the little box that could

sort of like the mild mannered Clark Kent, this box should be wearing a Super Man cape

my friend wanted the contents to be put to good use, and she thought of me

so she packed up the box, and sent it along

problem was, she didn't have my new address -- so it went to the old address

and after a VERY long time, it went back to her -- causing a flurry of messages back and forth -- WHAT?!

she very kindly shipped it out again 

and because it wasn't delivered until long after the rest of the mail, I didn't see it there on the porch (heaven forbid the mail man would actually ring the bell or knock!) on the only day in weeks that we had rain

so when I opened the door to get the paper the next morning -- there it was -- slightly forlorn looking, damp around all the edges

fortunately it's contents were not something easily damaged by a little moisture!

and it's a gift received at just the right time and just the right thing -- perfect materials for some rusting and dyeing projects I have in mind for a new quilt series

thank you!!

last week was filled with lots of "arty" things

a few years ago I entered some pieces in a show that runs regularly in Fort Collins at the Lincoln Center

I didn't get in, and I had never had the opportunity to go and see the show so I could see what the pieces that "make it" look like

so on Thursday we took a drive and took a look

it is an amazing show!

now I understand why those first fumbling attempts at art quilts were not good enough to get into this show

and I have a bar to aim out for the next entry

Thursday was a big day for Mr Cute too

his first day of Kindergarten

we can say I'm a really proud grandma!

on Friday I attended my first session of a Master Class with a teacher in Boulder

this piece was the one I took with me to work with because it was the most portable of the in process pieces

 

 by the end of the class I had made some big changes in this piece

some rearranging of the trees, adding more ashy ground on the right hand side, less sky so you actually are drawn into the devastation of the fire

I have some more work to do on this that came out of the class too

this is going to be a great opportunity to improve the quality of my work

 Saturday I was out again, "hob nobbing with the wizards" as  the DH says, attending the very first meeting of an art quilt critique group that a friend of mine and I organized

I took the forest and the farm pieces to get some other eyes on how these are progressing

got some great suggestions on how to make these pieces better too

since I was out and about so much during the week, I didn't get quite as much work done on some other things

this is the very last of the leaves for the Greek inspired piece, and now I'm working on the collar -- maybe this week I'll actually get it finished!

work on this sample piece continues

I've used some fabrics in here just because the have the correct sort of patterning even though they are not traditional cotton quilting fabrics

so far so good!

it's peach season

and it's become a yearly ritual for my sister to bring me a box (or sometimes more than one) of peaches that she gets from a group at her church direct from the orchard over in Palisade

yesterday was the day, and I invited her to bring mother along and spend some time with us for a while

which of course meant we would have lunch, and I made a great peach cobbler for the occasion -- messy, but delicious!

I also invited my daughter and her family to come and spend time so my grand son could get a chance to know his great grandmother in a less stressful and confusing time than holiday gatherings are

not long ago I ordered in a big tub of perler beads and the tools to work with them, thinking of them as something my grand son would enjoy

yesterday by the end of the afternoon, just about everyone had been at the table sorting colors, making patterns on the bead mats

my son in law was remarkably productive, creating the set of four coasters for his recreation area, my daughter put together the parrot, my grand son created the free form vehicle and my mother put together this cute little bug piece

it was in my mind a very successful gathering!

I hope to have more of these

this week will be a bit less busy -- the DH and I are going to quilt show on Friday, and there will be the usual errands for groceries and a trip to the hardware store, but I hope to get in more studio time this week

time to get to that laundry then on with more fun activities!