While we were looking through the binoculars at the beaver we could see a bir partially concealed standing at the far side of the pond. I took several photos of it and enlarged them to try to identify it.

In this one he is in the upper left of the screen:

Isn't he beautiful? There are various versions of wood ducks with slightly different patterning, but this is the closest I found - given the restricted view we had

We've not had any of these before and we've been here since 1989!

10 Canada geese have moved into the pasture across the road and down one house. They totally ignore the 5 horses that live there.

Then today we saw 10-12 hummingbirds flitting in and out of the branches of the maple tree in the front yard.

The birds are taking over!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 2:38 PM PST

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Now that fall is here and the leaves hav cleared from the trees, we have a nice view of the neighbor's pond again. When the air is still we watch for ripples on the water as a signal that the beaver is out and about.

The other day we watched with the binoculars as braches were gathered from the north side of the pond and transported to the south (the whole pond is a little less than 1/2 acre)

We had watched a documentary on beavers last year so we know that they use the trees and branches for two thing - building their dens and stocking food for winter (they eat the bark from small branches).

We also assume this is a male beaver and not too old as it is new to the area and the males go off to set up a new home site when they have finished their apprenticeship of building with their parents and are ready to find/attract a mate. We're guessing, since he was here last year too, that he is about 4 years old.

In any case, after watching with the binoculars, it occured to us to see if we could get photos.

fun, huh?

We're still not too thrilled with his den-building as he has changed the place where the creek exits so it no longer goes under the pasture access through the culvert but flows over it about 50 feet away.

Giant rodents - gotta love em!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:18 AM PST

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The journal page I did in my Bible this time is Psalm 147:4.

I started with the lettering this time and tried to make creative designs. 

I wanted to use a night sky for obvious reasons and needed a base to ground it. To do that I drew a night skyline of high-rises and residences. I colored these with black, dark greys, dark brown and dark green.

The sky is colored with layers of three pencils - a red-violet, a purple and a dark blue. These were worked around drawn stars.

Some of my favorite parts of the lettering are: the numbering, the moon as the letter 'C', a star in each letter of the word 'each', and a name badge for the word 'name'.

This whole area was colored in a variety of yellows.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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Since I bought my set of 72 Prismacolor pencils I have kept them in their original order in the tin, carefully removing individual pencils to color with and returning them to the same slot when done.

The drawback to this was that each of the three trays was a 'step up' from the next smaller set of pencils so had a full range of colors. Each had a few greens, a few reds, a few yellows...

To color a tree, for instance, I might pull and use greens from al three trays and it was difficult to compare tones and tints to find the ones I wanted.

I broke down and pulled all the pencils out of the trays and arranged them by chroma. The first two trays are the rainbow rundown: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. The third tray contains the two metallics (gold and silver) the white and black and all the browns, warm greys and cool greys.

This arrangement made them so much easier to work from.

I'll show tomorrow the Bible journalling page I worked from this new pencil lineup.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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Many times the concept is more attractive than the execution... I think that is true of the card being shared today.

I had a butterfly to embroider and blank area on a floral card. I chose colors to complement the floral and stitched by the directions.

I ended up with a flat, lifeless piece.

I tried to rescue it with the use of a bright stamped greeting bordered in the same color as the butterfly.

I pulled in more of the yellow by using it for the card base and allowing a border to show all around the card.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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When I pricked out this embroidery pattern of trees I had every intention of making this a Christmas card. I would have done this by decorating a single tree with beads.

However, after I got all the trees stitched - each in a different shade of green - I liked the effect of having a simple grove of trees. I decided to leave them plain.

The background is a subtle woodgrain.

The addition of a bordered sentiment in dark yellow calls attention to the single star.

I used a dark green patterned paper for the borders.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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I haven't joined any paper embroidery swaps or challenges for a while now so those arts were set aside while I persued other things. While on vacation recently, I took along my paper embroidery kit with some cards to work on. It makes a nice activity that allows for watching the scenery, chatting with others and/or watching lectures and concerts (when they don't lower the lights).

I finished up three stitchings which I could turn into cards when I got home.

This card was pricked out in a floral/swag on a two-toned houndstooth paper. I had included a red/pink/teal funky floral so stitched the flowers and swag to match.

After cutting the pieces to size I found the floral too bright so I layered a quote on vellum over the top and wrapped the edges to the back.

I mounted the decorated panel to a soft blue card base.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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It's been a while since I posted nail art. I was waiting for my nails to grow back out after the last breakage.

A trip to the dollar store the other day netted me 10 new bottles of polish. My store carries a brand called L.A.Color. I find it to be long lasting with little chipping for up to two weeks. I always start with Revlon base coat and I add up to three color layers followed by Revlon top coat.

I rarely use one color as I like the depth I get by combining colors and textures.

I started this manicure with a pale, almost gray, purple. I did two layers of this. Then I added a clear containing two sizes of silver glitter.

The final effect makes the color look more blue and it comes off resembling a glittery denim.

No need for fancy patterns and stuff when the polish itself can present such a stunning look.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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This is the 56th quilt I have made for the Passages program at the hospital!

I started a couple of years ago by buying the pink floral fabric at the outdoor sale at the BIG fabric store. I had nothing to go with it and thought it looked like a little girl fabric so I set it aside.

Then I came across a pattern for an expanded pinwheel and decided to purchase fabric to use with the floral.

I bought a layer cake in teal in a line called Stonehenge. It has a marble look to it and is in five grades of intensity.

The construction is simple half-square triangles.

The yellow border is color pulled from some of the flowers in the pink print.

I only quilted in the ditch around the diamonds.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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At the Sew and Stitchery Expo in March I picked up a panel print in the big bin of 'fabric by the pound' at one of the booths.

Having cut it apart I selected the center piece plus some of the outer border to use and combined these with coordinating colored borders from my stash.

I varied the width of the borders and just kept building and building. I did increase the width of the top and bottom on one border to make the quilt longer.

As far as quilting, I followed the lines of the print in the birdcage and along the first border of red hourglasses. I traced around the roses in the next border, added loop-the-loops in the border with tiny flowers.

The gray border was covered with a pattern of roses and leaves.

Then in the wide red border I made giant roses in cream thread.

I like this more than I expected to.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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Another oversized lap quilt today.

The pattern for this was an online freebie that was designed to feature a specific line of fabric.

I had chosen the feature fabric without buying anything to go with it. I found coordinates in the stash, though.

I really didn't visualize how large this was going to be as it would have been just as well to remove one row and one column.

The quilting is simple stitch in the ditch beside the large and medium squares plus diagonals through them.

The back is yellow and the binding matches the medium blue squares.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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The pattern for the quilt today is from a Fons & Porter Quick Quilts issue. I don't have a date as I tore the pages out of the magazine.

I had a number of small-print florals from donations as well as various fabrics that went with them from my stash. I made the elongated four-patch from lights and mediums and used darks for the window frames. The over-all tie-in factor is the orange dot fabric and the center cornerstone on which they turn.

This block does require some partial seaming and the block itself is huge (there are only 6 blocks in this quilt).

This is a larger lap quilt that will go to Passages.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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I love the patterns found on Missouri Star Quilt Company. I think the pattern I used today is called Ribbon Stars. 

I picked up three disparate purples from full bolts being de-aquisitioned from the church costume closet - I think they were probably used for the three wise men. Several of us cut off a couple of yards to use.

When the purples were next to each other they really didn't go together. Then I went to a yard sale this summer and a lady was selling yardage left over from bridesmaid dressed - a black with flowers in all three of the purples! They also had some blue so I brought in that color in sashing.

The quilting is loop-the-loops in an overall coverage.

The backing was also in the costume closet - dark burgundy with a glitter on it.

Ddd0

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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I found the pattern for today's quilt in a Fons & Porter Love Of Quilting magazine. Unfortunately, when I cut the templates out of the pages (which I had torn out of the magazine) it cut the magazine date off.

In any case, I went through my fabrics and pulled out the least attractive (I won't call them ugly) ones that I could find that went together.

Strangely, it didn't look too bad when it was all combined.

I did some straight-line quilting in the individual triangles and then some triangle loop-the-loops treating the four outer borders as one.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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I was on a deadline for the day the Chaplain from the hospital was going to come and pick up the donation quilts for Passages. I've been very haphazardly working on getting several finished that I've been working on since I cut several kits in June.

For several days the last two weeks I've been quilting every day and finally finished up SEVEN of them!

I'll space these out over the next week.

Today it is a quilt I call Northern Lights. I picked up several mill-ends at the Sew and Stitchery Expo in February from a booth that has odd cuts in big bins. When I grabbed them I thought of them as Spirograph prints but in putting them together I started calling them Planetarium.

I cut all the pieces of the pattern I had selected but when I laid them out they were all too busy together.

I dropped in a 1/4 inch red sashing and BOOM!

Totally spectacular!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 4:48 PM PST

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I had wanted to do this scripture for some time and then it was the sermon topic last Sunday in our series on 'Promises'. Well, how could I NOT do it now?

I combined two photos, one for the eagle and one for the background, to create the scene. 

The text style is from a book on creative lettering.

I chose to make this a double page spread for more impact as I could make the bird so much larger that way.

Many more to come.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 9:57 AM PDT

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We recently had a new experience - cruising on a river boat. We took a sternwheel steamboat down four rivers - Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland. Then we followed up with a few days with family.

Along the way we were in St. Louis, Missouri - Alton, Illinois - Grafton, Illinois - Cape Girardeau, Illinois - Dover, Missouri - Paducha, Kentucky - Clarksville, Tennessee -  Nashville, Tennessee - Lynchburg, Tennessee.

The paddlewheeler was fun and not at all like the cruise ships we are used to. VERY tiny towns we stopped in along the rivers.

Here are some of the best views...

Reflection of our hotel in the windows of the hotel next door:

St. Louis Arch:

Three of the six flags mounted on the front of the boat:

The infamous sternwheel:

The boat in Grafton:

Bridges were beautiful. This one is in Cape Girardeau:

Detail from the 'front porch' of the boat:

Early one foggy morning on the river:

Walking in Dover:

Decor on the boat:

Along the riverwalk in Clarksville:

Outside Lynchburg:

With so many days of beautiful weather it was hard to decide what photos would best represent the whole of the trip. I chose these 12 and will turn them into a calendar with the next 'free' offer I get from Shutterfly.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Today I did journaling artwork in Isaiah 12:3.

For reference, I searched for photos on the internet of wells and chose two to work from. One was used for the buckets and one for the stonework in a generalized sense.

The lettering was inspired by a book on lettering styles.

I really love the fact that my pen does not bleed through the pages. I think I may have mentioned that a time or two!

So hard to get colors right in the photo but there is truly NO green in the stonework!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 8:11 PM PDT

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I had some time to day to take a little quiet break and work in my journaling Bible.

I've been turning every page in all ov my other Bibles to see what verses I have marked, underlines or highlighted. I compiled a list of references followed by a few key words so I can scan them and choose a verse to work on.

Today I chose Matthew 5:16.

I first illustrated a burning candle and then went over to the margin to illustrate the words.

I had some fun with the 'light' portion of the text, using little light bulbs and some glow.

And then, just for one of my grandkids, I drew an eye for the word 'see'.

I'll admit, she draws eyes much better than I do but this serves the purpose.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 8:21 PM PDT

Updated: Monday, 10 October 2016 8:22 PM PDT

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Serendipity!

That's what I call it when I FIND a gift card for fabric from three years ago that got misplaced... I fall in LOVE with a seashell themed jellyroll of fabric when I go with my gift card... I spy the PERFECT pattern to use with the jellyroll... and find out only days later that someone special is buying a BEACH HOUSE. Just like that, all the pieces come together for a wonderful housewarming gift!

I only had to add a few bits of fabric from my stash and they worked perfectly with the colors and theme: a tan with a print that looked like sand, a tan with a stone-like print, a white for the background that has a bright white dot that makes it look like bubbles or seafoam.

I even had a donated fabric for the back that is in the same shade of blue in a watery print with a bit of glitter in it.

I'm telling you, it's serendipity.

Here is the quilt - cut down considerably from the original pattern that takes it from a queen-size to a lap quilt:

Oh, yes - the border was from my stash as well.

I wanted to keep the quilting in the same theme so I downloaded line drawings of seven seashells and enlarged them to each fit on a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 paper. These were cut out including cutting into them so I could trace all the inner bits of shaping. 

I did that tracing with a Frixion pen ON THE BACK of the quilt so that I would not be distracted by the pattern on the front. I made sure none of the quilting crossed into the dark border since I was going to use a cream thread for all of it. I twisted and turned to fit the shells in, traced a set, moved the patterns and traced some more. I made sure that there would be no two shells the same next to each other.

I stitched in continuous lines, stitching over some areas as needed for 'traveling'. Then the Frixion pen was heated with the iron and 'poof' it vanishes.

Here are each of the shell styles that I used:

I used the backing fabric for the binding. The effect of this is one that allows the quilt to look good from the front OR the back.

Off to deliver it!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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