Good Bye To a Friend

A friend of mine in the RAFA group and our small QA group is moving away - to Texas.   I haven't gotten to know her all that well, but she asked each of us in the small QA group to make a page for a book she is compiling - to remind her of us.   I struggled with this - not knowing her all that well, not being able to interpret what I wanted in fabric...........and missing her good-bye party last Thursday.   I finally finished today (the 3rd attempt) and I like it best.   It says what I want her to know about me.

This is a sheet of scrapbooking paper
which I fused to a sheet of stiff peltex.
The paper is gorgeous and references
 happy moments of friends and family.

I told her first of all that purple is my favorite
color - referenced by the color of the sheet
and of the pen I used to write my good-bye.

  I said that I was a trained musician - piano.   I made the treble clef sign by making a stencil and then sponging copper lumiere paint onto an orange butterfly fabric.   (That fabric was to be my initial piece or page, but it just didn't work. 

I love butterflies - no surprise to anyone who knows me.      

In my art quilts, I am drawn to nature.   The small copper colored piece at the bottom says "Memories".  

I am happy with this, now that it is finished.

Baby It's Cold Outside..........but.........

My orchid just flowered............on the coldest days of the season, no less.   Crazy Flower!!!   At any rate, it is a welcome sight.  I love the orchids and am always amazed when they flower the next year!!   Two more to go - I hope they flower too!

Phalenopsis - isn't it pretty with its stripes!!!

Yes, I'm shooting into a window, but it REALLY IS that white outside.....I'm just saying........

The Chocolate Challenge is revealed!

Great art picks up where nature ends.........................Marc Chagall Quotes
Today our chocolate challenge quilts for our guild challenge were due and turned in.   What an awesome display of talent!   I can't wait to view the show in the Richmond Library in Batavia, NY during the month of February.   Everyone will be impressed (and hurrying out to our local chocolate shop, Oliver's Candies, to buy some chocolate.)

This is one of my entires - called "Melted Chocolate".  

 I did this entirely in silks.   I've always wanted to use

 silks because of their sheen and this doesn't disappoint.

 I like curved piecing (many don't), and it just conveyed

 the whole idea of stirring melted chocolate to me.

On the right is a closeup of the piecing and the quilting.

My other entry - called "Chocolate Covered Raspberries"   It is a mixed media piece
 using fabric, paper & yarns.   The idea just came to me when I accidentally tossed
 the pink circles onto a piece of brown fabric.  The paper around the edges is to
signify the fancy papers often found in a box of chocolates.

On the left is a close up of the swirl quilting in the brown fabric to signify the swirls on the top of a piece of chocolate.  

On the right is a close up of the circle quilting done in the border.

Circles have always intrigued me.

Chocolate Challenge work continues

Another teaser hint...........what's your best guess?

Do they look good enough to eat?

Saturday we turn in our chocolate challenge quilts.   I have two - this is a teaser for one of them..

Chocolate

There should be something revelatory about art. It should be totally new and creative, and it should open doors for new thoughts and new experiences...................Tracey Emin

I don't have any pictures right now because I'm working on the Guild Chocolate Challenge.   All can be revealed after next Saturday. 

But, I did like the above quote.   My piece I'm working on right now is quite different for me.......it is a new & creative idea using new techniques or materials.  It is being done with no thought as to how it will be received by anyone else (including a judge) - but only because "it came to me" while trying to do something else.  This is something new for me!

I may have 2 pieces for the show and the other is probably more traditional - for me................or is it???