RedBarn Studios

hope everyone enjoyed their Easter Celebration!

today, before prepping dinner, we headed out for a drive.  after all the bank and forth weather we’ve been having it was wonderful waking up to a beautiful easter sunday morn.

in fact as we were eating breakfast we noticed outside the window, on the green across from the house, a family with their young son flying a kite. magical indeed!

only last night my neighbor, originally from Guyana, told me that on easter sunday, Guyanese from all over, to celebrate the risen Christ, fly kites…the skies are chock full of them.  had never heard of that tradition before and it just so happens that we see a kite flying this morn.

anyway…i’ve been working on a new thing. youtube has issued a challenge that members vlog (video blog) every day for the month of april (got this from Tam over at willowing.ning.com).  so i decided to chime in on this.  with only nine days left in the month it seems an easy feat.

so go go check out my youtube channel and see what’s up. it’s weird being in front of the camera but i kinda like it….it’s not as hard as i thought it would be….much like talking to you guys thru this blog.

wish me luck with keeping up with it.

toodles,

p.s. on our drive we ended up at university of nc at charlotte’s botanical gardens where I proceeded to take lots of pics..the orchid above was one of them…gor-gee-ous!

Tags: family, monday posts, pic of day, road trip, video moments by grace
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paper than i thought…OMG!

here’s a picture of my worktable today. All of this mess will turn into a wonderful gift for a friend, believe it or not.  finished pics later.

yesterday was the 2nd day home from school for my son.  here in the charlotte area we don’t get regular boatloads of snow like we did this past sun/mon but this– this one was a doozy!

we ventured out yesterday and when we drove over a large patch of ice the car started skidding.  all of us gripped our seats then immediately had the same idea.  we needed to turn around and get the heck off these roads, but of course, that entailed driving over more icy roads.

when we eventually got home, let’s just say i exhaled forcefully….okay, okay, i started to cry, i was shaking so much cause i was so flipping glad i got everyone home safe. NOT EVER AGAIN!

well — that ain’t so cause my daughter just came into the room in her work clothes and i remembered i have to drop her to work.  THEN, darn it, go pick her up again. better get used to driving on the ice huh. Yuck!

toodles all,

Tags: life etc., road trip by grace
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got a call from a friend a few days ago who told me that one of my fav mixed media artist just opened up a small shop in my hometown.

WHAT! …in my small town?

no way!

yes way.  so, of course, what’s a girl to do but go online to google her whereabouts AND……i  found  her.
…her new shop is RIGHT around the corner.   who the heck knew and and how way flipping cool is that?

and who, you ask, is this mysterious artist?  it’s Donna Downey , a wonderful mixed media artist who is bubbly and funky and fun!   her work has been featured in a whole host of magazines, she’s been scrapbooking 4-eva (!) and is the host of the upcoming Inspired!, an annual mixed media workshop retreat held in my neck of the woods, concord, nc.

so i popped into the store last week and met her way cool hubby bill.   as i’m perusing and looking around (something you gotta do yourself…soon!), in walks miss donna herself, who proceeds to say hello to everyone in the shop with a hug.

You gotta love a girl that likes to spread the love with hugs…right?

anyway i looked in every nook and cranny of the store, checking hi and lo, chatting with other visitors (even chatted the IT guy setting something or other up) while gathering my loot….yes, i bought stuff!   donna’s shop is well lit, her displays are so delicious that showcase a fantastic selection of mixed media supplies and the classroom set-up is to die for.   check it out for yourself in person or here.

So this girl is excited beyond belief…..a place just down the road that has all the “stuff” i need to play.  how way cool is that!!!!

Tags: community, mixed media, road trip by grace
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today was a good day for good deals……and to spend time with friends.

we (the pandoras of course) headed off to greensboro for the gingher factory sale happening this weekend (and next as well).   believe it or not….NO item was priced over $10!

WHAT!!!!!  you say

i kid you not, all those beautiful gingher quality scissors at prices from 50¢ – $5.50, not to mention $2 and $3 mats and rulers for 25¢ and 50¢!

my stash

i got doubles of some of them (maybe triples too…hee hee).   they also had 15″ and 18″ paper guillotines and i got one of the 18″ ones.

was just thinking the other day that i wish the paper cutter I have was just a tiny bit longer cause sometime i need the extra length to make a large cut…..and voila!  now i can.   btw…..i have to tell that IT was a mere $10!

feels like i’ve been to chicago and hit the oprah winfrey show jackpot…”and one for you, and one for you, and one for you” (so she always says when she socks it to her audience with a big gift).

the sale took place in the warehouse, we believe it was probably a distributing center rather than an actual factory.

above you can see all the trays and boxes on the tables set up around the room.   considering the prices it was a very civilized affair….no one rushing and grabbing.  we got what we wanted then stood in line.   and this time i did not spend the most (hee hee).

here’s susan with her stash…and there’s more on the floor and under her arm.   we carried it wherever it would fit on our person.

posing with our loot
(photo courtesy of susan brubaker knapp)

had a blast on the drive up to greenboro and back and  it was ever so great spending time with the ladies i love to hang out with.   we hadn’t done a road trip in a while so this was so worth the effort on every level.

toodles,

Tags: pandoras, road trip, stash by grace
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A few weeks ago I asked my son what he wanted to do on his day off from school. He said “something fun please”. Now the pressure was on…what to do to entertain an 8 yr old????
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I decided on a “Picture Day”. and he was all for it. We took our cameras and I drove way into the countryside, pulling over whenever we chose to take pictures of nature, dilapidated buildings, gigantic rocks in from of an abandoned cemetery…anything was fare game.
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on the rocks

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the artist

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cool car huh?

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wish we could have gotten closer.

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Se ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

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Tags: down time, family, family trip, road trip by k grace howes
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Okay, I’m going out on a limb here. Cloth, Paper Scissors Studios magazine is doing an online virtual studio tour. I’ll be giving all and sundry a small tour of my lovely studio this weekend, October 3.

There have been a few studios (moving house to house) that have come before like the one where I felt like I was in a dungeon um…the basement. It really wasn’t as bad as that but it was sometimes so cold and damp I had to gear up to go down there.

Or there was the time before that my “stuff” kinda outgrew the small dining room in our 1st house and hubby came home one day to find I had taken over the larger living room next door!

Anyway, I love the studio I’m in now and look forward to showing you MY space. Please hop on over to QA/CPS site this weekend to see other great artist spaces. This should be so much fun!

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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: community, organization, road trip by k grace howes
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I know, I know…long time no hear. I’ve been going, going, going and have now a chance to post.

Just got back from the AQS Expo in Knoxville, tired but enjoyed spending time with two good friends, DeLane and Susan. We walked the show and shopped but found out later that none of us bought much fabric. They did go halves on a needle felting machine tho and can’t wait to experiment with it.

Spent 3 days at home and now on our annual family vacation in the Bahamas, my home country, Toodles everyone. Will post pics of our trip and get back to art soon.

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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: down time, family trip, life etc., pic of day, road trip by k grace howes
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I am so pleased with the very successful gallery showing we had Friday night. Jean, DeLane, Christine, Judy and I had a blast!

It was the first showing for most of us and we are very proud of the work we accomplished. It was a bit strange watching people walk around looking at our work and actually discussing what caught their eye, knowing that I was part of what they had come to see. I was absolutely fascinated by the fact that people wanted to see AND actually showed up to see our art.

Thank you to everyone who came out to cheers us on and thanks also to all the well wishers who couldn’t make it, we felt your love and support from far away.

Now I suppose you want to see some pics huh? I have to tell you that I didn’t get many pics (was too busy looking around and talking) so there are only a few.

Well, as they say, on with the show….

Some of Jean’s work…..as she describes her work, it’s a twist on the traditional….

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Pieces from Delane….and her feet quilt got quite a bit of attention. It’s fantastic close up…..

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Christines work…wish I got a close-up of the piece on the right…it a great landscape with lots of depth…..

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Judy’s pieces reflect nature in it’s finest, the black and white is a large painted one….

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I rarely show pics of my family but this is the only one where you can see my work.I will head back to the gallery in a few days to take some more pics. It was hard trying to get some good ones that night cause I either forgot to click away or couldn’t get a good enough angle.

My art quilts are in the background and the journals I am way too crazy about these days are on a pedestal in front of me. And of course, you can see the outfit I finally chose to wear….everyone said it looked very “arty”. Colours were definitely me.

BTW, that’s hubby, my daughter and my youngest son in the pic. Oldest son had disappeared to somewhere else by then.

The Round Robin (RR) Challenge….this RR was a little bit different. We each cut up a 24 x 36 sheet into what ever shape we chose but only containing 5 pieces. Then the whole thing rotated and each person made a section. We did not have to put it back together the same way and you can see that DeLane (the jacket) and I (lower right corner) chose to use our sections in……let’s say, different ways. Love how each piece turned out.

Jean’s doll “Rose” from the doll challenge and a close-up of DeLane’s challenge jacket from the RR challenge….

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And some the the guest mingling around.

The show will be hanging at Lincoln Cultural Center till July 3rd so please take a moment to go and see it. If you so choose to travel from afar to see out work then by all means come on down…hee hee.

Will be posting more pics son, I’d like to show more close-ups of our work. Thanks for stopping by.

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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

addendum: does anyone know how to get the pics to enlarge when you click on them…there seems to be no ryhme or reason why my pics are sometime clickable in my posts. The pics in this post are not unfortunately.

Tags: Art, FAB, fiber art, journals, mixed media, road trip, year of me by k grace howes
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For those of you who might have thought I gave up the goods when it comes to my art quilts…..

…uh uh…

….you would be wrong. I still love to create pieces with my handdyes and batiks fabrics.

Above is my latest piece called “Red Moon“. My daughter saw this and commented…..”you seem to be working in circles lately Mummy”.

Wow!

A series and I didn’t even realize it! Thanks Ms. Cheney, my darling only daughter.

Here’s another…

…this one is called “Planetary Spin”. It was originally made for the recent SAQA auction but I missed the deadline for submission (naughty girl!).

You be that won’t happen again.

And NOW, the one I can finally show  you that won Judge’s Choice in the “My World in Black and White Revisited” exhibition put on by Fiberarts  Connection of Southern California. This one is called “Mother Love“, with detail shot below (blue border is just to show clearly against blog background).

This quilt will be traveling for two years as a special exhibition and one of the venues it will travel to is the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, Virginia in February (which is very near where I live…whoopee!) . I hope to get there to see it hang in person. How very ,very cool!

I have a few more circle quilts that I’ve made but don’t yet have pics of them. Soon…soon.

See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: circle series, fiber art, juried quilts, monday posts, road trip by k grace howes
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Tags: down time, family, road trip by k grace howes
3 Comments »