Allison Ray Designs

Day 3 close up art quilt

2010-12-13T10:22:00.000-06:00

Day 3 art quilt

2010-12-13T10:21:00.001-06:00

All the base fabric is now on. Darkened some areas with inks, and water color pencils. Made glasses look more real with melted tulle under the frames. 7 hrs (22 hours)

Up close art quilt day 2

2010-12-13T10:18:00.001-06:00

Dads quilt day 2

2010-12-13T10:17:00.001-06:00

Refined some of the shadows and working on details around eyes and mouth. 7 hours (15 total)

Art quilt of dad

2010-12-13T10:14:00.001-06:00

End of day 1.
Photo refined from original. Pattern made. Got majority of base down-8 hours

Pumpkin pillows

2010-12-07T19:49:00.001-06:00

Peanut butter cups- homemade.

2010-12-07T19:35:00.001-06:00

Hershey's watch out! These are yummy!

Merry Christmas wool rug

2010-11-14T20:25:00.001-06:00

Online Survey Companies

2010-11-03T00:03:00.003-05:00

Thought this might be a way to make a little extra holiday cash- taking online surveys.

Made a list on our family website at Online Survey Companies
Let me know if any worked well for you. I will post ones I am successful with.

Allison

Landscaping trees Texas

2010-06-21T11:11:00.000-05:00

Butterflies have all hatched

2010-06-20T17:25:00.000-05:00

We "caught" the most beautiful caterpillers on our parsley and fennel
plants. These are the butterflies.

Casting for TLC "Home Made Simple"

2010-05-05T20:51:00.002-05:00

Hi Allison,
I stumbled across your page as I was searching for Dallas sites. We are looking for families in the Dallas area, could you post this for your members? Or even consider it yourself. If you have any questions, give me a call. Thank you!

I am casting women for TLC's exciting home show, "Home Made Simple"! I am looking for married couples who own their house and would like for our chef, decorator, and handyman to spruce up their home.

Below is the casting call info.

If you could post it in your group that would be great!
Thank you!
Tai Hanson
Discovery Studios Casting Associate 310-734-3455

Do you own your own house and need to make it feel more like HOME? Casting married couples who want their home to reflect their lifestyle. If you want to add more style and comfort to your home and don't know where to start, then this is the hit home show for you! TLC's "Home Made Simple" is now casting its 7th season and looking to help families tackle their domestic challenges. Our expert chef, designer, and handyman will help you create easy living by sprucing up décor, tackling simple handyman projects, and creating quick, easy meals for the family!

EMAIL your name, contact number, and picture to tai_hanson@yahoo.com

Tai HansonCasting Associate "Home Made Simple"Discovery Studios 962 N. La Cienega Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90069(310)734-3455

If you have questions/concerns, please contact our casting director Chad Hillman at chad_hillman@discovery.com

Huge strawberries

2010-05-05T07:54:00.000-05:00

Well strawberries are officially in season. Look at the size of these.

May Rainbow in Lucas

2010-05-03T20:04:00.000-05:00

Crow Flock Lucas Texas

2010-04-28T08:06:00.001-05:00

A huge flock of crows flew in and feasted on our freshly cut yard. I
have never seen so many large black birds in my life. A few got close
to the back window. They were as large as Benjamin.

Does Mary look like me

2010-04-23T03:17:00.001-05:00

Does Mary look like me? My uncle just emaile this photo of me that he found. Think I was close to Mary's age when it was taken, maybe a little younger.

Photo of Mary at Christmas

Birthday Breakfast

2010-04-10T23:28:00.000-05:00

This is the wonderful breakfast in bed mykids made me for my birthday.

Our first Lucas snake

2010-04-02T18:38:00.000-05:00

Alba mushrooms

2010-03-10T09:24:00.000-06:00

Wow these must be amazing for $24.99 per pound. Will be sticking to my
white bottom mushrooms $3.99 lb.

Double Rainbow- Lucas Texas

2010-03-10T08:34:00.000-06:00

Drew took this photo on Monday, early evening in our back yard.

Piano man

2010-02-20T19:43:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2_2YHVNWLI

Sent from my iPhone

Brian

2010-02-20T18:37:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZgrKtUADRg

Sent from my iPhone

Randy song 2

2010-02-20T18:29:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHgsx75wgbQ

Sent from my iPhone

Brian singing

2010-02-20T18:17:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8WSsZ8wzkA

Sent from my iPhone

Randy birthday

2010-02-20T18:12:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCWCc6xdvhI

Sent from my iPhone

The Making Of Frosty The Snow Man

2010-02-11T17:05:00.001-06:00

It all begins with a little Texas Snow

Kids are proud of their snowman

2010-02-11T17:04:00.001-06:00

Winter Activities in Lucas Texas

2010-02-11T17:03:00.001-06:00

Snow in Lucas does not stop the birds from eating breakfast

2010-02-11T08:06:00.000-06:00

It's okay to love your dog

2010-01-11T11:07:00.001-06:00

But not LOVE.... Your dog!

Crating dogs

2010-01-10T20:16:00.001-06:00

Guess I could have saved myself the cost of Orsons crate.

Freezing in North Texas

2010-01-09T08:36:00.000-06:00

Puppy BFF

2010-01-06T09:57:00.000-06:00

Orson and Benjamin have really become BFF.

Hot air balloon in back yard

2009-12-28T16:47:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXFXfw5cAX4

Sent from my iPhone

It's a Boy

2009-12-21T20:03:00.001-06:00

Ice cream after musical

2009-12-10T20:12:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csEj19hzudQ

Sent from my iPhone

Help Preserve- Heard Wildlife Sanctuary - please read PETITION

2009-12-09T18:38:00.003-06:00

The Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary is an asset to North Texas, Texas and to keeping our country GREEN!!!

We need to ban together to show big business that they cannot literally bull doze our natural resources (soon we will have few or none left in the United States and across the world). Big businesses need to know that the all mighty dollar will not help them after they have killed all the birds and wildlife, cut down precious trees, contaminated fresh water sources all so they can run some more water lines and make more money for them selves. I guarantee they are not donating the extra profits made from damaging our natural resources to rebuilding them. The fat cats at the top are taking extra vacations or buying new cars......okay enough of my rant!

The North Texas Municipal Water district is suing the Heard for eminent domain. They want to put a 3,500 foot long, 42 inch diameter sewage line through the sanctuary prairie land and underneath the wetlands. They would also impact land of a total of 110 feet wide along the length of the 3,500 foot sewage line for accommodation of construction vehicles.

Please read the article posted on Heard's website and consider signing the petition.

http://www.heardmuseum.org/theheard/petition.asp

Maddie's Art on display at Hart Elementary

2009-12-09T10:53:00.000-06:00

Santa Melon Art Quilt

2009-12-02T11:27:00.001-06:00

Mrs. Ramos door

2009-12-01T17:17:00.000-06:00

Mary's classroom door decorated I for winter.

Colors of autumn book page

2009-11-30T07:17:00.001-06:00

Lucas grown peppers

2009-11-30T07:10:00.000-06:00

Picked these little babies yesterday

Shades of Autumn

2009-11-24T21:40:00.001-06:00

Fiber book page

Horizontal Composition Postcard

2009-11-20T12:27:00.000-06:00

Geometric Postcards

2009-11-20T10:33:00.001-06:00

Color Wheel Postcards- Double Split Complement

2009-11-20T10:31:00.000-06:00

Homemade Organic Donuts

2009-11-17T23:26:00.000-06:00

Vertical Composition Postcards

2009-11-12T14:50:00.000-06:00

Twins with dinosaurs at Heard Museum

2009-11-09T22:08:00.002-06:00

Mary "acting" with the dinosaur. What is really funny about the video, is not Mary's acting but how in the corner of the camera you can see Maddie running up to Poppy to tell him that she has figured out how they "the engineers" make the dinosaurs have sound. She is so wicked smart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEtpxpAs0hI

Mary Being Eaten By Dinosaur Video

2009-11-09T22:03:00.002-06:00

Silly videos we took during our walk at the Heard Museum in McKinney.

Mary being eaten by dinosaur.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXs39-fxYzw

Animal & Nature Photos from Heard Museum

2009-11-09T21:50:00.004-06:00

Wild flowers in the parking lot.

Cool pods growing on a tree in the garden.

Huge old tree- There are so many beautiful trees, you could spend all day taking photos of them.

Leaf that turned color- you do not see much of that here in Texas.

Snake on exhibit- it is behind glass.

Huge spider- also behind glass.

Tiny-tiny babies- had to zoom in to get the photo. They were just darling to watch.

Heard Nature Trails Dinosaurs Alive Exhibit

2009-11-09T21:32:00.004-06:00

The Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary in McKinney, Texas has life-sized animatronic dinosaurs along Heard's nature trails (ends January 31). What a fun place! You can casually (depending on how many kids you are watching) walk through the trails, visit the garden and butterfly exhibit, animals of the world all outside. Inside there are wonderful exhibits.

Tyrannosaurus Rex

Love this photo- Mary, Maddie and I are sitting on the dinosaur with this little boy bent over looking into its mouth. He was a bit nervous and trying to figure it all out.

Me and Mary

Mary showing off to see who's mouth is bigger....Hummmm?

Mary and Maddie climbing on a dinosaur tail

Allosaurus- this was the first one on the trail. It caught Mary off guard when it moved and made noise.

My, what big teeth you have.

Poppy "terrified" of Acrocanthosaurus

Texas Recycles Week- Hart Elementary- Lucas, Texas

2009-11-09T21:25:00.002-06:00

I went up to the school late Friday afternoon to decorate Mrs. Ramos (Mary's Teacher) door. This week is Texas Recycles Week November 9-13, 2009
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Annual Book Swap- bring one or more gently used books on these days and pick out one book on Friday.
Thursday: Wear GREEN!
Friday: Waste-Free Lunch- use all reusable containers

Maddie and Mary in the Garden

2009-11-04T22:19:00.001-06:00

Maddie and Mary getting to know the giant grasshopper.

Mary and Grasshopper

2009-11-04T22:16:00.003-06:00

Mary not quite sure about the grasshopper. She liked him when he was on the ground- not so much when he jumps onto her favorite red dress.

Mary and Maddie Getting Poppy Ready for Halloween

2009-11-03T23:06:00.003-06:00

Maddie and Mary putting on face paint to go out trick-or-treating.

Mary helping Poppy paint his face. Maddie wanted to play X-Box instead.

Mary working hard to get everything to stick to dad's face...Maddie still playing X-Box...

Mary has one end of a pencil jabbed into dad's forehead and is about to stick the other end in...Maddie comes down for a snack.

Mary making faces while zombie Poppy tries to eat her up.

They had a blast trick-or-treating with dad. We were so grateful that the girls could go there and have fun.

Drew, Randy and I stayed home at our house to pass out candy and watch movies. It turned into EAT candy and watch movies...we did not have even one trick or treater this year...Man do we have a lot of candy to eat!!! Not the best time for our dentist to close his practice and join the military.

Boo Bash in Wylie at Eerie Books

2009-11-03T22:53:00.004-06:00

Mary passing out candy and waiving to all the kids. Maddie showing off her new glow in the dark green teeth and eating lots of candy.

Mary hoping the party will start soon- we had about 8,000 kids come by before the night was over and Mary talked to every single one of them.

Drew working hard to pass out candy...

Me...passing out some candy...eating some candy

Randy's Book Store In the News

2009-11-03T22:46:00.001-06:00

The Dallas Morning News- Neighbors Go Wylie,Sachse had a great article about Randy's store- Eerie Books

http://www.neighborsgo.com/stories/44994

Organic Flowers In Lucas Texas- Finally have a name

2009-10-29T07:48:00.006-05:00

Shortly after moving into our house, Drew and I found some seed packages on clearance and picked them up.

We have been taking photos of the wild flowers growing in our flower beds. They were from a wildflower "mix". Yesterday the Wildseed Farms catalog Arrived- sure enough all our flowers were in there.

Ladybird Dwarf Gold

Cosmos Psycho White

Split Complementary Strata

2009-10-21T12:17:00.001-05:00

My first try using Marilyn Dohney's tool.
Going to use it for postcards.

Favorite technique postcards

2009-10-20T08:58:00.001-05:00

Favorite Technique postcards for Postmarked Art Round 9

I made about 20 of these postcards during a retreat in the spring. These were from an article in a magazine where you make an art quilt by layering 3-4 fabrics and then cut away at the layers to reveal what is under. It was a lot of fun. I made quite a large piece then cut it down to make a few book pages and series of postcards. Would recommend using a few layers of tulle or other fiber to add some interest.

Linda Poole Houston Quilt Show

2009-10-17T08:56:00.001-05:00

Telling your story with quilts. Sorts like journal quilts but larger
and more detail on each quilt about the quilter. Uses novelty fabrics
to tell story.

Esteria Austin Dimensional Effects on Quilts

2009-10-17T08:53:00.001-05:00

Esteria Austin Teaching Houston Quilt Show

2009-10-17T08:51:00.001-05:00

Esteria Austin at Houston Quilt Show

2009-10-17T08:49:00.000-05:00

Atc trade Houston Quilt Show

2009-10-17T08:32:00.000-05:00

The cards have been amazing again this year! Will post photos of the
ones I traded for soon.

Houston quilt show line

2009-10-15T09:58:00.001-05:00

Lined up for over an hour around convention center for opening.

Quilters Trading Cards

2009-10-13T10:46:00.000-05:00

Made to trade in Houston at International Quilt Festival

Thread Painted Poatcards

2009-10-12T14:59:00.000-05:00

Lovejoy ISD- PTA and PTSA Reflections Program 2009

2009-10-06T13:49:00.000-05:00

As a mother of three children in the Lovejoy ISD, a member of the PTA and PTSA and a fiber artist. I am so wicked excited about this years reflection program.

The theme is-"Beauty Is..."

Last year Drew's and Maddie's pieces were chosen to be on exhibit at the Wylie high school. We always encourage the kids to participate in the PTA's reflections program. Our kids are mostly involved in visual arts, but the reflections program also has categories for Dance Choreography, Film Production, Literature, Musical Composition, and Photography.

You can read about Texas PTA's reflection programs on their website http://www.txpta.org/programs/reflections . It is a really wonderful program to encourage kids to participate in the arts.

Hart Elementary and Lovejoy High School Deadline is November 2, 2009. Will be sure to post photos of what the kids make this year if they bring them home first.

Name badge holder pattern

2009-10-05T09:48:00.002-05:00

I received and email this mornining asking for a pattern for the badge holder to make to wear to Houston Quilt Show. This is the one I made last year from left over fabrics from a Frieda Anderson workshop (love her btw). It was super easy and has held up well. I made mine larger because I wanted to carry a small note book can be made any size.

They are super easy!!! you are basically making a long quilted piece and folding the top down enough to make a "flap" hold your badge and funky pins and from the bottom up for the pocket to hold all your goodies.

Start with two pieces of fabric mine were about 25-27" long depending on how large you want the pouch to be to hold stuff- small notes etc..

Make a quilt sandwich (with very light batting- just for support) quilt layers.

Decide which side you want showing and which will be the liner.

Choose one end of the side you want showing to be the "top" of the case. Place a plastic badge holder and pin. approx 1" from the bottom. stitch an old plastic badge older piece around three sides leaving the top. (we all have tons of the plastic badge holders- I find they are easier to work with then the sheets of plastic you can buy at Joann's- but either will work.)

This will make the top of the "badge holder" make sure you leave enough space above the holder for pins and stuff.

Then fold the top part over to see where you like it to have room for the badge and extra on the top and press so you have a nice line.

Fold the bottom up to that top line this makes the pocket- you can sew your neck band into either those sides as you stitch them up or under the top fold where the the badge is- either works I have done both.

I like the funky look so I edge stitched mine closed so it was showing- but if you like more of a finished look when you fold the bottom to the top fold place the quilted fabric so you are sewing "inside" the back then you can turn it right sides out.

Can't wait for Houston...only about a week away now!!!!

YAYYYY
Allison

Charming Randy Art Quilt

2009-10-02T10:30:00.004-05:00

"Charming Randy" by Allison Ray

I took a photo of Randy during the twins 7th birthday party in September. I just loved the playful expression on his face. This quilt is part of the color and composition study series. It is a vertical composition with analogous color scheme (blue-green, blue, violet & red-voiolet)

original photo of Randy

Aged Jewel Art Quilt

2009-10-02T09:39:00.003-05:00

Just finished this last night. "Aged Jewel"

The inspiration for this art quilt was from a photo that I took in DC over the summer. (My
sister Mara, was VERY patient as I stopped to take a million photos.) When we went into DC to visit some art galleries and museums this tree was set back off the path between the National Art Gallery and Smithsonian Institute (the original building that was once and artist in residence). The tree is small in stature, I got up close to see if I could get come of the definition in the limbs. Not sure the type of tree it looked like one of those bonsai trees but that's probably not was it is.

Aged Jewel is part of my color and composition studies this tree was created in vertical composition with complimentary color scheme. I fell in love with the fabrics used in this piece! The hand is soft like silk, however the visual texture of the fabric is a rough tweed. From the Robert Kaufman Quilter's Tweed Screen Print Collection.
Original photo I took with IPhone in DC.

Fall fabric postcards

2009-09-30T11:17:00.001-05:00

Crazy Mushrooms

2009-09-26T20:05:00.000-05:00

I am really into shape lately- wanted to share some mushroom photos I took from the "back 40". That's what my dad calls the very back of our yard.

They will be a series of monochromatic pieces soon. My focus is on creating art from photos that we take.

Benjamin In Flowers Art Quilt

2009-09-26T09:50:00.003-05:00

I finished Maddie's "Benjamin must have been laying in flowers...." art quilt last night. Bound it in purple and have Benjamin these funky red-Violet eyes. Maddie love it.

View from my studio

2009-09-25T19:55:00.000-05:00

Drew and I hung up this basket of flowers out side and put a tiny little humming bird feeder inside. You see them perched on there all they time. The hummers go between the feeder and the flowers to eat. Below you can see the "discount" wild flowers we planted too. They are a bit crazy but very pretty.

Mary and Maddie picked out this bird bath for the front. It has a little brown bunny on the front that is sitting in flowers. Fitting since there is a tiny gray bunny that lives in the bush right behind.

View from my office chair. I can watch the birds- you'll know when I am slow to answer emails and get design work done. Its a perfect place to day dream...Best of all I can watch the girls school from the window.

Awesome Bright Green Frog in Lucas

2009-09-24T22:44:00.000-05:00

One of the things I like best about organic gardening are all the visitors we get- this frog was just too cool. We need to look it up and find out the name and info. It was a bright green with webbed feet and big eyes. Not at all afraid of us, at one point while I was taking photos, I swear it turned to face me and pose. What a ham!

Amazing Flowers Lucas Texas after the rain

2009-09-24T19:00:00.000-05:00

When the girls got home from school today we ventured out into the nice cool weather to see how our flower beds were doing. For some reason today- not sure if its all the rain or the cool weather but the flowers all seemed to be extra colorful and bright.

The humming birds are loving it. A perfect time for them all to bloom so the hummers can fatten up for their long journey.

The orange and white flowers were planted last month from wildflower seeds we picked up at Walgreens in Allen for 10 cents a package during their remodeling sale.

Praying Mantis New Home in my Studio

2009-09-23T20:12:00.005-05:00

We organic garden so praying mantis are welcome- well until I read about how they can attack hummingbirds. So now it has a new home in my studio until the Hummers fly south in a few weeks.

Reading up on the praying mantis was interesting a good resource was on about.com. I have it in a nice large container that fits inside of a mesh lingerie bag. It will be very well cared for and loved until it can go back outside in a few weeks.

My poor husband is so patient. We are constantly "adopting" animals and bugs. From the huge toad that lives in the self-watering pots on the patio, bunny in the front bushes, bucket of caterpillars on the patio, "Mannie" the praying mantis and all the hummingbirds- its like a zoo...

Rainbow in Lucas Texas

2009-09-23T19:42:00.002-05:00

A beautiful rainbow over the water tower in Lucas, Texas.

Tomatoes there yesterday- gone today-hornworms

2009-09-21T10:27:00.000-05:00

It rained here in Lucas, Texas for over a week straight. Not that I am complaining- I happen to love the rain.

No gardening was done during that week so when it stopped raining and I went out to check on the tomato "crop" it was gone...literally nothing left but stems.

Seems that while the rain came in so did the Horn worms- After putting on gloves and carefully taking off each one- last count was 18- they were all placed into a bucket covered in netting until research could be done....

Come to find out they are the caterpillars for the hummingbird butterfly. I found a great site for how to collect the caterpillars, feed them, then leave them alone to turn into the butterflies (moths) in about two weeks. The caterpillars are HUGE- they can get up to 4 inches long.- Very Cool! So now instead of growing tomatoes...we are growing butterflies

September Lucas Texas Organic Garden Photos

2009-09-20T22:41:00.001-05:00

Photos I took today of the flowers and plants in our garden- they loved that rain!

Lucas Texas Hummingbirds Fattening Up

2009-09-20T22:24:00.002-05:00

I took this photo a few days ago. It was on a rainy day in September. The rain has stopped for a while- it rained here in Lucas, Texas for about a week and half.
You can tell the hummingbirds are getting ready to fly south for the winter- look how fat they are getting.

Harvest Pumpkin Art Quilt

2009-09-17T08:58:00.000-05:00

Finished this a few minutes ago. I purchased the fabrics and pattern
at a Frieda Anderson workshop last year.

In a finish it mode this month. Next month is the market and quilt
show in Houston. Each year at this time I try to finish up kits and
patterns, so I do not feel bad about buying more at the Houston Quilt
Show..

First year daisy ceremony

2009-09-13T16:13:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9-ASx7BHV8

Sent from my iPhone

Compositon Studies - Art Quilts

2009-09-13T10:05:00.000-05:00

In the book "Color and Composition" it talks about the basic principals of design layouts. I thought it would be fun to make a small journal quilt to hand in my studio for each of the principals. Each of the finished design mini have been/will be made using left over scraps from the other exercises in the book (waste not want not).

These are the three I have made so far. Some day when the series is complete they will be quilted and bound- not sure it they will be individual or all one piece? Since this series is not about color but about design- I plan to use the complimentary color for the bulk of the scraps to make the design stand out.

If I have not said before in previous posts- I highly recommend this book for any fiber artist beginning or experienced that wants to really refine their skills. Not only are the photos inspiring but the exercises and ideas are practical and creative. You are not making someone else's quilt designs with their colors- instead you are using your photos and imagination to design patterns and then select colors.

Vertical Compositon

Diagonal Composition

Radiating Composition

Benjamin Smells Like Flowers

2009-09-12T09:45:00.000-05:00

An art quilt inspired by Madeline

A few weeks ago at dinner, Maddie picked up Benjamin (our chihuahua) buried her nose in his fur and too a huge whiff.

Her face turned bright and with a huge smile she said, "Benjamin smells so good! Did you give him a bath today?"

I replied no....

"Oh... well then he must have been laying in flowers" How cute is that!

The top is about 18" X 18" I free motion quilted it the other day to add details to Benjamin's fur and face. It just needs the binding and buttons on the eyes.

He's back

2009-09-12T08:37:00.001-05:00

Relocating the prey mantis

2009-09-12T08:33:00.001-05:00

Cool Color Study- Journal Quilt

2009-09-11T08:52:00.000-05:00

Exercise from "Color and Compositon"- Cool Color Scheme.

For this exersise we were to make a small art quilt with only cool colors or only warm colors.

Story Book Quilt Program- Art Quilt

2009-09-10T08:44:00.003-05:00

This quilt was based on the book Quilt Counting by Lesa Cline-Ransome.

It was purchased through a grant from the Junior League of Plano to be donated to the Allen Quilters Guild Story Book Quilt Program. The quilts along with the books will travel to different libraries for children and adults to enjoy.

Texas Toad Makes a home in Lucas

2009-09-08T21:32:00.002-05:00

Every morning for about a month now when I go out to water my patio garden there is a hole inside one of the flower pots. It is a good sized hole so I have been really curious about what was making it.

Yesterday we found out...

The toad is still there today in the pot- in a new position today and I did see it out of the pot around 5am this morning.

For some reason this toad has decided that our patio is its new home. "Freddie" or "Fredina" is welcome to say for as long as it wants too. The kids love to look at it but are under strict orders not to go near the pot and under no circumstances are they to touch the toad. From what I have read online the Texas Toad breeds in September and sometimes uses man made ditches. And that they are know for burrowing and flattening themselves out to not be seen. The toad is quite large my best guess is between 2 1/2 to 3 inches.

Maddie self portrait

2009-09-08T08:25:00.001-05:00

Maddie's self portrait.

Maddie's fabric hair curls on the bottom like hers. Maddie also snagged a "flower" for her hair. (Of course she/they do not take into consideration that the flowers the "picked" from my design wall where all hand English paper pieced that took me hours......:0) She has a silly flower nose. Thought it was interesting that they did not make their self portraits at the same time, but both of the girls drew almost the same exact necklace but in different colors- must be a twins thing?

Mary's mixed media self portrait

2009-09-08T08:21:00.001-05:00

Mary's first homework assignment for the Lovejoy Isd was to create a self portrait. She
spotted a hand pieced flower from my design wall that would be just perfect for her hair. She was very concerned about choosing a fabric that reflected her "true" hair color..."You know that my hair is yellow with a little brown...." Also notice the bangs of fabric hair, Mary is very proud for her first hair cut and the bangs. Mary drew her nose but was not happy with how it turned out to when all else fails...you can sew something over the top...she choose an ice cream nose.

This was a really fun and creative assignment.

Pray Mantis Living on Hummingbird Feeder

2009-09-07T19:03:00.003-05:00

When we got up this morning this huge pray mantis that has been living on our orange tree has taken over the hummingbird feeder. It is so large that it is literally swinging the feeder and has almost emptied out all the nectar. A little concerned about the impact for the hummingbirds- need to google if they play nice together.

More about this later.

Crazy bug in my pattio garden

2009-09-07T19:02:00.002-05:00

Found out it is a pray mantis- eats bugs so he's welcome...

Baby birds

2009-09-07T18:31:00.001-05:00

One of the things we love best about our new house in Lucas is all the wild life- Especially the birds. Since everything is on clearance now for the fall/winter Mary and Maddie picked out an adorable bird bath at home depot. It sits out front of my studio window.

The most adorable little baby birds visited today. They can barely fly. They have a dark brownish blue back with rusty-red chest and bellies. They are covered in the really fluffy baby feathers- they look like little fat cotton balls.

Mary skates with drew in her 7th birthday

2009-09-07T15:38:00.003-05:00

Today is the twins birthday. Maddie wanted pet shops and Mary wanted roller skates. The video is of Drew trying to help Mary skate- its wicked funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTbRplw4pZc

Sent from my iPhone

My design wall says fall is here

2009-09-03T09:04:00.001-05:00

In the middle of the night last night these colors called my name.

Fall is officially here at the Ray's when the deep autumn colors come out to play.

Design wall September 2009