I was thrilled to give my 3 yr. old granddaughter her first sewing lesson.

We started with one color that she chose to use. Then when she discovered that grandma had lots of colors in the case she was ready to switch colors after every stitch. Of course, using scissors to cut the threads was pretty fascinating for her, too. 

When it was all done, it’s a little masterpiece of free form stitching. All of her random stitches made by “poke and pull the needle” are wonderful. I will frame it with a photo of our hands for a remembrance of our time together. Of course, we all know that this grandma isn’t the least bit biased!

Wooo Hooo ! I received notice that I am approved by Art-O-Mat to become an artist in cellophane, or AIC for short.  A couple of my friends, Linda Edkins Wyatt and Suzan Morgan are also AICs. Another friend, Patty Cox is in the process of submitting prototypes for approval.

Online friends and groups are great. That’s where I met  these friends and discovered the quirky Art-O-Mat concept. Old cigarette vending machines are restored and repurposed to dispense miniature art. They are full of paintings, photography, jewelry, sculpture and most other kinds of fine craft and art.

This is my first item for them. It is a hand painted leather wristlet, quick and fun to do, each individually painted and crafted. These won’t be available until sometime in August but if you have a machine in your area you might find these in the slot for the brand of “Strips and Straps”. I won’t get rich on this but it’s fun to think my little wristlets will be a part of this fun repurposing venture. 

Just a quick closeup look at part of the altar cloth for my mother’s memorial service on the 24th. She would have been 88 on her birthday July 28th.  She taught me how to sew and was so passionate about sewing. I thought this would be a fitting and  special memorial to her. She loved beautiful things.

I designed and quilted this from pleated silk. The cross and medallions are from vintage textiles [the cross isn’t wonky on the piece even though it looks like it here]. The swag is made of ribbon roses. It doesn’t show well  but the heart is trapunto. It was difficult to photograph the white to show any detail and the light reflected differently on the flowers than on the cloth. There isn’t any visual difference in the two whites in person.

After her memorial service, I will store this away until the next family memorial service. I will make a label for the back with the names and dates for each family member it is used for. I hope it will become a cherished family heirloom.

Quiltart Quinceanera Online Exhibit 

It was announced today that this exhibit, celebrating 15 years of the Quiltart list ,is now open for viewing. Click on the link above to view the show.

There are some outstanding quilts in the show, created by 80 talented fiber artists.

This is my piece I created for the show. There is more about it on the exhibit site. If you click on the small thumbnail, you will be taken to a single page for each quilt. Most of the quilts have a detail button to see a closeup detail of part of each piece.

I will be teaching again for the first time in many, many years.  This is a class I have designed called “Beyond Surface Design”. I’m excited to say that there really are people who have signed up to learn the process of creating an art cloth similar to this. Will wonders never cease….and I owe it all to Quiltart list and the wonderful, sharing artists who are always free with advice and direction to solve problems. Without the list I think I would still be floundering without direction. Thank you  all!

Here are more pictures I thought you would enjoy. Just a reminder if you didn’t read the last post, these are of the Cotter, Arkansas Trout Festival. There are pictures of the old swimming hole, Arkansas quartz with my dear Ron and the Plein Air paint in.