I'm back

I had a lovely time in Athabasca aside from the fact that I came down with a miserable
case of Bronchitis, cold, the day I left. The girls were very supportive and I really hope they enjoyed the class. It was great to spend some time with my dear friend. We took some pictures of the ice breaking on the Athabasca river - it was really something to see the huge chunks of ice and the river moving so swiftly. It was very interesting. Click on the pictures to see the closeups.

---------------------------
I took pictures of the students and their work in progress. They did very well. We had students from Edmonton, Athabasca and Ft. MacMurray and I was pleased with their results. I do hope at least some of them carry on with the landscapes.

On my way tomorrow

I am leaving for Athabasca in Northern Alberta, to teach a landscape class over two days, and to spend some time with my dear friend Debbie. I am really looking forward to this trip. I will post again next week. Take care everyone. Shirley

Finished!!!!

I finished a few more little bits and pieces. I really am enjoying doing these small wall hangings which are backed by timtex- I will put a fabric backing and sleeve when I get back from Athabasca. I am going to do another one when I get back too. S

Challenge finished!

I just put my finished 4 season challenge as a header for my blog. I am going to show you the back of this challenge so you can see the thread painting that I did. I enjoyed doing this little challenge. I changed the picture quite a bit but am happy with it.

I am also showing you a couple of pictures of l2" x 12" challenges that I entered for the Quilting Arts Calendar 2110. I can show them now as the calendar pictures have been chosen.

The first is: "I picked a bright red poppy on a lovely sunny day"

the second one is a winter hand painted, not thread painted scene. "Deck the halls"

Tutorial #2 - 4 Season Challenge

I have been working all morning on the challenge and it seems to be coming along okay.

I have changed it a bit , (I don't like it to be like a photo imiage) - and have added more interest to the side with the snow. I rather enjoyed doing this scene on the timtex as it means no puckering! grin.

I plan to do more with the snow side and improve on the foreground bushes . I will put a backing on it and finish with a zig zag around the edge. I still plan on doing some crayon shading on the logs. This has been an interesting piece for me. Let me know what you think about it. Click on the picture to see the close up. I will put the finished piece on tomorrow once I have it finished. Shirley

Tutorial #1-My 4 season Challenge

I have mentioned the four season challenge here and finally have started mine.

We had to choose one of 11 black and white photos and make a small wall hanging using colors from one of the four seasons. The challenge was to do all four seasons, Or do four different pictures of the seasons.

Here is a picture of the black and white scene.
I decided to do winter. I cut a piece of 'timtex' which is a heavy web 12" x 12" and laid a pale blue strip across the top and white over the rest of the scene. I then cut out the mountain in a pale grey as I want it to seem to be far away. ---------

I had some wonderful very dark grey with a brown tinge which faintly showed fir trees. I cut the points of the trees out and laid it in front of the mountain. I have a dark blue grey batik which I used for the trees on the right which made them appear to be closer.
As you can see, I have thread painted part of the first set of trees. I used a variegated dark brown and cream for the trees. The light shade makes it look like the sun is shining on the tree tops. For the third set of trees I will change into very dark green for further away and come forward with a light shade for the rest of the fir trees. I found some wonderful
fabric yesterday for the fallen trees and logs on the right so I am looking forward to getting at them as well.
---------
I then pieced some blue, turquoise and purple batiks to make the stream and laid it on the white. I cut another piece of white and made the snow on the left. I then put in some shadows with a fabric pen. (I will do more thread painting once the scene is together). I placed some rocks in the stream and thread painted some white water around it. (I will do more of this but want to get the scene together before I finish the thread painting) I am now in the process of working on the trees and the mountain in the distance - (I will use some white thread to paint some snow on the peak. I am enjoying doing this small
piece and am seriously thinking of doing more of the small scenes on timtex. I will follow up with more pictures as I go along. Shirley

Thread painted moose

This is the first animal I have done on my new machine and it is so much easier. It took about half the time. I am going to use the moose for the wall hanging I am giving to
Wellspring for their new Wellspring house and I think it will be okay. I kept the one that is on the header here as both Pat (dh) and I liked it and decided to keep it on my wall. I have had a southwestern theme there and we have decided to change it so that some of my
Rocky mountain wall hangings are put up instead.

It is a lovely day here We saw the hawk at her nest today so spring is awakening.

Our robins are busy pulling out worms and building their nests. It is a sunny day and all is well with the world.

I hope you like my moose! Shirley