rabbit hole clue three

Week 3 of Bea's Down the Rabbit Hole Challenge involved cutting the piece we created so far, reassembling it into a completely different shape, and then attaching a back.  I liked the placement above but decided it looked too much like a rectangle. So I changed it to this:

Take Home From Shanghai

I received this lovely atc in a trade with Judith at Quilt or Dye! This is part of her Take Home From Shanghai Series and my photo doesn't do it justice. It's gorgeous and I believe she has three others she's willing to trade if anyone else is interested!

full crow moon art doll

This is my creation for Bea's Dog in the Hole Full Crow Moon or Full Crust Moon or Full Sap Moon art doll. She's a little larger than last month's doll, and was created using a freehand drawn pattern. She's made of fabric, lace, ribbon, buttons and feathers, and is also embellished with wire, sticks from my backyard, a sculpey face and a paper bead.

 I took this photo of a tree with sap buckets last Sunday. This is the first time I've actually seen this.

art heals and little hopes

There were 11 participants in last weekend's "art heals" retreat/workshop held in a beautiful and serene location.

When setting up the tables and supplies, I discovered in the kitchen several muffin tins that turned out to be perfect for distributing some of the buttons, beads and other embellishments.

Sessions were held Friday evening and Saturday morning, and I think the participants made some great little atcs:

rabbit hole clue two

This is what I've done so far for Clue Number Two of Bea's Down the Rabbit Hole Challenge. I decided to use the "happy accident" piece instead of the blue one. I layered the stained piece between some thin batting and a piece of sparkly tulle. Then I stitched them together using a variety of threads and stitches. I'm thinking of adding more stitching but maybe I'll wait for the third clue. This is all hand stitching so I hope it will hold up for the subsequent steps.

options

This one is made from what I would consider, in this case, to be "cheater" fabric. I'm including it in the samples for this weekend's workshop since I'm not sure about the sewing experience of the workshop participants. Using this kind of fabric will be one of the options.

I showed a photo of this one earlier before it was quilted.

This is a new one.

Sunshine Award

Thanks to Yvonne for the Sunshine Blog Award! It's hard to select others for the award without knowing whether they are interested in participating or not, but hopefully no one will be offended by being included:


ParisMaddy
Ruth Anne
Zlaty
Jodie
Catworx
ArtGirl
Kecia
Diane
Anni
Peggy
Susan


The rules are:


* Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
* Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
* Link the nominees within your post.
* Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
* Link to the person from whom you received this award.

Beautiful Blogger Update

Now that I've finally figured out how to post the graphic logo, I can move forward with accepting the Beautiful Blogger Award from ParisMaddy and Ruth Anne. Many thanks to both of you!

Earlier I posted the seven bits of information, but since I've been nominated twice, I'll try to come up with seven more:

I'm originally from Virginia but now live in Pennsylvania.
I don't particularly like to talk on the phone.
I have masters degrees in psychology and library science.
My favorite color is blue.
I like to read.
I enjoy sewing by hand.
I also like to do beadwork.

I'm passing this award on to:

Needlewings
Dosfishes
Yvonne
Catherine
Bad Penny
Sharon
Lisa

Laurie
Cheryl
Kerrie
Lisa J.
Sandra

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 5 bloggers who you have recently discovered and you think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

sizzle and smoke

I feel like I've been away for a long time but it's actually only been a few days.

We drove our daughter back to college and stopped on the way there and on the way back. The lake is still frozen. There was a small electrical problem with sizzling and smoke and fortunately no actual fire.

Mollie had some sort of mishap and has been limping since Saturday morning but she is improving.

I've been continuing to work on atcs while riding in the car. Now that we've finally returned home, it's time to catch up on everything else.

one or the other

I've been working on altering a piece of fabric for Down the Rabbit Hole with Bea. So far it has been fun although full of accidents. First, I inadvertently cut two pieces of fabric instead of one. Then when pressing them, I managed to get a rust streak on one of the pieces. I decided that was a happy accident and started altering that piece.

I used two shades of brown pens and two shades of thread to paint and stitch. That same morning I didn't make enough coffee and then accidently made too much so I experimented with splattering droplets of coffee on it.

Not being entirely sure how it was going to turn out, I started altering the other piece by sewing a variety of blue pieces on it. I'm looking forward to the next steps, whatever they may be.

I also finished the earrings I had started.

cloth and clay

While making last month's full moon doll I got carried away and made an entire tray of assorted faces from sculpey. This one is incorporated into an atc.

Last night at the MLBS meeting we worked on earrings. This is as far as I got with mine (photographed perched on one of my favorite rocks).

 Recently Mrs. Moen posted a challenge involving making something from a tablecloth. This is the tablecloth I've selected to alter.

flour and water

Rain and wind have done more damage here than the snow. Our basement is wet and the roof is leaking in three places. But a tree fell on a house three houses away.

Yesterday we went as planned on the XPN Arts Crawl  Tour. Riding a trolley through Philadelphia city streets and neighborhoods, we stopped at three galleries and had a narrative tour of some of the city's murals. Coinciding with the St. Patrick's Day parade, we also saw leprechauns and a lot of green.

 

Our itinerary included the Marcel Wanders: Daydreams exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Perelman Building, Philagrafika 2010 The Graphic Unconscious exhibit at the Pennsylvania of the Fine Arts, and Sublimation by David Meyer at 2424 Studios (photo below).

Can you guess what Sublimation is made of? Flour!  The gallery roof had also leaked and the piece was being repaired when we arrived. All of the exhibits were inspirational and the talks by the curators were enlightening.  If photos had been allowed, I would have taken them of Marcel Wanders' Crochet Chair that was made of crocheted cotton soaked in epoxy and of some of the collages in the Philagrafika exhibit. Today is my birthday.

turning a corner

Finally it feels like we've turned a corner and are heading for spring. While there are still some patches of snow, the other day I found a feather and then later saw a bunny.

I've completed a few more atcs.

(This one is upside down.)

looking for flowers

I'm back to focusing on atcs and this one incorporates a small beaded piece I worked on earlier. I'm planning to add more beads and embellishments.

Thankfully we had no additional snow but the piles from shoveling and plows are still there. It's a cold and dark day and I'm ready for spring.

B Dazle

Last Thanksgiving when I was in Roanoke I stopped by one of my favorite places, the city market. I can remember my grandparents traveling from Pulaski, in the days before I 81, to buy petunias there.  I love it and never have enough time to spend there. By the time I noticed this car, it was time to leave and I only had a moment to take a quick photo.

This is a fascinating car and I only recently discovered it belongs to artist/writer/woman of many talents Cheryl Dolby whose blog is Healing Woman.  

(log) cabin fever and kumihimo

I've been working my way through a basket of small wips. This was a piece that started out with tiny log cabin blocks and then grew a little bit from there. Then it got smaller as I kept trimming it to make it more even. It now has a backing and has been quilted, and the finished size is about half a sheet of paper.

 With all the snow, my cure for cabin fever was to visit a bead shop I had never been in before. I ended up in a workshop for kumihimo and this is my progress so far. As I am learning, kumihimo is Japanese braiding with a tremendous historical background.  My progress is a little slow because as you can imagine this looks like a very appealing cat toy.

Beautiful Blogger

Atelier Madeline's ParisMaddy has been kind enough to bestow my blog with the Beautiful Blogger Award.

FINALLY I have figured out how to save and post the graphic logo that goes along with it. (I'm still learning how to use a mac.) While I'm still trying to select only 7 recipients,
I have come up with 7 bits of information about me:

I do all my quiltmaking and sewing by hand.
I prefer reading to watching tv or going to the movies.
I used to be a research scientist.
I used to be a librarian.
I can play the piano but my favorite instrument to listen to is guitar.
I have almost always had a dog but now I have a dog and a cat.
I prefer old things to new.


Thanks, Maddy!