Painting Fun and Flowers

I was having difficulties uploading photos in my last blog post, so a second post this week. Paint has been dripping in the studio.  ;-o  But that's a good thing. And fun. Starting with a sky and some water:

adding in the trees and some rocks

The rocks around the island disappear in the morning mist, and everything looks a little magical.

ink and watercolour

a revisited painting
I added more rocks and sand, and dropped some rain

This was an old painting with just the leaves. I added some darks in the upper right corner

and some along the bottom.
Is it finished?

Hmmm, I don't know yet.

maybe it looks better this way?

no sketch, but a few pen lines

the road is out of perspective with regards to the figure and the dog

The perspective is better, but still not correct. I lost the freshness of the greens, I think. I wonder  if I can bring it back?
maybe...........

My mother-in-law's tongue has flowered again. It must like the south window shaded by the large maple tree.

In the gardens, the rose of sharon are blooming. Since this is their first year, I was surprised that 3 of the 4 are in flower. So far they're all the same colour.

The petals look so soft and delicate.

 pretty purple blooms

The marigolds are planted around the tomato plants to help keep pests away. Because of the summer drought, the tomatoes grew poorly: the marigolds, however, have done very well.  hmmm
I hope you've had a fun and creative week.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

UFOs to FFO's and Another Fabric Card

Although there aren't too many flowers left blooming in the gardens, I did find these:

annabelle hydrangea

garlic chives

golden glow








I had two CQ projects that were UFO's. All the blocks were completed, but they hadn't been put together for the wall hangings I had planned. Well, one was almost together, but then I had to rip it all apart to fix a block which was slightly larger than the others.........and I hadn't noticed the size difference until then. Frustrated, I put it away in the closet, and it sat there waiting and waiting..........
They sat there, one for 3 years, and another for 2. (hangs head in shame)
So, when we finally had some rainy weather, I decided it was time to turn those UFO's into FFO's! (finally finished objects)
Here is my Christmas wall hanging all ready to put up on the wall for this Christmas:

Although I made 12 blocks, I decided to use just 9 of them for the wall hanging.

















Crystal and glass beads create icicle dangles

Sorry this is a little blurred. It's also a little pouffy, too, but this is the one I've put together twice. Will I let the pouffiness bother me? I'm not sure. I may tighten up the blocks a bit with some edge stitching and see if that solves the problem.  sigh
This is my Lace and Roses CQJP project. I do like it.

The newest fabric card is for my granddaughter, Jewel. She turns 5 next month, and she loves the colour blue.
On the right is the card front, with laces, a variety of fabrics and trims, and a blue lace butterfly I dyed.
On the left is the back of the card. It has a mesh pocket over a fun, flowery fabric.

This is the inside of the card. On the right is a layer of turquoise organza over some blue and white fabric. It's a pocket to hold some goodies I'll be sending Jewel.

Here are some of the goodies that will go into the pockets for Jewel, along with hair ribbon and some stickers.

a close-up of the organza flower with a tatted stem and leaves

A box full of new books are headed her way, too.

Some goodies arrived in my mailbox! The silk threads and gimp were a birthday gift from my DH. ;-)


That's all the stitching I have to show this week. Hope your week was a fun and creative one.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Halfway Through

It's the middle of August already, and we finally had some rain, so the temperatures have cooled, at least for a couple of days.
The gardens were wilting badly, but the rain has perked everything up. It's raining again today, which is good. ;-) 
These photos were taken before the rain:

hot colours for a hot, dry summer

yes, that's grass behind the sweet william........it's usually a deep green this time of the year

even though I've been watering regularly, the golden glow is still wilted

and the echinacea look very sad

 This lily was the only plant of 18 that survived the squirrel/chip-munk attacks, even though I used wire caging.  Once they popped through the ground, their heads were all eaten! grrrr    I'll have to have another ponder.........
 I took this photo after the first rain

a few days later there were more blooms

isn't it pretty?



















I finished PPP #4:

A crystal and silver butterfly has flown to a bullion seam treatment

the finished block

I'm leaving the top section plain, at least until it's joined to the next block.

PPP #5

the fabric card for my sister is underway

auditioning fabrics and trims

these are tags I made for another fabric card

one of the finished pieces for the wrapping cloth had beads added to the flower lace

all the pieces have their buttonhole edging

This is the lay-out for the wrapping cloth. See those openings here and there? I have 2 other finished pieces that I may cut up and fit into the bare spots.........
The size as shown measures 49 1/2" by 51 1/4". I think that's large enough.  Now to finish joining all the pieces together!
I hope your week has been a creative one!
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Summer Fun

There was a bit of painting going on:

Creating a background

yellows

adding some greens

more greens and some brown, red

dried, and a little dull, but a good background for what comes next. I hope....

playing with leaves on an old, ugly painting

practicing painted leaf imprints

a ghost print
Thinking about adding leaf prints to the background......






Some stitching was accomplished this week. I made more Purple Project pieces:

I began embellishing PPP #4

I tatted these Bud Fragments ( Mary Konior:  Tatting With Visual Patterns )

 a few photos from my gardens.......

I hope you had a wonderful and creative week.

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz