Thursday, July 23, 2015

Fabric Postcards for the Twins' 2nd Birthday

My great niece and nephew, the twins Kennedy & Elan are turning TWO!  Already!  Here are their Mickey & Minnie Mouse themed Fabric Postcards.  I took their faces from a photograph, printed them on fabric and placed them over the mouse bodies.  Fun!


Sunday, July 19, 2015

Summer Moon, Winter Moon


The town of Leavenworth WA was in sad shape a number of decades ago with severe financial problems as a result of loss of industry. The townspeople reinvented Leavenworth as a Bavarian town, initiating many festivals, resulting in the town becoming a Destination in Central Washington.

This quilt is designed for the 20th annual Leavenworth WA Quilt Show Challenge.  The theme is “Moon Over Leavenworth”, and requires the use of the green & periwinkle fabric featured in the lower landscape section of the quilt.

Other materials include hand-dyed cottons, Dupioni Silk, batik, heat-set crystals, thread painting and photos printed on fabric. The symbolism of the quilt, from the bottom:


  • The Wenatchee River citing the town of  "Leavenworth”
  • The shoreline flowers represent the huge quantity of flower baskets in town
  • The green town area and hillsides are done with the required challenge fabric and represent summer. This section contains Bavarian town shops, alphorn musicians, and cabins in the woods. (My private backstory:  the three alphorn musicians are the Lundegaard Triplets (a nod to the movie Fargo) named Ernst, Klaus, and Wolfgang. They live in the three cabins in the woods. Ha Ha.)
  • The high pointy mountains in the background represent the Cascade Mountains.
  • The crescent moon showcases the town center gazebo during Christmas Lighting with a large thread-painted fir tree in the background.  A partridge sits in the pear tree, holding mistletoe in its beak. 

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Minnie & Mickey Bookbags

A second birthday is coming soon for The Twins - my great niece and nephew, Kennedy & Elan.  I crocheted some bookbags for them and plan on filling them up with all kinds of books and small surprises.  They love Mickey and and Minnie, and they love to read books.


Sunday, July 5, 2015

Lavender Fields Forever

I spent the morning of July 4 making a lavender wreath at Lavender Fields Forever, a lavender farm on the Southern Oregon Lavender Trail.   Such fun.

It was a hot, cloudless day; we sat outdoors under a canopy that frequently delivered a very welcome cool water misting as scents from the lavender fields wafted around us.  I wandered through the lavender fields picking the Grosso lavender, while carefully avoiding the bees and yellow jackets that were gorging themselves and getting drunk on the nectar and scent of the lavender spikes.  Once I completed cutting a large basket full of lavender, I spent most of the time forming 40 small bundles of lavender, trimming and affixing them to a metal heart-shaped frame.  The finishing touches include fresh and very fragrant oregano flowers and some dried roses.  

My wreath took about 2 ½  hours to complete.  Smells great!