When Life Gives You Roses...

eat them, of course!

 

The petal your partner is eating is always better than the one right in front of you.

 

And if she gets the last one, try to sweet talk her out of it. Notice the laser eye? I don't think Jensen's charm is working.

Some More Playing

Our lesson today in Kim Klassen's Photo shop Skinny Mini e-Course involved blending and layers. I started with my recent rose picture.

Then, after cropping, and adding softlight and text, we started adding solid colored layers, of varying opacities.  First, some green.

Which was then muted with some white, giving a misty, rain-washed look.

Then, I removed the green, and added a pink overlay. Sunset, maybe?

And then a white overlaid on that, gave it the look of a misty sunset, or maybe a foggy dawn.

I hope you can see these pictures. For some reason I am having trouble adding them, just getting red X's. Anyway, I'm having fun creating different moods with a single picture. I can't wait for tomorrow's homework.

 

Something Unexpected In The Garden

Our little Nor'easter is winding down. It's still very windy outside, but the sun is out, so I decided to take a walk in the garden, and see what was new.

First Daughter's Garden, with Blueberry bush, and the Miscanthus grass in the background.

Out front I noticed that the very late mums are beginning to blossom, about two weeks early. This worries me, since I saw a flock of Juncos yesterday, and they are very early also.

Rounding the corner of the house, I spied a very late rose. This climber usually blossoms only once, in June, but it had a little treat for us. It smells wonderful.

Then I came across the backyard, and noticed that something didn't look quite right.

Can you see it? Take a closer look. See those branches going diagonally across the picture?

Those aren't supposed to be there. They are branches of the neighbor's Bradford Pear, on top of our Maple-leaved Viburnum. I ducked under the shrubs for a closer look.

Seems the wind and rain has pulled a big limb off their tree. The chain goes to a hammock by the way, not anything weird. Back around the front of the shrubs, I noticed that when the branch fell, it knocked our birdhouse off it's post!

But that's OK. The shrubs had grown too close to the house for it to be safe for birds, so now I have more incentive to get myself in gear, and move the post. This is what I like about having a garden. There is always something new to investigate. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope your winds are soft and warm.

Three Complete And Ready To Be Delivered

These three quilts are now bound, sleeved, and labeled, and ready to be off on an adventure.

Blue Roses

30"x36"

The Four Elements

24"x33.5"

Fireflies and Roses

23"x34"

A friend has arranged for the guild that I belong to (The Material Girls Quilt Guild of Leominster, Ma) to have quilts hanging at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Ma. this summer. These three quilts will be handed off to her for this event. This guild has a lot of talent, so if you are in the area this summer, it will be worth stopping by to see them. I will publish the details here when I have them.

The Next Project- More Roses

This is a mock-up, using old newspaper, to check on proportions. Even though I had the project drawn to scale (No, I'm not usually that organized!), I still ended up changing it when I saw the full-size piece. Why does that happen?

Now, I will go wave my magic wand, and turn the newsprint into fabric.

Hmmm. This wand thing seems to be broken.

Do I see bunny teeth marks?

Bunny Dancing, Blue Roses, And Something Missing From My Garden

Weasley says "You did NOT just try to take a picture of me dancing, did you? Some things should be private!"

Ginny says "Darn right some things should be private! And your dancing is definitely one of them, Old Man!"

Kids. They are all the same, no matter what the species. No respect for their elders! Now if only my camera were not so old and slow, so that I could show you the dancing that goes on here. 

On the quilting front, I have finished the Blue Rose quilt. This is not the greatest photo, as rain was threatening, and I had to be fast.

Well, almost finished. It still needs a sleeve and label. The green line between the center and border is yarn, stitched down with a running stitch. My border is not what I had planned. I actually pulled off a log cabin-style border, and started over. Funny how things sometimes just do not look like what you think they will, isn't it? Here is a closer view.

I do use fusible for my applique, and in this case I zigzagged the edges. I always do some sort of stitching on the applique, because I seem to be fusible-challenged. My edges seem to want to pull up, no matter what the brand of fusible I use. Maybe I'm just too impatient during the process.

I like to sew my binding on by hand. Maybe because most of my quilts are given away, and the hand sewing gives me some quiet time with them before they go. But, I do not like sewing on sleeves! As for the labels, I will print the labels for several quilts at one time, and then sew them on, so that part will wait for a few days.

While I was outside taking these photos, I took  a quick walk around the yard. We have these:

Lilacs always remind me of my grandmother, because of the big, old bush she had next to her front porch.

We also have these:

But from a crabapple, not from a giant apple tree like the one our tree fort was in when we were growing up.

As for these, we do not have as many now that the lovely, long-legged lady strolled through our yard.

I hope this is not a sign of things to come this summer!

Have a sunny day, everyone!