Images

A MONTH of photos!

MY bad! The month, short as it was, totally escaped me. The death of my mother thing and all that has and will continue to entail while I work on straightening out her estate has taken it’s toll on my equilibrium… But never fear, I DID take photos every single day! Here for your viewing pleasure, February 2016.

: FINISHED. Sunshine and Blueberries. Started in the last century.

: Finnegan taking a rest, waiting for new mattresses.

: Someone else’s needlework. My job.

: Pulled out the DSLR for this!

: A bit of frost.

: Find photos where you can. A bit of computer humor?

: Super Snacks.

: Camping out at home.

: Bright texture and color…

: Portrait with Egg and Baby Doll.

: Shadow.

: Fog.

: Iced Nirvana.

: Reality bites.

: Happy heart day.

: Ta Da~!

: Self-portrait.

: An apple a day…

: Cat.

: New app to play with.

: Daffy!

: Does this cat make my butt look big?

: Dressed to Kilt pedicure.

: Mosaic Daffy.

: Almost blooming Daffy.

: Pancake Tuesday.

: Something for the mantle piece. http://aliaslaceygreen.com/2016/02/28/song-lyricsugly-fabricquilt/

: No one informed the wind it was a leap year.

: Nessie has been spotted in the turkey soup.

: One of three lists I probably didn’t use as prompts. This month was mostly #offpromptagain.

: One of three lists I probably didn’t use as prompts. This month was mostly #offpromptagain.

: One of three lists I probably didn’t use as prompts. This month was mostly #offpromptagain.

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Song Lyrics+Ugly Fabric=Quilt!

What do you do when challenged with deadlines AND “horrible” fabric? Make one quilt that fits two challenges if you are me!

My local quilt guild, the Hospitality chapter of the Richmond Quilters Guild, put out the challenge “Music to my Ears.” I almost immediately had decided one of the songs from the band Squeeze would be my selection, because their lyrics always seem to be painting a visual image.

“A soapsud stickleback navy A scrubbing brush landing craft” – (If I didn’t Love You)
“Legs up with a book and a drink” -(Is That Love?)
“There’s a stain on my notebook Where your coffee cup was” -(Black Coffee in Bed.)

And then, at our holiday party we had a round robin ugly fabric exchange where I ended up with eight 1/8th yards of fabric some would say only it’s mother could love.

As if by design the entire quilt unfolded in front of my eyes! “Two fat ladies window shop something for the mantelpiece.”-(Pulling Mussels from the Shell.)

That incredible fruit lady fabric finally had a raison d’etre! Sketching and assembling the quilt was done very quickly. It all fell together like it was meant to be. The addition of the lyrics on the boardwalk was a last minute thought, when I realized the ‘planks’ of the boardwalk felt too clean. I probably should have checked how well the lyrics would fit.

The eight ugly fabrics are in the art hanging on the gallery wall–either as the frame or the art. (two of the pieces of art were additions from my very own well-loved stash.) The remaining piece I couldn’t work in ended up being the frame for the gallery sign. I dug in to my stash of alphabet stencils for the gallery sign and used Prismacolor, Copic and Micron pens to color and shade there and elsewhere on the quilt.

This is hanging at #MAQF Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest through today and will then go to a local show at a church in Richmond for a bit.

*Mea Culpa. I have not posted a single photo from February! I will make one big month-end post with an explanation and then strive to do better in March.

—Do you LIKE this? Share it, please! My photos are available for purchase. Follow me onFacebook. On Twitter, I am @rteest42 . @rteest42 for Instagram.

And that’s January!

January was interesting. As usual with me, more photos were OFF prompt than on.

As you prepare for February, begin to get into good habits.

EDIT your January photos. Toss the bad ones.
Post-process the good ones. Upload to someplace safe. Not just your C Drive, but some cloud based storage. Try Smugmug, for example. I use the big powerful professional strength version, but you will get the same storage, privacy and ability to protect your photos with the basic packages.
Print something you LOVE! Delete from your phone all the excess.