New projects are emerging!

I have been working on a new series of butterfly fiber art pieces. They are for a new project that is scheduled to go live the first week in July. I can't spill the beans quite yet but it should be exciting and a lot of fun as well being a great opportunity for all of you, more later on that.
The Alliance for the American Quilt has a yearly challenge, this year I did mine and I love the way it turned out. I don't know if I mentioned that we had raised some butterflies lately, from caterpillars to butterflies. The twins loved this and we spent many hours observing these amazing insects transform into their winged finale. This was my inspiration for the AAQ's challenge, we had to make a house shaped quilt approx 19"x15", so I decided to do a butterfly house. Although we didn't raise monarchs that is what I painted since they were a bit more colorful than the painted ladies we ended up with. I placed them onto Matilla poppies which are also in bloom in my yard. These quilts will go on tour around the country to build excitement and interest for the auction which will help raise money for the group. If your a member I would appreciate your vote for my quilt since the awards are based on members votes, my number is 103. The quilt is painted, beaded and quilted by me. Here is the link to the quilt and description along with the website.

Home again, home again, rig a gig gig!

I can still hear my mom say that every time I pull into the driveway after a trip. It didn't matter if it was for the day or a week, she said it every time. I truly felt that way too.  Spring market was a huge success for us, newest bag and patterns were very well received. Then it was on to our vacation which was packed with fun and adventure. I will have another post for that part of the trip. The thing about vacations is its always nice to come home to your own bed and your clothes come out of a drawer verses a suitcase. Only a few mishaps like our washer breaking and overflowing, flooding our back laundry room and bathroom. Thank God we were home, doing our first load of laundry after our trip when it decided to spill its guts. All fixed and laundry all done in the middle of trying to make some end of the month deadlines. I was so excited that I made it!!! Yeah, see even me, the worlds worst procrastinator can get it done!

I need to catch everyone up on my busy, crazy life, this post will be about the garden tour. The weather was amazing and we had over 1200 people come through the yard. It was a fun day, filled with people who love the garden and plants as much as we do. My garden was called "The Artists Garden" and I had several friends sketching or painting on site. Selling cards, paintings etc. I had intended on sketching with Pat but was just too distracted with all the questions and people wanting to talk. It will forever be one of my best memories, giving back to the hospital that saved Jennifer's life and having such fun doing it. Be a cheerful giver!!!

My girlfriend Marta, is an talented photographer and came during the tour to photograph and help me capture the day. Most of these photos are from her, thank you Marta!! She managed to capture all the activities of the day.

our fountain all planted

Sally Holmes rose climbing up our arch in front yard

The side gate that leads to the rose garden

Our giant pot that sits behind the Playboy roses.

The bees love the yard and help me keep things going.

People milling about

My Bacchus man fountain that is also planted

more of the crowds

Pat came up to sketch with me

Hummingbirds love the Coral Trees that were in full bloom

Jennifer and I having fun visiting with Pat for a minute

My moss roof house full of succulents I did at Mariannes party is growing!

Looking over the pool

Randy greeting people

Pats view  as she sketched

Randy spent lots of time giving out his secret rose food mixture

Susan painting on site

The twins tea party table all set for guests

A bubbling fountain tucked into the rose garden, trumpeter roses are in front.

Betty Prior rose

Little birdhouses that the twins painted and sold to help raise money for abused children

 

My artichokes were loaded and so big that the guy writing the garden description wrote "artichoke tree"!

Pats sketching supplies and sketch, awesome!

Chatting

More chatting

Susan selling artwork

One of my favorite pictures of my smoke tree backlit.

My stain glass hanging in the barbecue area

A perfect ending to a perfect day, thanks everyone that came and helped to make our tour a success!

May sketch class

We had our monthly sketch class on Sunday this month since my garden tour was on our regular day. I had been playing with a macro lens on my camera and had taken some wonderful photos of the flowers in my garden. These macro shots make wonderful pages for journaling since they can be almost abstract and they fill the page with a wonderful color base for painting. I love to look at macro photography,it gives us a new perspective on something we look at everyday. The tiny details that are revealed can be amazing in themselves. Take the item this month to zoom in on something and paint some journal pages. These also meek great do ahead pages for journaling later.

Here are the pages from class, Marilyns is first then Christas double page spread followed by Penny's wonderful pansy and then my page. I added some elements to my page,lines,dots,text box etc. I think I may go in and paint the text box yellow. This is a good place to add your creative text we worked on last month!












- Desiree

Crazy changing weather!

We are still finishing up the last minute things before the garden tour. Its amazing how much work this really is, and I didn't think the yard was that bad to start with. I was hoping to seal and enhance all the flagstone but its now cold and there is a lot of moisture in the air so I am concerned it won't dry in time. It would be terrible to have sticky glaze all over every ones shoes, not to mention the millions of glazed foot prints I would also have on the rest of the concrete! Ahhhggg. OK, here's hoping for some sun today! The roses are in full flush so we are glad for the cooler weather as the blooms will hold much longer than if it was hot. This extra dewy wetness has got Randy spraying for powdery mildew all the time now, we just can't win. With all said, I am sure it will be fine and everything will turn out perfectly. For those of you who can not make it to my gardens they are filled with roses and annual flowers. I grow many hummingbird and butterfly friendly plants which are all in full bloom right now. The Hummingbirds are everywhere and often buzz us as they flit about. There are cement benches that line the walkways, surrounded by roses and nestled in the dappled shade from big trees. Their are fountains where the water cascades over large balls and into a pond, another fountain is full of flowers. The pool is surrounded by outdoor living spaces with a fireplace which warms the room next to the spa warm in the winter months. The barbecue area is for entertaining our large family with food and provides lots of seating for everyone. That area leads to another small lawn area and my small garden where I grow things to eat and can. I love making jellies and preserves from my many fruit trees. The best part of the yard, and the reason we built it, was for Jennifer. The whole yard is handicap friendly, allowing her access to everything, even the pool and fireplace. Ramps and cement pathways let her meander anywhere she likes. We knew we would not be able to travel much or attend many events at the rest of the families homes since most are not handicap friendly. This way we have the parties here, she is free to join in and everyone still gets to be together. It is truly our secret garden and paradise, built for a special need, with love. We have many special memories here, lots of fun family events, kids learning to swim, days working in the yard, sketching and painting. We are truly blessed!

I am trying to get some artwork and some cards together to sell during the tour. I have a few artist friends coming to sketch and paint in the yard with me during the tour, my garden is called "the artists garden". In anticipation I am doing some macro journal pages so they are ready to record the event with just my words, here is one of my pages and some photos of the yard. I will have more pictures after the event to share, enjoy.

Large cement benches are nestled into roses for sitting and enjoying the moment.

We grow over 125 roses with over 70 varieties.

This is the gate they enter on the side yard for the tour, it is a wonderful area filled with roses  and perennials. This is where the kids birdhouses will hang.

The girls loved to help us plant the flowers

Tucked into a palm, over the pool, we have a new bush tit nest filled with babies. If you look closely you will see that these nests are woven with found materials and even spider webs!