Grandchildren Week!!!!!

My granddaughter and her Mommy were here for a week from Kansas.   Our house has not had this much energy and chatter......ever!    She is a very happy 19 month old and she endured lots of running and showing off and visiting.    My favorite thing was when she would look at me and if I wasn't looking she would get my attention, give me a kiss and then put her arms right around my neck real tight.    I could take that ALL day long.   I probably have 300 pictures, if I have one.    (well, close anyway).   I could post here and it would take you hours to get through.

For now, our photography assignment this week is "Dreamscape".    Melding 2 pictures together to get a dreamy effect - one image sharp and one image blurred.    Right now, I'm choosing between 3 of them - all of my granddaughter of course.

 This is the original photo - taken on my iPhone actually.    Ricky Tims says the best camera is the one you have with you - and that was it that day.    She picked the dandelion for her mother!

 This is dreamy #1, two color photos blended together - one sharp, one blury!

 This one I did something different and made one photo black and white and then blurred the color photo and melded together.   I like the "sort of sepia" look to this -yet a hint of color!

This one was taken when she was on our bed - on my quilt.   Two color photos, one sharp, one blurry!    I picture that this is how her dreamland looks as she is nodding off!

And, one just for fun!    She loved to pretend she was singing and she knew we laughed so she did it everytime the music was on.   Here she was holding my phone which was playing "Sofia" (her favorite) and she laid it on the piano keys, banging away and sitting there with her mouth wide open!!!!

6x6 Fundraiser Projects

One of our local galleries, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, has a fundraiser every year known as the 6x6 project.    You may submit any form of art as long as it measures 6 inches by 6 inches,   Thousands of works from all over the world are hung for viewing in the gallery and online purchase.   The purchase price for any work is $20 and as I said, this is a fundraiser.

I have been supporting this project for at least 5 years.   Usually, I make a couple entries, this year I did 3.

The top two pieces are actually from a guild challenge quilt which I cut up to make several smaller things. I almost like it better this way,   The embellishments on those are crystals....signifying rain drops or dew drops.

The bottom piece is a tree made of yarn which is hand sewn,   The flowers are all little French knots,   The birds's nest is made of yarn and threads and the robin's egg is a bead.  It is all done on white pintuck cotton for the background,   I don't do much handwork, but found this quite satisfying to complete.  I'm actually working on a larger one now.

Here is the link to view all the information and later you can view the thousands of artworks.   My fiber arts group is a big contributor to this.  http://www.roco6x6.org/6x6x2016_intro.php

Composite Montage......camera fun again.

Yes, I am still quilting, but having a lot of fun in my camera class!

This week's assignment was composite montage.   This is two photos...a photo of my white Easter Lily and a separate photo of my textured wall paper in the kitchen.     Layered together.....I have new wallpaper, or maybe a towel or curtain.

More Camera Fun with the Mini ice Storm

Today we had a mini ice storm - but enough to cover the Japanese Maple.   I decided to play with my camera!   Loving the photography class!

Too Much Fun With the Camera

Some of you know I am taking a Ricky Tims Photography Online Course.   I am learning lots about my camera and about editing in Lightroom and Photoshop.   This week the theme was "Shutter Zoom" or Rotate and Zoom.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Zoom on a quilt I made of a monarch butterfly on a coneflower.

 

 

 

My quilt - The View from the Ship in Bermuda

 

A sunflower and bamboo sticks in a corner vase.

 

Center of my Waterlily Quilt

and again......

 

Zoom and rotate on a birchtree quilt.

 

Copper Ornament on the front of the house

 

 

Mirror Image Fun

Winter in WNY - finally arrived all in one week!

We've had a fairly decent winter all in all - with very little snow.   In February, winter seems to have arrived all in one week - or one day.   On February 16 we received the most snowfall all winter - a record for one day - on that date - 16 inches in our front yard.   The weekend before it was below zero for two days.    I'm taking an online photography course and the challenge this week was "Black and White".    What a perfect challenge for an "all white day" on Wednesday!

The first photos are of my Japanese Maple in the front yard.  The first photo is pretty much how the day looked, the second is the editing for my challenge.   The last photo was just a fun shot of an almost buried fencepost

Photo to Fabric

The next show I will be a part of....showing two of my own photos printed on fabric.   Please come and view our show!   

Traditional vs Non Tradtional show at SUNY Geneseo.

I am happy to have 4 art quilts in this show and honored to be an invited, juried artist.   I hope to have more pictures later.   

Architecture......Quilt Guild Challenges Revealed

Every year our guild does a challenge which then hangs in the Richmond Library gallery during the month of February,   This year's theme was "architecture" which could be interpreted in an art quilt or with a traditional block such as "log cabin".  Every year we get the next theme in March, but most everyone is hurriedly finishing in the weeks following Christmas,

I chose to do a, what I thought was, simple design.   My idea was perspective such as hallway arches or doorways,   It was anything but simple and involved a lot of math which meant measuring and remeasuring.   I am mostly happy with the results........always a couple of things we would change isn't there?   I found this mottled batik at the fabric store which was referred to as "glaze frosting" but I thought it looked like stonework! The fabric choices and quilting were deliberately kept simple to allow the idea of perspective to be the main focus.

Camera Challenges

I am currently enrolled in a photography course which is giving weekly challenges.   This week the challenge was a window.   The weather is cold and the snow is here and getting out and about is difficult for this Raynaud's sufferer......let alone getting time to set up a tripod and play with camera settings.    I am really looking forward to doing these challenges in warmer weather.    However, I did go down to our local library parking lot and do some focusing on the church across the street.    I have always loved this window design and it was the first one I thought of.   This week we were allowed to do a minimum of editing which made it even more fun.   Although I have power lines (which in the future could be erased by editing) I am happy with the way this looks.  I think the reflections are cool and would love to play more with them also.

Challenges.......and so it begins!

A different kind of challenge for me.....not quilt related.   I'm doing a photography class.   Our first "non-class" challenge was "Winter Solstice".   It was cold and rainy here that day....I went looking for warmth.

Christmas full moon - 2015!

A full moon on Christmas is a rarity.....the last one in 1977 and the next in 2034.    Here are a few shots I was able to get.   The first picture is actually early evening on Christmas Eve.   The last 3 are Christmas night!

It's Christmas in Longwood

Here for Thanksgiving....some of the sights tonight!!!!

The full moon.....

I'm in Houston.....or at least my quilt is!!!!

Triptych...the Leaves of Florida is on display at the Houston International Quilt Show this week.   I am honored to be one of 25 quilts chosen to be part of Jane Dunnewold's "Digital Alchemy".    These are my photos, taken in Silver Springs, Florida and manipulated in Photoshop to form the triptych and printed on fabric by Julie Brandon of Red-Dog Enterprises,   The quilting follows the shape, form and texture of the leaves.

Georgia's Pearl.....photo to fabric

My latest photo to fabric quilt.  Georgia's Pearl hibiscus. My little Sisterhood artist inspired group decided to take field trips this summer with our cameras and interpret one of our photos in textile.  This trip was to the Lamberton Conservatory in Highland Park in Rochestet, NY.   My photo was printed on cotton  by Julie Stern Brandon, owner of Red-Dog Enterprises, Inc, and  quilted and embellished with beads and crystals.  (There were raindrops that day)

It's still summer in my gardens

The calendar says fall, but my gardens say "not so fast, we aren't done yet."  The impatiens are gone and I did replace with some fall flowers, but having trouble putting out fall decorations yet.

I have 3 clematis....one usually blooms twice a season, the others at different times but often only once....until this year.   All 3 have bloomed non stop once the weather decided to get warm.

This is the one by the front door that usually blooms late May and again in August.   It's still going .... since May.

This is a small one by the light pole that I rescued from overgrown brush when we moved here,   It has never bloomed more than once.....until now.

The one by the mail box....usually gone by now,   Speaking of mailbox, look at its companion flower....the Mandevilla.

This is the hibiscus started from A little 4 inch cutting two years ago when we wintered in Florida.  It's now over 5 feet tall.

This is our largest grass....of which we have many different kinds.   I think it will need to be divided.