My Block Came Home

Stacie and I agreed to do each other's block. My block came home!
I forgot to take a pic of my naked block before I mailed it out. silly me.

But here's what it looks like now:






Isn't it fabulous?!







The theme was creepy crawlies


Stacie created a garden setting with a water feature


delightful flowers

I love the hint of an arbor and the climbing roses that wind their way across the block top and down the sides




I love that spider!

a dragonfly, a beaded tree, and fabric flowers

lots of little plants, and critters skittering about

I even have a frog prince on a lily pad





Do you suppose if I kissed him, he'd turn into a real Prince?  lol





Stacie has added a  delightfully light touch to this CQ, and I loved how she included a water feature. Beads and thread waves carry my frog prince ever closer.......

Thank you so much Stacie. I so enjoyed our 1:1 CQ RR. It was a bit of a challenge for me, but I certainly LOVE my block!
Hope you're having a creative day.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Inspiration Sunday December 4, 2011

Last week I left off here:

I've made some progress, but it's been slow going.
It's week 1 of our choir Christmas concerts, so with a dress rehearsal, and three performances, I haven't had as much time to paint as I would like.

on the left is my reference photo

I added more of the background and a few more reflections

this is two hours' work

a closer look

 I made a correction to the reflection on the stopper ring, added more background, refined some lines

after another two hours, I've added more reflections, added highlights, and brightened certain areas













As you can see, there's still more work to do


I love the results so far. It's just taking a lot longer than I'd imagined.



Maybe I'll be finished next week?

 Here's my quirky bird, spotted in a hardware shop, and rescued to come home with me. Don't you just love that hat?

 
a shot of the bay after the snow

Turtle Island with a white covering. The snow is  melting, now, in the mild temperatures





Hope you're having a wonderful Sunday. I'm off  to get ready for our concert. La la la la
Thanks for visiting
Hugs from Suz

Paying It Forward

I found out about it here, and Wanda found out about it there. It's paying it forward, doing a little something to say thank you, and gifting it to have it snowball.
To play, be one of the first three people to respond to this post, and I'll send you a hand-made gift. In so doing, you also agree to pay it forward, and send out three hand-made gifts, too. Okay?
Who wants to play?

Here's what Wanda sent me:

a postcard and a package.........wonder what's inside

 a lovely little traveling tin decorated with Wanda's beautiful tatting. Isn't it pretty?.........hm, there's something inside that tin...........

a pretty, decorated shuttle, needle threader, sewing needles, and a ball of tatting thread!
I love it all, Wanda! Thank you!




Hmmm, this is the second tatting shuttle I've received as a gift. Maybe somebody's trying to tell me something?




Hope you're having a creative day.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Inspiration Sunday November 27, 2011

Hello. Sorry I missed last Sunday: my satellite connection died a week ago Friday so I was without the internet and a phone for a week. So, you might think that would mean I got a lot done,  right?  Ummm, no.
It seems I also have a sinus infection, so I wasn't feeling up to much, I'm afraid. The meds gave me some unwanted side effects, so now I wait until Monday to call the dr. for another prescription. I'm sure I'll be feeling fine before long.
In the meantime, I did start my painting.
The Challenge:
card 1:-  choose your favorite color, and create a painting using different hues and values of the color. Use also the color you like least.
card 2:- paint glass arranged in an interesting way.
I first thought of broken glass, wondering how it might reflect the light and color. Then I thought of crystal and how the cuts in the glass fractured the light. I played around with several crystal containers, but finally chose the following:
The inspiration:

The decanter lid, turned upside down onto an old painting creates interesting color fractures

Once I blew up the photo and intensified the light, I could see more defined areas within the glass.
I wanted to capture the variations, so, although I used my favorite Antwerp Blue, and my least favorite Naples Yellow Red, in attempting to recreate the colors in the photo, I would have to deviate somewhat from card 1.

Since the correct angles would be crucial for a realistic representation, I traced the shape of the decanter lid, rubbed the reverse with a 2B pencil, then 'drew' it onto my watercolor paper.
Although I do want to paint a representation of the glass, and the color reflections, I am not concerned with photo-realism, so I didn't trace the areas of reflection.

I began laying in different washes of color

adding some background

This represents approximately four hours of painting. I hope to return to this over the next week and have a completed painting by next Sunday

My Christmas cactus has been blooming.

a shot of Turtle Island on a cold November morning.
the mist is barely visible, but I love all the different colors in the rocks and the reflections






It's grey and raining here today, but I hope you have a little sunshine in your day.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Surprises and Stitching on Sunday

I found a delightful surprise in the mailbox this week from Shirley in Australia. Look what she sent me:

A lovely card congratulating us on the birth of our first grandchild, a beautiful granndaughter


Did I tell you? DD gave birth to a beautiful, healthy girl mid-October. I'm a Grandmother! DD and family live half-way around the world in Australia.  sigh.

a wrapped Christmas gift to put under our tree
no peeking!

and my first Baby Brag Book! I'm waiting for pictures so I can fill the pages






Thank you so much Shirley for being so thoughtful!


So, I've been making a few cards for Babies:

This one is on its way to England, for a baby boy who will arrive in December

I painted the background, embroidered, stamped, stitched, and tatted

and tucked this tatted heart inside

This one is traveling to Australia to welcome Jewel into our family.

I found this copy of Workbasket in the local second-hand shop.
It 's from April 1954, and has an unusual tatted doily pattern. I'm testing it.

I also came across this booklet which has several tatting patterns I'm looking forward to trying.














The week has been grey and overcast, so I was unable to take pictures for my glass subject for Sunday Inspirations. The sun finally showed itself yesterday.

 It began to softly glow on turtle island

 crept further onto the shore

 then set the bay ablaze!


 what a glorious sight.







 I then snapped a few unusual glass shots. I'll be working on the painting during the coming week.
What projects will you be doing?
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day  November 11, 2011:   11/11/11

On the 11th Hour, Of the 11th Day, Of the 11th Month......

In Remembrance and with Gratitude.  For those who have served, those serving now, and those yet called to serve. Bless you and Thank you.

Inspiration Sunday November 6, 2011

Happy November!
It's not quite as cold this morning at -2C. And the sun is shining. Hope you're having sunshine, too.

The Challenge:-
card 1:-coat your paper with gesso and allow to dry thoroughly. Apply a second coat, creating texture effects. Dry, then choose a color scheme, and subject
card 2:- paint an analogous color scheme using the colors between and including red and yellow. Add a complement to one of the colors as a surprise.

This seemed a little too much like last week's challenge once I began.

dripping

spreading

textures into the gesso and printing

 1st layer of colors

the gesso dulled and lightened the colors, and I discovered that each new layer of paint I brushed onto the gesso, removed some of the paint underneath





 


adding the complement to the red: green



I added sprays of the paint colors to deepen the shades and to encourage color blending


I shall wait until this has thoroughly dried, and then I may add some inks to define areas and edges. Right now I'm feeling rather ho-hum about this painting.

 So, heres a pic of a card I sent out in the mail last week. I added tatted flowers to the plants in front. but forgot to take a pic of the finished card. Argh

 The Next Challenge:-
card 1:-  choose your favorite color, and create a painting using different hues and values of the color. Use also the color you like least.
card 2:- paint glass arranged in an interesting way.

a shot of the lake this morning

the water looks grey and cold









Hope you're having a nice Sunday!

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz