Art From Another Angle

I did a 5 day quilt challenge and my piece was accepted to be published. YIPPIE!!! My Quilting Arts magazine arrived this past week with my art work in it.



I thumbed through the Feb/March 2010 issue and there it was on page 67! (It's the orange and blue one on the right)



It's always great to see your name in print, but I must say that the last 3 pieces that I have had in submission have all been shot at different angles then what they were intended to be! Once I had one side ways and once upside down, but I would have thought it was quite obvious which was the front on this one! Oh well, I guess I shall know from now on to mark my subject, top, bottom, side, etc. sigh! I kept thinking I wanted to add more embellishments to the back, but I was on a deadline to ship it off that day and figured, so what it's the back, I will add more to it when it gets back from being photographed. Well so much for that idea! Oh well, at least they got my name right, which sometimes I have even had that wrong in publication. Too bad the publishers don't let the owners proof read. Anyway you are viewing the back of my vessel. You can see the front version yet here on my blog and you can see the steps in which I took to get there.


Leilani Pierson initiated the challenge and it was so wonderful to see how each one turned out so unique and different. Hope everyone gets a chance to try it to find the possiblities!

Subject to Recall

On Saturday, we took 4 cats up to get spayed/neutered even though they weren't our cats to begin with, but you know how that is! We just drove home and there was a dog on our porch! It's usually a cat magnet, but not dogs. Anyway, thought she would go away, and was just resting. Second thought, maybe she ate one of the outdoor cats! lol I have no clue what kind of dog she is, so did a bit of research. I think she's a short haired border collie from what I can tell. Somehow she ended up in the house as most animals do around here. lol



Doesn't she look happy!



You can't tell by this picture, but she has a little bit of white on her chest and the tips of her feet are white too.
She's so sweet, but I need to find her a home, as a smaller dog would fit our life style if we were to have a dog. I put a flyer in the post office so if it's someone in the area, I hope they come forward on the outside chance that she just slipped out of her collar and got lost, but somehow, the way she reacts when I let her out, she wants to stay close and not wander off. She gets along with cats and doesn't bark. I would say that she would be a pretty good candidate for adoption if we don't find her owners. I put her in a collar and leesh and we went for a walk for the past couple of days. She's a nice walking dog too and is shy when cars go by. So.... if anyone is looking for a nice dog, I can certainly hook you up!

At the moment it looks like we have 9 lives around here- 8 cats and 1 dog. Figured I had to give her a name, so named her Josie, as in........ Josie and the pussycats! LOL

It's taken a bit of adjustment having a dog around here. My husband packs lunch in the morning for work. I normally fix a sandwich, have left overs in a container for him to heat up or pizza and then he just grabs a piece of fruit and yogurt to stick in his lunch box. He also gets up early and has gone to work before I wake up. Well, anyway, the other day, I had opened up a can of dog food and put half of it in a container in the fridge. In the morning I was looking frantically for it. Looks like the dog was going to get a sandwich while the meatballs and gravey....well, it would be subject to recall!



hahahahahahahahhahahaha

Alright Biscuit, I don't think that daddy thinks that's funny.



O.K., but I'm still smiling!

Your Heart's Desire

I'm hosting a swap in an online art group, Fiber Art Traders ( F.A.T.) entitled Your Heart's Desire ATC. The ATC's are fold up jack knife style with brads. The instruction I gave them was free roam of what ever their heart's desire on subject matter and how they wanted to execute their work of art. The only stipulation was that they fold up into the size of an ATC when finished. The card itself was to be some fabric base with a stiffener such as Pellon. They could embellish as they wish, add magazine or own photos, stamping, painting, etc. I think this will be such a blast. I look forward to see what they will come up with. If you are interested in the group, check it out by joining here. It's a great group and there are other trades going on, so you can jump in any of them. If you have never joined a yahoo group, they will be great at showing you around or just give me a holler. Here are some that I have done for the trade.



I entitled this "If the shoe fits!" I had gotten the shoes from a book called Shoes by Linda O'Keeffe. The only problem I had was that there was only one shoe, so I did a mirror image of the shoe to print. Then I painted in the legs. The bodice of the woman came from this great site.They also have great face stamps which I used in the other photos that follow. As for the wings, they came from this site. It was on the Spring Garden Paper Dolls sheet. I also did a bit of water color to fill in the shoes and the queen fairy image. Although it really doesn't show up as well as I would like for it to, I add fusible crystals to embellish.



I entitled this one "A fish called Wanda with pearls from the sea!" I stitched the fabric for the fin and tail as well as adding some fun yarns. The pearls were in my junk jewelry collection. Because of the fasterns on the end of the pearls, it perhaps was a linked embellishement for a sweater or a shirt.



This last one I entitled " Skip to My Lou!" You can see by the words why she is skipping with a jump rope. Her face stamp is also one that I tinted with water color while the hair I used a flat brush on a background and painted 3 different colors of acrylics with strokes of hair and then cut out and added the face afterwards. Her arms also came from the Spring Garden Paper doll sheet. Her shoes are from this site. She has some really great freebies. Rian's work is hilarious! You will have to go to her work page there and under misc. to view that Kinky chicken! Sorry it wouldn't allow me to add it. Anyway it is worth looking at. too funky and funny! It should get your muse going along with all of the info here, so have at it and start an ATC! Vow to do more art in 2010!!!

Nice Tits...

...... and other birds too!

I have been told I have a nice pair of tits, so see for yourself! I figured the title alone will get others to read my blog! LOL

I caught these tits not out at the feeder, but on the back step helping themselves to the cat food! We have several birds feeding today. There are cardinals, juncos, starlings, sparrows, gackles, gold finches, morning doves, a downy wood pecker, black capped chickadees, blue jays and did I mention titmice?


The Tufted Titmouse (OR One Tuft Titty!) I know, go ahead and groan. lol



Taking turns getting cat food!

Besides small birds, I also had a large heron visit our pond. At first glance, he looks like he only has 1 leg.



I took other photos but they were quite far away and I was afraid that he would fly off if I got much closer. I watched him shift from one leg to the other as he stood on the frozen pond. Apparently they get cold feet too!



I was tickled to get closer yet, which usually doesn't happen before the heron flies off. Amazingly he did a 360 and allowed me to view him fully. Click on the photo to get a closer look at his remarkable fur coat! It's awesome!



As beautiful as the snow is and cold as it has gotten, I am already ready for summer. I can honestly say that this weather is for the birds!

A Journal's Journey

Today I spent a full day putting away Christmas decorations, washing the floors and doing laundry. I was also multi-tasking as I had a journal cover brewing on my mind. I had covered a composition book with some Navy blue fabric earlier with not a clue as to what I was going to do at the time, and finally decided on a sketch of a girl and it evolved from there.






I did a quick sketch with chalk.






I quickly covered the face with a flesh tone allowing some of the background to show through.




I then painted in the eyes and lips and working in more detail. I even auditioned a silk flower that I thought that I was going to use, but then settled on doing a title.



I liked it as it was, but I also used some glitter glue to make it sparkle!




My First quote was added which reads, " You have to be a little patient if you're an artist, People don't always get you the first time."~ Kate Millet

The Wurst New Year!

It's now 2010 and a new decade! How did you spend bringing in the New Year? As for us, we had the "wurst" new year! It is tradition in this area to eat pork and kraut for good luck, a tradition amongst the Germans. I made a wonderful casserole with bratwurst, potatoes and kraut. The flavor adds so much to the dish and even my son's girlfriend who doesn't like saurkraut, ended up getting a second helping! It can be made in a crock pot or a casserole dish.



The Wurst Dish

6-8 potatoes boiled with skins on
6 or more brats
6 stalks of celery
1 onion
1 package of saurkraut
1/2 cup vinegar
2 TBS or more of caraway seeds

boil potatoes and set aside. Chop celery and onion. Saute. Cook brats until done. In a crock pot or deep dish casserole dish, quarter the potatoes and lay on the bottom, Add, sliced brats along with the celery and onion mixture. Pour on 1/2 cup of vinegar and the kraut mixed with caraway seeds. Heat in the crockpot for 3 hours or in a casserole dish at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Feeds 6 people or 1 German!