Happy Holiday!!

And it IS a happy one for me! I actually have 4 (FOUR!!) days in a row off. Well 3.5 days, actually. And so this morning, I pulled a little piece off the design wall that has been languishing for a couple of years. I sanwiched and quilted it. It's working title was "Land Turtles", and I think I can just leave it as that.

The piece is a very simple one - the turtles were printed using a styrofoam plate which I cut to shape and then incised with the lines that form the design of the shells and appendages. I sponged on setacolor, printed, sponged on some direct painting, then scrounged the bin for hand-dyed and commercial cottons, and zapped it together lickety-split. Two years ago. And now it's finally quilted and bound and OFF THE DESIGN WALL. It's cute. It's fun. I like it. And most importantly.... IT'S OFF THE DESIGN WALL!!! Not visible in the picture are FMQ spiral turtles in the big mottled rectangles. I suppose I could take a detail shot.... but I'm not gonna. You can just guess what they look like. Spiral turtles. Not hard to imagine at all!

Now, on to more serious (or not) work or ideas. I started a little quilt not long ago that will be an abstraction of yucca against a coppery sunset. It will be consturcted from one of the Games in Diane Hire's book. (see earlier blog posts). And then, if I like it as much as I think I will, I'm going to turn around and do another one, maybe a little bigger, maybe a little more sophisticated, as an actual art quilt, rather than just as a technique-tester.

This past week has been spent (between my work schedules) finishing up my entry for Doing Small Things. After the online exhibit is posted, I'll do a blog entry w/ a picture and talk a bit about it. The challenge was interesting to work on - very thought-provoking - and I'm anxious to see all the entries.

So - the turtles are done. Mike has been working on the front porch with some repairs he contends WERE necessary. They weren't so necessary before he got the fancy new air nailer and compressor. I guess I have to trust he knows what he's talking about (and doing). There have been some mighty horrific and suspicious noises coming from that direction. He's scared the cat into hiding, and who knows when we'll see her again. I'd say there is only room for improvement... but at least before he started this "project", the porch WAS attached to the house at all appropriate points. Well, hopefully it still will be.