A sparkly thread star

I've been collecting thread scraps for years and years, and every once in awhile I sandwich some between Sulky Solvy layers to make a scarf or bauble. Yesterday I made a sparkling star ornament to put on the front of a card for the gallery owner where I sell my spirit dolls. It hardly made a dent in the thread tails!

I also used little snippets of this gold mesh fabric that I've been using in my quilts for literally decades. I buy it at Joann's where they carry the fancy fabric for costumes and bridal dresses.

If you're not familiar with this method, you sandwich your scraps of fabric/thread between two layers of Sulky Solvy, which is a water-soluble stabilizer. I laid my scraps on pretty thick ...

... then I folded the top half of the Solvy over the scraps and held the sandwich with a few pins.

I sewed around the edges to hold everything in, then sewed back and forth and up and down about a quarter inch apart over the whole piece. I used YLI metallic gold thread in the top and yellow in the bobbin. This stitching is what will hold the snippets together when the stabilizer is washed away, so you need to sew close together.

Then I washed out the Solvy ...

... and laid it on a towel in the sun to dry. You could also use a hair dryer.

I cut out a star shape and then used a gold zigzag stitch to sew it onto a piece of green felted wool.

 And voila! A star to decorate the front of a card and also to hang as an ornament!

I also blogged about this method for making scarves here: summer-scarves-and-stitch.html

I also made sparkly ginger molasses cookies, one of my Christmas traditions since the kids were little. Except now it's just me at home eating the cookies!

Have a colorful day

Back to hiking

I haven't done much hiking lately -- even though the weather has been perfect for it -- because my hiking buddies are off in Egypt and Mexico. But today I went out by myself. It was too nice not to be outside and I definitely needed some exercise.

I came across this cute roadrunner that wasn't afraid of me at all. I kept my distance, but she just sauntered around, pecking at the ground and looking at me curiously. Usually they run away.

But earlier I encountered a herd of javelinas as I rounded the corner on another trail and it scared the jeepers out of me because they can be aggressive. So I slowly retreated and took another trail.

The scenery was gorgeous as always, with a bright blue sky and golden leaves on some of the trees.

I think the two saguaros below are interesting because they're in the same environment but one is straight and looks like the classic saguaro while the other is all twisted. Reminds me of how two kids from the same family raised in the same environment can grow up to be so different!

 

This sandy wash is dry for now and looks like a beach, but during the summer monsoons it can be a raging river. It was a good hike.

Have a colorful day

TubaChristmas and the Civic Orchestra

It was a weekend of free holiday concerts here, with TubaChristmas on Saturday and the Civic Orchestra of Tucson on Sunday.

TubaChristmas was fun! It was outside at the Oro Valley Marketplace holiday art festival in beautiful weather. I counted 36 tuba players, ranging in age from 11 to 79, playing all sorts of tubas and decked out in some crazy outfits.

The conductor, a professor of music at the University of Arizona in Tucson, explained that TubaChristmas (one word) is a concert held in cities worldwide that celebrates those who play, teach and compose music for instruments in the tuba family. I thought a tuba was a tuba, like the ones in the high school marching band. But there are sousaphones, baritones, euphoniums, silicons, ophicleides, serpents and the double bell euphonium! TubaChristmas has been going on around the world for 50 years.

They played traditional holiday tunes and passed out lyric sheets so we could sing along. It was fun!

The Civic Orchestra concert was more dignified and was in the ballroom of the El Conquistador resort. I didn't take photos during the concert because I didn't have a good view, but during intermission I found Mr. and Mrs. Claus mingling with concertgoers in the lobby. Their outfits were embellished with beautiful embroidered snowflakes.

Have a colorful day

California colors in the bag

I was going to do a quilt based on the colors of my California trip, then I decided a little zippered pouch would be more useful, maybe for traveling.

So I started pulling out fabric from my stash that included the colors of the trip: orange sunsets, green cypress and redwood trees, golden hills, blue ocean and skies, yellow for that yummy banana cream pie at Nepenthe.

As I started cutting and sewing, the neat piles became a tangled mess!

But it came together in a log cabin block that will always remind me of the trip.

I lined it in bright orange, which popped up everywhere on the trip.

Have a colorful day

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I love Christmas -- the lights, decorations, cards, gifts, cookies, music and gathering with loved ones. And THE COLOR!

Even the T. rex in front of McDonald's in Tucson is getting into the spirit.

I'm one of those people who actually loves to write a holiday newsletter and add handwritten notes in each one -- all 70 this year, down from 100 in some years. I've moved around so much that I have friends and family all over the country, and I always look forward to catching up with them through holiday cards. I display them all over the house and truly treasure them.

I bought the cactus cards months ago when I saw them at a local gift shop, and this year I bought snow globe and piñata stamps.

Since I moved away from December's rain and snow, I've been decorating my yuccas with ornaments without having to worry about them getting ruined by bad weather.

My neighbors REALLY got into outdoor decorating this year. They used a cherry picker yesterday to raise a worker high, high, high and wind lights around some very tall trees. For perspective, those are the tops of big RV trailers that are dwarfed by the trees! This was the site that greeted me when I went out before sunrise to take out the garbage this morning. (We can't put it out the night before because the javelinas might get into it.)

I'm almost done making/buying and wrapping gifts, most of which I have to box up and send far and wide. Because most of my gifts get mailed, I have to get a jump on them. I can't wait until the week before Christmas to do my shopping.

 My rotary cutter is perfect for cutting wrapping paper (I use a separate one just for paper). The wrapping and ribbons are sharing space with this pile of fabric that's being turned into a special gift.

I put my skinny tree up last weekend and it really brightens up the corner. I don't have room for a fuller tree.

I decorate it mainly with homemade ornaments that each carry a special memory.

 

I also collect ornaments with the string that you can pull to move the arms and legs. I've had the little girl below since I was young, but I pulled the cord so many times over the decades that it finally broke.

And candles! Candles everywhere, battery operated so I don't have to worry about fires.

After I get the letters all written and the packages in the mail I can turn to baking. That's the dangerous part! I hope all of you are enjoying yourselves in whatever way you prepare for the holidays.

Have a colorful day

Thankful for book club

On the heels of my literary post yesterday and the day before Thanksgiving, I thought I'd post some pictures of my book club because I haven't done that in awhile and I'm very thankful for having them as friends.

A few days after last week's meeting, we reconvened at Tohono Chul (above) to celebrate Beth's big birthday. Those pretty pink drinks are prickly pear lemonade. 

And at book club, we celebrated our November birthdays for Beth and Barb with a scrumptious German chocolate cake ...

... a little wine ...

... gin and tonic in Barb's "water" bottle ...

... and, not to be outdone, 

Meegan's salad dressing!

Our book for the month was "The Only Woman In the Room" by Marie Benedict. It wasn't available at my library until the day before book club, so I still haven't read it but I'm starting it tonight. Here's a synopsis from Goodreads:

"She was beautiful. She was genius. Could the world handle both? A novel about Hedy Lamar.

"Hedy Kiesler is lucky. Her beauty leads to a starring role in a controversial film and marriage to a powerful Austrian arms dealer, allowing her to evade Nazi persecution despite her Jewish heritage. But Hedy is also intelligent. At lavish Vienna dinner parties, she overhears the Third Reich's plans. One night in 1937, desperate to escape her controlling husband and the rise of the Nazis, she disguises herself and flees her husband's castle. 

"She lands in Hollywood, where she becomes Hedy Lamarr, screen star. But Hedy is keeping a secret even more shocking than her Jewish heritage: she is a scientist. She has an idea that might help the country and that might ease her guilt for escaping alone -- if anyone will listen to her."

Tomorrow, five of us from book club are celebrating Thanksgiving together. This is probably going to happen next:

Happy Thanksgiving!