How Does My Garden Grow

I made this little gem in a David Walker class. A 15 minute composition with an additional 15 minutes for quilting and binding. From the scrap bag. It's only 6 inches square and so wonderful, huh? I placed it in the center of this Spring wreath that hangs up in the kitchen all year long. At one time I thought I'd switch it out for seasonal wreaths but never did. Of course, it never looked this good without the little quilt inside.

This is an oil pastel from a magazine picture. I think it's a tropical fruit of some kind but the luscious color made me want to "make" it. The shadow at the bottom came out perfect and the colors on the "bottom" of the fruit worked out nice also. I did some blending of the oil pastels with a Q-tip. So less of the paper texture is visible. I know some of you like that--it is present in the background. I have to admit to not working at all in fabric now that I have started doing the paintings and pastels. I feel like a "bad mommy" liking one child more than the others.

My husband gave me "marching orders" for the week. No more watching Law and Order CI and sitting on the couch eating pretzels. I have to have a quilt or a painting by Friday. I checked out the audio book of Pride and Prejudice and do have sewing machine work to do while listening. But I have snow shoveling and laundry to do also. And my volunteer shelvers continue to be "no shows" and I have had to go into work and shelve books. Oh, I am SO popular! So conflicted!

I am also so......I don't even have the vocabulary to describe how I feel when I read Mrs. Mel. She has made THREE LARGE FULLY QUILTED GORGEOUS PIECES since December......... it really isn't fair. I know she watches Law And Order.

Finally, my "garden". My paperwhites are blooming and as Mrs. Mel says "stinking" up the house. My Amarillis are to the right and just starting to send up a little tip. Checking things out like a periscope on a submarine. My Christmas cactus continues to bloom--well, really it always blooms because I feed it Miracle Grow in a very weak solution. There are Jade stems rooting in glasses to the left. I bought potting soil so I could get them into pots so they can get going and grow up into nice Jade circles or balls.

There was a blog from Hawaii saying it was good luck in the new Chinese New Year to have paperwhites blooming. The New Year starts next Monday, January 29. I hope I have some flowers then. It's the Year of the Dog and both my husband and I are Dogs. I want the maximum amount of Good Luck this year. We've had our share of "not so good luck" and some downright "bad luck" since our last Dog Year so I would appreciate some extra Good Luck this year. I know you make your own luck. I know that. But.