Country Roads

 Nothing cures a case of boredom faster than a ride

in the country. Sun dapples through the trees.

Shadows on the road.

Summer in the country.

Must enjoy the warmth and the green while we can.

Start of a new quilt

 Nancy brought this lovely photo with yesterday,

she let me use it for my inspiration.

We had a nice time.  Looking around the studio

than lunch with the yummy pear tarts from Bit of

Swiss a bakery in Michigan. My faves. Than after

lunch we settled down to create.

 I got a fair start on this one. I promised that I would

work on an art quilt during my open house Saturday.

So I have my project. I am looking forward to visiting

with everyone. It is nice to let people wander around

the studio and ask me questions . Maybe they will find a

gift for that special person for Christmas too.

I think this will be a nice piece of art.

I may want to keep this one for myself.

Well I had better finish getting ready for

Saturday. I need to hang the garland around

the front door. I also need to vacuum the

studio. I tend to make a mess.

Have a great day.

Dana's Quilt with trees

 I got some trees on Dana's quilt.

The second from the right I am trying to get

to look like the catalpa tree by my husbands

chicken house. The swoop of the branches is

pure grace.  I will work on the trees today.

I think I need to lighten the background too.

Out will come the paints.

Sometimes I wonder what I would do if I ruined

the quilt with paint but not to worry just use more paint.

Well off to the studio. 

Busy Day

This is one of my favorite paintings and I am keeping

this one. Thought I would share it with you. Today

my husband took me to get the second series of shots

 in my knees. I was surprised he drove me. My daughter

said if he didn't start helping she was going to have a

talk with him. I wonder if she did. It is hard to drive

 after getting injections in both knees. Just one more

 series of shot next week and than the wait

 for 6 weeks to see if it worked.

Than we went to LaPorte and traded in my sewing

machine for a new Janome machine. It works like

a  dream. It is so quiet and smooth.  I look

forward to cleaner looking quilts.

Wednesday is another day of going up north.

Than I can work in the studio for 3 days.

I blocked in 3 more landscape quilts.

Looking forward to getting started on them.

10 Finished 12 to go.

 Finished 10 of the 8 by 10 series art quilts.

I just have 12 to 15 of these to finish and

I will be back to larger art quilts.

This grouping is quilted and mounted on

stretched canvas frames. I find that people

appreciate being able to hang the quilt

like a painting. This scene is in Wisconsin.

The  road to the Cabin in the Woods.

 The others are photos taken of the pond last

summer. The waterlilies and frogs are fun to

watch over the summer. I usually do not work

in bright colors but I like these.

For Art Mix these quilts will be a reasonable

priced art quilt. They are easy to make

I had fun silk screening the background.

Now for a quiet Sunday.

Have a good one.

THe start of some new art quilts.

 The first step in the process.

I printed some of my photos on fabric.

fused them onto backgrounds and today I will

add quilting. Than I think I will do some canvas

backgrounds and add the small quilts to this.

Than maybe embellish with beads or

found objects. Frog time was at the

International Quilt Show in Houston.

With the haku I wrote for it. I love the water lilies.

 Than the road in the woods in Wisconsin.

My husband and I took  a trip in the fall

to see the beauty of Wisconsin.

Another full day in the studio. Nice.

Roads I have traveled.

 I love winding roads through the woods.

I grew up playing along the winding woods road.

I noticed that the leaves are changing already.

Fall is here.

Yesterday my husband and I put up 2 bushels of apples.

The smell of fresh apples cooking in the house on

a cold windy fall day is luscious.

I also made up a dutch apple pie to eat with supper.

Yum the house smelled good.

We are ready for winter except for digging potatoes.

That is my husbands job.

Ever wonder why we do all of this.

Good clean food without chemicals.

The only ingredient is food.

No salt no sugar just plain food.

But I am sure glad to be done.

We are glad to share whats left in the garden

 with friends. Our larder is full.

Travels.

 One of my customers wanted some photos  for

her new kitchen redecorating.

I browsed through my photos looking for candidates.

Like traveling memory lane.

Remembering the travels we took to Wisconsin and Michigan.

A river scene in northern Wisconsin.

 The view outside my kitchen window.

The winding road to the cabin in the woods

we stayed in last September.

Life is good to us.

I hope we can find time to go somewhere this fall

My favorite time of the year.

I have officially closed the canning kitchen.

I am done.

I will be glad to get back to art.

I am having a sink installed in my furnace room

so I can play with the messy dyes and paints in there.

My goal is to have a play date the first week of October.

I have a couple of friends who have

questions on how to do things.

So we will play.

Summer in the Woods

Love the sun on the rocks and the
 cool blue waters of Lake Michigan.
Strolling through the woods in and
out of the dappled sunshine.
I must make time to spend some time
up in the north woods again this fall.
Spent some time with my daughter
yesterday. She is such a good person.
A cardiac nurse for 27 years, mother
of 2 of my grandchildren and just a good friend.
She shared some of her gardens bounty.
Peppers and English cucumbers.
I made our first batch of tomato juice
for the season. With garlic, celery, jalapeno
peppers and a touch of cayenne.
This batch I will freeze instead of can.
Ready for a morning in the studio.
Life is good.

Something to Crow about.

I can't decide if I like the clay addition to this quilt.

Using a hand carved stamp I made some clay forms

to use in conjunction with quilting.

We have some resident crows at Cedar Ridge Studio.

They like to hang out by the pond or in the woods.

Birds and trees are a constant theme in my art.

My thoughts this one got a little to cutesy.



Wordless Wednesday

Sunny Monday

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny winter day.

For some crazy reason I decided to move the

furniture in my bedroom and spent the whole day cleaning it.

What a mess.

I will finish it today.

Husband had to fix the bookcase I tried to move filled.

Book are heavy.

Found about 12 I need to read.

So it was a good thing

Wordless Wednesday

Changing ones life.

 The winds and the storms blew the leaves off the trees.

I am not quit ready for winter but I know it will

bring TIME.

Time to explore the wonderful world of fiber art.

As Maya Angelou said

"Success is loving life and daring to live it."

I have decided to focus for once in my life.

THat is itself will be a challenge.

Starting in January I will concentrate my efforts

in a mixed media of fiber art.

I will give to the local High School

all the materials I do not need and

Simplify

Explore,

Create.

With nature as always my love

I will interpret  my love of same into art.

Stay  tuned.

Roadside Attraction

For the past 3 years I wanted to photograph

this clump of trees.

The only problem it is alongside a busy highway.

Finally my husband to the rescue.

He drove and timed it so I could

get out of the car for 6 quick snaps.

Now to make something interesting of them.

Love the color they are.

Red.

The trunks are interesting too.

Maybe  Tuesday I can finally get in the studio.

I have lost a week to this flu bug.

Smile self  it will end  someday.