one can never have too many of these sweet things in the garden. ;-)
i've been nose deep in the garden for several weeks now just like the ladybug above. she may have been getting a drink from the dew drippy dill but i've been planting, weeding, creating path, etc .  . .   

 not much stitching getting done but who can blame me with all of these gorgeous sights just a few steps away?!?

soon enough it will be cold and the snow will be falling and then i'll have more time to stitch as well as show off  just how few stitches are currently making it into any projects.

in the meantime  there seems to be little time or patience for cropping out pesty flys or creating the perfect image ratio's. all of these shots are straight out of the camera so forgive the imperfections of the photography and my lack of stitch surprises and just enjoy the beauty of my garden please.

 this little green grasshopper seems much too pretty to be very damaging and so tiny . . .

i do think it may be getting bigger by nibbling on the leaves of my johnny jump-ups though . . .

my life and heart are FULL of garden gratitudes and i hope that yours are too.

Happy Independence Day America

Home of the Free

Because of the Brave

 

 

Art Journal Every Day ~ May 23, 2014

i have some art journaling pages today.
and words~! ;-)
during the last few months i have managed to art journal on most days.
i definitely prefer working on the fabric art pages lately.  they take much more time but i'm enjoying the work as well as the finished pages.
 
with this in mind i made the decision to leave the Journal52 "highway" and enjoy my "scenic side road" of fabric art pages instead.   i like being able to take my time and allow the 'work' to progress intuitively and organically as i experiment with ideas and techniques on the fabric pages. this makes them generally too slow to make keeping up with the Journal52 project enjoyable.

 

remember this one 'in progress'?
btw: that's a bit of a tea bag there behind that moon.
many possibilities for sure~!


i continue to surprise myself as i enjoy the art quilting more than i ever thought i would.

traditional bed quilts are wonderful and i still enjoy making them and sleeping under them and even decorating with them but these small art quilt pages have captured my imagination in a whole new and unexpected way.

this fabric page was the result of a Journal52 prompt (found poetry). i extracted words from an old book on how to pay less taxes . . . i enjoyed the finished poem and the irony of it.
i also used this page for experimenting with using cheesecloth as a base for some improvisational weaving. i LOVE the results and am now thinking of creating some soft yet bright curtains for the long side windows by my front door as well as one for the window in the front door itself using this technique. i have another example of this experimentation on one of the postcards in a previous post.

this simple page is a further experiment in weaving. this time using leftover skinny strips of fabrics combined with stitching.
lots of possibilities here as well.

this page is the result of a few very small scraps of my own hand dyed fabrics with an inclusion of a batik that i liked (the spiral printed pieces).
i enjoyed using different weights of thread as well as varying the stitch lengths. i see that quilting can be so much more than just a small running stitch in fine thread . . . not quite embroidery but definitely some complexity to add interest within certain spaces . . .

on this page i have stitched a combination of fabric and paper and will likely do more of that over time. i also used that hand made turtle stamp that i made a while back. it's a fun stamp and i enjoy using it.

 

 



i have enough fabric pages now that i am beginning to  look at ways to combine them and bind them into a book . . . i will have more to show on that stage of my fabric art journal soon.

 

 

i also have this more traditional art journaling page from march (right before i made the decision to leave the Journal52 project). i was feeling overwhelmed by many things when i created it.

funny how our feelings can come out in the creative process. i was really struggling but thankfully there's humor here too.

i reused the front side of a windowed envelope as my 'page' placing the gecko behind the window.

 

i will continue to work with paper, glue and scissors but for the now i'm enjoying the slow (thoughtfully) stitched fabric page.

 

 

 

i hope to join up with Art Journal Every Day today.
  
     


recent gifts include:

• several truly memorable days spent with my gracious daughter in her home
• time at the edge of the pond consulting the goldfish and freshening it up for the summer season (current spring counts: big fish =14/small fish=3/no sign of tiniest ones from the fall . . . yet . . .)
• many blossoms despite some frosts
• the gift of an incomplete needlework/needlepoint project and a lesson on how to complete it

wordless wednesday ~ may 21, 2014

 



 

 

wordless for a while

 

early morning stitches

i'm still here. still stitching (aka breathing).
not a lot of time for blogging.

recent gifts include:

• fish within the pond warming to the idea of an early spring
• late to the party but still beautiful crocus
• getting my hands dirty in the spring soil

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

art journal every day ~ january 24, 2014

the "up, up, and away" page is now finished. it
s not very big but it makes me happy.

work is still ongoing with the "somewhere" page. i've had a very bad cold this week and simply didn't feel like working on it.

the journal52 prompt for this week is "you make me smile".

i began to make a list of things that make me smile on an old piece of ledger paper thinking that it would be a good activity to take my mind off of the sniffles, aches, coughs, etc . . .

then i found a piece of scrap booking paper to tape it onto. tape seemed easier than glue today and i have a nice selection of pretty tapes from which to choose.
i tore (easier than scissors) the list so it was a size i felt good about, and then tore the prompt out.  
as i was taping i realized that i should date my page (something that i frequently forget to do) and taped on a small piece of extra ledger paper at the bottom.

i then had a chicken soup break. i highly recommend this if you have a cold too.

once properly fortified i added some doodles, trying to blend the background with the foreground as i went along. i used the printed design on the background (scrap book) paper as inspiration for my doodles.
i wrote in the date.



then i got out my water color pencils and added some color, accents and a few more doodles.

and believe it or not i have actually completed this one. 


linking up with both the Art Journal Every Day forum at Balzer Designs and the Journal52 workshop.







this page is all about the gifts in my life so rather than post a gift list i'll let you study the page if you choose. i would, however, like to add that i am grateful for chicken soup. and heating pads. and kleenex. and mentholatum. and kleenex. and a comfy love worn quilt. oh, and kleenex.

art journal every day ~ january 17, 2014

the prompt this week for Journal52 is "Somewhere, A Simple Place".
on tuesday i located a sheet of paper that i had already begun to background onto and did some more coloring, scribbling, stenciling, etc.
i was thinking of going "somewhere" into an imaginary garden . . .

then on wednesday i searched around for a quote that might work for the page. i found a couple i liked and looked through some old ephemera for ideas. so just an art journal brainstorm going on that day.

thursday morning i found a calendar page from a 2013 World Wildlife calendar that got me thinking in a whole new direction. i cut the page down to 8 and a half inches by 11 inches and decided to make it my base . . . clipped some more aquatic type images and called it good for the day.
a big clip art storm that day~!

friday morning i got out the glue stick and started creating a "border" on my page as suggested by Chelle at Journal52. she offered two suggestions this week as well as the prompt and i hope to use the other one as this page progresses.
this Journal52 thing is shaping up to be a really worthwhile use of my art journaling time~! if you have wanted to art journal but didn't know how or when to start you should consider jumping in. she's not requiring that you spend a lot of money on supplies and the workshop itself is free.

this is where the "Up, Up, & Away" (last weeks Journal52 prompt) theme was carrying me on monday . . .

i am now realizing that my umbrella has gotten caught up in the wind. the weather was crazy windy for a few days last week and not just in my imagination/art.

i also now realize that the 'protection' my umbrella was giving me is 'gone with the wind'.

maybe i don't need it after all . . . weehheeee . . .

 

on tuesday, it became windier still . . .

on friday a.m. i had a few minutes to add a water color pencil vine to the "up, up, and away" page on a small piece of hand made paper that i stitched onto the bottom

this page is also not quite finished.

 

i had fun art journaling this week although i realize that my pages are taking a bit too long to finish. oh well, it will all "art"out in the long run i suppose.

 

today i am linking up with both the Art Journal Every Day forum at Balzer Designs and the Journal52 workshop.





 

 

 

 

recent gifts include:

• making my own beef broth 
• feeling the warmth of a morning cup of coffee in my hands
• sunshine. blue skies. sunshine. and oh~! some sunshine
•  anticipating a quick weekend visit from the wonderful daughter
• smelling the garlicky pasta sauce simmering on the stove

jubilant slow sunday stitching

i turn 50 this year. this is a bigger deal than i thought it would be and i have very mixed feelings. i guess i have all year to work through those though and one of the things i realized is that i have never made a quilt just for me, myself and i.
it's high time i fixed that and so i will be working on my jubilee quilt (a quilt celebrating my 50th year). i plan on selfishly excluding as many other projects from this year as possible so as not to "steal" time/energy from this milestone project.

i will be using my string pieced tulips and i think that 50 is just about the right amount to include. they're actually quite large and so i won't be setting them into blocks. when thinking about this project previously i kicked around a variety of ideas but i've decided to set them into rows and create a tulip 'vine' with them. lots of scratching around with a pencil, calculator and graph paper has resulted in a rough plan and so i have a big green hand dyed vine and three tulips beginning to grow . . . this is largely a slow stitching kind of project and will take quite a while.

speaking of slow stitching, i was unable to work on my art journal/Journal52 prompt yesterday so this a.m. picked it back up again. it's looking like this might be a fiber page . . .

lots of slow stitching planned for today between the art journal page and the jubilee applique.
i'm joining up with Kathy of Kathy's Quilts for the slow sunday stitching event. it's been a while and i'm happy to be returning to see what everyone is up to within that forum.



recent gifts include:

• being able to help when needed
• noticing the colors of an early morning sunrise: swirly peaches/purples and intense blues
• hearing the coo of the doves as they crowd around the winter feeder
• enjoying a day out with other quilt minded ladies and a yummy pot luck lunch