Tuesday, May 24, 2011

the butterfly effect

 
the "butterfly effect"
I am stitching this gifted butterfly quilt piece to a new piece of soft green fabric in celebration of Spring/Summer.
I cut it out from it's original piece of fabric because I wanted it to go with a Spring quilt I am working on.
I started it last year. More to come....

The Butterfly Effect - From Quantum Physics "...our thoughts (like Butterfly wings) create movement, and this movement, this energy, ripples through existence and affects all of existence.
Everything we do and think affects not only our selves, but everyone and everything around us and beyond.

I was at the local health food store and they had local farmers
sharing their plants for a small fee. I bought this cayenne pepper plant
useful for so many healing things, but good for salads too!
I also bought lovage, a celery like herb. It was explained to me
that it would grow longer than celery??? We will see.
lastly, I bought some basil, and paprika along with some seeds.
Hopefully I will have better luck this year.

<3

roots

I have been thinking a lot about where I was brought up and what a home really
is. I have been thinking about  the things that have influenced me along the way.
My roots are from the South. I grew up in Tex-azz, if you pronounce it
the way #3 daughter does. Thank goodness my younger  children do not have my accent. They speak
with an Eastern accent although daughter #3 is a good imitator of me.

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daughter #3 and me. (She is the creative one when it comes to photo editing.)

She has a style all her own and that is another story....

My children roll in the floor with laughter because I have a hard time pronouncing certain
words and they never cease in delighting in correcting me.  Anyway, back to influences....

Living in Texas, where everything is bigger and it truly is a country unto itself...lol!
I was influenced by my grandmother and the fact that she was a cotton farmer in her younger days.
I know it was hard work and I remember her describing being out in the Texas heat and picking cotton. She spoke of her mother passing away when she was a teenager and how she had to care for her brothers and sisters and how she walked a long distance to get to school. Also, she told me how she would get up in the early hours around 4 a.m. and make homemade biscuits. It was a different world than what I live in, but somehow it holds a bit of charm and simplicity for me. 

Also, living
in a Black, Hispanic and White community gave me a love for painting and sewing black dolls.

I became really interested in little black dolls while living in California. I came across a small
town, Temecula, sounds like "Dracula",  where I found the most charming handmade black dolls and I did collect a few, but was inspired to make my own.

These are some repeat pictures, but I will be posting a new Spring post later today, so bear with me...

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antique postcard
a bit of a painting I did......

I do not claim to be a great painter but I do consider my work to be Folk Art and I like to think of it as Outsider Art because I am self taught in all that I do: Painting, embroidery, sewing, etc.






another little painting I did that was influenced by my grandmother.



Making  little dolls....


the doll with an embroidered face, minus her hair....



a wee tiny doll that I made and hand painted the face....

So, back to the word  roots and the word home.....

They mean a lot of different things to people and for me something that I treasure the idea of.

"People come home for a lot of reasons. They come home to remember. They come home because they’ve got nowhere else to go. They come home when they’re beaten. They come home when they’re proud. They come home looking for a door out into their past or a road out into their future. They come home for a lot of reasons, but they always come home to say goodbye." ----Alison Clark
                                                                                                 the movie TAKEN, by Steven Spielberg


Best of all I like the quote: "Home is where the heart is"



<3

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

quiet broken



I have stitched the word "broken" in a softer color so it has become "quiet".

 The stars are stitched in a fabulous metallic thread by DMC. (E130)
I have used metallic threads before but I really love the colors in this one. I am not really much of a
"bling" kinda girl, but this thread called my name when I saw it. lol!




        My daughters laugh at me because they say I need to be a member of 
Socks Anonymous and Thread Anonymous. I have a thing for socks and thread.
I would say two useful items, so not a bad thing to be obsessed with.

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SOCKS ANONYMOUS!



I am loving this vintage-y goodness:
http://magnoliapearlblog.blogspot.com/

or this:

and this video talks about how she began:


Have a great day!





Tuesday, May 3, 2011

broken

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A precious piece of fabric from Africa....

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This piece started off as purely a broken heart piece.....



I just happened to pick this card up and read the meaning. I chose to
add the meaning into the quilt piece.
(Note: the cards were a gift from a dear friend)
I love synchronicity!


The meanings of the card:
enjoying affluence
having material abundance being free from money problems enjoying business success feeling financially secure
seeking permanence
looking for a solution that will last creating a lasting foundation feeling secure as things are being concerned with the long-term having an orderly family life moving beyond makeshift arrangements nailing down the plan
convention staying within established guidelines
proceeding according to the rules
taking part in traditions

Also, I happen to be listening to this song at the time:






daughter #3 shared this song with me...love the voices.


I am always curious what inspires others to create and thought
I would share what was inspiring me in the moment....