDERNEATH!

Like this. I did not mention - but will here -that BEFORE you cut the patches away, make some little registration marks across the cutting line so you can match up the patch and the original spot on the pattern.

Now, in this case, I have three tiny patch pieces and need to choose fabric for them, cut and apply WU to the back sides and then.....

Repeat the whole method for these wee patches  and then...

Put the different patches back into position carefully with the protective paper removed from the back of the WU on the patches. They will now be fused to the background fabric of the leaf. NB, HERE you can see the little registration marks I have made- little squiggles, two or three little lines.

Now you can use a tiny  VERY SHARP pair of scissors and cut the veins away carefully. Then, the paper pattern can be removed- equally carefully

At this point, choose a darker under fabric to make the dark veins. Now remove the backing paper from the leaf so you can fuse it to the darker under fabric.

Carefully arrange the leaf on the backing fabric and PRESS carefully

Add a layer of WU on the very back of the leaf, fuse, trim and remove the paper backing. Now you have a nice little fairly realistic looking leaf ready to fuse into your quilt design.

And here you see the finished product, leaf #2 , with its "friends" ready to be part of this little quilt.

Sometimes, if I have a VERY complex piece, I will retrace the pattern on a fresh piece of FP , cut it out and use that to do the last few steps .

I think , after this, that I will take a breather now, have my tea and wish you all good evening. I hope this is comprehensible. If not, please ask. I have ( almost) no secrets!!

Two days in a row!! Are ya sitting down!!??

Well, I pulled the boxes of Hand Dyes up and sorted through them. I came up with a number of possibilities for LEAF colours but I am PRETTY sure the background will be a bespoke piece as I have nothing suitable, big enough to do the job.

So here is what I saved out. The light is hard so the colours look a bit wishy washy. They are not- not in reality!

Look at the dust!! Pray for me over the next few weeks!

I may have to do some more dyeing but will try to get started with some of these bits. I think I may number the leaves and do them one at a time and then reassemble them on a twig.  We'll see. Right now though, I THINK- it is cuppa time! 

Big Talk!!? Hope it's more than that :-)

Hello, All! Happy New Year to everyone. Hope you are all well and recovered from the festivities?

I have made a momentous decision today! I am starting a NEW QUILT! I LOVE Beech trees and I LOVE this shot, one of a series I did a little while ago. I have made my cartoon and I took it to the printer's today to have it enlarged. It will be about 24" along the long side, so not huge! Nice size to start back into it again.

This will require some fresh, bespoke dyeing as my stash is getting ratty and sparse. So... got my dye book out to choose colours.

Unfortunately, The colours here, especially the dye colours are not perfect but they work for me to choose what I want to use. BTW, the loose pile at the bottom of the page is just that- loose swatches not yet glued in and labelled! Please disregard.

I am excited to get back into a creative life again. Hope my hands, eyes, back etc all stand up to the new strains. I expect that I shall be working more slowly than before and not making as many pieces in a year as I did in years gone by. I'll be 75 a week from Sunday and , you know what they say about the Old Grey Mare??? Well, I'm OLD AND Grey!

So, I hope I am not talking through my hat! I HOPE I can do this and I am determined that I SHALL do it! Enjoy your week everyone . Take care and - Be Creative!!

I HOPE I remember how to link to needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com. It has been SOO long. I have missed everyone and hope to reconnect! 

Not very arty but GORGEOUS, nonetheless!

It is almost Happy New Year. I hope, and trust that you are all well and surviving the ccolddd! Look who came to visit us this morning and DEVOURED the leaves on the lower branches of a big euonymus in the garden!!!! How could you be cross at a face like THIS ???

Small and young and , apparently- HUNGRY!!

Ever watchful, he/she spied the bird feeder!

Took a minute for him to investigate more closely...

...but there WERE a few seeds on the ground under it!

And then, he tackled the remaining , wizened leaves on the Sedums.

We have a huge Euonymus growing up a trellis at the front edge of the deck to protect us and the sitting room from the summer sun and heat. Apparently, euonymus is a deer delicacy! Hosta in the summer. Euonymus in winter! You can't really be upset! They are soo lovely and, all God's creatures.

It is bitter cold here today. I've been trying to photograph frozen soap bubbles- unsuccessfully to date. Can't QUITE get a plan of attack. I think I'd need a well trained crew! They are STUNNING if you can catch one (the  bubbles, that is). If you doubt me, google "Photos of frozen soap bubbles " and prepare to be amazed!!!

As soon as New Years is over, I am going to clean up Christmas, buy myself some daffodils or tulips- AND THEN START A SMALL NEW QUILT!! You heard it first HERE!! Happy New Year, one and all!

By special request

For those of you kind folks who asked to see Marty's stocking, here it is. If it feels like déja vue, it is because Oliver's is the same but says Oliver at the top and it faces the other way. FORTUNATELY, I had saved my little soldier from when I made Oliver's. That was great in light of the past few weeks. I had had GREAT plans of designing another little figure but this was a lifesaver in the end!! It is an AWFUL photo but the best I could catch under the circumstances. If you check in the "labels" section, you'll find O's! Happy Christmas everyone!

On a sad note

In a very silly mood!!

Once again, I am very slack about posting news to my blog. I have a sad note to share this time. On 16 November, 2017, Our Darling Mother, Beatrice Ruth Morris, née Robertson, passed away peacefully at Willow Grove Nursing Home in Ancaster, ON. Mum had been there since March this year. In the end, it was a great blessing for Mum. She was having little strokes and was NOT enjoying any quality of life. Even photos I shared of our two beautiful Grandboys did not light a spark. I am very happy for Mum but VERY sad for us!

Mum was an incredible woman. In the little speech I made at her memorial service, I said that Mum was a magnet for superlative adjectives! She was beautiful, strong, kind, honest, hard working LOVING, demanding, energetic, loyal, FUNNY..... I could go on and on and ON! We miss Mum terribly !

My "baby sister", Kim, told a lovely little story which I shall relate to you. Mum rarely let us stay and visit her for very long. She was ALWAYS concerned that we be home seeing to the needs of our families. She'd decide when our time was up and she'd say, "We can talk later, Dear! Go home to your husband!" So we did as we were told. On the day of her memorial service, which just happened to be our Dad's birthday ( he died at age 45 and Mum never remarried.) Kim closed her little bit by saying , "We can talk later, Mum. You go home to your husband! "It was perfect! Our Mum was perfect too. She was 97!!

Instead of rambling on, I'll just share a few images of Mum.

A birthday photo- about 80 years old

My other sister, Shelley said Mum could REALLY rock her BLING!! She definitely could. She wore sparkly bracelets a LOT so her three girls are now wearing some of Mum's "Bling" to remind ourselves that Mum expected us to sparkle always, just as she did!

The far right end of this row of lovelies is our YOUNG Mum, the Coty Rep at Eatons in Hamilton, ON. What a smile!!

Two wedding rings- she wore both out with hard work even though Mum and Dad were only married for 24 years when Dad died. My brother, David gave Mum a little gold ring which she wore on her wedding finger. She wore the rings out but never went ringless. Mum was fiercely loyal to Daddy all that time!

My beautiful Mum at our house for Sunday supper a few years ago. I used to call her Mme Defarge as she knit a LOT!!

Mum and me a few Christmasses ago at our Aunty's.

Beautiful Mum in her early 60's with her first three Grandbabes. Our daughter, Dr Katherine, is the eldest on the far left. This is what Mum LIVED for- Her FAMILY!! I know her arms were aching to grab those babies and hug them all  as these photos were shot.

DH and I HOPE to drive down to see our Grandbabes and K and her husband shortly. I am not sure I'll have time to post again before Christmas so let me take this opportunity to wish you all the blessings of the Season and thank you all for your kindness and support at this rough time. God Bless.

AND, BTW-- I begin to feel the faint stirrings again of my passion for creating. Stay tuned! I have finished Marty's Christmas stocking and we'll take it to him!

A Cautionary Tale ( Warning*** Some viewers may find these images disturbing!)

Well, we try once again! Here I am, not FOND of selfy pics but for purposes of illustration....

a sane, serious woman- generally.



I am pretty careful, walk a lot, quilt, photograph, enjoy TEA and Tim's Iced Capps- be a daughter, wife, sister, GRANNY , Mum in law and SOMETIMES, I be a silly sausage....

relaxing on the deck with my coffee

Enjoying my breakfast tea

And the odd Timmy's Iced Capp

Giddy old dame

Smiley old Chick

But... ONCE IN A WHILE, I REALLY MESS UP!!!

OOPS!!!

I was out walking on Wed. PM last week, got home about 7:30 PM and realized that I had less than 1300 steps more to get to break 10,000 for that day - soooo.... I went out again and , as I felt great and it was a LOVELY evening, I really stepped along. I was headed downhill on Unsworth Avenue and SUDDENLY... found myself face down - well, side of head down on the pavement! I can still hear and FEEL the CRACK, as my skull smacked against the road! NO idea how I got there , but there I was. My glasses were some distance from me ( and the right temple was sprottled awkwardly to one side). I realized that I was in AGONY but could not get up right away. My right elbow, knee, hip and , of course, MY HEAD! were VERY sore. I was disoriented and pretty stunned but did manage to get myself upright eventually. (Fortunately, a woman behind me DID see me go which was good as I WOULD have a witness, should I need one!) I staggered to a large limestone block , part of a retaining wall, and sat on it- gingerly!! Terrified that my brand new iPhone would be smashed, I pulled it out of my RIGHT jeans pocket and the only good thing was that the phone was totally unscathed. I called my poor DH who was really in NO condition to come for me, but come he did, God bless him! I have seen a Dr and there seems to be no major problem- eg concussion? Broken bones etc. Thank goodness, but I am one sad, sorry looking sight and VERY sore ALL over! SO, as promised, some VERY scary pics should you wish to avert your eyes!!!

The developing goose egg- more like an OSTRICH egg by the time it was finished swelling!!!

The egg as it began to bruise but also as the swelling began to respond to the administration of a bag of frozen corn!

The elbow a couple of days afterward beginning to scab. It is fluorescent green just now and the scab is pretty well gone. Knee is still very sore , scabby and green!

The morning after as the blood from the bruising began to pool below my eye

Such a smiley face and SUCH a black eye!

And the temporary solution! 

Interesting that in shops, people look at me, and then QUICKLY look away as if I was likely a battered wife! THAT is why it was great that the lady on Unsworth noticed and called to me. If I had needed a witness to defend DH, she would have been a HUGE help!

Be careful out there, Kind Friends! It is a scary world. You never know when the road will come up and bite you! 

FINISHED at LAST!!!

Would you believe?? All I have left to do it make a label and a hanging sleeve . ALL of the quilting is finished !! YAY!!! Still deciding whether I really like it, but I THINK I do.

I decided to shoot it in the garden- where it came from!! I did not shoot any details but if you look on earlier posts, you'll find some. If you have any special requests, ask! (Maybe specify the quarter of the quilt you want to see.)

I have laboured under major difficulties this past week and a half! Stay tuned for more of that at the end of this post. In the meantime, I have been working pretty hard on my photography and have a few recent shots to show you. The garden continues to be a good source of inspiration for me. Good thing as DH has NOT been too well at all and we have been marooned here for what seems like WEEKS! Grocery shopping is FUN!! It is an OUTING! Timmy's has been great once in a while too :-)

Perilla Frutescens

Phlox and Phat bee

Sunset over the Hydrangea

This same bug was in the same patch of Rudbeckia this afternoon!!!

Fuzzy centre of a small zinnia.

Same zinnia- high key shot!

I am REALLY enjoying my camera ! Thank heaven for it. Plenty of scope for creativity. I belong to a little Flickr Group called Macro Mondays. Each week, a challenge is issued and you have to submit a MACRO shot the following Monday which illustrates the challenge theme. It is great fun and keeps one thinking! Google Macro Mondays and you can also google ME on Flickr if you are so inclined.

I WAS going to add the first post at the end of this one but could not seem to get it to work. Guess I've been away from blogging too long! I'll TRY to do better. Take care everyone. Happy creating!!