The winner of a packet of beads and buttons to embellish her quilt art is Bonnie58. I have sent her an email for her snail mail information.
Thank you all for a great Blog Hop, I’m sorry everyone couldn’t win. Keep quilting!
Hyacinth Beans! ** INFORMATION***
***Lots of questions about these. I’ve always grown them here in the Mid-South as a decorative vine. In the orient and Africa they are grown as a food crop. When young, all parts are edible including the leaves and flowers. Like nasturtiums the flowers look wonderful in salads. I have not eaten them and will continue to eat my garden variety green beans and enjoy these for their color. You can buy seeds HERE***
The beans are here! I was so worried that the heat and slower growing of my vine would mean no beans this year. If I didn’t get any beans, I wouldn’t have a vine next year since I planted all I had saved from 2 years ago.
We are getting some much needed rain from the hurricane so you can see the droplets on the beans this morning.
Aren’t these gorgeous!?!?
Quilters Blog Hop Party! My 200th POST!
This is soooo cool I can hardly believe it. THIS IS MY 200TH BLOG POST! That’s what my stats say at least. I haven’t been counting!
So this is an extra celebration for me. My friends at the Quilting Gallery are having a Blog Hop Party. Back to School Days Blog Hop Party with Give Aways
Come join the fun! Tell me how you embellish your quilts. Do you like to use beads, buttons, hand or machine embroidery or found objects of all kinds? Answer this question by leaving me a comment and I will choose one lucky winner when the sign up closes on September 3rd. The prize for one lucky winner will be a packet of beads and buttons to embellish your quilts. I promise these are great and many one of a kinds.
***Note*** I approve comments so your comment may not show up right away. If you have trouble posting a comment try another browser. Sometimes Google Chrome doesn’t like me and I have to use Internet Explorer. Don’t be discouraged and don’t give up!
Off the Wall Fridays Work in Progress
This started life as an Amish style wall quilt made with left over corners from pillows I used to make and sell. That was too long ago to think about. Somewhere over the years as it lived in a closet it ended up in the laundry and came out crinkled and wrinkled in the way of 100% cotton quilts..
A couple of years ago I decided to use it as a practice piece for discharging and adding color back…yuck, it was a hot mess….then I started adding free motion quilting even though it was already hand quilted. When my friend Liz H. came last week to play for the day I pulled this piece out of storage and began covering it with white acrylic paint to add emphasis to the crinkles and quilted lines. Suddenly I started liking where it was going.
I’ve been adding color back into the piece with fabric paints, oil pastels and who knows what will strike my fancy.There is a lot left to do but I think this deserves to be completed in its new life. I get in a zone when I paint so this might get finished sooner rather than later.
If you would like to see more quilt art WIPs, check out Nina-Marie’s blog . This is her first link party and you all are invited to join the fun.
Not Quilt Related…maybe
I’m not at all sure that anything I photograph is NQR or NAR..not quilt related or not art related. In the life of an artist everything that we experience that appeals to our senses is art related. It might be sight [obviously] sound, touch or even smell.
I took these photos this morning when I realized that my hyacinth bean was growing! Not only growing, but blooming! It won’t be long until I have long purple beans. The entire growing season of the plant is a riot of dark greens and rosy purples.
When we painted the porch area we removed flower boxes from under the windows. One of those boxes had been the nesting location for a Carolina Wren. I had 3 gourds that were painted fall colors to adorn the porch in a basket for autumn decoration. We decided they were better put to use as alternate houses for the Carolina Wren next year. This one hangs above the bean with a long tendril wrapping around the wire.
Carolinas like their home to be in vegetation so I was so happy to see this happening.
The last photo is the astilbe that comes up every year in front of the mahonia holly. I love the contrast of colors and textures in this front garden area. Some leaves have a matte finish and others like the holly are glossy and bright. The bright sun creates dramatic light and dark areas. It is these contrasts that delight me and make me wonder if there is an art quilt or a painting in here somewhere.
JP Dawes Contemporary Artist 