It’s been a busy week! last night was the First Friday Art Walk and the reception for my Artist of the Month Exhibit at the Topeka Art Guild Gallery. As usual, I forgot my camera and will have to rely on the pictures of others at a later date. There was a very nice turnout, though, and even some sales! Great to see old friends I haven’t seen in a while. The small Iris sold (thanks, Jill!) and quite a few of the note cards.

On Thursday we discovered a small tumor on the Komondor which was thought to be malignant and was removed Thursday night. He is quite uncomfortable, but recovering now at home.

We have had over two inches of much needed rain in the past few days, along with cooler weather so I have been able to get outside and do some work in the gardens. it has been a brutal summer for the plants, especially the new ones and I have lost that gorgeous Hot Papaya Coneflower and probably the Black Lace Elderberry.

In amongst all of that I have been quilting on the Mt Goat quilt whenever I can fit it in. It will have a LOT of quilting on it and is coming along nicely. It is slated for an exhibit in Nov and Dec, so needs to be a priority.

I have been super busy the last few weeks producing four 12 x 12 pieces for my Artist of the Month show in September at The Topeka Art Guild Gallery. I wanted to do six, but I waited just too long! They are all finished except for the hand sewing on the back. Well, this one is all finished.

Inspired by the wren baby photo that I took earlier this summer, combined with one of the feeding parent.

During this time period I got word that the photo deadline for new pattern Market ads was Aug 27, so over the weekend I whipped out a larger version that will become a new picture piecing patten for fall. This will finish at about 24″square like the others in the series.

Yesterday I layered and basted it and got started on the quilting, there’s no time to waste!

The good news is, my entry to Celebrate Spring in Chicago, “Spring Burning” sold! That was an unexpected surprise. I hope the new owner enjoys it a whole lot!

The bad news is that my prize winning entry to Denver Int which closed May 2 is not home yet and I’m getting worried. Mon Grand Pere is a favorite and I don’t want to loose it!

All four of the Azaleas I planted this spring are blooming. Crossing my fingers and hoping they survive Kansas. We’ve been having cool, rainy weather which is perfect for them, but summer is coming! I finished the quilting yesterday on the Longhorn piece, blocked it, and now just have to square it up and bind it and it will be done.

It took all day, but the top is done and the paper is removed, ready to layer and quilt.

This is a scene that I saw driving to Arkansas last summer. My camera was not handy enough to grab a photo – really, it was only a second in time- so even if the camera had been already in my hand, the moment would have been past. So this is from a sketch from memory, and captures the scene as I remember it.

I had been searching for a speckled fabric for the Longhorn for awhile, even bought a piece of hand dyed  in Lancaster but the one I ended up using was already in my stash! A combination of 5 or 6 different fabrics make up the water.

At this point the piece measures 51 X 36″. I’m having a hard time coming up with a name and decided to read Prairyerth for inspiration – nothing yet!

I’ve made good progress on the new piece in spite of only having had maybe two days of uninterrupted work on it. I’m at an impasse though right now- not being happy with any of the choices at hand for background. Today with a fresh eye, I will revisit the stash and hope I will not have to shop elsewhere.

Saturday’s mail brought a thin envelope from AQS and the sinking feeling that my entry had been rejected – but NO! – my last entry was the fawn quilt and it is already gone for Paducah. The envelope contained my prize money check for Burlingame Fire at Lancaster. Now that’s a good kind of thin envelope!! (For those of you who are not entering shows – no one wants the thin envelop that only contains a rejection letter; the desired envelope is the one that contains all of the paperwork of acceptance, shipping instructions and a contestant’s ribbon usually. The FAT envelope!)

The top is finished!! I scrolled back to see when I started and it was Jan 25 that I posted the photograph I would be working with. It has been a long process but I am quite pleased with the way it turned out. You can click on the tag Mt Goats to go back to the beginning.  At this point it measures 39 x 45″.

Several hours were spent yesterday just removing the freezer paper from the back. I am eager to get started on the quilting which will change and enhance it, but realistically, I must put it aside for now as it’s deadline is not until August and I have more pressing things to deal with – like taxes!

Thanks all of you who have hung in there throughout the process and especially those of you who posted. It’s been fun!

I was really hoping to finish yesterday and it was an intense day trying! Lot’s of unsewing takes too much time. I changed out six rocks, altered sections to improve hind legs on the middle goat and added a leg to the front goat. In the photo his fourth leg does not show, but I decided it needed to. I also gave him a highlight on the chest which was blending away into a rock. The middle goat got a nose and a lighter shadow for his neck and some of the smaller units got sewn together.

I should be able to finish today!

I only got to work a couple of hours yesterday, but I got the eye enlarged and the sections of the upper half sewn together. Also a few of the units in the lower half.

Today I need to go to town so may not accomplish a whole lot! It’s time to get “Burlingame Fire” off to AQS for the Lancaster show.

Here it is the first of March already and this little snowdrop, that I think emerged in January is still looking good.

It is only the second year for the snowdrops that I planted and they have not yet multiplied as I had hoped but at least they are hanging in there.

The ice is melting on the fish pond. Here is a glimpse of a big Koi, two of the goldfish and a Golden Orfe.

As I worked yesterday it became apparent that the upper rock ledge was actually distracting,

drawing attention away from the babies, so I lopped off three and a half inches. Good! Now there is even less to work on! I thought the right upper brush border was too dark but I liked the idea of it so I re cut another from a lighter section of fabric and sewed it in.

By the end of the day, I had completed the units and sewn together the sections of the upper portion as well as the lower ledge.

This required some un sewing which is time consuming but necessary. Since I had to take apart the rock area below the back kid’s face I took the opportunity to add a smidgen of white to define his chin. Unfortunately while I was in there I forgot that I also wanted to enlarge his eye. I pinned up a bit of fabric to his eye and I really do think it is worth doing. I could go in with a Pigma pen and make it a little bigger but then there would be a seam line right across his eye. Not good. I will most likely take it apart again and fix it.

For the lower right border that was questionable – dark foliage, fern?- I ended up with neither, using instead some of the flower fabric that is in the hillside, with a bit more on the right edge of the rock ledge.

I sketched noses on vellum and pinned those in place on the two closest goats for an idea of how they might look.

At this point the piece measures about 40 x 46″. Quilting will take it up probably a couple of inches. I had intended for it to finish at least 40″ so I’m not sure what happened. I think I had planned to cut the edge pieces bigger and forgot!

Tomorrow I will start to address all the little bits I have pinned up and do my tweaks. It is nearly done! But I know from experience it will take longer than I think.

I replaced the “borrowed” piece back to the lowers section and cut some pieces of the new fabric for the upper portion. Completing the section at the upper left required subdividing some of the units in order to use those small bits of fabric that I have to left work with.

I cut the two right border strips, making the fern one shorter and recutting the ledge rock to extend out to the edge. I pinned a bit of the fern fabric over some light rock fabric behind the front goats back leg that has been bothering me. That whole section of ledge should probably be darker.

Now that I am not distracted by the recorded Olympics Figure Skating, I feel like I made pretty good progress yesterday!