Happy New Year

The table is set. The roast and the veggie quiche are in the oven.




It's time to welcome our guests and make some noise!







Best wishes to you and yours.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Chartreuse

I was inspired by Daisy Yellow to make a Chartreuse Journal page. As you can see lots of other colours snuck in but it was still a really fun exercise. I cut up my son's expired health card to use on the page which got me thinking about health.

Holiday Decorating

All this talk of getting ready for Christmas makes me realize it's time to start getting out all my white, blue and silver nicknacks. I put out vases of sparkly ornaments, blue and white quilts, tarnished silver trays and jugs, and sometimes even string some lights.

This morning I saw a lovely pinwheel on a blog I was visiting and started to wonder about a Star of David pinwheel. I didn't find a pattern I liked but I did find this beautiful ornament on Etsy. Being kind of crafty I figured I could probably make one myself (sorry bottlejunk).

After a very brief search I came across this excellent tutorial which I only now realize is on How About Orange?, one of my very favourite sites.

It will be no surprise to anyone familiar with my work that I cut some corners. I didn't print the template and I didn't use a craft knife. I figured out that Jessica's pattern transferred perfectly to my little sheets of blue and white origami paper. Using needle nosed scissor I was able to cut three sheets at a time, more or less freehand.  I recommend using glue dots instead of double sided tape if you have them at hand. I put the glue dots on four flaps before constructing each point and my snowflake went together very quickly.

It's the only decoration I have up so far and it's looking very lonely. Time to get busy making more ornaments I guess.

I'd love to know if you decorate for a winter holiday other than Christmas.

Playing Favorites

What are the songs that make you sing?





This month's GPP Street Team Art Journal challenge was to talk about the music on your play list, the songs that get you singing along in the car or the studio.

My answers are all buried in the journalling, along with more personal reflections on memory and what Playing Favorites means to me. Some of the many things I have trouble remembering are boxed to make them stand out. Musical notation including a staff, notes, rests and clefs are scrawled over the top of the journalling in a rainbow of colours.

Some of the music that came to mind was the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Whitney Houston, and just about every Musical and Opera ever written. I'm just as likely to sing and hum along to symphonies and concertos as I am to the Messiah, Stevie Wonder and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Next month I have to challenge myself to work with ephemera and to change my colour palette.

Stealing Like An Artist

First off I want to thank Austin Kleon for giving me and all Artists permission to Steal Like an Artist. If you haven't read his manifesto please do, and then come right back.









I am fortunate to have the charming, talented and prolific Mary Elizabeth Kinch (ME) in my small quilt group, affectionately known as the Squeegees.

Every time I see her I am inspired to try whatever handwork she has brought with her. On our most recent visit she promised to schedule a workshop to teach us how to make her felted work basket. She always has great pointers about needles, thimbles and anything else you could possibly want to know about handwork.

ME told us about a Sue Spargo hand embroidery workshop she had just taken. ME says "I am so indebted to her for what I have worked on that piece.  I never would have produced it without her talent and inspiration.  It was her kit for the workshop that I started with.  Below is her blog link for lots of other "droolingly" wonderful examples of stitching delight!  

The link to her webpage is: http://www.suespargo.com/

The link to her yummy blog is:  http://suespargo.blogspot.com/"

ME was having so much fun playing with layering fabrics and embroidery stitches as we sat chatting around my kitchen table that I immediately started fantasizing about working on my own project.

Photo by ME Kinch all rights reserved

ME was kind enough to send me a picture of her WIP. Isn't it gorgeous?

When I went to my workroom to start pulling fabrics I got sidetracked by an idea for a wallhanging for Eyal's birthday. It ended up incorporating some elements from ME's project: repetition, grid, layering, embellishment.







When I was ready to get back to ME's project I thought of the Jacobean inspired shapes, the layering of fabrics and colours, the touches of robin's egg blue, teal and turquoise. I returned to the stash of interior design fabrics Kate Zeidler gave me and started pulling fabrics, floss and beads.

Where ME hand turn appliquéd each piece of fabric I have attached them with a raw edge machine zigzag. I am teaching myself embroidery as I go along. Turning to Judith Baker Montano's Elegant Stitches for guidance. I'm having fun embellishing each design, choosing which pattern or colour to layer on top, deciding how I feel about each imperfection in execution. Sometimes I love the frayed edges and pull them out a little bit to enhance the look. In other places I snip off the extra bits, preferring a clean edge.







Eyal gave me the ultimate compliment when he saw me working on it for the first time "I hope that's for us. Please don't give it away". He also wants me to use the same idea and colour scheme for a large scale wallhanging.

ME warns me there's no 12 step program for recovering from this but I still thank her for introducing me to this new addiction!

Birthday Breakfast

Sounds of the coffee grinding and percolating, 

Family chattering while they wait

Smells of coffee, croissants 

Tummy grumbling

Elbows on the table

The remains of last night's colourful cake weigh down the counter

Standing in Line at Costco

The folds on the back of her shirt catch the light.
The strings dangle down her back, swaying as she works.
Head turning to and fro, jaws working the wad of gum, a quick smile lights up her face.

Thanks to @fiona_robyn and @asmallstone for the inspiration and encouragement to write a Small Stone.