Unveiling Next New Quilt: "Gossamer Spring"

This art quilt was done for the Quilts Around The World Challenge: "Different" to be revealed today! This has been done in my get it done early style for a few months and hanging on our living room wall. Even though she was done much before reveal date I definitely took my time and enjoyed the slow hand work throughout.

Click on photos to see more details The entire quilt is hand sewn (except maybe the turning of the background fabric to the rear)... I have Mim to thank for the main two pieces of "gossamer" fabric in turquoise and gold, THANK YOU MIM for this gift! They inspired me to heavily

embroider and hand bead this piece! I had fun adding my silk tie flower buds to the corners...

& adding zippers for stems...

And large crocheted flowers in central focus...

I loved the flower centers using buttons and jewelry wire and beads for stamens giving it a dramatic 3D effect.

This quilt will take her chances at the juried art show locally and at the Dixon May Fair art quilt show: art quilt division.

She's for sale with the stipulation to be sent after those shows end.

$200.

The challenge was to do something different

and as you can see many of the materials used

are "different" from things I have used before.

Gossamer: The "samer" means Summer, but my 'different' is calling this

Gossamer Spring!

;-))

To see more of the groups "Different" quilts go to the link here. They will undoubtedly be posting all week long.

Fastidious Henry and A Bit Shy!

Several more people said they would draw Henry this week but the pictures have not yet arrived. If/when they do I will post them. I heard far and wide from people about this. Friend Patty said she drew a stick figure of Henry but was too shy to offer it up for showing. My sister in law said she wanted to draw him with her cat Jack Henry!

And what is Henry making of all this fuss? He's a bit shy about the whole affair and says wow

it's more than I can handle.

Happy Animal Wednesday!

Bound Off!

Saturday night and Sunday morning I sat and bound off the last row of stitches taking the baby blanket off the needles that sewed it in the round... Laying it out flat for the first time was very exciting...

Seeing those 13 stripes like ripples running on a flat quiet river...

...framing the center of nine hearts like a big picture frame...

I am happy to see the corners came out well after all my struggling; learning to trust a pattern instruction no matter how foreign to me it might be...

Then I sat and wove in all the loose yarn ends on the back side leaving the suggested one inch showing to be cut off more after the blanket is washed.

Now I have begun knitting the first of nine more heart squares that once sewn together I will sew down to the opposite side giving the middle of the blanket a pretty side front and back; and a soft cushion on which baby girl grand daughter can sit and play! I can already imagine her tugging at the felted buttons I will also sew to both sides and learning her colors pointing to the hearts and stripes. Thank you Kristin Nicholas for this most precious pattern for me to knit.

Sneak Peek: "Indian Summer"

Every year Yolo County Mental Health puts on an Art Show in Davis, CA for Sunflowers in any medium. This will be my second year to enter. Last time my quilt sold before I took it to the show (thanks Mim) and several people at the show told me they would have bought it were it still available. (click on photos to see greater detail)This year I took a quilt I had done called Seeds Of Hope I, which has won a prize in the Vacaville Art Gallery Juried Show 2010 and re-did the quilt making it into a Sunflower!

The center base flower was heavily felted wooly bits some of which I painted over. I added flower petals from fabric used in my first sunflower quilt! (for good luck)... and beads and buttons. I used fabric paint to cover pink wooly bits I had previously felted into yellow ones with brown spots.

Tulle, cotton, and furniture fabric were used for more petals and backing for others.

Although all the beads on the base of the quilt had been sewn on by hand

some of the new beads were sewn and some were glued on.

"Indian Summer" will go to SHOW in May! (Price: $200 with a percentage going toward Mental Health)

Lucky Lynn's Week!!!

This week I also received a giveaway gift from Annie Coe of Blissful Bohemain :

This delightful little ceramic spoon.

Annie sells her ceramics on her ETSY SHOP!!! It rests beautifully on my stove next to two pretty ceramic bowls that were a gift from my daughter. THANK YOU SO MUCH ANNIE!!!

I LOVE ALL OF YOUR CERAMIC ART!

Annie included this sweet signature card of her own art:

And I love that she sends me her written note on an art card

by our blog friend

Laurel of Studio Lolo!

You can check out more of Lolo's art on her blog there!

She sells her wonderful cards on her ETSY shop!

So many gifts.

And if that wasn't enough

I had the chutzpah, after seeing Carola of carola bARTz

posting about taking books to her thrift store to make order in her home,

to ask her for one of her Jodi Picoult books I saw

in her photo~and she wrote to tell me she'd like

to send it to me!!!!

Be sure to check out Carola's awesome photography on her blog.

Color me happy and fortunate! ;-)))))))

Happy Friday!

Grateful Thursday!

I made a commitment to enter monthly challenges this year on 3Creative Studios for color palette and art journal quilts. They hold a random drawing each month for all the participants and this month my name was drawn to win the wonderful prizes you see below: Terri Stegmiller designed the cat fabric in the lower left hand corner of my collage! What could be more appropriate for me (and Henry). The black and white color book look begs me to color it! Terri also sent me the hand made quilt covered notebook you see in the 3 top right squares. I can always use the Misty Fuse and the sample of "Multi Purpose Cloth"in my creations. Thanks Terri for sending me this very generous prize! There are many very talented artists participating in these two groups. I invite you to come over to check them out. Icons to both are on my side bar. Thanks to everyone who participated in MY Draw HENRY CHALLENGE yesterday! And to everyone who came by to see the pictures and left their comments. Several people have said they still want to draw Henry. Send me your pictures anytime and I will post them in future Animal Wednesday posts. Henry is still thrilled beyond words from all this attention.

So Many Henrys!

I put out a call for drawings of Henry and Henry and I could not be happier with the response! The first delightful drawing was sent in by Annie of Blissful Bohemian. Annie has a sick kitty right now and could use our prayers for Spike's recovery! Visit here at her blog to see her animals and ART!!! Thank you Annie for playing with Henry and Me today!

This rakish Henry was sent by Lisa of ArtsyEndeavors Blog. He likes his thuggish look here!!! Lisa likes to garden and go birding. She'll have to be careful not to let Henry near those birds! Because he cannot promise not pouncing on them!

Thanks Lisa for coming to play with Henry and me! Patty at PakArtAlaska sent this wonderful rendition of Henry on a royal throne! Every one is very aware of Henry V's royal lines. Patty loves her dogs and cats and you can see paintings and photos of them on her blog! Thank you Patty for coming to play with me and Henry today! And as you can see Henry himself is peeking in to see what all the hullabaloo is about and is rather non plussed to find it is about HIMSELF and all his splendor! Actually I think he's being a little bit shy and is truly moved by every ones contributions to our Animal Wednesday blog post today!

"Ah shucks", he said! Thanks!

HAW Still want to add to the Henry Collection? Email yours to me at Lynnc66@comcast.net!

Henry Drawings!

Don't forget to email me your Henry Drawings/paintings for tomorrow's Animal Wednesday! I have one so far. You can use any of my photos of Henry you like for your models. No prizes, no competition, just Animal Wednesday Fun. I will post all I receive tomorrow. Send to: lynnc66@comcast.net

Dolls and Ducks!

On Saturday we went back to the doll hospital to collect my restrung doll (circa 1949). And I was in doll heaven walking around this Centre with dolls lined up floor to ceilings. Jan, who has been in business here for the past twenty years has quite a collection of museum pieces, hand made dolls, costumed dolls, and dolls in need of repair. Look closely and see if you can find one or two you had as a child. I did. (click on photos to see greater detail if you like) She talked about them explaining their origins, histories, etc. She also teaches classes in specialized doll making that people come to from all over the world to attend. Painting porcelain dolls eyes can take a nine day process. Or was that nine times being put through the glazing process?

She made these lace costumes all by hand using laces found in thrift and antique shops and dyed with coffee and tea set with vinegar.

That is Jan in the far right bottom row holding my repaired doll. I bought her a new pair of black Paten shoes there. She still needs a new dress. I will knit and crochet clothes for her before giving her to my grand daughter for her next birthday, or maybe Chanukah. If she takes good care of her and saves her for her own daughter one day this doll will have become a true antique.

Jan told me my doll is an unsigned Madame Alexander doll and that her hair is still in its original form. She said I took excellent care of her. She said it is now worth several hundred dollars and will probably appreciate in time. I of course find it most valuable in it's sentimental components.

On our way to eat lunch DH found these pretty mallard ducks hunkered down in the sand. I hope they weren't as cold as I was by then. I warmed up with a hot Avocado burger smothered in grilled mushrooms and onions. Delicious!

Finished "Spilling Over" Quilt Wall Hanging and Hail Here!

I found this awesome filigreed silver fabric in my stash and put up against black fleece it made the perfect border for my "Spilling Over" wall hanging! I put a bit of fleece behind the vase too to puff it up a bit and make it stand out more! The whole affair sewn by hand to a fleece backing gives it a very three dimensional look and feel.

Perfect day for hanging out at home and sewing by machine and by hand...as the rain came down in buckets and hail thumped on the streets Henry and I relaxed into the restful rhythm of the day.

See rain pooling above at the foot of our path; and across the street against the neighbors fence.

How are you enjoying your Friday?

Okay, I couldn't wait...

Yesterday I challenged you to draw a picture of Henry V from the photos I posted on my Animal Wednesday blog post. Today I whipped out this rendition with pen and colored pencils. No eraser was used in this drawing. Email your drawings or paintings and I will post them all next Wednesday on my blog!

If you are Irish I wish you a Happy St. Paddy's Day! Henry's green eyes come from his half Irish father's side of the family! (Otherwise known as DH to you)... ;-))

Henry Close Up and Personal...

When Henry gets on my "lap" it's really on my CHEST and he likes to be as close to my face as he can be. I guess he loves me. Well Henry, I love you back...isn't he beautiful? I think he is a very handsome cat. I love his dots and lines and markings...colors...really, I should draw him from these photos...or someone should. Feel free to if you'd like. We could post a group draw of Henry's next Wednesday! Happy Animal Wednesday!

♥♥♥

My ♥ is still very very heavy, but I felt I/we needed a break from the heaviness for one day.

Just sending love and light and healing energy to Japan and to Israel.

My World is...

right side up when across the ocean everything is upside down, smashed, why is it seemingly so easy to step back into normalcy...to go to work...

and act like nothing bad has happened...

enter my garden and smell the flowers

where everything is right side up, in it's place,

peaceful as a cat

smelling lavender...

My Weekend!

I don't know about you, but I was pretty much glued to my TV set this weekend watching the news coming in from Japan. I can knit and watch TV at the same time so I felt productive, while sad and overwhelmed by what I was seeing. As you can see I am at the ninth of 13 stripes that go around the outer part of this baby blanket! Still knitting in the round!

I also made a few more yo-yo flowers from my

silk necktie collection! ♥

The bright side was receiving a photo of my kids (front) and daughter in law (back)

from Oregon from my son's IPhone. My daughter traveled there with her daughter to celebrate the kids step brother's 50th birthday.

Sweet for me to see them together.

♥

And seeing an elderly Japanese woman and two companions rescued from their car 20 hours after their tsunami ordeal this morning also warmed my heart. ♥

Flowers for Japan and all its inhabitants

I wish I could hand one of my little hand made flowers to every person in Japan right now.Our TV shouts out the news hour after hour and my head spins trying to comprehend

the size of this tragedy.

I cannot.

I am sad.

I am devastated.

I am over whelmed.

I send love, hope, condolences, and money.

I hope my country sends lots and lots and lots of

rescue workers, counselors, and aid of every kind.

I hope more and more people are found alive.

I pray that the continued earthquakes and tsunami's become

of lesser and lesser magnitudes.

I hope and pray that the radiation does not escape

to sicken or kill more people.

Please join hands with me in sending these wishes

and flowers to Japan and everyone there.