Hello and hope you are just enjoying the Summer or Winter, depends on
where you are right this very second. You might want to grab a cup of
tea, coffee or iced tea for this post. I fear I am going to wander (
AKA bunny trails ) a bit. When I start these posts to say hi I never
have an idea and "just shoot from the hip". That is a funny expression
isn't it? When I was doing my professional photography and I would go
to a competition and such, some people would come up to me and ask me
how I did this or that or what setting did I have the camera on. I
would say don't know, I just create what I feel with my photography.
What kind of vibes I get from my client and how we connect. My clients
would just let me play and I was so blessed with them for allowing me to
just create . One of my best friends was a photographer ( she is in
Heaven and I know she just grins even now at what I do ) and she would
say she "shoots from the hip" and just beam ear to ear. They would
just walk off and shake their heads. I was not a technical person at
all and did drive some of the technical photographers nuts. I still
do that with my painting and stitching. No plans of what I am going to
do and when I get up in the morning I try not to plan just play-just
do. It is less stressful that way and of course when we mow the yard
that is planned and a given. I guess I am still shooting from the hip.
I think it is easier that way.
Now I know a lot of you
wonderful people probably planned what you wanted to do when you grew
up. Me? No way, I figure what will happen will happen. I guess now I
sound like Doris Day in her song
Que Sera, Sera ( be sure and let the video open to the one it wants to )
with what ever will be will be . So now you know what makes me tick?
Maybe. It is kind of like when we were kids playing cowboys and
Indians, some days I was a cowboy and some day an Indian. Those were
such fun days in the Summer with our pretend bows and arrows and guns.
Sometimes our guns were pistols and sometimes rifles. It all depended
on what size sticks we found on the ground. OR when we played mud pies
or with our dolls and made their houses out of cinder blocks. The boys
didn't play dolls but the mud pies? Oh sometimes those were the best
mud fights ever. No planning just doing.
Ok back to
my wanderings or bunny trails. I have been working on Alice in
Wonderland Crazy Quilting blocks. I have them all done but just
teasing you with August's block today. I love the whole story of Alice
in Wonder Land. I can't remember if I told you what prompted me to do
this project? Hubby got a book of it when he was young, very young
like in 1944ish. I thought how fun it would be to do a CQ project with
the wonderful drawings. So here is my August page.
I
loved the spider, they are suppose to bring good luck. I figured in
the wacky world little Alice was in she might need a lot of luck. Now
the Dragon Fly are just a few dagger beads for the wings and then some
smaller beads to finish him off. I do have to tell you about our Dragon
Fly's here in Lubbock Texas. When I mow the back I always wear
goggles because they come so close and sometime bonk me in the head. I
know they don't mean harm but I figure to protect my eyes while they are
flitting around and following me every inch of the yard. I mean every
inch. Remember we have an acre and that is a lot of inches.
Gerry Kruger suggested to me to do some stitches outside of the "box"
also know as the ciggie or silkie and of course that was right up my
alley. There are several versions of the drawings and I did choose the
older drawings because they seem to have the most character about them.
Now on one of the blocks I did use a newer version drawing but it
just called for it.
This
was the newer version of Alice's drawings. I added the Rabbit, of
course the Cat and a close up of Alice and did what Gerry said go out of
the "box" with the stitches. It is fun to challenge myself and try
different ways to do the stitches and be inspired on the stitching from
Facebook and Pinterest. Wow there is so much information out there
now. It is mind boggling . That is another subject.
Now
I have to throw in a few drawing/paintings in here also. You just
have to keep learning and doing. One thing I did learn on this next
one is when you wander around your sketch books and find something to
enhance and just doodle around with. FIRST make a copy of it on nice
thick paper, watercolor paper or something that is sturdy. Why you may
ask? Welllllllll if you could see really close this poor girl has some
holes in her eyes and around the piece. Seems like thin thin sketch
paper will only take so much abuse and erasing and then it just
disappears into nothing. Thank goodness her eyes are in the shadows
isn't it? I had forgotten about this girlie and had sketched her a
long while back. I cannot remember what the stuff coming from her neck
was suppose to be so hair it became. She is probably saying" hahahahah
I got to get out of the sketch book" to the other girls. Holes and
all.
Now
this faerie is several years old and found her in a stack of paintings
so she gets to come out and show her stuff. I know she is at lease, I
think I know, 2 to 3 years old. Well in painting world that is. You
may ask, or not, why do you spell Faerie the way you do instead of
Fairy? My cousin Juanita had written it that way and it is an old way
to spell it. So I thought that I had to spell my Faeries that way.
Nothing original that I came up with. I do remind myself that there is
nothing new under the sun. Nothing!!! It has already been done.
Alright
I am not going to wear your eyes out today but will try and try hard to
write another piece in a few days. Thank you so much for stopping by
and seeing what is going on in my world
XOXOOX
Annette
