Road 2 CA ribbon

Hooray! Just found out that my completely hand-pieced and hand-embroidered crazy quilt, "Crazy Diamonds" got a ribbon at the Road to California quilt show. It got a third in Wall Hangings, Other category. This makes 9 ribbons in 4 shows. It also won First at AQS, at Empire Quilt Fest and Bennington Quilt Show. What a great way to start off the new year.

Heirloom Love Letters

Brent Ridge from Beekman 1802 asked me to come up with a Valentine he could sell on his site. So, I created this fabric art postcard. (It took an hour for each card, not 5 hours) You can go to Beekman 1802 (link above) and order this special Valentine for your beloved.

Bead Journal Project - Sigil

I've joined a group called the Bead Journal Project (BJP). BJP was started by the talented Robin Atkins a few years ago. The challenge is to create a beaded project each month for a year. The creation can be any size or shape, as long as it is consistent throughout the year. Any bead technique, any design - the choice is yours. There has been some phenomenal art created through this invitation. I decided to participate this year. Here is my January BJP.

It is called "Sigil". I actually started it in December so I could finish it on January 1, taking advantage of the magic of the Blue Moon on New Year's Eve. A sigil is a sign, a symbol of an intent. To form this type of sigil, a rose window with a superimposed alphabet is used and a tracing of the spelling of your intention is made. The rose window is not to be traced, just the lines to spell your word. However, I did keep the rose window (without the superimposed alphabet) to show how this sigil was formed.


I embossed a deep green velvet with an old printer's block I have. I cut out and fused the velvet to a batik fabric. I outlined the velvet with size 15 seed beads, bugle beads and added briolettes for the dangles. The moon face cabochon (representing the feminine) is secured with delicas. A Pure Allure jewelry component makes the crown.

Here is the embroidered rose window and the beaded sigil for "Create". To the left is a wired ribbon and beaded "river of inspiration". A free-form peyote stitched rivulet is intertwined with the ribbon. Then, pearl sticks, crystals and beads were added. The beaded circles continue across the page, as inspiration often seems to fall from heaven. The beaded bit to the right reminds me of a DNA strand. Some talent and creativity is born within us and some is cultivated. May 2010 find you cultivating your creativity and expressing it in many ways.

Absinthe - The Green Fairy

Our friend, Cheryl Lins, is an artisan absinthe distiller. She is located in the Catskills, as are we. She LOVES local. We grow many of the herbs she uses. Says she likes the quality of our herbs better than the Italian imported herbs she used to buy. Click on the link to see an article that the NY Times just wrote about her and Phoenix Distillery.

Autumn Drive

It was a productive few days in the garden. Planted out 200 garlic, transplanted lots of echinacea, valerian and roses. Cleaned up several of the raised garden beds. Dan dug up some horseradish and I hand grated about a quart of it. My sinuses are clear now! Went for a short drive on Sunday morning. Here are some photos.


The mushrooms growing out of this knot in the tree amused me greatly.


Is this a tree or an ent??

I'm sure fairy folk live here!

It's Autumn, Time to Move Tender Herbs Indoors

It's autumn and we have had a few light frosts. It's time to bring in the tender herbs that I grow in pots. They have been living on the porch and on the deck for the summer. I've trimmed, washed and moved them to their living quarters, in front of a set of southern-facing glass doors. Here's what I brought in:

Galangal
Cardamon
Tumeric
Bay
Rootbeer plant - Piper auritum
Dream Herb - Calea zacatechichi
Tea - Camellia sinensis
Vanilla Bean orchid
Attar of Roses Scented Geranium
Black pepper - Piper nigrum
Vietnamese Celery
Cactus grandiflorus
Jiao-gu-lan
Aztec Sweet Herb
Gotu kola
Salvia divinorum
Peppermint Scented Geranium
Coffee Plant
Rabbit's Foot Fern
Moujean Tea
Inebriating Mint
Vick's plant
Mandrake
Lemon Scented Geranium
Honeydew Melon Sage
Habek Mint
Iboza
Lemon Verbena
Rock Rose
Costus
Balm of Gilead
Aloysia gratissima - Bee Brush
Vetiver grass
Polygonum multiflorum - He Shou Wu
Cuban Oregano
Helichrysum - curry plant
Rosemary
Aloe vera
Lemon Meringue Scented Geranium
Old-Fashioned Rose Scented Geranium
Christmas Cactus
Citronella Scented Geranium
Agapanthus - Lily of the Nile
Houyttunia variegata

There's still tons of work to do in the yard. Roots to be dug (burdock, echinacea, valerian, dock), beds to be thinned and a few plants to be moved. I'll plant garlic this weekend - if the rain holds off long enough.

Crazy Quilt News

This past weekend, my crazy quilt, "Crazy Diamonds" won two more ribbons. The Bennington VT Quilt Fest doesn't have a judged show, it's people's choice votes and vendor's choice votes. I won first in People's Choice and got a vendor's choice ribbon as well. Yay! And, another of my crazy quilts, "Homage to Ardelia" is in Washington State at a special exhibit at the La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum. At their Quilt Fest, they are having an exhibit of quilts which have won national awards (and the ribbons are to be displayed with the quilts). "Homage to Ardelia" has won Best Needlework at the Vermont Quilt Fest (and was on special exhibit at their Historymakers retrospective), Best Traditional Quilt at Threads of America, and ribbons at Road to California, Quilt Odyssey, NQA and something else I can't remember right now!

"Rose Song", the crazy quilt block I donated to the Alliance for American Quilts Museum will be displayed (along with the 83 other donations) at the Houston Quilt Festival in October. It will then be sold on eBay. Go to www.allianceforamericanquilts.org for more info.

And soon, "Birds of a Feather", my award-winning crazy quilt entered in last year's Hoffman Challenge should be coming home soon, after its year-long tour around the country in the traveling exhibit of award winners.

After herb harvesting is done for the year, it's back to planning the next crazy quilt. Actually, I have ideas already formed and tentatively started. On a couple new projects....