The guardian of the vegetable garden

I have always had a vegetable garden. I love growing my own food, organically. Being able to go out and pick things right from the yard and then prepare them for dinner just feels right. I remember when the kids were little they loved to go into the garden and pick the strawberries or sweet peas and eat them right off the plant. I am glad that we never had to deal with pesticides. I have grown some pretty different things, trying to keep the kids interested in the garden. I have grown gourds, blue potatoes, peanuts, jicima, pumpkins, loffa sponges and more. Now my garden is so small compared to years back. It is just about the right size for the three of us. I could use one more bed but I spill over into the yard a bit and I think it is working. This year I bought a scarecrow and two crows just for fun. I thought the grandkids would like them. I put them into the garden box and now they are almost covered by the brocolli and cauliflower. Here is my sketch of my little vegetable garden and the new guardian of the food!

Arbutus- 2010 Garden Moleskine Sketchbook

I decided to finally paint in the big Moleskine sketchbook I bought some time ago. I had been saving it for something special but I wasnt sure what that was. This year I decided to make it my garden sketchbook. Our yard is finally just about done, and we love spending time out there. For most of our marriage we have loved working outside, there is something about turned soil, growing things to eat and seeing the reward for all of your hard work that continues to call us back. This yard has been by far the most involved, combining elements of design, function, disability access and beauty. I thought it would be great to paint it through out this year, at different stages. The poppies were my first post, this is my second, the Arbutus or strawberry tree

Nap time

In my painting group online called Painting Friends we do a weekly challenge called "Friday Foto". We have to paint or draw the photo and post. I haven't had much of an opportunity to participate due to time constraints but today I made it a point to paint one of the challenges. Stephie, a wonderful artist and amazing photographer posted this weeks picture she took at the zoo. Here is my kitty picture, thanks Steph.

Painted Paper towel quiltlet

This is my SAQA auction quilt this year, its very springy. I love to save the used paper towels from my students when they take one of my painting classes. These paper towels often turn out better than some of the painted fabrics. The are usually used to wipe up an assortment of colors and turn out beautiful, they are wonderful for collage pieces. I painted the fabric background and then used the paper towels to create the flowers. The leaves are first painted loosely onto the wet fabric then I added dyed silk fabric for the leaves. Some thread work and beads to help give it some texture finish it off. I hope you like, it will be available for bid coming soon. 

Walk with the Animals

Every year the Humane society has a walk to raise money for the shelter, even after all these years we are still involved. Jennifer was the manager before her accident and she still loves the animals and what she did so we enjoy supporting them through different events. The walk this year was amazing. I can't believe how big its gotten, hundreds of people and their dogs showed up around 8ish to have a pancake breakfast and then go on the walk around the lake. The weather was wonderful and everyone seemed to have a great time.We took Chloe and Pee wee who enjoyed all the other dogs and treats they were handing out. There was agility demonstrations and freesby dogs too.  Here are a few sketches and pictures

This last picture is a friend that Pee wee found and he loved her. He keeps trying to talk her into coming onto his lap, but Pee wee would not oblige, she allowed him to love on her on her terms only, LOL. Such a girl.

Quilted card

Quilted card
Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

I often experiment with new and different techniques on small pieces of fabric. I end up with lots of quiltlets, small pieces of art that have no purpose other that being a happy quiltet. Today I made a card by taking my little piece of fabric and putting onto a stabilizer, then I did some outlining in black thread with my free motion foot. Once I was happy with that I switched over to a zig zag stitch and added some ribbon and metalic threads and stitched it all down to the card base at the same time. I left about 3" of ribbon hanging off of the end so I could tie a bow. I think it makes a great card for someone special, its also a great way to use those left over quilt blocks. You can purchase card stock with envelopes at a craft store or art store. Enjoy

Finally I can reveal the whole quilt- Tortured Soul

I know that I only posted a small cropped image of this quilt since we were all sworn to silence prior to the judging. I am sharing all of it now, yesterday I was informed that the piece was selected to hang in the show that will be at Long Beach, CA this year. I will be posting more information on the right side soon. It was an invitational juried exhibit so I was not only honored to be asked again this year but so excited when we were emailed the list of accepted quilts. Our group that did the fractured quilt in Sallys honor were all asked to submit quilts this year and I am proud to say the three of us were excepted this year! Yeahhhhh, way to go everyone.  The theme was "Beneath the surface" and my quilt depicts the things that haunt us or torment us that we keep hidden or buried beneath the surface. I did this sketch in life drawing class and even as I drew her she looked haunted and I wondered what she was thinking or worrying about. The sketch has always been one of my favorites since it really showed worry. When I decided to try and translate it into fabric I was worried it would lose the haunting look she had. I am happy with it. It is done with machine applique, paint, micro stippling and thread work, I have also hidden about 8 words within the background, you have to search them out to find them. Its another message of caring enough about each other to look past the surface and to share the true persons issues. It is the hope that we not let our relationships be so shallow but we reach deeper and care for each other.

Poppies are bloomin'

I am always drawn to flowers, it doesn't matter if its in a yard, or on a hillside they captivate me and draw me in. I love them so much that every year I fill my yard with them, all different varieties and colors. I do have my favorites though, the ones that seem to revisit my much loved gardens every year. In the spring I love the faces of pansy's and rannaculas and those poppies. Their single petals, long, slender stems swaying in the wind as the sun lights them up is worth waiting for. They burst open every morning, waiting for me to come and soak it all in. We attempted to plant and prune in a timely manner this year, trying to ensure tons of blooms for the garden tour. We were selected, along with 5 other homes, to be on the local tour. I am hoping that the yard will wake up in time to be in full bloom but with all the rain, and the cold I don't know if the yard will cooperate this year.Here is my painting from this morning, sitting on the grass, soaking in the sun as I painted poppies.  

New Textured Fruit

Playing with textures and colored pencils on fabric here are some pears. I also used watercolors in the background before applying the colored pencils.

Another Sneak Peek of a WIP

This is a piece I am working on, trying to finish for a deadline fastly approaching. With all the
interuptions this week I am praying I will finish. Just another sneak peek at a
different project that is 36" x 48"

Peek at my new project

Peek at my new project
Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

Playing with some watercolor techniques, in inbetween sewing my latest art quilt. Sorry its blurry, taken with my phone. I started with a picture printed on my printer onto regular paper, you use vodka to transfer to paper, then enhance and add more paints, at the same time I incorporated tape layers to give it depth. At the end I pulled paint off using a stencil and a scrub brush.

March 3, Blakes Birthday

In the middle of headline disasters, busy schedules, family deaths comes a breathe of fresh air, a new life. It brings with it so much more than itself, it brings hope and renewal. A promise of a tomorrow full of dreams and aspirations. Is it just a baby?, yes, that too. A cute, fat, healthy baby boy, Blake weighing in at 9 lbs. 6 oz. at 11:11. We spent the last 12 hours watching our latest miracle happen, our family grew again, we are now 15. Happy Birthday Blake

Randy's birthday weekend and Houses for Haiti

Nothing warms my heart like having family around. We had two of our grandchildren this weekend and I had lots of things planned. The clouds rolled in on Saturday and it poured most of the day, it was a perfect day to stay inside, in our pj's and work on crafts. I always have an art project when they come to stay. I love that I am the "artist" Nana, the one that shares their creative side. I shared the Houses for Haiti project with them and they were excited to become a part of trying to help other kids. We had such fun making eggplant sandwiches (I got menu requests via email prior to their visit) and making houses on Saturday. They are amazing young people, with sweet, loving spirits and so much fun. Here we are, working on our houses, which totaled 59 that we are selling to raise money to send to Haiti relief. They chose Doctors without Borders as the charity to send their money.

On Sunday night everyone came to the house to celebrate Randy's birthday. I made spaghetti, salad and garlic toast and we ate and talked and played with the twins as they ran back and forth through the kitchen. Melissa laid in the recliner, having small contractions and hopes that her first baby will soon arrive. At one point that night, in the middle of all the activity, I looked around and listened. I thanked God for this crazy bunch of people I call my family, with all of their imperfections, perfections, quirks, personalities we love them so much. I listened to the loud roar of the conversation, the TV, the kids screaming and laughing, the noisy toys and for a minute I just let myself absorb the glory of it all. How lonely it would be without them, how thankful I am for each of them. After dinner the games began, all the kids included and then pie instead of cake. Here is our weekend celebration and our Haiti houses we are selling. It was a weekend the house was full of the sounds of laughter, kids giggling in their beds instead of sleeping, little feet running up and down the halls, video games and laughter, did I mention laughter!

Wow, now to clean up the mess!

A new mini quilt exploring textures

We are working with textures and rubbings and this month we are concentrating on fruits and veggies. This is my first one, I am working on another. Avocados, done with collage, puffy paint, gesso, inks, paint.

Almost done with the dishes!

I have been working on this pastel for awhile and I thought I was done but then I photographed it. Sometimes when you get back, take some time or look at the painting from a different viewpoint you will see the areas that are weak or missing. I have a few areas that need some work so I will be spending some time finalizing my painting! I will be glad to not have to look at silverware for awhile! Randy has agreed to unload the dishwasher for a few months!

Custom Collage and mix media workshop- March

I have decided to do workshops here at my studio due to the requests from my amazingly wonderful students. I find that trying to do these types of workshops and classes where so much "stuff" is required makes me almost have to disassemble my studio and try to transport it. I find I always forget something that would have worked too! I am planning on doing a different workshop each month and based on the response I will add classes or adjust the schedule. This first class/ workshop will be on creating your story. To read more about the workshop and sign up visit my website;
www.desireesdesigns.com . To assure my students have adequate room to work and all they need to be successful I am limiting the size of the workshops so we can be in a more intimate environment and learn to focus and get into the "zone". I hope to see you in March! Watch for more workshops signup soon.

A gift from me to Karin

Karin Jurik's blog has been inspiring and amazing since I first found it. Different strokes for different folks has never failed to inspire me to try different things. Not only did I except many of the challenges that were outside my comfort zone but I was always awed by the variety of styles and techniques that other artist used to translate their own interpretation of the challenge photo. Due to her busy schedule and an upcoming artshow she had to call it quits. One of the artists in the group,Jill put together a thank you project. She asked each of the artists that participated in the portrait challenge if we would paint a portrait of Karin from a photo she had, we were all more than happy to participate. 118 artist send our jpgs to Jill who compiled all the images into a book and sent them to Karin as a thank you. She just received the book and, well, I think she loved it! Here is my "thank you" portrait to Karin for all of her hard work and efforts to keep us inspired and seeking to paint our own voice! pastel 8"x 10"

WDE for Wet Canvas

I enjoy the weekly challenges of the weekend drawing event. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to participate for weeks. Every Friday I will venture in to the site to see the photos that the weekly host has posted. I usually can't resist and have to save one in hopes of painting it that weekend. This week the photos were amazing and

WDE for Wet Canvas
Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

I loved the grape picture along with several others I saved in hopes of painting
at a later date. I find that there are never enough hours in my day to do all the things I want to do! Tonight, with Randy gone for a sleep test, I stayed up and painted the grapes.Watercolor 9"x12"

Temecula Winery

We had so much fun down at the Ponte Winery in Temecula, having lunch in celebration of Aimee's birthday. We shopped, tasted wine, had lunch and visited for hours.

The weather was amazingly beautiful and our party of 11 joined the hundreds of other people that felt the same way. Randy brought his camera and continued to practice his photography, a great day all around. Here are some pictures from our day. The dog was a photo I took on our way down, everyone seems to be enjoying the warm weather.

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Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

Our Italy trip was a dream come true for Randy and I. It was the trip we were planning for our twentieth anniversary, the year Jennifer was hit by the drunk driver. That trip never happened, nor did any traveling after that horrible day. We feared that traveling for us might be only a dream until last year. My latest piece , a memory and journal quilt of Italy. I saved pieces of ephemera while we were on vacation in Italy and Paris last May. I had plans and hopes of using them somehow to remind us of special parts of our trip. We took tons of photos and I journaled also but putting it all together here was such fun. Each piece of saved paper brought back wonderful memories. The piece of paper off of the candy that our landlord in Italy placed in our room, or the tickets to the Borghese Museum where we spent the day enjoying the treasures inside and out. I incorporated pieces of wrapping paper, some ticket stubs transferred to fabric, sketches from my journal, and a posterized picture of us to create this collage of our Italy trip. I still may add the Colosseum sketch to the back ground. This may be one of a few then it will be on to Paris.

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Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

Working on some fun fabrics for Friday! FFFF lol

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Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

Finished, will review tomorrow and then it's onto the next. I would
love comment on my blog thanks
This is pastels on wallis board 8"x10"

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Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

I am working on another demo video, it is coming along nicely but now
I am running out of daylight and my battery died. Ahhh I hate stopping
when you're in the zone.

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Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

I had to laugh as I saw this in my house tonight and decided I had to
share it. In our house, after being out all day we can't wait to get
home and get our shoes off. I take off my heels, Jennifer takes off
her leg! LOL

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Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

We lost our Internet today, it reminds me how dependent we are. It
provides us access to the world via email, blogs, facebook. I worked
on an incredibly detailed pastel today from a picture posted on wet
canvas last Friday. I hope this posts!

My book arrived

I received my copy of the 500 quilts book that I have two quilts in, wow , I am in such wonderful company. Some beautiful quilts in this book, I am so honored, I hope you will all buy one so you can be inspired as I was! There is a link on the right side of my blog that will take you to the Barnes and Noble link. Thank you Lark Books for all your hard work in putting this book together

New work

I am working on a new art quilt, it is by invitation only so that adds to the pressure to perform. The theme is a secret so sorry, can't share, but have been struggling with it. I usually get a theme and think about it for awhile and then "POOF" something comes to me and I start designing and construction or painting, depending on what I am doing. But this time I think and think but nothing.... until the other day. I did a self portrait two years ago I thought would work. It is more of a portrait of how I was feeling about my life. I haven't shared it outside of the group of people who were doing the challenge at that time. ( See of this happens to you) So as I am looking for this portrait, digging through tons of sketchbooks, loose paper, drawers, closets, even under beds and I can't find it! AHHH as I am skimming through one large sketch book I find this other sketch I did in a life drawing class that I have always loved, she has this eery look on her face. When I see the picture I always wonder what she might be thinking or what was going on in her life that gives her that far away look. I remember the model and she was good, but she looked nothing like this picture. So I often wonder if it was her I was drawing or was I drawing myself as I applied that charcoal to the paper. Another cool thing that happened was that it left a soft, faint impression on the opposite page of the sketchbook. A mirror image, a ghost of the original looking back at herself, even creepier!! Now I am figuring out how to translate her and my ideas to fabric. Here is my sketch.

Sub-Q Quilt entry

I belong to an art quilting group called subterranian quilters, or Sub-Q. It is a group of talented art quilters. Sadly we lost our founder suddenly last March. The group was unsure about staying together after Sally's death. This quilt was our first group project after we decided to keep going to honor her vision for the group. We dedicated the quilt to her.

The project was to recreate a section from a photo. I had a picture of orchids and I divided it up into 6 sections and changed it to black and white or grey scale. Everyone who wanted to participate took a section and enlarged it 400%. Their challenge was to put the color back into the quilt and recreate the picture using any techniques they wanted to. The group used so many different techniques it was amazing. And I love the colors that everyone choose, no one saw the original, color photo until all the pieces were finished. The participants were Nancy M., Kay D, Phyllis C, Me, Ann T., Carol C. Thanks for all of your hard work!

This is Phyllis at the show and this is Phyllis' picture, standing in front of the quilt. Her piece is number three. She used inks and paints along with some applique.

My piece is the one next to, and after hers or fourth from the left. I used saved, used paper towels and did like a collage of them to make the flowers and the leaves. I had to put my sewing machine on suede to get it to sew through the thickness. I also used tissue paper and paints and acrylic inks.

Prayers for the people of Haiti

I have been so heartbroken from the reports coming out of Haiti. The insurmountable obstacle that these people face as they attempt to rescue and help those still trapped in fallen debris is shocking. Where are the emergency people, ambulances, heavy equipment to help? There isn't any, just neighbors helping neighbors. People dying everywhere because they weren't rescued in time. I always picture myself , or my family, in that position since it could easily be us. Now our relief is stalled due to the airport damage and the countries lack of experience in coordinating such a huge effort, I can only imagine the frustration on that end of the disaster. With all the talk of our struggling economy and all the people here loosing their homes, people are still opening their hearts and sending money to relief centers, neighbors helping neighbors.

Its amazing how this will bring out the best and the worst in people. Now they are warning us to beware of relief scams, another unbelievable thing, when people take advantage of the tragedy of others. We need to be smart when donating to any organization. ABC News has a list of organizations, and that site also links to this list of responding organizations. Making a mark, an art blog site is sharing some different options for donating to the cause, like donating artwork for an online auction. The blog has a lot of information that I wanted to share with everyone. The blog shares links to the Red Cross, doctors without borders etc., well know organizations that are some of the first responders at the scene.

I hope you will join me as I donate what I can and then I will be praying, praying, praying and watching

Day Two of abstract design class with Katie Paquini

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Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

Day Two of abstract design class with Katie Pasquini
Today we got back our blown up versions of the tiny macro drawing we did the day before with our tiny view finders. My eyes feeling like sandpaper still struggled with all the drawing we did today, but I think today went much better. We moved into more of the designing aspect of art quilting and how to crop paintings to get many good possibilities for quilts. We went over many different aspects of how to approach getting a good design also. Many of the women were just loving the class and I know some were a bit surprised by it. I think that most of the women were excited in some of the possibilities for quilts that they produced painting! I think I would have liked to take something home, some small project, instead I have lots of cut up paintings, which I may or may not use. It made me think about watercolor paintings I have at the house that were unsuccessful, now I will cut them up and re look at them for quilts. I loved the frame that we cut in half and could slide up or down to adjust the size of our crop. Its an old trick I had totally forgotten about. I think that most of our time was spent helping people get comfortable with painting and creating. I am already there, so hoped for more design input. It was a ton of information and exercises to do in two days. One of the women in class was so excited about her design that during lunch she went down and bought all the fabric to make it! That's what a class is supposed to do, inspire us. I do love her work, I appreciate her strict work ethic and the amazingly beautiful quilts she produces, its a testimony to her methods. I learn something new and exciting in every class I take and I did take some new ideas away with me from this class too. I think the possibilities for some very unique quilt options my be in my bag of cut up paintings. Thanks Marilyn for reminding me that sometimes we just need time to digest the information and make it our own before we can put it to use! Thanks Katie! She even signed my books.

After two intense days a few of us signed up for the pincushion class! It was from 7pm to 10pm! I don't know what I was thinking, probably that a fun class would be a perfect finish to all that design. I forgot the fact that we might just be plum tired! We ran over to the hotel to shove a hamburger in our faces before running back to make our class. Oh did I mention that we ran through the quilt show, tried to quickly shop, see the quilts we had entered before eating? We made it to class right at 7 and saw that it was a very full class. We all found our seats and were pleasantly surprised by what the next three hours held. The class was called Pin cushion Party, and it was! Debbie Busby, the owner of the wooden spool in Oregon taught the class and had made up the cutest bags of already cut and in some cases sewn pincushions for us to sew. We received thread, buttons, felt, wool, stuffing, bags, etc, etc. The gifts kept coming and she did a drawing for a free pattern. Although it was a bit expensive I loved it. I think because it was fun, it was easy, it was doable in the three hours and we all left with 5, yes 5, pincushions. I finished 3 of them there, started the fourth and took home number 5. Plus we got all the patterns to make more. Thanks Debbie for making it a great evening, and my eyes could handle this!

The Design wall

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Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

I am taking an artquilt class from Katie Pasquini. Today we worked on design with shapes and lines and in the abstract. I am not really an abstract artist so this took me way out of my box, a good thing, or should be according to my own mantra. I did find it a bit uncomfortable as we attempted to design and create within a set of guidelines set up by the teacher! LOL I have never had creative rules before, its always been a fairly casual environment with lots of chatting. In this class she doesn't want any talking during the designing process. You need to be focused and in your Right brain area, she doesn't even want us talking to ourselves, lest we disturb our neighbors. LOL that gave me stress in its self since I am a notorious self talker. She says its the left side of our brain trying to ruin the creative process or right side of the brain. She doesn't know that I am taking to myself as a cheerleader, often saying things like, oh that looks good! Oh put the blue over there, yeah thats good. So several times I had to shhh myself in class. The first exercise was design with shapes, this is a photo of the classes paintings displayed for all the see what they like and what they don't like. Then we did a series with line only, no shape. Then we worked on some macro type designs that she is enlarging and we should get back today. After not sleeping the night before, not eating all day and coming off of a week of solid painting for my fabic line I didn't find the painting fun. Most of the women in the class had not painted much so it was alot of basic instructions on putting water on the paint to get it soft to use etc. I think that everyone enjoyed the painting part, it was a good basic, beginner painting class and I think for a nonpainter it helped them ease into the process. Then one exercise was to blind fold us and listen to different musics and paint to the music. Hmmm, I was for sure this was a recipe for disaster since we had a plate full of acrylic paint, a sheet of paper in front of us and then a blindfold on. Yawn! What a waste of paint! I ended up with a ton left on my plate I had to throw away. It was rated an intermediate class but it is a basics class. I am hoping for more information into the design part today, we will see! Anyway, its probably my bad attitude from no sleep. As we were drawing those tiny drawings, and I mean tiny, 1 1/2" x 1 " squares my eyes kept trying to roll back in my head, screaming for me to stop. I had forgotten my OTT light so the flourescent flickering wasn't helping either. I am taking a sleeping pill tonight, going to bed at 9 and trying to start again in the morning,although this is being written at around 4am, my stress hour. My husband said, hey what happened to the sleeping pill? I guess when going to bed that early I need to take a whole sleeping pill. More photos later.

Getting Ready for Road

I am getting all of my supplies packed up and ready to go to Road to California. Its a big quilt show and I not only have some quilts hanging in the show but I am taking some classes. I am so excited to see all the quilts, its so inspiring and motivating to create! I found out tonight that although I didn't place, my friend Lauretta received a third place and money! Congrats Lauretta! How exciting, I will post a picture tomorrow from the show!

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Originally uploaded by ddhabicht