Enough Already!

Well, this is turning out to be quite a winter, isn't it? For a while, it seemed like winter wouldn't happen, and then, BAM! We were buried, and the temperature dropped like a rock. I took a few pictures outside this morning so you could see what our house is looking like Not too many, though, as the temperature was still below 0°F.

There should be an entire row of shrubs visible at the front of this picture. Instead, all you can see is one juniper reaching an arm up, hoping to be pulled to safety.

 

The young maple and our crazy whomping willow both have their entire trunks buried.

 

The snow is almost up to the bottom of the bay window,

 

and would be halfway up the front door, if not for the Husband's diligent shoveling.

 

There are two things that I am very grateful for, and they are the snow blower we got last year, and our very steep roof. Now if only the snow would stop before it reaches that roof....

Just Because

Hey, everybun! Just wanted to let you know we are still here.

 

I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what that creature is that's attached to the back end of The Dog. You know the one I mean. That long-haired creature that won't stay still long enough for me to get a proper sniff. What has Mom been doing? Not vacuuming, that's for sure!

 

See you again soon. Nose bonks,

                                        Jensen (Buttercup, too, even if she is calling me a nitwit)

 

The Quilting Begins

Remember all those drawings that I made on fabric with Inktense pencils waaaay back in November? Well, I've finally gotten back to them.  The holiday season always throws me for a loop. I also find it hard to work with other people in the house, as I feel like I should be doing something for them. Do you have this problem, too?  Now the Husband is back to work, and the Curly One is back at school, and I am digging my way out from under.

This is the stack of 30 quiltlets all layered up and ready to stitch. Each one is about 6 by 9 inches. (Do you like the tray on the wall? It's an old TV tray from , what would it be, the 1950's?)

 

I tried to get bunny approval. Here you can see Jensen looking at the stack suspiciously.

He approached, sniffed, and kept right on going. Buttercup kept her back turned the entire time I was presenting these. It seems the little quilts are not up to bunny standards yet.

I guess I'll have to try harder during the quilting phase if I want the nibble of approval....

A New Year, A New Project

My camera is nothing fancy, a little Canon Powershot, several years old. I've always just used it on automatic, letting the camera do all the figuring. This year I want to (finally) learn how to use the programmable settings. Downloading the instructions was a start. To make sure that I actually used the directions, I signed up for a Project 365 group on Flickr.

You may have seen some of these groups on-line. There is the original Project 365. Most of the social media sites have groups with the same type of daily project. Some have more rules than others. The group I've joined is fairly laid-back and welcoming.

Since we are already 2/3 of the way through January, I thought I would show you my photos so far. Most of them were taken while walking Knight. These are in no particular date order.





The top left is rocks in my yard, using the vivid color setting. The Christmas lights used the night setting. I think the other two were automatic. A squall was coming in over the hockey players.




The picture in the middle doesn't look like much, but in real-life it was very interesting. A nearby pond had frozen, thawed, and refrozen, causing these star or snowflake-shaped holes to form. There were a bunch of them, but to get any detail at all, I had to zoom way in. They were about 2 feet in diameter. Does anyone know if this happens often? I've never noticed it before.






On the right,  another snow squall makes my neighbor's shed look like a Christmas card. In the middle, a cheery bit of green. On the left, one of Knight's favorite things. I keep telling him not to be such a cliché.

 

Speaking of Knight, here he is in dragon slaying mode.

 

On days too cold to go outside, I photographed a stack of papers with the corner of a folded up bunny tunnel. Also, some clamps in the workshop. The last one is my parking spot at the MFA, with some Photoshop lighting effects.

You may have seen the pictures above on Facebook. It's amazing how good zooming in can make things look. Just like in the garden in the summer!

 

Of course the bunnies haven't been left out. Here is Jensen, looking regal.

 

And finally Buttercup, grooming. Or maybe plotting. Not sure. What I do know is that she has gotten the most views of any of my pictures for this project so far. But then, that is the way it should be, right?

I Bet You Are Wondering

if I managed to finish out Art Every Day Month. Well, amazingly, I did. Even with some travelling thrown in. Luckily this project was nice and compact, an easy one to carry along. I was able to sit at The Southern Daughter's table and play while she cooked!

Thank you all for the nice things you said about the last batch of fabric pictures. As a bonus, one of my brothers even left a comment. That really warms a sister's heart. Also, I'm so happy that shell and RG think the one of shell looks like her. I wonder if I will ever get to the point where I'm not surprised that someone recognizes what I've made?

Here is the final batch.

Day 20

More positive feedback. My husband recognized that the fish was supposed to be a tuna.

 

Day 21

 These guys look like trouble....

Day 22

See Jensen hiding in this one?



 



 Day 23

I have no idea how this one with a large reptile happened. I'm not really a reptile person.

 

Day 24

This one was done after spending an afternoon with shell and the Buns. 

 





 Day 25

My Southern Daughter says this will be her house some day. She loves a porch. And horses.

 

Day 26

The owl showed himself in some splotches of paint on the fabric. 

 

 Day 27

Another llama appeared, and I think maybe those women are the faces of Fate. Or maybe the Triple Goddess. Or both.

 

 Day 28

Took a long trail walk with the family and dog, and saw a bluebird. That's not a bird that I get to see very often.

 

 Day 29

My goofy dog, aka my Knight in fuzzy armor..

 

 Day 30

A catbird to finish off the month. Some summers we have had catbirds that would follow us around the yard, scolding us if we picked their berries. 

 

That's the lot. I have already done a little stitching on these. A "red thread of connection" has been sewn across some part of each one. Now I need to layer them up with batting, and begin the actual quilting. The hand stitching should be a good stress reliever as Christmas approaches. I am definitely not ready for it. Are you?

One last thing. I want to offer apologies to Mr. Mick for only getting his likeness onto one piece. I promise to make amends for that shortcoming in the near future. Maybe I should send him some rum, too. Think that will do the trick?