Fall in New Hampshire Part 2

While in NH, I made a trip to Keepsake Quilting. What a great shop.  It is a lot bigger than I anticipated and I also didn't realize that Knitworks is a part of them.  My mom would have loved that:)

 

We spent an afternoon in Meredith, NH and that was a cute little town....  Very picturesque on a lake!

 

At Loon Mountain they hold the largest Highland Games in the country.  We were there for the 37th annual games.  The setting was beautiful, the food was good, and the music was just wonderful!

When we arrived that morning, the mist was still hanging in the mountains and it was chilly and overcast.  By 11am the mist had cleared and it was sunny and 70's---Beautiful!

Here is the Caber Toss.  It is pretty amazing to see them run and throw this huge telephone pole! There was much grand standing:)

This was the moment that brought me to tears!  There were hundreds of pipers assembled and annually they pay tribute to friends and loved ones they have lost during the year.  This is done by playing Amazing Grace on the pipes:
One lone piper starts the song followed by a dozen more in the second round with the rest joining in on the 3rd round.  That song gives me goose bumps normally but hearing hundreds of bagpipes in unison put me over the edge. It is extremely moving!

So I wanted to go north for the color and although not peak, it was still so beautiful and invigorating to me!  I love taking rushing river pics too so I had a fabulous afternoon doing just that.

I can't possibly explain how much this environment does for my brain and my creativity.  I always feel like someone put me into high gear.

This particular river only had one lone red tree but it made a great focal point.  And it wouldn't be any fun to be here and not climb out on a rock in the middle of the river and take some action shots, right?  I could have sat there all day listening to the water!!!

Our day finished off with some real Maine Lobtahs that our friends had done for us when we got back.  This was my first lobster as an adult.  I didn't think I liked lobster......I DO:)

I love birthdays!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME:)

Somehow I can't truly believe people that say they don't like celebrating their birthdays...What? A whole day devoted to you by people who love you-what's not to like??

 

My husband's gift to me this year was a trip on the Seminole Gulf Railroad Murder Mystery Train.  We boarded the Gin Lizzy for a 3 hour Prohibition Murder Dinner. What a fun night!  You board the train and enjoy a 5 course dinner while being entertained between courses by the Shady Ladies and Irish criminals.  Guess the murderer and win a prize at the end of the night.

 

Gorgeous Roses from my daughter, Lauren! She also sent me the DVD of South Pacific-the original version. I have been wanting to update my musical collection and she is very willing to help out!

My other baby girl, Devin, sent me an antique butter mold...How cool is that?! The etching is great! This is a beautiful piece full of inspiration for me:)

Mom worked her magic with yarn and knitted this beautiful shawl/ scarf for me.  I hope when you click on the photo, you can see the fantastic beadwork she added as well.  Now I just need the weather to cool a bit here!!!

Two very lovely friends sent me these goodies above.  Susan sent me yardage of fantastic orange batiks!  Oh what to do with them???? There were other fun things in the package as well, including homemade Snickerdoodle cookies (really for my husband:) and this little notebook that actually contained many sizes of sticky notes...She knows me so so well:))) 

Kathy sent me some of my favorite pumpkin cookies that only come out this time of year along with some of her artwork.

Lastly, I treated myself to a class to learn a double reverse applique technique by Ellen Lindner.  I took the class with a local friend, Rhonda, whose birthday is this week...so much more fun to take a class with someone.
I was able to actually get the top done in class (plus I stayed a bit longer:)  Not sure what I will do with it but the technique works and Ellen is a wonderful instructor.

Next time your birthday comes around, embrace it!  It is YOUR day!!

Off the Wall Friday

Here we are at another Friday and what has gotten done?  On my design table is some beautiful Northcott Stonehenge for an upcoming project that I can't disclose yet:)  It is exciting!

 

Next I have a test of a very geometric design that I am playing with.  It is soooo NOT me but I am enjoying having a new challenge.  I am shooting for a Frank Lloyd Wright-esque look and hope to accomplish it with some softer colors.

 

 

This one I am really enjoying.  I love handwork and what better hand work than a Cathedral Window block.  Does this look familiar to anyone?  It is the Pittsburgh Steelers logo and, yes, the pic isn't rotated correctly.  My daughter and her boyfriend are fans so this will be part of a pillow set. 

Stay Tuned!

Since it is Friday, if you go here, you will see more wonderful works in progress by creative wonders.

Fall in New Hampshire Part 1

This year for our 24th Wedding Anniversary we took a great trip north.  Autumn was just arriving and I was lighthearted and merry.  Those of you who know me well, will understand that Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year and I sorely miss it here in Florida.  The mornings were crisp and humidity free-it was wonderful! We packed a lot into 2 weeks so the adventure will be broken into parts with today being part one.

 

Florida to New Hampshire is a LONG drive so we broke it up over 3 days stopping in Savannah, GA and Baltimore, MD along the way. 

The stained glass was in Savannah and it was lit so beautifully.  I really should have taken a picture of this earthquake bolt I saw.  Have you heard of these?  They are the decorative stars you see on really old buildings and I always wondered what they were. In Savannah I saw one in the shape of a spiderweb-very cool.  Of course the question is were they real or a scam??

 

The Baltimore stop was convenient but also sentimental.  Jim and I met and were married there as well as our first daughter being born there.  Whenever we stop there we can't help having those, "remember when" conversations.  The Harbor has really grown and it looks like the city is making a real effort to bring it back. Yay!

 

While in NH, we stayed with some dear friends.  They own a wood turning gallery there by the name of Birch View Barn.  The work is phenomenal! 

Back in September I showed a piece I was working on here.  Now here it is in the gallery waiting for someone to come purchase it.  It looks so beautiful in that setting.

 

Our friends had a few days off so that we could get the complete tour of New England including Nubble Lighthouse in Maine.  It was perfectly picturesque!

 

The lighthouse is out on a rock island and the only way the caretaker could get there was on these lines you see.  At the far end you can see a small boat that the caretaker would get into and wench himself back and forth from main land to island.

 

I love this picture partly because it is so hard for me to get Jim into one:))  He is the love of my life and I am thankful he let me have this one for our anniversary!

 

We also took a day to head into Portland, ME.  There was a time we were almost stationed there and we had some curiosity about what we missed.  All of New England is so pretty in summer and fall....just not sure if we would have loved winter there.

 

Of course you can't go to New England and not do some antique shopping.  There couldn't have been a more perfect antique for me to find than this wonderful whalebone needle case.  The needle case part is obvious but I also love the basketweave design that reminds me of the Irish Belleek porcelain.  Plus, I have been fascinated with scrimshaw, etc. ever since 6th grade history class when we spent a portion of our year studying whaling.  What a perfect treasure for me:)

And Yet, another direction

Last post I spoke about the direction of my work; and yet, here is another direction entirely that I also love to work in.  Somehow painting the piece vs. printing a photograph before I do my thread painting makes it feel more my own.  When I wrote of this in the past, comments were very favorable toward the work and time involved in getting a good and balanced photo and they are absolutely correct.  Good photography is a skill set unto itself.  I don't claim to be a very good photographer and so the thread enhances them, in my opinion.  The texture of a thread painting is another draw for me as well.  These have become my Threadscapes and they keep me excited.

 

View from covered bridge in Indiana

This newer piece is painted on watercolor paper during a class I was taking.  Watercolor really appeals to me although I am not very good at it either-yet!  What I am excited about is the detailing I will get to add as I start painting with thread on the machine.  It may not sound like it will make a big difference but the next picture shows my point.

 

Here is Majestic and how it came to be .   When you look at the before and after, is there any doubt that the stitches add depth and richness to the painting? This piece sold promptly at the next show I entered it into which made me very proud.

 

Do you have a favorite method to work in (raw edge fusible, painting, dyeing, abstract, etc)? Do you concern yourself with whether all your work should be in the same style or do you like to have 2-3 different styles?

Today is Off the Wall Friday so please be sure to see what other wonderful styles our fellow artists are working in here.

New Art feels great

Making New Art feels so freeing. 
You may remember this piece from my 2009 post.

Tributaries Copyright 2009

I had so much fun creating it and I'm not sure how I became so sidetracked that I didn't do more of them.

Now I am getting excited again about this direction of work.  The above photo is the back of the piece and the below photo is the finished piece mounted to mat board.  It all came together nicely from having just the right sketch to just the right fabric to showcase the sketch to the beads and the mat board.

This will hopefully be going to a gallery in New Hampshire; and, as with all my work, there is a small bit of me that wants to keep it.  I just love it!  Now the hard part of naming it......

Come see what some other artists are working on here.  This is a weekly art blog hop called Off the Wall Fridays.

'Til next time:)

Back into a Gallery

 

I have to say, it feels good to be getting back to exhibiting my artwork.  I have a few pieces at a local Art Council space in Tarpon Springs, FL. Plus......

When I lived in NC, you may remember that I belonged to an art quilt group named Artrageous.  I left my challenge piece with them since there was some talk of us having a group exhibit at a local gallery in Greenville, NC.  Sure enough, here it is.

 

We are on exhibit at the Emerge Gallery in Greenville, NC.  This piece looks so much better on a white backgroud since you can really see the shape of my personal piece and the colors really pop for all the others.

For a better look at all the pieces, you can go to this previous post.
http://nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com/2011/03/artrageous-challenge-reveal.html

Of course, this isn't our first exhibit....Here is my Fractured Flower from the 2008 challenge.  It was very interesting to see what happened and although I didn't think it would work, it really does.

Our Fractured series was exhibited at the Inkstone Gallery in Greenville in 2009 and you can read more about these at the link below.

http://nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com/2009/02/fractured-flowers.html
I am very proud of this group and wish them all the best going forward!