creativelifeandtimes

2012-01-10T06:07:00.000-08:00

Wedding Bells Are Ringing!

One son got married last May and my daughter is getting married in March.

I am sewing.

At the moment, small bits of antique lace are being appliqued to the silk bodice fabric. My daughter is handling most of the plans, thankfully, as that is not my area of giftedness!

My other creative energies are going into cooking and food/lifestyle changes. This transformation has been slowly taking place the last two or three years but with increasing fervency last year partly as a response to autoimmune conditions and mostly as a desire to be a healthy and useful person as long as possible!

I am reading, researching, and buying mostly organic vegetables and grass fed meat. I am investing, on a small scale, in a dairy herd so that I can drink raw milk. And trying to not be snobbish or obnoxious about what other people are eating!

Good food costs more and takes more time. But I am convinced that cheap food is bought "on credit" which will come due sooner or later in medical costs! And would you rather support small organic farms and ranches or big pharmaceutical companies? I prefer the FREEDOM of real, nutrient dense foods like my grandparents ate as children!

I hope to see, play with, read to, sew for, love, influence, pray for and with, and know grandchildren!

2011-09-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

The Foundling
part 3

"What will we feed her?"

Horse mint tea with honey, wild oat porridge, grass seed cookies, yucca blossom fritters, wild lettuce, mesquite bean scones, and rattlesnake steak.

Pa is out this morning hunting rattlesnake and this afternoon harvesting honey.

2011-09-17T04:55:00.000-07:00

The Foundling
Part 2

So, they took her home to their nice dry burrow in the roots of a lacy thorn tree.

2011-09-06T18:57:00.000-07:00

The Foundling

In a secret valley ringed by grassy hills the little people found a baby. She was bundled up in a colorful patchwork quilt. They looked all around, even climbing one of the small thorny trees for a better view. There was no sign of another large human: no buildings, no smoke, no tracks in the grass.

"We will have to take care of her until her people return."

to be continued

2011-09-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

Back to the Drawing Board

This past week I combined several of my creative streams in these drawings. First I was playing around with drawing one of my cloth dolls.

This is Lily. She has a handspun angora rabbit yarn wig.

I drew Lily and added some of my doodled flowers.

I enjoyed this drawing so much that I wanted to do a watercolor version and this is the result.

I usually strive for realism when I draw people. And I am not always pleased with the results! But since I was drawing a simple, stylized doll the resulting simplification, a sort of symbolic child resulted. It is fun! It reminds me of some of the paper dolls I drew as a child.

2011-08-03T10:36:00.000-07:00

Waldorf Dolls
and Brazilian Verbena

One of my dear sons, with his much nicer, more expensive camera, used his considerable skill to take pictures of my newest Waldorf dolls.

I decided to try get that "bokeh" look early this morning on some flowers in the front yard, "bokeh" being the out of focus points of light in the photo of the pirate.

This is the Brazilian verbena, Verbena bonariensis.

The Brazilian verbena is the only plant that has actually thrived this drought year, leading me to do some research to see if it might be invasive. And it gets mixed reviews. Most people think it worth the risk because of its beauty. But when you decide to pull it you will probably want to wear gloves because of the hispid stems. Hispid was yesterday's new word for me! It means, "covered with rough hairs; bristly." I came across the term several times while researching the verbena. Of course hispid is from Latin.

2011-07-29T04:15:00.000-07:00

WALDORF DOLLS, PIRATE, AND EYE PATCHES

Two of my children had to wear eye patches when they were little, starting at or before age two. Both had slight crossing that was only apparent when they were sick or very tired. They got it from me! We had amblyopia or "lazy eye." My Zachary even had eye surgery when he was 3 years-old. Now, at age 22, he doesn't need even to wear glasses!

My vision problems were not caught until I was 7. There was no noticeable crossing of my eyes but one eye was not even trying to see because of the mismatch of the two images. The patching for the next 3-4 years was horrible from my "point of view"! They were hot, made of latex or something I was allergic to, made the world a dark place because my "good" eye was patched, and were a source of embarrassment. My mother, usually a stickler for honesty, told me that I could make up stories about being a pirate, having my eye poked out by a pointy object, or such, not that I really fooled anyone. But the stories were a comfort to me! Now, they say that patching at that age is too late to be effective.

At least my children didn't have to wear patches often in public, because we home schooled nor when they were as old as I was. They were not always happy to wear the patches but it was more of an annoyance than embarrassment!!

2011-07-25T04:51:00.000-07:00

Hello, blog, old friend!
Lots of water has passed under the bridge, so to speak, since last I posted here.
A school year
A funeral
A wedding

I flew from Texas to Baltimore in April to see my very ill sister. Then, at the end of May drove with two of my "children" across the south, where we visited friends in Georgia. Then, as we were proceeding up the coast on our way to Maryland for my son's wedding, we got the news that we had lost my sister.

I was able to attend the funeral with four of my children because they were already assembling nearby for the wedding that would be three days later. It is amazing to think of Life, Death, Wedding, Happiness, and Sadness all intertwined in the same week. We may try but we are unable to completely separate time into neat segments!

This summer I have spent a lot of time reminiscing about my childhood. Serious reminiscing and questioning. Thinking about what made me who I am; why were my sister and I so different? What are the weaknesses in myself that I refuse to admit? What are the things that I had hoped to accomplish? And which of these hopes and dreams are still possible?

In the process of these more serious contemplations some "childish" dreams have been recalled. I guess that is why I have had a renewed interest in the dolls of my childhood, dolls from the 1950's through the 1970's and even some more recent! I have bought some old dolls like I never had, some that I remember seeing after I had "outgrown" dolls. Of course, I never outgrew dolls but spent some wonderful years raising my own living dolls, my lovely six children. They are the joy of my life and my MAGNUM OPUS.

I have returned to doll making this summer with the dream of at some point selling dolls, dolls that little girls can actually love and play with, as my sister and I loved and played with the very special dolls we had.

2010-08-14T06:14:00.000-07:00

I have been intrigued by the cuddly hand-made play dolls that I have seen on flickr recently. They are called Waldorf dolls. I know that some homeschooling parents, others too, as well as parents with children in Waldorf schools recognize the value of well made toys. Because I love children and enjoy sewing and creating dolls, I decided to make a few of this style doll. It has been a very satisfying endeavor! Here are some of my dolls.

2010-02-06T18:29:00.000-08:00

I finished making my first Izannah Walker doll this week. The pattern is by Dixie Redmond based on historic dolls from the 19th century. I have been taking an online workshop.
Visit Izannah Walker Workshop
I am pleased with the results but see where I can make improvements. I also need to take better photographs!

2009-12-17T05:16:00.000-08:00

When I was a ten-year-old, I thought I would be a
Doll Maker, when I grew up. I remember checking out the book, Dolls to Make, for Fun and Profit, by Edith Flack Ackley. I checked out every make-it type book I could find!

About that time, my family visited my dad's cousin who lived in a remote corner of Texas. Leada, my dad's cousin, was married to Ward, a real cowboy. They lived in an adobe house at the end of a dirt and rock road over an hour's drive from the nearest paved road. Their children were grown so she spent her time making dolls and collecting arrowheads. (I was disappointed that I was not allowed to ride horses; the cowboys rode mules because of the rough terrain, and drove jeeps and trucks.)

I made lots of dolls and doll clothing as a child but only two, that I made as a teen, have survived (other than a few paper dolls that my mother saved.) My childhood technique was less than adequate. I made big stitches and used fabric that frayed too easily. My mom provided lots of drawing and painting supplies and inspiration. She taught me how to sew clothing but I probably didn't request help with dolls or at least I didn't accept it.

As a "serious art student" in the 1970, I would not admit my love of dolls or the vintage inspired books written for little girls and for those like me now who are still little girls at heart. Now, not so self-conscious, at least not toward the Art World, I am indulging in my doll and costume passion.
Yesterday, I ran across an my old pattern for a Holly Hobbie doll. I had never used the pattern because it makes a larger doll than I have wanted to make. Also, I have preferred to make my own patterns. I kept it all these years and may make it yet. The pattern uses a child's sock for the needle sculpted head which I am more interested in now than I was then. Having researched the cloth dolls being made these days and especially loving the cloth and clay dolls I have seen, I am now taking a more humble approach and want to learn from other doll makers and even, gasp, use a pattern!

2009-11-07T03:15:00.000-08:00

This Beautiful Fall 2009

What have I been doing? (I ask myself, because I don't feel like I have accomplished much recently!)

My main occupations : Enjoying the three "children" still in my home and hearing from the three that are far away. Notice the "Abe" costume my youngest wore on October 31st! (Thrift store jacket looked black in person. I made the vest and top hat of felt.)
Teaching Latin and loving the children, 3rd through 6th grade, at my school. Teaching two classes weekly at a local dance and art studio.

I went to a HUGE garage sale benefiting "Meals on Wheel," where I stocked up on needle working supplies to use and share. I also found some vintage and not so vintage dolls!

I fullfilled a childhood desire to stay at the Prude Ranch in the Davis Mountains of Texas. The ladies of my church went for a weekend retreat. I didn't ride a horse while there...maybe next time!

A friend at church asked me last Sunday what I had been doing creatively, lately. I could not answer! I reallized that the sewing studio area of my bedroom was a chaotic mess; that was a big part of my inability to sew. So, this week I cleaned, sorted, boxed, moved furniture... and now I have a place to work again and am inspired!

2009-09-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

The desire to create is strong!

I found this free writing I did several years ago. I have since grown a garden and most of my children are grown!

It was written for an altered book I entitled, "My Blue Book of Desire." The title I stole from somewhere, I don't remember where, and the plan was to make a dark blue slightly sad and dark book. Probably that was how I felt at the time. See this journal page.

Longing for lost dreams - not released- not free- not forgotten- this vision will not be forsaken
How to redeem this dream, this imperfect manifestation, this desire, this longing, this love!
How do I settle for less?
How do I make the most of what is in front of me, in this life.
Only God can make this loss beautiful!
Creativity: making, doing, living, loving
This sub-creation that I see before me: this journey, the journal,
The trial, trail, tears.
The perseverance to growth,
To forgive and be forgiven.
By grace to finish well!
Soul searching- discovery-joy
Spirit, soul, song, tune, music, air, breath, animus.
My life wrapped around sights and sounds, tastes and colors; the physical life.
LOVE, NURTURING, NEST...more than the physical!
For some years I have given up this- no garden but grass and weeds- to raise children- to feed and educate them, sometimes not feeding them well, I have neglected the culinary arts.
How to live gracefully, frugally, clean and neat, but also creative, which seems to necessitate some messy clutter!

Give, give, give, for it is better to give than to receive but giving to my own children is not hard or unselfish, though not always easy! Self-absorption seems to come naturally. (See blog!)
All that I have; life does not consist of things!
I need food, shelter, utilities, clothing, medicine, glasses...
Do I need paint, paper, books, fabric, yarn?
When I was a child I made a rose out of native clay, drew on free paper.

I have all this and more. Do stuff with it! Draw, paint, make books. write, sew, weave...and share.
Make a winter garden by the south wall: lettuce, cabbage, parsely, dill, fennel, onions, peas, flowers! Make gardens not war! Grow good stuff to eat. Smell the earth! Watch seeds sprouting. Plant wildflowers: poppies phlox, sunflowers, blanket flowers, larkspurs, marigolds...

2009-08-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

I am feeling blue about the end of summer!

I LOVE teaching, my school, the other teachers and staff, and especially the interaction with the children. I am excited about my new classroom. Previously I have been the Mobile Latin Teacher, have cart will travel.

But there is a sense of disappointment that I didn't accomplish more.

I have not painted on canvas, threaded the loom, finished dolls, made a book or quilt, felted...

I have resisted the urge to buy art supplies*. I recognize that as a substitute for spending time creating that I can fall into too easily!
But today I bought two books and a magazine with art class money.

I am not really happy about my studio arrangement at present hence the purchase of the book Where Women Create.

In my heart I know that creativity does not depend on place, space, or a lot of specific supplies, I have a lifetime supply already.

But some of my focus has been missing of late!

* Honesty check: I have bought fabric!
sewed four skirts, and a tunic
dyed and embellished a t-shirt
had a serious garden
taught a weekly sewing class for girls
taught one week of art camp
cooked lots of primarily vegetable meals
made pickles
worked on the garage, sorting, boxing, trashing and giving away stuff

2009-07-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

This morning I picked a cluster of three large Pompeii Italian Tomatoes. I grew them from seed purchased from Renee's Garden. They are not as heavy as the standard large juicy tomatoes but weighed one pound total. I also picked a over a pound of the small Roma type tomatoes that I love and are so productive here even setting blossoms in our hot weather!

2009-06-19T23:13:00.000-07:00

Borago officinalis

Borage.

See it here in my current garden next to a tomato plant. This hairy herb is a favorite of mine. The flowers are also a favorite of bees, tomatoes, and children. I grew it in my first "serious" herb garden in San Antonio and later when my kids were small. Kids like the cucumber flavor of the blue star shaped flowers.

When the children were helping me garden we lived in the almost desert prairie of West Texas on 2 1/2 acres. The ground was caliche rock and blow sand. It can be a carpet of wild flowers in any seasons with just a bit of rain. But the summers are hot, windy, and usually very dry.

We had a nice water well and one February I got a load of topsoil for my birthday...a dump truck load of dirt! That was my all-time favorite birthday gift! But even with the additional soil I could usually grow flowers and herbs better than vegetables. But we tried!

Borage is suppose to be a great companion plant for tomatoes. I am hoping it will deter the dreaded great horned tomato worm. We found one of those on a pepper plant yesterday but not close to the borage.

2009-06-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

Memories in the Garden on the Farm

Some of my earliest memories are of time spent with my grandparents on their farm in Central Texas. I would help Grandmother plant seeds in a lot next to the barn. It had incredible dirt with all that aged manure and decomposing hay! This was the kitchen garden for beans, squash, okra, potatoes, and tomatoes. She always started her own tomatoes rather than buy plants.

They also had a few garden rows out in the field for black-eyed peas, corn, and melons. Grandmother grew herbs and flowers in the yard. I remember mint, parsley, dill, garlic, and those wonderful walking onions with the baby onions on top!

She grew chili petines for my granddaddy; they would reseed each year. Once I added them to mud-pies and got mud on my face and peppers in my eyes! You don't forget a thing like that!

I remember hollyhocks, petunias, bells of Ireland, irises, pomagranet bushes, lilacs, and climbable mesquite trees.

2009-06-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

Gardening

We have been eating lettuce, spinach, carrots, baby bokchoy, onions, garlic, sugar peas, a few Italian bush beans, and small tomatoes. Also from friends and family with larger, earlier gardens we have had new potatoes and squash! We have small squashes coming if the bugs don't get them.

2009-06-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

Not forgotten

After a long absence and silence here on the blog I am going to attempt a comeback.
No time for detailed backstory or excuses!
In the past year:
We have moved to a different house after painting the interior.
We have planted the whole backyard in garden.
Made gradual but definite changes in our diet...

I am struggling to find balance, learn to accept loss, and change, and I hope, to be content but not complacent! I am easily distracted from important but difficult areas of responsibility. There can be an exhilarating and almost intoxicating high from creativity. I can postpone thinking of other things while reveling in color, pattern, paper, paint, and fibers. I can numb my painful memories and present fears with a new project idea. Arranging and rearranging art supplies is a potent procrastinator's ploy!

But, I am still creating!

2008-12-09T16:52:00.000-08:00

Sewing!

I have my Bernina back from the shop, materials gathered, and LOTS of ideas!

For about a year I have been gathering wool sweaters, wool yardage, silk blouses, and other beautiful textiles to re-purpose, from estate sales and thrift stores. I am thinking about projects to work on when I am not so busy. One recent weekend I made some small gifts and had a grand time sewing! I have several dolls to finish soon and want to make more animal characters.

2008-04-20T04:16:00.000-07:00

Life is Time (passing too fast and spent in frantic busyness it seems)
Work to eat, serve, provide for the future...
Make art, be creative, where ever and when ever!

I have a new home!

My creative thoughts have been spent on color choices and how best to arrange people and furniture in a smaller but nicer space. I have looked through every copy of HOME COMPANION and VICTORIA magazine that I have saved over the years. I focused on what I had bookmarked previously as favorites. I chose "rest-full" green, gray, neutrals in the "public"rooms. I plan to accent with colors from art and textiles which can be moved or changed easily. My bedroom/studio walls are pale pink. I don't think I have ever had a pink room. I painted the 100+ year old iron a brass bed a dark aubergine.

The house appeared in wonderful, move in condition and was painted in a nice neutral cream. My only initial plan was to paint over the dark paneling in the living room. Back in March when I first met THE HOUSE, I had a dreadful head cold and was unaware of the smell that the house had from being smoked in for 30 years. When the furniture was moved out we could see outlines on the walls where pictures had hung! I wish that I had taken pictures but the worst rooms have already been painted.

My other creative pursuit has been thrift store and estate sale shopping. I am looking for sweaters to felt and silk for a quilt. I love fabric textures and colors. Alas, it means more store. I have meanwhile found that I can clothe myself and family in in silk, linen, and cashmere "for a song"!

2008-02-14T03:40:00.001-08:00

And the winners are........
Drum roll....
I deleted my post and one procedural one from a friend. Then I used a random number generator to get 3 numbers between 1 and 85....

bunnychicboutique

Lisa

brines

congratulations to all for the fun!

2008-02-11T20:48:00.000-08:00

ONE World ONE Heart
More gifts! I am adding an additional two gift packets of pretty supplies. On Valentine's Day I will draw three names from you who leave comments asking to be entered!

2008-02-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

Add these two cards to the two in my previous post to be part of the ONE World ONE Heart blog drawings. The brainchild of lisa s. oceandreamer, this is an opportunity for me to give gifts! comment on any of my post with this topic to be entered in the drawings. Surprises will also be sent to winners!

2008-02-11T03:20:00.000-08:00

"One World-One Heart" a blog-wide giveaway event. This is a wonderful way to bring bloggers from around the world together, that under other circumstances would not have met. This event enables us to discover new and wonderful people, and at the same time have the possibility of winning a prize or or many prizes...

I will also have a DRAWING on my blog for four original collaged and stamped cards and something else in the nature of a nice surprise.
These are two of my cards to give away. The others are similar but I don't have time right now to scan them! Time to get ready for school!

Please leave a comment and request to enter the drawing.

2008-02-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

"God gave us our memories so that we might have roses in December." - J. M. Barrie

I have just found a sweet blog featuring wildflowers in the winter. The name of the blog is Joy in the Morning. I do long to see the flowers that usually start to bloom here as early as February and continue through the fall. But it is so dry here and we have had some very hard freezes so I have not even seen a hint of spring growth yet in the pastures and on the sides of the roads. I decided to cheer myself, and maybe someone else, by looking back and posting some of my photos, paintings, and sketches from previous years.

2008-02-04T18:57:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that the month of January is over! I have been working hard...and having fun at it; time has flown by so quickly. Here are two illustrations I have done for my Latin class students to color. These go with particular vocabulary lists: gladius, sword; nuntius, messenger; mare, sea; nāvis, ship, etc. I have had them labeling things, making sentences, and coloring the pictures. I think it has been an enjoyable change of pace for all involved. I am constantly trying to get more comprehension and retention. I really need some very very easy Latin readers similar to Dick and Jane: Marcus and Horatia, perhaps!

The very competitive and highly motivated child, the kind you hope to have in every class, is able to label over 30 Latin nouns and verbs in each picture. They were even asking for dictionaries in one class trying to see who could get the most!

2008-01-10T19:46:00.001-08:00

This time last week I was finishing up this little darling. She is 4 inches tall and based on a pattern from the book DOLLS TO MAKE FOR FUN AND PROFIT, by Edith Flack Ackley, published in 1939. I remember checking this book out of the library as a child. I recently purchased my own copy.

Unlike the dolls in the book she is made of wool felt, not woven cotton fabric. I am very comfortable hand sewing felt. She has a wire armature so she can be posed. Her petticoat and pantaloons were made out of an old cotton handkerchief. The trim is vintage tatted lace.

2008-01-10T19:07:00.000-08:00

Confessions and Apologies of an Occasional Sports Mom

Dear blog readers,
This week school started again so I have been very busy. Along with my teaching schedule my fourteen-year-old has basketball practice at 6:30 a.m. three mornings a week and I just go to school early on those days. I also have had an awful cold and I have not done a creative thing this week. This evening I worked the concession stand for an hour and a half, then watched my son's team play. They are the seventh grade team of a small private school playing an even smaller school's team. I have put this video on my blog for the benefit of family members unable to come to his games. My apologies to anyone uninterested in basketball.

2008-01-02T03:35:00.000-08:00

The Tale of Two Teapots

My family is a tea drinking family. We love coffee too but I have more warm memories about tea and teapots than coffee. The song "I'm a Little Teapot, Short and Stout" brings back memories of my teen-aged aunts and me being about 3 years old. My grandmother served me tea from her yellow Hall teapot like this one when I was visiting her as a child. I remember Bigelow Constant Comment, still a favorite, and Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger, not a favorite but I loved it then!

The yellow teapot is one I found in an antique store and bought because it is just like the one my grandmother, who is 91, still uses.

This large white teapot was given to my grandmother by my great-great-aunt. My gandmother gave it to me because it is so big and she thought I could use a big one; I have 6 children and we use to have frequent "tea parties." This is a BIG teapot. It holds 1/2 gallon or 2 liters of tea and measures 7 1/2 inches tall, 12 from handle to tip of spout!

I started my children with "cambric tea" giving them a little tea with copious amounts of milk and sugar cubes. Cookies, scones, or some other sweets usually went with tea in those days and still do!

Tale of Two Tea Cozies

I was inspired by a piece of soft gray felt that I bought off a remnant rack to make a tea cozy for my large white teapot. I decided to make it fairly simple to go with the simplicity of the teapot. I had a desire to do some hand sewing but also finish a project in a day or two. Naturally one project inspires another, usually before the first is finished! I thought of making a tea cozy to send to my grandmother out of some squares I started last August. This was a nice last day of '07 and first day of '08 project - two tea-cozies finished in two days!

2007-12-26T10:24:00.000-08:00

BOOKS I AM READING DURING THIS CHRISTMAS BREAK

I am joyously rereading some old favorite books from my childhood and young adulthood.

I finished HITTY, HER FIRST HUNDRED YEARS by Rachel Fields, just last week. I am planing to buy a sturdy edition for my grammar school library and may even make a Hitty doll. (I am on a doll craze at the moment!)

I am presently reading CHRISTY by Catherine Marshall. I have read it 2 or 3 times over the years but not in the past 15 or so. It is a joy to read with much to think about. I love the way Christy, the main character struggles to grow up and learns how to understand and explain her faith, how it becomes personal and not merely a cultural acceptance of Christianity. I have never seen the movie version and don't know if I want to because the vivid images in my mind from the book.

2007-12-17T20:39:00.001-08:00

This is the finished picture. The top picture is from a photograph. I did not use the flash but there is still a lot of reflection. The bottom is slightly greener and I think more accurately portrayed because I put the painting up on the scanner.

2007-12-09T18:43:00.001-08:00

Texas Wildflowers

Bluebonnets, Wild Verbena, Tansy Aster, Mountain Pinks, and Strawberry Cactus

I have been painting seriously and intently for several days, as my schedule allowed. Then put in a marathon of painting on Friday evening and most of Saturday, stopping only to take a child to a school event, grade papers for about 2 1/2 hours, and go to the grocery store. Today I didn't get back to painting. We went to church, I graded papers, got a Christmas tree, and moved stuff around in my studio/living room to make room for it. It may be several days before I decorate it.

While I was painting yesterday I was wishing I would paint more often. I love it. But this kind of painting, a commissioned piece, is hard for me to do. Especially hard to begin. I dread doing something to please someone and possibly failing! I stopped at regular intervals to take progress paintings and post on flickr. If you want to see the early stages look here. I still need to finish the monarda, and work on the border. When I finish I will post a picture. At this point I hope my client doesn't want it... I am wanting to keep it.

There is a glare on the verbena.

Texas Prickly Pear

Monarda Citriodora
This flower is not finished yet.

2007-11-30T03:54:00.000-08:00

Someone, I don't know who, said, "Art is coming face to face with yourself."

This week I got school photos back of myself. I did not like them. They were not art! They were not flattering! Maybe that is why I like the less than beautiful doll!

I have among my flickr contacts several people who post photos of themselves daily. Most notable is a young, overweight woman who loves funky clothing combinations and several middle age women. I see where they go, what they wear, etc. I am much too self-conscious for that. But I love to show what my hands are doing in odd bits of time like waiting for a basketball game to start. The game itself was too exciting to watch while knitting. (My 14 year-old son played almost the whole game yesterday and is improving with each game! He made 4 points!) Also, it is a social event; I get to visit with friends, hold babies, meet and make new friendships with other parents. Next week I will work the concession stand and sell tickets during some varsity games.

2007-11-30T03:39:00.000-08:00

Funny Things Said:

(I found this on my computer from several months ago)

Isaac was heating up frozen chicken in the oven. He asked why the directions suggested use a “foil lined pan.”

Zachary asked, “Do you know what “foil” means?”

I suggested that it means to “thwart.”

“No, I mean to foil binomials.”

Zac just showed me how to foil binomials. I had algebra a long, long time ago!

When he finished, I asked, “Have you thought of becoming a school teacher?”

He said, “yes.” And walked off.

2007-11-27T18:52:00.001-08:00

Dolls,
Dolls,
Dolls

Made by me, last week, during Thanksgiving break. She has knitted limbs, thrift store cashmere sweater head and body, and garage sale lace clothing. She is 9 1/2 inches tall.

Made eight years ago. She is 4 1/4 inches tall.

I have always loved dolls. As a child I didn’t have the latest doll of TV commercials. I never had the walking, talking, Chatty Cathys which I saw at my friends’ houses. Either I knew instinctively that they were overrated or my mother subtlely instilled the idea in me that MY dolls had more play potential because they could say anything I wanted them to say. What my sister and I did have were a few beautiful Madam Alexander dolls: 8 inch Wendy, Baby Genius,

Cisette and 15 inch Elise dressed as a ballerina. They were not just for display either, a concept I abhorred, thinking all dolls should be to play with. I also dearly recall a Betsy McCall doll.

I loved paper dolls too, as I have written about in previous posts. My childhood was very simple

with few toys and a very small uncluttered house but my parents gave me ample paper and permission to cut, color, and glue to my heart’s content. My Grandmother provided fresh wheat paste glue, a stack of old catalogs, and free run of a craft closet. I remember “working” on the front porch of her farm house or in the cool cellar depending on mood and weather.

My mother bought me artist quality watercolors when I was 7 years old or so and my Grandmother bought me set of Windsor Newton colored inks when I was about 10 years old. My dad donated quill pens and showed me how to letter, if not truly calligraphy it was close.

Back to dolls and doll making. I no longer have my earliest doll making attempts. I remember making a cloth doll with the help of an elderly relative. My doll was sort of sad with seams ripping out and stuffing lumpy, etc. So she gave me one of hers. I felt a real kindred to pioneer children, and the stories I loved, when I played with that doll.

The earliest of my doll making efforts to survive is this one that I made when I was about 13. She accidentally got washed in a pocket at some point and lost part of her face and her yarn wool hair felted into dreads. She is almost 40 years old!

2007-11-21T12:28:00.000-08:00

This is weird! Pictures are coming and going on my blog! I replaced the hawk and felted flower photos. Now there are two flower pictures. The other hawk may come back.

2007-11-21T10:28:00.001-08:00

2007-11-21T04:06:00.001-08:00

Accipiter striatus, I think!

My daughter and I watched this small hawk, wrestling with, killing, and eating the dove on the driveway of our home. This is in the city! Not exceptional photography! But exciting to us.
Link to a better photo.

2007-11-18T12:58:00.001-08:00

I have been reading, knitting, sipping mint tea and ice water, napping with heat on my face, trying to get over an awful head cold. I am sampling different yarns with a flower pattern from Nicky Epstein's book KNITTED FLOWERS. So far I like the thinner yarn especially the Shetland Jumper weight yarn from School House Press.

I just put my first samples on the scanner to show what I am doing. I plan to knit leaves and some kind of centers. I have lots of ideas for using flowers but at the moment I'm not feeling very motivated!

2007-11-11T05:17:00.000-08:00

Paper Dolls

I have always loved paperdolls and made reams of paper into dolls, clothing, and various accessories as a child. With paper and pencil I could quietly occupy myself for hours. (Still can!) Add scissors and colors and I was in heaven! When I first got markers, in the late 60s, my dolls' clothing was covered with flowers, stripes, and other wild patterns. But mostly I was interested in period and fairy tale costumes.

Last Sunday afternoon I taught a children's art class at a local art museum. First we reviewed museum etiquette and visited a display of antique and vintage clothing. Then we made paperdolls. Our one boy made paper aliens but I didn't get a close-up of his creatures!

Basic paperdoll guidelines:
you must have shoulders to hang the clothing on
don't make the neck too thin
don't forget the tabs
most mistakes can be fixed
you must have shoulders to hang the clothing on
don't use too much glue
you must have shoulders to hang the clothing on
don't run with scissors!
don't cry, we can add tabs
shoulders are hard to add after you cut it out
you don't need to cut around every finger and toe

MY Unfinished "MANGA" STYLE EXAMPLE

2007-11-04T16:24:00.001-08:00

Yesterday morning as I was checking my regular blogs and viewing photos from my "Flickr Friends" I found this blog from Judy Scott a fiber artist who is documenting, or "blog-umenting," her City and Guilds Machine Embroidery studies at Dundee College in England. I was very inspired by her work including a very lovely reference photo of foliage. I decided to go over to the our local college and take photographs of a variety of leaves and a few late flowers. I took a half a dozen shots before my camera batteries went dead! When I got home all my other batteries were dead. I was disappointed but decided it was a good time to try something new. I placed flowers on the scanner and took pictures with the scanner lid up.

Then I played a while with Adobe Photoshop to get this.

2007-11-03T05:30:00.000-07:00

More About Doodling

I have fun scanning my art, combining files with Adobe Photoshop, changing colors, etc. Here are some recent examples.

2007-11-03T04:02:00.000-07:00

One of my constant activities when thinking, waiting, or listening is to take verbal notes interspersed with doodling. The doodling is almost "mindless" or using another part of my brain!
At other times I doodle intentionally and even in color. Lately I have felt difficulty concentrating and it seems that doodling focuses my brain by keeping that other part of me busy!

2007-11-02T05:00:00.001-07:00

Question: How did the very manly Scottish garment get its name?
Answer: Someone asked "Why are you wearing a skirt?" He was kilt.

2007-11-02T04:27:00.000-07:00

Being creative every day is one of my goals but I am still mostly a mom!

Last year in November, my youngest son and I went to a Saint Andrews Festival at a church in a nearby town. We had heard about the bagpipers and free Scottish food to be had at the annual event. We went early to visit with friends in the band and to ensure a good seat. When we heard the first bagpipe a few feet away, my son's eyes got huge. He said, "I want one," or something to that effect. When he saw the knife, sgian dubh, in the sock traditionally carried by pipers he asked if he would get a knife if he learned to play the bagpipes! The sgian dubh, pronounced "skee(a)n doo" is the ceremonial Celtic dagger traditionally worn tucked into the sock (kilt hose) of Scottish Highlanders.

He got his practice chanter last Christmas and has now moved up to a borrowed bagpipe and kilt! He has been brave enough to appear twice in public, at a halloween party and the next night at a Fall Festival at school. When asked to play the pipes he has done so, "Amazing Grace," to enthusiastic applause from his mostly jr. high friends. Last night he played the very best I had heard him play. He even remarked later that contrary to his own expectations he did better with an audience!

2007-10-27T04:12:00.000-07:00

Yea! My daughter is home from college for a three day weekend. We had not seen her since late August! It was, maybe, the longest stretch of time that she has been gone without me going to see her. She still has homework, so she is reading a lot. And I still have tasks I need to accomplish each day. We may go to a coffee shop, she to read and me to grade papers and of course, we will have coffee and maybe something sweet to eat! Or maybe we will stay home to do it. I found a Napoli Panettone and brought it home in honor of her visit and her 23rd birthday next week. It is a wonderful Italian sweet bread we see in stores about now till Christmas. It is much more reasonably priced in the stores, Walmart or Sam's, than online. Also, we have a wonderful homemade pumpkin bread sent by her "mother-away-from-home" who is also more like an older sister in age. My daughter lives with a homeschooling family on some acres out of town and has enjoyed the children, chickens, etc. this past year during her studies at the university.

More about the panettone. I have modified and combined several recipes for panettone to come up with a yummy version in my bread machine.

2/4 cup milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, chopped up
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Next ingredients subject to taste and availability:
1/2 - 1 1/2 teaspoons anise seed (really a must if you want the authentic flavor!)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cups dried and candied fruit
dried fruit like cranberries, currents, and golden raisins
candied orange or lemon peel
1/2 cup mini dark chocolate chips

My daughter believes that this bread tastes best when torn rather than cut but it does cut nicely and makes a very elegant tea sandwich when spread with cream cheese and jam!

We may also do a craft project today. We both need to make gifts for Christmas. If we manage this today I will post pictures!

2007-10-23T05:07:00.000-07:00

I found time to pull out yarn, wool, and fabric Friday evening when a friend came over to play. She had seen some of my raw edge applique picture quilts and had a desire to make a fall quilted hanging with pumpkins. I showed her how to use needle felting and fabric on a felt background. I did a little color blending but didn't seriously work on my own project being more interested in enjoying the visit. I finished these little experiments the next day.

Saturday morning I went to an awesome huge charity garage sale. I stood in line to wait till it opened at 8:30 and made a bee-line to the "notions" area where I found a beautiful supply of wool tapestry yarn, embroidery floss and pearl cotton. Then I looked at the neat bundles of fabric for wool to felt and found 2 yards of creamy off-white wool knit and a yard of woven wool fabric. I plan to dye these to use in doll making and art quilts.

I looked for wool sweaters to felt but there were none to be found! I don't know if they had been purchased the previous day. I did find several garments to wear.

I saw such a wealth of discarded items that I am quite inspired to do more without buying new from stores! Of course that garage sale is not available year round and going regularly to small garage sales is time consuming! Oh well, I have enough now for a lifetime of art and crafting!

2007-10-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

I just found the funniest AND most thought provoking blog I have read in a long time. I started with this post about junior high and just kept reading.

I usually read blogs by women who are artists and or mothers,... dealing with questions and problems sort of like mine. I read book reviews, view craft tutorials, and travel around the world seeing sites, viewing and commenting on art and life.

Brant Hansen is definitely male, a Christian, funny, and very creative! All this and serious at the same time. (Do I need to say that I don't necessarily agree with everything he says?)

2007-10-07T05:51:00.000-07:00

Here is an old photo that I came across recently. We were 19 years old. I am glad that I can spin for the fun of it. I don't do it of necessity.

I have been consumed, eaten alive, by the start of school and the weight of my world. I have had some short bursts of energy to spend on fibers and dyes, but most of my little time in the studio of late has been spent organizing and cleaning. I am ashamed of the volume of stuff I have. I am behind and overwhelmed in almost every area of my life and consequently feel like a failure. What I think I need is a month off, to stay at home! Is that a common feeling these days? I think so, from talking to many people I know.
We have a running dialog, at this house, about the technologies that effect our lives either positively or negatively and can't agree if it is a net gain. I am very thankful for hot and cold running water, air-conditioning, cars, and yes my computer and the internet. But the speed and complexity of the business of life... the paperwork, the news, economics, bills, maintaining all those laborsaving devises, budgeting, various activities that children need transportation to, overseeing homework, grocery shopping, nutrition... As well as the time needed to maintain relationships.
I can hear, "It is a matter of priorities, making lists, delegating, and simplifying." When I manage to actually do that I will let you know... but don't hold your breath!

2007-09-09T03:42:00.000-07:00

Art Studio Moving/Utility Room Redo

Sometimes I just need to write, even if I think I don't have anything to say! Blogging was suppose to fill this need but I have become too self-conscious and returned to a white legal pad to do my ramblings. I decided to do it here this morning.

I am pleased about what I did Friday evening and all day Saturday. I cleaned out and painted the utility room. I even painted the floor, mostly. It had been painted before with dark gray base, and barn red brick pattern sponged on. It was clever but always looked hideous to me. There were enough random other colors, dark and light to hide a multitude of "sins, which was it's redeeming feature. The walls were a very dark avocado green. It took 3 coats of a thick, expensive, one coat covers all, white paint!

I am trying to move my art studio out of my kitchen and dinning room but I have too much and am boxing some materials and storing in the garage. I gave an old fridge (40-50 years old) away to friends for their rent house. It was too old to sell. And it was given with no guarantees!

The trial of this new studio will be when I get all the laundry going on in there. There is a significant leak when I wash which I talked to the "landlord" about yesterday. Right now it is a very appealing place to work! By work I mean laundry and art. My sewing is still in the other room where it will stay, for now.

2007-08-31T14:44:00.000-07:00

Books I Am Reading and Project I Have Started

I reread three volumes of THE LORD OF THE RINGS by JRR Tolkien this summer. Then I re-read the HOBBIT and THE SILMARILLIAN. Now I am reading the UNFINISHED TALES. I did not remember reading it at first but as I read I could remember reading it when my mother was in the hospital. All the stories were familiar but the actual reading had been lost in the memories of that traumatic time!

When I am too occupied with work to have much time to be creative, or if I come home too tired to do anything but the essentials, I like to have a project book to be reading and dreaming about!

I have a tendency to start new projects when I am frustrated and not having much art time. Then when the schedule is more reasonable, I will work on finishing several things in one or two weekends. My Art Quilt Group is using Jane Davila and Elin Waterston's book for our monthly meetings.

I have started making two dolls using Patti Medaris Culeas's book and patterns, though I used felt for the body and plan to make another head. She is not dressed yet except in a "make-shift" fashion for modesty! The character design is fun yet to come! Will she be an elf maiden or medieval princess?

2007-08-31T13:09:00.000-07:00

First Week of School

amo, amas, amat...
ego, mei, mihi, me, me....

Mission accomplished! I got my workbooks ready, to and from the printer before the first day of school. I teach Latin to 110 children in grades 3-6 at a small, unique Christian School. My students learn Latin vocabulary and rudimentary Latin grammar as part of two and 1/2 days at school per week. They have two days of homework we call "homestudy" each week.

One of my duties this year is greeting children when they arrive and helping them out of their cars if needed. It turned out to be a joy rather than burden and will help me get to know the parents.

There is a beautiful eagerness in the faces of children who are wanting to learn something new. After the first day several moms reported to me that little Jonny or Jenny said Latin is their favorite class. This is mostly from 3rd graders. The older children tend to reserve judgment.

My time recently has been spent getting two older children off to college; they mostly got themselves off. The eighteen year-old needed more help (mostly with my check-book!) working his way through the system at the local college. It turns out that his textbooks in some instances are more expensive than tuition!

My two younger boys are in our classical Christian junior high school, associated with the grammar school where I teach. Last week I attended three orientations!

2007-08-03T10:05:00.001-07:00

THE LONG, LONG ROAD

2007-08-03T06:29:00.000-07:00

Sketches in the Field

I decided to break in a new journal on my camping trip this summer. It is a 5x7 inch Canson spiral notebook with warm creamy white paper. The paper is too thin for lots of water but works well with Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils and a small amount of water. I used pens on some pages: Pigma Micron 05 (.45mm line width) in brown ink and a Martha Stewart Crafts pen in sepia also 5mm. I like both pens and neither bled through the page but I can see through to the next page slightly.

2007-08-03T05:10:00.000-07:00

Friends, Hiking, Capes, Food, Music, Stories, Jokes!

I have been camping! No internet for several days and I didn't miss it; I was having so much fun! And working hard. When I camp I enjoy cooking, especially breakfast but everything is more work. I would get up as quietly as possible and build a fire, with mostly wet wood this year. Then I cook on a small camping stove. I heat water for hot drinks and make Malto-meal. This is "first breakfast." A few of the kids would be up by now and ready to eat by the fire. Then I made "second breakfast." We didn't have many eggs because we ate scrambled eggs the first night. But made fried biscuits and, well, I admit it, fried spam! It is a tradition left over from my childhood camping days. It is one of those things the kids notice if I forget to do on a camping trip but they wouldn't want to eat at home.

Two of my children went with me to New Mexico. We camped with friends in the Sacramento Mountains at almost 9000 ft above sea level. It rained a lot but didn't dampen our spirits, for long. The campground is one we have visited for years. It has had some recent improvements. We paid extra for the site with covered picnic tables. And it made all the difference in the world in our enjoyment of the rainy times! We sat out the rain singing, reading, playing games, and I did some drawing.

The kids, ages 8 to 24, hiked and wore out Andy the basset hound! Here are some photos. The pictures with people and dogs were taken by my long time friend, Kathy. Her children and mine have been friends for almost 16 years. We have camped together about 10 times. Four of my children were unable to come this year because of work or other trips. Next blog will show my photos and sketches of wildflowers.

2007-07-20T06:19:00.000-07:00

Inspiration and Design

Here is an Australian print I used as the inspiration for two small journal sized quilts.

I have been taking part in a local informal Art Quilt Group for the last 3 months. This group of quilters includes some awesome talent. I learn and am inspired from them even when they are using techniques I am not currently using. I am not, at this point in my life going to make bed quilts. I love their "tailored" and perfect paper-pieced rendering of their drawings. However, I am not using that method and I don't have the time or patience to put perfectly mitered 1/4 inch binding around each art quilt.

I believe that many quilters are artists even when they use traditional patterns and methods. Art goes beyond skill alone but can certainly utilize skill. This gets into the area of "craft" and Art, how the two differ where the two intersect, a perennial question!

I am currently working with raw edges, free-motion machine stitching, felting, and an overall sketchy and messy look. I am painting with fibers!

In other words, I feel like the odd one in this group but still very welcome and more at home here than in the larger quilt guild.

Last month we isolated a 2 x 3 inch area of a printed fabric and used a sharpie to trace the lines of the design on a piece of clear acetate. We were challenged to take this home and create small quilt 9 x 12 inches to show at the next meeting. Here are my examples.

2007-07-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

Long have I been absent from blogging!

"Momma is playing with dolls again!" This time paper dolls. I have been drawing and painting. Then using images of my various paintings I am playing with digital collage to which I will add hair and I don't know what else before I am finished. This is my small creative endeavor/offering for this week.

I am working at school three or four days a week plus two other small jobs that occupy me for several hours 3 afternoons. I feel wrung out... "thin, sort of stretched ...like butter scraped over too much bread." I have the "mid-to-late-summer-blues, I am not going to get done all the things I need or want to do, blues" I have had the satisfaction of working on flowerbeds.

O, and I am re-reading THE LORD OF THE RINGS. I am reading leisurely for an hour or so at my early bed-time, more on the week-ends. I already know what happens so it is a savoring of words! I am actually reading my mothers copy so I see what she underlined. I read it the first time when I was fourteen, the summer before I went into high school. I was into speed reading then purely for plot. I did not read it again until Christmas break after seeing The Two Towers. I read fast that time too. This is my second slow reading through. I love the story, plot, characters, images, and language!

2007-06-24T04:26:00.000-07:00

I have not had any available creative energy left for blogging these last three weeks! All of it has gone into thinking about and preparing for the museum art camp I have just finished teaching. I enjoyed it immensely especially this last week. The title was ART IN IMAGINATION, official description: Mermaids, Fairies, Spacemen, Robots- Create original artwork based on fantasy using both 2 and 3-D media.

I remembered to take my camera two or three days but I needed a full time photographer to take pictures. With things happening fast and furious most of the art work got away without being photographed! We try to send most of the art home as soon as it is finished so usually my pictures of finished art is a haphazard catch-as-catch-can occurrence.

My lovely and talented assistant, my daughter gave her account of art camp here.

Monday- Draw and paint your imagined character using tempera paint on white paper. Embellish the person and place with the addition of yarn hair, google-eyes, glitter, sequins, tissue paper, and feathers.

Tuesday- Create your own three dimensional imagined character. I showed examples of a doll/action figure made of a roll of corrugated cardboard, one inch diameter wooden bead for the head, and pipe cleaners for arms and legs. I also showed how they could make a character by cutting two simple shapes of felt, ovals or rectangles stapled all around and stuffed with polyester fiber. We had colorful felt, pipe cleaners, colored staples, google-eyes, variety of colored paper, plastic lids, corrugated cardboard, brads, buttons, beads, sequins, markers, paint, glitter, craft glue, and yarn. Available tools were: scissors, hole-punch, needle, and thread if asked for. We had a cool glue gun station with an adult doing the gluing as requested. My assistant was very busy gluing as soon as the children realized the potential to glue almost anything without the “wait to dry time” required by the white craft glue.

Wednesday- Continuation of the above. Most children made multiple items of increasing complexity.

Thursday- Imagination at Night

The children wanted to do the same thing again as the previous two days….They begged!

I had them start with black construction paper to create an imagined scene at night with their characters. All of the same materials and tools were available to use. Some children were so intent on creating 3-D that they pushed the boundary of the assignment to construct dioramas out of the black paper. Others made three dimensional characters to attach to a night-time scene. I found a roll of yellow crepe paper so I showed anyone who wanted to how to make crepe paper and tissue paper flowers.

Friday

Imagine a set of double doors that when opened hold an imaginary world. All the materials and tools of the previous days were available. We made triptych structures out of corrugated cardboard with bead and button doorknobs. The interior became a forest, mountain with a castle, the moon with an astronaut, sea shore with fish and mermaids, space aliens and dragons… Some of these structures morphed into castles!

The director of the program, parents, and children gave this class high praise and I have already been asked to repeat it next year.

2007-06-16T12:52:00.001-07:00

Altered Mead Composition Notebook,
originally uploaded by molly jean henson.

I recently found a movie of 500 years of women in art for your inspiration. It reminded me of this composition book I altered several months ago with art prints.

2007-06-16T11:01:00.001-07:00

On the last day of this week's Art Camp the children made books with people on each page. Some of them created a character for each page with names, ages, and occupations.

Next week class title is "Art and Imagination." We are going to make 2-d and 3-d imaginative characters like fairies, robots, super heroes, space aliens, "monsters," etc. I am going to do my best to not say "monsters" and to steer them away from scary and movie characters!

2007-06-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

Making art with children is sometimes tiring and a bit frantic but fun, and amazing! I love what they create. Here are some more exaples of art from my classes.

2007-06-12T15:22:00.000-07:00

Making Books with Children

This week and next I am teaching two classes each morning at a local art museum's art camp. My twenty-two year old daughter is my valuable assistant. We have 15 - 17 children in each class, ages 6-12. This week we are making books. This is one of my favorite things to teach! Yesterday we taught them the three hole pamphlet stitch. They made an accordion style book travel journal with pockets, one signature, and a pop-up! I would call it a hybrid book. Constructing the pop-up was the hardest part but they all got it, some after a try or two.

We are making nature journals tomorrow using an easy construction method. Maybe we will have time to go to the sculpture garden to sketch. I never have long enough with the eager artistic children but there are always a few who would rather be elsewhere. So far, they are a very pleasant group of children.

I will try to get some pictures tomorrow!

(pictures added after this was written)

2007-06-05T02:17:00.000-07:00

The Chihuahuan Desert

On visiting the real desert... A

bit obsessed!

I say that I live in the desert or on the edge of the desert. Recently we have had several years of drought. Our annual average rainfall is 13.51 inches. But in 1998 we got 5.18 inches which was the lowest rainfall since 1930 when measuring in this area began. We have been in a drought since 1998. Of course that means we are due for some catch up years. We have had good rains this spring even to flooding in specific locations. I don't yet know if it is enough to end the drought but I hope so.

This Sunday we went to Van Horn, Texas, which is in the Chihuahuan Desert, with its characteristic yucca, agaves, grasses, creosote bushes, prickly-pears and other cacti as well as a wealth of wildflowers. I love it! The Chihuahua Desert does not have the saguaro cactus, the tall branched cactus of western movies and illustrations. If you ever see a western movie ostensibly set in Texas but with this type cactus

you can be sure it was not actually filmed here but in California.

Here are some of my sketches and photos recent and old. Some are from previous trips and visits. When I was looking for old photos of the desert I found these of me as a child. I loved tocamp, still do!

2007-06-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

What is more fun than eating?

Aragorn : Gentlemen, we do not stop till nightfall.
Pippin : What about breakfast?
Aragorn : You've already had it.
Pippin : We've had one, yes. What about second breakfast?
Merry : I don't think he knows about second breakfast, Pip.
Pippin : What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper? He knows about them, doesn't he?
Merry : I wouldn't count on it.

This morning I sat on the porch with my coffee and breakfast. It was a beautiful morning. Not really cool but pleasant. I took my camera, journal, and art supplies to record the moment. The moment that lasted for some time longer than I expected because it was so much fun. I didn’t have second breakfast but did keep warming up the coffee and topping my cup until
at least eleven!

2007-06-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

The sky is darkening, but to the north east a giant looms, glowing with a blush of pink which fades to lavender, then to dark purple. The whisper, the growing rustle, and as the sun sets a change in the air signals a possibility of rain.

Is that thunder?

Not the promise of rain, but a teasing possibility. This is a pattern of the last three nights. I miss the full view of the sky that I had when I lived out on the prairie where you can see a storm
building miles away and maybe more in several directions!

This evening brings to mind an afternoon some years ago. I was in New Mexico taking children to camp. I had a few short hours to enjoy the mountains. I walked around, found a comfortable place to sit and quickly began to draw then write. I have a vivid memory of that moment in time because I took the time to record it! This page also includes leaf printing, a border stamped with hand carved stamp.

2007-05-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

My new Etsy store is launched with one item!
Have you heard of Etsy and wondered what it means.
It means "and if" in Latin spelled ET SI.
Here is a TV news clip about Etsy.

Isn't technology wonderful? I didn't think so last night when for about 4 hours I thought I had lost all my blog posts! I had just put my first item in my new store and was in the process of adding a link and rearranging links. When I did something.

All better now! Isn't technology wonderful!

2007-05-28T23:41:00.000-07:00

I am feeling a great sense of loss. Too much for such a thing as this. I am on one hand justifying my strong emotions but on the other hand I am appalled that it means so much to me! I have not cried, amazingly enough as crying is my normal response to frustration, but I have talked out loud to the computer and felt a desire to get up and stomp around! And I feel compelled to use lots of !!!!s. Not bad words, mind you, just dramatic exclamation points!

Two or three hours pass.....

I have now recoverd my posts and comments.

I have my links saved in a word file...

I have overcome the panicy feeling, learned a thing or two and changed my background to white. Let me know if it is easier to read. (I still love art on a black background)

Slowly adding links back.

Must sleep then I will try to add counters, map, atom feed and various "widgits" I think they are called.

2007-05-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

What am I doing this beautiful day?

Laundry, dishes, sorting mail...the never ending stuff!

Spending way too much time at the computor

Drinking iced Jasmin Tea

Doors and windows are opened for the coolish breeze

Listening to the birds and Finding Neverland Soundtrack - the best thing about this movie was the music!

I have made several new ACEOs, Art Cards Editions and Originalsthat I am listing for auction on Ebay. I love the format of tiny art quilts.

I find them a challenge and a pleasure. I have had the pleasure of trading cardswith some of my flickr friends but at the moment I need to make some sales.

I still plan to sell some books on Etsy as soon as I iron out the wrinkles in my new store. I also need to research the new postal rates.

2007-05-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

Almost done with this one! Photographing it outside changed the colors somewhat; the previous view was scanned this morning before the sun came up. The sketchy black free motion quilting also gave it a different look! Sort of brought it to life! I also added some silk roving for highlights.

2007-05-26T05:29:00.000-07:00

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.

Claude Monet

I love flowers! And when I paint them I tend toward botanical accuracy, a look I love. But at times I desire to break away more into abstraction or interpretation of the flower. That has taken place at times when I am painting with children using tempera paint, a "throwaway medium."

Then two years ago I painted purple petunias with a decidedly stylized look. It is one of my favorites, the flower and the painting! Now I am trying to interpret the painting with cloth and fiber using needle felting and sewing. I am using bits of cloth, yarn, and wisps of dyed unspun wool to paint the picture.

2007-05-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

Book Binding Tutorial
for Journal with
Quilted And Felted Cover

Recently, I was asked if I have a pattern for my felted books. I decided to do a small simplified version, take pictures, and give some dimensions. I am going to show pictures and give some links to other sites because I don’t have time right now to draw and scan diagrams!

I am not going to use a lot of book binding terms because I don’t want to spend hours defining them! So I will try to keep it very simple.

It is always easier to try a new technique on a small scale and with easily accessible materials.

Make the quilted cover:

For the cover you need:

4 1/2 x 12 inch piece of polyester or wool felt (1 sheet cut in half length-wise)

Or 11.5 x 30.5 centimeters

small scraps of quilter's cotton fabric
yarn wool roving or dyed locks of wool (for use with needle felting tool)

Here are pictures of my example: pieced, felted, and quilted. See previous post for tutorial on how I use needle felting on a quilt.

When I was pleased with the look of my cover I trimmed it down to 4 inches wide, rounded the corners slightly, and finished the edges with zigzag stitch.

(If you don't want to do the needle felting this could be made without felting as a small slender quilt using batting with cotton fabric on top and bottom and lots of machine stitching to hold the layers together.)

Paper for pages:

I used 6 sheets Canson Mi-Teintes colored drawing paper from a 9x12 inch pad.

You could buy one large sheet and cut it or use what you have, even nice copier paper
(8 ½ x 11 inches) parchment or other paper with pleasant weight and color.

Cut paper 3 ½ x 8 inches long or 9 x 21.5 centimeters.

To make your book pages cut the paper to size, fold in half and burnish the fold for each page individually then nest sheets together to form a signature. Use 6 - 12 sheets nested together, depending upon the heaviness of the paper. With the Canson paper I used 6 pieces of paper (folios) per signatures (groups of pages that are nested together).

Make a pattern for the holes in the pages. Cut an extra page of cheap paper the size of your pages. Make a mark in the fold, at ½ inch, 1 ¾ inch, and 3 inches. That will put stitches ½ inch from the top and bottom and in the center. I used an awl to punch the sewing holes in each page. For years I used a sharp nail. The hole should be about the size of the thread and needle.

Sewing the pages into the cover

I used waxed linen thread and a sharp needle with a large eye appropriate for the thread. You could also use six strand cotton or linen embroidery thread or pearl cotton.

The pamphlet stitch is good for sewing each signature into the cover and is very easy and elegant! You can begin the stitch inside the book, like I did here, or outside on the spine for a different look. If you choose to make a really large book someday, you may need to reinforce the spine area and use a different stitch.

I made an effort to sew the signatures in straight. Sewing all the way through the cover, with the spine of the pages at a right angle to the cover’s edges. I put about 1/8 inches between signatures when I sewed them into the cover. If you expect to glue a lot of elements into your book you can leave more space at this time.

Odds and Ends

I crocheted a chain with two coordinating yarns for the wrap around tie.

I deckled the fore edge of the pages.

Feel free to ask questions in the comments. I may amend this as I see the need or leave comments.

2007-05-19T04:17:00.000-07:00

Quilt Rebel?

This morning, 4:30, too early to start sewing, too noisy. So I sat and looked at my recent unfinished projects.

But I am very unhappy with my machine quilting. The stitches are big, uneven, almost random. I should get better with practice but I want to do too many things to practice that one thing enough to get good. I want to play in an orchestra on several instruments tonight then tomorrow afternoon play bluegrass...fast! But I can play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on lots of instruments.

I love to use free-motion quilting like drawing or doodling or embroidery. I make art quilts because I don't like the level of precision that traditional quilts and traditional quilters require. I can match points and hand quilt with small even stitches, if not tiny, but the overall composition and quilt as a painting are most exciting to me.

That’s my story; I am trying to doodle on a quilt with stitches. It's a sketch. I meant those stitches to be big! After all I am making ART QUILTS! Is this the height of self delusion, obnoxious snobbery, spin, or rebellion?

2007-05-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."

G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

I love books to read and find a special joy in making journals for others and art books for my own pleasure!

However, I have been putting off a book binding project for weeks because I knew it would involve searching for tools, patterns, and supplies. And I would have to clear a space to work!

Well, school is out so Tuesday afternoon I began the search and organization. Rather than make only the specially requested book for my customer I began four and have finished three. The forth will have a different kind of cover.

Here are some of the tools I use: davy board and duct tape book cradle for holding signatures while I punch holes and other assorted tools.

2007-05-14T04:49:00.001-07:00

Doodling in a Grid

Some ART Quotes I have collected:

"Vita brevis, ars longa" Life is short, art endures.
Hippoctates c. 460-400BC

"Creativity is allowing yourself mistakes.

Art is knowing which ones to keep."

Scott Adams

"Art is not a pleasure, a solace,
or an amusement;
art is great matter."
Tostoy
For an complex but intresting explanation of this quote see:
Tolstoy’s prophesy: “What Is Art?” today
by James Sloan Allen

"That which is static and repetitive is boring.
That which is dynamic and random is confusing.
In between lies art." John Locke (1632-1704)

"An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision."
James McNiel Whistler

"I try to apply colors like words that shape poems,

like notes that shape music." Joan Miro

"I found I could say things with color and shapes
I couldn't say any other way."
Georgia O'Keeffe

By Googling any of these quotes you can find a wealth of websites discussing ART. I find, sadly, that many artists and critics worship art! I prefer the Tolkien view of the artist as "subcreator"
and "Art is a half-effaced recollection of a higher state from which we have fallen since the time of Eden," Saint Hildegarde 1098-1179. I recognize that much in my life that I love and love to do is art not ART! I am content with that... most of the time.

I have had a running discussion with myself and occasionally with others. "Does life interfere with art or art with life?” Or, “Do the routines and trials of life enhance and feed your art or just keep you out of the studio?"

It is not only the tortured soul who can be creative or that only a life of ease is conducive to artistic endeavors. But, don't wait till all the circumstances are just right before being an artist. If I always waited till everything else was done I would never have sewn a quilt or painted or sketched!

There was a time when I was so involved in my glorious new life of motherhood that I felt no need to paint or draw. The loom was gathering stacks of stuff and dust in the spare room. Wife and motherhood was enough with a little hand pieced patchwork, knitting, and gardening as my creative outlet. As I write this I remember sewing curtains, baby quilts, dust-ruffle, and coordinating calico bunnies for the baby room and I had a small winter-spring garden that was quite spectacular. For several years I turned out mittens and hand knitted socks for little hands and feet.

But I wasn’t thinking ART. It was art. I was enhancing the lives of those around me and it was beautiful! In those days I was enjoying the process with an eye to finishing useful items. I think of the potter who would make a useful item. The lines and shape of the pot had an inherent beauty. Yet, even in ancient times of uncertain survival craftsmen often embellished their humble items.

This said, there are times when the burden of “should” make it hard to carve out time to
be creative! But better that than time and no ideas or motivation. I can be paralyzed temporarily by “what next” and “which first.” This is where I am now. I have lots of must do business in my life, unfinished projects, things to accomplish, deep cleaning, curriculum to be work on for next
year…

2007-05-04T20:13:00.000-07:00

Oh, for the joy of sewing!

"The stitch is lost unless the thread be knotted" Italian proverb

"A stitch in time saves nine" American proverb

"Me thinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics, when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than while so occupied.”
Written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1859

This week I helped a 5th grade class of girls do a craft project that involved sewing. I heard that some had sewn with Mother or Grandmother or Aunt but some had no experience or sewing mentor. I tried to challenge them to take up hand sewing.

Just think, almost every woman for maybe 6000 years has spent significant time sewing! Even queens, princesses, and the wealthiest women spent time with needle and thread. If they had no need to construct garments, tapestries or other fine embroidery was the women’s work.

Of course much time was also spent spinning and weaving or preparing animal hides. I have read that the cost of the fabric in time or trade far outweighed the expense of the time spent hand sewing. Clothing today is relatively inexpensive and that is good, but it is sad to think of the loss of skills. I honestly think there will be, or may already be, a resurgence of the textile crafts among young women. See the number of knitting books available in book stores these days! Just a few years ago I could not buy double pointed needles in my city. Now they are available even in the large craft stores!

All this thought inspired me to find a stack of quilt squares started some years ago and sew them together, with the machine!

2007-04-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

Give me miles and miles of Texas,

All the stars up in the sky.

Miles and miles of Texas,

Want to live here till I die!

song by Asleep at the Wheel

I just got back last night from a whirlwind trip around Texas with 18 children and 10 other adults.

Everyone loaded up Thursday after school in a very comfortable chartered bus with a bathroom!

We went on a nature walk in Sonora, Thursday evening, and got to bed fairly early. Friday morning, early, we left Sonora for Austin to see the capitol, sit in the Senate Chamber, and talk to our state senator. Hearing an orchestra play in the Rotunda was icing on the cake! The acoustics were incredible!

By early afternoon we were on the road to San Antonio to see the Alamo, the Imax movie "The Price of Freedom," and a glimpse at the Fiesta Parade. All this time, I was handing out candy for Latin inscription sightings!

We then headed to Houston. Imagine, the Texas Hill Country, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston all in one day! This was my first view of Houston other than from the airport. It is bigger than Dallas!

Saturday morning we visited the San Jacinto Monument and The Battleship Texas. That afternoon we turned back north to Waco. We were all fascinated by the blacksmith, potter, and 200 year-old gristmill at Homestead Heritage.

Sunday, we visited the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco and then drove to Abilene to see the Frontier Texas Museum.

After about 1700 miles we were home again home again jiggedy jog!

It was all wonderful!

“Remember the Alamo!”

2007-04-21T22:32:00.000-07:00

This week-end I have finished one art quilt and begun another.
The first, Felted Forest, was inspired by a watercolor sketch from a trip to the Piney Woods of East Texas, with some fantasy mixed in!

The second is based on a painting I made from trips to Colorado and New Mexico.

I will post more pictures as it progresses.

2007-04-15T06:39:00.000-07:00

Felted Flower Quilt Explained

I have been asked to explain the process I use to make a felted quilt. I thought I would try to do it with pictures and words, so last night I worked on a little piece and took pictures as I went.

There are two main ways to felt wool, one is wet felting which uses soapy water, temperature extremes, and agitation, basically what happens when you accidentally wash a wool sweater in the washing machine. The other type of felting is called needle felting. The needles used are very sharp and have several sharp barbs on their sides. You use the needle tool to punch up and down. The sharp, barbed needles grab fibers on top and push them down. They then grab fibers underneath and pull then up. This eventually locks the fibers together and attaches the layers. You can work with one needle at a time to create three dimensional items or several at a time in some kind of holder. I delayed taking up this craft because the first time I saw it done it looked too dangerous! But the newer generation of tools have some safety features. The Clover Needle Felting Tool, made in Japan, is the green and yellow hand held tool in the picture. The tool is held upright with the needles pointing down. This is punched up and down, the clear cylinder, safety guard, retracts into the handle. Under your fabric is a flat bristle brush which absorbs the punches. You could still poke your fingers, ouch! So caution is advisable.

There are also various embellishing or needle felting machines available. They look like sewing machines, but with fewer moving parts. If purchasing one of these there are cost factors, safety features, and the ease of changing needles to be considered. Bernina has a needle felting foot available.

I am going to start with a piece of felt for the base and batting. To this I will sew various pieces of fabric, leaving raw edges. I may couch or sew yarn onto it at this stage.

I am a spinner, so I have available un-spun wool in a wide range of colors, also some dyed silk, angora, and mohair. At this point I start adding wisps of un-spun fibers and additional fuzzy yarn. Punch the hand held tool up and down; it is springy.

Continue to add wisps of fiber, small pieces of fabric, felt, and yarn to develop your design. If you have a machine available, use it to make the process quicker.

Here, I am adding red felt petals. I put wisps of wool in several
shades of red to add to the complexity. Neither my camera nor scanner picked up this subtlety.

Needle felt these to attach.

I added felt leaves at this stage.

When the design is roughly as you want it you can add machine or hand quilting, on top, for emphasize and to give the piece additional dimension. Hand embroidery and beads can now be added. You can add backing and finish the edges as you like!

This is the scaned version with the colors slightly different!

I may still add more quilting or embroidery.

2007-04-13T05:53:00.000-07:00

"A Classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say." ~Italo Calvino

While I can always think of things to make: quilts, drawing, paintings, ... I do sometimes struggle to write. Usually I just start writing and eventually come to my point, go back and delete the first part and then develope my thoughts and ideas. Writing is a hard thing I want to do. It is good to do hard things!

When I read I can usually come up with ideas to write about. I came across this list of Thirty Books Every College Student Should Read This list isn't perfect, it doesn't include anything by C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Solzenitszyn, and others I can think of. I think my children have read most of the classics in his first list, at the classical Christian school where they have gone.

I love to read book reviews and to see the top ten or top hundred books different people list as favorites.I like books about books. Here are some I like:
Invitation to the Classics, A Guide to Books You've Always Wanted to Read by Cowan and Guinness

Honey for a Woman's Heart by Gladys Hunt

Great Books of the Christian Tradition by Terry W. Glaspey

2007-04-13T04:33:00.000-07:00

I have been going back and looking at what I accomplished, artistically, all those years when home and family were my focus and little children were always close at hand. While scanning some pages of old sketch books and nature journals I found this. It was painted when my parents lived in Ft. Hancock, Texas, on the Rio Grand River. This is greasewood and yucca; the mountains are on the other side of the river, in Mexico.
My daddy had been invited to take us on a ranch to see some petraglyphs. We hiked and scrambled over rocks and found one sort of vague possible site. The guys may have thought the trip a failure because time ran out without us seeing the famous rock paintings that we had a magazine article about. But I have wonderful memories of that day!

So what am I doing these days? Not spending much time outside sketching! I have not been painting or drawing much. My artistic time for the last two months has gone into fiber art, tiny art quilts(see previous posts).

Some of my available time and creative energy is going into this blog and the flickr thing. I am enjoying the interaction with other artists around the world. Ideas for new quilts are coming faster than I can possibly create them. This is a good problem. I can imagine having time and no ideas, a problem I am not likely to ever have!

I want to use this watercolor sketch as a starting place for a pieced and felted art quilt.

2007-04-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

These are scans of an altered book journal using an old Readers Digest Condensed Book. These books are often free and will not hold up well if you get a lot of moisture (paint or glue in the spine) but I love the way the soft paper soaks up the paint. I tear our two or three pages about a quarter of an inch from the center, then glue several sheets together. I prepare the spread with acrylic paint and gesso, black gesso on this one. This book was begun as an example for a workshop I taught at the Ellen Noel Art Museum.

Looking back can be fun, insightful, helpful, and painful. I don't mean "living in the past" although I am guilty of it at times. I mean focusing in on a distant event or series of events and realizing that you have indeed accomplished something!

Experienced, grown, and learned.

I have been looking at my old prayer/sermon note journals. When I feel kind of dry and wrung out these journals always make me feel better; they refocus my mind and change my perspective.

The last two or three weeks have been exciting art weeks with a new tool and technique (needle felting) added to my arsenal, and a new source of inspiration and friendship in the Flickr artists that I have met.

I am also revisiting old art journals and am quite amazed to see what I did back when the house was full of little ones. It did not seem like much at the time, but it was ongoing and did accumulate!

2007-04-04T03:41:00.000-07:00

This week I'm helping two students with projects, one is my son, and another is my friend's daughter. And I'm feeling stressed! Add to this some seasonal allergies, headaches, etc.

My schedule just doesn't allow for much extra. I don't have a margin for error at the moment! I am reminded of the book Margin by Richard A. Swenson, M.D. The subtitle is: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives.

This is Holy Week and I am trying to think about Christ's Sacrifice and Resurrection, but instead I'm thinking about all that I need to do, and the relief I will feel when this or that responsibility is tended to!

Margin gives time to be a better mother, help others, be a better friend. But most of all time to rest, meditate, pray, and abide with the Creator.

What does all this have to do with making art? The creative life and times?

For me, ultimately, creativity is part of my nature, my make up, who I am...created in the image of THE CREATOR. So apart from Him it is shallow and meaningless.

2007-03-31T05:41:00.000-07:00

I am thinking about starting a flickr group with a "What's in your art bag theme."

I saw a group named "What's in your bag". It was mostly students showing off their expensive purses or backpacks, electronics, notebooks, and color coordinated gear. I immediately thought of the large purse with journal and art supplies that I sometimes carry. But it makes my shoulder hurt and I eventually go back to a smaller purse. That may work for a month or two, but it gets over-loaded eventually and I upgrade to one of my larger bags. It is a continuous cycle!

I have an art bag I keep packed with journaling and drawing supplies. I can grab it and go but I usually customize for the specific trip. I would take out the knives and scissors, before flying, and maybe add more collage supplies or a tiny needlework kit, something I am currently working on.

As you can see I also use this bag for storage. I work out of it sometimes in different places at my home.

I do love good art supplies.

2007-03-30T05:36:00.000-07:00

I made two more ATC sized quilts last night.

These are too small to keep you warm but they answer my need to create start to finish in a short time. Sometimes I finish in a single sitting at the worktable and other times in short 10 to 15 minute bursts of creativity over a several day period. I sometimes, usually, have several pieces started so if and when I get stuck on one I can switch to another.

2007-03-29T04:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my last student did not show for tutoring and that gave me a bit of time to create this last night. I came home and took a short nap on the couch, inspite of my three teenaged boys in and out of the room! I was that sleepy. Even hearing them and knowing they were there didn't bother me! We had find-yourself-something for supper and then I took Whit to the library. He is writing a short paper on W. Churchhill and a longer one on D-day! I was able to squeeze in the sewing time, watch one episode of Monk from a rented DVD with my 14 and 13-year olds, and get to bed by 10:30, much earlier than usual.

This is a very small, artist trading card sized art quilt. It is embellished using needle felting of wool and silk fibers.

2007-03-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

This page is from an old journal that is very meaningful to me because of the struggles I was going through at the time. Facing new trials I sometimes go back to see where I've been!

"Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again."
I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So so I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
From THE LORD OF THE RINGS by JRR Tolkien

These pages are ready for journaling. I used dyes, gesso, and hand made stamps for my background because I don't always want to face a blank page; there is less stress about messing up.

Journaling with words and doodles:
Random thoughts, prayers, reminders...
Problem solving tool!
Fresh and almost risk free!
Dream, propose, plan,
list, laugh, cry, love, live.

2007-03-26T03:37:00.000-07:00

For the love of Journaling!
I have been making my own notebooks and journals, artist illustrated one of a kind books and altered books. It has been quite an adventure. Today, one of my books is being feature on a Flickr Group Blog, notebookism.
Here are some other views of the featured book and others that I have created.

2007-03-24T06:19:00.000-07:00

ART QUILTS WITH NEEDLE FELTING
Here are some new examples of needle felting used to embellish my small quilts.

2007-03-24T05:34:00.000-07:00

See Stick Figures in Peril!
For a departure from my usual blogfare, how about some humor? Maybe this is "sick" humor. The real humor is that there are so many such and people photograph them and there is a place to pool them!

2007-03-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

1. my rose and verbenia, 2. Moon Garden, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. Moon Flowers, 7. Untitled, 8. Detail of Family Portrait, 9. Family Portrait - Nature Journal quilt, 10. Moon Garden, 11. Untitled, 12. aceo quilt, 13. shadow garden aceo, 14. Hot garden, 15. wild flower, 16. spring flowers, 17. ACEO, 18. small art quilts 006 copy, 19. Untitled, 20. Untitled, 21. art journal 002, 22. my rose and verbenia, 23. Untitled, 24. poppy port copy, 25. 05_25_1.JPEG copy

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

2007-03-18T06:26:00.000-07:00

I have a new technic, a few new toys, and a new friend!

This week I was inspired to get out a little tool I purchased from a sale table months ago but hadn't the courage to try yet. Not just courage, but time to dig out wool roving was needed. The little tool is the Clover Needle Felting tool. I first saw needle felting at the Taos Wool Festival, six years ago.
My "new friend" is flickr. We have been acquaintances for a while but last week one person left a comment, put me on her friends list, and suddenly I was discovered! Then I realized the wealth of inspiration and visual stimuli out there for an artist. It is better than a magazine!
Look at my flickr for pictures to see what I mean.

2007-03-14T21:08:00.000-07:00

Learning so much just by doing. These blog and photo tools are getting so easy to use that even a novice, like me can bumble along and do incredible things! But can I remember how to do it again?

1. aceo quilt, 2. Really Hot Garden, 3. shadow garden aceo, 4. Hot garden, 5. wild flower, 6. ACEO, 7. Wild Prairie Sunrise, 8. ACEO art quilt, 9. ACEO

fd's Flickr toys

2007-03-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

Garden Inspired ART QUILTS
ACEO's
ACT
EMBELISHED QUILTS
With ribbon, beads, embroidery, yarn and lace
2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches

2007-03-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

About 6 years ago my daughter and I learned how to make these little dolls that I called "wild prairie people." I imagined that they lived out here in the West Texas grass lands, mesquite brush, and in the sandy oak shinnery. My spell check does not recognize the word “shinnery” but that is what my daddy always called them. So I looked up this "tree" in my book: TEXAS TREES by Cox and Leslie. The official name is Harvard Shin Oak, Quercus havardii, and it forms “one of the shortest but most extensive oak forests in North America.” These trees live in areas of deep sand in the panhandle and High Plains of Texas extending into several neighboring states. They seldom grow over 3 feet tall but this is huge to people only 2 to 3 inches tall!

2007-03-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

I just found an artist's blog which I fell in love with! It is JMKOriginals by Judy Keefe.
She is creative and able to express herself, her faith, and bless friends and strangers with her art. I have such hopes and aspirations in my art. I will be checking her blog frequently for more inspiration! Especially look at this atc/aceo intitled Ultimate Love with this caption:

"For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

2007-03-11T05:35:00.000-07:00

ALTERED ART, Joy, Thankfulness, and... Snoring!

"A joyful heart is good medicine"

"A joyful heart makes a cheerful face"

"He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me"
Prov. 17:22, Prov.15:13, Ps. 50: 23

The altered art:

Don't be alarmed; Sir Whitefield, also called Bob, is a valiant and virtuous knight!

Is this wonderful? See what a 13 year old boy can do with cardboard and duct tape! (The sword is pvc pipe, foam and duct tape made by older friends. Thanks Aaron and Catie!) It is good to see my boys outside whacking each other with sticks.

I can't beleive I said that! I am just glad to see "play and imagination" that doesn't include the computer.

I am thankful for:

My children

One son grown, graduated, responsible, working, serving God

Midnight visit with my 20 year old son home from college for a few days

Time to spend with my sweet daughter discussing classes, literature, and everything else that comes to mind

Hugs from the 14-year old who said this week that he no longer thinks he is too old for hugs!

Spring rain this morning at 4:30

Trees beginning to bud and bloom all over town

I have a house full for a few days, with two college kids home for spring break. But not all are pleased with the sleeping arrangements! Isaac is very sensitive to sounds at night, and with all the spring allergies and left over sniffles from colds he says he can’t sleep in a room with people who snore.

2007-03-10T01:13:00.000-08:00

Altered Books
"Ex libris” I found this nifty site where you can catalog your books, post book reviews, and find others with the same books in their library. It is LibraryThing. A random selection of my books are featured in the right column.

Here are two spreads from my altered book Florilegium . Notice the book plate with the woman spinning. It is just right for me!

2007-03-06T03:58:00.000-08:00

Wee Redheaded Irish Fairy in her woodland habitat.

The wee house is 5 ½ inches tall

Roof of velvet leaves (to shed the dew.)

Decorated with flowers to keep her home hidden.

The fairy princess is 2 ½ inches small.

She is wearing a lace tam-o’- shanter.

Her skirt is a Wild Irish Rose.

Her gossamer wings are ready for flight.

2007-03-03T18:51:00.001-08:00

"May our heart's garden bloom with hundreds of flowers." Hanh

These are flowers from my Heart's Garden!

ART QUILTS and ART QUILT ACEO's

I have been having loads of fun making small quilts and covering them with various kinds of flowers: lace, floral prints, Czech glass beads, embroideried silk ribbon, and hand-painted "silk" flowers.