Recently in Opal's Littles Category

This piece is my response to the Creative Therapy catalyst, "What Was Your Childhood Like?" The public library in town was my favorite place where I spent many many hours. That grand building held so many possibilities...I remember when I was finally old enough to peruse the 'adult' section. I wanted the structure of the building to look childlike, with the colors of those wonderful stained glass windows. The books are selvage edges of fabric. The little embroidered flower is a bit of my mom's hand work. I machine quilted, and hand stitched the bird's tail in gold thread.

Posted on the Creative Therapy site this week.

Last week was a busy one for Here2There. We had to set up, tear down, and set up again for two shows within a span of five days. The first show was at the Four Springs Preserve on Camano Island, a beautiful retreat center with a lake, woods, and open spaces.

We had five pieces accepted in this show. It was the first time this group had included fiber art, and the response from the members and viewing public was wonderful.It is always good to get positive feedback on your work.











Our small art quilts were displayed there with watercolors, oils, sculpture, jewelry, and pottery. It was an exciting blend of art. The show ran three days, and even with lots of rain, the attendance was good, and, we sold one piece....woohoo!







Two days later I set up our booth at the holiday shop in the local coffee roaster facility. This show runs through the month of December and includes
arts and crafts from artists in the area. We are hopeful that the pieces we have been making will find new homes. Of course, I stop by as often as I can to rearrange and, yes, stand back and admire the totality of our work displayed there.

In a few days, another assortment of Here2There pieces will be delivered for the next show. This one at the grange in the tulip fields up north. That will be another post.

Oh no!....Can't be! Four weeks? You say maybe five? Could I be so far behind? I counted on my fingers: the week before vacation; two weeks of travel; and two (going on three) weeks home. I am indeed behind. So, I knew that yesterday I had to finish at least one of my journal quilt pieces...the one for week #37. I call these weekly journal pieces my "Littles"... I have been making one a week since Dec. 2006. Many of these are posted at Flickr.

The word for my journal piece for week 37 was "Wish," and, as I do, and as it is, I started with an idea, just a nugget of an idea. I cut my three layers to 8.5 x 10", and started building up the layers by pulling pieces of fabric from my stash...adding this, taking away that, needing that tiny piece I knew I had hand-dyed several years ago in that class over there....finding it in one of my many plastic bins. And, bit by bit, my vision of "wish" became. Once all the pieces were secured with a glue stick, I started quilting, adding more swirls and loops, curves and circles. I held it up and realized it needed a frame...and without a second's hesitation, I randomly sewed on tiny beads around the raw edges.

"Are there birds on it?"....Oh no!....Wait!...This year I have included a bird in each week's Little....so, I pulled out my wire drawer of bird fabric, and found two that would work. I cut, fused, and ironed them on, each one sweetly embedded in the design. Ahhhh...I was finished with "Wishes"...."Find a penny (heads up) and make a wish." And, "Three wishes upon a star." Check back for Week #38....