ESCAPE to the ocean…
Well I love her
But I love to fish
I spend all day out on this lake
And hell is all I catch
But today she met me at the door
Said I would have to choose
If I hit that fishin hole today
She’d be packin all her things
And she’d be gone by noon…
Chorus:
Well I’m gonna miss her
Brad Paisley-The Fishin Song
The other day I went to the grocery store to pick up just a few items we needed. Seems like I spend a large part of my week always hitting the grocery stores! As I was standing in line I decided to snap a photo of my shopping cart. Looks pretty healthy doesn’t it?
This morning I was surfing around the internet and stumbled upon this interesting article about a photographer that decided to do a photo study on what families buy for a week’s worth of groceries. Check it out…
http://fstoppers.com/what-a-week-of-groceries-looks-like-around-the-world
In the blogging world I found something new to participate in each week. They provide a theme for creative inspiration. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog. Sounds pretty easy so let’s see if I can keep up. This week the theme is PATTERN. Patterns are everywhere! Sometimes they are intentional and sometimes they are accidental. I took this photo at the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Carnival. It is a tossing game where you are suppose to throw a ring on the Coke bottles. I love how the pattern of the Coke bottles caught my eye!
I decided to use Mother’s Day to write about a quilt I made last year for a special person in my life. We always laugh about how to introduce each other to people since I am no longer married to her son. Phyllis is my EX-Mother in law from my first marriage. But we always loved each other and continued to be close. I adore visiting her and love spending time walking the beach, talking and sharing my life with her! Phyllis was the inspiration behind making my first portrait quilt. I had taken a class with Esterita Austin at The Houston Quilt Festival on making portrait quilts. I was armed with a fabulous photo that I had taken of her on a previous visit and only a little knowledge. But I had the drive to push through this task and tackled this portrait quilt! Phyllis decided to turn it into a pillow so she could put it in her favorite chair.
OP ART, also known as OPTICAL ART, is a style of visual art that makes use of optical illusions. Flash back to 1964 and this is what you think of.
But now I am talking about MY original OPTICAL images. I was thinking of making a quilt out of them. I had my eyes tested recently and this is what they give you. Yep, you walk away with images of your eye balls! How cool is that?
This is an update to yesterday’s post about my Mini 20 Patch Quilts. This is my great nephew Henry after I presented him with his quilt. Isn’t he adorable? The pouch for his quilt is on his head.
I have been really busy in my studio these past few weeks creating baby/toddler quilts. I call them “The Mini 20 Patch Quilt.” Of course I made that up! My great nephew Henry had something similar with him the last time he was in town visiting. It was called a Tag Blanket. That is when the lightbulb went off in my brain. I thought, “I CAN DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT” but make it better! So I designed my own Mini 20 Patch Quilt to give as baby/toddler gifts. I think they will provide comfort at bedtime for small toddlers or a fun object to carry with them during daytime play or on car trips. What I especially like about my Mini 20 Patch Quilt is that one day it will be a keepsake of their childhood. Can you imagine in 30 years finding this small mini quilt tucked away in a box of their childhood memories? These Mini 20 Patch Quilts are only about 15″ by 11″.
The next step is to make them on a commission basis for people needing a one of a kind gift for the birth of a baby or a toddler’s birthday. Let me know!
Front view
Back view
Front View
Back view
Front view
Back view
I decided to try and make a quilt for this special exhibit. The International Quilt Festival will showcase quilted pet portraits in a special exhibit, Festival Awareness Project: It’s Raining Cats and Dogs.
This exhibit will be accompanied by fabric postcards made and donated by animal lovers worldwide, with sale donations benefiting the Houston-based animal shelter and adoption agency, Friends for Life.
Last month I was walking the trail at Memorial Park and Friends For Life had a mobile adoption truck parked on the street. They offered dogs as walking companions for anyone that wanted to exercise them around the three mile trail. I happened to whip out my camera and snap a few pictures. Of course you could put in an application to adopt one of these precious dogs! Check out the link below…
“We treat this world of ours as though we have a spare in the trunk.”
Since 1970, every April 22, Earth Day reminds us to do what we can to preserve this nice place we already have! Do we have any alternative? HELL NO…
How many pounds of trash does the United States create, per person, every day? About 5 pounds may not seem like much, but if you multiply it by 365 days, that’s 1,617 pounds of garbage per person over a year! The seven worst metropolitan areas for ozone pollution are all in California. No. 8 is in another state, MINE! Yep, Houston, Texas is the eighth area!
Americans dispose of more paper but it is also the most recycled material. I know that I love to use old magazines and newspapers for my art collages that I make. Here is one that I made recently:
It is called NEED WE SAY MORE? 20″ x 16″
I don’t think there is anymore to be said here…
To realize The value of a sister/brother Ask someone Who doesn't have one. To realize The value of ten years: Ask a newly Divorced couple. To realize The value of four years: Ask a graduate. To realize The value of one year: Ask a student who Has failed a final exam. To realize The value of nine months: Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn. To realize The value of one month: Ask a mother Who has given birth to A premature baby. To realize The value of one week: Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper. To realize The value of one minute: Ask a person Who has missed the train, bus or plane. To realize The value of one second: Ask a person Who has survived an accident. Time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have. You will treasure it even more when You can share it with someone special. To realize the value of a friend or family member: LOSE ONE. The origin of this letter is unknown, But it brings good luck to everyone who passes it on.. Remember.... Hold on tight to the ones you love!
