El Capitan in watercolor

 Painted for a family member who recently visited and posted this as a photo, I had to copy it in watercolor on paper. I resisted using a black ink outline, and I'm pleased with the outcome!

Ametrine Tree

 Watercolor on paper, this whimsical tree goddess is fueld by the ametrine crystals lying at her roots. Definitely different from my other works. 

A snow leopard

These cold-weather loving cats are so rare and unusual. According to WWF, they don't roar but instead they 'yowl'. Also, they are more related to tigers than they are leopards. I find them beautiful and mysterious, so here's my painting.

Painting felines is not easy, probably one of the most challenging paintings I have done yet. My favorite part are the eyes, a multi-faceted array of greens. I struggle with green in general when I paint typically. This is watercolor on a 10x12 canvas board and will be sent to my dad who also loves snow leopards.

The Hinterland dress

 It's been 18 months, and still working from home full time. When will we go back to the office is the question of the decade it seems. All those commuting hours I'm saving is going to good use-sewing more clothes! This is the Hinterland dress designed by Sew Liberated, which is the same designer I purchased my Schoolhouse Tunic pattern from. 

The hashtag for the Hinterland dress will come up with thousands of images on Instagram of others who have made this dress. It has a variety of styles to customize it-from sleeveless to 3/4 sleeves, lengths, and buttons or no buttons. Pockets are a part of this dress, which is nice to have. For this project, I chose an indigo linen material. It's lightweight, but heavy enough for fall. The topstitch uses a jeans thread as I like to use contrasting threads when it's appropriate for the fabric. Choosing buttons wasn't easy. I ended up finding faux abalone buttons, although my preference was wood. Of course I found this button website after I completed the dress! Next time...

Check out my Apatite necklace on the last image! Supposedly this stone helps with creativity. Maybe or maybe not, but I'm very pleased with the outcome of this dress. One thing that slowed me down in making this dress is I ripped one of the buttonholes on the placket that was to large to repair without looking terrible. Thankfully, the rip didn't go into the body of the dress, so I just had to re-cut and sew a new placket for the buttonholes. 

Let's talk about buttonholes-they are NOT easy! My machine does them automatically, but if tensions and settings are just perfect, it's a waste of time and thread. I used the entire spool of my jeans thread on top-stitching alone (ran out just as I finished the last step!). I used a blue thread for assembling the pieces to conserve the jeans thread for this project. 

This pattern will definitely be a staple in my DIY wardrobe. I might skip buttons next time however.

Peony Patch

 My monstrous stash of acrylic yarn needs to go to a good use. I had a lot of pink yarn and wanted to make a girlie blanket with it. This is actually a gift for my 100 year old great aunt. While she informed me her favorite color was blue, I'm hopeful she will find comfort and delight with this. 

This made a slight dent in reducing my stash, but another 3 or 4 of these types of blankets, and then I will allow myself to buy more yarn!

Small landscape views of National Parks

 National Parks are all the rage right now, advance reservations just to enter America's National Parks are being required for the most popular. At first my reaction to this was a little sad, however over time I've come to appreciate that this is for the best to preserve those sacred lands. And, I'm even more appreciative that we have a Native American leading our National Parks.

While the joy of standing in these beautiful lands is thrilling and spectacular, I can't help but feel as if I don't want to hasten any decline in quality of our national parks. I've got my 'bucket list' of parks I still want to see-North Cascades, Lassen, Yellowstone, Picture Rocks-it goes on too. For now, I will simply enjoy zooming in with Google Earth and seeing images on the the NPS website. 

With those lovely images I can see, these prompt me to paint more landscape style 'bookmarks' on Arches paper. I have a huge lot of Arches remnant papers that were part of a bigger project from my former employer at the art supply company. Most watercolor artists are aware of the pristine quality of this paper, so any remnant big enough to paint on is worth saving.

And I'm not limiting the images I paint to just American parks either. Australia is another country with outstanding and wild national parks. For example, this image is of King George Falls.

This is a remote and incredible dual waterfall that is only accessible by flying or boating to it!

Acadia National Park is also on my bucket list. This is one of the parks requiring advanced reservations, and it's also over 3000 miles from where I live. For now, I will indulge in photos that others have taken and recreate this beautiful place.

Discovering indie sewing

Sewing is a skill I often take for granted. Years ago I had experimented with sewing my own clothes, but grew frustrated with the lack of desirable patterns, patience, and money! Fabric is expensive, and takes patience and precision to come up with a quality finished product. While cruising Etsy for general sewing patterns recently, I discovered how many designers are selling PDF patterns for garments that are actually fun to wear. This led to me finding independent sellers of fabric targeting these fashions, and I made a goal to begin sewing more of my own clothing. My first choice of buying garment fabric online is Sewing Studio. This shop is local to me and doesn't have a store-front, but the quality is outstanding.

One of my favorite designers is Sew Liberated. The patterns are easy, functional, versatile and fun to wear. I first purchased the Schoolhouse Tunic because I like the bohemian look. The first tunic was made with a batik fabric. I wore this tunic shirt in Jerome Arizona, a cute little western town high up in the mountains of Arizona pictured with my older kids below.

The second one was made into a dress meant to wear with tights. I used a lavender cotten gauze fabric for this one, and it turned out very well. I love how it matches my foxgloves in full bloom.

Another designer I'm obsessed with is If Kim Wore Clothes with her whimsical styles of comfort and feminity. I chose the Ashley Dress which was very simple, and I can wear this over a long sleeve top with tights in cooler temperatures. This dress was sewn using a light blue linen fabric.

While patterns can look gorgeous on the screen, the choice of fabric is of course essential to make it worth the effort and patience to sew your own clothing. Although the cost and patterns of DIY clothing can be more expensive then buying clothing at your local big box clothing retailer, the feeling of wearing something made by your own hands is one of the best. I love that I can custom make my own clothing in the color, fabric and style I choose.