Lemon Tree Tales

Opening the door to my muse

Usually I'm more of a designer artist ... meaning that I prefer to sketch out and plan what I'm about to make, even if it's ultimately another drawing. It's hard for me to just play. However without play my muse becomes quiet and reluctant. I suspect that she's not as uptight about perfection as I tend to be. On most Tuesdays I'm slowly learning how to play again. That's when I go to my friend Rachel's house for a clay day. I don't know too much about it and I doubt that I have a very good touch with it.

There's something about clay that is reminiscent of being a small child making mud pies. Not that I ever really did that. I'm picturing one day in particular when my brothers Derrick, Mario and Jason were playing football in the wet backyard. My mom forever captured them on film just dripping from head to toe with mud. Yet they were smiling from ear to ear. Obviously the spirit of play was alive and well for them. That's the feeling that I'm trying to rekindle while I'm playing with clay.

Sure, part of me, well okay, the majority of me, has sketches in mind of what to make when I go over there. I'm fighting that fiercely. So much so that I'm just going with the flow. I'm not worried anymore about the outcome and instead enjoying the moment. It's a freedom really. My muse is happy, very happy indeed.

It's starting to look like a hat!

After just two weekends of knitting in between races it's finally starting to look like a hat! Yay! I'm also getting close to the end of this skein. It's on circular knitting needles that are 16" long. What do I do when the pattern starts decreasing? Do I just constantly shove the stitches closer and closer together? Or will I have to transfer to double point needles at some point? Any ideas?

Here's a closeup of the knit and purl rows. So far I like it a lot.

Do you notice what I'm using as a stitch marker? It's an extra ring from a key chain.

More Colored Pencil Rolls

My friend Rachel requested these for her two granddaughters, Miss M and Miss E. They're completely the same other than the monograms. This is a bad picture, but the buttons are a pretty turquoise/green tortoiseshell design. Yay, all fabrics, buttons, etc are from my stash! Pattern is by Kathy of Pink Chalk Studio.

Now back to watching more of the inauguration day coverage.

Knitting at the track

We spent this past weekend at a SCCA double nationals race held at the Phoenix International Raceway. The weather was sunny and warm, okay, hot. Fortunately my aunt and uncle (who live only 45 minutes away) were able to meet us for dinner. And they brought two guests -- my grandma and grandpa who were out visiting them. Yay! We haven't seen them since last year so it was a real treat to visit with them. They even had time to come out to the track and watch Steve race on Sunday.

Here's my grandma Panetta. Can you believe that she's going to be 80 in a few weeks? It's amazing to me since she is such a young-at-heart person. I truly hope that I'll be blessed with that when I'm her age.

And here's my grandpa Panetta. He'll be 85 in a few weeks as well. They still drive around the country in their motorhome year-round. Occasionally they'll stay with various family. This past year they stayed "parked" for a large portion of the year due to the cost of gas. I was soooooo excited to have seen them.

Steve was thrilled to race at a Nascar track ... but they didn't do the oval. They created a road course instead.

In addition to assisting Steve with the race car I began a new portable craft project: a knitted hat! This will be the second item that I've knit so I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Here's the pattern that I'm knitting, but I'm not using Noro yarn. I wanted something much softer. After it's done I may try it again in the Noro Kureyon. So far I can say that I have developed a comfortable rhythm for knitting but not so much when purling. I guess that it'll just take more practice.

Dolls and art in my home

The other week I went to the home of three friends. They were all different styles: rental apartment, eclectic assortment of buildings in the hills, and a suburban two-story home. As soon as I walked through the door one thing was common in each home, you knew that an artist lives here! I found myself wondering if guests to my home would have that same thought. If you looked in any room other than my studio then the answer would be no. How sad is that.

Yesterday I began to change that. I completed the Verity doll from Deanna Hogan's class. All that was missing was hair. I sewed a wig from a light auburn plate of Tibetan lambswool (from Dollmaker's Journey). Once that was done I made a nice fabric covered stand, and VOILA! she was finished. UPDATE: Here's the link to Deanna's pictures from the class.

This is how the entry way looked before I put Verity there. Now when you first step into our home you'll see one of my artworks. Hmm, but I'm not 100% happy with the way that it looks. I think that the candles were better because of their height. I may have to go back and find a chair for Verity to sit in and restore the height balance. I'll just have to use that lovely doll stand for another doll.

Here's a better look at the finished doll:

And a closeup of her face:

The mannequins are painted!

The mannequins are finally painted and posed above the window shelf. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. They add a little splash of my favorite colors to the studio. Of course at this point I consider the wall color to be a neutral - Caribbean Mist #560C-2 by Behr. It's painted on the walls of all three bedrooms. (I wanted to keep things simple when we first moved in.)

Peacock Quilt Applique

Many months ago I created a peacock applique center block for the second session of Spring Fling Round Robin. I was influenced by this quilt, this embroidery, and of course by an actual peacock here. Also I was told that the final recipient wanted a quilt that was inspired by Kim McLean's Princess Feathers Quilt. I was constrained by how to make a peacock fit into an 8" square so I opted not to make a more realistic bird and instead chose to stylize it a bit more like that first quilt inspiration piece. Many sketches and tweaks later I came up with this:

With the exception of the face detail, it's all traditional applique. I made a plastic template from the top row center feather and made all ten plumes the same shape. That was a lot easier than trying to make precise templates for each placement. I also chose to make one leaf template and repeat it. I used the perfect circles for the berries and opted to use raw edge applique for the face details with lots of machine embroidery over it. At first I was going to make a center contrast for each feather but decided that the materials were so pretty on their own they didn't need it. I was a bit disappointed to see that one of the later RR partners decided to add their own circle appliques to it.

That very first block was lost in the mail so I had to make a second one ... fortunately the first one surfaced and became a gorgeous quilt. Sadly the second one is lost in the mail service and has yet to make an appearance. Here's a picture for the curious:

Isn't it interesting how this one had a bit of a different expression? I suspect that's mainly because it's beak was placed more downward.

Now that it's home with Lil I can show you what the finished quilt looks like (this is Lil's picture):

Sharon made the first border, Luisa did the second, and Julia did the fabulous quilting. Didn't they do a fantastic job?

***************************************

Now here's a freebie for anyone who wants to make a peacock of their own:

 

Here's the file Download Peacock Applique quilt block by Tami Levin.   Have fun with it and please show me pictures of your versions!

Drive to Pescadero Beach

Today was such a beautiful day that we decided to drive through the Santa Cruz mountains to Pescadero Beach. Absolutely gorgeous!