Nothing Gold Can Stay

Pear leaves and a last tomato. All photos taken Nov. 26, 2008.

Tutu Divine

My daughter will be performing as a guest artist with the local Symphony Sunday afternoon. They are playing "The Nutcracker Suite," which is excerpts from the ballet, and she will be Sugarplum Fairy. I have been refurbishing a tutu, approximately 20 years old, for her to wear. It's appeared often onstage, as the costume for Rose Fairy (Sleeping Beauty), and Dew Drop (Nutcracker). I replaced all the missing jewels and added a few more, totalling about 200. I also removed the tacking that holds the skirt layers together, and lifted up the plate, which is the pink fabric on top. I added several layers of diamond net, as the skirt had gotten droopy. Then I ironed the net a little to flatten out the gathers, and tacked all the layers back together so they don't flop around when the dancer is performing. I also reattached the bodice to the skirt yoke, as it was not aligned straight. All it needs now is a body fitting (and it may not need any altering as she has worn it before), and strap adjustment. Break a leg, Liz! Underside of tutu, showing panty in center and layers of tulle. The rose fabric is taffeta, overlaid with embroidered bridal-type chiffon. The decoration on the bodice is made of woven pastel-colored ribbons layered under the chiffon. And now it really sparkles!

Backstage, after the show.

Autumn at Bluebonnet Swamp

yes, I know I have a thing for leaves.

(and yes, I know that's poison ivy. I didn't touch it, just photographed it.)

All photos taken Nov. 9 at Bluebonnet Swamp, Baton Rouge

It's Fall, Y'all

English Ivy

Virginia Creeper

Peach

Round, orange and can be fun to play with. One of these is a basketball.

Festival Gallery of Quilt Art - Town and Country

Here is Maple Leaf Rag, which is currently showing in the above-named special exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. It will travel to Chicago and Long Beach in the coming year, and continue on tour until 2011, possibly even to a quilt show near you. It's 48.5 x 49 inches and is pieced, fused, and machine quilted. The design is based on a photograph taken by John Hartgerink of Baton Rouge, LA and used with permission. The black areas are composed of 23 different black on black prints and form traditional Maple Leaf blocks. The title references a Scott Joplin tune, which was later choreographed by Martha Graham.

Braving the Elements

These quilts are 17 x 22 and were submitted to Journal Quilts: Elements. Since I knew that only one at most could be chosen, I designed them to also fit the theme of the Bluebonnet Swamp show coming up in January. As it turns out, neither of them were selected for the Journal Quilt show, but do appear in an online show "Braving the Elements," a sort of Salon de Refuse, if you will. Both are based on photography by John Hartgerink (this year's swamp theme) and will hang in Baton Rouge from mid-January to mid-February, 2009.

Fire and Icedetail

based on photos of ice forming on a shallow pond.

Summer Breeze


detail
based on photos of Cardinal Flower and dragonfly.

Link to the online show:

http://www.quiltart.com/elements/

Shady Lady

26.75 x 27.25 inches

Shady Lady is based on an original photograph taken in my shade garden this summer. After enlarging the photo, I applied it to a single piece of black fabric and cut away the white portions. After cutting, it was fused to the white fabric and straight stitch machine quilted over the black areas.

detail
Detail showing the back.
Will be traveling as part of "My World in Black and White," 2009-2011.
Selected as Judge's Choice by co-juror Leslie Tucker Jenison.
Here is a link to the online exhibit catalog:

http://fiberartsconnsocal.org/assets/blackwhite.pdf

Someone

Someone's been playing with our toys!

Someone's been eating my food!

Someone's been using my litter box!




And there she is!

**New Quilt Pictures coming soon**

Breaking Traditions show opens at American Sewing Expo in Novi, Michigan. It will travel to at least 4 other venues in 2008-2009.
http://www.fibraartysta.com/breakingtraditionsmain.htm
Above is a link to the exhibit catalog, and to the right is a link directly to my square (seventh from right, second-to-bottom row). The entry fee was a donation to the American Cancer Society, and over $1000 was raised.

Baby, It's Warm Up Here!

Autumn is in the Air

Today was the perfect temperature: too cool for a/c and too warm for heat.

Spider Lilies with masses of salmon flowers
Boris loves the cooler temperatures.
Sycamore Leaf

Banana leaves shredded by Hurricane Gustav.

Home at Last

My quilt, "The Secret Swamp: Late Summer" finally made it home today after a rather harrowing 20 minutes or so at the local Post Office. Apparently, we did not hear the letter carrier at the door yesterday although we were home. I took the slip in this morning and they could not find the parcel. After 5 or 6 phone calls to the other branches, and several searches "in the back," it finally turned up filed under the wrong zip code. The address on the parcel was, of course, correct. Horrors! Despite being shipped flat, someone folded it. Fortunately, the fold missed the embellishment made with Fantasy Film, which creases permanently. I dampened the fabric crease with a spray bottle, and it's currently drying flat on a table. Welcome home from Houston, Chicago, Long Beach and Lowell.

More Gratuitous Cute Kitten Pictures

What is it about dirty laundry and cats? No matter how stinky and smelly, they love to sleep in it. Baby Oslo has a bed about 2 feet from the hamper, but will she sleep in it? Noooo!

Mother's Little Helpers

Moose, a.k.a. Mooseyboy, showed up on our porch in July of 2005, when he was about 5 or 6 weeks old. At first, he would hide if he saw anyone looking at him, even through a window, but after we sat outside and talked to him every day for a couple of months, he gradually decided we were okay. When he's outside, he likes to pretend to be a feral cat and mighty hunter, although he's too fat to catch anything but bugs and lizards. When he comes in, he turns into a big teddy bear, although he still only likes two people.
Boris and his sister Natasha were born in January of 2000, to a part Siamese mother adopted as a stray by some friends. He loves to show off for people, when he's not sleeping on the deck. Sadly, his sister Natasha developed cancer and died in 2006.