Endings, finishes, a new family member and Empty Spools!!

I’ve never gone 2 weeks without posting before, so this is a first. No one reads blogs during the Holidays! I’m back and a lot has happened:

First, I must introduce our new family member:

Yahaha is a 2 yr old Australian Shepherd female. We heard about her through a local source and we got her from a Utah breeder. Yahaha (more on that name later), was bred twice. She did not enjoy the process, so her breeder wanted to find a good pet home for her. She comes from a line of Shepherds bred for pets; she does not herd and is not high energy. She’s a cuddle bug!

We have this sunny spot in our Primary bedroom that is bathed in glorious sun in the winter:

For 2 years I walked by that space and thought, “It needs a dog to absorb all that sun”. Here she is:

She had her last litter in mid-Oct and looks disheveled, as they lose their coat after whelping. She’ll be a beauty soon. She has fit into our family easily and she’s gentle, smart and easy going. Love!

Her name: this is an issue! Her breeder named her after The Legend of Zelda in which you chase Korok’s. When you find one of them, the noise made is “Yahaha”. Yeah, I have no idea what that means either, just looked it up on Google, LOL!

At first we had no intention of keeping such an odd and hard to pronounce name. But it’s grown on us. The jury is still out. Others under consideration are Bailey, Bebe (blue eye, brown eye), Yazzy and Zoe. We will settle this soon.

We drove 9 hrs each way to pick her up from the Salt Lake City suburbs and saw a lot of this:

I know many consider that drive to be boring, but we loved it. All along the way (I drove almost all the way – Hubby still recovering from knee surgery) I would ask Hubby to look up stuff: how do they mine salt, what is that mountain range, what is the population of SLC, what are the demographics of Nevada, how do you pronounce Nevada, etc. It was a fun trip! Did you know that salt mining has a season?

And then there were some just straight up odd things along the way. You are driving along on a fairly boring part of Utah and all of a sudden there is this:

I grabbed that photo from Google images and it actually looks a little different than this photo. This is Karl Momen’s “Metaphor -Tree of Life” on the Utah salt flats on I-80. The artist’s words: “A hymn to our universe whose glory and dimension is beyond all myth and imagination”. Say whaaaaaaat?

And then there was a finish:

I am part of a mini-group of my guild. One of our members needed a quilt and we made this for her. We used the theme of owls and Dachshunds. I did not make any of the adorable blocks, I just quilted it.

Some close-ups of the blocks. There were embellishments added after my quilting, so of course they do not show up here. There were buttons and other objects added that were the icing on the cake:

I run with a talented and creative group, no? I quilted the blocks with 2 alternating motifs: a wiggly, wavy and triangular version of stipple and a random stair step. I ruler work quilted stitch-in-the-ditch around the flying geese. We are mighty full of ourselves over how this turned out. It was truly a collaborative effort that brought out the best of each of our unique talents.

And another finish:

I made another class sample for my “Blooming Sheers” class that I am SO excited about teaching! This time I only used commercial sheer fabrics which will more closely represent what my students can source on their own. I used a few different techniques this time and also, I bound it with a fabric I made with my felting machine:

Way back, early century, I made a garment from 2 pieces of polyester organza that had been felted together, one side blue, the other fuchsia. I have kept scraps of this around thinking “I’ll use it someday”. I used it for the binding of the above class sample, which was perfect because those edges will never ravel. It was a bit odd to work with though, so don’t look too closely at the hideous corners on the sample! I do love the sample and I am making another before my introductory class at Craft Napa next week.

And, I have made some progress on that work-in-process that is entering its second year:

And now, BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! I’ll be teaching at Empty Spools in Session 1, Feb 27 – March 4, this year! I’m also contracted to teach in 2023!

I am so excited; this is what I long to do, to have my students for 5 or even more days. I want to dig in deep, see major progress, break down barriers and see my students fly. Whooop! Empty Spools is an wonderful experience with lovely accommodations on the California mid-coast with some top notch talent. Seminars are 5 1/2 days and it’s just a glorious experience. Sign up, there’s still time!!!

More details will be in my newsletter. What??? You don’t receive it? If you want to keep up with my blog AND receive weekly wide-ranging content (mostly art or quilts with an assortment of intriguing articles thrown in), then sign up for my newsletter here. I truly get rave reviews on my newsletter. It’s NOT all about me and I think that is part of what makes it interesting.

Alrighty then, I’ll be posting at:

Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday
and
Finished or Not Friday