Sue's Quilted Gardens

Where has the time gone??? Time really has flown since I have been working at the greenhouses again. Grand opening is May 10th, and the new owners and I are totally frazzled. So much still to do. I am also going to ring in May in 2 different ways this year. In addition to helping with the greenhouses, I am escaping this coming weekend to vend for the first time at a quilt show. I am not sure how things will go, but it will also be an escape from the greenhouses that I need right now. (I'm leaving lots of list of things to do, remember, etc.- kind of scary).

The other new way to ring in May for me, is that I am participating in Virginia Spiegel's "Collage Mania" to benefit cancer research. Three of my collages were accepted and will be available for sale Monday May 5th and Tuesday, May 6th. You can access the page they are on from here: Link to "Collage Mania"
The link will take you to the page where my collages are available. Below are photos of them that I posted earlier.

Here is "D is for Digitalis" Digitalis or Foxgloves are beautiful flowering plants that have been used in medicine. I just love their flowers with the wonderful speckles inside the bells.
I began with the catalog photo of the flowers, washed with a light coat of iridescent paint and backed it with a piece of my handmade paper with lots of gold glitter in it. I placed these over a collaged background of fabric paper, sunprinted fabric, and colored card stock. Pastel was rubbed over the printed word foxglove that was cut apart.  Eyelash yarn was stitched on, and the botanical name, Digitalis written on with dye pen. The 5"x7" collage was edged with a nubby, hairy yarn, and  mounted to 8"x10" bristol, ready for framing.

Here is a closeup of a corner of the collage.
My mom loves colors in the orange and apricot ranges, so this one is dedicated to her, a 7+ year breast cancer survivor.

Here is the second one- "R is for Rosa" (botanical name for Rose- not someone I know).  Another flower photo, this time with a handmade paper I made with flecks of gold, silver glitter, and deep blue tissue paper. The background of this is also a collage of painted fabric, fabric paper, and commercial fabrics. "Rosa" was written with pastel, on a silver flecked fabric, and "silk" leaves were stitched on, accenting the veins, using yarn as the stem. Eyelash yarn, butterflies stamped with gold paint, and a dye pen accented organza butterfly, add to the composition. The blue flowers in the photo called for the addition of the ribbon border, tied in a bow, around the appx. 5"x7" collage that is attached to the 8"x10" bristol with bright blue eyelets.

A closeup of a corner, showing a butterfly, and some leaf detail.
This collage is dedicated in memory of my aunt, who was only 13 years older than me, and died of colon cancer at only 46 yrs. old- my age, now.

Well, here we are a month from my last post. I have felt like the greenhouse job has sucked me away from everything else. There are now plants in 3 greenhouses- all types of annuals and perennials, and even a few veggie plants (many more arriving this week). Quilt wise, I have not done too much, even after a quilt retreat. The first week of planting our new babies in the greenhouses really took it's toll on my body and brain. I had been feeling really lucky as far as the fibro goes, but that ended with a major crash last week. After spending 4 more hours than planned at the greenhouses the Monday after my retreat, I spent most of Tuesday in bed.  I kind of felt like our cats- pretty lazy- here is a photo of my Baby Cat sleeping on a pillow on the couch. I thought she was going to fall off. The rest of the week was spent in the greenhouses.

I should have taken photos by now, but have not used my camera down there, yet. I do have to take it with me so I can get some shots of some of the blooming plants. There are beautiful Aquilegia (Columbine) flowers in blue, pink and white that are calling to be photographed.  The photo below is of a Bog Lily in my indoor pond that bloomed a week ago. The flowers look like huge, white spiders (missing a couple legs).

The greenhouse startup is so different from when we owned the business. We used to start most of our own seeds, and divide and take cuttings of many other plants. This season, things are being started from basically nothing- no equipment, plants, seeds, or enough time. We are starting from rooted cuttings, pre-started plants, and seedlings in plugs. It's like Christmas, opening all the boxes- some with tiny baby plants tumbled out of their trays (I really think FedEx and UPS bowl with the boxes). Some babies come in blooming. One tray of violas were 1" tall with full sized blooms- I love pansies and Violas!! Some of the plants we purchased were half grown to use in hanging baskets, and planters to be ready for Mother's day in less than a month. The other big worry is how many people will come, since the business was closed for over a year. Lots of stress!!

Back to quilts..... I did accomplish a little at my retreat, I did a piece for the FFFC Recycled challenge, and did some samples for a class I will be teaching late this month. I also got an idea for a larger piece on the last full day, and had to be sure I took photos and scribbled ideas in my notebook for when I can get back to it.

This is the Challenge quilt. Made from scraps found in our treasure pile we have at every retreat. Everyone brings scrap strips, chunks, and pieces of fabrics they won't use, and we hunt for the perfect treasures for projects in the pile. In this, there is a piece of a blanket binding, batik strip, a bit of flannel, and assorted other fabrics, including the light green fabric with the little sheep on it. I stitched the background pieces with decorative stitches, then added some sparkle tulle in blue and green (only new items- from Wal-Mart remnant bin). There are some thread and fabric snips trapped under more tulle, and then the flowers in the foreground were added. These are made from candy wrappers. Hershey Kisses, Dove eggs, and a Cadbury Egg. I love chocolate (bet you never guessed :) ), and found that it really slows down the eating process when you want to keep the wrappers intact. The flower petals and leaves are all wrappers backed with Wonder Under and fused on. The stems are from a plastic, raffia like stuff that was on a package I received. I also added some painted dryer sheets, and a brown paper towel I used to dry my hands one day. Amazing what can be done with next to nothing new. I also made 2 5" square pieces, below. They also have the candy wrappers for petals and leaves, with more scraps, paper toweling and dryer sheet used. These were fun to put together, I even made a red flower from the red part of  the egg wrapper, and used the chick, too. Here is a photo of what I had on my design wall before I had to pack things up. I am not sure just how it will end, but finally an idea began to gell by the end of the retreat. I really felt ripped off by my body, I had to take naps each day, and my brain still was mush most of the time.

Well, back to things greenhouse- opening day is May 1, with grand opening with all the splash is May 10. Wow, time is really flying and I am really having to tell myself not to over do, and to delegate. I just need a few more bodies to delegate to, though.

Until next time...... hopefully with greenhouse photos.

It's amazing how fast 3 weeks can fly by!! Just after posting 3 weeks ago, I was hired by the new owners of our former greenhouse. They are starting things all over due to our failure over a year ago, and most of the equipment, etc. was sold off. The new owners have transformed the storage barn into a gift shop- big change, there will be a flower shop in the main garage building, and some of the greenhouses will be full of plants again. Much of my time has been spent pouring over plant catalogs and availability lists and planning what will be needed to get things going again.

Ken and I did take a couple days off to spend a day at the Philadelphia Flower Show. We live just under 4 hours from there, and Ken's daughter lives in Philly now. We were able to see all of our granddaughters, while seeing the flowers, and stayed over night before coming home. It's been a while since we've seen the girls-  the two youngest aren't very little any more. It was a very long day, with the ride down, then walking through the show till it ended that night. Here are a few pictures.

This was a great display- I'd love my back yard to look like this... A girl can dream

Here is a photo of a display that used a tuba for a water fountain, the rest of the brass section was used for another fountain. The theme was based on New Orleans and Jazz.

This week has really passed quickly! I began early in the week, trying to reclaim my wet studio space in our greenhouse, to get back to painting, while still having room for more plants and seedlings. It turned into a much bigger job, and I also ended up doing more unplanned work in my studio.

Here in PA, we have nearly 3 months before much can be done outdoors. I successfully grew zucchini indoors when we had our greenhouses. I just got seed for the one variety that will set fruit without pollination- Perfect Pick. It is very productive, so I planted only 3 seeds in a very large pot, along with some sweet peas around the edges for some flowers too. My big challenge was to empty my germination chamber, so I can start my flowers and herbs, plant my zucchini, and still have room for my painting supplies and paint table. After doing some major purging of a storage cabinet, I now have places to store my gardening supplies and painting supplies, neatly, my table is now up on quart paint cans for a better work height, and am ready to start flower and herb seeds in the chamber. A huge accomplishment.

Here is what it looks like, now.  Still a bit crowded, but I'll be able to play with my fabric painting, and still have room for plants. I ended up turning the storage cabinet on the right, so I can put my table up against it, and still access the doors. The germination chamber is on the left, past the pond with it's blooming Water Iris. My Zucchini pot is on the back plant table. Hopefully in a week, I will have some baby plants coming up to watch. Everything else thinks spring really is here, too. The sweet potato vines in the large green pot are really growing fast, I cut back to the top of the pot a week ago. The new height of my table is much better for working on. Now if I just had a sink.....

If this had been my only project, I would have actually painted some fabric, but while looking for something in my studio, I found puddles of water on the floor under my cutting table. I had to run a lot of fabric that was in a pile there through the wash (doesn't everyone store things in piles on the floor?). We think that the water from melting snow and rain earlier in the week, started wicking up through the floor. The room is pretty much sitting on the ground, now that so much gravel and silt from the driveway has washed down around that end of the trailer. The water level outside was higher than the floor level inside.

After finding the water, and while cleaning up, I went through some tubs stored in the studio, and decided it is time to part with a lot of things I will never use. Years ago, I was dressing and decorating muslin dolls to sell, as well as making lots of stuffed toys for my boys and for sale. Many muslin doll bodies, packages of eyes and noses for stuffed animals, and other goodies were found, and are now listed for sale at my new Etsy Store. AndrusGardensFibers.Etsy.com  was born to sell off my extra craft supplies along with giving me a better place to sell my fabrics, sunprints, and handmade papers from, and even some of my extra yarns and fibers, some that I have painted. This way, my first store- AndrusGardensQuilts.Etsy.com can be just for finished pieces, so things don't get so jumbled there. So far my new store has the extra craft supplies listed, and some cut sunprint fabrics that I had one project or another, but not used yet. I grouped similar prints together to sell as sets of sunprint cuts. I will soon be adding full printed fat quarters, as well as some of my fun textured and patterned pieces.

Oh, and the other news of the week... I have been hired as a part time consultant for the new owners of the greenhouse we lost. It was purchased last winter from the finance company, and will be re-opened looking quite a bit differently from when we had it. I guess I can still keep a finger or two in the greenhouse industry to keep up with what's new and fun to grow out there. More inspiration for quilts, too. Now to keep my promise to myself to teach and delegate, not end up doing everything. I enjoyed being just an employee much more than being the owner/ manager/ problem solver, etc. 

Lots of changes!

Last week brought with it many "Bad Attitude" fibro flare days. I call them Bad Attitude days, because I feel horrible, but then think of others out there who must feel worse. That helps me to get up and at least try to do something. Amazingly, if I can get my brain really busy with something, I don't feel the pain or fatigue as much (extra naps also help).

It was a perfect time to begin something I had been thinking about, but not followed through with yet. Can you say PROCRASTINATION? I had an idea for a pattern to sell. Sitting propped up on the couch with pencil and notebook in hand, I began scribbling out a rough draft.

I am bad about not drinking enough fluids throughout the day. I know I feel better when I drink more water, but need it icy cold, and near me to remember to drink it. I was drinking a lot of Diet Pepsi for the caffeine, maybe it would help me feel more awake? (I know, not the best thing to drink) Buying water in the summer, I was using a lot individual bottles of water for travel. That led to my recycling water and soda bottles by washing them in the dishwasher, filling half full of water, laying them at an angle in the freezer, and Presto, ice for my water or whatever I'm drinking. My Pepsi would dilute a bit while chilling, and I got used to it this way, now if I drink it straight, it is too sweet. Now that it is winter, I stay with water, sometimes with lemon. Our well has wonderful tasting water (when it's not dry).

My problem- when I used my bottles with ice, I left puddles everywhere. I used a coaster, but when I moved from room to room, carrying it was a pain. The wheels started turning, and my fashionable bottle cozy was created . I made it to fit the bottles I had the most of- 16 oz. Diet Pepsi. (OK, I had some 24 oz. too, they stick out the top a bit) I used a bunch of my little quilt sandwich scraps, and the first one was born. This slides on the bottle and stays on it where ever I go. (Newly added.... I found a photo of the original cozy, this first photo. It has been washed many times, has some cola stains, and has spent time on my paint table- the speckles add to it's character.)

 I've used my first one everywhere, took it to shows (it helped keep drinks cooler, longer in hot weather), and when traveling in the car. It received many comments, and I had some requests to make them for others. I didn't think the work involved would pay off, the price would have to be pretty high, but a pattern for people to make their own might work.

The second photo shows 2 of my new cozies, made while I was writing and taking photos, as I did each step of construction.

I made 6 cozies in this size while writing. My original is similar to the one on the left in the photo, satin stitching quilt sandwiches together. I know not everyone has these just lying around, so I made others more simply, with a single outer fabric, or fabrics fused to batting. I also found a few things that don't work, while playing (I show what to avoid doing), and have one I'm keeping so now I have 2 to use (keeping the bad one).

The pattern is almost ready for testing. It has instructions for 3 main methods of construction, beginning with the easiest. There are patterns to cover the 16 oz. bottles (the size shown), and the narrower water bottles, along with information for any other bottle size you wish to dress up with it's own cozy. Once you learn the basics, the sky is the limit as far as sizes or looks. I haven't used beading on mine, but that would really make one special, though maybe a little bumpy for holding.

The three cozies pictured in this last photo are available for purchase at my Etsy Store.

If you are someone who likes to play, and do it yourself, I will be giving away a number of these patterns in PDF format. With the free patterns, I would like you to each fill out a questionnaire that would help me find out what changes I may need, to make things more understandable, or better for someone who may not play like this a lot. Other eyes looking at it may find things that need clarification, or typos that spell-check or I didn't find. The instructions are filled with many step by step photos. I know I do better by seeing than just by reading.

If you are interested in being one of my "guinea pigs", or testers, please email me (sue at andrusgardensquilts dot com or use email link on left sidebar), with "Cozy Pattern" in the subject line, and I will get the file to you as soon as it is ready. It will be in a PDF format, so you will need a reader like Adobe Reader, to use it. I would appreciate only those who will use the pattern right away to request it, so I can get the feedback I need before making it available to the general public for purchase.

Now back to work with the finishing touches. 

I'm not great with words, better with pictures, so here are some photos all in one group of small quilts mounted to fabric covered gallery wrapped artist canvases, along with other ways I display my art quilts. That way of displaying quilts has been mentioned again on the Quiltart list.

Here is a photo of part of my display from my last show of last season. This photo shows most of the ways I display my work. On the right, there are two postcard size pieces mounted on fabric covered artist canvases. On the table toward the left, there is the organizer thing for mail that I display postcards that are unmounted. Mini quilts for framing are displayed in clear bags, standing in the green boxes. The larger pieces all have hanging sleeves on the back for slats or rods. The narrow sunprint piece in green, has a bamboo skewer hot glued to the back to use to hang it on a thumbtack or hook. There is also one piece shown here that is in a regular frame. A little of everything here.

Here is a piece that was shown in a previous post that I have mounted to a plain white canvas. Colors seemed to take away from the fairly busy piece. The quilt is 12" square, mounted on a 16"x20" canvas. "My Dream House"

Here are some older pieces that I mounted on fabric covered canvases. "Mini Garden Walls" on a multicolored fabric I painted. "Beside the Door" on black cotton.

I have purchased a couple canvases that are the right size to mount some of my wider long sunprint pieces like these. I'm not sure if I will mount something I already have, or come up with something new.

My Newest Project Finished
I have been admiring all the ideas for journal and book wraps and covers in "Quilting Arts" and other places. I really needed to do something for myself. I purchased a new Bible this summer that is a paperback. (I needed one with bigger print so I could read it easier, but it is big to carry.) My previous one is also a paperback, and the cover and pages really are showing wear from use. I finally stopped the procrastination, and got this one made this yesterday. I had cut the Peltex base for this many weeks ago, but was not sure just what I wanted to use for fabric. I wanted something cheerful, but something that would not show dirt, etc. from handling. I also needed a handle to carry it easier, and pockets inside to hold papers, and a pen. Here you can see the handle at the spine of the book. I used a strip of fabric with fusible on it, folded and fused it, the used a decorative stitch to add some interest and add some strength. I then stitched it on before doing any of the inside work. The stitching lines showing are from stitching the pockets to hold the book covers.
The inside is a piece of painted fabric in blue and green with salt patterning, with some imperfect sunprints for the pockets. I used 2 pieces of experimental gelatin prints for the pockets I made to hold the book in place. I stamped these with a pearl white paint for subtle interest. The book cover pockets have a fusible medium weight interfacing in them to make them sturdier. If this was for a hard cover book, that probably would not have been needed.
This shows the other end of the inside, with the other gelatin print. the pocket for this side is from the fabric the front sunprint was taken from. The pocket for the pen is placed where the edges of the pages are when the cover is closed. The flower on the right is covering up the "cheater" method of holding the button on the other side. The shank was quite large, and I cut a tiny hole for it to go all the way through, then threaded narrow strips of fabric through the shank and fused them down. I then added the flower that was black like the one under the handle covering where the ribbons were stitched on. This flower is now pink, after a coat of nail polish- it added some zip and shine to this flower.
This photo shows the outside opened up. I began doing stitching with clear bobbin thread to lessen the look of the stitching, then I switched to the gold both top and bobbin. The outside of the cover is what was left of one of my blue, green and shimmer fabrics. A Maidenhair fern sunprint was used on what became the front when closed, and strips from another sunprinted piece fill out the edges. I couched black yarn over the seams with a decorative stitch, and couched it on the edges all with gold metallic thread. When deciding how to hold it closed, I decided to use the gold dogwood button, and was going to make a loop of the black ribbon, but ended up playing with the ribbon, and button and ended up being able to just wrap the ribbon cord around the button a couple times, then tuck the heart shaped bead under to hold more securely. Now I should be able to avoid those embarrassing moments when all the papers that have gathered in the book fall out during a service.

I may be doing a modified version of this to cover boring old spiral notebooks. That's what I use for my idea books.

Last but not least, here are a few photos I took while walking to the mailbox Saturday to get an application for a show out. There was no driving..... I had to walk in the field and grass, and still slipped a lot. The driveway is a rutty, 1/4 mile from the trailer to the mailbox, Ken almost didn't get out with 4WD.

There is beauty even in a cement block frosted with ice and sprinkled with sleet.
The moss was imprisoned in ice also, It doesn't show real well here. It looks like wild strawberry leaves with the moss.  I was glad I thought at the last minute to take my camera on my walk.

This was a shot looking down the hill toward the yard and our trailer (just out of sight behind the trees to the left). When the ice melts, the ruts will be back in their full glory.

The parking area shot shows where the truck was parked, looking up, toward where the previous photo was taken. The upper left curve starts where the previous photo ended.

Here is what greeted me when I finally got back from the mailbox. I had to walk around and go in the back greenhouse door. The plants in the pond are thinking spring. With the longer days, new growth is everywhere. And look.... my first flower of 2008, a water Iris bud opening! They don't last long, so I'm glad I caught it. It is a lot earlier than last year's blooms, probably because it is warmer in there this year with the wood stove there heating the whole house.

Now, back to the studio. I still have not finished my FFFC piece yet.

This icy, wet, dreary day seemed a good time to update on what I've been doing during the past week. In a previous post, I showed my first handmade papers. On the Quiltart list, there had been mention of fabric paper- gluing papers to a base of fabric to use in creations. That got my interest, and was just what I needed..... more ideas for an already filled, scattered brain. Wasn't my main goal for this year to gain more Focus?  I had also been checking out many of the collages that are being made for Virginia Spiegel's Collage Mania, for Fiber Art for a Cause to benefit cancer Research. The link will take you to her blog entry, and there are links there to explore more about this.  Some of the work I found got me thinking about doing some collages of my own. Here are some photos of my fabric paper play, and collages, as well as some treasures I found.
 

Here are a series of photos of the process of my second attempt at combining paper and fabric. I used colored fabrics for these, and began with pages ripped out from old magazines or seed catalogs. I painted the fabric with diluted glue, and stuck down the paper, brushing more glue over them, and ended with torn tissue paper. Since I seem to really love things with a shimmer, I squirted on some pearl white paint over all, and brushed it randomly over the paper. I even had a pretty garish printed tissue paper I used on the green fabric. The paper dried a bit crinkly, so I pressed it to flatten between sheets of release paper.

This is the piece done on the green fabric after pressing. As with all things shiny, it is hard to get good photos without lots of glare. While playing with the paper, fabric and glue got me thinking of some beautiful papers I have seen.

 I have thought I would like to play with different Japanese papers like what my great aunts used, to make notecards with. Many years ago, one of those aunts gave me an envelope of papers she used for those cards with an instruction sheet. At the time, something else was using up my time, so that envelope was packed away, and almost forgotten. During the past month, I began trying to remember where that envelope was. Well.... yesterday, I FOUND IT!!

Sometimes we have great treasures right in our homes that have been lost and forgotten. My studio has shelves reaching to the ceiling which is really high on one side, with many things collected over the years, stored there. While getting ready to pull down my corsage supply box (I needed to make a prom corsage for a friend), a fat envelope got my attention. I pulled it down, and YESSSS! I found the wonderful treasures inside- in the above photo. A pad of sketch paper, one large sheet of a heavier Japanese paper and 75+  ~8x10" sheets of the thinnest Japanese tissue paper I have ever handled, which is used to cover pressed flowers, holding them in place while still showing them (one sheet over the scissors). It is an amazingly strong paper for it's thinness. I may be trying out some painting, dying or whatever with some of this. There are even two little arrangements of pressed flowers my aunt must have done. The instruction sheet looks to have been originally published in the July 1962 issue of "House Beautiful" magazine (I wasn't quite 1 yr old yet). The envelope it all was in is of a wonderfully fibrous paper, too.

More treasures were also found on high. I had almost forgotten about my little box of stamping supplies- embossing powders, stamps (mostly Christmas), ink pads, the embossing pad is still good, too. The little basket of trims has all kinds of goodies in it. Many from when I was still a young girl and you could send 25 cents and a label to Wrights for an envelope of assorted trims. With no little girls to sew for, they have been mostly stored. I can see a few of these included in some of my handmade papers, and collages.

I had already dug out and sorted a big batch of rubber stamps I bought to try on fabric, but never really got to using. After punching the stamps out of the sheets, there is a lot of "waste". I think there more of a treasure lurking in these. I have already cut out a stamp for an Iris flower. I guess I'll just have to study these "negative spaces" for ideas for more stamps.
 

I definitely have decided that my artistic bent and desire to play with more than one medium is a result of the genes I have received. I have always needed to create something. My favorite books growing up  were those that had any kind of craft project in them. My grandmother did beautiful detailed painting along with collecting and using really neat fabrics (I think she even mad hats at one time). My grandfather made beautiful ceramic pieces in winter, making his own molds and his own glazes (with Grandma painting the wonderful underglazed details), and both gardened in summer. (unfortunately most all of the good pieces were sold, the mistakes were kept) My great aunts would make and send the beautiful handmade note cards with pressed flowers and the Japanese papers, and one had a huge collection of doll houses all made to scale, and wonderfully furnished. My mom grew up with her parent's ceramic studio, made most of our cloths as kids, and can knit or crochet anything. No wonder I have collected fabric and art supplies since high school, and want to play with so many different things! It's all genetic!!

Neatness does not seem to be anything I am predisposed to. This is what happens when paper, fabric, and whatever, all collide in a tiny studio. The pile in the foreground is pretty deep. I have since sorted and organized things a bit since this photo, but usually not much room for laying out new compositions.