October Started

Well here it is the end of September! I can hardly believe how fast the days go. My daughter was here for 10 days visiting from her home in Costa Rica. She and her boyfriend have an eco-tour business there, so she comes to visit in their off-season. Boyerotours.com
I have finished the remainder of my August page, and added a really neat little dragonfly! I love it! It is attached by a loop at her head, so can spin around on top of the center stacks. It's a really fun piece!
I have also taken the opportunity of being ahead to work on my October page. I had thought I would use an orange or at least a peach colored flower to represent autumn, but the busy bee in this photo of my geranium just grabbed my imagination! He was so busy and stayed for a long photo shoot of that flower.... I probably have 10 shots of her on various flowers from that day!
I have begun to make ruffles on the edges of the petals, and am working out how to bead the bee herself.... stay tuned!

I have also made some little fairy faces to add to my flowers...... I remember the fairies in my childhood gardens. We used to have great discussions and they played so nicely with me! (last child and 4 years younger than my next sibling!)

I am so psyched! I am finished with my September Rose BJP page! I kept working away a little at a time, and pretty soon, it was time to sew the petals on, and then it was finished! It almost surprised me.... I had been focusing on the individual petals so much that it actually was startling to discover that when I sewed the final center piece onto the backing, it was DONE!

September Rose

I have begun working on my September page. I decided that I want the petals of my September rose to be three dimensional. I printed out the whole picture as I have for the others, then printed four more of the rose itself so I can cut those up and use them as the petals coming forward. I chose a compatible piece of fabric for the back of the petals, and used Steam a Seam 2 to put them both together. Then I cut out the petals one by one, and pinned them onto their twin on the whole piece. As you can see in the photo, I have three more roses to cut up for further dimension.



One thing I have learned is that you should not pin through this kind of fabric sandwich. It leaves holes..... I guess that means I just have to bead in those places. LOL! As you can see in the photo of the picot edged pieces, I am now pinning them in the already beaded area.

Even with the handling of the fabric, I am pleased that the edges remain nicely firm and un-frayed.
I am planning to do stacks for the stamens in center of the rose. I will do more edge stitching around the flat rose.... need to decide which beads... just got in two orders of beads -- one from Shipwreck Beads, the other from Fire Mountain! Can't wait to play!

Quilts

In July, I was lucky enough to spend time at the Sisters Quilt Show, and took classes in the preceeding week at THE QUILTERS AFFAIR. It's the one week retreat at the high school in Sisters in the week preceeding the annual quilt show.
This year, my sister Carolyn and I took the Sew Easy Circles class from Judy Johnson. I LOVE this technique! It's so fabulous!!!!
I am busy making everything using circles these days! I managed to finish my class sample to enter into our county fair this year. It's called "Earth's Orbs" as I think it looks like the earth from space. The technique is incredible, and easier than you might think.
At our fair, I began playing with an old piece of fabric that I had been saving because I didn't know how to use it.... it's been in my stash for over 6 years, I think. I cut 18 circles from it and put them into some background pieces, and am pleased with this top as well.

I don't know how I will quilt this one.... maybe around the wisteria blossoms.
Currently, I am needing to work on some paying quilting jobs. I am replacing some pieces on an antique quilt for a friend. It's a wool log cabin quilt that was made by his grand mother, he thinks. He is over 70 himself, so we figure it's nearly 80 years old. He wants to leave this quilt for his children, and knows that they won't put any money or time into it, so wants it done in his lifetime.