Sew Crazy For You!

 Well, our lives have taken on a new journey....we added two fur- babies to our family....Meet Callie and Stormy...

Callie, the Calico, is a month older than Stormy.

Stormy, though younger, she is learning really fast from her new sister.

We knew we were getting closer to wanting some new kittens, when after Christmas we went into Helping Hands Adoption Rescue people and immediately fell in love with these two.  They both were relaxed in our arms so we felt they would be great together. But I told them the foster moms needed to keep them one more week, while I took down the Christmas tree and decorations and Kitten-proof my house! I removed all crystal, toxic plants and more.

Callie, adapted immediately and started exploring the whole top half of  the house and mapping it all out. Stormy immediately found the only hole we didn't see....right behind the washer and dryer!!!

Well, Sandy got her out, and put up a board to block the space, but for at least a week I kept the cats pan in the hallway of the entrance way, because she would not go in the laundry room. 

Now she is fine.

But the first 3 days Stormy stayed under the recliner in our living room, or under the bed at night. But she had not yet walked down the hallway, I had been carrying her each time. About this time we realized she must be younger than Callie, so I text her foster mom, and she confirmed that Stormy was born around the first of October, while Callie was born around the end of August!!! So now we realized we needed to nurture her more as a baby!!! Callie has been a big help there...she has taught her to be less fearful, chasing each other down the hallway and back again. Now she owns the place.

Both sleep on the bed at our feet. Then in early morning they come up to sleep at our pillows. We are so glad we got both of them and not just one!!!

Ever since we moved up to Lewiston and started exploring our new adopted home town, we learned about the area called the Palouse. Click on the word and learn all about it.

It covers a wide area of Eastern Washington and Western Idaho. All 18,100 square miles!!!

So here are some pictures of the Palouse in all four seasons.

Spring time is lovely greens...

Summer the greens are changing...

Autumn is harvest time and lots of golden browns...

Winter is awesome with the whites, that can also look blue, purple and pink!!!

While we have seen lots of photographers and painters work of the Palouse, it has been my goal to do a crazy quilt piece. But how to make it look like a landscape?

One day, I came across Karen Eckmeier on you tube. She also has a book titled, Accidental Landscapes! Well I was hooked!!! She makes landscapes so easy to do. 

Never one to stop with just one book...I started studying how others do landscapes.

But most of these are more traditional styled quilting.

I knew I needed to adapt these ideas with crazy quilt techniques. I printed off a couple pages of pictures of the Palouse to see all the colors.

For the sky I decided to use a cloth that was pinted as a sky!!!

I chose a piece of cardboard, had my hubby cut it to the right fit.

There's batting on the back and front of the cardboard, with the back fabric brought forward to make a border. Just need to add loops to the back to hang.

Now I will do some close-up pictures to show detail of different techniques used and who I learned them from!

The lime green is a strip of Sari silk, folded in half, with the frayed edge sticking up on purpose...I learned this technique from Rashberry Stitches who does such beautiful work!

The Cattails are from a type of yarn I finally found after searching many years, from Vicie Tobin. If you cut them just right, they look like cattails!!!

You will see lots of "rocks" that I have collected, and again inspired by Rashberry Stitches!!

More rocks!!! And in the middle of the picture, the weird shaped light brown piece and the pink piece next to it, are coconut wood chips!!!  The Laces are all from my friend and fellow crazy quilter, Barbara Nicki at RavioleeDreams. You can also see more ribbon with the raw edges sticking up!!!

More rocks, etc.

Of course, I have to have my shibori in every piece I do!! But it also represents the fields lines as they have been plowed!!!

About this time I came across the post that Betty Pillsbury did on embellishing driftwood...

And she referenced Salley Mavor of Wee Fold Studios and her work!

Needless to say, I became obsessed. Over the years, friends like Pat Winter have sent me piece of driftwood from their walks on the beach. So I have a few to work with.

The top one, you can still see the felt on the edges.

But when I saw the video of Betty's and how she used chinile threads, I knew I had to try.

Last tip, when doing a blind hem stitch around the border, while working on cardboard, you have no play, so a half circle needle is a must!!!

Thanks for visiting....time for lunch with Sandy, and Naps with our fur babies...any corrections needed will be done after that, but I just wanted to give you a chance to see this post.

Happy Stitching!!!

BJ Sandusky