?? celebrating spring ??

much of the rest of the country (U.S.) is under snow. we certainly should be but when i walk outside this is what i'm seeing.  

the iris pushing up out of it's winter mulch towards the sun. see it's wrinkly new leaf goodness?
see that bright sunshine?

and there are daffodils crowding out of the ground too.
strangely, the crocus have not made an appearance.
i don't know whether to laugh or cry. it's extremely early for any of this to be happening here and i imagine a killing frost coming at just the wrong time . . .
to celebrate or not? stay tuned.

it's time to link up with Julie and friends for Art Journal Every Day and i have a page to share. this is page six for the Journal52 project.

all about  "the lost art of love letters". this was the love letter that was whispered to me early one morning.

i'm at risk of never catching up with the Journal52 prompts. i'm not sure whether to laugh or cry about that either . . .

it seems that my heART and stitching fingers had a mind all their own this a.m. and rather than paying attention to one of the pages prompted by the project i started and stitched on another small fabric page . . . as i was thinking about ageing/turning 50 (more laughter and tears). going in circles. and trying to be okay with that. 

 

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards."

or so said: Steve Jobs.

 

 

 

recently i sent my wonderful daughter a fun envelope in the mail. nothing remarkable on the inside but it was quite 'happy' on the outside.

snail mail is still the best in my world.

connecting up with:












recent gifts include:

• space in my life from letting go of some stuff
• clean hair
• sunshine in blue skies
• green grass peeking through the dormant matt of last years growth
• thoughts of planting seeds

slow stitching = slow progress

 i appliqued two more tulips onto the second row of my jubilee quilt project this a.m.
i really enjoy working with hand dyed fabrics. the vine and the center part of the tulip are both using  fabrics that i dyed myself.
the second row is looking a lot like the first one so i'll just leave you with this macro of that project.

during the past week i've also worked on several other slow stitching projects:

 my fabric art journal page is finished. i dated it with the date on the day when i was stitching the date and since that happened to be valentine's day i also decided to applique a primitively stitched heart in the remaining space. this page was inspired by the Journal52 project (week four). the prompt was 'building character' and i blogged more about that here.
i'm keeping the fabric art pages to approximately 4 x 6 inches and i LOVE doing them. i'm definitely seeing at least one journal in my future using only these pages . . .
i'm breaking some of the rules so if you are interested in playing along you might want to check the Journal52 site out for yourself.

 this is a project that i started last year in response to a guild challenge. it's currently (approximately) the size of a fat quarter of fabric and once i have joined it with more pieces i'll go back and add some leaves that will bring the areas together.
the challenge was to draw randomly from written suggestions and then use the suggestion drawn in a project. i drew the word 'tree' and decided to work it into a small piece that i want to make that will cover my fireplace during those months when it's not in use. i was supposed to have this finished in december but didn't make the deadline.
since then, my guild has issued another challenge (a paint chip challenge) and i will work on incorporating that next.
ultimately this piece will (hopefully) have a primitive random sampler look to it. i don't think it will be completed with the paint chip challenge . . . who knows, maybe i'll be able to milk it for a few more years' worth of guild challenges . . .
i do expect that at least some of it will be machine pieced so maybe it will go a little faster but i only work on this piece once a week so it's probably not going to be finished any time soon.

i try to work on my long term family christmas stocking project on tuesdays and so far that's working out. slow progress but i may very well get at least this one (wonderful husband's) finished by next christmas and maybe even the last one (mine).
i'm adding lights to that tangled up string of lights and it's coming along nicely.




i'll be joining up with Kathy at Kathy's Quilts today for more slow stitching show-and-tell. Kathy writes that she needs her slow stitching time more than ever today. i can relate to that~! prepare to be inspired by lots of other slow stitching projects if you decide to join in.





recent gifts include:

• a cleaner landscape in the house 'office'
• a day that invited a walk outdoors (i've been missing that)
• a completely defrosted pond and some gold fish slowly swimming in the deepest part (no count yet)
• daffodils and iris pushing up out of the ground

"derelict" on wordless wednesday in our beautiful world ~ feb. 12, 2014

art journal every day ~ february 7, 2014

the journal52 project is keeping me pretty busy with my art journaling. the 'primitive sampler' series of shots are my progress on the fourth week's page/prompt: (building character).

 my inclination to stitch seems to bring me further behind on this project but i do really like the idea of having some stitched pages to collect into their own little fabric journal. this page in particular is quite slow and emphasizes my need for prescription glasses and a steadier hand . . . ageing sucks sometimes.

i liked the idea of a primitive little sampler piece for the 'building character' page as at one time in history young girls were expected to make a sampler (or more) to document stitches and to demonstrate, not only their expanding skills with a needle but also to foster patience, memory, focus, and sometimes even social skills. 

it was thought to be a character building activity. i'm not arguing with that.

i'll continue to build my own character as i finish this page.

 

the quote is Benjamin Franklin and i thought it appropriate (as well as not too very long).

;-)

 

the current and fifth week prompt is 'abstract art inspiration'. i found this prompt to be intimidating at first as i don't have a lot of knowledge about abstract art and can't even claim to have liked it until the past several years. it has sort of grown on me for reasons i don't understand.

 

Chelle was helpful in giving a generalized definition of the term as well as demonstrating how she goes about creating abstractly.

i followed her 'formula' and ultimately enjoyed myself a lot on this page.

first putting down some white gesso onto a cardboard substrate.

once dry, i painted on some Plaid Glaze in the "New Gold Leaf" color very randomly. i then squirted yellow acrylic paint in a few (very unthought out) places and took a plastic fork to (relatively) smooth it out which left a fun textural quality within those areas.                                                    

then i used a wedge shaped sponge brush to swipe on three rectangles using Making Memories Scrapbook Colors Specialty Glaze in Amethyst.

 

as usual you can click on my photos and enlarge them to see more details. another click will give even MORE details.

 

using corks in various sizes as a printing tool, i made random circular marks on the page. for this i mixed up my own orange color from red and yellow acrylics.

next i took a metallic gold marking pen and outlined some of the circular shapes as well as the sides of the rectangles.

last but not least i remembered to sign date it.

 

i think this page will work out well for additional journaling at some point. which brings me to a quote from Julies blog from today's art journaling every day post:

 

"Work in stages. . . .   "Some days you need to art and other days you need to write. They needn't both happen on the same day! "

 

it's always good to get serendipitous validation like that ~ thank you Julie~!

She has many other great art journaling tips on today's post besides this one. if you are interested in reading them and seeing her art journaling be sure to link over. additionally you can be inspired by many other art journalists who are also participating in Julies linky party.

 

 

 

recent gifts include:

• some desperately needed moisture in the form of snow
• looong naps
• visiting with fellow quilters as i help hand quilt a guild project 
• warm lovingly mended wool socks to keep my feet warm
• new revelations in what is needed to keep my hips strong ~ every other day seems to work better than every day as it gives the muscle a chance to build again before the next exercise session

repetition abstracted