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...

goodbye january...

i just love january.... it starts off with so many hopes and plans.... and one never knows in january whether they will be fruitful or not...

the weather goes from a snow storm to the 50's days later... the snow gear has hardly had time to dry when we are pulling out short sleeves again...

today i spent cleaning up the studio and doing finishing touches on some game boards for you... off to idaho, massachusettes and texas by the end of the week...

january i am pushed to decorate. the tree is down and the house is somewhat organized. the perfect time to change what is on the walls... move a large mirror from here to there... placing my collection of kitty babendreier's work so that i always see them....enjoying the scent of my forced bulbs in every room and looking at paint chips (again) for the family room... it follows naturally, moving towards new plans and finishing things. a time to redo for that in between time of spring and birds....

winter has been cold. lots of snow and school days at home. the snow has been to hard to sled some of the time, so we wish for a warmer temp. so soften up... this is the perfect snow for sledding, soft and held together, but not a slush... and the sled flies!

i thrive on music... and i just love it when i fall upon an artist that i just love from the first words that are sung....

i found this video on youtube... autumn lozano, sings, plays and writes her music... i can imagine that there are millions of beautiful voices out there, many waiting to be discovered, and who chooses those artists for us? i sincerely appreciate a singer that is a songwriter, there is a link from the soul to the listener... a form of exposure of their deepest thoughts. if you like her music as i do, she has a site... perhaps we can push her up to the top to be heard http://www.autumnlozano.com

hope....dream....create

one more year has passed... it gets harder and harder to believe each year... and the older i get, the quicker the years go by and the less i seem to get done...

i am not one to make resolutions on new year's eve... i learned that in my youth. it's a disappointment to have such high hopes at the beginning of the year and to be horrified weeks later that, yes, once again, i gave in to my 'old self'...

i prefer to spend time thinking of what i hope to do this year, where i would like to visit, hoping for new friends to enter my life, hoping for health and for the energy of a 20 something... hope that my family doesn't run away and will still eat my burnt food.... hope that i will do well at creating and living... and that i will teach somebody something that is vital to their future... yes, it is a lot of hopes...

i dream of an organized life (i know, that's sad), but it means so much to me... if my nest is in order than i can create, if my home is in order i can sit at the table and play board games, order opens my life to new ideas, friendships and things that i enjoy to do.... and if awards were given for chaos and confusion, time spent looking for something, that i would win.

i hope to create more, whether it's wonderful dinner for my family and friends, new art, new ideas for my nest...to work on my poetry and photography that takes me away into a whole other area of design...start needle pointing a pillow and collage...

those are the things that i think about....that i will move towards.... my whisper to myself is family comes first..... when i'm off into one of my little worlds i breathe that message to myself, they are what is most important to me... and in the end of the journey, that is what i will look back on....

i hope that your dreams come true and that you create a wonderful year for you and yours.... and that you have peace...

mmmm.... just some ideas for you....

yes, it is that wonderful magical time of year where the snow is beginning to fall, the fire is warming the room and the smells from the kitchen are drifting and calling us to dinner....

it is the time when i attempt to find the most wonderful gift for my family and friends.... it takes a lot of thought, i'm not one to just go out and look and buy, i come up with an idea of something that i think they would love and that touches a personal part of their heart.... what is their favorite thing, where is their favorite place, what is their hobby and hearts content....are they fun, serious or a romantic...and so i search and search....

i wanted to share two of the artists that are carried with jen at earth angels (please see link to the left under places to shop)... all of her artists are just wonderful, but these are the two that i collect myself and share as gifts.... be sure to go over to her site and browse her other artists, i think you may find the perfect gift to give...

jennifer lanne.... whether it's her florals, landscapes, farm life, or my favorite new pieces, the prize pieces (above)... her paintings line my home and each and every time i see them, they make me feel... whether it's peace, a pick me up....or a smile...from tiny to wall claiming sizes, there is always a place to put jennifer's work...

kitty babendreier.... what can i say about her pieces? they are fun! kitty takes the smallest collected object and turns it into a story piece.... whether romantic, funny, hobby, or girlie.... her pieces throughout my home make me smile... i just cannot surround myself enough with these little story pieces finished with an old frame....

ahhhh.... december is finally here....

a most wonderful time of year.... magical.... i love december.... there are so many wonderful things that i love... family gatherings, parties with friends, playing in the snow, cutting of the christmas tree, decorating with the sweet smell of pine... and glitter, lots and lots of glitter...

and so it began... we took a carriage ride to see the lights around the lake and to visit with santa....as you see, my youngest is still not real comfortable with the knee sitting... he said he was trembling because he had never met someone that had lived forever before... and as you can see eli is a character in his own right...

by tradition, the first saturday of december is the day the 'men' set out to find the perfect christmas tree.... it is a time for me to spend in the kitchen drinking eggnog, calling my family and creating new foods for our tree decorating party later that night... it is a time where being outnumbered by men, i can carefully decorate the table, place the china and make a centerpiece... it is a time where i can use my heirlooms that were passed to me from many generations and think about the love i feel for those people now gone... a time to show the 'men' that there is another side of life, a time for beauty, manners and grace... a time that isn't a part of everyday, sadly, that it once was...

and while i'm lingering in the world of timeless beauty they are climbing the mountain looking for the perfect tree to bring home...

it's always fun to see what tree they drag home and to hear of the ordeal that they went through.... we are the christmas tree capital of the world so you can imagine the number of people that come up the mountain to begin their tradition of cutting their own tree....

a friend of ours has a tree farm on a mountain, the best tree farm, so off they went... and here are some pictures of their day.... and yes, there was a donkey walking around, along with too many goats to count up and down the mountain....

hayrides and dogs rolling on their backs beggin' for some lovin.... and finally the perfect tree....

so it ended to be a beautiful day and a beautiful night... the tree was trimmed, and of course, it took several more hours than anticipated.... the usual in this household, ran out of lights, dashing to the store... etc... just like thanksgiving, when the turkey was still frozen and ran 3 hours late... but we are in no hurry here, things are done when they are done....

oh, how can it be?

i cannot believe it has been nearly a month since my last update... time sure does fly, and goes so much quicker the older that i get!

just to give you a quick update of the past month... i went to the wonderful wilton, ct., art show. it was just amazing to see all the talented artists work that i had seen on sites, stores or in magazines... i met quite a few new artists, trading our goods... and sweet goodbye's promising to stay in touch.

it was a long long trip to ct., especially for sara and i. we were excited knowing that the husbands weren't going (we do love them so.... but)... we wanted to be able to stop along the way... it seems that when "our" men are driving they are racing with time... who made the best time! so as we left home, before we were even out of town, our first stop was to the coffee shop, mocha's and muffins to go... we giggled at how wonderful it is to be able to stop.... well, to give you a heads up... it took us at least an extra 4 hours just to get out of nc., (which it is not a long way to va. from here....), but we stopped at the places that our husbands always said 'next time' too, and gobbled it all up...

it was a beautiful drive, full of fall colors still changing in areas, our were long gone by now... and the farms, dairy farms, were the largest that i had ever seen... and being an iowa girl, i have seen some wonderful farms... i always just want to go and knock on the door and ask them if i can stay for the day and watch....

first stop was to mayberry.... perfect time for lunch and to head over to floyd's barber shop... we ate at the local diner that is famed for it's pork sandwich....hmmmm.... my stomach was beginning to hurt...then over to the infamous blue bird cafe for sundaes of homemade ice cream.... my stomach was really hurting... so after just leaving in two hours we had eaten and eaten and were both feeling not so great....

then we headed over to floyds barbership and found it was closed that day but we ran into him walking down the street and he was happy to unlock the door and take us in anyway.... and boy, what a flirt he is! he has over 150,000 photos in his shop and sara and i will now become part of the legacy... so i've added pictures of mayberry, the road trip, my booth, and the hershey factory... where for the first time with me, chocolate actually won and i swore it off forever.... forever lasted almost a week.... and then down to my wood cutters shop in va, valerie and john who have helped me for nearly 10 years now... off to pick up more wood for painting.... always on the job! so enjoy the pictures.... and now i can move on to this magical december... and home with my terrific family...