Happy Thanksgiving

So very thankful

hope your holiday is filled with good friends and delicious foods!

 Off to finish the shopping for tomorrow!

Nature dances to her own song

an azalea blooming in my yard in November

that exuberant hot pink in the midst of brown and muted green

pure joy!

hope your weekend is filled with wonder!

Thinking about design

 I have been thinking a bit about design and how to translate the beauty of shells into fabric pieces

how to see shells as lines and angles

I am inspired to work this into a wallpiece

but first I made this small ornament

having lived on a boat for 6 years and traveled from island to island,

I have a good collection of shells, sea glass, and broken coral pieces

to use for inspiration

not sure why they are inspiring me so much right now but it's a good thing

this thinking about design

exploring shape, color, and line

thanks for stopping by

Remembering that it's the process not the product

a sad tale

or perhaps just a story about acceptance and process

I have been knitting a shawl and was making very good progress with it

enjoying how the variegated yarn of blue and green and purple and tan and ....

mixed and melded

but last night I got a bit distracted

and realized that I had missed a row

and knitted lace where it should be garter

I tried to frog back

but I am a really terrible frogger

and corrector

so

I frogged back to the ball

needless to say, I was very upset with myself

I took a lot of deep breaths and went to bed

today I will begin again

and remind myself

how much I love the process of knitting

What about you?

What are making or doing today?

Some thoughts about changes

 this morning as I made the bed, I was thinking about the quilts that we use during this transitional time of year - when the days are in the 80s and the nights in the 60s or 70s

and then there's the occasional high 50

the two of us run on very different body temperatures so we have two quilts on the bed

he often throws his down to the foot and just sleeps under the sheet

while I pull sheet and quilt up to my chin and burrow in

soon it will cool off more at night and I'll trade these two for a big quilt that keeps us both warm

and then - depending on how cold the winter gets -

we might even need quilts on top

life is change

what changes are happening in your part of the world?

A bit of this and that

At this point I bet you are saying why is she showing us all of these corks and what in the world is that wooden thing in the top photo........................well, we are working on a cork backsplash for our kitchen. Dan created the little wooden jig to hold the corks as he saws them in half (pretty nifty!!) - it's a bit slow going but he is making progress ----------and lest you think we drink a lot (LOL), we have been saving corks for years and years just waiting for the proper project.  I will keep you updated.

and another peek into the sketchbook - what's for dinner?

thanks for stopping by,
Chris

Happy Veteran's Day

 

thank you to all the vets out there who protect us

my DH was in the Air Force - my goodness, doesn't he look young?! LOL!

even when I am upset by current events and discouraged by the opinions and actions of others, I always feel so lucky to be an American

thanks again to all of you who have done and who do so much for us

 

thanks for reading,

Chris

Another peek into my sketchbook

Hands and feet

I got the ideas for these little sketches in my sketchbook from a Stampington ad - 

and again I'm playing with color

I swear that my hands actually do look like that after I have been painting -

I am incapable of not getting paint on me

I was so fortunate this week to receive a bag of art and craft books, and a bunch of old art and craft magazines - so so happy

just looking through them awes me with the incredible talent of so many artists

I feel so energized by their inspired use of materials and colors

Oh happy day!

Off to the studio!

thanks for reading and hope your day is filled with joy!

Chris

It's me Hana

Hi, it's me Hana

Chris is at work so I'm taking over the blog today.

I wanted you to see my new portrait -

I do admit that I'm not sure that Chris really captured my true nature and beauty

but she does the best she can -

and she's quite good at keeping food and water in my bowls,

and petting me a lot

including 

when I decide that I need to be petted in the middle of the night

(after all, I am nocturnal)

it may take a few paw taps and nudges

and maybe even a meow

but she always accedes to my needs and demands

in the end

Now I think it's time for a nap..................................................

A peek into my sketchbook

Playing with some ideas and images

I got the idea for the sheep from a Soulemama blog post - how to paint a flock of sheep but keep the individuality of each animal 

With the rabbit, I was playing with using unusual colors, but I think they work

And the final piece was inspired by one I remember seeing in a book or magazine - moving from the concrete in the background to the abstract in the foreground

Hope your day is filled with color,

Chris

Changing seasons (especially the time change)

My DH goes to work on Sunday mornings at 5:20 am and I usually just stay in bed until later but this past Sunday I woke up and puttered around in the dark for a while.  I like the glow of lamp light rather than overhead spots or fluorescent lights, so I have a lamp on my kitchen counter - I found it in a thrift store and it looks so old fashioned and almost matches some of my thrifted dishes.  The yellow-gold glow is so warming and cozy.  I use this old tray over my stove - it is easy to clean if anything splatters and one of my favorite things is the little tea timer - it keeps track of three different times so whatever tea you are brewing is perfect.

I then put together an Apple crostada (Barefoot Contessa recipe) - so perfectly yummy for fall

and put some pork country ribs and sauerkraut in the crockpot - good eating once the football games are done.
How was your weekend?  I always treasure those quiet early morning moments alone - some coffee or tea and some dreaming and planning..........................

Chris

Tropical flower applique quilt

Welcome to my studio - 

I spent most of this past summer making an applique quilt for a dear friend. I admit I was positively obsessed with working on it and finished it in four months (queen size hand appliqued and hand quilted).  She loves tropical flowers and has one of my orchid paintings

so I went with that idea - I found some great applique patterns in the book Color-Blend Applique by Jane Townswick.  I enlarged the patterns and tweaked them - some a little and some a lot.  I hand appliqued the fabrics and used my technique for hand dyeing ribbon to add dimension to the orchid block. Her room is done is grays so I was able to find several shades that worked well together.  I had to be very careful piecing both the front and back as I began to run very low on the grays, pink, and lavender, and knew I could not find more locally.  I hand quilted the applique blocks enhancing the design and then used straight lines with 90 degree angles to define the blocks and to coordinate the borders.

I was very pleased with this quilt and am enthused to go back and finish a Baltimore Album quilt that I started 15-20 years ago.  When I lived in Jacksonville, I purchased a couple of  Elly Sienkiwicz's books and also purchased enough backing fabric to make a quilt. I have made about 12 blocks over the years (they still need finishing touches) and have plans for more SO I think 2014 will be the year to finish it - I should have almost all the supplies: backing, reds, greens, hand dyed solids so it's just down to finalizing the final block patterns and getting going - stay tuned for further updates!

thanks for reading and have a great day,

Chris

Life starts all over again........

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall"

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

It's not exactly crisp here in south Florida but it has definitely cooled off and the light has changed dramatically.  I have a few little fall corners in my house.

I love The Art of Abundance - whenever I feel a bit frustrated or my skills or funds don't match up with my expectations, I randomly open the book and find something that reminds me of all the abundance in my life. I haven't blogged much this summer (to be honest, I haven't blogged at all) but it's been a strange year with lots of unexpected expenses and issues.  Thankfully things seem to be quieting down now.  I have been quilting a lot (I made an applique quilt this summer and will blog about it soon) and there's a new quilt right now being quilted on my ironing board (I discovered that quilting on the ironing board is a really good thing!) and a wall sized crazy quilt is taking shape

so things are definitely happening around here.

And of course, I hope you noticed Mr. Squirrel up there - we had a new squirrel family move into one of the oaks in our backyard - I guess they decided the tree was now tall enough that they would be safe from the neighborhood cats. I have been painting lots of animals and will share some of my techniques in a future post.

 

 I hope you have had a good summer and  I look forward to welcoming you back into my studio, my home, and my life.

Always,

Chris