I call it "I Believe in Miracles". Most of my art friends know I don't or can't get 'deep' when explaining my art work. But I found a quote that I think fits perfect with my piece! Not my words but I think it is fitting for my 'believe' piece! "We live on a blue planet that circles around a ball of fire next to a moon that moves the sea, and you don’t believe in miracles? " Author unknown
I usually make something because I like the colors, pattern, etc. Actually, that was the case with this piece of fabric! I liked the colors! You can see post on when/how I made this here.
I thought the colors reminded me of the sun so that led me to make some circles and the rest is history! The more circles I made just made me think of planets!
I wanted to depict some of the light from the sun and stars so I just added a triple stitch using the same Sulky 40wt rayon thread. It appears that it's thicker thread but it's not.
It was quite chilly here in Florida on Saturday but Bob still golfed! He arrived home early enough for us to meet up with some of the 'gang' for dinner at Carrabba's! Yum! Bob ordered their new Chicken Parmesan Lasagne and I had my usual Grilled Tuscan Chicken, which was delicious. Nice dinner then we were off to see the Backwater Blue Grass band here at the community center with some of the gang!!
We actually saw this group perform last year (you can read and see pics of the group on my post). The band is really good and Billy Taylor, the lead, still has a great voice! He was one of the Guardsmen band who won a gold record for the song Snoopy and the Red Baron! Most folks know that song. Anyway, the band was really good. All in all it was a fun evening.
We did keep Sally up way past her bedtime (but we kept Bob up too!)!! HA But Sally said it was worth it! So if you are into Bluegrass music...here is a little video merge I did from last night! Enjoy!
And Sally won a gift card to the restaurant here in the community! See, a good thing she did stay up!
So it's Thursday which means dinner with Ocala friends! This week we ate at the new Ocala Palms Cafe and it was another fun night!
Good food, good drinks and after dinner we headed back to LaPlantes to have an early BD celebration for Barb (Jan M's. friend) who is here visiting.
Since she is heading back up north on Saturday, the group had cake and coffee after dinner as a surprise for Barb. Verna baked a great cake which was a take off from Olive Garden's lemon chiffon cake. Of course we think Verna's cakes are better than most bakery's so I won't even try to compare it to Olive Garden's!
Just a fun night. Barb is a very nice lady and I hope we get to see her again sometime in the future!
Happy Birthday, Barb! Hope your wish comes true!
Tonight we are headed off to see the musical group Backwater! We saw them last year and I think it was Bob's first so called concert! It must have been a good night, as Bob even bought their CD! Looking forward to being with good friends and seeing a good show! Life is good isn't it!
Well, you know I'm never just working on one project at a time! I lose interest rapidly! Go figure! So I did lots of stitching yesterday on the 'believe' piece. Here is a little sneak peak!
This was the piece before I added some additional stitching. The circles are machine stitched and not hand stitched. Hands aren't working that well right now!
And the 2nd challenge piece I am doing with three other ladies is 90% finished. We each have a section of a large piece of hand dyed fabric that we are enhancing. Can't wait to see how the four pieces come together. I think each piece measures around 20" x 20". Here is a sneak peak at that project!
I should finish both of these up by Thursday this week. And guess what! More birthday gifts! Our sweet DIL from Indiana sent me these! First up is this Spiral Drawing tool! You know how much I love making circles/spirals!! Just look at the two quilts above! HA
And I love this book! The Art of Relaxation Coloring book! The patterns inside are beautiful! I can see some applique forthcoming in a quilt! Thank you, MaryJo!!! What thoughtful gifts!!
Today, I'm off with my bud, Sally, to do some sight seeing. Well, ok, we're headed to the library first and then off to check out some of the shops downtown Ocala. Not really sight seeing but I'm sure a stop at Your Heart's Desire will be on the agenda as well as possibly taking home some cake from their cafe and Betty's Cakes!
Another sunny, beautiful, busy week has passed! Although, I had no idea yesterday was Saturday and not Sunday! I do lose track of the days while in Florida...and yes, I have a calendar that I cross off the days but guess I'm not looking at it close enough. I just look to see if I'm meeting a friend or we're going to dinner! Priorities you know!
Look what I received in the mail from my bud, Mary, back in Michigan!
I have posted on Mary's beautiful work in the past. Her dyed fabrics are always awesome as well. This will be carried in my purse for sure! Thanks, Mary! What a nice BD gift!!
I have started working on my challenge piece for the online group, Art Quilts Around the World. Our challenge theme is 'believe'. I started off with a piece of fabric I had dye painted last year. I wanted something bright for my piece and I just happened to have brought this with me! Whew!
Actually, I scrapped on the thickened dyes and drew lines using black thickened dye to create the piece.
I started playing around with different designs on paper and this was my start!
and once satisfied I traced some of the circles onto the fabric. I wanted lots of circles....you'll have to wait for the explanation on my interpretation of the theme in a later post! HA
Next up was to sandwich with batting and backing and start to stitch. That's exactly what I did yesterday while doing laundry! I'm back wearing my braces so it was a little awkward but I'm getting the hang of it. Here's my progress so far!
I need to decide about placing some other stitching lines on this piece. Again, in my mind I know what I want...just not sure how to get the lines the way I want them. I did some stitching yesterday but ended up 'unsewing' them!
I didn't post pics from our dinner with the gang on Thursday. We had a great meal at BoneFish and then back to Harvey and Susan's for cake! Yep, baked by Verna! We wouldn't have it any other way.
Our table of 14 at BoneFish
Harvey even rec'd a treat at Bone Fish!
Verna's cake was a delicious as it was beautifully decorated! It was her famous Carrot cake!! YUM!
It was another very nice evening with friends. On Friday, Marcia and I headed off to do some shopping. We weren't successful so we're planning another trip to the Villages later this month...wait! The month is over half over already!! Guess we only have a week to 10 days left! Time flies when you're having fun!!
I finally finished printing from my 3rd screen I made. I am happy with the pieces but for future reference I will make my dye darker. Now I know why they have 'recipes' for mixing dye! HA
This was an extra screen I made last week.
The print(s) are pale but I think will make nice background pieces and I did get 8 prints.
not a great print but good to use for layering more prints on top
And here are the other prints...all washed and ready to be used!
First, I want to show another birthday gift I received! This is from Sally and she picked out the perfect gift for me and the color is so me too!! Thanks, Sally! You know I wear a lot of black, beige and brown! HA
Tuesday wasn't too busy. I headed off to JoAnn's (had to spend my gift card from Janice!! Thanks again, Jan!!! I needed batting and of course had to wander the aisles for other bargains, which I found! On the way home, I stopped at the grocery store then placed an order for subways to take over to Karah! Of course I had to stop at the house and pick up the girls to take with me. We had a nice lunch and visit and will be doing this again this winter!
Wednesday was the day for me to get my sewing area set up. I have a project I'm starting (more on that tomorrow along with my screen prints) that is due January 31st! So I had best get busy! right!
And for those who know me or follow me...Wednesday is 99 cent margarita night! So off we went meeting up with Sally & Dan, Karah and Howard and Maria and Kevin! We had a good dinner, great margaritas and of course good conversation!!! Just a nice evening.
Karah, Sally and Maria
Howard, Dan, Kevin and my roommate!
Sally, poor Maria on the floor!, me and Karah
Today (Thursday) will be a sewing day for me or at least get the feel of my machine. I haven't used the 440 in over 3 years!!! I love my trusty 1090 and it is perfect for me to free motion quilt with. I need to force myself to get used to this machine. I don't care for the stitch regulator on the 440 but you don't have to use it.
Tonight we're off for a BD dinner for Harvey (my Q bud Susan's hubby) along with the rest of the Thursday night gang. We're going to Bone Fish then back to their house for cake. It's always a fun night with the 'gang' and I love the Bang Bang shrimp taco's at BoneFish!!
Friday I'm off to meet with my bud, Marcia, who I haven't seen since last May. Looking forward to catching up with her and having a little girl time too! Hope to post again on Saturday with more catch-up times.
After the
circus we headed back to the house for lunch/dinner! And drinks of course! Each of the ladies brought a dish to pass and
the food was delicious as usual!
Hard to see but there is a beautiful vase with flowers and little lights that Jan M. gave me to brighten the table!
Of course a
birthday isn’t a birthday here in Florida without a cake baked by our resident
baker, Verna!
This is Verna with Gigi.
And check
out the candles Verna put on my cake!
Who else would go to this detail on decorating a cake so beautifully as
well as adding that special touch finding margarita candles!! Only Verna!
And gifts,
which the ladies were NOT suppose to give me (via my note to them!!).Guess Bob is right….”women don’t listen”…HA
Jan M. gifted me my own wand at the circus! It is so cool...changes colors and flashes!
What a lovely pocket charm from Jan M.
Opposite side of the pocket charm!
Does Patricia know me or what! I will be selfish and save this just for me! Well, it is my birthday, right!
I love my puzzle from Susan! How cool is this!
Peggy gifted me my first Florida Lotto ticket! Nope, we're still here and didn't run off with the money! Actually, not one of our numbers came up!
It's candy...no it's a fan! Thanks, Marilyn! And she brought flowers the day before our party too!
And I received 3 gift cards! JoAnn fabrics from Jan F.; Harry's from Marilyn and Starbucks from Verna!!! 3 of my favorite stores!!!
Two dozen beautiful roses from my daughter! She knows I love yellow and pastel roses. They are even prettier two days later! Just a beautiful array of color!
And a huge Edible Arrangement from my son and his family! It had to be pushed down to fit in the refrigerator! At our potluck on Saturday I passed the container around to each lady and I still have tons of fruit left! The melon and strawberries were delicious! Chocolate covered pineapple...yum!
Such a great BD!!! I am one lucky lady!!!! Great family...great friends...great life!
