Saturday, June 30, 2018

Home Ec

Found the cutest fabric store ever in Iowa City:



And found a few pieces to take home




Friday, June 29, 2018

Kry / Sunflowers

It finally arrived! 

I ordered this brooch from Kry Embroidery in Russia.  I've been patient (not really), but now it is here and I can't wait to wear this beauty!


Thursday, June 28, 2018

Rose

Today was a good day for a little Swedish Death Cleaning.  My sister is having a yard sale in the fall, and I plan to have a few boxes filled for the sale.  Decided to start in the bedroom.  This beauty has been beside my bed since my dad died 2 years ago.  I don't think I can part with it yet...


Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Art with my niece: String art

Corinne and I are working on string art to sell this fall at a local craft sale.  I am doing the backgrounds and she is doing the string art:


Monday, June 25, 2018

journal cover / squares

At the quilt show in Rosemont this spring, I was taken by quilts with squares.  That sentence sounds stupid!  Anyway, I am working on a series of journal covers with squares...  Finished this one yesterday:


Saturday, June 23, 2018

Chicago Art Institute

I very much enjoyed taking a bus from our local library for a day trip into Chicago to visit the Art Institute.  This painting by Maria Helena Vieira da Silva caught my eye:


When I first looked at it from a distance, it looked like rows of sandwiches!  I enjoy looking at art that I find inspiring for quilt designs.  Do you see a quilt?


Thursday, June 21, 2018

Journal cover

Each time I finish writing in a journal, I make a fun cover for it.  Well actually, I am a few months behind on journal covers, but who's counting... 



Monday, June 18, 2018

Crazy woman

I haven't worked on my 2020 project for awhile.  With the heat and humidity driving me inside, it seems like a good time to pull this out of the closet and create a few little crazy women.



Saturday, June 16, 2018

Butterfly inspiration / carve a stamp

I took a photo of a butterfly when I was in Carbondale with my son.  Having not carved a stamp since "Carve December", it seemed like a good medium for today. The stamp is 2" x 4".




Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Beautiful butterfly

I was in Carbondale this weekend with my son.  We stopped by a little garden for a walk and this butterfly caught my eye:




Now to start looking at parts as design elements...



Friday, June 8, 2018

inspiration: picasso

"It took me 4 years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child."

 - Pablo Picasso


I have been watching the National Geographic Genius series on Picasso.  A painting popped into my head when a dear friend told me that he was spending time in Venice this winter.  I quickly learned that, yes, it is very difficult to paint like a child. I struggled with forgetting design elements and just enjoying creating for the sake of creating.  
After a spider ran me out of my art studio, I decided to post and let the canvas just sit for a few weeks.  Maybe a morning of play dough and kool aid will get me in the right frame of mind!


Thursday, June 7, 2018

inspiration: marc chagall

Last year, Jes and I visited the Marc Chagall Museum in Nice, France.  What a fabulous museum!  I have been working on this little piece, inspired by Chagall, as a memory from our trip.  The bird is plaster gauze on a cereal box.  If you haven't played with plaster gauze, you must!  It dries quickly and takes paint well.  I ordered mine online - not expensive, and gives you hours of fun play.


Wednesday, June 6, 2018

more sticks

Yesterday, the girlfriends got together to make more stick dolls. 


Monday, June 4, 2018

Bark

On our river walk in Naperville, a cottonwood tree caught my eye.  The bark is very much a quilt...



Friday, June 1, 2018

Sorbet

I got home earlier today from a 2 day trip to visit my brother.  Last night after dinner, we walked along the river in Naperville and discovered a gelato shop that we couldn't pass by.  Lucky for me they also had sorbet (dairy free and fat free!).  I ordered mango and Arrianne had raspberry.  The sorbet was delicious, but I also admired their product case presentation: