Improv Houses...

I was pawing through the fabric cupboard

and found these surface design fabrics...

 

Created with black thickened dye...

Check out what I wrote on the selvage...

I created this fabric with hand made 

nature brushes and 

thickened dye.....in 2018

Looks like it was FUN making this piece !

These circles were created with a

nature brush made from feathers...

This fabric was created by putting strings under

the fabric then rubbing over the top with

thickened dye...

I also found this soy waxed fabric:

I wrote on the fabric with hot soy wax,

after it cooled off and hardened,

I put it in a dye bath.

I also pulled a few commercial fabrics

from the cupboard...

All of these black and white fabrics need

some RED...

These are some of my 

low immersion dyed fabrics...

This is what I will be playing with:

Left......Red Low Immersion Hand dyed Fabrics

Center......Thickened Dye Surface Design Fabrics

Right......Commercial Fabrics

This is my set up:

I will be sewing lots of little seams,

so I set up the felt ironing pad to my left,

cutting mat in the center,

sewing machine on the right...

this helps me work efficiently.

Here we go:

I am creating improv houses...

keeping it very basic

Red hand dyes for the background behind

the improv house...

A wonky house...

The hand dyed fabrics work well

in this design...

This house is wide at the top...

narrow at the bottom

Like potato chips...

can't stop at just one !

This is working....I'll make more !

Each house is different...

18 Improv Houses done today:

Looking forward to adding to this little village

sometime soon...

CLICK HERE to view all my improv work

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Cattle Drive.....Kessi Ranch 8.22

 

We have a a few more cow and calf pairs

rounded up...

They are on the road and heading 

a few miles down river... 

They like to eat the grass along the road side,

so we need to keep pushing them along...

The neighbor has a long horn steer in his field...

the steer is happy to see all of the cattle pass by

Long Horn Steer

The cattle cross over the bridge...

just up the hill and through the gate...

Enjoy the Video:

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Crosscut Blocks...

I am stitching with the 

Harlan Valley Quilters...

it's the Place-To-Be on Mondays !

 

This is what my sewing table looks like today...

After two  Crosscut projects,

I still have lots and lots of leftover blocks...

I decided to put a few blocks 

up on the design wall

and see what happens...

I am not hating it...

I am staggering the rows 

so the blocks don't line up...

I will keep adding blocks and stitching

the rows together and see where it takes me.

CLICK HERE:  Crosscut Quilt Top

CLICK HERE:  Crosscut Tote Bag

CLICK HERE:  ALL Crosscut Posts

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Butterfly...

We have had more butterflies visit our flowers

this year than we can ever remember...

This particular butterfly seemed to follow me

around while I was watering flowers yesterday...

The pink coneflowers are beginning to bloom

here in Western Oregon...

The butterfly was partial to the coneflowers...

Perching on top of that big, round

coneflower made for easy photography...

It takes a little longer to get the watering

done when you have a camera in your hand,

but it's worth it...

 

Enjoying the summer !

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Bottle Calves...5 Years Old

Do you remember these two little guys?

Marv.....1 day old

Vern.....2 months old

In 2017 we raised Vern and Marv on bottles

Bottle Babies.....Marv and Vern

Vern is a beef calf rejected by his mother

Marv is a bull calf from the dairy

2017.......Vern and Marv.....8 months old

Just weaned from the bottle

( I think weaning was harder on me 

than it was them!)

2018.....Marv and Vern 18 months old

Here are the bottles calves today: 5 years old

Just for scale to show how big he really is...

Marv is in the center with 2 full grown cows

on each side of him...

Those cows weigh 1500 pounds...

he dwarfs them and they are very large cows !

Marv and Vern today...

They are so sweet and still know 

the sound of my voice

when I call them to come over for a visit. 

Enjoy the Video:

Videos of Marv & Vern as baby calves:

CLICK HERE

Video of Marv sucking my fingers:

CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Cattle Drive...

7pm....the sun is setting

it is cooling off

time to drive the cows up river to new pasture: 

We are moving 25 cow and calf pairs 

this evening...

They are on their way to summer pasture

and will remain there until November...

They are stringing out along the road

and traveling along at a steady pace...

8:30pm...they have arrived

and immediately begin grazing on the fresh grass.

We have 3 more herds to move this week.

Sunset....on our way home

Enjoy the Video:

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

#LuAnnKessi