"Twilight Goddess" spirit doll

I finished another spirit doll, 

which I'm calling "Twilight Goddess."

I cut the body from a piece of purple fabric that I painted and quilted at least 13 years ago, because it was before I moved to Washington. You never know when the old UFOs will come in handy!

Then I embellished her, including giving her a goddess necklace from beads that were in my stash -- also at least 13 years old because they were from my jewelry making period.

Then I pulled out some more old painted fabric and added more paint and stamping. I made some open templates from old phone book pages to move around over the fabric to help decide what sections would make good spirit doll bodies.

But I think I also want to add snippets of sheers and glitz, so I went back into my stash and piled some fancy stuff on the table. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

In the meantime, here's a good quote for all of us creative types.

Have a colorful day

Quilted and real desert flowers

I added 50 flowers to my desert quilt, AND the flowers in my desert yard are bursting from the monsoon moisture!

Anchoring 50 flowers with buttons sounded like too much work to do by hand, so I sewed them on by machine with the zigzag stitch. Much faster

The big purple bushes in my front yard are Texas Rangers, and they don't bloom until there's moisture in the air. Just irrigating with my drip system doesn't make them bloom.

The quail got turquoise bead eyes. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get pictures of the quail that I've seen in my yard, but they do come through now and then. I also get a road runner occasionally. Mostly I have hummingbirds and doves.

Here are closeups of some of my back yard flowers:

And some longer shots:

My ocotillo gave me the biggest surprise when it rained. It went from being a gray spiny stick to being covered with lush, bright green leaves! (In the spring it gets red flowers on the top of the branches.)

Check out this link to see what other fabric artists have been working on this past week: off-wall-friday.html

Have a colorful day

Stitching, stitching, and rain

I've been working on a couple of projects this week. First, I've been adding embroidery to my wool appliqué project that I started a few years ago. It's from a Sue Spargo pattern called "Fresh Cut."

I've run out of some colors of pearl cotton, but I found out today about a needlework and gift shop in Tucson where I should be able to buy more: The West.

I'm also making good progress on the desert row-by-row quilt. I still have to add dozens of dimensional flowers, which I'll tack on either with beads or tiny buttons. The Kokopellis will also get some beadwork.

Today I was in Cactus Quilts, whose owner Nancy designed the desert rows. I snapped some closeup pictures of her row quilts that are on display:

And the monsoon set a rainfall record for July! We got eight inches this month, which is also more rain than any other month since the last record was set in 1955. Here are the monsoon clouds gathering over the mountain ridge, viewed from my backyard.

Have a colorful day

Quotes to the rescue

Those of you who know me in person know that I'm the classic worrywart. Anxiety is something I've grappled with all of my life, although for the most part I can keep it under control. But lately it's been creeping in again, which means it's time to pull out some inspirational quotes!

The first one is on a little quilt that my STITCH friend Karen made. She made each of us a different one for Christmas one year.

The next one, about obstacles and opportunities, is one I have to keep reminding myself of. I tend to always wonder what could go wrong, instead of what can go right. It's the worrier's way of trying to control the future to eliminate things to worry about!

And the Never Forget quote is a good reminder for all of us when we're feeling down.

Also good when you're feeling down or anxious is getting out with friends! I had dinner last night with the Shady Ladies (except for Beth, who is out of town) and had a great time. We talked and laughed for hours. While we were in the restaurant, everyone was getting loud text alerts about flash flood warnings and when we left Barb ran into some flooded streets and Tere got home to discover her power had been out. But we had a great time together!

The next three quotes address living life to its fullest, which will leave no room for anxiety or feeling down. I took the photo on a full moon/sunset hike with a Meetup.com group. Living life to its fullest! Getting out to hike in the dark and meet new people instead of curling up in front of the tv alone for the evening.

And just to keep it real:

Have a colorful day

Desert quilt and monsoon

I made the third row for my desert quilt, the one on top with dancing Kokopellis, then I decided that the orange background doesn't work with the other rows. I wanted it to look like a sunset, but it's too overpowering.

So I'm working on a new row that I think is better. I'll make the prickly pear cactuses out of the green fabric.

In other news, the summer monsoon season is in full swing, with up to four inches of rain falling in the past day in parts of Tucson. My backyard has some ponding ...

... and a lot of debris that I'll have to clean up.

I also woke up to no internet, horrors! I couldn't have my usual morning routine of sipping coffee while perusing my email, Instagram, Facebook, the weather and the news. Luckily, it came back in a few hours.

With the muggy monsoon weather I've been spending way more time inside, leading to things like this mountain of chocolate chip espresso cookies that I made a few days ago. Boredom breeds bad habits. But basically, I'm extremely grateful for the much needed rain and that I haven't lost power yet, which would mean no air conditioning and 100 degrees.

Check out Nina-Marie's blog to see what other fabric artists have been working on this week: /

Have a colorful day

A new desert quilt

 

My latest desert quilt is from a set of row-by-row patterns for Cactus Quilts in Tucson. Here are the first two; the third one is dancing Kokopellis, but I haven't started that yet. 

The pattern shows grey and brown birds, but I don't do grey and brown. So I made an orange and pink road runner and a purple quail family.

I still have to add stitching and some other details.

I found the perfect striped green fabric in my stash for the saguaro cactuses.

Here's another pattern that looks like fun:

Finally, this has nothing to do with quilting but my daughter-in-law just posted this photo of my son, who has a huge garden this year in Wisconsin. Go Keith!

Have a colorful day