Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays 2013

May your Christmas be merry and bright.

Signs

I could make a book of photos that I’ve taken of signs. One of these days I’m going to sort through all the pics and put them all together as a collection. These three were on the side of an old church pointing to parking space in the rear.

Trip to Joplin

This week included a trip to Joplin to meet other art quilter friends for lunch and to see the traveling SAQA exhibit “Sightlines.” Lunch at the Red Onion was delicious and “Sightlines” at Spiva Art Center was exceptional, in my opinion. I would urge you to see it if you can.

On the way home we passed this sidewalk exhibit and couldn’t pass it by without making these two photographs.

Making Messes

The local Thrift Store had a special on jeans the other day so I bought seven pairs at $.50 apiece. They’ve been washed, cut up, pieces serged, sewn together, and a jacket pattern cut out. This pattern has been residing in the pattern drawer for about 10 years or more. Now I have an idea to make one of them out of denim.

This one:

It’s taken several days to prepare the fabric and cut it out, leaving this mess:

And now, not only do I have to clean this up but I think I should tackle the “precious” mess at the end of the work table. I thought no scrap was too small or precious to throw away. Maybe I should rethink that.

four-new-chairs

There are four new chairs residing around the dinning table

Here you can see more detail

And here’s the back:

Don’t they make you feel good? The chairs were bought at a flea market kind of store, I stripped them, then painted them red but they needed more. I met Ann Marie Rausch and when I saw her fanciful furniture I knew her painting was the answer. You can see more of her work here.

In the background of the top picture you see a basket. That was made by Chris Schwartz, a local artist who lives on the other side of the lake. Beads in the center and beaded handles. The pot on the left was made by Sheldon Carey who taught at University of Kansas back in the ’60s. I’ve managed to keep it intact for all these years. Yay for Art. I live in a happy house.

Abundance/Indulgence

My art quilt group, Uncommon Threads, started a bi-monthly challenge of making a 12″ x 12″ art quilt with the inspiration being chosen by a member. Merrilee Tieche was the first leader choosing the word “Abundance.” For some reason I came home with the word “Indulgence.” (I’ve been accused of not being a good listener.) She further furnished the image below to strengthen her choice.  Merrilee says she came up with this idea after our retreat where we ate too much and drank too much!

st

This was my offering. The Goddess of Wilhelmsdorf with an abstraction of my face in place of hers. Sadly, this is the way I felt after the retreat!

And here is a group shot of all of the pieces. Note the upper left. Lettie Blackburn also used the Goddess.

Our next challenge, chosen by Diane Steffen and due at the March meeting,  are two words:  “Winter, White.”

Holiday Greetings 2010

As usual I’m late with Season’s Greetings but they are no less sincere. The very best to everyone.