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Friday 19 November 2010

Sunshine and Lolipops!!!

After ten days of grey and several vitamin D supplements, I woke up to this in my kitchen!!!  Whooopeeee!!  I jumped right in the light and let my face soak it all in.  : )

 
I can't even begin to explain how this warm glow of the morning sun just soothes my soul and makes everything normal again!  As soon as I'm done this blog post I'm heading out to shovel!  But first I want to show you the progress I made on "Grandma's Cabin".  

excuse the warp - the canvas curls a bit so it doesn't look right until I tack it down flat.

It feels strange to work so diligently on the building and then sew trees over it  ; )  But that's what I had to do to get it right.  I broke a needle while stitching the foilage.  

 
Can you see it hanging there on the thread?  Not bad - it's the first one.  I can't seem to set my machine fast enough - or move the canvas slower.  When I do this, I put the machine on an applique / grass stitch and then free motion quilt with that.  


I tried to show this technique off in my postcard class but it flopped due to a bent needle (I figured that one out later).  I'm chuckling, wondering if anyone believes me that it actually does work!   : )  

the hedgerow

I can hardly believe that tomorrow is the last day of my exhibit at the gallery.  Sunday morning I take it all down and then deliver the pieces to the buyers around the city.  It's always neat to meet strangers who like my art.  Someone bought "Black Eyed Susan" for a gift right out of the gallery!  I never got to meet her to thank her.  The cheque was mailed to me and (here's the lolipops) she wrote a little thankyou note for me right on it.  SWEET!


And then I picked up the last pieces for the preschool quilt and got this card from the teachers!  (Lolipop #2)


It came with a pack of gummi bears which I ate on the way home.  hehe  I feel so young and so appreciated.  ; )  hahaha  Today I'll work on thank-you cards for everyone.

So there's the sunshine.  sigh
And there's the lolipops.  ahhh
They makes yesterday seem not so bad at all.  Thank goodness last week is OVER!!!

the icy blue darkness is real.  i didn't photo shop this.

Have a great day!!
~Monika
Sewing in sunny Saskatoon

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You make me smile and feel all cozy inside :). Have a great weekend.
Stay inspired!

Gailanne said...

Hi, I just LOVED this post! Your excitement of the sun coming thru the window into your kitchen, along with the cool picture that captured it, really made me smile! I know that feeling too.

You are really blowin' me away with that cabin quilt! At first glance, I wondered how you could make the hedge, the grass, and tree so dimensional with fabric, then I kept on reading...the part that blows me away is all that stitching, not fabric at all! It makes it all look so realistic, INCREDIBLE! I never even knew that existed, you are AWESOME....thank you for letting me in on the process, I love it!

Congratulations on your art being displayed in the gallery, I can't imagine how good that must make you feel! Love the notes too!

Enjoy your weekend, wishing you all the Sunshine and Lolipops your heart desires!

monika@mysweetprairie.ca said...

You two are my cheerleading squad aren`t you! lol I think you compliments are more exciting than my blog posts! lol
Gailanne- there is fabric first for the hedge, but then I embellished it with a technique called `thread painting`. Google that word to see more. It`s like painting in a way because you keep adding colors until you get it right. The hedge was heavy green so I stitched variegated green&sage. That was too drab. So I topped it off with brilliant shiny emerald colored rayon thread.

The piece is 8x10. So its not a quilt... I love working with my own photographs too. That`s how it all started.

lollipops to you too!
Monika

Flo @ Butterfly Quilting said...

Ok, I have to admit...all day the song "Sunshine and Lollipops" was stuck in my head!
The Cabin piece is looking great! (and yes, we did believe that you could do grass with the free motion...hehe) I really appreciate you walking us through all the steps in your process, it is amazing! So creative. I am sure they will love this piece.

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