A sad day

Today was my baby sister, Jane's 47th birthday. I mailed her a box of books & left a message on her machine at 6:30 that she would get them in about a week.
At 8:30, my older sister, Gerry called. She had just talked to Jane's husband who told her that Jane's employee had found her lying dead on the ground about 2 hours before. Jane had had problems with high blood pressure & cholesterol, but she had told me that she had both under control.
I'm still numb. I hadn't really believed in the mortality of my sibs.

Quilting, feltmaking & dying

I've been busy quilting, making felt & dying. I've been working on my snake quilt since June. First, I paper pieced the snake:


Next, I appliqued him to the back of my background, & appliqued the tree trunks. I love that birch bark print. I used batting behind the tree trunks & snake to raise them above the background.

I layered the top with more batting (thinner) & a backing & I free motion quilted around every fern to sink the background & make the snake & trees stand out more. The free motion quilting took forever! I then cut the background fabric from in front of the snake. I'm getting close to finishing. I need to satin stitch around the snake, give him a face & handstitch the binding & sleeve to the back.

Feltmaking- Just a little-Petey gave me the idea. He was making felt (AKA mats) in his armpits. After I brush him, I always say "I've got enough fur to make another cat." Sooooo... I took some brushed out fur & rubbed it between my hands. It felted very fast. So far I've made ears. I'm not sure if I'll make a whole cat or not.

Now dying-stop reading here if you're squeamish. When we went to Seneca Lake, we were able to buy green glo-worms. I did a little net research & discovered that I could buy the worn food/dye. Fish really love these green worms.