Mirage? No MOOrage

I'm making another cow from the book, "Out of the Box with Easy Blocks," by Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie Bautista McFarland.  It's fun to think of new ideas for this pattern. 

I really enjoy the show, "Shahs of Sunset" on Bravo.  My creation is my take on a desert mirage, but now it's MOOrage.  I wanted my cow to be a camel cow.  I gave my cow a sadle and put the cow in the desert setting.  I love how camels look when they are all dressed out. 

This is what I have finished so far.  I have to get the top quilted and then I can do some more embellishing.
(I took the photo out in the snow and the shadows are the trees in our backyard.)

 I'm having some problems with the sunglasses.  I made some fabric at Spoonflower of a desert scene.  I wanted the sunglasses to look like reflective sunglasses of my cow looking out in the desert.  They  need to be outlined to show up better.  Got to work on that!!

Still Life

 
I have been taking a beginning drawing class on Tuesday nights.  This is my drawing using charcoal.  Sad to say I have only two more classes left!  It's been fun.

Mary Lou's Trip to Lincoln

This last weekend I took a class with Mary Lou Weidman.  It was so fun to be inspired by a talented quilt artist.  I took a class with Mary Lou a couple of years ago and I knew seeing her again was a must.

Mary Lou showed us how to cut our blocks to give them more interest.  I't's always fun to see Mary Lou's quilts because they are so FUN and COLORFUL!!

Above is the beginning of a small quilt I made in class!  Mary Lou drew me a bunny. I'm going to use that pattern to put a bunny in each corner. I'm also going add Mary Lou's style of flying geese as a border.

Above is a block from one of Mary Lou's quilts.  I love how wonky and fun it is.  The big polka dots add a lot of interst.  This story quilt is in progress for Mary Lou. I would love to see it finished.  I'm on the hunt for the egg fabric she used in the borders.  Below, Mary Lou's bee earrings were so cute I had to take a photo. 

There's nothing like taking a quilting class in the winter to get you motivated to create something special when it's cold and the snow is flying.

Merry Christmas to Our Soldiers

Merry Christmas to our Soldiers in Afghanistan! 

Yesterday, I received the name of my second adopted soldier from Adopt A US Soldier.  My Christmas Wishes go out to Specialist Ryan deployed from Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  My first soldier Michael from Sioux City, Iowa returned safety home on October 17, 2012. 

Sparky

The bunny is home and he has a new name.  His name is Sparky since we found him in the park, I wanted to include park in the name.  Jeff will be his middle name.  Sparky is a great bunny and he likes to be held.  He and Sprite have separate living areas, but they can see each other.  Sprite was busy thumping the first night, but she's used to having another bunny now.

Sprite and Sparky are going to get their nails trimmed on Saturday.  That should be fun!

We WIll Call Him Jeff!

On Sunday, some friends of ours were walking their dog at Wilderness Park when they spotted this black bunny.  They called Conan and I to come out and see if it was a pet bunny.  The bunny was dumped at the park and I can't believe someone would throw their pet away like that.  We couldn't catch the bunny on Sunday night. It was getting too dark so we couldn't see him any more. The bunny got into a deep ditch with lots of places to hide. 

I couldn't sleep Sunday night because it got cold and I was worried about the bunny.  I went out to the park before work on Monday and tried to see if I could find him, but no luck.  Conan and I went out to the park after work on Monday night and looked for the bunny again.  I saw him sitting under a tree.  I was so happy to see he made it through the night.  After an hour of trying to coral him, and with the help of a volunteer family, we were finally able to catch the little bunny. 

We took the bunny to the Capital Humane Society and it was hard to leave it.  But, the bunny was in good hands.

After a lot of thinking about that cute bunny, we went to the Capital Humane Society and adopted him.  I got to hold him and he was so calm.  The bunny needs to see a vet and get nurtured before the Capital Humane Society can release him. Jeff was the friend that called us about the bunny and he wants us to name the bunny after him, so his name will be Jeff.  The Capital Humane Society will let us know when we can pick him up.  Hopefully, next week!!