Coming Down...

off the high that was my Dot to Dot class with Angela Walters. 

All right, LOOK what my computer took me to when I went to get the URL to paste for her name!!

February 25.  I met Anna, my neighbour who lived across the street from us in Florida, a day or two after I wrote this.  I knew she was a quilter, a young one, but little did I know that I already had met her, on two other occasions last year! She worked part time at Alma Sue's and was a member of the Sarasota Guild.  She is the one who told me that the guild was bringing in Angela; had I not finally gone over to introduce myself, I might not have found out about Angela being here, certainly not in enough time to be able to get into the only one of her four classes that still had space. Sadly for me, Anna moved back to her hometown in northern Florida February 28.  Happily, however, for me, I was able to get into the Dot to Dot class a few days later!  Incidentally, Angela's post where I wrote this comment is well worth a read/watch.  More than once.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...er trunk show and class...

Not only did I have to remind myself to close my slack jaw in class when viewing her slide show, but I also had to make a supreme effort to swallow frequently; otherwise the drool would drip onto her beautiful quilts that we were allowed to touch, handle, hold, photograph, all to our heart's content.

Recognize the fabric? "Textures" -- look at the header of my blog! And yep, those are my legs, my fingers, holding (and before and after petting) her quilt.

And THEN, there was meeting Angela, on Monday night at the guild meeting for the first time, eyes brimming with emotion as I tried (inadequately) to find words to tell her how much all her free videos and demos online, how much every single Craftsy class of hers has helped me, beyond measure, on my Avanté, but also has helped me grow in machine quilting on my Bernina.  Going back Tuesday morning for another 3 hours with this warm, funny, ("My husband says I'm not funny.  But I think I'm frickin' hilarious. Sarcasm is my love language!" ) humble, genuine, inspiring, creative, and so-very-talented quilter was such a treat.

The chocolate says "Quilting is My Therapy", and yep I saved it, knowing I wanted a picture for my blog--I ate it after the pic, dark chocolate! But of course, she has taste.

She is very wise.  To fully round out my dorking out over her, geek that I am and always have been where school and education are concerned, I took notes, furiously scribbling to try to get it all down, even videoed segments of her instruction.

"There is no such thing as imperfection in FMQ.  You just need to know how to fix them. " (the mistakes) She talked about the eye needing to see symmetry, and that symmetry is basically all it looks for, so "if you make a mistake, do it twice and then it's a design element!"

I planned to rip this out as I messed up one of the "dots" to hit.

Now, however, I'm thinking if I do something symmetrical on either side of this "mountain" it could look kind of cool.  I need to get crackin' as these are my ALYOF April goal.

Kinda cool here too, no?

Although I didn't get nearly as much accomplished as I thought I would, my brain was totally full of information and inspiration.  She talked, gave you theory and practical tips and answered questions, then showed you slides and her quilts and gave further clarification and ways to use particular designs, and then gave you 15 or so minutes out of each hour to practice the technique on your sample.  Each hour was broken down in a similar fashion to the Craftsy class: squares, triangles and then borders in the final hour.

Rest assured there will be more Angela wisdom forthcoming.

The trip home was uneventful.  The dogwoods didn't disappoint, although there seemed less of them in Kentucky and Ohio than I saw last year through the Carolinas and West Virginia.

Ohio

On the trip, I actually got a fair bit done on the last border of my runner.  I have about 10 more double-rows of the serpentine shape left to quilt.

The little bag I made back in January came in so handy for my handquilting tools!  Below you can see my favourite plastic open-backed thimble that allows your nail to be free.  The condom-looking thing is a finger from a latex glove which I use to grab the needle to pull it through when 3-4 stitches are loaded onto it.

I'm using Gutermann quilting thread, and the Clover chalk pencil Angela uses (learned about these in one of her Craftsy classes).  That pencil is better on the Old World Santa fabric than the Bohin one.  There is too much white in the fabric; the streaks wreak havoc with my eyes, so I need a thicker line.  The plastic serpentine shape is my template for marking the woven curves border design.

And so there you have it, the first post back on good old Canadian soil.  Mmmm.  Even though said soil is a little darn cold for this time of year!  Still, I think Spring is about to surpass Summer in my favourite season list.  I was musing this morning (didn't get this finished last night, TOO tired after a 5 am start to the day--Mysore yoga!) that no matter whether one is living in 90F steamy tropical heat (Gulf, beaches, cicadas, palm trees), the tundra (pure white snow, frozen lakes, polar bears), or the desert (sand dunes, endless blue skies, meerkats(!!)) Mother Nature gives us something upon which our senses can feast, and our creative juices can start to burble.

These swans literally took my breath away last night on the way to teaching yoga.  I pulled over, got out of the car, crossed the road, tiptoed into the grass, but not before this pair had pulled apart...oh my GOD, but they were in the necks intertwined, facing each other, classic swan pose.  That vision will stay with me forever.

A group of about 25 more were just past these two lovebirds

Rocco is happy; he has made a new friend.  This is Charlie, an 8-month-old Scottie.  He is adorable, although a bit rambunctious.  Good thing Rocco is so tolerant.  Charlie's 'mum' wants me to knock on her door and walk with them sometimes so Rocco can help teach Charlie some manners! They've recently retired here from Vancouver, and live just up the street.

Meet and greet

Reflections on Winter in Florida

Another one has come....and gone.  Interesting to see what I did over the past almost five months. This is the longest we have ever stayed.  And by now, we all know why!

My 6 "sandwiches" basted and ready to take to tomorrow's Dot to Dot class with Angela Walters!!

A couple of days ago, I hauled out my two tubs and started emptying drawers and cabinets.

Cue the freak-out

Rocco, the sensitive soul that he is, wigs out when we start packing.  Not only do the tubs and a suitcase make him nervous, our vibes, which he picks up on before we even realize we are emitting them, also add to his general anxiety.  He usually stops eating.  Has to be coaxed into slowly nibbling.

Naala does not like to let my husband out of her sight; 

she got pretty frantic on the two recent occasions we left in the SUV without her and Rocco. She wouldn't even prick her ears up for this photo.

Outside of some batting, I can't believe it all fit back into the containers it came down in!  Um...thoughts:  is there something wrong with this picture:  a couple of projects from last winter that didn't get done then, not even during the summer, made their second trip down with me this winter....and yep, are going back north, still no further ahead than over a year ago?  Proof, as I said to Judy, of Quilt Paradigm, that I am too easily diverted  and tempted!  She replied, and I quote, "You aren't doing this for any other reason than for fun - so you bring back more than you bring down. . . isn't that the nature of this habit we have? LOL"  Wise words, my friend.

Fun.  Absolutely. Guilt-free happiness, enjoyment and satisfaction that feeds my soul.

Our last trip to the beach, on Manasota Key, was yesterday.

Looking south, into the steamy southern breeze

The colours of the Gulf never cease to take my breath away.  These were taken with my 4-year-old iPhone 4, so it doesn't do justice to the beauty, yet you still can appreciate how stunning it is.

Looking north.  Some lovely wave action!

This guy, has visible evidence hanging from his beak in the form of fishing line, that he is way too tame.  I got this close, no zooming in; I could have reached out and touched him.

The guy who was fishing said they have learned, from humans feeding them, not to fear us, and they do swipe fish right off the line, with the hook and line still attached.  I hope his gut will digest it and not leave him to die a painful lingering death.  Clearly the fish was already in his belly.

It's hard in some ways to leave the beauty of the Gulf, only a 35-40-minute drive from our home.  I'm so glad I got to see so many ethereal jacaranda trees in bloom, and (yes!!) to inhale the heavenly fragrance of one of these stupendous blooms in our neighbourhood:

Magnolia grandiflora

This one was only about 9" in diameter.  They are often 12" across; I refer to them as dinner-plate-size flowers.  They are just now bursting forth everywhere.

I read 15 books since December 1 and I am into #16!  It is another Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything.

Those I read from my own personal library

I also read several from our local library here, three non-fiction and three fiction by Harlen Coben, as well as another Jo Nesbø.

As for quilt projects, I completed 6 of my 8 goals in the first quarter, I also completed my ALYOF goal I had in January (I didn't sign up again until this month, April), I finished the binding on Savannah and we've slept under it every night, I finished the flimsy for Fleurs, I've started a cows/farm quilt, I have another secret quilt top finished but for the border, I made 3 cat mats for cats' cages in the Humane Society, I created 5 little bags in various sizes, knitted two pairs of fingerless gloves, I've got a start on the current Scrap-a-Palooza quilt, and I have a set of placemats, a cushion cover, and two other placemats or perhaps a bag, all ready for quilting at Angela's class.  I'm pretty happy!

Bella decided to pack herself into a rather fitting bag. She has expensive tastes, what can I say.

The bag measures 8X10".  I mean she's a small cat, but really...

Flying Geese Tutorial

As we are winding down here in Florida, ready to be like the geese, and fly northwards home, I thought I'd share my favourite way of creating multiple flying geese units, since I've been making lots.

Sidenote: there aren't many northerners, aka snowbirds, left down here; this is the latest we've stayed.  And you know WHY we are staying extra long!!  'T' minus 3 days until Monday night's trunk show and talk at the guild meeting, followed by Tuesday morning's class I'm taking!!  With whom?  None other than Angela Walters IN PERSON!  I'm already doing a happy dance.  Okay, let's be honest; I've been doing a small happy dance ever since early February when I found out about it, each time I think that this is really going to happen.  Pinch me.

Okay, um what is this post about?  Oh yes.  Flying geese.  Big breath.  You will love this. Guaranteed.

This is Eleanor Burns' method.  I first learned it from the first quilt book I ever bought, back in about 1996-7, her Pioneer Sampler book.

It's also known as the No Waste Method, and there is a great tutorial here as well.
Here is my take on this method, which I used to make 78 flying geese units for the current quilt.

You need 5 squares total to make 4 flying geese units.
Your background or "peak" fabric (think mountain) is a square that measures 1.25" (1 1/4") larger than the finished width of the flying geese rectangle unit.  Mine finish at 3X6" so I need a square that is 7.25".

Your four "wings" squares must be 7/8" larger than the finished height of the flying geese rectangle unit.  Mine finish at 3" so I need 4 squares 3 7/8".

All units organized. What you see here will yield 24 flying geese units.

1.  Draw a line on the diagonal (I used my Hera marker, love love it) of each of the 3 7/8" squares.  Set two of these squares across the larger square, right sides together. There will be a slight overlap of the two squares in the centre.  Sew a SCANT (very important) 1/4" on either side of the drawn line.

Small squares are the darker purple, the large 7 1/4" square is the lighter purple

2.  Cut apart on your drawn line, which is between the two seams.

3.  Press seams (carefully, it's bias) to the wings, aka the darker purple in my case. You will have two heart-shaped looking units like this:

4.  Take the remaining two 3 7/8" squares and place one in the corner of each of the large squares.  Sew on either side of your drawn line as before.

5.  Cut apart on the drawn line.

6.  Press seams again to the peak fabric.  Trim to your desired size.  In my case I trimmed to 3.5 X 6.5" as my finished rectangle will be 3X6.  In the photo below I trimmed the top one, but left the bottom one so you can see what it looks like once you press the second wing out.

7. Repeat with the other 'heart' unit and you will have four flying geese!  Cool, no?
Most important is that scant 1/4" seam; otherwise you will lose some of your 3 1/2 X 6 1/2" needed.

In fur kids news, I know it's heating and steaming up when Rocco does this after our walk:

Under the fan.  In the AC. 90 and something like 90% humidity out there yesterday.  Now for a pittie puppy to lie like a frog is nothing new, but  upside down, getting air on his fur-less belly and inside legs, you know it's steamy! Time to head north where it's 30 degrees cooler.  Then he'll be wearing his hoodie, lol!  And Miss Bella not only snuggled with me last night in bed while I read, she also slept for a little while in her customary position, snuggled against my belly, this morning.  Yay, she's speaking to me again.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Pink Doxies, buttons on sidebar.

The Greek and the German Have It!

A post on two recently purchased tools.  I should add that I am not being paid or recompensed in any way for this post.

Greek
I'd heard some talk about Clover's Hera marker, and, because I am always on the lookout for a fine line marking pencil, or in this case, tool, I decided to pick one up.  Hera, by the way, is the Greek goddess of women and of marriage, particularly of married women.  Women.  Not sure if Clover named this knowing that, but it wouldn't surprise me.  Sorry quilty guys.  But let's not go there regarding the fact that her husband, Zeus, was her brother... (in her defense he was beyond a jerk as to what he did to her, and she did not marry him for love nor lust).

I love it.  The marker.

It leaves a definite crease, aka line, along which, or on either side of which I can sew.  I've done both.  I've used it on light fabric:

 and dark:

It shows better on the light fabric, but that may be because I was using it on dark fabric at night, so not as good lighting, more tired eyes could have contributed to a less visible line.

Don't you just LOVE those rich royal purples?  Think I may have been a royal (okay cue the song, it's now going to be playing in my head all day) in one of my past lives, as I have always loved royal blue, but royal purple is a very close second.  I wore a royal blue dress to my university graduation; I wore a royal purple suit, (a micro-fibre faux suede with cut-out embroidery on the collar) to my first interview for a teaching position.  (yep, got it...the job, did finally part with that suit, even though it was a classic...no, it wasn't a case of the 80s are calling; they want their suit back either)

German
Let's move to the 90s.  My present iron in Kingsville, a Phillips, is from 1998 I believe (I will check that next week when we are back home!)  It has been a terrific iron.  However, the teflon coating is peeling off and it actually did suffer a little fall, but it still works just fine...well the steam part sometimes sweats near the handle where my hand is, but hey what's a little adventure when pressing, right?

I did some research, JC Penney had a great sale, and I now have this beautiful bad boy in my possession.

Yes, he is made in Germany.  China does not cut it. Seriously, the reviews all said be sure to get the one made in Germany.  I get that.  I drove my beloved VW Passat for 12 years, never an issue.  We've owned our 1999 Porsche 911 now for 5 years, fabulous car.

This Porsche-channeling iron has a good weight to it.  Think solid, as in the solid sounds of those sleek doors closing.  I love the pointy end!  The stainless steel plate glides, make that skates, in a good way, across the fabric.  This skating feeling may be due to me remembering a "rough" glide probably due to the tufts and blistering sunburned skin feel of the peeling teflon, lol.

It has no on/off switch, which I find odd.  It does have an auto off though, which my other iron did not.  This is a good safety precaution, especially for my menopausally afflicted headspace, aka melon.  If it clicks off due to lack of use, which it has when I am humming along, 911-style, stitching seams, a simple flip into pressing position turns it back on.  And, it heats up über-fast!  The lights dim and all.  No lie.

Ergonomically, it feels good in my hand too.  The critiques said the lid to the water receptacle was really hard to open.  I have not found that at all.  You just squeeze the edges as you pop it open.  Easy.  I do also find I have to have the steam setting towards the high end of the dial for it to continuously steam, but I haven't been using a lot of steam lately, so when I do, I will pay attention to this perceived annoyance.  It also has a self cleaning feature, which I have yet to use, seeing as I've only had it for a few weeks.

It will go north with me next week, and I will leave my cheap Sunbeam iron I bought at Target in 2008 down here.  It, by the way, has been a damn good little iron for under $20!

Yes, heading north.  In preparation for this event next Wednesday, Bella had some un-royal treatment yesterday.  She was not amused.  She had her cute little butt end shampooed yesterday.  At the risk of completely mortifying her, let's just say she had a little need of bidet action, 'nuff said.  If that wasn't bad enough...oh, the hurt, accusatory looks I got, as well as a small but deep scratch that drew blood, and mine isn't blue like hers...I then decided to trim the offending claws, er talons.  Think chocolate brown furry paws, uncooperating diva, and oops, I cut one claw too short, and her blood dripped forth.  Tinged with blue, right.  She left little prints all over the tile and a nice blob on the sewing room carpet, which I got out no problem.  And then...Joe held her, and that in itself is nasty to her, ew, man smell (poor Joe, he really is smitten by her, and tries so hard, to little avail).  So he held while I applied flea stuff to her neck and shoulder area.  This makes her beautiful fur oily in that area, but it is a necessity, as we will be spending one night in a pet-friendly, read flea-infested, hotel on the way home.  It is the only time I apply the stuff, since she is an indoor cat.  And, to top off all this indecent assault on her beautiful person, while Joe had her, I quick grabbed the scissors and gave her fancy ass hair and pantaloons a little trim.  No more, er, dangling bits where nasty bits might cling.

Contemplating her escape

She was pissed.  Sorry, but she really was.  To the point where she did not even come into the kitchen as per usual, miaowing for her supper.  She got real tuna last night, which only slightly mollified her, as she gets it fairly regularly,  but I did feed her a few morsels by hand, which she haughtily accepted.

Is it just me, or do I detect a slightly piercing anger in those beautiful baby blues?

Didn't even sleep with me last night.  Did not even deign us with her presence in our bedroom last night, and that has never happened before...

I hope she won't hold this grudge for much longer.  Cats, unlike dogs, do not exactly live in the moment, do they?!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday (my purple project) and Let's Bee Social. Buttons on sidebar!

Q2FAL List

Wow, we are into the second quarter of 2015!  Time to make a list for this quarter's finish-along over at On the Windy Side.

How did I do with my Q1FAL list?  I had 8 projects on it, and I completed 6 of them!! I am very happy about that.  I will move two of them over to this quarter.

Here is the new list:

1.  Stack 'n Whack quilt from Q1FAL

You always have enough fabric to make two quilts using Bethany Reynolds' method.  I made my brother-in-law and sister-in-law one with these fabrics, but with a dusky coral-pink rather than the deep coral I have.  I think that was 10 years ago?!  Worked on it again last year, or the year before, but still have a ways to go.

2.  Brrrrr Park from Q1FAL

I would say I am about 1/3 of the way done of the quilting.  I did quite a lot last quarter, but it got put to the side in favour of a couple of more pressing projects.

3.  Charity String Quilt
These are a bunch of blocks I have made so far using Cyndy's Scrap-a-Palooza Quilt #8 from August 2014.  I intend to give them to a seniors' residence in our town, along with a second as-yet unplanned or started quilt.  They will both be lap quilts for residents in wheelchairs.

4.  Bento Box quilt for one of my nephews

This has been in the works for a year now; my friend, Nancy, and I shared the pattern.  I have since learned the original colour scheme I thought would work, won't.  So most of the blacks and whites are staying, I've added a couple meaningful ones, and totally changed the colour run.

5.  This is a small project that I've seen floating around quilt blogland, but I saw a good tutorial on Molli Sparkles blog.

6.  Secret Quilt Project #1
This is going to be a star quilt out of Pam and Nicky Lintott's Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts book, but I might modify the pattern as I will not be making it out of a jelly roll.

There will be some more fabric in this quilt; I just do not have it, um, available for the photo.

7.  Secret Quilt Project #2
You've seen some glimpses of this baby.  'nuff said for now.

8.  Hand-quilted runner

I'm doing the walk of shame right now...I had this last year as my goal for a month in ALYOF.  I did make a fair amount of progress on it, but it got set aside, I believe for the "Fleurs" flurry (ha) of work.  I have not touched it this winter, although it has sat, alternately forlorn and glaring at me, in a basket in my sewing room.  I hope to quilt while we travel for the day and a half north back to Kingsville.  Then it will just need binding.

9.  NINE??!!  Fabric bucket

Last year I bought the pattern, Nesting Fabric Bowls, from Nova at a cuppa and a catch up and I did buy some Amy Butler fabric at that time with the bowls in mind. Then at fabric.com I saw this, and thought, 'Ooh, that would make some cool fabric buckets.  Because I had quite the success last quarter with creating pouches, I think why not make some more buckets/bowls in the second quarter?

I also have a charity quilt to be completed for this quarter for Hands2Help and my placemats for my April goal at ALYOF (see sidebar buttons).  This a lot to do, I know, and for 12 days in early May, my mum is coming down to visit us in Kingsville!  I'm excited for many many reasons, but one is to show her how I quilt on my longarm.

One last note about the cutting backwards technique that I mentioned in my last post.  Here is the method I used yet again this morning.  You can do this in any increments that result in your desired measurement.  Here I needed 3.5"X6.5" rectangles, so I cut a 13" long strip out of my WOF fabric, but I could have cut a 19.5" strip.

13" line and then cut in half to yield 2 6.5" rectangles by 3.5" wide

Because you have more length of your ruler along the side edges of your strip, you have a better chance of getting precise pieces.  When I was cutting 3.5" squares, I used the 10.5" line, cut, backed up my ruler to the 7" line, cut, then backed it up to the 3.5" line and cut one more time to yield 12 3.5" squares (oh yes, I had a double WOF strip under my ruler!)

Linking up with WIP Wednesday and Let's Bee Social, buttons on sidebar!

Two Blocks for Two Kids

Although I don't know Yvonne, I have run into her work several times over the past several months of linking up at various linky parties.  When I heard from Judy at Quilt Paradigm that she was asking for blocks for two kids whose father passed away very suddenly, I thought, well this sounds like a worthy cause.  I went to her blog, and hey! found that she does Thankful Thursdays!  I wrote my first one here, thinking I had something unique and original...well, great minds think alike is what my mum always says, and she is absolutely right.  I truly believe in the idea that all beings, animals too, are linked, connected, that we can tap into a mega stream of consciousness if we only find the right frame of mind.  Anyhow, I'm not sure when Yvonne started doing Thankful Thursdays, but I will have to link up my next post.  I don't do them weekly anymore; all right, let's be honest, last week's was the first in several months!  But talk about synchronicity (another thing my mum says a lot), it was right around the time I wrote my last Thankful Thursday post that I went to Yvonne's at Quilting Jetgirl.

Yvonne's April 2 Thankful Thursday shows some of the blocks she has received, and provides links to her original posts where she explains about the project and about Mike's death, her friend, who was the kids' dad, the pilot of the Virgin Galactic mission.  This post is worth the read about a challenge quilt she created that expresses grief, yet hope in working through the aftermath of the tragedy.

The first block I made is for the girl.  Her blocks need to be in portrait orientation, 7X10" finished, and could be ocean or dance-themed.  My first thought was, no surprise, the ocean.  I went to Google and eventually with much surfing (and digressing), found this page.  I also did a second Google search for "lighthouse quilt blocks" and combined and rearranged a couple I saw there.  Got out my newsprint paper, and drew this:

Traced it one more time, cut apart the drawing into six sections and went to work.  I am so happy that I brought a bunch of blue scraps down here to Florida, because I even had sky scraps!  And here's a thought I had while making this block:  can one have scraps of quilts one hasn't yet made?  Apparently so:  the water is fabric I just bought last week to go in my as-yet-unmade-or-designed-but-it-will-be-my-own-design Lake Erie quilt, and the sand fabric I'd bought about this time last year for the same unborn quilt!  Ergo, scraps from quilts that have yet to be made, right?!  ;-)

Here is the result, and I couldn't be happier.  Note, I resewed nearly every single seam in this block; I'd even flipped the long and short pieces of sky fabric on the top section, forgetting that pp yields a mirror image!  However, it was all worth it:

Think this block might have to work itself into my Lake Erie quilt

The black and white are Kona scraps from various quilts, and the blue sky Moda marbles fabric is from a Joan Statz quilt.  Like my sister, Linda, I have always loved lighthouses; an original painting hangs on the wall in our Kingsville home of 3 local lighthouses.  Moreover, in creating this block, I felt the symbolism was especially dominant:  guidance, hope, light, a safe path, peace.

On to the boy.  He would like music-themed blocks as he is learning to play the piano.  As a former piano player and teacher, I was pretty extremely excited about this subject!  I was surprised how long it took me to decide upon a design:  I drew the staff with two eighth notes on it, thinking to paper-piece it too, I drew the treble clef, thinking I could appliqué it onto a blue or music-themed background, I thought about appliquéing letters for forte (loud in Italian, but related to fort in French, meaning strong, good symbolism again)...in the end, it came to me late last night: a word, yes, but why not simply "piano", appliquéd onto a music-themed background? And why not a little improv designing?

Beautiful calligraphy-style writing comes quite naturally to me; bubble letters not that hard either...30 years a schoolteacher rears her head once again!

I drew these letters:

Cut out the 'P" and then realized I needed to trace them onto Steam-a-Seam.  Um then realized I needed to trace them backwards, yep I learned that the hard way!  Decided that the music fabric fat quarter destined for my Bento Box quilt (aha! another scrap from an unborn quilt) would be the ticket, cut it at 7.5X10.5" and played with the letter arrangements until I, with input from Dayna, was happy:

This morning I got up, pressed the letters in place, and went to work appliquéing them down.  I found a spool of Sulky Twist in royal blue and black and knew it was perfect, as the boy likes that shade as well as a light shade of blue.  Not sure how well the thread shows up in the photo, but it is a great effect in person.  I think I might appliqué a dot over the "i" though; what do you think?  It didn't bother me until I now see the photo on the computer screen... thoughts most welcome.

Again, the black is scraps, and the music fabric which I adore, is future scraps, lol!

I will be sending these off to Yvonne tomorrow; if you are interested in participating, the specs are all here in this post.

Linking up with Oh Scrap! button on sidebar.

Update:
Well, that didn't take long; did Judy's suggestion (duh) and both Joe and I, and she, said, yep.

Took it in the sunshine, so hopefully you can see the beautiful thread