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Thursday 28 June 2018

Progress on My New Art Quilt

I have been steadily working on my newest art quilt pattern. It is such a time consuming part of the project but it's getting there.





This area is mostly trees and their reflections in the water so it has a huge concentration of small pieces in it.

Just to give you an idea of how small some of the pieces will be, I placed a safety pin in the photo.



Today I plotted everything but the canoe. The canoe will be the center of interest and just by it's size it will be the focal point so I want to be careful of the fabric colours I use on it. I want the viewer to be able to look past the canoe to the scenery around it and enjoy it as if they were sitting in the canoe. I hope I can pull it off.

In last week's blog I asked if you received the blog to email me a separate email to tell me so. I only heard from one person so I sent a message to Blogger that my followers were not receiving alerts when I posted. If you received an alert this week could you send me a separate email (aspeel0571@rogers.com) to tell me so?  If I can't rely on my posts getting out either I have to change my platform or stop blogging.

Thursday 21 June 2018

Flower Inspiration Continued

As Spring turns into Summer the garden produces wonderful smells and colours that just beg to be sketched or painted. I've been using my watercolours to capture the variety of flowers in my garden and I've been turning them into greeting cards. The original paintings are sent off  on the card but I have photographed them and now keep them in my photo file in case I want to use them in another project.











My blog doesn't seem to be getting to some people, so if you did receive this blog, could you send me a separate email (do not reply to the email that sent you the blog notice) letting me know you received it?  Then I may be able to figure out where the problem is. Thanks.

Thursday 14 June 2018

Inspired by Necessity

You can learn anything on YouTube! I am planning another trip north with 9 women and we've decided to investigate Philip Edward Island which sits in Georgian Bay near Killarney, Ontario. This trip is unique in two ways. First we will be using only kayaks and second, we will be camping on Crown land. This is government land and it is free to camp on. We love that there are no camping fees, however, this means that there are no designated and maintained campsites which also means there are no thunder boxes.

Since we are women, this is a concern. In order to alleviate that concern, I began a Google Search to find a solution to this problem. I found several different options; some were quite humorous and others simply would not work for us. All is not lost, however, since I found a YouTube video tutorial on how to make a hammock toilet. I thought, "Wow, that sounds comfortable!"

I proceeded to gather the materials I needed to construct such a thing. I first had to learn to make "Whoopie Slings". These are are cords that can lengthen and shorten and are what suspends the hammock between two trees. Having done this I set to constructing the hammock.


I used Ripstop Nylon which is waterproof and durable and made a narrow hem all the way around the 2 foot by 4 foot piece. 


Then I sewed a casing for the Whoopie Slings to go through to suspend the hammock.


Next, I found a pie plate to use as a template for the hole in the middle of the hammock making sure that it was a good size for our needs.



I marked the hole and cut it out then singed the edge of the opening with a lighter to prevent it from ripping.



I then sewed a strip of 1 inch nylon webbing over the edge of the hole for another layer of strength. The orange cord are the Whoopie Slings which I then fed through the casings on each side of the hammock.


And Voila! Our hammock toilet! Now I'm assuming a hole needs to be dug underneath it and we may want to set up a bit of a screen for privacy. If it works, we're set! If not, well, we may come home with some humorous tales of this trip!  But honestly, the guy doing the tutorial actually uses such a thing so it must work.


Thursday 7 June 2018

Inspired by the Past

A few weeks ago, I went to an Antique Market held in a Conservation Area near where we live. I was on the lookout for vintage fabric and embellishments for my art. I had to use some restraint to keep myself from buying antique furniture or garden ornaments. I truly enjoy wandering through old cast off stuff.

Below are the treasures I found.








These are embroidered vintage napkins. Often they are stained but that doesn't bother me because I'll use the embroidered bits on my fabric cards and perhaps some of the plain fabric that isn't stained.







The vendor selling these vintage quilt bits told me she received an old quilt that was ripped so she cut it into small sections to sell in her store and booth. They are comprised of small hexigons that were hand sewn together and then hand quilted. They are also a great scrap to use in my fabric cards.



This is a 3 inch hand crocheted doily that came in a set of 4. They were possibly coasters.



These are slugs that were used in amusement park machines. They say, "No Cash Value" and "Good for Amusement Only" on them. Great embellishments.



This special find is a tiny thimble that I bought for my thimble collection. I think it was meant for a child's finger. The top is dented slightly and has a hole in it where a needle went through the metal. It also has the word "FRIENDSHIP" stamped around the bottom edge.

Doing my part in recycling these wonderful vintage treasures.