Finally, Spring!

Last weekend we had two actual spring days in a row!  It seems Mother nature finally got to my order.
I spent a bit of time in the gardens clearing the detritus of last year.  I was happy to find a few flowers already making appearances! 

Up in the nursery, the babies are growing up fast.  I call this the leaning tower of cute. 

I have been thinking of doing another Ann Brauer style piece using coral and turquoise.  But how to transition between those colors?  I tried colored pencils, but they didn't blend as well as I would like.  Watercolor crayons? Same thing.  So I got a plain white t-shirt at ACMoore and got out the fabric paints.  I didn't have coral, but the one called "salmon" was close.  This was done using "Dye-na-flow" paints.

As long as I was at it, I decided to try and cover a stain on one of my favorite shirts.  I used a color called "Brass" on this one.










Here are the finished shirts.  So now I know- it's a sort of purply grey I need to find for the transition.  I see fabric shopping in my future  I wonder- do quilt shops sell fabric by the inch?

Since I had the paints out, and Kathryn Schmidt had just done a post about fabric painting in a bag, I gave that a try.  I'm not sure what kind of paint she uses.  I used the Setacolor paints, which are very thick, so I always thin them at least 50% (approximately).  Anyway, my results weren't as striking as hers, but I am quite pleased.
The pink and orange one was the first into the bag.  Then after squishing that around a bit, I took that out and out the other piece in.  It wasn't getting very colorful so I added a few drops of purple.

The turquoise was first this time.  When I took it out, I realized I had grabbed the wrong piece of fabric.  The second piece was much bigger.  So I added some green and a few drops of purple again.  When it came out, I scrunched it up and dabbed some silver on the bumps.  I may go back and stamp more silver on that one.








Earth day is coming up soon.  Many places have events where you can safely dispose of household chemicals, e-waste, etc.  (Eco-fest at GCC is Saturday, April 13, from 10 -2) If you've been wondering what to do with that stuff, find the collection in your area!

I am grateful for:
Sitting in the sun outside with my kitty next to me soaking up some sun.
Listening to the frogs sing in the evenings. (you can hear it here)
Aching knees and back, and broken fingernails from time spent in the gardens.
Collaborating with a fellow quilter on a project- that moment when you both realize it's perfect!
Playing with tiny kittens every day.