Garden Flag Made from Canvas Duck Fabric

I have a small garden flag stand beside my front walk and have a lot of nice seasonal flags for it, but I was never able to find a flag with a harness horse on it.  This past week, I bought some canvas duck fabric at JoAnn’s to make a floor cloth and thought I would try making a small banner out of this material, using the same general procedure I have used for floor cloths.

The duck canvas gets several coats of Gesso to provide a good surface for painting.  The design is painted with acrylic paint and inked with a Sharpie fine or ultra-fine pen on the canvas and then several coats of clear satin acrylic varnish are applied.

I cut a piece of fabric for the back from an old county fair panel I’ve had for years.  This was also coated with the varnish.

This piece is something of an experiment for me since I know the process works well for indoor floor mats and the acrylic works well for outdoor wood items, but I’ve never combined the two processes before.

I like the banner very much.  The barn is from a photograph of the horse barn my father had for his harness horses for many years.

It was a gathering place for the family in the 1950s and 60s, especially during county fair time when everyone congregated.

I’ll see how this banner works out in all kinds of weather and I may be making a few more throughout the year.

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100th Birthday Mini-Quilts

Yesterday, I posted a tribute to my father on what would have been his 100th birthday.  To commemorate the occasion, I also made three mini-quilts to fit on a tri-stand that I got for Mother’s Day.

The pictures represent his childhood, his family and his beloved horses.

I had the perfect backing using scraps from a previous quilt for my horse-loving grandson.

My daughter bought the stand at the April Cincinnati quilt show and it is the 4×9 Scroll Tri-Stand available through www.ackfeldwire.com.

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Pause and Remember – 9/30

On Friday, I pause and remember a single, wordless moment from the past week – inspired by The Warden’s Log.

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79th Birthday Countdown – Day 6

My oldest daughter, who lives with me, loves to celebrate birthdays.  This is what I found on my kitchen table on Friday morning.

One of her many talents is making jewelry.  And, of course, she knows I love horses.  There are tiny horse head and horse shoe charms on the bracelet.

Today is my 79th birthday and this is the last of the countdown gifts.  It’s been so much fun coming out to the kitchen at 6 AM and finding a new treasure.

Countdown Day #1

Countdown Day #2

Countdown Day #3

Countdown Day #4

Countdown Day #5

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The Horse Quilt

About a month ago, my youngest daughter and I were picking out fabric for me to make her an anniversary quilt with wild animal prints.

My granddaughter (known here as Dolphin) said she wanted a new quilt, too, so she picked out a pink and lavendar butterfly fabric for her quilt.

Then, my grandson (known here as Jellyfish) said he’d also like a new quilt – so back to the fabric store we went.  We share a love of horses and I was thrilled to see that he had picked out three fabrics with a horse theme plus coordinating colors for the sashing and border.  Today, he got his new quilt.

Jellyfish loves to wrap up completely in a quilt, so I made this one a very roomy 60×72 inches.  It was a simple block design taking advantage of the beautiful material.

I used one-inch sashing and cornerstones plus I fussy-cut four horses to use in the corners of the 4-inch borders.

Like his mother and sister, Jellyfish wanted a soft cuddly backing and chose fleece in a green plaid design with large horse heads.

I scanned a recent picture of him on a horse to print on fabric and make a label.  I also included a small photo of myself so he’ll remember how we both looked when this quilt was made.

The only trouble with having a big, roomy quilt is that you might have to share it with your sister.

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