Trish's Quilt - You're not allowed to look at this post Trish.

My bosom (boy did I have a hard time spelling that!) buddy, Trish, has this way of saying...

"Goooooood Gaaaaawwwwwddddd"

that is hilarious

and

says it all.

So, I made her a quilt for her birthday - which was at the beginning of the month, and just finished it yesterday, but won't deliver it until I visit the States in May.

Anywho, I used a buncha, buncha surface design technique practice pieces on this quilt and named it...

Good Gaawd - That's Somethin!?!

Of course, we don't know What it is...but it's somethin.

This shot came out a little too dark...

and this one a little too lite...

But it's done...thanks to a little advice from my dear friends, Davida and Jeri...and Trish! 

I've Been In the Play Room...PLAYING!!!

I think...no...I know that painting on fabric and paper is one of my 

Very Favorite Things 

to do.

I have one of those five or maybe it's 10 gallon plastic bins full of fabric that I've done some sort of surface design (SD) technique on (and 17 more bins full just waiting for me).

I used to save my "special fabrics" for something "special" but a few months ago, I ditched that stupid idea and now I always go to my SD bin for any and every project.

After all...

EVERYTHING I make is special. 

Maybe not to you or anyone else...but it is to me. 

And I've found that I love working on a project that much more - if that's even possible - because of the beauty of the fabrics I'm using.

And in my mind...they're beautiful. 

Some of these scraps are smaller than my hand, and there are those that think I'm a little wacky for "wasting my time" on them...

but I LOVE, L-O-V-E, love every little smidgeon. 

Most of what I have, has been given to me, bought at a yard sale or thrift store 

- or - are clothes that I've cut up.

I've dyed, painted, batiked, burned, melted, stamped, stenciled, written on, mono printed, rusted, done image transfer...and pretty much anything else you can do to a piece of fabric...

and can't WAIT to try the next thing.

As Sue Benner taught me, and my mentor, Carol Holsopple has reminded me - over and over...

Layer, Layer, Layer.

And Wow! It really does make a difference.

Anyway...I really MUST get back to the play room.

I have 18 bins of fabric that are demanding my attention!!!

A Day Late and Three Hearts Short

I sure do wish my pictures loaded faster.

I spend more time sitting here waiting - than I do writing - and blogger won't allow me to continue writing while it's downloading...

So...


I'm going to load pictures of my last few projects and get back in the play room!

The above is a picture of the little valentines I made in the last few days. 

Unfortunately, I didn't think ahead so I only passed out three of them and didn't get a picture of those first. I never seem to be 'ready' for a holiday.


These are the close ups...

Here is the only picture I got of the cards - along with the hearts - before I turned them into pins.

Sophia got to pick out her Valentine first...

then I delivered one to Hillary and her muchacha -

and I can't wait to pass the other 13 out to friends and family!


On another note...

I've been participating in The Sketchbook Challenge and have submitted my very amateur doodling pages if you want to take a look/see. There's a button on the left side bar that will take you the website. Participants have been loading their art work here on flickr.

This is the last Sketch I submitted...

And...

since this blog post is about my latest projects, I just have to show you my necklace.

I told you about my awesome group of quilters that I'm meeting with each week and shortly after I'd joined them, we met at my house. 

I had a zip lock bag of scraps and challenged them (6 of us all together) to take 1/6 of the bag and make something of them. They were game so I divvied up what I had.

A couple days later, I was finishing up my Let There Be Peace On Earth And Let It Begin With Me art journal and wanted to put beads on the binder clips that hold the book together. I ended up using beads I'd made previously with a few new ones added in.


That got me thinking about that little pile of scraps - the challenge scraps - so I set out to make more beads.


Here's most - if not all - of what I started with...

Then I made a buncha, buncha beads...

64 to be exact.

While Sophia worked on her mommy's 'pre' birthday card...

I took several pictures of the completed necklace, but just couldn't get it to photograph well...

This view of it has the hairy yarn wrapped around the three strands which I also used to tie on the beads.

Tomorrow when I meet with my group they want to learn how to make it.

Cool - huh?!?

Can you tell I'm getting tired?!?


Can't think anymore...so I guess the play room is out of the question for tonight...but I'll be in there tomorrow...excited, motivated, and just plain ole happy!



Goodnight!


Create Your Life,
annie!

You can bet the farm we had a great day on it!

One of my new quilting buddies, Bertha (pronounced Bair-ta), and her husband, Alberto (whom I called Alfredo one time too many), own a charming ranch which sits along the banks of Rio Magdalena - a little south east of Barranquilla near a small town called Salamina. 

If you heard about the horrible flooding that happened in Colombia a few weeks ago...this area was pretty hard hit. You can see from the picture below, which is part of their farm, that the flood-waters took away lots of the river bank.

Jerry and I were blessed to be invited to spend the day with them at the finca this past weekend and I'm so glad we went. 

The first time we met Alberto, he told us that he drives down to work there 2-3 days per week and Jerry (being a farmer-boy) told him he'd love to go to help out and to please call whenever he needed a hand.

When the call came inviting both of us to go...I readily accepted but then started worrying about things like mosquitoes, the weather, what shoes to wear, what in the world I was going to do all day, and on and on. 


Thank goodness I said yes before I thought about it because the pictures in my head were vastly different from the way things actually were.

We had one of my favorite days here in Colombia! 

We began bright and early and waited eagerly for Alberto and Bertha to come pick us up. I had packed my bag the night before which included hand work, nail polish remover with cotton balls, a book, my sketchbook and mark makers.

(Weeelllll - Bertha told me I might want to bring something to do).  


As it happened...I never pulled ANY of it out. We were having too much fun!

I was dressed in my army fatigues under which I had slathered so much skin-so-soft (to repel mosquitos) that I was worried about offending everyone in the car. Thankfully, we kept the windows open most of the way there.

Another couple, George and Margie, were also invited which was delightful to me because they're both simply wonderful people.

Carlos came too but you'll have to wait for a picture of him.

Alfredo needed to stop at a hardware store on the way and they laughed because I got out to take pictures while he went into the store.

I so wanted to take home some little peeps.

When we turned off of the main road, we saw the tents that were set up to house families that were flooded out of their homes. 

We had to take a ferry across the river and I couldn't imagine what it would be like because they called it a barge...but I was game.


When we arrived at the ferry there was a little problem with a truck that was about to slide off of the roadway, which had been built up since the flood, and had pretty soft shoulders. I was amazed to see the number of trucks and large equipment in line to go across...

We ended up sitting in line for over an hour but it was a pretty cool experience because we had breakfast there. We got out of the car and walked down to the river where they had food cooking - with coffee and cold drinks.

This shot was taken from the ferry. We sat in the second tiki hut up on the right.

 
We passed the vehicle in the next picture on the walk down and I wanted to show it to you because in every little town we passed, there were dozens of these - used for taxis. Some were pulled by motor - others attached to bicycles.

This man made delicious bunuelos and empanadas!

Anyway...here we are - all fat and sassy. There's Carlos on the end...

It was fascinating to watch them load the ferry...

I was pretty happy Not to be on the one pictured above as I felt it already had enough weight on it. You can see the raised area in the back of this picture...which is where we climbed up to - to sit out the ride across. Bird's eye view.

When Bertha saw me taking pictures of these boats (below) she told me they were called jun-shuns. I repeated it a couple times and Margie said, "You know, like the name of one of your Presidents". 

OH - Johnsons! 

They named them that because the motors were Johnsons and had the name written on a plate. One of these in the picture is actually a Yamaha motor...but who's counting.

They look really cool going down the river...

Once we got off of the barge...

it was a matter of minutes to the farm...

After we stretched for a minute and had a shot of rum...


we took a tour...

Gallos and gallinas roam freely

an occasional farmer rode by

water supply for the animals

idyllic setting

What's that Gringo doing here?!?

Turtle Soup

A great place to sit and shoot the breeze - and catch the breeze.

side view -kitchen window - a family lives here and takes care of everything on a daily basis

burros and horses live here

The wife/mom of the family who lives at the farm made THE best San Cocho!!!

On the way to the river.

And there's Jerry - fishing for another invitation to the farm!


We loved it and thank you so much Alberto and Bertha!!!