Friday, April 30, 2010

Opening day!

Fishing!
What are you fishing for?
Around here...we are actually fishing for -
Fish!

At the river's edge
(trout)
Grey Ghost
(trout - Yellowstone cutthroat, Brown, Pacific rainbow)
General Practitioner
(Steelhead)
Hunt for the October Redd
(Sockeye Salmon)
After School Snack
(Large Mouth Bass)
Large Mouth Essentials
(Bass)
Pike in Pursuit
(Northern Pike)
  Eye to Eye
(Walleye)

Roberta Andresen - of Snoqualmie Sunset Designs
Knows her fish...and makes it incredibly easy 
for the rest of us to follow her directions in these patterns.
So, next time the fishing person in your life
asks for a fish quilt...
You'll be able to deliver!
Kiki likes fish.
She has a pet fish named 
Fish Head
and she has a plethora of stuffed fish to play with...
 stuffed with catnip...
CatFish are really easy to make using wool roving and
a felting needle.
The trouble comes when the catnip is incorporated...
Its hard to keep the cat away til the felting is done.
You can find the patterns for all of the fish at 
or 
Whatever you are fishing for - Hope you catch it!



Monday, April 26, 2010

Earth Day Surprise!

Now, I admit...
I don't do everything I ought to do everyday of the year to help keep 
Good ol' Mother Earth green and healthy...
We have made some choices that make sense for us...
My spousal-unit and I share a car.
We plan our trips so we aren't driving willy-nilly using fuel.
We use washable cloth where we can instead of always grabbing a paper-towel.
We recycle.
I love thrift stores and re-purposing.
We have a lovely worm bin.
We garden and use the grass clippings to make composted mulch...
Doing what we can and adding to the list.
On Earth Day...
I was merrily planting little veggie plants that had been started indoors...
(yes, those are egg shells in a used egg carton)
and thinking about other healthy things we could be doing for
Momma E...
When my spousal-unit remarked about a lovely plant growing
in a newly cleaned-up section of our yard...
"Look at this! It's a trillium, isn't it?"
Well, I'll be darned - it is!
I thought he'd planted it as a surprise, 
cause I've been wanting trillium but didn't want to dig up the plants 
I find on nature walks.
Nope! He wouldn't take credit...
It was an Earth Day Surprise from good ol' Mother E.
Oh, Happy Day!
It's like getting a sticker or stamp on our good choices calendar...
I made a wet felted trillium in honor of the new plant.
It's a bit "cheesy".
I'm going to have to practice this technique until I master it.
What does your Mother E. look like?
 "You can see it from here" a quilt designed and made by beach Glass designs
is a good indicator of our local Mother E influence.
Mountains, blue sky, trees in abundance...
Look at all the blocks in this beauty, 
Maple leaf, snails trail, Hole in the barn door, flying geese, bears paw,
fish ladder, pigeons in the coop, log cabin,
Toad in a puddle, pinwheels, and delectable mountains as the border...
Wowza!
Now, I'll bet you're thinking this is a really hard quilt...
Nope!
It's so simple it can be worked as a sampler.
Alter the barn to suit a building in your life or history, 
change the colors to your local "Mother E" colors.
You can even replace a block or two with something local and appropriate.
Maybe you'll use this quilt as inspiration for your next masterpiece.
Oh, Happy Earth Day!
Every Day!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Fire in the sky...

Fire in the sky...
On April 14th a good portion of the 
Midwest experienced an incredible 
view of a meteor that entered our atmosphere, broke apart and
bits of meteorite hit the earth!
Wow! 
How science fiction is that?
If you saw the bright sky and you're thinking you might want to commemorate the event...
Here's a quick and easy pattern by
Nancy Olsen Spornitz
called 
"Trip around a Star"
You can purchase the pattern on our web site here
or on eBay here

I caught a star in my needle felted hand - I did!
Here's proof.
Silly huh!?
I like silly.
Want to learn more about stars and "celestial happenings"
Check out this site - Astro Bob
I'm impressed.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Kiki and Ralph

Kiki and Ralph are buddies...
They are having a lovely conversation...
Well, don't look if you don't like mice...
Felted mice, that is...
This conversation lasted quite a while then -
Ralph was sent sailing across the room and
the chase was on.
Lucky for Ralph - he's needle felted and used to being poked with sharp objects.
Ralph likes to hide in J's pocket.
You wouldn't think that would be much of an adventure but to a felted mouse -
it's a wild ride in the washing machine and
the snuggly warm tumble in the dryer.
Simple pleasures.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Thimbles to crow about...

Thimbles - thimbles
Oh, my!...Oh, my!
I love 'em.
Especially plastic thimbles...
Barely useable but oh, so colorful.
 
My friend, Ms. Snoqualmie Sunset
found a basket full of 
spools of thread
and was inspired to make
this lovely piece...
Brilliant! 
Wouldn't you say!?
The pattern to use for your inspiration can be purchased

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Who Who Whooters!

Ann R of Santa Cruz, Ca.
Made this piece using our Whooters pattern as inspiration.
We are honored!
Ann entered her quilt in Pajaro Valley Quilt Assoc. Quilt Show 
in Feb 2010
Ann was honored too - with a ribbon
in the Challenge category - 
"Best use of scraps"
Way to go, Ann!
So very cool and fun!
This is the image on the pattern cover.
Made by Susan Hill of Su-Sun designs.

If you have a good picture of a project you made using one of our patterns as inspiration...
Send it to me at Rabbit@Lavender-Rabbit.com.
We'll post it on our web site and blog site for all to see.
Fun!