Shades of violet: El Santuario de Chimayo and the Cowboy series

About a year ago, I was toying with light and shadow, by layering various shades of violet tulle combined with stitching.  It was meant to be a simple exercise of experimentation, in which I wanted to avoid detail, suggesting the subject using shape and shading.  My subject was the Southwest, and I've named this my Cowboy series.  There are two single panels, one of Tucson and one of Zion, and a five-panel desert scene.  The final piece in the series (and the first of these pictures) is the chapel at Chimayo, New Mexico.  Although I started it with the same idea of using primarily light and shadow, I allowed myself to add more detail with stitching in this piece, and have only recently completed it.

Poppies!

My garden is glorious with them this year!

Completed blanket top

I finished sewing together the blocks for my "Endless Stairs" blanket today, and laid it out on the bed to see the results.  I'm pretty happy with it, especially because my kitty Monkee likes it...that bump in the lower right hand corner is her, already using the blanket to make a tent :)

Double Delight

Flowers from my new rose bush, Double Delight.  The flowers are a creamy, pale yellow with a pink edging, and they have a delicious fragrance :). Also, a pendant necklace I made with an evil eye amulet I purchased from a Turkish imports shop in Columbus, OH and beads from the 2013 Tucson Gem and Bead show.

Pieced flannel blocks

Ready to assemble. Five each of twelve different combinations, for a total of 60 8" blocks.

A cycling skirt in reverse appliqué

Another project I've been working on is a knit fabric skirt. I've stenciled some flowers and bugs onto the top layer of fabric, and pieced together two different fabrics for the bottom layer. The top layer is stitched to the bottom layer around the painted stencils, and then the centers of the stencils are cut away to reveal the fabric layer beneath. The design is a bit flashy, but it's meant to be worn over my bicycle shorts when I go out for a ride, and I wanted it to be fun and breezy. :)

No time to play this morning...

...but here's a pic of what's waiting for me when I get home. Making good progress on my pieced flannel blanket! :)