Cool Cool

I gave a batik demonstration to a 4th grade class at Pomeroy School last week. I'd never demonstrated batik before. I was nervous. They were great!
And look what I got today!

Batik Pillows

Original Batik Pillows.
I made the batiks myself. These are on Folk-of-Art through January.
The desings were inspired by the traditional feather design used in quilts for generations.










http://folk-of-art.com/ for everyone's stuff

http://folk-of-art.com/members/cara.html for my stuff

Making a Hat

I am making a hat, the band is a long fabric tube that needed to be turned right side out. I was standing in the kitchen turning it with a safety pin while the food was cooking. Dave came in and asked:
“What are you making?”
“A hat.”
“No. What are you making?”
“I’m making a hat.”
“Well, it looks like chicken.”
“It looks like fabric! You don’t make chicken out of fabric!”
“What are you making for dinner?”
“Oh......... Chicken.”

Prim Cess, Primitive Folk Art

This is on EBay this week. I started it pretty low. It is Medium, but there is another one very similar that is Large.
Go here to see: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZdoublecatbatik

More primitives are here:http://folk-of-art.com/

I live here!

thread

I get thread here
http://www.speedstitch.com/

and here
http://www.webofthread.com/thread.htm

I like the selection and I don't have to park my big truck in itty bitty spaces.


"The Landlord" ends today:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZdoublecatbatik

http://folk-of-art.com/members/cara.html

Pinewood Derby

Here are the cars my family raced in the Cub Scout Pack 92 Pinewood Derby Saturday. The cars are made from blocks of balsa wood that comes in a kit with the regulation wheels and axels. There are limits on size and weight. They race them indoors on a track with a computerized timer.
The trophies are from the Dad's divison where Dad raced the really funny looking one on the left, and from the Unlimited division where my son in Webelos 1 raced the red truck.
I brought food.

Links for FOA and Niki

Here is the html program
http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

and here is the tutorial I use
http://www.ironspider.ca/hktutorials/

In Progress

This is one of 4 placemats I am working on now. I think I will put them in Folk-of-Art in February.

There are four, each one with different fabrics, each house and each tree a bit different because I didn't measure anything, just cut and sewed. Each placemat, however, is the same size as the others. They are cotton top, back and batt, quilted with rayon top thread in a feather filler.
Watch Folk-of-Art in February!

http://folk-of-art.com/

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


"The Landlord" batik on cotton currently listed on Ebay
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZdoublecatbatik

And of course http://DoubleCatBatik.com

To Karen: I bought the fabric for Picky's next stall banner today.

Wall Quilt

I made this wall quilt for my friend who is moving into a new place this weekend. I worry a little that its not her taste, but I made it with my own two hands! Its about 14 inches wide and 32 inches long.

I have three new items featured in January on Folk-of-Art. http://folk-of-art.com/members/cara.html
You can find fantastic things by other artists here as well.

and I listed an item today on ebay. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZdoublecatbatik

as always, www.doublecatbatik.com

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.