A Parrot?? Or not!

My friend, Mary, sent me this email...AMAZING art!!!  Just amazing!!!  You might want to click to enlarge the picture!!!   IT’S NOT A BIRD. This parrot is in fact a female model who posed for Johannes Stötter, a fine art body painter. Using breathable paint, he spent hours painstakingly turning this woman into the image of a parrot, brushstroke by brushstroke. The model’s arm forms the parrot’s head and beak, and her legs form the wing and tail feathers. Remember: always take a closer look as things aren’t always what they appear to be Artist/photo | Johannes Stötter Assistant | Freund Nathalie I just went to the website and his artwork is just unbelievable!!  So, so cool!

Can't believe I'm hooked!!

Oh my gosh!!  I can't believe some of the shows I get hooked on....BUT....for some reason, I happened upon this show called Married at First Sight.  It's a show where several physiologists and therapists hook up three couples....AND they get married sight unseen!!!  They don't meet each other until they are at the alter and getting married!!  Can you imagine!!  No, I can't!!

Here are the three couples that just got married!  Holy Smoke!!!

My favorite are the couple on the far left...although, I think the couple on the end (right) just might stay together!  I can't believe I'm hooked on this show!!  I was quilting the rest of my peacock quilt while watching this show.  Talk about silly...but I love it!!!  I don't watch trashy shows like...what was the show where they doing lie detectors to see who the baby belonged to!  After the fourth guy passed, I lost interest on who the baby really belonged to!   Geezzz...now that's trashy and I don't watch those...but I do watch Housewives of where ever!  Love those too...

So now I may or may not get a lot of sewing done...it's easy to just listen but dang, I catch myself watching most of it!!  So, I've gotta run now...I have the honeymoon week to watch now!

Fiber Cards

My BFF, Carol T., gave me some engineering drawings her father made several, several years ago. She was going to trash them but decided to keep a few and passed on some to me!  I am so lucky!!

 Some of the drawings were on paper and  vellum so I thought I could transfer the vellum drawings onto fabric using SolarFast!  And yippee, it worked!  I just painted the fabric with SolarFast, laid vellum drawing on top, covered with a piece of glass and sat the piece out in the sun!

SolarFast worked great!  I used this piece to make a fiber card for Carol.

And some...ok, a lot of hand stitching and a few beads...this was the finished card.  I might have over done the stitching but I was having too much fun!!




The next one I made was for Carol's dad...after all they were his drawings!

This was one of the vellum pieces I used in place of a transparency.  Pretty cool drawing isn't it!! I think this drawing is on the 1st picture I put on this post.

And after some hand stitching and beading this card was finished too!!  I know Carol received her card but I haven't heard if her dad has yet.  I can't wait to incorporate some of these drawings in other art work!  Waste not, want not, right!!

Busy hands progress!

I don't know where the hours or days are going anymore!  I started this online dog training course which is consuming my time!  Yes, it's worth it but.....I can't believe how much time I'm investing in reading material for the course lessons (we have a lesson five days a week - each lesson should be completed up to 3 x's a day! - 5-15 min. sessions!).   I can't say I'd rather be sewing...I do enjoy the lessons but my day is gone before I know it!!
I do have three hand projects that I'm working on and decided on Monday to start the quilting for my peacock piece (Tiffany).  You can see my '3rd' attempt here!  I didn't get that much accomplished but it's a start.

I will be adding hand stitching on the peacock after I finish with the machine quilting.  Perhaps a few beads in addition to embroidery work????











Almost finished with this stamped piece I started last week.  

And in between the piece above, I've been working on the leaf background piece.


I've finished some of the borders (inside and out).  Still debating on the stitching I'll use for the plain red border.  All the black strips will have some type of feather stitch on them.

So enough computer time for now!  I've already walked Kalee and did one of our lessons...I think it's going to be an Applebee's Long Island night!!  Works for me!!  Then I get to take Kalee for a walk and do lessons (again) when we get home!  No wonder I sleep well at night...just need more than six hours of sleep...but that's another post!

Busy hands

Yep...keeping those old fingers on the move by doing some hand stitching.  It's one of the big golf tournaments so Bob's been recording them (starting around 5:00 a.m. for about 6 hours or more!), then he watches the match when he gets home from golf.  SOOOOO  That means I sit either outside on the deck or come inside and watch Netflix (House of Cards) on our tablet w/ear phones.   Works for me!!

This is a piece of my hand dyed/stamped fabric that I'm experimenting with.  I'll be adding beads (go figure!) in a mandala pattern in one of the cirles but I want to get most of the hand stitching finished first.  I did machine stitch some of the black points just to secure the piece while I stitch (yes, I still use a hoop to do my hand stitching).




When I get bored with one color, I go back to my leaf background piece I'm trying to finish before fall!

The wavy look on the right is due to the piece hanging up on my design board but on top of some other pieces with pins!  Looks strange but it's really nice and straight!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

This is a closeup of some of the stitching.  I've been trying to keep  leafy or straight stitches in this piece.  The black leaves do show up well so I might put some more of those in one of the other plain red areas.

So that's it for today...yesterday was the quilt guild meeting that I attend when we're back home.  It's always nice to see some of the wonderful women in this group.  They were my inspiration when I first joined back in '99 and several of them played a huge role in teaching me so much about quilting.

After I went to farmer's market this a.m.  I picked up a book at our library that I'm anxious to read.  It's called Playing With Color by Richard Mehl.  Looked interesting...hope it is!  Always good to learn more about color, right!

Art Quilt Exhibition - What a Stitch!

On Wednesday afternoon, Carol, Mary and I attended the opening for the 'What a Stitch!' exhibit at the Saginaw Art Museum.

 We each had three quilts juried into the show and there was also a lecture by Janna Gezin on being a Art Quilter that Carol & Mary wanted to attend....which, to be honest, I don't do this 'so called work' for a living or because I want to be an 'artist'.  I just do it because it's fun...keeps me busy and something to do.  Others may be inspired to teach, lecture, write books, etc. but to be honest, I'll just go to the lectures, attend the classes if I desire and buy the books!  I'm not a professional by any means and don't inspire to be one...so with that said...onto the exhibit!

I had to take a picture of the gardens at the Museum...they were just beautiful.  I could see sitting outside sewing or reading and just feeling so peaceful.  Just a beautiful setting!    Mary is from the Saginaw area and said she had a school picture taken at these same gardens!  How cool is that!



Once the lecture was over, we headed to the little reception area and guess what!  Neither Carol nor I had a glass of wine...we did have some cheese, crackers and Carol had a 'sweet' thing...but no wine.  I really wanted to head to the exhibit hall to see the quilts hung.  After the lecture, they handed out the awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and the first place award had me so intrigued I couldn't wait to see it!

This was a quilt by Deb Hyde and no, it didn't win the 1st place award!!  But another piece she did win with!  We couldn't take pics but her quilts were outstanding!  You have to check out her web site and look at the work she produces.  AMAZING!!!  Her technique is drawing onto fusible quilters grid then using one inch square fabrics, which are then sewn together.  Remember when we were doing the watercolor quilts?  Well, it's the same process but her drawings, use of color, etc. are amazing!!!  Deborah has been on he cover of Apr/May 2014 QA magazine.  If you go to this link, you'll get a better perspective of the detail in her work.

It's hard to see Deb's winning quilt in the flyer, but you'll get the idea.  The other two place winners were also very, very nice...but Deb's work is outstanding!!!




I have to say I was quite impressed with the museum overall...they have some interesting sculptures and paintings.  The museum used to be an old mansion so the building was really interesting.  They have just finished construction adding on additional rooms (e.g. lecture hall).  Quite nice....there is lots going on at the museum, so if you're in the area, you can check out the quilt exhibit (it runs until Sept. 6th) or check out the other upcoming exhibits.

Of course, it was food and wine time after the exhibit!  So...off we went to Harvey's Grill & Bar...and boy, was it every good!!  Now I'm not very excited about going out at night nor going far from home even during the day BUT my buds convinced me I should go and I'm glad I did.  It was a fun night and the  meal was worth the trip!  Mary had fish taco's that looked great (& she said tasted as good!), Carol had a Cuban sandwich, which she ate the whole thing! (not for me...it's meat ya know!) and I had a buffalo chicken w/avocado wrap that was outstanding!

And I actually arrived home before dark!  Poor Carol still had 18 miles to go so she ended up home after dark!  So all in all...it was a really nice time with my buds.  Now I get to stay home today...quilt guild meeting tomorrow then two day of staying home!!  Yippee!!!  I know...I'm getting old!

Fishin' Time

Well, what else do you do on a cool, windy morning!  FISH!  At least that's what Nick and Amber wanted to do this past Tuesday!  Actually, it's fun watching the two of them fishing...although, I still feel bad for both the worm(s) and fish!  It is catch 'n release and so far no fish were killed in the making of these films or pictures!

Amber did catch one finally!  It was a biggee too!

Nick caught at least 5 or 6 fish...the hard part was trying to grab them to toss back in the water.  At least we fed quite a few fish on Tuesday (or should I say Amber did!).  At one point, Amber was just throwing the worms in the water!  Fine with me!  I'd rather feed the fish!!




Tomorrow's post will have pics from the opening the the Art Quilt exhibit that was at the Saginaw museum.  Very nice evening!

Hex Horse Progress

Making progress!  I've finished sewing all the rows of my horse fabric.  I happy with the layout and will use oil pastels or pencils to color in areas that may need a 'touch' up or two once the overlay fabric is in place.
I have my paper overlay on top of the fabric in this picture.

And yep, I'll be adding some beading for the mane...

And beads for the tail...although, it's hard to see in this picture!


Now to decide on the background fabric.  As you saw in my previous post, I'm playing with stamping on fabric.  I want to have letters and/or words on the background but this horse is rather large (15"x13") and the piece can only be 16" x 20"...sooooooo   Not sure how much lettering I'll be able to use.  Ugo has letters/words in most of his work.

So off to look at some fabric for piecing the background!

Some new stuff!

Saturday was a pretty productive day for me...finished four loads of laundry, took Kalee on two walks, did her lessons (but only twice...bad mom!), made 23 stuffed jalapenos for dinner, finished sewing all the rows for my horse hex and printed some more fabrics (I did get a few pieces printed on Friday too).  So all in all...a good day!  Let's hope Sunday will be as productive!!  

Stamping done on Friday

More stamping from Friday

These were done on Saturday....I need some pieces for an upcoming projects and I think they'll be perfect.  Yep, one of those projects in my mind!!

I forgot to take a picture of the stamp I made from cardboard and a piece of stickie back foam...in the very first picture (on the right) at the top, you can see part of one of the cardboard stamp...it's the lines you see stamped on the pieces.

I also finished sewing all the rows for my hex horse!  Now to decide on the background fabric...that may take me months!

We've still been having 80 degree weather but a cold front is coming in next week.  Will it bother me, nope!  But it will my room mate so I guess I'm hoping he can still golf...we need room mate to be happy!!  I have more printing to do!!!

Trying again

More 4-H fair pics...trying again!

  First off...this is a pretty large 'mug', right?  I'm not sure but I don't think it held coffee!!  Based on how slow the ride operator acted I'm wondering what 'brew' really was in this!!

He wasn't the most patient person either...but I'm sure it just wasn't his day!  Or drink!

  This was Nate in the 'market' barn for rabbits...don't know why I always get to tell the 'new' kids we bring to the fair about the 'market' tent.  I had to point out to the kids the 'roaster' or 'fryer' rabbits!  Geezzz

You should have heard them when we went through the steer market barn and chicken market (same deal - roasters or fryers!).

A very, very old tortoise!

Check out the blue eyes!!

My girl!!

I actually got this shot as the boys were flying by!!!

Another year...another 4-H Fair!!

No sewing or art work today...this post is dedicated to the 4-H Fair!! I love the 4-H Fair and love taking the kids each year.  Amber's first fair was in 2002 (she wasn't quite 3) and Nick's 1st fair was in 2005 when he was almost 2!  The last few years the kids have been taking a friend with them, which makes it more fun for them (and for me!  I don't have to go on the rides now!).  We normally go on a Wed. but this year due to weather and an injury to Amber's foot we went on a Thursday.  The weather was perfect...mid 70's and a breeze...at times we were hot from the sun and other times it was cool enough for a sweatshirt (sorry Gabby , we didn't have one!).  So here are our pics for another year.

Lunch time with Gabby and Amber - my pretty girls!!

Nick, Nate, Gabby and Amber

What handsome boys!

Feeding animals is always our 1st stop!

Lunch with the boys!

Yep, the circus was back!!  Boys and I attended

For some reason blogger won't let me upload pics from my camera...I'm going to resize using InfraView and see if that works tomorrow.

Where does the time go

Bob was up quite early this a.m. to get lawn trash out by 7...Kalee and I didn't get up until 7:20...it's already 11 a.m. and I don't know where the time went!  I actually started to write down the time and what I've done within each hour!  Geeezzzz  More on that in a  later post!!

So I'm making progress sewing my hexes together!  I'm about half way with creating rows and actually have sewn rows together.  You can see the horse's head and some of the neck fabric is sewn together.

Next shows the pattern on top of the fabric.  So far so good. 

 If I get sometime today, I want to start looking at some fabric to piece together for the background or is it top ground!  HA...I'll be doing some type of printing with letters or words as this is a theme for Ugo's work  I wold like to have 'mustang' written somewhere but will have to see.

This piece is for the Inspired By....that our Aussome Fiber Group is doing.  Ugo Nespolo is the Italian artist one of the ladies in our group chose for an artist.  You can see the picture I'm using as my inspiration here.   If it doesn't work out, heck, I'll just keep the quilt and save it for another artist!  We'll see.....

Another beautiful day here in the neighborhood!  We did have rain on and off for the past two days but Bob got in 6 holes yesterday...OK, so he got wet but he was golfing, right!!  I'm still working Kalee's training sessions into my daily routine...yikes!!  3 sessions a day, only 5-15 min. but it does take time.  More so for me because I have to read the lessons several times to make sure I understand them.  I've resorted to making 4x6 index cards with the steps just so I remember when I go to do the lesson....oh to be young again and have a good memory!  HA