Charming Houses Quilt

Here is a quilt that I made for my Sister-n-Law for her birthday. It is Made from 5 inch charms, with pieced houses thrown in. You can see these in my December 13th entry 'Design Wall.'



Traditionally, a charm quilt is made of no-two-alike pieces of fabric. Some of the houses have the same kind of fabric in them, but no two houses are alike.




The back is made from fabric I dyed myself. It is two pieces of fabric sewn together, but I dyed it AFTER I sewed them together, so there is no interruption in the pattern. My December 7th entry 'Quilt Back' shows it bigger.

I can't see the quilting pattern in this picture on my monitor. Maybe you can. It is a Baptist Fan modified with spirals. I used blue thread for the back, which was better than I thought, and varigated rayon for the front.

I like it, so it was hard to put it in a box and mail it far away. At least it's going to someone special. Happy Birthday, Diane!

Mud

It has rained a lot. We have clay that makes nasty mud. Janow makes it worse, he has to charge the fence to keep the neighbors away from his feed, even if it is inside, even if the neighbors aren't even looking at it. Then he has to kick out and squeal at them.

The pony mare next door could care less. I think that makes him worse, trying to get a reaction. She won't flinch. He turns 17 next month, that is the personality he has, he won't mellow with age, period.

Of course, all the hysteria churns up the mud even more! And the clay mud is sucky, sucks the shoes right off! since he has egg bars in front, they come off easily. Grr!

Nigerian Collage

Look what I got for Christmas, all the way from Nigeria! This is about 5 1/2 feet tall. Textiles and 'found objects.' You have to see it up close.

The Landlord

This is a batik that I showed here as a WIP or Work In Progress a while back. The picture where the bird looks white is the same one that I showed then. The picture that looks all dried and crusty is the same piece of fabric, ready for wax removal. This is the most exciting part for me, where I get to see how the details and contrasts really look. It's hard to see that with all the wax on there. I just have to imagine a lot as I work. And then wow! how much it pops without the wax.
I put it on a piece of ticking, raw edge big stitch primitive style for featuring on Folk-Of-Art in January.




My page on Folk-Of-Art
http://folk-of-art.com/members/cara.html

The Folk-Of-Art home
http://folk-of-art.com/

Scissors, 20% Off

Here is another quilt for the **Quilter's Garden** Guild. It's called 'Scissors, 20% Off.' Were the scissors inacurate by 20%? Were the scissors on sale 20% off the regular price? Were they on sale because they were inacurate?

The Great Boom

This is for the very freindly members of Ebay **Quilters Garden** Guild who invited me to join thier group.
My Husband and my son, then age 6 or 7, were watching a NOVA show on TV. The show was about the origins of the universe. My husband said to my son "Now you'll know more about the Great Bang than the rest of your class!"
This was wrong. it's not the Great Bang, it's the Big Bang. Of course, anybody who knows me knows I just can't correct him, or leave it be. I never pass up a chance to be a wise acre. So I said "Don't you mean Great Boom?" This is even wronger! (Not a real word, but it fits.) Then I left him to ponder the problem.
It was the perfect name for this quilt.
I remember that the top was not exactly flat. In some places, it was not even remotely flat! So I ironed it until the bump was sticking up like a fin, and then I stitched along the base of the fin and used scissors to remove the flap that stuck up. Boom, it's flat!

cat nap

This is a batik I made of a cat, in case you can't tell it's a cat. This is a cat in the afternoon. He just woke up. He can start in on his nocturnal activities after a little dinner and a quick trip to the litter box. Quick, put away your sewing! You know how he gets with thread!
This cat is on ebay. The batik can easliy be removed from the ticking for framing or to make a pillow or embellish the back of a jacket.

My red house didnt sell at all, I may relist it.
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZdoublecatbatik

Homestead

I just listed this on ebay last night. I added a back and hanger to the batik, so it was ready to hang. It's stitched onto the burlap in big stitches that are easy to take out if they want to change the presentation. The batik piece itself is 14"x14". The hanging is bigger, about 17". The burlap looks rustic, but has a good drape for hanging. I got some ticking to try for backing batiks. It looks like it will be good too.
You can find it by searching the seller Doublecatbatik by searching FOAF for Folk-of-Art Friends, that will get some great folk art and prinitive folk art form other sellers too. Or you can click on the link below. There is also a link to ebay auctions on this blog, look on the right side of your monitor.
I think there may be a problem with the link in my other auction, I have to go see, and fix it if I can.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Red-Homestead-Batik-wall-art-Original-FOAF_W0QQitemZ7373642433QQcategoryZ357QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Quilt Back

This is for the backing of a quilt. It is two pieces of 44 inch wide fabric sewn together. I put it together before I dyed it. I had never dyed a piece this big before. This method has a lot of learn-by-doing. It didn't come out the way I expceted, but I like it a lot. Part of the learn-by-doing is like batik dying. Even it its not like you expected, it's a good surprise. You learn not to have exacting expectations.

Vest

This is the vest I made for my sister for her birthday. It is crazy quilted with a variety of muslins, onto a muslin back. The embellishment is all by hand in off white cotton floss, pearl cotton and wool yarn. The lining is synthetic. I intended it to be fancy but subtle.













I have some unembellished crazy quilted squares of mixed muslins on ebay right now, if you want to try your hand at this kind of embroidery.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8240078335&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

woo hoo!

Shopping Cart is added! (I hope)www.//DoubleCatBatik.com
Also see my new items on Folk-of-Art. http://folk-of-art.com/members/cara.html
and Folk-of-Art memebers have lots on ebay, the link is on the right.

woo hoo!

Shopping Cart is added! (I hope)www.//DoubleCatBatik.com

Dirty Story

My friend Linda took these pictures.


"It seemed like a good idea, at the time."

Clarrasattic

Lisa,
http://www.gomilpitas.com/
Scroll down, in the left colum is a picture of a girl reading a book, click on A to Z Home's Cool.
Ann also gave me great advice on web hosting and getting my website together. She told me I Could learn HTML, and she was right!

Our Neighbors

Our neighbors brought a bag of treats on Thanksgiving. They are very nice people. They are from China. Their son owns the house. It was a rental until he flew them here. They don't speak English, but they try. We exchange treats and smiles. I gave them watermelon last summer. They don't drive, but walk to the market every day. There is a reason you don't see 70 year old people walking down the sidewalk carrying watermelons.


The bag they brought on Thanksgiving had a huge chocolate bar in it. When you are 9, just possessing a bar this size is a big deal. Eating a bar this size is something else entirely. If more 9 year olds ate bars this size, you would see them doing things like carrying watermelons down the sidewalk. On this occasion, there was a camera involved.


First, he took a picture of himself.















Then he took a picture of me....
















......and a machine gun he played with for hours.















Homer and Bart from Golfland Arcade.















Here is some tile in the bathroom.














This is the heat vent in his room. Too bad watermelon is not in season.

beaniwoody84

Try this place for a coat. You'll have to select your language and currency once you get there.
http://divoza.com/shop/a.visit

WIP

Another Work In Progress.
It's not a turkey.

I have begun discussions with another small enterprise. There may be a merger. The joint projects will be equestrian oriented.

Also, there is an opportunity to purchase an industrial sewing machine. I can't do it unless I sell a major quilt.

I have begun to attach PayPal shopping cart to DoubleCatBatik.com. It seems complicated right now, but I need to do it.

The more I work on html, the faster it goes, but the improvement seems to happen slowly. I just have to perservere. It would be to easy to let operational expenses exceed income, very easy. It is a slow process. It is a lifelong conditioning that tells me I must hit the ground running, that there is no middle ground between immediate total success and abject failure.

Thanksgiving Turkey

They were here today.

currently in progress

This is what I am working on now.

Hope the weather holds up!

I had another one, but the blog site doesn't want to upload another today. Whatever.

Design Wall

This is what's on my design wall right now. These are all five inches square.

Wacky Friday

Here is a preveiw of the item I am putting on eBay for Folk-of-Art's Wacky Friday. It's called "Waiting, on Christmas" and it's 17"x15"

To see more Wacky Friday items for other Folk-of-Art Friends, search FOAF on eBay. But wait 'til the end of Friday, as least.

I put a Wacky Friday link on my blog. It's over there, on the right.

Dad's List

As you may know, Joseph keeps a food list. It can have only three things he will not eat. If I serve something on the list, he gets to eat something else for dinner. If it's not on the list and I serve it, he can eat it or not, but he doesn't get anything else. Any changes to the list go into effect the next day.
He came into the kitchen to check on the acceptability of the food I was cooking.
Suspicious.
So, he asked "Does it have tomatoes in it?"
"Not yet. Are tomatoes on your list?"
"No."
"There, now it has tomatoes."

But he didn't know what thing to take off to put tomatoes on. He solved that one by making a list for Dave.

Dave saw his list a couple days later. "Is this his way of extending his list?"
"Yup!"

You'll notice, this list has a couple of Dave's favorite foods!

Unwilling Model

Janow was an unwilling model for this quarter sheet. He thought he was done and was going to get his beet pulp. Then he had to model this, and it was way too big! He doesnt like to be reminded that he is 14.2 hands tall. But....I needed the picture to put on my web site and he was available. www.doublecatbatik.com

Jennifer helped hold him for one of the pictures. It was easy unitl he determined that she had nothing to eat.

It's a nice quarter sheet, cotton fabric quilted onto fleece with a keyhole cutout. But, Janow is not in hard training and gets to be ridden mid morning instead of evening, so he gets to keep some hair and doesn't need blankets. It's good, because I made this to sell. He's grown so much hair he reminds of cave paintings or Przwalski's horse. (I didn't look up that word or run it through spell check, and I know how to pronounce it!)

I have spent 9 hours on my website so far this weekend. My brain is fried. But it's new and improved. I added button for Folk-of-Art and FOA auctions, and my blog, and my eBay About Me page. I still have to update two more pages.

Yesterday, Karen was walking Cassy and I was walking Janow. Janow gave Cassy dirty looks. He is the Master of Dirty Looks! Karen called him my Noble Steed Grump and told him he should be nice to Cassy because she(Karen) was bigger than his mother(me). I told her she was only bigger until she breathed out, meaning that she was full of hot air. She didn't get it(I don't think).

Today I am taking Joseph to see Chicken Little. Even if it's not great, the company is great.

Survival, Field Trip

I survived the week. Had an an appointment on Wednesday that I had forgotten about, but my Monday appointment made my Friday appointment unnecessary, so I keep the vet one and canceled that one. Friday, Joe and I ended up walking to the vet to pick up fluids for the cat. Dave was going to do it, but decided at he last minute that he couldn't make it(surprise) so Joe and I went. But, backing out of the driveway, the Contour brakes sounded so bad I decided not to drive it, so we walked. Well, I walked, but Joe rode his scooter. It was a nice outing for him, and I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been so tired.

The field trip Thursday was fun. We went to La Petit Trianon in San Jose. It's a hall set up for chamber music. We saw five musicians playing brass, with one percussionist. They played each instrument separately so we could hear the sound, and then played pieces ranging from Bach to Swing.
Whe we were getting ready to go from the parking garage to the theater, the kids were playing and I notice Jeremy appeared to be eating dental floss. I asked him what he was doing and he said floss was good. Are you eating it? No, he wasn't, he said, but Jospeh swallowed his. Not knowing the extent of my authority, I told the teacher what was going on and she confiscated two packs of floss.

Yesterday, Joe's Cub Scout Den went to the Haunted Miaze at Ardenwood Farms. It's a huge maze in a corn field. We did it in the dark. There were employees dressed in scary costumes who would surprise you as you walked through. http://www.hauntedbay.com/reviews/ardenwoodmaize2004.shtml

Neither of my auctions on eBay got any bids this time. I relisted the window stars. I'll relist the stuffed stars tonight.

What a Week!

I really do try to keep things manageable, but sometimes it's impossible. Today I see a new Dr. in Walnut Creek, about 1 hr away. I can't pick up my son after school or take him to our regular McDonald's Monday that we have done for 5 years now. It's a tradition. My Appointment is at 2:00. If I need tests, I hope I can do it today while I am there.
We had to move out of our tack boxes and into the new smaller ones this weekend. We have until Friday, but Dave can only help on weekends and he wants to salvage the old one, since I own it. Everything is a mess. I have to organize.
Tuesday the horseshoer comes. Janow needs shoes badly because I could not even squeeze in a phone call to the shoer who is not the regular one. The regular one is layed up with a broken arm. He could have shod Janow on Saturday, but the vet was comming and I had to rush from Joseph's Faith Formation class to the barn to meet the vet! So Janow is being shod on Tuesday. The vet wanted to float Janow's teeth but didn't have time, how about Monday? Nope, Dr. When will I be done with that? Well, without my book, I can't even remember what time I'm supposed to be there. Tuesday? Horseshoer. Hope isn't not the orthodontist too. I'll have to cancel if it is. Wednesday, Dr Chakravorty. Thursday I am driveing Joseph's class on a field trip. Friday? OK, vet on Friday. But I have another appointment then. I am trying to call and find out if I can move it. The right person is not there. They can't call back and leave a message other than "call me back." Cell phone doesnt work at the barn and I can't have it on in a med facility where I will be this afternoon. I don't like to talk on the phone and drive at the same time.
Our cat is still sick. We will have to put him to sleep. Ift the small animal vet will not give us the injection to do it at home, the horse vet will. I won't take him to the vet again, he hates it. He has been a good cat, he deserves to go at home. That is why I have to move a Dr. appointment Friday instead of the vet appointment.
I have a sinus infection. It gives me a headache.
Oh yeah, laundry, vaccuming, cooking, grocery shopping and two listing on eBay.

Crocodile Card

Here is an art card I recieved as a gift. I love t and wuld have paid money to own it. Lucky me! The artist, James Kelley, is young, but old enough to have outgrown imagination and courage in art. Most young children have these qualities, but most lose them as they grow up. James hasn't, and that is both wise and lucky.
Here is what he writes about his card:
"Meet little Cruncher....a rather harmless looking, dapper Crocodile. Sure he is. Yet he has an odd secret. Cruncher once had an old granny name "Great Granny Sue", the biggest gator in all of the swamp. Unfortunately, Granny passed away a few months ago, leaving all her possessions to Cruncher. Cruncher was depressed at the death of his Granny, and wanted a way to remember her. Then he had the thought, "Why let such great leather go to waste?" Cruncher now has a new pair of alligator leather shoes and briefcase to go with them."
James occaisionally sells his art on eBay using his family's seller name Raskelley, and in Folk-of-Art under the name Hand-Me-Downz.
The link to Folk-of-Art is here in this blog.

Lulu Loved The Moon

Here is an art card I want to share. I took a picture of it in full on sunlight. Art cards are difficult to photograph. I have my best luck outdoors in the sun. Mid day is best, but I went out at about 8:30am and the sun was at an angle. This card made shadows, so I moved it into the shadow of my house and took additional pictures. The shade one is a good picture, but the sunlight one has the light hitting the faux gem. Which do you like!

I won this card on eBay from the seller My_enchanted_expressions. That turns out to be two people. I realized, in my meager collection, that I did not have any collage. I've never been a big collage fan. I guess that goes back to the olden days when Ggirl Scout leaders couldn't think of anything else so they gave us all Elmer's Glue and construction paper, and some beans.

Woopy.

Surprising because I like quilts and those are collage. I guess I have some aversion to the word 'collage.' Maybe it's too much like college.

But when this card came, and I opened it, I was very happy! The contrast in visual textures is amazing! Here she has created depth, not by colors and values and shapes and prints, as quilters try to do in quilts, but by glueing actual bumpy stuff on. I never would have thought of that, which is funny in retrospect. Of course, it's not really recomended for a bed cover that you want to sleep under and launder.

If you like it, search the seller My_enchanted_expressions on eBay. You can have a groovy thing too!

B Swap Art Trading Card

I participated in an art card swap. We had a B theme. All cards had to be B stuff. Each person who signed up made a card for the person who signed up right before them and received a card from the person who signed up right after them.

This is the one I received, called Beta Pair Courting. I like it because it shows something other than the solitary life in a tiny bowl that I see in aquarium shops. The ardor of the pair makes the water electric.

Maybe I should buy a fish.

This artist sells on eBay under the seller name Jedikn1. May the Force be with you.

Squirrel Fest

Seeking Peace

This picture is a peaceful one. It is to me anyway. This is my horse, Janow, eating.

After these past couple of weeks, I need peace. The craft fair, two quilts in Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, two trips to the dentist, beloved Ferm in the vet hosptial for 5 days, an MRI and blood test way up in Walnut Creek, Buying hay in Concord (each place a one hour drive).

My husband announced Friday afternoon that he needed to get a birthday gift for his mother. Friday evening he said it had to be mailed no later than Monday. I said, OK, it has to be mailed on Monday. He replied no, no later than Monday but it could be sooner. Well, since we don't have the gift and the post office is only open in the morning on Saturday and closed Sunday, it can't be earlier. Oh. He always waits 'til the last minute but he's in denial. I'll get her something very nice at the trade fair when I go to the quilt show on Sunday.

I've applied to join the artist co-op Folk of Art. See my favorite links.

Art Trading Card

This is another art card in my collection. It was a gift from the artist, Erin. This is what she says about the card-Ardie Anteater....exterminator. Got Bugs? Call Ardie! This guy doesn't need any special equipment, no toxic chemicals, no muss, no fuss...With a quick swoop of his tongue, Ardie can clear your house of any creeping, crawling pest...and get a FREE LUNCH at the same time!
Personally, I like his the tongue!

Check out other stuff from her family: search ebay seller Raskelley, or http://www.hand-me-downz.com/

Quilt Card

Here are two more art cards from my growing collection. They are both by Katriona, and I received them as gifts. Can you believe the detail on the one she called Baby Feet? Wow.
Being a quilter, I especially like Love because it is "patchwork" and has visual texture just for the sake of texture.
If you want great cards like this, search eBay seller art_katrionag

Halloween Art Cards

These art collector cards are all 2.5x3.5 inches. THey are fixed to heavy watercolor paper and plasticized, so they are about as hefty as a credit card.