Barn Quilt Square

Finally...the finishing touch for our mountain cabin!  Our wooden quilt square, Dutch Dreams, is now installed!  We decided to hang it "on point" under the peak of the cathedral ceiling roof.

It was a very fun Mothers Day weekend in the mountains.  One thing we did was "walk the cows" from the pasture on the big hill behind my sister's house, down the mountain and across the street to Uncle Gary's new grassy pasture.  This involved a person walking each calf on a halter, and a Gator riding behind to help encourage them to proceed.  Here is my niece Melinda trying to get her boy started on the short journey.

I walked one, too.  He enjoyed the walk, and treated the entire trip like he was going to the salad bar, munching all the way.

 It was also my sister's 60th birthday.  I gave her a little painting of the dam over the creek on her property.  I have painted it several times now.

I also did a quick little painting of a tranquil mountain lake for my daughter-in-law for Mothers Day.

This week I have been keeping little Charlotte, my two-year old granddaughter.  What a delight!  Needless to say I have not gotten much done while she has been here, but I managed to finish another journal page.  The prompt for this one was "Feet."

I used the lyrics from a favorite Zac Brown song called Toes, and a photo from last year's family beach trip.  I painted over the black and white copy with watercolor to blend it in with the background.  This year's beach trip is now only 24 days away.  Bring it on!

All Things Quilty in Ashe County, NC

We are back this weekend at our mountain cabin in North Carolina.  We are finally seeing some signs of spring here.  It looks like there is a wren nest in our Jim Shore "quilted" birdhouse.

We went to the Ashe County courthouse today to inquire about a permit for a new storage outbuilding, and I once again admired this group quilt commemorating many aspects of the beautiful landscape here.

Back in December, Charlie and I ordered one of the barn quilt squares that are so popular up here.  Today we picked it up!  I can't wait until we can get it mounted.  It is hand-painted on wood, 3' x 3'.  We ordered it from the Quilt Square Girls in West Jefferson, NC.  I think it is called Dutch Dreams.

Last weekend we were also here, but spent all of our time at Merlefest in North Wilkesboro.  The weather ranged from sunny and hot to cold and rainy.  My favorite experience was sitting on a quilt at the Hillside Stage for a Sunset Jam with one of our favorite musical groups, The Kruger Brothers.  They were hosting a Doc Watson tribute.  Good stuff!

Here are the six of us, Old Hippies ready to go see The Avett Brothers.  I felt a lot like the Pillsbury Doughboy with all my layers of cold-weather gear and rain protection.  It was so cold and wet, but I found us some seats under the flap at the food tent where we could stay dry and still see the stage.  Everyone was so joyful at the Avett concert, dancing around and singing along even in the bad weather.

This weekend we have no company, and plan to relax.  Come on over and "set a spell!"

Reaching the Finish Line (21-Day Art Journaling Challenge)

Here are my pages for Day 21 of the Art Journaling Challenge.

The prompt was "Would you like fries with that?"

I used a watercolor wash background, drew and painted the cows, and dripped India ink from an applicator to make the Eat Mor Chikn text on the signs.  The tails are made from yarn.  I printed out the logo from the Internet and enlarged it, then traced it onto white tissue paper.  I colored it in with a red Sharpie, and then applied the tissue with gel medium.

This page was lots of fun to create...and it was a good feeling to actually complete the challenge!

Fabulous and Free Art Journal Challenge

Here is a link to sign up for the Fabulous and Free Art Journal Challenge.

The leader of the challenge is Susan Lazar Wojtkowski.  She has a web page called Irreversibly Moi.  Here is the information from Susan:

"The first challenge will arrive, via email, on May 4th (Monday).  You will receive a new challenge twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays.

• We will keep the same Facebook Group for this challenge as we had for the last one.  There will be a few new features added, though.

• The challenges will be posted in the Facebook Group files section at the end of each week.

• There will be an album for each challenge for you to upload your work to.

• I will have random giveaways during the course of the challenge

• There will be 30 challenges, in all.  With two challenges per week, this will take 15 weeks.

• We just may have a few guest artists participating in some of the challenges :)"

I hope that some of you will participate in the challenge.  The last one really encouraged me to start making some beautiful pages in my journal.  I have tried some new lettering, drawing, and painting techniques, and found some that I really like.

Spring in Bloom in Raleigh

 It's my favorite time of year here in the South...dogwood and azalea time, that is!  We have massive hedges of azaleas around our driveway in front of the house, backing up to the woods.

And there's nothing more elegant or graceful than the dogwood, our state flower, in lovely drifts along the branches of the trees that are native to our woods.

And look at this pretty little bloom in my garden!

I am almost finished with the 21-Day Art Journal Challenge on Facebook.

Day 19:  I've Got to Hand it to You

Day 20:  Mandalas.  I loved drawing and painting this cheerful sun face, inspired by the sunshine artwork on the CBS Sunday Morning show.  I have been sketching several more mandalas in my journals.

I have just one more to complete, and I started it today. I am totally having fun with this one!  Just in time for the next challenge to begin!  I will post details when the rules come out.

Printing 101

I have been taking part in the Printing online workshop with Traci Bautista at Strathmore Online Workshops.    Traci has a very loose, modern, colorful style, but her methods could be applied to many types of mark-making and printing on paper or fabric.  Most of my prints have been on Strathmore Printmaking Paper, 300 Series.

Traci takes us through the process of making masks, stencils, and using both positive and negative images.

The first one shows a background printed with needlepoint grid, a mask and stencil I cut and used to print.  The dark blue is a watercolor paint diluted with water and sprayed through the stencil.

You can see the same leafy stencils used in a different color palette.  The square shapes are from my 6" x 6" Gelli Plate.  The black flowers are from a hot glue flower that I made and used as both a stencil and a stamp.

Traci is all about not wasting the paint left on the printing plates, stamps, or brushes, so you need to have journals and lots of papers ready to print the extra paint.  Here are pages in my Mixed Media journal absorbing some of the extra paint.  I used white ink around the darkest leafy shapes.

Here are two shapes I cut to use as stencils/stamps.

And here are some of the prints made from them.

The first one has a background with lots of marks, stamps, and doodles in oil pastel and acrylic paint. Then I printed the dark flowers with the Gelli Plate.  Looks a little like Matisse to me!

This one is mostly "ghost prints" from using the extra paint on the gelli plate and hot glue stamp.

Here is another with the background from Week 1, added doodle, and the black gelli plate print of the fern.

 The next two are just on computer printing paper, again extra paint absorbers.

 Here is one that is sort of a hot mess of doodles, paint, and prints.  Might make a good background!

For a very different look, I changed to a warmer palette and made some interesting bright prints.  The plaids are from notching the edge of a credit card and scraping it through the paint on the Gelli plate. The big black areas did not work out, so will be covered with something else.

 It is very messy and time-consuming to go through this layering process, but you can produce some very unique papers.  Of course, you can print fabric the same way.  I would probably use fabric paint and/or mix a textile medium into the acrylic paint if I wanted to sew through it.

Have fun!

Grandchildren, Journal Pages, Easter...Fun!

It has been a busy couple of weeks for this sewing/painting grandma!  I had our two oldest grandchildren here in Raleigh for a few days last week during their spring break.  Since I also babysit for the littlest one on Mondays and Tuesdays, it was a fun time for me and the little cousins.  You might understand why I have not had much time for blogging!

We did lots of painting and sidewalk chalk art.

I took them to the sculpture trail at the North Carolina Museum of Art.  It was a beautiful day to be outside.  Little Charlie saw this giant sculpture and must have thought it was a big patchwork quilt. She went running up to it...

but when she touched it, it did not feel like a quilt at all!

At the end of the walk there was a sidewalk full of pulsing fountains to cool us off!

We have lived in a rented house in Raleigh for close to two years, but never tried fishing in the pond in front of the house until recently.  My husband got two fishing rods for his birthday in March, and we discovered that we have a perfect fishing retreat right at home!  Lily caught a fish right away.  Most are bream, but I caught a little bass.

Now everyone wants to go fishing all the time!

Lily wanted to do some sewing while they were at my house, so we started a patchwork project.  I had a lovely floral block made for me by my friend Tama.  Lily loved it, so it will be featured on her tote back when it is finished.  She picked out all the coordinating fabrics and colors.

I had to take the big kids back to their daddy on Wednesday, but on Thursday we went to our cabin in the North Carolina mountains for Easter weekend.  Dave, Emily, and little Charlie came too.  It was a wonderful family weekend.

We have a family compound up there.  My sister and her brother-in-law also had all their grandchildren there!  We had a giant Easter egg hunt in Katy's back yard.

Here are Lacy and Holly checking out the treasures they found.

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Then there were sack races across the yard.  I think there were lots of good memories made that day.

 Okay, so I have not had much time for sewing or painting, but I am still trying to complete the 21-Day Art Journaling Challenge that I joined on Facebook.  Here are some pages I have made according to the daily prompts.

Paint Over a Photo

Kitchen Kapers

Hearts and Wings

Map It!

Home is Where the Heart Is

I have also been doing lots of printmaking while watching the weekly video lessons from Traci Bautista on the Strathmore website.  The lessons are free.  It is a messy process.  I will share some of my printmaking attempts next time.  I'm not sure it is my thing...but it's lots of fun!