Art Every Day Month -- Day 30 -- The last day

I've been hand quilting since yesterday. I enjoy this process more than I can express in words. Hand quilting adds so very much to a quilt. Well, machine quilting does too, I'm just not good at machine quilting. I've sat here and quilted so long today that my whole body hurts and I still don't want to stop. I know that I must when I get to this point though. Otherwise, I won't be able to quilt tomorrow.

This is the last day of Art Every Day Month. I've enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I accomplished more than I thought I would also. More than I thought I could, for that matter. It has been a joyful experience. I plan to participate again next year. In fact, I may just pretend that I'm in it again next month, just to see what else I can accomplish. It has been wonderful! Thank you to Leah Piken Kolidas for hosting this project and for coming up with the idea. Thank you to the other participants also. You have all added a lot to my life this month. It has been a pleasure.

Now, I'm feeling a little punk, so I'm going to get off the computer and watch the cartoon Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I love to hear Boris Karloff's voice and I love to see that silly little dog panting and all happy faced. Good memories. Good times. May you all have a wonderful December.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 29

Today, I've been hand quilting for my AEDM fun. I'm working on the pecan quilt. I'll post a photo of it tomorrow. I just want to get a little more done before I share it with you all.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 28

There are only a few more days left in this Art Every Day Month. Be sure to check out the other art being made.

I have nothing to show you of today's fun. The project I just finished up, is a gift for someone who reads this blog. I don't want them to see it before it arrives in their hot little hands.

Yesterday, I slept just about the whole dog gone day. Literally. I not only didn't make any type of art, I didn't even think of making any art. I did look at a very few of the other folks who had posted their art for the 27th day. It's the first day I missed working on something all month. Makes me a bit sad, but it could not be helped.

Late on Thanksgiving, I looked at many of the blog postings for art that day. One precious woman had drawn a turkey using her hand as the body, like we all did when we were kids in school. I wrote down the link to the turkey drawing, but now I can't find it. I've lost lots of things today. I'm sorry I can't give her credit for the idea. (If you read this, you know who you are and I'd welcome a comment with a link to your turkey.) I loved her turkey and remembered mine from childhood fondly. So, I made another one, which I share with you here. The other photo was taken on Wednesday night after playing with watercolor paints. I wanted to see what each of the colors looks like, so I started to paint them and write down their names. I didn't get finished, but this is a fair start. It was the very first time I've used watercolors since I was a kid and would get them in a little tray with maybe 6 or 8 colors in little dry paint ovals. Remember those? * I found the blog, the link is right here. The blog is "A Desire to get Creative: The Art of Michelle Halpern".

Photo of the Week 35 of 39 -- Rain, Rain Go Away

I took this photo several weeks ago when it had been raining for weeks on end. I was standing on our deck, in the doorway to the bedroom. If the overhang was a little deeper, I could sit out there when it's raining and enjoy watching it. As it is now, I just get wet if the wind is blowing even the slightest bit. I like the way I caught the rain coming down. It finally stopped raining so much, but even now when we get rain, we have puddles for days and they open the flood gates on the spillway. We are obviously still pretty saturated.

Next week's theme is "The Global Village".

Art Every Day Month -- Day 26

I was reading the Ornamental blog yesterday. I'm telling you, Nina Bagley is a treasure. She mentioned the I Am poem as a school exercise in one of her older posts. I long to write at least a little poetry for myself. I'm not overly comfortable with poem writing, so I decided to do the exercise. Here is my art for today, at least so far.

I Am on Thanksgiving 2009

Today, I am grateful and a little sad
I wonder if my son feels the same way
I hear the laughter of my grandchildren, if I think really hard
I see their smiling faces in my mind's eye
I want to give them all a big bear hug
I am grateful and a little sad today
I pretend that talking to my grandchildren is enough
I feel so proud of my son's military service, but I miss him
I touch the photos of him and his children sometimes as if I am caressing their faces
I worry that we don't really know each other anymore
I cry if I let myself believe that
I am grateful and a little sad today
I understand that we see each other as often as we can
I say all that is within me when we talk on the phone
I dream of a time when we'll be able to live close to each other
I try to make it seem as if we do now, even though we don't live any where near
I hope that it's enough
I am grateful and a little sad today

Art Every Day Month -- Day 25

This is my favorite photo that I have ever taken. It was taken, I think in 1983, late summer. I'm thinking it was August or September. The photo is of my father and my son. My son turned 3 in early September of that year. My father was building the log house that my husband and I now live in. Our son lived in it too, for many years, until he married and went into the Air Force at the age of 18.

My son thought my father hung the moon! Oh, how he loved that man. Dad passed away on December 1st, 1995. It's so hard to believe that it's been almost 14 years since that day.

The day this photo was taken, dad was building this house. My husband helped him on the western wall of the house, up high standing on scaffolding. I carved the date into one of the logs on the NE corner of the house, which happens to be the laundry room wall. My son was playing in the dirt with his little Hot Wheel cars and running all over under the trees trying to have fun and keep cool in the hot Texas weather. Dad and my son took a break at some point to have a little visit. I still can't believe I had a camera with me that day. That I captured this wonderful photograph, that says so much about my son and father and their relationship, is to me a small miracle. It is a treasure. So much so that my dear sister-in-law Charmaine recently painted a portrait of it. I picked it up from her a couple of days ago. After much debate, I think we've finally figured out where to hang it. I'll take a photo of it hanging in a day or so and post it, so that you can see how talented she is.

I guess it's not fair to claim this photo as my art for today. Really, that was not my intention. I have been racking my brain all day, between choirs and errands, to think of quotes for the quilt I want to do. I've also read several older posts on a favorite blog, ornamental. Ornamental is definitely an artist date you can take for yourself right in your own home. That's what I did for my art today. I checked out a beautiful, inspirational blog that feeds my soul and creativity and I found great phrases for my quote quilts.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 24

First I want to thank the people who left lovely comments for me on yesterday's post! I love comments and they were all so nice. Thank you. You all gave me the courage to try to draw again today.





Looking back at my little wren from yesterday, I decided that I really like it. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll like my cardinal just as much. I probably should try to paint him and see if that helps any. I didn't show my husband either drawings until tonight. He could at least identify the cardinal. He thought the wren was a chickadee. Oh well, he doesn't know most birds from chickens, but he can at least tell that a bird is a bird.





Earlier today, I went to Happiness is Quilting in McKinney TX. I had to go up to Dallas to get an allergy shot so I figured I might as well have a little fun too. So, I went to the quilt shop to get more size 8 perle cotton embroidery thread. That's what I prefer to use on my quote quilts. I had some DMC thread, but I wanted a particular color of Presencia. It's the lighter blue in the photo of threads. Kind of a turquoise blue or maybe a Robin's egg blue. Whatever color it is, I love it! I had several skeins of the 6 strand embroidery floss, but none of the perle cotton. It was hard to choose which quilt shop to go to. I've been wanting to go to my favorite quilt shop, Quilt Country in Lewisville, but I couldn't remember if they carried Presencia thread. I headed to McKinney because I knew they did. I also got some iron on transfers for dish towels and some plain dish towels to embroider. I've really enjoyed the embroidery lately. Although I'm not letting myself start on these yet.



I have a mini to make for a Christmas exchange in a couple of weeks. I want to make another quote quilt for that, but I can't decide on a funny quote. Have you got any ideas? After the party and mini exchange, I'll be working on a gift that I'm extremely behind on. It's a memory quilt for my daughter-in-law's sister and her husband. They're second child passed away after only a couple of days of life. I've been working on a quilt for them from his clothing for some time. It's been an off and on project because it's been difficult for me to work on. The time has come to finish it though. His parents really need it.

Then I can get back to and finish any of the quilts I've started and not finished during this month. It's all going to be fun and I'm looking forward to almost all of it. Thanks for coming along with me.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 23

I did something totally different and totally out of my comfort zone for today's art. I drew a wren. I don't draw. I can't draw. At least that's what I've always told myself. I love wren's! They are plain little brown birds but they are so very special to me and every bit as delightful as the Northern Cardinal, which is another favorite. I love that the male wren builds several nests trying to entice the female to mate with him. She looks over each nest and if she likes one, she'll pick it and love will be in the air, so to speak. They also build nests in very odd and unusual places. My son found one once in a shirt pocket in our tractor shed. One year, they built one in an old forgotten Christmas wreath and we often find them on top of the logs of our house where the corners meet. They are fun little birds. Anyway, I decided that I wanted to draw one, even though I can't. So, I looked up a photo on the Internet and then started drawing. Considering that I can't draw a straight line, I think this turned out fairly well. I'm not unhappy with it. Don't forget to check out the other artist's. This month is almost over.

Photo of the week 34 of 39 -- Beverage of Choice

In actuality, I have several beverages of choice. I decided to photograph this one because I happen to be drinking it at the moment. My favorite way to drink Sprite is in a can and so frosty cold that it is just this side of having ice in it! I used to be a real Coke drinker, but switched to Sprite when I had to give up caffeine because of migraines. I do not like Sprite over ice.

Now occasionally, I'll get a migraine that I can't quite get totally rid of with medication. In those cases, I do opt to have a caffeinated drink. I sometimes pick green tea, other times I pick Dr. Pepper. I know I'm not nearly as likely to get addicted to Dr. Pepper as I am to Coke again. Of course, Coke now tastes like Pepsi to me and I hate Pepsi since I was a kid and up-chucked in the Pepsi plant during a school tour.

My other beverages of choice are 2% organic milk, water (which I'm not drinking nearly enough of at the moment), chamomile tea and really good margaritas.

Next week's theme is "Rain, Rain Go Away!".

Photo of the Week 33 of 39 -- From Ground Level

This photo really makes me wish I had photoshop. I'd at least get rid of most of the floor. It was taken at my quilt class yesterday. Yes, I'm late on this photo of the week. It should have been posted last week. I'm even late for this week's photo. If I'd had more sense I would have taken the photo at the end of class. I'm sure there were thread and fabric bits all over the floor by then. Would have been more colorful and more interesting. Oh well, live and learn. Maybe I'll redo this one someday.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 22

I didn't have the time or energy to post yesterday. First day I've missed posting all month, I do believe. I did have lots of art fun though. I went into Dallas and bought supplies to water color. I've wanted to learn to water color for so many years! I have signed up for a couple of classes over the years, but for one reason or another, it never happened. Now, I know nothing about water color, but I plan to jump in and paint anyway!

Then I went to my quilt class. It's really more of a sit and sew with good friends now. It was fun. It was relaxing. It was inspiring. I got the "Happy" quilt quilted. Or I thought I did. With the help of my friends, I decided to add more quilting to it, so I'm now nowhere near done, but it was fun when I thought I was finished. I know I'll like the quilt much more with the additional quilting on it too.

After all was said and done, I went to Barnes and Noble and got some magazines to feed my soul and need for art. After this post, I plan to sit in bed and read through them until I want to get up and sew or paint. If that doesn't happen today, it's OK. I'll be soaking up inspiration and getting some much needed down time.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 20

I did a little something different today for my art. I took a break from it. I went to a movie, at the theater. Haven't been in ages. This does not mean that I won't work on something later, but for now, I just let my mind go and experienced something through someone else. Kind of an artist's date, with my husband.

I went to see The Blind Side. I can't begin to tell you how much I loved this movie! It was funny. It was heartwarming. It made me want to meet the people it was based on because it was indeed based on real people and a true story. It made me want to be a better person. I can't remember the last movie that made me feel that! I puddled up a time or two, but I don't think everyone would. Even though my hubby classified it as a "chick flick" he liked it too. I found great pleasure in that fact and since he laughed many times out loud, he could not deny that he liked it.

After the movie, we went to the grocery store together. I hate to grocery shop, but it's much more enjoyable with a companion. I tried to get the things we would need through Thanksgiving. I truly hate to shop with huge crowds. I got my fill of that during our military days when the commissary was always packed. Anyway, one of the things I got was low fat crunchy peanut butter. I prefer the lower fat to the regular and we were out of crunchy. I splurged on croissants too. When I got home, I decided to make a peanut butter sandwich on a croissant. I thought it was great and a bit artful. My hubby thought I was slightly insane.

Tomorrow, I'll be going to Dallas to Quilter's Connection for a miniature class. It's more of a sit and sew that costs us $10 a month. We've been together forever and basically work on our own projects now. I'll take both of my quilts that I've shown you all recently. If I'm lucky enough to finish "Happy", I'll start quilting on the pecan quilt. I'll show photos when I return.

Later: I've been looking through bags of fabric and projects for things to take with me tomorrow. I found 5 completed miniature pineapple blocks. I remember that I did not have enough of the fabric to use the primary fabric in the other 4 blocks I wanted to make. I have fabric that I could use for whole cloth blocks or maybe I could do something else. Regardless, I'm excited about that project again. It's going with me and you'll be seeing it soon.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 19

I'm almost finished quilting "Happy". I'm at the point where I've had to add fabric to the edges to be able to continue to quilt in the hoop. The darker photo of the quilt is of the backing, showing the quilting I've done. My quilting on this quilt is not as fine (or small) as I normally like to quilt.




Unfortun-ately, the fabric in the top is more loosely woven than I'm used to. I like for my quilting to actually show in addition to it being small. I couldn't have both in this project. Smaller stitches hid in the fabric. So, I went with larger stitches.

I also finished up the stitches on my latest door hangers and made the braided hangers for each. In the next few days, I plan to sew them all together. I also need to make another mini for a gift exchange coming up soon.

This is a photo of one of the lady bugs that have invaded my bedroom recently. One woke me up the other day crawling all over my leg under the covers. It was a lot nicer feeling than when a scorpion wakes me in the same way. This little fellow helped me quilt for some time.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 18

I hand quilt my small quilt projects in a 14" hoop. I have a large hoop stand that I prefer to use, but it's really too big for something this small. Even if I added fabric to all four of the sides, it would still be awkward and uncomfortable to work on something this small in it. I think that may be why I made large quilts for so long.

Most of my quilts have been given away as gifts. I have many less quilts in my home than most quilters do. That's just the way it is. And now that I've finally, finally started to make art quilts, I may never make another large bed quilt again.

I don't know if "art" quilt is even the right term to use for my newest quilts. I know that they are totally my own creation. They are one of a kind, even if I use the quotes again, the fabrics will be different and more than likely the way it's quilted will be different also. Pattern will be different. I know that these quilts are creative and come from what I feel. Maybe that is an art quilt.

This photo shows me quilting on "Happy". I'm sitting at my sewing/computer table. My sewing machine can be been pushed to the side. The computer key board is under the quilt. If you look closely, under the light, you can see the door hangers I've been working on occasionally also. My needle threaders are on and near the sewing machine, along with various sewing paraphernalia. These are the things that make me happy.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 17

I don't know if I'll have a photo to show you today. I'm continuing on the stitching of the door hangers (more than half finished on the 3rd one) and on the hand quilting, but there just isn't that much to show yet. At least not that is much different from previous photos.

Until then I have written a haiku based on this experience of the Art Every Day Month challenge.

me stretching myself
out into the world of art
with my quilts to share

Art Every Day Month -- Day 16

Today hasn't been productive, at least not very. I have started some more door hangers for gifts and fun. They're quick, easy and I enjoy making them. At least the embroidery part is all of that. The sewing part is just OK.

It's been so long since I've hand quilted that I lost my callus. Loosing the callus for a hand quilter is a sad thing because when you start back up at the quilting, it hurts. Then you get sore and have to develop the callus all over again. I will hand quilt some each day until I get my callus back, but I won't be able to quilt a whole heck of a lot until then. Just enough to get sore until I get my callus back. Sounds like a lot of fun, doesn't it? Actually, other than the pain part, it is. I'll show you something on my quilting as soon as I have a good amount done.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 15

Earlier today, I was busy cooking a pot of beans. I had a sudden urge to run out and take some photos of the sunset when I glanced out the window. So, I did! I also needed to take a moment to take note of the tiny bit of fall color we have here in our yard. There isn't much of it. I'll need to search to see if there is any more around.

I've been hand quilting on "Happy", but there isn't much to show yet, so these photos are are art for today. Hopefully, in the next day or two, I'll be able to show you the progress on my quilting. Hope you've had a wonderful weekend. I sure have!

If you have some time, be sure to check out the other artists who are participating in Art Every Day Month.

Catching up on Life

I've been so enjoying the Art Every Day Month challenge. I have indeed done some type of art or done something creative every day this month. It's been wonderful and opening. I think I'll have to join her creative every day challenge during the month of February because that is a difficult month for me. So dark and gloomy. It may be a life saver this next year.



Today has been interesting and somewhat challenging. I haven't gone to sleep easily since late August. Sometimes it's out and out insomnia (which has visited me occasionally in the past) and sometimes it's just that I can't go to sleep until very early in the mornings. Usually between 2 and 3:30 a.m. This morning, I made it to bed about 1:40 a.m, but then couldn't go to sleep. I hate that. That feeling of tiredness that just evaporates as soon as your head hits the pillow. I had set the alarm for 9 a.m. because I wanted to cook a pot of beans. Well, I slept right through that alarm. I didn't even hear it. The phone ringing woke me after noon! I couldn't believe how long I had slept, how late it was or how drugged I felt. Then I developed a migraine, which I was able to rid myself of fairly quickly and thankfully.



I'm pretty sure I figured out the reason for my drugged feeling. I've cut back on my effexor. I don't feel that I need it any longer, despite the fact that my dr. said he thought I'd always need an anti-depressant and with my hubby's lay-off, I'm trying to cut expenses. With no health care coverage, medications and dr. visits are an expense I'd like to cut down on. I do have enough sense to know if I start to slide backwards, that I'll need to back off this idea. For now though, I am cutting down and I'll deal with whatever side effects that will give me. Hopefully, not many if I do it with intelligence and slowly.



I am cooking my pot of beans and they are the best tasting I've made in a long while. Thankfully, I had soaked them over night, or it wouldn't have happened today. I have turkey chili planned for tomorrow because it's supposed to be a lot cooler. I hope it really is because the chili just needs to be served on a cooler day. Yesterday we had chicken and rice. I'm cooking more in addition to being more creative. Probably more because of the lay off than anything else though. Need to save money wherever possible. I am enjoying the home cooked food though.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 14

Frustration. Every stitch I take on "Thou shalt NOT steal pecans!" brings batting through to the top of the quilt. Every single stitch. Both on the back and the front actually. I've spent more time separating the fabric from the batting so that the batting around the thread will go back between the fabrics than I ever thought possible and I'm only on the first block. This is no fun whatsoever. I'm going to have to change the way I'm quilting this quilt. Kantha stitching will not work for it. I think it's because the top fabrics are fairly loosely woven, which I had not considered a problem. It is though. It's a huge problem.

Of course, I don't have the quilting thread here at the house in the color I need. I ordered lots of thread yesterday, but I'm sure it won't be here until at least Monday. So, now I need to figure out something else to work on. Crap.

AEDM day 13

I haven't been nearly as creative today as I had hoped. I never got around to taking my photo of the week and I'm too pooped to do any sewing. I got about 4 hours sleep last night and I've been going nonstop all day. I think my most artistic endeavor today has been to make chicken and rice for dinner. If you knew how little I like to cook, you'd understand that statement. Now, all I want to do is lay down and read or just go on the sleep.

Tomorrow, I'll start the quilting on the pecan quilt.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 12

Today's art has been, what I consider, grunt work. I finished basting the two new art quilts. Then I picked out the embroidery floss that I'll quilt the "Thou shalt NOT steal pecans!" quilt with. I was lucky to have colors very similar to the fabrics, so that the kantha stitching will blend in and highlight the fabrics instead of taking away from the words written on it. Just what I planned on this one. Next I finished ripping out the hand quilting on Stormy Weather. After taking out the basting, it was a breeze. Wish I had started the ripping in that manner.

I've decided to try to machine quilt Stormy Weather. Since I'm too tired and head-achy to attempt machine quilting tonight, which I'm not very good at in the first place, I won't do that right now.

I want to hand quilt Happy (the orange and blue quilt) but I don't have the color thread on hand that I want to use. So, that one is out until I can get to a quilt shop or order some thread by mail.

That leaves the pecan quilt. I think I'll pull out some of the floss and get to work on it. I love kantha stitching. It's relaxing and fun. I'll show you the progress tomorrow.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 11

I have finished the embroidery on "Thou Shalt NOT Steal Pecans!". Next I'll layer it with batting and baste it so that I can start the kantha stitching on it. I think kantha will be much more fun than traditional hand quilting. Kantha is a type of stitching that I first saw on Spirit Cloth a wonderful blog by Jude Hill. If you have time, check out her blog. She's very creative and inspirational.

Now, I'm going to go dig through my hand dyed fabrics to see what I have for backing this little quilt and the last one I made from Marcia Derse's fabrics. I can't wait to continue on them and even to start another one. I'm having a blast with this type of art quilt. This one may end up in the guild auction for Quilt Celebration 2010!

One thing I really like about this quilt is that I used my natural (sloppy) handwriting for wording. If I end up keeping this one, or one I make like this in the future, it will be great to have it in my own hand to pass down to my grandchildren. See, more and more fun every time I think of it!

Fun with Froggy

I was walking up the stairs to the deck when I spotted this little fellow. He was wedged between the logs on the wall of our laundry room. At first, I wasn't sure if he was a snake or a frog because all I could see was the front of his head. The rest of him was hidden between the logs. I ran in to get my camera and his little body was sideways between the logs when I got back. Definitely a frog! I love frogs and toads! I've never seen a tree frog on our place before, although I hear them croaking at night all the time. Looking at the way he's camouflaged, it's no surprise actually. He would blend in perfectly with the trees around here.
I did catch him (temporarily) so that I could try to get some photos of him. I took 15, but these 2 were the only ones that really turned out. I tried to get the underside of his back legs (they were yellow!) but he would have none of that. He's got those wonderful, little sticky feet. So cool! I did let him go quickly. I didn't want to stress him too much. He darted back between the logs and hid out of sight. So fun! Of course when I saw him, I though of my friend Carol Morrissey and her wonderful pattern "The Toad (formerly known as Prince)"

You have do scroll down the page to find him, but he's well worth it! She takes amazing photos and then turns them into quilt patterns. A wonderful, multi-talented woman.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 10

I want to thank everyone who has left comments on my blog lately. I can't tell you how much I appreciate and enjoy them all! This Art Every Day challenge is really making me feel connected. If you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend that you click on the link above and go see some of the other art being made. The challenge lasts through November.

I am having so much fun with this quilt! I've been wanting to make a quote quilt for so very long. This is my first one, but I believe it will be a new series for me. I love words on quilts. Words, writing, quotes, sayings -- you name it, they don't even have to be legible as long as I can tell that it's writing. They draw me in every single time. I went to the Houston Quilt Festival a few weeks ago and most of the quilts I photographed had words on them. I'm a sucker for them.

This project started with just cutting the fabric and then sewing it together in whatever felt right. I was pondering what quote to use when I spotted the church sign down the highway. "Thou Shall NOT Steal Pecans!" is what I decided to put on the quilt. I thought it was so funny when I saw the sign. Of course I feel bad for the church having their pecans stolen, but it sure made for an interesting photo and I think it will be a wonderful little quilt! I plan to put a photo transferred image that shows the sign on the back of the quilt along with the label.

This is all the progress I made today on it. It took me forever to decide what color thread to use for the wording. Now, I want to move the location of the word "Thou" from where I have it written and I just had to rip out the "shall" because I didn't like how it looked. So I've put it aside for the rest of the night. I'm already looking forward to tomorrow.

Art Every Day Month Day 9

Today's art is photo-

graphy. I was driving home from the post office when I spotted this church sign. I thought it was a hoot! Had to turn around to go back to photograph it. The leaf filled driveway is mine. Every time I drive up it, I notice how beautiful it is with all the leaves down on it. Thought I'd try to capture it and then share it with you.

*I may just use the sign wording for my "quote" quilt.

Art for Day #8

I made this door hanger today for my niece B. She requested this particular saying on it. She'll hang it on her bedroom door when she's sleeping or wanting privacy. I used purple embroidery floss for the hanger (and the embroidery). I just braided 9 lengths of 6 strand DMC and then sewed it into the little sandwich. The fabric used was scraps from the project I worked on yesterday. Started to hand quilt this, but I didn't have a color on hand that looked good, so I'm calling it officially finished without quilting it. I'll try to get it in the mail to her tomorrow.

Art Day #7

Today is the 7th day of Art Every Day Month. This is my art play for the day, although I may not be finished playing today. This is the little art quilt top I just made. I'm thinking about making it into a "quote" quilt. If I do, I'll need to decide which direction I want the words to go.

I guess a lot will depend on which quote I choose to put on here. I posted photos of the top in both directions so that I could hopefully see which I like better. The blue looking squares are actually black. Not a dark black, but black to very dark grey, almost as dark as the black splotch on the brown fabric. I didn't end up with as much of the brown in it as I thought I would and I did put all 7 fabrics in it instead of the 5 I originally intended to use.

The first block or grouping of fabric used was pulled from a bag and used as it was pulled out. Then I decided to try to get three pieces of each fabric in the little top. My favorite fabrics in this top are the ones in the corners, the dark green with stripes and the black. I wish I had a yard of each of those instead of just a fat quarter. The quilt top is 14" x 16 3/4". Off to play more.

Going For It

This is my second post for day 6 of Art Every Day Month. I craved the chance to work on something new after this morning's endeavor, which just frustrated me. I've had these fabrics since the Houston Quilt Festival, about three weeks. Wonderful, fun, hand dyed fabrics that I bought from Marcia Derse. I wish I could go to her now to buy at least as many as I bought in Houston. If you want to see what I've done with the other fabrics I got from her, check out this link for my Happy quilt. That's the name I've finally given it. Just looking at it makes me happy. I hope to start hand quilting it very soon.

These fabrics remind me of a forest or of grasses. I don't know what will end up being made from them. I cut them free hand with scissors tonight. For me, that was a huge step! I've been afraid to do something like that, even though I've always wanted to. These fabrics were (for me) rather expensive. So, cutting them without a planned quilt in mind was a bit nerve wracking. But I did it! I will confess that I've only used part of the fabrics. I bought fat quarters of each, but cut any where from 1/4 to 1/2 of each fat quarter for this project. Of course, I know that I can always use more of any of the fabrics, but I'd like to make another quilt from these fabrics too and I'd like to bind both quilts from these fabrics. Needless to say, both quilts will be small. I hope to start some kind of sewing on this one tomorrow. I'm excited.

Day 6 -- Art Every Day Challenge

I had an urge to hand quilt today. So, I picked up my Stormy Weather Pineapple to work on. I had already quilted the center square and between each of the blocks. I started today by quilting the corner triangles that met close to the center block so that I could start the next block. After I started to quilt on the second block, I decided that I really did not like how the quilting looked! So, I started to rip it all out!

Talk about a headache! I had picked a very mottled grey fabric for the back. The light grey quilting thread blends in exceptionally well. It's a booger to see the stitches to rip them out. I had planned to only rip out inside the blocks and leave the quilting that was between the blocks, but I can't do it because I can't see all the stitches! I'm going to have to take it totally apart -- even the basting. That's the only way to make sure I rip out all the stitches. Then I'm going to bite the bullet and machine quilt this puppy. Boy, I hope I don't screw this up. I'll update again later today, if there's anything to update with. Until next time, happy creating.

Photo of the Week 32 of 39 -- Circle

This is an old wagon wheel in my yard. When I first put it in, I had planned to plant flowers in it. It's in a really shady area and on a slight hill. I still think pansies would look just great in it, but for some reason, I've never done a thing with it. I don't even notice it in the yard anymore. When I went out to photograph it, I was surprised that so many of the bricks had been displaced by the dogs and that there were so many weeds in it. I need to clean it up because for some reason, even without flowers, I still like it there.

Next week's theme is "from ground level".

Today's Art Everyday Posting Day 5

I finished RAGE today! This isn't the best photo. I may try to take another one tomorrow during the day light hours.

I made this quilt in an effort to work through some rough times and feelings. The heart is all cracked and broken, but holding together. The other wound is where I felt that I was kicked in the stomach by the things that filled me with rage.

This little quilt (12" square) if made only of fabric. There is no batting in it. I ripped and cut each piece of fabric too. I wanted the fabric to show the pain I was in at the time. Even the binding has cuts in it. I have sewn up the holes in the backing black fabric with large obvious stitches to represent surgical stitches of old and sewn the cuts in the binding in basically the same way. Click the photo to see the quilt in a larger photo.

Art Every Day, Day 4

I have nothing to show you today, but I can tell you what I did. I worked on my RAGE quilt which I hope to finish binding tomorrow. Then I'll post a photo of the completed quilt. If you'd like to check out the other participants, click this link.

I also ordered greeting cards and some new (sample) business cards from a few of my photographs. That was really fun! I can't wait to get them.

More tomorrow.

The Bright Side Project

It's a beautiful sunshiny day outside. I can hear the birds singing and I want to make art today. Of course I have several other things to do also, mostly the washing of clothes and dishes. We're about out of both around here. Regardless of what is going on, I almost always start my day with checking out my email. I get daily emails from several sources and one of my favorites is from The Bright Side Project. A really fun website that "delivers daily sunshine" with giveaways! All you do is answer a question each day and if your answer is picked, you win! Of course you have to check back to see if you won too and claim your prize if you did. Which is no problem since, if you're like me, you're checking them out daily anyway.

I've had a lot of fun answering questions on the blog. Even more fun reading the answers given by others. I haven't won anything, but if I ever do, I'll let you know. Until then, because it could indeed be a long wait for me to actually win something, be sure to check them out by clicking on the link above. I bet you'll enjoy them too!

Art Today

I'm in a beading mood. I wish I was in a sewing mood, especially since my quilt retreat next week is now in danger, but I'm not. I wanted to do something with the beautiful blue tiger eye beads I had, so today, I grabbed them. All the beads in this Anglican rosary are tiger eye or black glass seed beads. I used three different sizes and two different types of tiger eye, with a gold tone pewter Celtic cross and gold findings. I really like it and I'm tempted to keep it for myself, but that was not the reason for making it. This one is really long and can be worn as a necklace. I need to make more necklace type prayer beads. Maybe even some that are totally unique and don't follow any kind of Anglican or Catholic style.

I may not have gotten any art done yesterday and all I really did the day before was photograph beads I had made the night before that, but I tell you, this art challenge has really got me going! I hadn't beaded in ages and in three days I've made several new things. I'm happy. Be sure to click on the photo to see the beads more closely.

Raining on a Sunny Day

Well, I'm having an extremely difficult time getting my art groove thing going today. I got up and ran to the grocery store so that we could have some food in the house. As I finished loading up the things I'd just bought, my hubby called to let me know that he had just been laid off. Needless to say, our beautiful sun filled day turned to instant stormy skies, not literally of course, but it might was well have as far as my hubby and I were concerned.

We've been down this road before, more than once. It's not fun. Many other people are on this same road with us now, which makes getting off of it even more difficult. Our nation has a lousy economy at this point. Things will turn around. I know they will, but it doesn't help much right this minute, today. Right now, I want to curl up and nap. When I get up I want to curl up with a good book and escape for a bit. It will all still be waiting for me when I stop. Who knows, I may even be refreshed and inspired to do something artistic when I'm done.

Art Every Day!

This didn't feel like a very artistic day for me. I did take several photographs and I did try to be as creative in them as possible. I also worked just a tiny bit on my RAGE quilt. I'm ready to bind it now and I've finally decided to bind it traditionally. I'm not going to show it to you again until it is complete though. Maybe tomorrow or some other day this week. Until tomorrow....

More for the Shop

I've been beading (last night), photo-

graphing (today) and listing things on etsy. It's about time I got my shop in order and my rear in gear. Hope you like what you see.

My only art for today, may well be my photography. That was not my plan, but things have taken me longer today than I had originally thought they would, plus I'm adding more to my shop than I thought I would too. It's all good. If you want to see almost all of the photography, check out the shop photos. I love the ones I took on the bird bath pedestal!