Colorful Circles

I've been meaning to post the quilt that Jean Morrison made for me as part of the Blockhead exchange. The inspiration I provided was a photo that I took of some clay circles (my favorite shape) attached to a wall. The original photo was pretty interesting . . . but I still had to to play with it to improve the colors. Here's what it looked like when I was finished.And here is the quilt that Jean made for me. Wow, did she ever color my world. Thanks Jean, I love it. She picked my name again for the challenge next year! BTW, Jean is a wonderful photographer, you should check out her website. I wish she would post on her blog more often (hint, hint), but she's in the middle of remodeling her house (I know the feeling).

I Madonnari Festival

Every year at the end of May, artists converge on the Old Mission in Santa Barbara to decorate the grounds with colorful chalk drawings. The I Madonnari Festival began in 1987 and has grown into a very successful fundraiser for the Children's Creative Project. Approximately 25,000 people attend the festival. Here are a couple of my favorite drawings this year.

The foreshortening on this hand is fantastic.
I love this composition; it draws you right in.
The weather has been so strange here, I can't tell if it's winter, spring, or summer. We'll have one day with record breaking temperatures in the 90's, and the next day, it's 65 degrees! The honey bees know it's spring though because my Hebe bushes are blooming.

My beloved camera (Canon Rebel) went to Greece without me! My husband went to Athens on a business trip and brought back some great photos. I'm the one that's always taking the photos, so I was really impressed at how well he did. I told him that I liked doors, color and texture and he came back with these fantastic photos. I LOVE THEM.

What a guy! How many people have photos of Greek Graffiti?

Templeton Outdoor Quilt Show

Kathy heard about this outdoor quilt show in Templeton and asked me if I wanted to go. Templeton? Where is it? Turns out it's an old fashioned town, 160 miles north of us. Quilts hanging outdoors is unusual, but the real draw for me was the architecture of this sleepy little town. Off we went, with my trusty camera in tow.The drive along the coast was foggy, pretty typical for June. As soon as we turned inland, the fog lifted and the temperature began to rise. Fortunately, for us, there was a breeze. Turned out to be a great day. The town was a blast from the past! There were a few innovative quilts and many traditional ones hanging in front of the businesses along Main Street.

My camera found Templeton to be quite photogenic! There were lots of OLD buildings in various states of disrepair. I couldn't resist the shadows and textures on this old building.

This bright turquoise door caught my eye. I suppose I did a little trespassing to get these photos, but nobody seemed to care.
Not sure what this was in its former life, but the patina was wonderful. It made me think of all the fabric rusting experiments I've seen lately!

Happy Mother's Day

I hope you have a wonderful day! I thought I would share some flower photos with you. Enjoy.

The Perfect Day

I work late quite often and have many comp hours built up. So, I decided to take the day off today and do whatever I wanted. I didn't do any laundry or dishes; I didn't even make the bed! I spent the morning taking photos and this afternoon I painted a yard of white fabric I found when I cleaned my studio. Then I met with my ATC group and exchanged some great cards. Mike and I went to the beach and ate dinner. It was a perfect ending to The Perfect Day.

My next post will have photos of the fabric and cards.

Terri, from Stegart asked for a closer look at the flower quilt on my design wall. It isn't quite finished, but is very close. When I started this drawing, I was thinking of how nature appears to a small bug on the ground.

The background fabric was painted very lightly with dye-na-flow, then the flowers were painted using dye sticks and water soluble crayons. The background texture was created by rubbing dye sticks across the fabric with plastic canvas underneath. The bee and butterfly were embroidered on my Viking.

Fun with Photos

I really enjoy photographing nature. It's always fun to play with Photoshop to see what happens. Sometimes, an interesting photo becomes spectacular with the help of a few filters.

These palm trees were shot on a very cloudy day. It created a very moody, almost eerie feeling.

This is a photo of a flower on a Lily Tree. The flowers are around 12" long. I tried growing one in my yard but didn't have much luck.

This is a close-up of a Canna leaf. The colors and stripes are magnificent, I love them the way they are.