QUILTING TREES

 I have been spending the last few days quilting these trees along with a third one not shown here.
This takes a long time but is worth the work.

NOTE:   I was asked about the size of this piece so thought I would add that to my post.  It will be approzimately 38" X 24" when finished.

In between I take breaks and walk the dogs outside and work on my rock terrace garden that runs down our front yard.

The soil is pretty lousy and there are a lot of rocks and stones in it.  There are two levels but the second one further down is just mulched for now and I will plant it next spring.  For now the first row is all sedum and russian sage.   Great for attracting bees and butterflies and also survivors in this type of situation.

Feathers

Yesterday was spent quilting the branch and the under body.    Today quilted the tail and added the back and the wingtips.  It is slowly coming together.

Swing

Building the shoreline now.  The swing is in and will be hidden on the bottom by a bush and then grasses so trust me ....it will look so much better as this progresses.  Made another small pine in front of swing.

I must say I am tired today so will quit now and go watch the movie "Gravity".  Rented it along with a pizza this morning.  Then will work again tomorrow.  I am excited to do this shoreline now and get to the water for all that goes on it.  Hope you are enjoying this journey with me as I am in sharing it.

Furthest From The Shoreline

Well I just spent 3 hours at the machine quilting needles on these pine trees.   I need to get up and walk around and try to refocus my eyes!!!  However, all the furthest from the shoreline trees and shrubs are finished.  Now I will move into the edge of the shoreline and do the small shrubs, grasses and maybe even the pier.

I purposely left the lighter colored pine more open as I did not want to hide the house totally which it is in reality.  I am pretty satisfied with it so far and feel good that what comes next will enhance quite a bit.

Free Motion Quilting

 I am still working on quilting this long needle pine.  Yesterday got away from me a bit as I had a full day of running around and visiting my mother.    Hopefully today I will finish it.

In the meantime had to take this early morning shot of a cardinal who actually woke me up with his beautiful melody.  Seems even with this below zero weather he is thinking spring!

Lac Du Flambeau

 Each summer we rent a house on Bolton Lake located in "The North Woods" on the Native American Ojibwa  Reservation in Lac Du Flaumbeau (Torch Lake) Wisconsin.
I took this photo last year of a lake house owned by an elderly couple.  You do not see much of them but early in the morning or late in the evening they go out in their sailboat and peacefully and quietly tour around the lake after which they dock their boat and return to their home.   Even though the photo was over exposed I saved it to use one day.  Today is that day.  

So I have prepared the background and will start working on the foreground next.  I am excited about working on this piece as it will take me back there early....to the peacefulness of the setting where you can hear the loon calls at night.