A Plethora of Buttons!

 

What can I say, it's keeping me off the streets!

Buttons and Beads, Oh My!

Yeah, heres what happens to Quilt National rejects. They get worked on some more. As soon as I opened my rejection email I hopped over to Amazon and Button Galore and ordered a bunch of buttons. This should be interesting.  I should have done a "before" weight. If it gets in somewhere it will cost a bit to ship it. 

Anything for fun.

It seems my one woman show at the Zanesville Museum of Art has flown into the ether of covid. It's the times we live in. As well as the election results which seem to be a bit stinky. We shall see. If it really is Biden we have lived thru worse management. I liked Trump's get it done attitude but he was very brash.  A lot of impoverished people were getting jobs and improving their lives when Covid hit. It's sad. 

I have been doing a lot of reading on African history, it's a complex subject and one that is not taught in school. I took European history in college but there was no African history course. As an artist so much art was developed in Africa, Picasso is a prime example of borrowing from African art. He "borrowed" so much from them. I have been looking at Ifi heads in particular.

That and yard cleaning, thanks to the wonderful couple behind me that helped to de-leaf my yard. They have the cutest baby.

And I have been making small collages, largest is 12" x 16"

Keep the faith!

Buttons?

 I am glad to report 54 Olds was NOT juried into Quilt National. Actually none of my pieces were, oh well, their loss. I always figure the rejects are meant to go to other shows. One year I was disappointed not to get in but one of the rejects was juried into The Best of Show at the Ohio Craft Museum and won the $1000 grand prize. You never know. Anyway, I kind of figured 54 Olds was not finished and indeed I am going to do more on it. When I got the email from QN and I turned to Amazon and here is the shopping order. . .buttons, lots and lots of buttons. Stay tuned.

Beginnings

 

going under the needle

Round and round I go

 Yup, another one done. To be fair this is fairly small for me. But with the circular sewing I wouldn't want it much bigger. Too hard to get the lines on target as it was. I was playing with the mezzotint filter in Photoshop and had to get this one printed. I did it on chiffon. Originally I had bought a piece of decorator fabric that looked like a water color of pond water but it did nothing for the photo and its graphic treatment. The stripes seem to work, they emphasize the circles. Fabric is from Lunn Fabrics. Look up their Etsy shop for all kinds of goodies and their service is very fast!

And detail. Next on the list is a watercolor filter treatment of the same photo. I think that will work over the watercolor fabric. I'm thinking beads and sequins for a sparkling water effect. We'll see. I am also contemplating the blue car quilt, if Quilt National rejects it, pretty certain they will, I may add tons of buttons to it. That sounds like tedious work but fun.

Another one in the book

 American Beauty

and detail. A bit of hand embroidery, I need to keep the fingers active.

finished

 Hopefully finished unless I get another bright idea. 

And a detail I am liking the leaves I added. I haven't done ribbon embroidery for awhile but as I was looking for thread online I found 2mm silk thread in green shades, 5 spools to an order. Had to do it. I have blue shades also. It's surprising how shopping can give you ideas. I went to get a curtain rod as a hanger for one of my quilts and indeed up buying polka dotted and gingham ribbon in red for American Beauty. Not sure I will use it but it gave me the idea to embroider the polka dots on my aunts skirt. It adds to the idea for sure. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it!