Dog Play

Hey he's got the ball!

I want it!

 

Gimme that ball!

My ball, c'mon hand it over!

Pleeeeeease!

 

Fine, I'll let him have it... (sulk) (sulk) What's a girl gonna do?

 Above in the bed, Iko cat could care less....

So precious, my furry guys!

New Japanese Quilt

I'm excited to be working on a new quilt for our bed to begin the new year. Last year I started this japanese style quilt, now I am making progress on it and hope to finish it soon! The design is a combination of snowball block, with black corners and a 3-piece strip block, put together in units of four. The fabrics are all japanese prints I've collected, in many colors. A few are directly from Japan and most are reproduction prints made in the US.

I pieced the strip blocks with grasshopper fabric in the center, love that name! Then I cut the strips into blocks. The snowball blocks are made with black triangles in each corner, to form a hexagon.

I decided to design this king size quilt to be a perfect balance of squares, since the bed is almost square (78x80). It will be made up of 96 squares, in units of 4 blocks, and then 16 large square units of 16 blocks each!  I plan to try the quilt as you go method, since it is so large, where I will quilt each unit of 16 squares separately and attach the units together to finish the quilt. I'll let you know how it goes!

If you are interested in quilting ideas with japanese fabrics, here is a great book! I also like Japanese Quilt Blocks  and Japanese Quilt Inspirations by Susan Briscoe.

 I can't wait to see how the finished quilt looks on our bed!

New Year!

The new year is a time of fresh beginnings, full of inspiration. I often look at the basic elements in nature at this time of year- the trees, mountains, water, sky... They are timeless, and ever-present. Went on a forest hike this weekend, hiked up through the woods to the top of a butte, and into a prairie clearing, with bright light and blue sky. There I saw this amazing view of Mt. Hood overlooking the forest. The Oregon landscape is so rich! This hike makes me think of traveling upward into the light, to have great hopes and dreams for the future.

Here is the clearing at the top, in the light... The path is winding, and you can't see where it goes, but it winds upward, almost as if it's traveling into the sky. :)

 My first project of the new year is a japanese water table runner, based on a stream running upward. All the fabrics are japanese prints, with a sashiko style embroidery of water flowing on top. And I added a few of my own dyed fabrics with water patterns (tie dye and shibori). The greens represent the banks of the river and some flowers are added. Little Jorellis cat loves to sit on the fabrics! I pieced the design in strips, and sewed the rows horizontally.

And I have started a new painting, Spirit Bird... Here it is in progress.  Happy New Year, I hope your year is off to a fabulous start!