Progress on CQJP 2012 and some beaded flowers

Progress on my Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012 is not so great. I'm still working on May: Barefoot Girl. But I'm enjoying it and getting some good advice from the women in my EGA crazy quilt interest group.

This block's theme is another memory from my childhood on an Iowa farm. I was a barefoot girl in the summertime and sometimes so early in the spring my feet would be cold, but not cold enough for donning shoes. In summer the soles of my feet would get so tough I could race over rought terrain without any discomfort. And bare feet are very useful for climbing trees. I spent a lot of time in trees, eating mulberries, challenging myself to new heights and just sitting and swaying. After a rain, bare feet in the mud are a delight and help to dam up runoff rivulets.

I confess, I've never given them up. I still have my shoes off as much as possible. That could be why yoga is my exercise program of choice after walking. I don't wear shoes when I go into my backyard or visit the neighbors in theirs. And, I'm particular to have my shoes as comfortable as possible when I must wear them.

Here is my progress on my CQJP 2012 Barefoot Girl block. The photo of the girl is not me, but it could be. I found the image and the one of the dangling feet on the internet. I regret to admit I can't find them again to attribute them. I definitely will start making a habit of recording attribution for photos I use in the future.

I need to finish needle painting the cows and add a branch on the right to support the cat face (suggestion from Susan of my CQ group). The end is in sight. Following is a close up of the chicken group in the foreground.

I indulged a diversion while I was in Portland, Maine, to visit my my 9 year-old granddaughte, Lorelei (and her parents) during her school break. I took along the new-to-me book, The Beaded Garden, by Diane Fitzgerald, Interweave Press, 2005. I made a few of the flowers from the book with no particular use in mind. Lorelei gave it a try, but decided it wasn't for her. The beads were too small and she didn't want to try size 8 which I had. Here are the flowers I made while listening with Lorelei to Jim Dale read Harry Potter on audio.