Hollis Chatelain Thread

Yahoo!  My Hollis Chatelain threads arrived in the mail today. One of the best parts of being in the US is being able to order online from the states without duty a shipping charges!

Now time to go play!!

These threads are called Living Color and are made by Superior. 

The value finder will help me make sure that I have many values in my artwork. I looked through them today at my Perfect Form collage piece (See previous post) and realized I had light and dark values but no medium. Check out:

www.hollisart.com 

Sewing Class at Mad B's

I attended another class at MaDonna's shop, Mad B's, where we learned the Laura Heine Collage method. I really just took the class to pass time with other fibre people as I felt sure I could do this project on my own. But as always seems to happen, I learned some new tricks!

Also, this technique involves using Steam a Seam which I rarely use. I don't usually like the stiffness of fuseable adhesive. I haven't got to the quilting/stitching part yet, so the verdict is still out on the Steam a Seam. I'll let you know later how it feels to see on it. 

MaDonna demonstrating a 'trick'to using fusible adhesive. Pull the backing partially off a chunk of fabric fused to adhesive, trace the pattern shape, restock the backing paper, cut out fabric with adhesive using the drawn line. Works like a charm!!

MaDonna's Henrietta taking shape. 

Wanda's seahorse in the making. 

My Perfect Form, dress form collage, just about done. 

Wanna Sew a Chicken?

During my "opening up the Mesa house " chores - groceries, money, post office, etc. I stopped in at Mad B's, my favorite local quilt shop. It was great to see Madonna and her staff. The store looks great with new quilt samples up on the walls, new carpet on the floor and of course tons of new fabric!

They were just setting up for the monthly Tea Party. A monthly activity for 10 participants. They have tea and goodies followed by a make and take activity. The store had just received a call that one of the 10 participants couldn't make it and would I like to take her place?  Ha. That seat wasn't empty for long. Of course I would love to take her place!

The food was spooktacular. Jen loves to cook and had created Halloween themed goodies - "dirt and worms" out of chocolate pudding and cookie crumbs with a sour gummy as the worm in individual skull shaped shot glasses; "mummies" made out of cocktail sausages wrapped in tiny strips of pastry

To describe a couple!

After our snack and introductions we were introduced to the hands-on activity. We sewed two log cabin squares using 1 1/4" strips, sewed the blocks together leaving an opening, stuffed with batting and rice, added some details and like magic - we had a chicken shaped pin cushion!  

Lots of fun!  And I got out to a sewing activity before Don made it to the links!!  I'm sure I'll hear about that for a while. 

Clean Up of Deciduous Plants in Mesa

Don and flew back to Mesa. As we were leaving Winnipeg there was snow falling and the wind was howling. We got out of Dodge just in time. 

Everything looks good in the Mesa House. The plants amaze me. They grow in the intense heat!  I even had some plants survive in the pots. The potato vines over summered as did the elephant food. I got a few plants from Home Depot and redid the pots. Don had the gardener come a trim a few things and blow out all the debris. The yard looks very nice now. 

The bougainvillea has grown and is flowering beautifully!

The grapefruit tree is still trying to get over the bad case of thrips. We have been treating it with insecticide since last year. 

It actually has a large grapefruit on it!!

Potted plants. The potato vine lasted through the hot summer months. 

Another pot. In this on the lemon grass lasted. It was a huge mess of blades of grass and seed heads. The gardener trimmed it all back and I potted some annuals in with it. 

More pots. Notice the large green trailing elephant food plant. It did very well!

View of the Pom Pom cedars with the lake in the background. 

Ah. The lake. So tranquil!

Artist Presentations Part 2

Emily 

Judy

Karen

Robyn

Linda

Karlie