Wordless Wednesday

Free hand Feathers

This month for the Free Motion Challenge
we have Diane Gaudynski!


The Free Motion Challenge is hosted by SewCalGal. This is
not a competition or an on-line class; it's simply for us
participants to sharpen our skills or learn new techniques or just
practice on our own. So, if you are so inclined come on
down and join us!

I have free motioned feathers before but always
by marking them on fabric first. I wanted to try
the free hand feathers as Diane demonstrates.

I don't have to tell you that it's not as easy
as Diane makes it look! Or maybe you already
know that.

I only marked the spine and put the sandwich
under the needle - OMG It's hard!
Even after practicing sketching first - over and
over again.

Anyway here's my first try and I can't believe
that I'm posting it!



(o: It doesn't look too bad this little does it?





Oh okay, here's my first try:


OMG it's horrid!


I'm not one to be discouraged too easily so
I try and try.





Some improvement with practice!

and

practice



I tried using some variegated thread on my
hand dyed fabric.


Close-up I can really see an improvement.
The hardest part for me is echoing back down
the spine. It makes me feel that I'm going the
wrong way on a one way street.


I'm using hand dyed fabric that didn't turn
out the way that I wanted it. I can see
that my backtracking is still bad!

More practice (it's going to take a lot I can tell)

And finally this is my last piece. I can
definitely see an improvement!

I need much more practice but I love
the look of feathers so I'll go on. Free
hand feathers is very difficult at first
but I'm getting the hang of it.

Thank you Diane! And SewCalGal!

Wordless Wednesday

Speedwell Forge Lake

Sunday was such an unusual warm day
for January that I decided to take a drive.
I really didn't have a destination in mind;
I just kept driving north.

I wanted to go somewhere that I've never
been to since I moved here. I thought that
maybe I would visit Lititz Park and maybe
get some good photo shots.... but I passed
the entrance! Kept driving north and thought
of something someone told me once about
there being a place with a very large creek (-:

The road climbs up and what I love about
this area is that is very hilly and has some
spectacular views. Being a native Long Islander
where the land is pretty much just flat - the
only fabulous views are the ocean. (which I
love and miss) So I very much appreciate
looking down and being able to be able to
see for miles and miles.

I finally reach my destination and find
a parking space. I see a couple of other
cars but there's no one around. Once
out of the car; I start walking around
and thinking this is not just a creek as
I was told! It's a lake and there's hardly
any water in it and then it dawned on me
where I was! It's been a very controversial
subject in the news for the past couple of
months and here I was.
I walked towards a small pier and saw the
sign.


I've never been here before so I don't know
what the lake looked like in all it's glory.
I look for some photos on the internet:

This is what the pier looked like - I've taken this
photo from Here which tells you all about
the lake.

This is what it looks like now:

The Lake is being drained to access damage and
make repairs. The damage being done by recent
storms to the dam which is further down the lake
and I didn't walk down that far.

I start walking around taking more photos:

The area is kept clean of liter but found
this interesting - old shoes? Were they
left there for a reason?




I think these are traps of some sort for fish?




I realized that this lake extends to the
other side of the road.

(I later learned that - Fish, such as bass, carp,
and catfish were salvaged and placed in other
areas such as the Susquehanna River)

If you are a nature lover, as I am, you'll find
walking around the lake very disheartening
and depressing.

I got back into my car and drove to the
other side.

When I got there, there was a man standing
there by his car - just staring. When he saw
me he got back into his car and drove away.

I guessed that he was just there reminiscing.
It must have been a beautiful area at one time..
and a popular recreational place for residents
in the area.



This was the boat launch area.

To the left is a small pavilion (no photo)

As I was walking around; I found myself
imagining kids running around playing,
people fishing in their boats, laughter...
but
something seemed also amiss; I stopped and
was trying to think about just what is was..?
Then I realized that I didn't see or hear one
single bird! That struck me as very odd
and I wondered where are they birds?











The future of this lake is still unknown
There will be a meeting in February to find
a way to secure funding for all of the repairs -
$6.3 million is needed.

They say it could take years for the problem to be resolved.


Meanwhile the boats are stored.

To find out more about this lake please visit

Save Speedwell.org

Wordless Wednesday