Nunc Id Vides, Nunc Ne Vides

Which, roughly translated, means "now you see it, now you don't." That is the motto for Unseen University of Discworld fame. It is also the title I have settled on for this quilt in honor of Sir Terry Pratchett. "Now you see it, now you don't" seems an appropriate epithet for Alzheimer's disease.

I have tried to load the pictures so that you can click on them to see a larger image. Below is a detail shot of the charms I used to recreate the main elements of Ankh-Morpork's shield, indicating that the buildings you see represent the city of Ankh-Morpork. You may also be able to see the seed beads I've used to secure the top layer of fabrics to the batting.

I do all my embellishing through these two layers. The batting (Warm & Natural) provides stability. My backings are added last. They are secured by the application of the binding and an occasional tacking stitch through to the front.

Here we have the University itself. You may not be able to see the irridescent seed beads I used to secure the sheer fabric. I had a hard time seeing where I'd put them as I was adding them!

And finally a wizard. This one is a little more elegant than I picture the wizards of Discworld but it was the best I could come up with. I picked up on the star elements in the background of the wizard print and used star sequins to secure the background around the wizard and the University. All in all I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out. :- )

Currently my plan is not to send this to the AAQI, but rather to send it to the first ever North American Discworld Convention being held in Phoenix over Labor Day weekend this year. They are holding a charity auction during the event to raise monies for the Alzheimer's Research Trust and for Terry Pratchett's favorite charity, the Orangutan Foundation. I do, however, have another Priority Quilt in the works for the AAQI...

Pink Artists Raffle Donation

First of all, let me offer my apologies for not getting back to you sooner. Not only did I not do any handwork over the weekend, I had a few bad days in other ways. Hopefully that's over with now and I'll have a nice long streak of good days.

So let me show you what I made for the Pink Artists raffle:

It's a needlebook. That pink behind the face and crown isn't quite true in this picture (wonder how that happened?) but the colors in the next photo are reasonably accurate. The picture above is of the front, the one below is the back. Can you tell how much fun I had embellishing this?


The pages are wool felt, and the inside of both the front and back covers are pockets where you can stash extra thread or a pair of folding scissors or whatever you may need in a stitching emergency. With a bit of finnagling even a credit card will fit in the pockets! (The pink is an upper flap and the black print is the pocket part.)

Here's an inside shot of the first one I made, that I use myself. I don't use those folding scissors much anymore since I'm home nearly all the time now, but back in the day I used to carry this with me to work so I could sit and stitch during the slow moments.

I've always like the Slip-N-Snip folding scissors. They're stouter and sharper than the cheaper versions.

Last year the Pink Artists raised over $3,000 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. This will be my small contribution to the effort to meet or exceed that amount this year. As soon as I know the details of how you can enter to win this needlebook or any of the other handmade art that is coming in I'll be sure to let you know!

Laying the Foundation

I said in my last post that I'd been doing some handwork. I'll show you that later. What I'm going to show you first is a piece that will require some handwork - which I hope to do this weekend.

I'm guessing that few of my readers are familiar with the author Terry Pratchett and his series of books set on the fictional Discworld. Suffice to say that I am a big fan. According to Sir Terry the stories started out as parodies. What they have become is subtle and spot-on satire. He's British, so there's the dry humor they're known for too. Whenever I need a laugh I pull out a Terry Pratchett book and dive in.

I was just heartbroken to learn that this brilliant man had been diagnosed with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's Disease. I knew I would make at least one Priority Quilt in his honor, and pulled out a few novelty prints with that in mind. Then I got stuck.

Wizards figure prominently in several of the Discworld books. They learn their "skills" at Unseen University, located in the largest city on Discworld, Ankh-Morpork. The images I had on my novelty prints included two different wizards and representations of what was meant to be Hogwarts (of Harry Potter fame). I fussy cut a section of Hogwarts to create Unseen University and then another section to represent Ankh-Morpork. It was the wizard who was giving me fits (of course - that's what they do best!). The one I really wanted to use was just too big. So I had to go with a smaller version.

My next problem was how to convey that the University can be visible or invisible according to the dictates of the Archchancellor of the University and the circumstances of the moment. I have a small collection of sheer fabrics in my stash and found one that looked like it would do the trick. Simply laying it over the University didn't seem to be enough. So I pulled out my Janome needlefelting machine and had a go. Voila!

You can see in the picture below that the sheer is caught in one seam and part of another. I will tack it in place with some sparkly beads. I pinked the edges that will remain exposed. Hopefully, since this is a wall hanging, that will be enough. This quilt will likely be quilted entirely with beads. That seems to be what I do.

The other thing I do is make stuff to donate to raise money for causes I believe in. To that end I am working on a special item for the upcoming Pink Artists raffle. Isn't it lovely?

Ha! This is the backside you silly. I'll show you the finished product very soon, I promise. In the meantime, let me offer you one of my peonies to make up for pulling your leg...

Flower Show

The "heat wave" continues. I believe we have officially broken the record for the number of consecutive days without rain during May and June. In other words, the weather here is more like the rest of the country usually is at this time of the year!

I have been doing some more hand stitching but am not ready to show my work just yet. To fill in the gap I thought I'd share a few of the flowers in our yard. First off is this miniature rose we inherited from the previous owner:

Pretty, colorful little blossoms that don't last all that long. There are three other rose bushes - I've shown the blooms on the one outside my studio window in the past - but when I took this tour they weren't looking all that great.

I've seen pictures of day lilies in full bloom on other blogs. So far ours have set buds but have not opened up.

We have two different types. This variety appears to be a little ahead of its' cousins.

Here is my poor little white peony. I thought I'd lost this plant altogether and then one day as I got out of the car I noticed it was up and sporting a single bud. This is its' third year (I think) and this is the biggest it has ever been. I've heard that peonies don't like to be moved, but I may dig this one up and put it in the side yard near my pink peony...

...because the pink peony is the same age but is covered in gorgeous fat blossoms:

This is only one section of the whole bush! I cut one bloom to have in my studio but I don't dare to bring in more than one because flowers tend to have the same effect on my husband as man-made chemicals do on me. Some are worse than others of course. Generally, the more fragrant the flower the worse it is for him. {sigh}

And speaking of chemical effects, I discovered to my immense pleasure that our most local bead shop is, in fact, still open for business (I'd heard a rumor that they had closed up shop without warning). I went over today to do my part to keep them in business but naturally I ended up paying for it with more than mere money. Ah well, this too shall pass.

"Mourning for Mexico's Daughters"

Here's the final version of my quilt for Monica's a-DRESS-ing the Situation (see button on sidebar) challenge:

I used 3 strands of cotton embroidery floss to make the pink crosses in the background, thus quilting the top two layers together. Wooden crosses painted pink are being used in Mexico to commemorate the victims of this particular insanity against innocent young women.

I chose to feature this angel from the "Tree of Life" print by Andover Fabrics on the back. I like the idea of the names of the victims being recorded in the Book of Life. I've used other angels from this print in my AAQI Priority Quilts. That's where I learned about the Fast Finish Triangles too. I've been using them on my little quilts ever since.

As you can see, I haven't yet done the lettering to label this quilt. I'll use a Pigma pen for that purpose. I try to sign all of my work, whether it's quilts or dolls or whatever. An artist wouldn't let a painting out of the studio without a signature; why should I?