Charity Quilt Tops

I was able to make two charity quilt tops from the colorful squares and strips I cut and sewed recently.

I will try to quilt them the next time we go to the mountains, where my long arm machine is located.  But since it is in an unheated basement, they might not get done for awhile.  We are going back to Florida February 8 for my husband's last round of radiation, so they may have to wait until we get back in March.

Just for fun I have been doing some painting on some heavy brown craft paper that was lying around the studio.  I started out just painting some circles and applying color with acrylics.   The first layers looked pretty awful.

Here is how they look now, with lots more paint, ink, watercolor spray, oil pastels, and gesso.  Just playing!

Since these are just on a brown paper substrate, I'm not sure how many more times I can get them wet.  These are sort of a preliminary to painting in acrylics on mounted canvas.  They may end up 
adhered to a journal page before I mess around with them any more!

Last weekend we visited my brother-in-law and his wife in Maggie Valley, NC, outside of Asheville.  They live in a log cabin high on a hill.  There were lots of photo ops of the beautiful countryside, especially when we woke up to snow on Sunday morning!

We are expecting some snow and maybe some ice tomorrow here in Raleigh.  They have already closed schools before the first flake has fallen.  It will be interesting to see how much we get here.  Our mountain home in northwestern North Carolina may get a couple of feet!  We have a web cam on the house, so we can experience the deep snow from a distance.

Mixed Media Technique: Altered Ribbon

Yesterday, my husband and I took off for an adventure on our Gator, which we normally keep at our mountain place. Overnight, the snow had been coated with an icy glaze. You did not even need boots, because you could step right on top of the snow. This picture is when we got back, and I was feeling a little like a frozen Popsicle!

The deep blue skies and the sparkling snow kept me busy taking lots of photos. This is our house from the end of our driveway.

There were no cars on the roads, although we saw one guy giving his kid a ride behind his jeep in some sort of sturdy plastic crate. Well, we don't have sleds or skis around here.

It would have been perfect for cross-country skiing yesterday. We saw about four people who owned snow shovels and were clearing their driveways.

There are many new roads in unfinished neighborhoods around here, perfect for riding in the Gator. I was wishing for my sunglasses when we got to Forgotten Pond in Heritage. What a glare!

When we got back and my fingers thawed out, I turned to the next technique in my book, Fabric Art Collage- 40+ Mixed Media Techniques, by Rebekah Meier: The technique of the day was Altered Ribbons. Here are the samples in my Mixed Media journal. I love filling these pages!

I actually had never heard of Altered Ribbons. Ribbons are already pretty, shimmery, slinky, right? How about adhering tissue with Misty Fuse, and stamping with inks? The two below are white satin ribbon with tissue paper and stamps.

The sheer fabrics have a different look when you add Angelina, painted dryer sheets, flower petals...

Here is some white satin stamped with two colors of ink.

On this pink sheer ribbon, I added white dryer sheet that is painted with abstract brush strokes.

I hung some of the sheer ribbons in the window with the morning sun behind them. Check out the one with feathers attached!

Sheer polyester striped ribbon with stenciled dryer sheet on the left and tissue/rubber stamps on the right.

You can take these and add embroidery and beads if you want a super-special piece of ribbon in your creation.

Blue Sky, White Snow, and lots of Color

It continued to snow on into the night yesterday, and we woke to a beautiful sunny day with mounds of sparkling crystalline snow. That is the view from my front door, which is as far as I have ventured out so far. It is so gorgeous that I think we will have to go out and take pictures today.

Here is some lace, rickrack, and paper that I painted with Setacolor paints. I did three colors, and put all the items to be painted on watercolor paper. Then I just did a wash over the watercolor paper.

This is the page in my mixed-media journal featuring the altered lace.

I found yet another old watercolor pad with a painting inside. I don't recall doing this, but must have been into painting things around the house like this candle and floral ring. I arranged some of the laces and some artificial flowers around it. Hmm, this rather boring old painting might have a new future as collage...

I also worked on my Pamela Allen class yesterday. The bold, bright colors of the Matisse really appealed to me during the snowstorm, so I based my work on that painting.

Here is a rough study in fabric. We were to spend no more than thirty minutes on this, but were to try to find fabrics in colors similar to the original. I was delighted to find this red-orange oriental fabric with curvy motifs similar to the scroll work in the original.

Then I used the same fabrics to do a very abstract arrangement.

Following that exercise, I put together a composition that I am very excited about. Pamela said it was excellent, and today I will start stitching. I think I will keep it secret until it is complete, because it could become a surprise gift.

Tomorrow was supposed to be our Anything Art Bee meeting, but it has been cancelled due to the snow and ice. It was going to be at Mary's house, which is at least fifteen miles north of mine, and her neighborhood is iced in. So, I guess I will be trying to finish quilting the first of the "heritage" quilts. I can't do too much of this per day, because the close work of micro-stippling the backgrounds is very fatiguing. I can't wait to show the finished product!

Finally, Some Snow

This was my side yard yesterday morning in the bright sunshine.

And here it is this morning! (Photographed through the porch screen)

Yesterday evening the flakes started falling.

This morning the birds were lined up at the feeders that I just filled to the top. I love to see the cardinals against the snow. They were in motion in this picture!

The thistle seed feeder is not usually as popular except with the finches, but it is attracting plenty of visitors this morning!

Everything is so quiet and peaceful. The world seems to stop around here when it snows. Of course, no one has snow tires or snow blowers, and the cities have very few plows. We just stay in and enjoy the pretty views. And hope power will not go off today as the snow turns to sleet and freezing rain.

I will be working on my Pamela Allen class lessons shortly. I got started last night with my color studies.

I also have painted some lace, rick-rack, and papers in some luscious colors that I will show next time.

Have a peaceful weekend!

A Walk in the Woods

Probably every blogger on the east coast of USA is posting snow pictures today. It was really a pretty snow, and continued off and on throughout the afternoon. I dressed up in winter gear and decided to go out and explore. My big daffodils finally bloomed, but were all buried in snow.



And every time this camellia bush tries to bloom, it snows or freezes.





Instead of taking Maggy for a walk down the street, I decided to explore the woods behind our house. I don't go back there too often because there is a steep bank to climb after you jump over the creek. But it is so beautiful to walk through the woods.

Our home is located near a flat granite outcropping several acres across. There used to be a granite quarry in nearby Rolesville, which now serves as a scuba training site. Many boulders are located throughout the woods.

But if you keep walking toward a neighbor's property, you hit an area with two descending ponds, a waterfall, the huge granite areas you can walk across, and what looks like a mountain ravine. I guess the glacier came through right here!

I chose not to jump across the spillover creek yesterday. The waters were gushing over like river rapids!

I ended up staying home all day because our school did not open. It was a Quilty Afternoon! May be able to show some WIP tomorrow.

The snow should all be gone by then.