Crazy Daisy coming right along ;P

Good morning!

Here she is - Crazy Daisy.  I decided against doing crazy quilting actually, and went for a crisp modern look instead.  Still, due to the color scheme, I think I'll stick with the name.  All the blocks are finished.  I'll start assembling them next week.

This middle fabric is called Cogs from Connecting Threads.  Isn't it perfect!  I need to get more of this.  I got all these perfect lines without any rulers or marking.  I lucked out and they spaced just perfectly.

Here's some of the backing fabric which will rock when I put hot orange and crimson binding on this quilt.

And here's one more close up of the strips.  They are all different widths and all quilted with coordinating threads.

And here's my space at the end of the day... : )

have a great day

and  

HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE! ! !

love Monika

Love that Skin you're in!

I'm not talking about Dove beauty ads.  I'm talking about onions!  I LOVE their skins!  

We have an old ChildCraft set of encyclopedias, cica 1970-something.  Mom kept them all these years and gave them to me after having kids.  I remembered one volume was called "the Green Kingdom" (ahem... Queendom!).  There was a page thet showed what plants could produce various colors of cloth.  I am not into tea dying, but I thought I'd try onion-skin & hot water just to see what would happen. WOW.  It was instant!  The used dryer sheets just grabbed the color.  I love it!

Here's plain white fabric, onion dyed fabric, onion dyed dryer sheet, and onion dyed crochet cotton... WOW.

After that, I wished I had snapped some pics, so I did it again with Lily of the Valley, which is supposed to make a pretty soft lime color. 

Unfortunately, nothing happened.  I also tried some plum tea... and it just turned everything boring light brown.  So I'm stickin' with onions.

And then (this is for you Adrianna...) I thought there were some other pretty colors in my sewing room I'd like to show you. Here's a candy jar full of left over threads sitting on my lightbox by the shamrocks. 

Thread is pretty.  Fabric is gorgeous.  And sewing machines are SEXY.  ; )

I know - that wasn't a great lit picture.  Oh well.  And now, for you Michelle... I cleaned my sewing room!  lol  And look - I even cleaned UNDER everything!  I hung a curtain below to hide all the crap under this GIANT desk I got off Kijiji.  The piano stool was my Oma's.  And the pretty stained glass medicine cabines hold some cotton threads.

I love the big big window in this room.  I cannot live without the sky.  

Here's my beloved oilpaint sticks that I don't use nearly enough. 

Here's an aerial photo (don't ask...) of my sewing space in the evening.  It's a giant cutting mat, and the funny looking tablecloth thingy is a custom made fitted sewing cabinet.  It's four feet long and over two feet wide.  I made it with one sheet of pink foam insulation that I bought for $20.  I cut in to fit my machine.  It's flush with my sewing machine.  The foam was then wrapped with a one dollar table plastic table cloth and packing tape.  Brilliant tip from another quilter.  And all that is on one l-shaped dest.  Like I said... GIANT.

I have a Janome 4900 which I love.  But someday I'm getting the new Horizon, Janome 7700.  Someday...  Wish it was now.  :(   I was really hoping I could swing it for my 40'th birthday, especially since the introductory price was 1/3 off.  bleah.

Here it is again Michelle!  all tidied up...

And finally, the cutest color wheel ever in my opinion.  I found it in a magazine.  I bought the bird at a garage sale for 10cents.  (why is there not a cents symbol on my keyboard!??).

Have a great weekend.

Namaste, Monika

so deeply honored

This is amazing.  Another woman tried to buy my winter landscape, and was saddened to hear it had sold.  I phoned her to say that I had another winter piece.  She was thrilled and asked me, "are you sure $30 is enough!??"   Here it is framed - taken from a photo of the lake in winter:

I'm so honored to hear her tell the story of how the little prairie winter scene caught her eye.  It just really meant something to her - enough to put it into her life.  !!  These pieces are so dear to my heart.  It's so humbling to hear that they effect others the same way. 

:' )

And did you see my pies??  Check them out.

~Monika

sailing past Jupiter

yessssssssssssssss

I have my first buyer for my fibre art!! Wow.  I can't wait to meet her!  My framed landscapes hanging in the gallery are sold.  

How thrilled am I!??  

THRILLED.

OVER THE MOON.

: )  That's all.

World's shortest post. 

: )

Monika-over-the-moon,

sewing in Saskatoon

I am a liberated woman!

Hey all you geeks out there... I just learned how to upload my own photos from my camera to my laptop!  mwwwwuuuaahhhahahaha!  This is as liberating as the first time I chose NOT to go to a full serve station.  Still I managed to pour gas on myself.  I was 38.  That's right - 22 years of full serve stations.  lol

But I can sew!  

At least I'm good for somethin'!  

Another thing I cannot do is follow patterns.  I dont' really care to, but to rectify this, I've decided to MAKE a pattern.  So, here's some snap shots from my tutorial-in-the-making.  It's a 'quilt as you go' method for us short arm quilters.

Here is a Dresden Plate from the backside, which are really cool to make.  This is my first attemp...

Is it just me, or do you find sewing machines entirely sexy?  lol  This is my walking foot.  I couldn't quilt without it! 

See?  No buckling or puckers.  Smooooooth.

And then I forget what I'm doing and think, 'hey this pear looks very cool.  let's photograph it!'.

And then I think, 'hey, let's take pics of my Janome!'  lol  Pretty hey?  I found the bird mirrors at Dollarama.  I love them!!  I figure that since rock musicians load their guitars with 'bling', I can too.  You should see the other side!  lol

The sun is shining... I must go do some yoga in my back yard now.  It's been 68 days of rain here, and we are all quite sick of it!!  Have a great weekend!

~Monika

Sewing again... and GREAT NEWS

Yes!  I'm sewing again!  I found a little scrap of fabric from a quilt I made for my mother 2 years ago.  It is berries - and so I thought I would make some pie.  Check it out!  It's the best pie I've ever made:

and another pie...

and another pie... (why it is sideways is BEYOND me)

and just one more... (pie in the sky)

I hope to take these to the gift shop at the Berry Barn, and sell them there.  

But if not... I'll post them on my ETSY SHOP!  Yes, I really really did it.  I figured the darn thing out.  lol  It needs some serious tweaking, but like mom says, "nothing to it but to do it".  She's really right.  Nothing stops my except my own fears and insecurities.

So here it is:  "My Sweet Prairie"...  hmmm.  how do I get a link on here.  ?  I did it on facebook...

http://www.mysweetprairie.etsy.com

Oh whatever...

anyhow, one of the 'curators' on etsy marked 2 of my items as "favorite picks" (out of 16 newbies).  I was SO in awe.  Little victories, you know?  Little fears completely overcome.  It's so good.

I did a few more landscape postcards as well.  Some of my "Spring as Far as the Eye Can See", but without the dark storm clouds.

I love those birdies so much!!

And Farmers' Fields with a River Running Through.  I looked at areal photos of the land around Saskatoon and was surprised at how well groomed those crops are!  If you look, you'll notice a couple distinct methods.  It's really neat - like quilting o the land!  lol  It's so cool!

Here is what the backs look like:

Goodnight all.

~Monika

Hey Blog Friends! Click on This!

Good morning.  : )

There's a row of links under my blog heading with many photos for you to see.  "Past Quilts" and "Current Quilts" and "Fibre Art" are quite full of pics for you to look at... complete with sideways photos that I do not know how to turn.  Sam I'd love your comments!

Your geekless friend,

~Monika

You Need To Understand How Hard This Is!

I SWEAR: I am computer-retarded.  I am so geekless it is ridiculous.  Making this blog was painful.  And I still don't get how everything works.  I can program a VCR, but when it comes to computers...

I have not been sewing.  The last couple days I've spent PAINSTAKINGLY trying to make a store on Etsy.  It should be simple.  I mean, they give you so many detailed instructions and tutorials.  It's really laid all out for you.  Maybe it's that I can't make it through all that text.  Reading just evaporates my focus.  Weird.  

Anyhoo - it's getting there... I'm building.  But what a friggin' time- eater!  gad.

I need a personal secretary or business manager.  I just want to sew and make a living.  I am a creative force, not a programmer.  Are you laughing at me?  It's really bad.  I don't even read novels.  Never have.  I get bored.  I like pictures and inspirational quotes.  (Michelle - you are right up my alley if you are reading this!  : )

Which brings me to my next confession - I don't know how to read your comments.  Well - let me back track... I didn't know the comments were there!  Adrianna came over the other day to show me her blog, and I could not figure out how to "be a follower" of other posts.  

I just want to sew and stare at the sky and listed to the birds.  

Well you know, there will be a HUGE announcement when I get my Etsy shop up and running.  It will be a bigger event than turning 40. 

Blogging off now...

~Monika

Opportunities Knocking!

It's June - and finally feels like it.  My gosh, what a whack of rain we've had!  Still, it's made for some gorgeous photos!  I've now decided I will take my camera everywhere i go.  I've got some amazing shots that might not even make it onto fibre.  I'm entering several in photo contests, so we'll see how that goes.

In whining about needing a bigger machine to the Janome dealer here in town, I mentioned my postcards.  Her response was, "YOU make POSTCARDS!? Would you consider teaching a class for us?"  (hell yes!)

I just received an email from a friend, saying that her mother-in-law stumbled across my fibre art photo album on facebook, and wants my art for Greenwater Lake's "Art in the Park".  (hell yes!)

I think I'll sit and stitch up a pile of postcards and approach the Mendel art gallery store, as well as the Berry Barn gift shop.  I'm feeling pretty good about this.

And finally, I'm planning to enter some fibre art & photos into the "125 Years of the Saskatoon Exhibition" art shows & contests.  I have some great ideas... but that doesn't mean I'll get them completed.  I have about 8 weeks until the entry date. 

: )

  And now I"m off to my son's track and feild meet.  It's his first ever.  i''m so excited to be the mom in the situation!  I remember every year, my mother cheering me on!  Great memories.  I got second place in everything.  (poop on you long legged Brenda who was a whole grade ahead of me!)  lol

enjoy the sunshine,

~Monika