going commando

in a manner of speaking.

Adam on the leni at his dad's

That's me in the window

My DBF has taken the camera with him to Hilo to visit his dad, who is seriously ill.
so I am without picture taking abillity for a week.
so y'all will just have to wait for pictures of my new stuff.
I'm almost done with the navy and the sun box top so those will be coming soon.
and I have started some small hawaii themed pieces and I was thinking of doing some small table top versions of my witchy-poo hat for the Sunshine serenity shop at countryvilliage here in bothell.
there are about 4-5 I'm still not sure what they will be yet.
but I'm bee buzzy! and if it keeps raining here I'll be productive too!)

Agaust BJP

This one is called Whatever a sun has sung

I used stiff stuff for the first time instead of felt and woo, woo!

does it work nice!





I still need to put the back and the bells on (so it sings)

But it is done




I wanted lots of movement on this piece to represent solar flares and the constant movement of the sun
but also how the sun "sings" to us here on earth.
it warms us and keeps our planet in the perfect orbit for life to exist

 So here is my work on Barbara Warner's Hanki CQ for the FFT #16

I only did two heavily embellished seam treatments because I didn't want to overwhelm the delicacy of the overall piece

this is the top corner

 and the lower corner by the belly of the bird

 and the left corner

 the bird is an embroidered motif done in DMC cottons and sparkle threads on felt I followed Gerry K's tutorial here.

this is a closeup of the beadwork at the tail







and here is the whole piece together
I tried to balance the colors with white, yellow and blue being the main colors using the red, pink and green as accents only.



this is my first RR in CQI how'd I do?

Grey challenge is done!

naked block

 well that was a challenge!

finished block

keeping to one colorway is hard for me.
I generally like to go all over the place with my colors
and this was a learning experience too!
I tried Gerry K's advice that button clusters need to go somewhere,
and tried my hand at spiderweb roses
-note to self, 4mm ribbon not good for web roses
unless they are tiny!

We had a wonderful time at the Kirkland fireworks!

the teddy bear was rambunctious

jumping around and scaring people

Mara couldn't stop wiggling and giggling which made everyone else giggle and laugh!

it was all she could do to catch hinm

it's almost worth the time and aggravation of escaping kirkland in the inevitable traffic jam afterwards!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July holiday to all of you out there in bloggerland!

I have survived the first week with my girls (there are 7more with the littlest)

let me tell you what the 4th means to me,
I declared my independence from my ex-husband on this day.
after 20 years in a bad marriage forever making it a very special day to me.

and now my family is further splintered but to the good this time.
my son is embarking on his own life in the world and leaving home for the military.

my eldest daughter after the worst year of her young life full of horrible clashes with her father and his rather dictatorial controlling ways has decided to move in with me in Seattle and finish out H.S. here. Yea!!
It leaves my youngest at home alone with her father but she gets along with him better than anyone else in the family does being his baby girl.
I don't anticipate the clash of personality with her that there was with #1 DD. #1 DD is and always has been an opinionated, loud, curious, wonderfully interesting, funny, handful!
and dad is, well think Hosni Mubarak without the country and you have an idea of how living with the ex was.
some people work well within that system some do not.

anyway this all makes the 4th a special day to me,
so go enjoy the fireworks!