no shadow here.... phew

i wonder how much time each year i'm hopeing for winter....the snow that is. i've finally realized that it is only the snow that i long for...

the bright white across my view.... the discovery that each snow fall is different and holds it's own special place... does it cover every tree branch which is a picture of heaven on earth... is the snow packable so that i can make a snowball or is it perfect to roll for the snowman.... or is it a dry snow, which exsists like dust, just blows...or is it to hard that you cannot sled on.... in the early morning of a snow you can follow the footprints of the night animals that have passed through and see where their burrow is...

i find that i like to watch the roads change too... from the covering to the clean plowed... to even the driven through and the sides of the plowed snow have turned black from the traffic.... there are so many things to find of interest on a snowy day...

but it is the snow that i love.... not the cold.... cold without snow, why? it makes me long for spring and to the budding of my garden...

a short winter for us.... our groundhog didn't see his shadow...

the quilters of gee's bend....

click on the different photos to see and hear different stories....

it's here!

my interpretation of gee's bend quilts...

the introduction of game board designs based on "gee bend" quilts.... "The Quilts of Gee's Bend ", tinwood books, atlanta

I’ve received so many emails about creating these game boards … so many of you are familiar with gee’s bend quilts and the quilters from Alabama …
But for those of you who are not….it is fascinating and I encourage everyone to read about the history and people of gee’s bend…their quilts are highly collectible and have been exhibited around the country.

The women of gee’s bend – a small, remote, black community in Alabama – have created hundreds of quilt masterpieces dating from the early twentieth century to the present. The book – “Quilts of Gee’s Bend ” tells the story of this town and its art.

As we know when we quilt we are stitching pieces of ourselves into each quilt…it reminds us of what we were doing at that time, perhaps how old our children were, were we stitching with our friends… the same is when I create a new game board, it contains not only my artistry but my future memories as well…

I’ve created 2 new pieces in my limited edition series … gee’s bend quilts are full of color and history… I’ve combined the color with the history of the game board design…

I hope you love them…. I truly feel they are so special…
If you would like to order…. Please do so right away…. They won’t last very long … this is truly a collectible, a combination of so many artists, their lives and their work made into one…

valentines.....

it seems that the original story of st. valentine, is a little bit murky... the 'st.' denotes the catholic religion, but apparently there were several st. valentines...

my general understanding is that whichever st. valentine that this tradition was named after was willing to die for his belief... whether it was the belief in the tradition of marriage for the young men, which at one time was being denied so that the young men would go to war, or for the safe treatment of christians... whichever was the original meaning, both were founded by love and courage...

love does take courage... and courage is driven by love...

instead of the commercialism of this holiday think beyond that... the ones in your life that you treasure, from family to friends, neighboring children and their family, extend your hand out a little further and do the unexpected... there is a great surprise in that...