Coyote

I've been working on this Coyote. As per usual some of my kids have cruised through my sewing room and added or deleted parts of him so he is not 100% my creation. The pieces have just been cut out and then laid on a piece of background fabric. I'm not sure how I'm going to finally sew him. so far I've put a little glue under most pieces so I can move the piece. I'm wondering if he could be sewn down on the Lizzie so that the quilting and sewing are done at the same time.

The Fabulous Tin Lizzie

Okay so I admit that being gone over 6 months is just too long for a lame excuse, but I have one anyway. for some unknown reason I couldn't get on m site to change it. Why? what is it about these computers that make me feel so stupid and unable. Really we need machines that build our self esteem not make feel so out of it. But while I was away some exciting events have occurred. I got a Tin Lizzie mid arm quilting machine! I am in the process of learning to quilt on it. It's harder than I ever figured. There must be tricks that I don't know about. There is something about learning a new skill that is very stimulating. I don't think it applies to computers with me but to actually start finishing some of my many UFO's is beyond wonderful.

Making the Best of It

We now have no wood floor and are down to the subfloor with bits of tar paper stuck to it and our shoes, but thank goodness the fans are gone. So we are slowly moving back in some furniture so that we can sit and eat and be a bit comfortable. The refrigerator is in the garage but full and working. Unfortunately the stove and dishwasher are also in the garage and not working, but we have a sink and a barbeque with a burner on it. My washer has been put on the back porch and hooked to a hose so that's good as long as I don't need hot water. The next miraculous event is that the hot water which had quit working started again all on it's own. My kind of fixit. So now we wait for the contractor and the insurance guy to wrangle over how much it will actually cost as opposed to how much the insurance guy wishes it would cost. We've been assured that it will all work out in the end. In the meantime the insurance should be paying us for some kind of housing, and that includes all our animals, but that is going through chanels as well. We actually don't mind camping here but if we did it would be tough luck for us I guess. As far as the insurance knows we still have no hot water. He says he admires our fortitude. Anyway we're looking at 8 weeks untill we are back to normal. Life sure does throw stuff at you.

Disaster!

On Wednesday a day my husband went to a convention in Las Vegas and I was enjoying a nice home alone time I left the house for all of 2 hours and came back to a flood. The entire downstairs was an inch deep and water was pouring from the ceiling of the office. Drywall, or maybe better said wet wall, and insulation had fallen from the ceiling. Panic! Finally i found some valves and turned them off. The pipes to the solar panels had burst. We spent 2 hours getting the water out. My floors had nver looked so clean. But now service master is here and fans and humidifiers are going non stop. They are taking drywall out and are planning on removing the wood floor. Talk about a forced remodel! So this is it for the time being at my house. The dogs and cats are puzzled a bit like their owners, wondering where their home is now.

Treasures and Trash

This is one of the many junk sites I go to when I'm looking for stuff to make collages with. I call these my shopping sites. When this area was less settled people would go out this road and just dump their garbage. Sometimes they still do but new garbage to me is just garbage. Old garbage somehow is treasure. This stuff just seems to be melting into the earth. Look how it's almost the same color. I can also find old pot sherds in the same area and pieces of arrowheads. For this you need a really sharp eye because those things really are the same color. People have dumped stuff here for a long time.

More Snow

We couldn't even dig our way into the yurt. This year we put supports in so it doesn't cave in. Last year the whole thing got torqued and the dome cracked. I'm hoping mice aren't living out the winter in it. The barn looks good. Last year the elk hung out in the horse stalls and all the panels turned into spaghetti. This year the horse stalls are behind all that snow and I couldn't get in. I moved the panels out further so I hope they survived.

We just couldn't get enough of winter here. So we headed on up to Colorado to our little place. Here are pictures of the barn the yurt and the house. Up here we are truly off the grid. The walk in is probably 1/8 mile. We walked in on ski tracks only falling off once in awhile. We pulled the toboggan and wore packs to carry all our stuff. The dogs had it easy. Ginger leads no matter if the trail is packed or not. She is a golden retriever mix and a little lame. And Sadie the dog equipped for snow, a great Pyrenees / Anatolian mountain Sheppard mix, follows behind letting us break trail for her. No dummy she. The house was like an ice box and it took the entire day and some of the next day to get it comfortable. We carry water up from the river in a bucket. Mark lost one, it went sailing on down and no one was willing to retrieve it. The water is far down we need a rope to lower the bucket. We end up with electricity since the batteries are full and we have solar panels setup but heat is the wood stove and water is from the river. Once at the house we retrieved our snow shoes and then we could go anywhere. It's like magic. Instead of just looking at the snowy forest you can actually get in it and go anywhere on top of the snow. In some spots you can cross the river on snow bridges. There had been some melting so you scurry on across. Even Ginger looks a little aprehensive. A little like walking on water. Now it's back to spring which I'm not complaining about. I just have a little dread because on it's heels comes the roaring hot summer, too soon and too long.

Snow in Sedona

This was the scene at our house early yesterday morning. It never lasts long here but it is so beautiful while its here. The pond was red and every single branch was loaded with snow. I had a meeting to go to in town and it is just a little higher up than us so they had more snow. People were out with their snow shovels happy to put that garage ornament to use and get a little exercise. By afternoon it was all gone here and we are left with serious mud. I spent time in the horses pens moving mud to get drainage going. The horses were let out. They all look a little mud colored themselves.

Prickly Heart

In spite of my run in with these prickly pears I have been seeing a lot of heart shaped pads lately. So in honor of St Valentine I offer this heart.

Cactus Pants

Today I put on my cactus pants. Let me explain. Several months ago I was riding with friends leading the way as usual. I was headed up a very steep hill covered with pinon, juniper, cactus, various other prickly plants, and large volcanic boulders. Why? I'm not sure, but we were very bored with our regular routes. Anyway I was leaning downhill off over the side of my horse to avoid a low tree branch and, you guessed it, just fell off into a very large prickly pear. I was covered in thorns! My friend had to pull as many as she could, they were in my back where I couldn't see them and then I had to get back on my horse and ride home. It was one of the most uncomfortable rides I've ever been on. The long and short of it is that these pants are still prickly after several washings. I've always wondered what that would be like to fall full body into a cactus and now I know. But to fall off just by leaning over is just a little embarassing!

The Cutest Purse

After cleaning up my scraps, (I made myself cut every scrap that was out of the basket into squares) I rewarded myself with a little creative play. There was the jean pant leg cut open with a jagged cut on the top just laying there begging to be made into something, and since purses are my latest obsession that's what it became. I folded it back and loved the asymetry that happened. I found some wonderful Japanese fabric that I really had to force myself to cut and I love what evolved. I'm thinking of selling it in my shop but I couldn't resist giving it a test run. It worked beautifully! I was worried about not having any closures but because it is narrow on top it didn't gape and things felt secure.

Out of control scraps

Okay so now that I have put up a picture of my sweaty horse I decided I'd show you what my scrap box looks like. They seem similar to me.

Kimonos and horses

This is what happens when I put off doing what I should be doing. I'm not sure why that is but if I have to clean house or make market bag instruction (for example) boy do I get busy and creative.
This morning I went on a long ride, or long for me anyways. I rode Mimi, I call her my tank because she pretty much plows through anything and has the lightness of a tank. Partly it's the draft in her and the rest is her opinionated personality. She has a mind of her own. It's been so warm that she sweats like crazy. Here is a picture of her curly dried sweat chest.

Three Dimensional Kimonos

So I got sidetracked with the bag instructional. I will get back to it, I promise. I was so excited to finally sell something on Etsy. I sold two of my little 3D Kimono quilts and then I decided to send a little thank you card with the package. I decided on a folded paper Kimono just like on the quilts but.....I found I had forgotten how to make them. So much folding later I had it figured out again and then I just couldn't stop and made a bunch out of fabric. Then of course that lead to thinking about more little quilts. So I put these up on my design wall just to look at and think about.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog. I intend to start right off with a tutorial on how to make a market bag. I am teaching a class on it in Feb so this will be good practice. The instructions will be coming soon.