Georgia and Secrets

This was how I spent my day off....

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This is an old piece I am stitching to my very first quilt I am still making.

Obviously, it is inspired by Georgia O'keefe and numerology.

Why I put the two together...who knows??? I have no idea! lol!

A very old blurry picture I took of the cook book I had, (which I can not find now).

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More pieces I am basting to the middle layer....

Also continuing to read a little...

More snow today!
<3

Summer afternoons

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I spent two days sitting outside in the shade working on piecing together this quilt. I have been basting the different quilt pieces to a larger piece of fabric that belonged to my grandmother. If you look closely in this second picture I have written "grandmother's fabric" on the photo, and you can see where I need to fill in with quilt pieces to cover the base fabric. The embroidered blue, pink and green basket was a very old pillow case that belonged to my late grandmother. It was ripped and was soooo old that to lightly pull at the fabric would rip it. Working with the pillowcase was like cutting a piece of butter and talk about soft to the touch!

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Also, in the lower right had corner is the rest of one of the linen calendar tops. I think am going to do some heavy stitching over that. I felt it was best to leave it as a whole piece rather than cut it up as I did the actual calendar part. (which is to the left).

For those of you who have been following me for a while, you will see some old quilt pieces have found a home here. I have been making quilt pieces and saving them for the right "spot" and this quilt is becoming the right "home" for those lost and forsaken little quilt pieces! (smiles!)

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Daughter #3 and a little summer magic : )




<3

Shadow of self and Grandmother

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I have been working on a series of hearts and this one is called "Shadow of Self "

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I have the basic pieces sewn down and now I need to embellish it. Not sure what direction I will go with
the embellishment. hmmm?

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Some fabric weaving with an old Linen calendar....

My grandmother had passed away and I was given some of her linen calendars. I remember she purchased them from me for a school fund raiser. You can imagine how old they are! They look brand new,
but it had to be at least 35 years ago! I am considering combining some of her fabrics with my
Spring quilt:

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Spring Quilt

I think she would be pleased....as I have said before she was a Cotton Farmer when she was younger and she always loved roses. I will have to see if I can combine it all into one quilt. (in a color sense)???

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Remember the sweet little kitty we took last October/November? We named her "Luna".
She is still adorable but, over the winter she took a liking to clawing my chairs I had recovered with fabric. So today, I recovered/repaired all the damage and Kitty is happily living outside.
I would prefer she stay inside but she was not happy to live inside and would run out the door every time we opened it. So, in complete exasperation we let her go outside. 

Lastly, two of my sweet girls playing around...

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Have a great weekend <3

piecing Spring...

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Playing with the layout of these pieces for the Spring quilt I began last year....

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I will add the butterfly piece, (from the previous post),
once I decide what else I want to add to it......
possibly words or just more stitching.

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Something fun!!!!
Love this David Marsh furniture........

 

can be found here:

http://www.surroundingshouston.com/detail.php?id=221

 

<3

manna

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a new piece I am working on, inspired by the Bloomsbury artist.....

and a poem I wrote:

I am a traveler from far away.

Across a bridge of stars I have known.

I hold the sand in my hand,

~but it is not mine to own.

Trinkets and treasures come and go.

They fade and wither.

Thieves and vultures always at your back.

I come to collect memories, 

and then,

I return home.

I am a traveler from far away.....

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Grandmother's quilt

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I spent some time today piecing together blocks of fabric I cut from clothes

that belonged to my grandmother. I noticed that one of the blocks had some holes in

it and rather than try to hide the holes, I decided to emphasize them. At first, I just

stitched a circle around each hole and upon inspection decided that it would be fun

to add a little more color to this little group of holes.

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A little bigger picture of the blocks I put together.

You will notice the slight white spots on the turquoise fabric.

I imagine my grandmother might have been cleaning something,

and bleach splashed on her shirt.

I am just letting the imperfections be a part of my "memory quilt".

The "imperfections" are my favorite part. : )

It brings character to the quilt.

de-constructing time

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My journey of de-constructing time has begun.

 My sister sent me two boxes of things

that had belonged to my grandmother.

I opened the boxes not knowing what she would have chosen....There are hand towels,

one embroidered tattered pillowcase, (my favorite thing), and clothes she wore. There is

a bit of fabric, nothing I would ever choose (too synthetic), but special, none the less, because my grandmother chose

it. I carefully unpacked everything and began cutting apart the clothes. Tearfully at first because the smell of the fabrics

and clothes reminded me so much of her and my mother...

Funny how our senses bring back so many memories.

Not long after I began cutting the tears went away and I decided it was indeed ok to make

the quilt and travel through the memories each little scrap of fabric would bring.

I am willing to travel down this road of (self) discovery....

                                   Begin again, knowing that those I love

are watching over me somehow and are probably amused at me and my

ramblings at times.

: )

Part of this new journey is learning new ways of stitching.

I have had the opportunity to take Jude's

spiritcloth.typepad.com 

Cloth to Cloth class,

http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/cloth_whispering/2010/12/cloth-to-clothvideo-series-1.html

All I can say is it is, fabulous and if you were even remotely thinking of taking

the course, it is so worth it! 

She now has it in a video/pdf format so you can work at your own pace.
She is so knowledgeable about fabric and stitching and she offers so many
helpful insights.

I look forward to practicing what I have learned.

<3

               

One of the items in the box was a Linen calendar from 1973. I am pretty sure I had something

to do with giving it to my grandmother. Back then, linen calendars/pictures hanging on the wall

 were quite popular.

I want to say it was some sort of school fund raiser and we bought one for my grandmother

as a gift.

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I liked the pictue part of the calendar for the quilt I am making, but I felt the calendar

part would be too much.

When I sat back and looked at the calendar and thought about my grandmother

I kept thinking ...."and there was time no more."

She had somehow stepped out of time.

So, I decided to cut off the calendar part and cut it into strips and weave

it back together.

At this point, I participated in Jude's online course and found new inspiration...

I will share more as I move along.

<3

scrappy and worn

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I thought it would be fun to go back in time and pull out some old photos of work I have

done since I am in "wait-mode" for a new camera. 

      Over time I have "fallen in love" with the scrappy, worn, torn, mended look .

When I am thrifting now I look at worn objects in a new way.

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 a bit of a cloth ceremony outside a couple of years ago...somewhat scrappy?

                                                                          : )

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I think over time these fabrics will "become" more  beautiful with a worn
patina, like the Velveteen Rabbit:

a favorite children's book.

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daughter #3's "Velveteen Rabbit" (Bun Bun)

repaired so many times, I can not even begin to tell you...

gone through so many little clothes that literally were

rags (I should have saved all of them!)

part of the journey of the h-e-a-r-t ...

<3