A Day On The Coast......Sand Images

We took the dogs to the coast to run on the beach. The tide was way, way, way out. The images of the sand were spectacular. They reminded me of marbled and hand dyed fabrics........yes, I have a one track mind. Look further to see what I did to the images once I was home and imported them into my iPhoto program...

Click Images to Enlarge:

Original sand image

I darkened the image a bit to enhance the lines

I added some brown to make the image look like wood

Now it was time to play with some colors

This reminded me of dyeing fabric.....without all the work

The blues could be used in landscape quilts for sky or water

I could see this pink tone in an applique flower

This light wood color reminds me of the floors in our house

I tried out red just for fun!

This is the second original sand image I chose

Be sure to click these images to enlarge them.

You can still see the sandy texture after they are manipulated and colored up.

The detailed images are wonderful.

Again, I darkened up the exposure a bit to enhance the lines and textures

I added more brown to the image, which reminded me of myrtle wood

I continued to add more and more brown to the image

After manipulating the images with temperature controls & saturation, they began to glow. I really like these.

This is definitely in the plans for transfer to fabric.

This would make a great background for a silhouette image...

A third original sand image

Here I go again manipulating the image, enhancing the lines....this is addicting. If you have an iMac, you should give this a try. The controls are built right into your iPhoto software, directly in the program where your photos are downloaded.

If any of these images inspire you, please download them and put them into your artwork. I don't get carried away with all the copyright issues. My motto is.......Share What You know........Share What You Have.

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Enjoy this sand art video......click HERE to view.

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From The Oregon Coast,

LuAnn

Working Cattle

We spent the day working cattle Wednesday.

Click Images to Enlarge:

While the guys were rounding up the cows and calves, I wandered around with my camera. This is what the corral looks like empty before the cattle arrive.

It took a couple of hours to get all the cows and calves rounded up and herded down the river to the corral. Once in the corral they are sorted off: cows in one pen, calves in the other.

The cows are run through the squeeze chute first. They are wormed, vaccinated and get new fly tags in their ears. The tags keep the flies off their face during the summer months.

Here are a few of the mama cows being sorted off into different pens.

Every head of cattle is branded with the DK brand on their right hip.

This is one of the bulls. As far as bulls go, he is a gentle giant and beautiful too.

This is the pen of calves. I rarely get to see them up close when they are out in the pasture with the mama cows. This is always the best opportunity to photograph them each year.

I hate to play favorites but.........how cute is this little guy!

I have a soft spot for baby calves. At one time I bought bull calves from the dairy, as many as 50 a year, and raised them on a bottle. It was a great way for me to be a stay-at-home Mom and have an income.

This is an up-close image of part of the corral. I love the metal strapping that is wrapped around the posts and intertwined with weeds and ferns.

This is teasel.....Brad calls them Horrible Weeds.

They are leftover from last year. I like when they get to this state and they are all dried out and prickly.

More Horrible Weeds in front of the sheep barn.

They inspire me to put them into a photo transfer quilt sometime.

If you are inspired by any of these images, you are welcome to download them and put them into your artwork. I would love to see a photo of what you do with them.

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To see more Cattle posts CLICK HERE

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

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Name That Quilt....

American Eagle Quilt

Designed by Toni Whitney

Toni Whitney invites you to help name this American Eagle Quilt above.

The winning name receives a free American Eagle Quilt Kit.

Enter as many names as you like.

Please send entries to: toniwhitney@rocketmail.com

You better hurry.........I already sent my quilt names to Toni.

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

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To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

Chickens & Bedframes

Tuesday I spent 7 hours stitching down the chickens and blades of grass on the Sunflower Quilt. I do love applique work. I tend to rely on my 15 year old New Home sewing machine when I have applique stitching to do.

Click Images to Enlarge:

Thursday I spent 8 hours on the applique work. That's 15 hours of stitching so far and I am 3/4 of the way across the bottom of the quilt. One more day and the chickens and grass will be all stitched down.

Next week I will begin more design work. The quilt needs a few more sunflowers, and the stems need a lot more leaves. It may take 2 days of designing, cutting and fusing to get it just the way I picture it in my head.

Last month I shared a few images with you of painted bed frames. I told you I would post photos of the bed frames after they were set up by the Thread Shed.

This bed frame fence should work nicely to support all of the 8 foot hollyhocks that will be growing along the side of the Thread Shed this summer.

The hollyhocks grow taller than the roof top. They tend to fall over later in the summer and make it difficult to get any mowing done over in this area.

I am really happy with the way the bed frame fence looks on the side of the Thread Shed.
This is the backside of the Thread Shed. This is a daybed frame we put up a few years ago to support the glads that grow back there. It worked so good, I just had to find more old bed frames to support the hollyhocks on the side of the building.

The big picture window on the end of the building is where my sewing machine is set up. From this window I have a great view of Mary's Peak.

Today was so sunny and nice out......I just couldn't bare to work indoors. This bed of iris is full of buds ready to bloom any day now!

I planted a few petunias and zinnias in this front flower bed. Felt good to get my hands in dirt.

Brad trimmed the vine that grows on an arbor in front of the Thread Shed. It was getting to the point where I could barely make my way in the door to sew.

It was a great day........and now I am ready to get into more stitching again!

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To see more about the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

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To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

Sunflower Quilt.......has Chickens

Back in February I posted this Sunflower Quilt......in Progress, with promises to let you know when I added the chickens to the bottom of the quilt...

Click Images to Enlarge:

The Sunflower quilt measures 100 inches square. In this photo the bottom 18 inches are laying on the floor. The tallest sunflower is nearly 7 feet tall.

This is a close up view of some of the sunflower heads. The flowers, stems and leaves are all batik fabrics. The background fabrics are mostly sunflower fabrics cut into random size strips and sewn into 8 inch blocks.

Today I added 4 chickens to the bottom of the quilt. The top 18 inches of the quilt is folded back, so you can't see it. I started by fusing down blades of grass, fusing the chickens over the top of them........then added a lot more grass in front of the chickens. If you click this image you can enlarge it and see the detail better.

Adding the chickens and the grass was fun. The chickens are cut from commercial fabric that was in my stash. The grass was cut free-hand.

The first question I always get is.........do you have to applique around each and every blade of grass.........the answer is yes.

I put on a great movie that I love....or some relaxing music....put the quilt top under the sewing machine needle.....and applique around each and every fused piece.

I was hoping for a subtle affect here with the chickens. I don't want them to jump out immediately when you look at the quilt........I want you to see the quilt as a whole, pause and look at the gorgeous sunflowers........and eventually say.........oh, look down there.....there's chickens!

I will spend the rest of the week tweaking on this.......adding more blades of grass, a couple more sunflowers, and a lot more leaves on the sunflower stems. I think the tweaking part is my favorite.........adding a little of this, a little of that, designing as I go........until it looks just right.

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To see more Sunflower Quilts CLICK HERE

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

Spring Growth

At 3 weeks old the baby chicks are turning into teenagers.......all feathered out with long necks and long legs.

Click Images to Enlarge:

Each morning when I go out to change their water and fill their feed dishes, they have grown overnight! Where are those little cotton balls with legs we had just 3 short weeks ago?

The black peeps are barred rock and you can really see their black and white checkered feathers growing in.

The State Fair Zinnia seedlings are also 3 weeks old

For now they live in my new garden window in the kitchen. I am enjoying watching them grow too. They are about 6 inches tall now. They will be transplanted in the flowerbeds next month.

We sure enjoyed the flowering cherry tree blossoms this spring. This is the last of them. I couldn't resist taking this photo of Dancer & Freckles out by the yard fence, framed perfectly by the flowering cherry tree.

Tomorrow is Monday, my day to meet with the Harlan Valley Quilters. I better get my quilting supplies packed up and ready to go for the morning.

Click Here to watch this video: Women in Art

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To see more Chicken posts CLICK HERE

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Enjoy the rest of the Spring...

LuAnn

Quilts and Cattle

Yesterday I put together a few paper quilt tops

for a class I am teaching later this month.

Click Images to Enlarge:

Home Sweet Home

Paper Quilt

Papers from a vintage song book and a vintage tree book.

I rip the pages free hand, I like the rough edge it creates.

Flower Song

Paper Quilt

I plan to do quite a bit of threadwork on the large rose in the center.

Doors

Paper Quilt

I found an old book of doors........so many great doors. I want to make another quilt like this with rustic barn doors.

Bison

Paper Quilt

These images came from several different books. I found some great old national geographic books at the thrift store with so many beautiful images.

All of these paper quilts are ironed onto a sheet of fusible web. This not only holds the papers together, but stabilizes everything. These will be layered onto batting and fabric backing and free-motion quilted and bound.

Rainy today.........good day to head to the Thread Shed and stitch.

When I opened the door, I could see I wouldn't be alone today while I sewed.

The yearling cattle were just outside the window near the barn.

Today I did some applique work on the Sunflower Quilt. I am trying to finish this 100 x 100 inch quilt this month. I have a few more days of stitching, adding a few more sunflowers, chickens and grass, basting and quilting to do. I hope to have it completed for an exhibit in September.

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To see more on the Sunflower Quilt CLICK HERE

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn