Desert Moonrise...

In the new Quilting Arts this month there is an article entitled, "Creating with Silk - Painted & Beaded Trees by Betty Busby. I loved one of the silk paintings she did and decided to try something similar.

Because I don't have any sheer white silk, I did my painting on sheer white muslin and painted with watered down acrylic paint. My focus on this piece was to try a new stitching technique.

Instead of threadpainting and following the contours of the elements in the picture which is what I typically do in my Neocolor pieces, most of my stitching was done with a horizontal orientation - to create strata in the earth and the mountains and layers in the sky. I used a very light stabilizer to back this to avoid puckering while stitching. I will now apply a piece of batik fabric to the back to finish it off.  Not sure what I'm going to make with it yet.  But it will make a nice textile for some use.

With the duration of girl's weekend coming to a close, after church, Sabrina and I are both spending the remainder of the weekend in the studio. She, organizing and packing up her art supplies for her classes next week, and I plan on doing some more painting from some of my "own" photographs this time. I want to try this again. I learned so much from my first go at it.

I do believe I felt a taste of Autumn in the air this morning when I let the corgis out at 6:00 a.m. Not as humid and a bit of breeze. North Carolina weather says it's only going up to about 69 tomorrow.

Come on Fall - I am soooo ready!!

Girlfriends Sketchbooks....

Two down - two more to go.

Tried some new techniques on these two sketchbooks - bobbin painting and mixed media wet stamping, then stitching. Working on these was quite enjoyable.

This is just a sneak peek. I just mailed these off today so I don't want to spoil the surprise.

I hope Suki and Karen like them. So heads up Lynette - these two are coming your way. Oh, and I have Kate's on the machine and Soulbrush's is drying - so they will be off to you by Monday.

Whew - glad those are done. Four at a time is a little stressful.

Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.

My Leaves Art Quilt Made it into an Etsy Treasury...

Remember this? It's been selected for the Etsy Treasury, "Inspired by Nature." Take a look - it's a beautiful treasury http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=65118
But hurry, it EXPIRES Friday (8/21).


Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.

.

Autumn Leaves on a Neutral Bark Background....

Just finished this little piece for a good friend in St. Ives! Actually, it may NOT be finished as Michelle recommended I add a few beads here and there which I just may do before I drop it in the post.

The background is a piece of artist canvas which makes a nice substrate to stitch on. I layered the canvas with wool yarn, metallic yarn, gold and silver lame', tulle, torn pieces of silk and linen. After I arranged the fibers I put one large piece of neutral (ivory) and several torn pieces of torn bronze/brown organza over the entire piece and free motion stitched up and down (in a bark-like pattern) to hold all the fibers in place beneath the organza.

Then.... you guessed it. I melted away the organza with the heat gun - being care to leave parts of the organza as well as to strategically reveal the fibers underneath.

The leaves I made using an artificial leaf as a base to which I added dryer sheets which I painted with metallic Lumiere paints and free motion embroidered to the top and trimmed around the edges.

When it was time to stitch the leaves down, I played around with the arrangement (two maple, one oak), finding I needed one or two small leaves to balance the piece out. I painted two more leaves and pinned them down. I applied a closed, tiny zig zag stitch around the edges of each leaf, leaving some of the leaves hanging over the side to create an organic edge.

I sewed two loops to the top and found a nice twig which I cut, sanded and stained for the piece to hang on.

This was such a fun piece to work on (even though I was tearing my hair out at times). I love creating backgrounds and everybody knows leaves are my "muse."

Things I learned while working on this piece:

Always save all of the failures (I made four backgrounds before I ended up with this one and the backgrounds that failed are great to use for other things - they are in my "box.")

Always make two of everything (this is something I do now as it saves me a lot of time when making things for my Etsy shop and for gifts.)

DON'T let Lumiere stay on your skin (or in your hair!) for more than 8 hours....

And, enjoy the process. Don't stress. If things don't work out just throw it in the box (NOT the trash) and start again!~

Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.

A 12 Hour Harley Ride Saturday....

Couldn't have been a better day. Sabrina left at 6:00 am to go to Carrowinds with about 100 kids for the day, so Blaise and I took advantage of the "alone time" and jumped on the Harley for for a day of cruising, swimming and relaxing over on the Atlantic coast.

Is this a welcoming sight or what??!

We left home about 8:30 a.m. and returned home about 9:00 p.m. It was a perfect day - the sky was Carolina blue, the beach was red hot, and the water was the perfect shade of "cool."

Remember the motorcycle blanket I made a while back (the one we carry in the saddle bag of the bike for unexpected stops)? It makes the perfect beach blanket. Perfect thickness - just big enough for two!

Nobody ever takes pictures of me (that I would show you!!).

So here's a few pictures I took of myself!

LOOK.... I'm waving to YOU!

Make sure you do things today to make YOU happy today. Play with your dog, hug your kids, read a classic piece of literature, (may I suggest "Wuthering Heights???") kisss your honey. Make yourself smile.

Laugh as much as you breathe...

and LOVE as long as you live.

I'm Ready to Stay PUT for a While....

I'm back from visiting my dad. It was so nice spending time with him - just the two of us. We divided our time between Key Largo and Boca Raton and basically, all I did was float in the pool, read and watch the boats whizz by.

These first three pictures are from my dad's home in Boca Raton - which is where we moved from when we moved to North Carolina. Boca is in Palm Beach County and is still considered South Florida. The house sits directly on the Intracoastal waterway and has an incredible view from all angles. Here you see his boat "Yo Eleven" parked right outside the living room door. Care to go for a cruise???
My Boca Raton itinerary - visit with my dad, float endlessly in the pool, read Wuthering Heights, drink iced tea and watch the boats go by.
This is the view from my bedroom. See my Kindle on the chair??The other house in Key Largo is on the Largo Sound (in the Atlantic Ocean) The Atlantic ocean is just outside of that little land bridge you see in the background. Not much boat traffic, but the sky was very busy.
My Key Largo itinerary: visit with my dad, float in the pool, eat Key Lime pie, read and watch the seagull, pelicans and egrets whiz by.




I don't think I've ever had more than a few hours to myself in my entire life. It was kind of weird at first - I had to acclimate myself to not having to answer to work, chores, corgis, children or a husband. That took all of about 5 minutes!!


THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME..... Upon my arrival home, I was greeted by a spotless house, two freshly bathed corgis, NO laundry, some flowers and a plate of cupcakes in my office with a teeny tiny note next to the flowers from my man ( HE made the cupcakes) I had to pinch myself. My husband and girl are AMAZING!

Oh - I can't forget to mention -- I was also greeted by FOUR - yes FOUR Girlfriend's Sketchbooks to work on. Babs sent out four at once so I will certainly be kept busy with that for a week or two. So Lynette - get ready 'cause they're coming your way soon.

The plan for this week: get back into my exercise program, fire up the Janome, and get ready for the POISON CONCERT ON FRIDAY!! I'll be making the blog rounds this week. Can't wait to see what you've been up to.


P.S. I did NOT forget the contest I promised. It's coming, I just need to get organized.

Laugh as much as you breathe....

and love as long as you live.