Finally finished quilting all four pieces for our Orchid Exhibition coming up next week. Since I’ll be snowed in today (crazy snow this way in NC) I’ll get to devote a lot of time to adding facings and preparing each of them for hanging.
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So in that vein, here’s another sneak peek at Orchid #3. Can you correctly guess what this orchid piece is about?
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Toodles,
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I know this is not what you expected when you read the title of this post but hang in there with me.
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Try this….put your cursor at the top of the picture in the link below,
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then s l o w l y move the cursor to the bottom of the pic…no stopping, no clicking on the mouse.
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How cool is that!
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Last night, busy in my studio, I decided to take a computer break. As usual, I got caught up and before you know it, I had spent almost 25 minutes online (considering I just went there to refresh my memory on a photo I had taken…mmmph!).
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I stretch, after having sat there for so long, look over and see this red blob on my floor,
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and realize that there’s a barely perceptible whizzing noise coming from the blob as well.\’a0 Now what do you think this can be?
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Of course the first thing any sane person does in this type of situation is….grab\’a0 the camera, of course (duh!).
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First things first, earlier in the afternoon I was helping my son with his homework. We finished and he left the room to repack his book bag. I then began to wonder what little gift he set up for me.
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So with camera in hand I step closer to reveal my gift (can you see it yet??????).
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And what to her wondering eyes should appear (yeh I know, must still be in the mind for Christmas)…
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…but a little boy – fast asleep.\’a0 Awww shucks…isn’t that the best gift?
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BTW, the big round thing under the blanket is my exercise ball.
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Don’t ask.
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In a few weeks, the art group I belong to (fiberartoptions.blogspot.com)\’a0 will have a fiber art orchid exhibition at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont, NC. We are so excited. So for the past few weeks I have been hard at work finishing all my pieces. Here’s a sneak peak at another one of them.
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I’ve tried something totally new for me and have hand painted this one using acrylic paint on Pimatex cotton, with Gac 900 as the textile medium (yah me!)
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Using Golden Gac 900 with their line of fluid acrylics (instead of regular textile medium) gives the fabric a softer hand than even using Jacquard textile paint, which is what I started with.\’a0 The area at the bottom right (painted with Jacquard and medium) is much harder, almost like paper, than the rest of the piece.
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I think I’m in love…with Golden products that is.
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yeh, yeh, yeh!
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My birthday comes sooooooo soon after Christmas that it’s almost an afterthought. Well…not anymore. My hubby says birthdays are special so he sets out to have my birthday last at least 5 days.
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He cooked a wonderful dinner for me and a few of our close friends on Saturday…
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Mushroom Medley Soup (starter)
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Orange Glazed Stuffed Cornish Hens &
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Lemon Herb Stuffed Cornish Hens
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Pesto Risotto
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Glazed Carrots
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Cauliflower Au Gratin.
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What a wonderful meal and to say that we were all “stuffed” (pun intended) by the end is an understatement.
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Then today I hung out with our Pandoras group and Susan baked me a lovely cake. The top of it was covered with lemon curd with cream cheese icing on the sides. Delicee-o ciousness indeed!
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Tonight will be a regular dinner but since TODAY\’a0 is my actual birthday, hubby gave me first dibs on what’s for dinner……parsnip soup with a hot, hot, hot Indian curry for the entree.
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Birthdays are not so bad after all (she says with a satisfied smile)..
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Here’s a short blurb from Christine Kane newsletter:
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“Clarity trumps practicality. When someone is clear, and they take action from that place of clarity \’96 then practicality has no choice but to move aside and let manifestation occur.”
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Love it!
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ART BREAK:
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My first foray into watercolour. The pic above shows a small piece (2.5 x 3) painted on 140 lb watercolour paper. I made it to grace the front wrap-around cover of a new journal I designed.
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A while back I bought myself a Winsor & Newton halfpan 12-set compact on sale thinking it was enough to start with but not enough expenditure if I found I didn’t like it.
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Uh oh……I LIKE IT!
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Took the watercolour paints out a few weeks ago looking for something different for my journals and this is what I came up with. Yummy!
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Still experimenting with other paintings. I just love the mixed media aspect of these journals. It’s held in place on a piece of my hand dyed fabric with metal brads and staggered stitching.
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Don’t know what happened but for some reason I am all over this WordPress “Art Store post today but I’ll take it (see, tags do work).
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Check it out and scroll down for me, me, me and more me. Weird!
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ART BREAK:
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Above pic is a fused piece I did of a bite of an apple, refreshingly called “Apple Bite” (ehh…what can I say, that’s what came to mind and the title stuck – so sue me!).
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Anyhoo, originally made to enter the Quitling Arts Calendar contest last year this time but never got around to quilting it. Cool looking dontcha think? It’s still sitting at the bottom of the design wall…..just begging me to finish it.
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How way cool!
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“Begin the Journey“, a fabric journal in my Etsy shop,\’a0was included in Karen of Mystic Wynd’s cool TEAL treasury. Check it out here.
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Now that’s a nice looking bunch of handmade items huh? TEALicious indeed!\’a0 **Thanks Karen**
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Love these words...don't you?
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My word for 2010.
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...constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken
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…persistent exertion of body or mind
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…steady and careful application
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…proper attention or care
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But first a recap.
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I chose 2 words for 2009…Intention and Self-discipline. I found that by the end of 2008 I needed to seek out new goals, to define my INTENTION for the year to come and, by adding SELF-DISCIPLINE, I was able to keep myself on track. It was a year of thinking, redefining, repurposing, even if I came to the conclusion that I was to let go of art (yes, I even went there) or just do it for my pleasure – not to sell or exhibit.
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I gave myself the whole year to clearly define what I wanted to do for me and how that would manifest itself through my art, while still creating art as well. This year was about clarifying my wants and needs and purging all the shoulda-coulda’s that I seem to always let come to the forefront and sometimes take over and block my creativity.
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I realized that I not only did I see what others did to be successful but thought I had to do it that way myself, all this without taking the time to put ME in the equation.
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Now that I have established intentions for myself in terms of life and art, I can now act more DILIGENTLY toward implementing them…2009 was definitely a year of finding ME in ART again.
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In 2010 I will, with DILIGENCE…
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* make the art I CHOOSE to make * explore opportunities to share my work * pursue the red barn wish (mmmh you say?) * be content in the moment personally, creatively and spiritually I wish for you, in the year to come, all that you desire YOUR year to be. Blessings to you and yours. ~
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Bummer! I scheduled this to post on New Year’s Day but some glitch in WordPress prevented that. Thankfully I was able to find it and repost today. Whew!!!
