Craft Show

People have been asking how the craft show went. I made expenses and then some but I certainly didn't get rich! I'm pretty happy though because it was fun. I met a lot of people I hadn't seen in ages and got to chat with lots of new people.
Today we are off to Winnipeg to see another art show so that should be fun.
Some of you might be interested in visiting this site of a friend who has become an author.
Sally Gilchrest-Unrau

Craft Table

I got set up for the craft show tomorrow. I will probably arrange the bags a bit better before it opens tomorrow. I'm pretty sure people will be pawing through them anyway so I'm not too stressed about it. I hadn't originally planned on showing quilts but I had quite a few scrap ones so I thought I'd hang them up and see what happens.

Baking Day

This is the bread just mixed in my new bread pan, ready to rise. I love the bread pan because all the flour is contained, making clean up much easier.


Here it is after rising for an hour, about to be shaped into loaves and baked.


And, fresh out of the oven. Too bad I can't post an aroma!


I made this Sichuan stir fry and peanut sauce to go with the bread shown below. I forgot to take the picture until we had finished eating. Hence the crumbs and messy bowl.


This is Sichuan Pepper Bread made with a recipe from my Flatbreads book. I made the same one on Sunday but this one turned out better. I knew the right temperature for the frying pan this time.

Treasures

I got this excellent cookbook in the mail a couple of days ago. Every recipe has a story to go with it about where the authors found it and learned how to make it. There are breads from all over the world. I have tried Sichuan Pepper bread with peanut sauce and it was excellent. My son, who lived on this kind of bread when he first went to China, said it tasted quite authentic.


In the same vein, I have wanted one of these bread pans for ages ever since I started baking my own bread. They are as rare as hen's teeth. Today I found two of them in the thrift shop in Winkler. I bought one but the other was still sitting there when I left if there is anyone out there who wants one. I'll be trying it out tomorrow.

The Daily Cuff

I can't seem to stop. The burgundy ones are made from a scrap of fabric that has a sort of pleated effect that really looks nice on a cuff.
Yesterday I had the family over for a Halloween/Thanksgiving feast, since we were away on Thanksgiving. We ate until we were stuffed. Some of the girls and I spent time in the studio making cuffs. They are a fun project to do with kids because they are quickly finished. Perfect for a short visit.

Shopping

Yesterday we went to Winnipeg and this is the most exciting thing I bought. It doesn't look like much now but once I have dyed it I hope it will be a bit more interesting.


You can't buy only white fabric though so I also got these fat quarters which were on sale for $1 each. The purple and green fabric has silver highlights that look white in the picture. I am getting quite a collection of dotted fabrics. Maybe it's time to start a dotty project

Cuff Obsession

Every time I go to the studio I tell myself that I have enough cuffs and to move on. Then I see a bit of fabric or decoration that gives me an idea that I just have to try. Hence, another batch of cuffs. Some of these are Christmas themed. Some evolved from a bit of fabric and trim that seemed to want to get together. Where will it end?

Thrift Day

Today was thrift shop day again. I found a couple of nice bright sparkly scarves that will be cut up for cuffs eventually. They are much brighter than they look in the picture. The one on the far lift is sheer and very sparkly. The feathery piece will also look very nice on a winter themed one. Maybe I have enough rick rack already. What do you think?

My Special Cuff

Here is the cuff Katerina made for me yesterday. From the front


and from the back. It is very special.

Creativity

We had a very creative day today. While some were doing a Raku firing Katerina, who is originally from Ethiopia, made cuffs with me in my studio. As you can see from the mess above, we were very creative. She made a special one for me that is more of a talisman than jewelery.


Here is Katerina working on my cuff, and wearing the one she picked of mine.


Later we all enjoyed Ethiopian food as well as fish chowder, Italian soup and home made focaccia bread. Is there anything better than pot luck? I don't think so.
Just before leaving, Katerina gave us an iridology reading and then a wonderful reflexology foot massage. I felt very spoiled indeed!

Stack a Deck

I pulled this quilt from my UFO pile today and worked a bit on it. I have the white inserts in half the blocks. I put it aside when I realized that I didn't have enough blocks cut. It didn't take long to make the extra blocks once I got at it. I have already made this pattern from Karla Alexander's Stack a New Deck. It is one of my favorite quilts to snuggle under while reading or watching TV.

Sunrise

This is the view out our kitchen window at sunrise. It's an inspiring way to start the day.
Yesterday I booked a table at our local craft show in Morden on November 7th, so the next few days will be spent getting ready for that. Hopefully, I'll reduce my stash of bags and cuffs.

Thrifty Books

I picked up these books at the thrift store today. I cut the title off the one on the lower left. It's called The Map of Your Mind. It's supposed to be about creativity. We'll see. The Yoga one on the right is an excellent one that many of my Yoga instructors use and recommend. The other Yoga one also looks good. I don't really need any more Yoga books to add to the ones I have and the many tapes I use but if they inspire me to keep at it for $2 each I can't go wrong. There were a lot of other books about back care, Yoga and Pilates but I decided to leave a few for others.
I also went to Canadian Tire and bought a cabinet for small parts for use in the shop. I thought it would be a good place to sort and store beads. We'll see if that gets done...

Image Transfer

I tried a technique from my new image transfer book, using clear packing tape. It was moderately successful. The downside is that the surface is the shiny side of the tape so it's quite glossy. The large white patch on the upper right is reflection from the tape, not white paper showing through. Apparently you can scuff it with sandpaper and then paint on it. It might be useful for cuffs but I'm not sure I'd use in on a wall hanging. I used an illustration from an old quilting magazine. I'm going to try one with a print out from one of my photos next.


Kitty Corner is all quilted and just needs the binding and hanging sleeve and label. I forgot to quilt in my label this time. I was able to use several of the fills from the 365 blog that I mentioned in my last post.

Quilting the Cats

I think a lot of you follow the blog 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs.
I thought that this quilt would be perfect to try out some of her ideas. You can't really see the one on the brown border outside the rick rack but it is from Day 30 and is called Trailing Tears. It's very nice for a narrow border but it was difficult to see what I was doing on the dark color. That's why I didn't use it on the brown area inside the rick rack.


This one is called Hardwood Floor but it looked fine as a house wall. Maybe I should have made it go crossways. I'll try that on the next house.


The walls of this house are done with Tree Bark and the roof is Checkerboard from Day 19. The sky is done with a cloud pattern that I have used often on my skies.
I can see that I need to do a lot of work on accuracy. I also have a bit of a problem seeing where I am going with the FM foot that came with my machine. I may have to look for a more open one or try to alter this one.

Treasures in the Mail

These four books arrived in the mail yesterday. I'm going to be busy. I am especially interested in the two books about dyeing. It will be interesting to see which one is more informative. Hopefully, they aren't too similar. I have only had time to delve briefly into the image transfer one. That is a totally new field for me. Maybe today I'll finally have time to get back into the studio.

Where Was I?

We had to go to Carmel-by-the-Sea, California on business. I didn't mention it online because we didn't want the world to know that our house was sitting empty for over a week. This is what it looked like on the beach there.


This is what we came back to. I can't say I dislike the snow. It is beautiful. It was nice to have a bit of warm weather while we were in the south though. The day after we left they had a big wind and rain storm in California so our timing was just right.
Here are a few photos of the highlights of our trip. Unfortunately I loaded them in reverse but you will get the idea.


Grand Canyon, West Rim, where we walked out on the skywalk over about a mile and a half of space. It was not my favorite thing to do but I'm glad I managed it. We saw the sunset over the canyon, one of the most beautiful parts of our trip.


We stopped in Santa Fe and saw this man playing his harp. He was quite amazing. Santa Fe is one of my favorite places to browse and shop.


This is in the badlands of South Dakota. We took a short hike in this area. It's not as huge as Grand Canyon but impressive all the same.


This is the view from the walk we took in the Badlands. You could see for miles.


Here I am in the South Dakota Badlands on the second day of our trip. After this we went to Mount Rushmore. It was impressive but there have been so many pictures of it that I didn't bother to post one. After Mount Rushmore we went to the huge statue of Crazy Horse that is not even half finished. It will be years before it's done.
We ran into snow on the way home and although it was not pleasant driving, it looks incredibly beautiful this morning.

Kitty Corner

Here is Kitty Corner all sewn together. I bought the rainbow rickrack awhile ago and thought it just suited this piece. When I was done there was less than a quarter of an inch left over. That was a close call! The picture is a bit faded because I had to use the flash. It's overcast and raining a bit here right now.
This one was so much fun that I think I'll start another one.

Three Options

Here it is with the words at the bottom.



One word at the top and the other at the bottom.


Words in the middle. I might have to make three more houses if I use this option. Right now I am leaning toward the first one with the words at the bottom. Of course, there are hundreds of other arrangements that would look fine.
Any opinions out there?

Kitty Corner

Some of the houses have trees now. I am writing Kitty Corner. There was a suggestion of Kittywumpus but I chose Kitty Corner because of the M and W in the other title. It's sad I know, but I don't like making those letters. They probably won't be assembled like this. I'm not sure if I should put a sashing fence or just join them together.