Dogs

The little one has no problem jumping on the big one. Billy rarely lets Mike rest. He's fearless.

Both they do get along well. Mike is saying, this is MY little brother.

 

You get more dog photos, because I haven't managed to do anything else.

Class

I'm taking another class at www.joggles.com by Margaret Applin. 

 

Here are both sides of the 6 pages I painted for the first journals. I really like making journals.

 

I was having trouble getting into blogger again, couldn't use Google reader or even leave comments on people's blogs. Very frustrating. I found another button that let me do this post. Right now I'm very tired from my husband's emergency, hospital, and doctors trips in February not to mention 2 puppies. Being a good friend, I traded months with someone, so the quilt group is coming to my messy house today. I warned them that I didn't have the energy to clean. They are good friends and understand. Anyway, if blogger keeps hating me, I will switch to probably Wordpress and name the blog focus-on-fiber2. If this one goes dead, that's where you'll find me after a month's rest. I really appreciate my followers.

Class

This is the cover of the journal we made in the Freeform journal class at www.joggles.com

The binding was a completely new one to me.

quilt

Here's another quilt I finished and will donate. The part I enjoy is making the pieces-no point in just storing tons of them here. It's a freeform Drunkard's path type block done in all hand dyes except for the black.

 It's machine quilted in the diagonal rows of color doing double lines along each edge using a color similar to the background.

Puppies

I had a request for more pictures, so here they are. Billy on his blanket in the living room. He's all fat tummy, but now runs away like crazy. I think he likes being out of that enclosed space. He's 22 lbs. now.

Me in the kitchen buried in dogs. Mike at 6 months is 62 lbs. but plays well with Billy. He will try to take a nap, but Billy jumps on him.

Pet

The newest member of the family. We've been looking for a companion for our German Shepherd.
This is an Australian Shepherd who is 10 weeks old and spent his life in a kennel. First he got a bath and is now running around the yard playing with Mike.

Knitting

I enjoy watching the weekly videos from Linda and Laura Kemshall on Design TV at their website www.lindakemshall.com Laura demonstrated how to make a cowl with two different yarns but only using one per row.

As usual, I missed an important instruction, so mine is different, but I like it. A friend gave me the variegated yarn, It's supposed to look like ribbing on both sides-Brioche stitch. I plan to make another the right way. I have a long, skinny neck that is usually cold, so these will be perfect for next winter. I love scarves but tend to either dump them into something or catch them on something. Cowl's should be a better solution.

Fiberactions

The theme this time was Nature's colors. This is not the first one I started, but when I saw the sun, I knew it was the one I would do. The fabrics are denim and upholstery samples and machine quilted. Blue will always be a color I think of when I think of nature: water, sky, bluebirds. bluebells.

The details show my version of the sun. It is made with molding paste through a stencil and was sitting around the studio for ages. The electric blue is made entirely of hand stitched French Knots. The background is a strip pieced samples I had and painted over, because I didn't like the colors.

 

The button at the right takes you to the Fiberactions blog. The quilt is a small one about 20" by 22".

Class

I'm taking a Freeform Stitchery Class from Janet Banks at www.joggles.com and this is the piece I stitched. We are going to make a journal to put it on in the next lesson. We did quite a number of stitches on it some of which I hadn't used before, so on my sampler, I tried variations of the cup stitch. It's done like needlelace on foundation stitches using something like a coral stitch.

The light blue was a textured thread. The green is Perle Cotton #8. The fuzzy blue just has one row. The beige knitting ribbon has 3 rows. The red is a variegated sock yarn. The 4 ply blue has extra stitches. I do love to stitch.

Woven Bracelet

I had planned to only make one bracelet after taking the Woven Bracelet class at www.craftsy.com but here is a second. The Thread Studio http://www.thethreadstudio.com/ had sent me a hand painted rayon thread that goes from orange to fuchsia. I used Perle cotton #8 as the warps and size 8 seed beads in the piece in two types of pink/fuchsia. The slide is made of pink size 11 seed beads in peyote stitch.

Bead Journal Project

 Here's March for the Bead Journal Project. I always think of spring then, so I picked the spring green and turquoise batiks to use.

The cabochons are glass blobs like you use in vases. They needed the tear drop shaped beads at the bottom to balance them. The hand stitching is to frame them.

Printing

Thanks for everyone who comments. I'm printing on paper in the blog this time, but fabric would work. It's raining or at least damp here, if we see the sun, so fabric has a problem drying. I'm hoping to get back to the fabric in the nice weather. I'll be doing more when Margaret's class starts in a couple of weeks at www.joggles.com

Stencils

 These are a few of the things I did with the new stencils I ordered from www.joggles.com They are designed by Margaret Applin.

The first two are positive and negative images using the two stencils designed for that use. I didn't do so well on the second print. This running to the studio to use minutes of time instead a leisurely time is getting old. I used spray paints for both.

This one worked well. Practice helps. There was a lot of paint left on the stencil, so I turned it over onto another paper and used a brayer to transfer the paint.

Bracelet

This is a bracelet I made after watching the Woven Bracelet class at www.craftsy.com The threads are Perle Cotton and cotton that I dyed. I like the slide closure, because it makes the bracelet easy to take on and off and fits a variety of wrists. It was my friend's birthday. She wears a lot of red and can't wear the metal jewelry, so this was perfect.

Quilt

Here is another quilt that I'll donate. The violet and the red I hand dyed. The painted fabric was given to me by a friend who made it for a long ago birthday. The block is one I play with a lot and designed on Electric Quilt.

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