Remember the mixed media round robin collage that I am participating in with 10 other QA members? Well it is the end of the month and end of round one – time to send the piece I have worked on to the next artist. I woke up this morning and new what I was going to do. I received mine late because the 12th person had to drop out so it has been sitting in my studio waiting for me to get my act together.

I received this background on water color paper from Frances. It had lots of green with splashes of metallic and bits of teal. It has lots of texture.

Since I am doing round 2 of a total of 11 layers, I decided to enhance the background and not get too dimensional. I also decided to stick with the palette that Frances used, but to bring in some more value change.

Since the piece has an organic feel, I decided to use some leaf imagery. First I tested one of my leaf stencils on watercolor paper.

Then I stenciled the design using bronze metallic paint.

I then pulled out some of the leaf stamps that I carved last spring and tested them on watercolor paper.

I used gold and copper metallic paints. I then took this photo.

I felt that I needed another large image coming off the right hand side and that I needed to make more of a mark on the piece. I got out my spotted stamp and some turquoise metallic paint.

I t was just the effect that I wanted. I hope you can see the sparkly effect of the dots floating across the piece.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Rita has posted these photos of the second phase for mine:

This is a beautiful paisley motif. I think it may be beads and ribbon trim, but I am not sure. Here is a close-up:

M & M came over this afternoon and played in the backyard while I sat and did Perle cotton stitching on my current project. Then we went to Burgerville for supper ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù I just had to have frozen yogurt with fresh blackberries for dessert. Shame on me because I didn’t have time to get in the additional 1000 steps I needed tonight and now it is dark. Giving baths and putting the two of the to bed wears me out.

We finally chose a paint color for the living room and hallway. It is called oak. It is a pale yellow with a hint of brown in it. It looks great. Mr C finished the painting today. We had insulation blown in to the attic on Tuesday. Today, I was putting linens away in the linen closet and found a mess. They had broken through the ceiling and old and new insulation covered everything. Now they have to come back and fix it. I guess one of the guys finally fessed up to going through the ceiling.

If I don’t post tomorrow, maybe I will post from Seattle. It is our 42nd anniversary this week-end so we are going to Seattle for some fun.

Last night I finished hand stitching post cards and satin stitched the backs. Making postcards, for me, is like trying to eat just one potato chip. Once I start, I can’t stop!

A scanner darkly is not just the name of a movie. It is what I am calling my HP scanner. I don’t know what it wrong, but usually, I scan my postcards and get wonderful, clear images. Last night, I was scanning and fiddling and finally gave up and went to bed. Got up this morning and velcroed them to my design wall and took photos with the tripod. So here is the final batch, which, with those left from last fall that I didn’t sell at the Trinity Art show, will make 25 to send to Fiber Art for a Cause. There is a link over there on the left, if you would like to see a sampling of the cards which will be sold at the Houston International Quilt Show as an American Cancer Fundraiser.

SECRET GARDEN: This series was somewhat of a bust. I ended up with two. I collaged floral fabrics and machine stitched vines, etc and then put a fence in front.

SQUARE DANCE: This series is based on the small art quilt that I have been fiddling with. I collaged squares of silk fabric. Stitched. Then foiled square motifs to the fronts.

EUFLORIA: This series makes me so happy. I used a commercial floral fabric and batiks. I did lots of hand stitching with Perle cotton and added some beads.

These will be in the mail today, Virginia!!

Now, I must get ready for a girls only date with Mia and Stephanie. Miles and Mr C will hang out while we take Mia for a little fling before she goes back to school next week.

Mr C and I have been sneaking out of the house to look at new sofas. It is not that we don’t still love the old one. It has been part of our lives for 12 years. It was custom made for us with raw silk upholstery. It was big and stocky to fit in to a room with cathedral ceilings. The cushions are down filled and you can sink in to it and fall asleep or curl up and read a book or the morning newspaper. But we have moved on and that sofa just doesn’t fit in our Portland ranch.

Last month we found a sleek modern sofa with a wonderful gentle curve along the front. We waited until last week when the store was having a 15% off sale. We parked in front of another modern furniture store in the Pearl and decided to check out the furniture there. PH Reed is the Portland dealer for Della Robbia furniture, known for their fabulous fabrics. I saw a sofa that made my heart go pitty pat. It was a floor sample that was priced 40% off retail. David gave us two of the pillows to take home to check for colors, but I knew that sofa was coming home to live with me. We stopped at the other store just to cover  our bases and brought home some fabric samples, but there was no contest.

Today, the Della Robbia Logan sofa came to reside in our living room:

Here is a close-up of the upholstery which is sort of teal/gold/beige tweed and the lighter cushions are a pale aqua/brown tweed.

Look how well it goes with the teal leather in our chairs and the carpet:

So, the old sofa is coming down to my office where I can take power naps and do hand quilting in comfort.

I am still making postcards. I hope to finish them tomorrow and get back to  my other quilting.

Oh, check out my daughter, Lisa’s, new website that just went live.

I have committed to making 25 (quality) postcards for the Fiberart for a Cause led by the amazing Virginia Spiegel. There is a link t the left, if you want more information. The postcards sell for $30 each at the Houston International Quilt Festival.

So I am in a postcard frenzy trying to get these done and mailed to Virginia before the sixth of September so that I might have a chance of winning one of the wonderful early bird prizes. Here is my Cosmic Circle series. I cut up the Cosmic Circles art quilt which was giving me fits and I like it better as 6 postcards. On some of them, I have foiled some embellishment.

I apologize for the quality of these photos; I usually scan them, but the reflection of the foil and the organza was a problem.

This is a collaborative postcard. I found the pieced background at June Underwood’s porch sale/giveaway. I quilted it and added the Japanese kimono bamboo images. I call it Bamboo Fence.

I have two more series to finish and photograph: Square Dance and Secret Garden.

I bought this beautiful hand-dyed Perle cotton from Elin Noble’s booth at APNQ.

When I was looking at quilts earlier this month in New York, one detail I loved was the hand stitching with Perle cotton or heavy thread.

So, here is a sneak peek of some embellishment with Perle cotton on the new quilt. I was able to get it fused to batting and then M & M arrived for the afternoon and to spend the night. I have my priorities. I am stitching around the circles with an informal whip stitch.

On a personal note, I have been off Femara for four days. I don’t know if it is psychological, but I feel so much better ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù much less pain in my feet and legs.