Llamas and Cows and Dogs! Oh My!

First of all I want to welcome my new followers!  Thanks for joining up, hope you enjoy this post from around the farm. 

We had a fairly dry day last week and I enjoyed the walk, got to see the neighbors baby cows cavorting in the field.

Miss Grace enjoyed the wind giving her a little blow dry of her long hair.  Llamas always seem to have a piece of hay sticking out of their mouths.

The new born calves are so cute!  I love watching them run around in the field, playing at "The Calf Town Race Track".  Oh dee doo dah day!  Yeah, it was that kind of a day.

I always have to stop off and visit the neighbors steer.  The teenager next door is raising it as a 4-H project.  Every day I walk past "20" and bring him a hand full of fresh grass.  He appreciates it and bows his head so I can scratch his back.  It is our little daily ceremony.

I will be sad when he gets carted off to the fair.  Sometimes he licks my hand.  Have you ever been licked by a cow?

Tonka is doing well.  He is used to being around cows since he came from a cattle farm.

Charlie has pretty well adjusted although he still prefers to stay up high, out of possible reach by the new dog even though Tonka pays him no mind at all.  

 I mustn't leave Miss Sadie out.  She is such a sweetheart.

Be well.

 

Keeping Secrets

 My latest piece is mostly finished.  This one is like Sheer Hearts, built on fabric paper, using sheers, painted dryer sheets, dyed lace, dyed batting strips, paper, beads and other bits and pieces. 

 Keeping Secrets
9"X 14"

I found a feather in the yard so I added it.

 

I think Susan might have given me this little bird print.   I colored it a bit with pencils.

Dyed doily from my recent dyeing experience.

I still need to put a backing on it and sign and label it.  Anyone want it?  I think I'll give it away, in honor of having 93 followers and 148 posts.  I'll pick a winner out of comments.  I wonder if I will hit 100 followers by years end?

Listening to Greg Brown.  A friend recently sent me a stack of live recorded shows that will take me awhile to get through.  I will give you a copy of one of these shows too.  Just ask.

Be Well.

reprise Dooleybobber 15

I had so much trouble with my post yesterday I think most people missed it.  I had to keep tweaking it, the photos weren't showing up.  Today I put the back, label and hanger on it so will use that excuse to show it one last time.  I sure hope the photos stay put this time.

 I attached it to a piece of kunin felt.

I used a little piece of a root from a bush that the dogs dug up for the hanger.   That makes it a family effort.  If you missed the post yesterday, there are more photos (hopefully) of it there.  I think I will put it into my Etsy shop.

Be well.

Dooleybobber #15

I believe I showed the beginning of this one awhile back.  Here is the progression of a dooleybobber.  Above is the background of needle felted bits attached to the base of wool fabric and scrim.

Here you see some progress with stitching, buttons, felt balls, beads and baubles and more lacy bits attached.

Dooleybobber #15 or Trying to Dislodge the Stone in my Heart

11" X 9" approximately

The final result.  Almost final, I do still have to attach some backing and a label.

 close up shots, starting upper left

 continuing around, clockwise.

 I hope blogger leaves my photos here this time. Next day, I see it did not leave my photos so today I have reloaded them and hope they stay this time. 

I have turned off comments for the time being.

Be well.

Meet Tonka

It has happened again. We have taken in another old dog who needed a home. This is Tonka, a fifteen year old Border Collie. Tonka had been living with an old couple and when the man recently passed away, this energetic dog was too much for the elderly woman. So now I have three geriatric dogs. Tonka is very energetic for his age. Anyone might guess he is the youngest of this bunch instead of the oldest.

As you can see, he and Sadie get along just fine, resting here on the futon together. Rocky doesn't care one bit either, they all get along like old friends. We had a fun, although a wet walk today. Tonka got to meet the llamas. He has been around livestock all his life but never llamas before. He was curious, no more so than they were about him. I haven't seen poor Charlie cat since Tonka arrived. I better go out and call him. It took a month before he began to accept Sadie when she came, I hope it doesn't take that long this time.

Before I forget, jump on over to my group blog, Fox on the Run, to enter for the chance to win the great package of items in the photo above.

I hope those above photos show up today since they didn't the first time I posted.  

Be well.

Plugging away

This is the blue circle piece I showed before.

 Here is where it stands now. Not much progress except I cut the crack into it, that's how the light gets in. Also did some stitching into it.

approximately 8" diameter circle

Here is a close up on the painted jean seam beads. I had cut the seam off an old pair of jeans and then cut that into little pieces, painted the edges and sewed them to this piece with sequins and beads. Copper washers between each jean bead. 

Now I have started a dooleybobber, shown above. I'm ready to start hand stitching on it after all the needle felting is finished. I built it on top of a piece of lilac colored wool cloth with blue scrim on top of that, then needled roving and fabric bits on top. 

On my walk yesterday I gathered some old and new bits of nature including a hemlock cone, some alder dangly things (what are they called?) and a small tree bud. Also some old man's beard moss. Stitched them all down on these freshly dyed bits from the other day. It is post card sized but too fragile to actually mail, unless I put it into a box. There is a heart bead on there just right of center. Have to put a little heart into everything. It was just a quick fun project to get me started. I better get back to some hand stitching. Hope you all are happy and healthy. I'm still listening to Mumford and Sons, I'm addicted.
Be well.

Dye day

I've been wanting to have a dye day for a long time and I finally got around to it over the weekend.  Above you can see some of my dye pots, batching around the wood stove.  I have a lot of dye powders and I also have lots of fabrics and vintage textiles that I collect at garage sales.  A few white tops that have been waiting for my next dye session too.  Here is my favorite:

Which is brighter, my new shirt or my shower curtain?  This is an Eddie Bauer shirt, brand new for twenty five cents at a garage sale.  Now it is a brand new Jannie Brattain, ha ha.

Miss Sadie enjoys guarding my drying dyeing.  These are some of the small pieces.

My wooden drying rack is overloaded with the rest of my fabrics.  I love that orangy red and the periwinkle.

I ironed most of my small pieces and just folded the big pieces.  Above you can see some of the dyed vintage napkins and other textiles.  I love the hand of the vintage pieces, so soft and worn.

A few lovely doilies.  It is a shame to let them molder away in the closet.  I rather hated to treat them this way but I'm hoping that now I will be more likely to actually use them.  Such beautiful hand work is frequently found in garage sales, very cheap.

I threw in some scrim and a few cut off strips of batting.  The scrim takes the dye beautifully.  I had also tossed in some cheese cloth but evidently it was not cotton and all it did was make a big mess as it unraveled and shed on everything.  It was the same with some unknown sheer fabric I had and was hoping maybe it was silk but no, it is something that didn't take the dye at all.  I did have one silk scarf that now matches my new shirt in tangerine, fuchsia and lemon yellow.  Beautiful.  Wish I had some more silk.

Now I had better get busy and do something with some of these fabrics.  Maybe I will turn one of those vintage napkins into a dooleybobber.

I'm in the mood for some rock and roll today, listening to the White Stripes.  Turn it up!!

Be well.