umbrella prints trimmings challenge 2016

 Here's the packet of trimmings I ordered from

Umbrella Prints in Australia.

I enlarged a star map of the Orion constellation, 

with help from my college sweetie and husband of nearly 37 years. 

He's an amateur astronomer and I welcomed 

his collaboration on this project.

I marked the stars on some black Kona cotton with chalk. 

Basting the reverse applique "stars".

Stitching the Umbrella Print fabrics under the Kona.
The pink basting stitches were then removed.

Once all the stars were sewn, I pin basted the top, batting and backing together.
 I drew some parallel chalk lines to guide the random quilting lines.

Once the background quilting was done with black thread,
I connected the stars with white quilting lines.
Orion's left shoulder is a "red star", often viewed as 

an orangey red in the sky. I embellished Betelgeuse with
some embroidery floss. 

Here is The Orion Nebula found in Orion's sword,

created with tiny French knots, using white embroidery floss.

This is the completed wall hanging, over our bed.

One of our favorite constellations, 

we watch Orion move across the night sky here

in the Green Mountains of Vermont during the winter months.

(Try as I did, I just could not get a sharper image of the whole piece.

I hope the more detailed pictures will help 

give you a better idea of the work).

Be sure to check out all the other wonderful submissions

 here. Show all the crafty people some love!

To see my submission from last year, look here.

To see beauties from 2015, look here.

We've made love private,

contained it in family,

when its audacity is in its

potential to cross tribal lines.

-Krista Tippett, Becoming Wise

the week in pictures

::MONDAY morning...seriously.

::TUESDAY trillium

::WEDNESDAY falu red and ferns

::THURSDAY the greening of spring is creeping up the mountainside across the valley

::FRIDAY planning this year's entry in the umbrella prints trimmings challenge.
for my entry from last year look here.
for all the gorgeous 2015 entries look here.
nothing like a deadline to light a fire under my butt!

what have you been up to this week, dearest readers?

triptych 32

::forget-me-nots for erin elizabeth potts' birthday yesterday. she would have been 25. "e"very day is a blessing.

::birch catkins.

::birch white, spring green and sky blue. my holy trinity.

may and october are vermont's loveliest sisters. xo

breathing space

The Chandler Center for the Arts in downtown Randolph, VT put out a call for pieces for their annual Area Artists Show. It is not a juried show, and so I gathered my courage and put together this piece and submitted it last week.

The theme of the show this year is "locally grown" and after some careful thought, I decided to do a piece that showcases the peace and calm of this lovely place. "Breathing space" came together very easily once I got started. I used my own Shibori indigo dyed cotton, some linen, denim and birchbark salvaged from our place here. (FYI...Stripping bark from a live tree does it harm, so please only use bits find on the ground, shed naturally from the tree).

I machine quilted the Shibori fabric first, then did some hand stitching to attach the frayed green linen to the piece. I used an awl to make holes in the birchbark and stitched the bark to frame the fabric. Then I placed the entire birch piece onto a hemmed piece of denim and stitched around the edges. I had originally hand sewn some acorn caps onto the green linen, but did not like the scale. I had a stash of drilled sunflower seeds from another project and liked them better. Then I took a walk around the yard and clipped a branch and found a bit of kitchen string and used some embroidery floss to create a hanger.

I've been a bit "under the weather" and so missed the opening reception. I look forward to seeing the show soon, and finding out what else has been "locally grown" in the gallery. For details, check out the website at The Chandler. My cousin Kristen's beautiful paper collage work is featured in the publicity. xo