Gourds #4, SAQA Trunk Show

There was recently a call out for the SAQA Trunk Show, and I wanted to make a 3D piece for it.  The SAQA Trunk Show is a collection of small art quilts (divided into trunks) that anyone can check out for a nominal fee and then share with whatever group they're interested in.  Common examples include quilt guilds, local SAQA pods, etc. but this year we're hoping to have a broader audience for the trunk show.

Since the pieces have to be small, many of my 3D approaches wouldn't really work.  However, a few years ago I made several small 3D "gourds" loosely inspired by mariner's compass and other star blocks.  Here are the original three; they're too big for the Trunk Show, but I thought it might be an approach that could be shrunk down.

I started with some leftover bits of painted fabric, made a quilt sandwich and then marked my star lines.  After quilting, I cut out the star and started sculpting!

Here is after just putting in some stitches to help hold the main parts of the form.

To help it hold its shape and not collapse, I coated it with fabric stiffener and used pencils to create little curls.  Here's the final piece, it's about 9x10x4 inches.

Now I just have to pack it up and get it sent to SAQA!  If you're interested in getting a trunk to present to your local group, you can find more info here: https://www.saqa.com/resources/saqa-trunk-show

 

I Like #232

 Welcome to another week of things to like!

This week we were excited to wish my younger cousin bon voyage as she starts a new chapter in her life; she's an aquarist who used to work at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago but is moving to Abu Dhabi to help them design and build a huge new aquarium there.  What a super cool adventure!  She's the littlest girl in the front of this picture from Easter c. 1992 (that's my sister and me in the back).  Good luck Sage!!

I have a pot of begonias that is still blooming; I think I'll try to bring it in and overwinter it.  We'll see if I can find space in the house by a window!

Bentley and Blue got into a small tussle this week over some food molecules in the bottom of a bowl (you can see a small injury just to the side of Bentley's eye), but a couple hours later they were snuggled right up together on the dog beds.  Craziness.

And here, Spooky had been barking non-stop straight at Bentley for several minutes.  I don't know if he wanted Bentley to play or wanted Bentley to get off the pouf, or wanted the little dog bone on the pouf (about which Bentley cares not at all).  Regardless, I love Bentley's serene face; he just completely ignored Spooky.

I went to our annual Diocesan church convention this weekend.  Some parts were inspiring and some more boring business meeting, but I got a lot of knitting done, including finishing the sleeves on my sweater.  I'm now on the border.  It's very long (all the way around the edge/bottom/hood) but it does mean I'm almost nearing the end!  Of course then I'll have to weave in the 800 ends, but that's just life!

I hope everyone had a good week!!!  Click over to LeeAnna's for more things to like!

I like #231

 Welcome to another week of things to like!  The weather here has been perfect this week, 70s in the day and 50s at night. I love that it's cooling off but not cold.  I've been enjoying getting out and wearing my hand knits (although my office is sweltering which is too bad). 

We went to the OKC philharmonic this weekend and the show theme was humor.  It was really a fantastic and delightful performance all around, with pieces centered around the Carnival of the Animals.  So much fun.

Another good piece of news this week!  We have tracked down several of our older homebound parishioners who disappeared from their last known addresses this week.  We had been very worried about them, and it was great to find where they were (most had moved into nursing homes or assisted livings but weren't well enough to notify the church).  So wonderful to find them!!

Our lab went out to lunch at my favorite pizza place this week to celebrate the grant we got last month (we'd had to reschedule the lunch several times) so it was great to finally get to go all together!

My one big pink zinnia bush (it's adopted bush-like proportions) is really still going gangbusters in the garden.  It's complemented by a giant marigold bush-  I feel like these two wonderful colorful mainstays are giving the finger to all those wretched bugs that killed off everything else in the garden!

I really loved seeing this furry magnolia tree thing as I was walking to my car the other day at work!  I walk past it often, and have frequently seen these structures with blossoms, but I don't recall ever noticing this furry version.  So cool!

I am going to be installing new flooring in my house right after Thanksgiving (talk about chaotic) but I picked out the tile this week after much deliberation, and I'm very happy about that!  I hope the project goes smoothly, more on that later I'm sure!

I loved this Gollum meme a knitting friend posted on instagram this week.  I really truly hate weaving in ends, and my current project has billions.  Of course I'm still knitting on it, (it's never ending) but someday I will have to weave in the ends.

Blue and Spooky wanted to run away with the glue covered chopstick in my hand.  They are a hoot.  And they were leaving Bentley alone which was good.

I hope everyone is having a good week!  Click over to LeeAnna's for more things to like!

I like #230

 Welcome to another week of things to like!

This weekend I got to go down to Becky's to see her and the kids and Andrew, and we had a blast.  We mostly just hung out and played games, but we also went on a nice hike.  The dogs had tons of fun rumpusing all together and the weather was a little warm but still nice and pleasant.

I got to play with the Guinea Pigs!  They're adorable!

Five dogs all at once!  They get along really well.

Beautiful morning hike around Lake Grapevine.  

These three were mid-rumpus.

I love gingerbread men, and gingersnaps are the quick and easy version!  For some reason I have four different gingersnap recipes, I'm not sure why.

Against all odds, the one big pink zinnia in my garden is still going strong!

And a big yawn from Spooky napping on my lap.

I love the work of new-to-me fiber artist Janis Ledwell Hunt (via).  She makes amazing crocheted, knitted, and otherwise sculpted art  featuring lots of different topics, including organs.  I loved these lungs.

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I hope everyone is having a good week!  Click over to LeeAnna's for more things to like! 

I Like #229

Welcome to another week of things to like!  

I've been enjoying the newest season of the Great British Baking Show on Netflix.  There are some fun bakers this year, and it's fun that the episodes come out once a week (otherwise I would binge them all at once!).

I also loved these cool giant metal origami animal sculptures I found out about this week- I've always loved origami and these are so fun and colorful.

I did some work on a big art quilt sculpture this weekend, I need to get some in-process pictures of it which I have thus far failed to do.  I've also been enjoying my knitting, I started a new pair of socks and I'm still working on my never ending sweater.

I didn't manage to get pictures of anything but the dogs this week, but dog pictures are always good right?

Bentley really wanted to be in the picture when I was taking quilt photos.

Spooky!!

Spook did not like being ignored while I was working on stitching all my spikes in place.  

My friend Brett brought Spooky a new "heavy chewers" bone, and he loves it.  It's great because it's really tough so neither of the other dogs have any interest in it.

I hope you are all having a good week!  Click over to Lee Anna's for more things to like!

I Like #228

 Welcome to another week of things to like!  I missed last week; we had an all day research workshop on Thursday so I never got my post written, so I'm glad to be back this week.

The best thing is that I got a new HVAC system last week.  It's not terribly exciting (and was very expensive) but is definitely nice.  We've had a few nice days of weather lately, but many days still in the mid-90s, and my AC had been limping along really ineffectively for a long time before finally giving up the ghost.  It was almost exactly 30 years old, so that seems like a good run.

The dogs are super sweet as always, Spooky always getting into something, Bentley trying not to be trampled, and Blue joining in wherever he can.  

I was very entertained by Bentley's ear here. 

I spent all day after church on Sunday preserving the rest of the crabapples.  I made and canned 26 half pint jars of jelly, 12 pints of jelly, 12 pints of crabapple syrup (delicious on pancakes and maybe cocktails), and 8 pints of crabapple butter.  It took several trips to walmart for jars and seals (in spite of bringing back lots of jars from my mom's) and resulted in a very sticky floor, but I'm so happy to be finished.  Combined with the batch I made this summer,  the total was 18 pints of crabapple butter, 49 pints of jelly, plus the 12 pints of syrup and two large batches of crabapple fruit leather.  Considering about 1/3 of the fruit was given to my sister and friend (who are busily making their own batches of jelly), that seems like a fairly good turnout for one crabapple tree!  Especially since my canning pot is pretty small, so I can only processs a few jars at once....

 

Of course now I have to find lost of things to make with crabapple jelly and butter.

I have one dahlia left alive, the plant looks horrible, but it survived the great bug-rain-heat apocalypse and has made a few lonely but beautiful blossoms in the last week.  Excitingly, a random marigold has sprouted up and flourished underneath it, also just in the last few weeks.  This was a whole bed originally planted with dahlias (only one of which came up) and then completely covered in pumpkins, and then those all died, and now I have this beautiful flower.

We took Spooky and Cash back out to hike around the lake the other day, Cash swam and had lots of fun and Spooky was even brave enough to wade in up to his elbows once!

I hope everyone is having a good week and that summer temperatures are breaking where you live.

Click over to LeeAnna's for more things to like!

I Like #227

Welcome to another week of things to like.  Some good news in my world this week, a big research grant I'd been waiting months to hear on finally came through at work, so we're very pleased.

Wonderful new-to-me art this week, Italian artist Peeta makes paints buildings to look like amazing 3D sculptures.  (via)

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I finished knitting a new pair of ankle socks this week.  I screwed up the Kichener stitch, so there's a weird look at the toe, but otherwise they came out good!  I decided to try making a ruffled edge and it I love it.  It was annoying to bind off because to make the ruffle you wind up with 4x as many stitches as you started with which is a lot to bind off, but that's ok.  Here's hoping I can keep them away from Spooky!

Someone put this up at work this week and it made me giggle.  I love puns anyway, and gnomes, and genomes, so :)

Poor Bentley got himself really stuck inside this plant stand this weekend,  he was so freaked out and stressed and stuck.  I'm so grateful I was home and I have now put that plant stand somewhere else where he can't get to it.  I did help him calm down before taking the picture, but it was stressful because of course spooky and blue thought it was a great game.

Spooky hoping he won't have to go to bed in his crate (hot take: he did have to go to bed in his crate).

Blue is such a love~  My legless seal dog.

I hope folks are having a good week!  Click over to LeeAnna's for more things to like!

 

I Like #226

 This was a good week; Alex came up to spend the three-day weekend with me and we had lots of fun, going to the zoo and the swimming pool, eating ice cream, and playing with the dogs.  He's such a hoot!

Becky adopted two retired research guinea pigs from the university and I took them to her this weekend.  They poop a lot but are super adorable little potatoes.   They are now named Fudge and Coconut.

Alex drew a great picture for me to give to the vet at work thanking her for letting us adopt them.  <3

The zoo had a fun exhibit of dinosaurs (both animatronic and skeletons) installed in the butterfly garden which was a fun thing to walk through.

All the dogs are doing great, Spooky has been eating the apple tree constantly.  Alex loves playing with him, so we had lots of fun with that too.

That is not a stick.  That is a broken branch he retrieved from the apple tree.  Sigh.

Alex asked if he could use the sewing machine, so I helped him make this little banner.  He stitched it all, front and back together and then stitched down the letters and did the top stitching.  The sewist in me was so excited, but the science nerd wasn't sure about the message.  He was super cute though, when finished he only wanted me to take a picture of the back because he wanted to surprise his mom with it at school on Tuesday.  

I hope everyone is having a good week!  Click over to LeeAnna's for more things to like!