Sketchbook Challenge/studioQ

As August is about to come to an end, I decided I had better get my Sketchbook Challenge entered on Flicker.  The theme this month is "Everyday Things".  Great little challenge in that the subject is SO broad...here is my entry:

Morning Ritual

Every morning, after we have had our walk and breakfast, my husband and I sit on the back porch and do crossword puzzles from the Star-Telegram.  There are two smaller puzzles on a different page than the NYTimes puzzle....we usually don't even attempt that one as we would be all day trying to finish it!!!!

And yesterday, my studioQ bunch met here at my house...great meeting as usual!  Several of the gals had wanted to do an activity on silk screen printing and although I had not done it for a few years, it is a medium that I love and had wanted to get back to again.  So this gave me an excuse to get all the stuff out and create some of my own prints!  Here are some pictures from our "Show and Tell" which we always have first before project time.

Heather's Latest...she uses a lot of her own dyed fabric.

Beth had more of her beautiful beaded spools to show.

Bethany was showing her painted fabric and some Christmas cards she made from it.

Susan has really been bitten by the Zentangle bug!

The start of our studioQ zentangle collage;  a few tiles yet to be done.

Some of or silk screen endeavors!

Hot! Hot! HOT!

Did I mention it is hot???  7:30 PM Texas time and it is still nearly 103 by our thermometer!  We are so dry; everything is really burning up...my big fear is some smoking fool will toss a cigarette out a vehicle window and poof!  There we go!!!!

We are up at 6:30AM...take our morning walk...come home and I am in the house for the remainder of the day with the air conditioning on for the rest of the day!  I would not have made a very good pioneer!!  Although I am pretty sure I lived in Texas long ago in another life...so maybe I was tougher then!

While staying in and trying to keep cool, I have gotten quite a bit of reading and sewing done.   One book I just finished and really enjoyed was Walter Mosley's "The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey".  I have read some of Mosley's  light mysteries with Easy Rawlins and they are entertaining, but this book is much deeper...has wonderful, memorable characters,  and what a descriptive and yet comfortable style he has in his writing.

Another book I have just finished is "Deep South" by Nevada Barr.  She has written many books about her character Anna (I am drawing a blank on the last name) who is a Park Ranger.  Anna is always stationed at a different park and has a mystery/murder to solve!!  I enjoy Barr's style...again just good, wholesome light reading but hard to put down!

My Quilt "Aurora Borealis" for the guild challenge...not quite finished!

My studioQ group met Monday...as always, had a great time...mucho laughing.  We are getting ready to have our own display at the guild quilt show in September.  Last meeting I had shown how to do a few zentangles, and now most are as addicted as I am so we are each making one for a collage to display as well as many of our artistic endeavors!!!  Here are a few of our "show and tell" items.

Sue's Batik Challenge

Bethany's scarf made from scrap yarn, thread etc

Kay's fabric Zentangle heart

Our first Zentangle collage attempt

Busy Week!!

"The Power of Imagination makes us infinite."  John Muir

Monday: Board Meeting and this year's first show meeting.  The topic of our show this year is "Everyday Heirlooms" with a special exhibit of quilt and quilted items that "tell a story".  I have volunteered to do the Donation Quilt again this year. I made up kits for members to make the blocks, and I will get it put together. Some one else will do the quilting.

This is the "Birth of a Quilt"  over 800 31/2" half square triangle blocks.  Now to just get them all put together with the design in my head!

Thursday: Met our friends, Debby and Raymond for dinner at Mi Familia in Granbury.

Friday: TVQG meeting.  Everyone did a great job of getting their kits turned in to me. Our speaker was Karen Combs who does very neat Optical Illusion quilts.  I wish I had taken her workshop the day before but I didn't sign up in time.  Then I had an eye appt. at 1:30 so after the meeting, I just killed a little time by going to the Fort Worth Art Center where the old Modern used to be.  They always have some interesting art displays...one in particular caught my eye...Threaded Paintings...all done by hand, embroidery...very detailed!!  I recommend going to see it.  And I grabbed a little lunch at the Z-Cafe there in the same building...a nice little deli type place.

Sunday: Went to dinner with Bob and Eddy Lou then looked at each others' pics of our Alaskan trips.  They are planning another trip there this summer.

Monday: studioQ meeting at Bethany's.  We had a great time doing marbling on fabric using shaving cream for a base and Dyna-fabric paint.  Our recipe ingredient this time was to do a symbol.  There were only seven of us at the meeting and only four of us did the block for a symbol.

Top-Heather's swirl; middle-Beth's heart and bottom-Wendy's Chinese "sticks". Mine is not finished...I chose the symbol for female and was writing quotes from women around it but need to do a lot more work on it.

And today...it snowed...again!!!  I didn't even take any pictures of it!  By afternoon it was all gone!