Dallas Museum of Art / Yayoi Kusama

I returned home yesterday from a delightful trip to Dallas.  Dee (my sister) and I visited our cousin for a few days.  On one of the days, we took the train into the city and enjoyed the art museum.  I was so excited to find the Yayoi Kusama Pumpkins as one of the special exhibits, but my sister and cousin didn't share my enthusiasm and decided that I was absolutely crazy when I plunked down 14.00 (with my military discount!) apiece for tickets to a 45 second exhibit!  I think it was worth it:

This makes me crazy!

I used to blame kids for cutting into fabric or paper like this, but I have seen adults do it too!

Thread painting / butterfly

I'm continuing to work on thread painting.  Not sure if  'this is my thing', or not.  It's more creative than setting up my embroidery machine and following a pattern, but is very time consuming.  On the pro side of the argument, I am using tons of thread!

A-Z Challenge: Beyond Orange... a look at colours that are also foods!

This is my second year to participate in the Blogging From A to Z April Challenge.  My theme will takes  look at colours and foods that share the same name.  Of course orange came to mind first when I was dreaming up this theme, but let's not use this one! Instead of orange, I think O is for Olive!  Some of the letters may be a bit of a challenge, so a few liberties may be taken to complete the alphabet..  (Can you think of an X?)

I spent a fair amount of time in paint stores looking for colour names and some that I found are down right silly! Crayola does a great job of naming, as do cosmetic companies (lipstick). 

I'm looking forward to a colourful April!  Hope you will join me...

Studio52: Eiffel

It saves a lot of time using a stencil for the city streets and fabulous fabrics from my stash...

Crazy woman: island girl

Last of my crazy women that I worked on during my cruise:

What am I going to do with all these crazy women?  For starters, I think a second go round of embellishing!

Thread painting class

I learned a lot at Friday's thread painting class.  It was also fun to use fabric that I had dyed in last week's dye thickener class. 

Crazy woman: pirate girl

Does she need a patch over one eye?

100 Day Project / simple doodle turned stencil

We are at the half way point of the 100 Day Project.  My heart is not in it, but I am determined to complete 100 days of simple patterns. 

It's pretty obvious that I didn't spend much time on this drawing:

I cut a stencil and used thickened dyes on an old dish towel:

I think it will go to my free motion stitching class on Friday, and I may even end up liking it!

Viking Ship Museum map / Oslo, Norway

My sister and I went to Oslo last fall with the intention of traveling north to the town our ancestors were from.  Never made it there....  Too many wonderful things to see in Oslo, and we ran out of time. 

We both enjoyed the Viking Ship Museum.  My sister as a scientist and I as a librarian and artist.  We travel well together finding wonderful memories every time we venture out on a new adventure. 

To document this fabulous museum, I created a map of it for this week's Studio52 map:

Hunting with my camera

I enjoy a good hunt while traveling. There are so many things to see and keeping the camera close at hand may make me look like a tourist, but I also come home with many memories and tons of inspiration.

Crazy woman in the rain forest

After visiting the rain forest in Panama, I knew I had to stitch a crazy woman to remember that special day.  We boated on Gatun Lake and saw monkeys, iguanas, numerous birds, and a sloth.   

Journal covers

After filling one of my composition books, I make a cover using fabric scraps that I just can't seem to part with.  I surely have enough fabric to cover thousands of journals....  I guess that problem falls into the category of Swedish Death Cleaning...  Anyway, I made two journal covers this week:

November used a piece of fabric that I dyed using shelf brackets and dye thickener.  It looks like I could learn to use an iron...

December used some stenciled fabric and a little piece of batik with a bird that I purchased ages ago.

I am sure that my home ec teacher would shudder at the way they are put together...  No measuring, just rip or cut and sew until it fits.  Now if I could only sew clothing this way!

studio52 - island map

This is the last of my fabric maps of where I live. This map is the area we call, "the island". When the water is up, the creek runs in a ditch on the left side creating an island. On the island, my husband built a summer cottage. I dye fabric here during the warm months. My 3 pixies used to make potions and play island girls, but alas, the youngest turns 15 this month and play time with them is limited...

Crazy woman - Mermaid

Mermaid girl was stitched during our cruise to Panama.  

The warm blue waters in the Bahamas would be a perfect place for me, if I was a mermaid...  Unfortunately, with my pale skin, I have to be very careful in the sun.

Cruise / Panama Canal

We are home.  While on our cruise I did a bit of art.  Once again, I took too much along to work on!  I did manage to work on this fabric map of our port stops.  The ports need to be labeled, but the pile of laundry and empty refrigerator must come first...