Winter Fog

When I was young, I lived in an area that almost never got snow.  We had rain, although not very much of it; only about 2 inches per year . . . but we had fog! And, no . . . I didn't live on the coast!  (more about that in a moment.) It was a mostly foggy dreary winter for us. It wasn't like Carl Sandburg's famous poem:

Fog

BY CARL SANDBURG

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

In our town, the fog never moved on! It was there all winter, and WOW! was it cold, since the sun never shown for days and weeks on end.  It was not the normal fog that most people are familiar with and are used to creeping in early in the morning and then leaving ("moving on" as Sandburg puts it) like it does on the coast ("harbor and city").  This wintry fog is a phenomenon in the San Joaquin Valley in my home state of California.  It's due to a temperature inversion, and  is called "Tule fog"-- pronounced tu-lee.  It forms after the first good rain fall in Autumn and it stays, because of the high pressure patterns of our weather, all the way through to March, sometimes! Here is a bird's eye view of the huge San Joaquin socked in for the nearly 400 miles of it! If you are familiar with the California coastline, you can probably distinguish the San Francisco Bay area, although I lived in the southern tip of the valley.

Picture from Wikipedia Tule fog article

Sew, earlier this year when I made my art piece, called Emerging Foggy Spring, shown here, I knew exactly what I was wanting to portray. (Here is the original post of the making of this piece.) (Also did another post a couple of years ago, of a foggy acrylic painting that I did.)

link 

Now, I am wanting, pondering in my creative thoughts actually, to design an embroidery piece that embodies fog!  Such a challenge, but I'm up for a challenge! Of course I will share it when I am finished! What do ya think?  You up for a new challenge in your new year? Hope this post sparks some of your own creative juices!

Note: This is actually a blog post for my favorite Etsy team, the Blogging Business Artisans! Why not go on over and see what the other members have come up with--it might just inspire you!

Also linking with Create-with-Joy  today!

Cute Christmas Fabric

 I found this great fabric with square vignettes of Christmas symbols.  This is a 2010 fabric from Blank Quilting.  I loved it because it is not the traditional colors.  It has some pinks, cinnamon, and green on a cream background. 

It is easy to cut away individual squares to make little pillow tasseled ornaments. 

 I also have used them as a focus point on some of my Christmas stockings for this year's craft show inventory. This one features great gold and cinnamon tassels with a snowman vignette on a light green snowman fabric.  

This new style was fashioned for the October monthly challenge by my favorite Etsy team, Blogging Business Artisans.  Visit our blog and have a look at what my teamees are up to. Thanks!

Bring it On!

Well, we are down to the last two days in August!  Labor Day weekend:  Where did the summer go?  I drove down a local street earlier this week and for the first time I noticed the tops of the trees are already turning color.  They were slightly tinged purple.  Autumn is sneaking up on us, since at the street level,  all the leaves were still green.

I really love the autumn season; I  am DONE with the heat, and welcome some cooler weather, and some occasional days of rain and I'm ready for the harvest! But the thing that I think I like the most about  autumn is the colors.  I thought I would show you, rather than talking about it.  Enjoy!

(And Autumn color in my handiwork)

Bring on Autumn! 

This post is for the Blogging Business Artisans monthly challenge.  See what the other members are submitting for the challenge Link Party on our blog. 

BBA May Challenge

Since I have been working so much with my apron orders, I really haven't had time to actually create new ideas for my crafting endeavors.  But I did get a new camera this month and I have been working on my depth of field--you know, long depth: overall landscape all in focus, or short depth: only what is in the foreground is in focus.  With this new camera, it is a matter of finding the right settings to take the desired picture.  And since our Blogging Business Artisans May Challenge is "April showers brought May flowers so let's see them! Create something with flowers and let your imagination bloom!" I thought I would use it to practice taking depth of field pictures.  This challenge was brought to us from Sharla at BeadedTail,  actually one of my Oregon state neighbors, and she has a wonderful blog, written from her animals point of view, that I am sure you will love! Please visit! 

Now, here are my flowers--Not where I want to be yet with the camera settings, but working on it!  

Magnolia  with tree out of focus

Lilac with pine tree top in the background

Snowdrops? 

These little snowdrops are gorgeous, especially if you click on the picture to get a larger and closer view.  The background is muted a bit with a soft focus.

These tiny beauties were difficult to get with a short focus, since the were so small and growing in a jumble of other foliage. But I think I was able to get some of the background softer than the actual flowers.  Could have been better, but as I say, I'm working on it!  Great Challenge!  

You can see the other challenge posts on our team blog. 

P.S.  I did some other pictures of flowers in a previous post about rhododendrons--one good photo there!

Emerging Foggy Spring

March, being the month of early Spring, was the month that I signed up to present a challenge for my favorite Etsy team.  This Spring challenge for the Blogging Business Artisans was called  Emerging Foggy Spring  (which is the title of my finished piece too!) and I wrote the challenge this way:

I am proposing that we try something this month that is a little softer.  I call it - Emerging Foggy Spring. Let's explore color in terms of tint. In color theory, a tint is the mixture of a color with white, which increases lightness. We often create with bright color and ignore tints of color. Create a project with muted tints leaving lots of white space, if you can. This project is to challenge your thought processes about color, using tints. Don't be intimidated by the absence of bright color. Get creative!

So here is what I came up with, and mind you, I didn't even have a clue what I was going to do, back when I signed up for presenting this challenge.  I have been thinking about it quite a bit, and today I got an idea.  

I started with a bunch of scrap fabric and made a crazy quilt block.  I decided to explore the WRONG side of the fabric.  Many fabrics have a whitish reverse side, where the color has only bled thru in the screen printing process. The pattern is not actually woven into the yardage. Thus it has a tinted look.  

At first, it was a bit daunting to my brain, sewing wrong sides together, since I am used to sewing with the right sides facing each other.  As you can see, I actually did the bottom two strips and the top right hand corner with the "right" side up to facilitate the design that I had in mind.  

Here is what is looks like on the "wrong" side --that I am not using--more colorful and not the stuff of this challenge:

Next, I made a quilt sandwich with it, adding the batting and backing and quilting a scene to it.  I used different colors of thread, from black to gray to white, to create the tree's depth in the fog, but it is hard to detect in this photo. (WOW, do I need a new camera--not just this phone camera--broke my good camera!- Maybe you can click on the photo and zoom in and see what I am talking about.)

Anyway, using the right side up in the bottom strips has created a more "real" look in the foreground.  The flower field then fades into the fog with the next strip being reversed to the tint side.  I also have the sun peaking thru the clouds at the top right using the "right" side of the fabric for the sun's brightness.

The actual quilting process shows the tree, flowers and swirling fog of the scene on top of the muted fabrics. 

Reverse of my quilt sandwich

I haven't decided yet how I will bind the little mini quilt, but I am quite proud of the way that it has turned out for a simple afternoon's work!  

P.S.  Linking today with Pink Saturday! 

Red Challenge

The Blogging Business Artisans Etsy team challenge for "February is about hearts, love, roses...the color red. Create any project you like using the color red!"  So . . . . I thought about it.  I have 
never made any cup cozies in the color red!  I really don't know why, it's just about my favorite color. Also, I had never put any trim on my cozies.  For this challenge, I decided to do an all red cup cozy, non-reversible, as I usually do.  

What do you think?  I like it!

I will be linking with others on our team blog after the 25th of the month.  Please visit and see all the other projects in red! Blog.

Year in Review

As part of my reevaluating process, that usually takes most of January for me, I have been reviewing my blog posts for last year.  I find that I have a few favorites and from looking at the stats, I see that they might have been your favorites too!  I have chosen one from each month for review!  Enjoy! (And keep going--there is something extremely cute at the end!)

January 

Studio Guest!

I often house sit for a friend who has a huge sewing studio!  Lots of space with three machines, a light table, cutting table etc.  If you love studios, you will love all the pictures here!  I love it, and will be house sitting again for her in a few days!

February

At the urging of a blogger friend, I decided to tell the story behind my shop avatar. It got lots of views!

March

March was  a big blogging month if your views were any indication!  It was hard to choose since many of my posts were popular--the BBA challenge Part 1 and Part 2, the Goodbye Winter post about our local river stroll, and the Shamrock Charity Run, but I chose one post about my Sew Expo Perspective, since I did several posts on this subject and all had lots of views and comments!

Sew Expo in Puyallup Washington

April 

With the start of spring and an April Easter Sunday, I had the urge to make something new.  Sew . . . I made a new Crayon Roll-up from some fabric that is still my favorite!  Oh . . . and there was a cute post about my future crafter granddaughter Vivienne: Vivi's Pins

Favorite fabric for a roll-up!

May

May is for Mother, right? I did a post of an old vintage picture that I found of what I think is my own mother!
I also celebrated my 500th post!  Yay!  But my pick for this month was about hand embroidery, since I love and appreciate the handmade quality of it over machine embroidery.

Embroidery enhanced Cell phone case

June

In June, there were graduations, birthdays, softball, fun runs, and Father's Day!
I did a series of posts, four in all, on "Got Creativity?" Actually started them the 29th of May, but finished the series in June. Links can be found on one of the home page tabs at the top of my homepage. 

Trying something new-- get creative!

July

Summer hit and I was out doing a summer craft fair with my granddaughter! I was also involved with creating a new line of aprons for a local merchant with a relationship that started back in May. It kept me busy for the remainder of the year.

August

Not much bloggin' in August--to HOT and had vacation fever!!  But I did introduce a new line of products! Children's tote bags! 

Kid Sized!

September

Still had a little vacation fever, and went on a little trip to visit a local volcano: Mt Saint Helens.  Posted pictures of our trip.  I blogged about National Sewing Month, my patio garden, and my broken sewing machine! 

Trail head sign on Mt Saint Helens

October 

In October I became a grandmother--again, with the birth of our 26th grandchild!  Yay!  Most of the month was taken up with that, and not much blogging.  Here's a current picture of Gideon!

Doesn't that smile just melt ya?

November - December  

November was full, with the start of the holiday season, with craft shows, Thanksgiving and family  celebrations, and a yo yo tutorial.  Right after Thanksgiving, I started a "30 days of Christmas Fun" Series with lots of ideas.  Here's one that got lots of raves!  My cute little scrappy snowman pillow!

Hope you enjoyed my review and will visit some of the year's posts that interest you! 
On to a New Year of Fun and Creativity!

BBA Secret Santa Reveal

My favorite Etsy team, the Blogging Business Artisans, had a Secret Santa event and look what I got! My secret Santa was Jamie of Poppy Hill Creations!  My gift arrived in this lovely wrapping and I loved the tag.  If you look closely at the picture you will see a glittery snowflake--that's the tag with Jamie's greeting on the back!  Love it!

What was in it?  Paper products!  What a surprise from a fellow Etsian that loves paper!  Yay!

 Even though I am a blogger, I love paper and love writing hand written notes to my friends.  Thanks, Jamie; It will be well used!

30 Days of Christmas Linky

Last week I had two people leave their link with their Christmas ideas!   I perused their shops and found some things that I just love.

From Edi at Memories for Life I found a photo book that is just right for the season! And it's ready-to-ship!

 wood photo book from memoriesforlife 

Then, Deb from Storybeader has some handmade journals.  I have one that she's made, and I know they are awesome! I love mine!  Hop on over and see what she has to offer!

Maroon Art Journal by storybeader

So what awesomeness have you been up to on your blog this week?   Link here and let us see your Christmas ideas, decorating, recipes or shopping finds (oops, I guess you wouldn't want to show that BEFORE Christmas?)  Anyway, link up, share and visit some of the other participants!  Most of all, Enjoy!

Jack (Jill) of all trades!

Hope that title is not politically incorrect!  Seems like everything we say lately has to be considered for fear of offending someone! Oh . . . heck with it!  Anyway . . . .

I'm back!  I have had a wonderful vacation from the riggers of promotion blogging in favor of blogging about my creativity, as I have been doing in my other blog during the month of August.  I know that this sounds a bit on the unfavorable side,  but I have had a time to be honest with motivations and take a frank look at my time availability.

"Promotion blogging" as I have labeled it here, is just that.  A blog that exists for the sake of promoting something.  I originally started this blog to promote my fledgling Etsy shop.  Along the way, I have met quite a few wonderful friends in the blogging world and other Etsy sellers. Blogging has blossomed into a healthy community "thing".

In looking back over my nearly four years of writing this blog, I have made a few observations:

1) I have blogged about my creativeness, but there are so many others who do the same. There are so many great blogs out there! I feel sort of like just one of the ships sailing in a vast albeit crowded sea.

2)  I have blogged about my family, from time to time, which I dearly love. (This is not strictly a family blog.)

3)  I have blogged about and participated with my favorite Etsy team, the Blogging Business Artisans.  I have met an awesome group of ladies (all Etsy sellers) thru my BBA team participation and consider them friends.  I thoroughly enjoy participating with them in this selling journey.  (If you are a serious blogger and are interested in participation with an active group, please visit our team blog.)

4) Blogging puts a bit of pressure on the writer, unless, of course, one lives for writing.  I like to write, but I don't live for it! I am a "jack-of-all-trades" kind of person, but "master of none" as I can hear my dad saying. I like writing, and sewing, and painting, and reading, and creating and . . . um . . well. . . you get it!!! BTW, my BBA team has a September challenge to try something new. . . that's gonna be difficult for me!

5) I can be consistent with something!  Over 530 posts just in this blog!! My gosh, I have been blogging for a long time!

So . . . . I do like the outlet of the blogging medium, if for nothing else than to have a communication outlet with you, my reader, and with my potential customers! This online selling environment can be a lonely world at times, and honestly, we all need to share our triumphs and our failures with an audience of like minded and friendly individuals.  Thus, I will continue blogging after my much needed break!  Hope you will continue to follow along.  I love having you! 

Looking forward to our chats and your comments!

Under the Sea Challenge

Hi again!  I have been offline since before Father's Day!  Time, now, to get back to the blogesphere!  And just by the skin of nmy teeth for the June challenge of the Blogging Business Artisans Team challenge!  I had the project done at the first of the month, but has no internet!  So here is my project for the Under the Sea Challenge!

I had some lightly fuzzy fabric that someone gave to me and I didn't know what to do with it, so when this challenge came up, I thought it reminded me of the sea.  I made a simple zipper pouch and change purse.  I decorated it with stitching to look like a wave.  It was a fairly simple project, but I think is dressed up the plain fabric!

I think I missed the link party, but I got my challenge up inJune anyway! You can go to our team blog and see how others in the group responded to the challenge:
bloggingbusinessartisans.blogspot.com

Nature Inspiration

My favorite Etsy team, Blogging Business Artisans, hosts a monthly challenge.  Team Member Sharla of beadedtail.etsy.com  has challenged us this month with:  "Your challenge is to incorporate your favorite inspiration into a project of your choice."

I always look to nature for my inspiration.  For me, just one look out my window into the tree tops is restful, calming and invigorating! It takes my mind away from the mundane and transports me into the infinite possibilities.  Ever really looked at a tree branch?  In one tree, there is a myriad of ways that the limbs and leaves attach to the branches, never to be redone in that exact same way again.  Ultimate creativity! And you thought a snowflake was really something!!!

So, I took my inspiration from the tree and created nothing as elaborate as God can create, but a tree none-the-less, a simple one!

 
This is my embroidered tree on muslin and homespun.  It's a button down pillow cover.  This is the first in my line of primitive country products for wholesale only.  Not available in my Etsy shop, at least not at this point in time. 

Thanks Blogging Business Artisans for the monthly challenge!  It keeps me creating!!!
P.S.  Visit  the blog link between the 26th and the end of each month to see what other members are creating and find out more about our team!

March BBA Challenge - Part 2

I have finished my BBA challenge project (see Monday's Part 1 post) and was going to post it on Tuesday, but held off until today.  Several reasons for this, one was presented in the Tuesday post but the biggest reason is, I was disappointed with my resulting product.  Now, don't get me wrong, I love the color combination, which is what the challenge was all about!  I was pleasantly surprised that what I thought was a little 'out there' combination, turned out to be beautiful and I can't say that enough!

I made a quilted Easter table runner. 

As you can see, it doesn't lie flat, although it might after it is washed.  It's all cotton, so it will probably soften up in the washing process. 

Not to belabor my disappointment, but I am also just learning to free motion quilt on my standard machine which does not have a stitch regulator.  To get an even stitch you must learn to have an even moving hand while sewing in the pattern you chose.  Stops and starts cause a stitch with uneven stitch lengths.  You might be able to see them in this picture. Larger stitches can be seen at the bottom of the picture if you look closely:

And there were stitching curves that had corners in them, which is not what I was going for.  All stitch lines should have had flowing curves.  But worst of all is that I didn't think ahead to the quilting process before I did it.  I should have used a basting spray between the layers, so while quilting there would not be any layer slippage.  When one quilts on a frame, which I don't have, the three layers of fabric are held taunt.  This prevents any excessive pleats or puckers in the fabric.  Mine has plenty of puckers, which I am not happy about!

 
I was able to fix this somewhat, but it still makes me unhappy with the finished product.  Oh well, practice makes perfect, they say!  Oh boy, could I use that new machine I have been wanting that has the proper hopping foot/walking foot, that would have helped too!  But that is another story.

As to my initially not liking red and turquoise together, maybe I could have learned something from my little 5 year old grand daughter, LaRaya, seen here with her sister, Vivienne.

 Live and Learn!

P.S.  This is for the Blogging Business Artisans March Challenge.  Hop on over to our team blog to see the other participants came up with in Red and Turquoise!