Hi Everyone,,
It has been a while since I updated my blog.  Not going to go into any great detail about where the year went other than to show you some of the work that I have done on this quilt. 

I added the words "Once Upon a Time" because I wanted to give it a story quality and perhaps even a fairy tale story line around the quilt.

I worked on the knight today.  This was inspired from a tapestry from the 1300's.
There were 9 dots and then 11 dots in different colors on the shield and then repeated on the horse.  I will have to get the picture out and show you in my next post.

I loved finding this more Celtic looking dragon...makes me want to find other dragons in art and reproduce them in my quilt. 

Here is an over view of what I have so far.  I don't necessarily plan to arrange my blocks like this. I like to decide that when I have a little more of them put together.

I wonder if you could give me a list of things or elements that you would like to see me put in this quilt.  I have not read a lot of medieval books, so this will be a new area of study for me.  Maybe you have a favorite book that you think might inspire me.  Would love to add that to my reading list.

Thank you for stopping by.  I will try to update at least once a month (thought I would set a small goal and maybe it would grow larger).

~~~~~~Snail~~
                                       

 

IS IT A BIRD OR A PLANE? NO....

It's ALIENS!!!

I didn't realize that you couldn't see the space ship armada coming in the sky.

So here is a close up.

I didn't have this in mind when I picked the fabric,

but I really like it!  It reminds me of ancient art.

Just to take you back in time you might like to go to this link where there are UFO documented in ancient art

http://www.crystalinks.com/ufohistory.html

BLOOMSBURY GROUP AND OTHER INSPIRATIONS

I have been busy on my dragon cloth.

 If you look close you will see something up in the sky.

I like adding a surprise or something unexpected,

 to expand the imagination, to throw one of guard and to look closer.

What is really inspiring me today is this new book Bloomsbury Needlepoint book

 that my friend Ancient Cloth sent me.

A lovely book that describes a group of artist inspiring each other and the world at large.

 

The Bloomsbury Group — or Bloomsbury Set — was an enormously influential group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists^[1], the best known members of which included Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strachey. This loose collective of friends and relatives lived, worked or studied together near Bloomsbury, London, during the first half of the 20th century. According to Ian Ousby, "although its members denied being a group in any formal sense, they were united by an abiding belief in the importance of the arts".^[2] Their works and outlook deeply influenced literature, aesthetics, criticism, and economics as well as modern attitudes towards feminism, pacifism, and sexuality.^[3]

 ^{This wooden pencil holder feels so fragile but so beautiful.}

^{This is the lush life.}

^{I have a collection of cloths that Ancient Cloth has made for me.}  

^{This latest one is called "Shrine" and is a wonderful addition.}

^{I need to start creating borders and paths to connect these cloths together.}

 ^{Here is a close up.}

^{Beautiful!!!! Thank you!!!!}

^{(I think she has a lot of courage to used metalic thread to make french knots with.)}

The Evolution of a Dragon

I wanted to show you a picture of the dragon

 before I started work the dross of  thread over the body of the dragon.  

I loved working with such different patterns and using my threads to merry the sections together.

The claws on the dragon kinda look a little bit like the Chinese dragon to me.

I like "crossing" over  different periods of art and different cultures.

I am working on seed stitching the mountain.  

You can see the close up of the tail and body in this picture also.
I wanted to give the dragon a kind of chameleon effect as if he was effervescent.

It has been fun hand stitching and "changing" the look of these fabrics.

You can also see that I have finished the clouds and the sun edge.  

Here is a link to an explanation of the Vision of the Year of the Dragon 2012.

I hope this inspires you to make your own dragon cloth.

Hope I didn't scare you but I just wanted to share my evolved "view" of the dragon..

FINISHED

 I finished my hexagon quilt Sunday.

  It took 8 years to finish it.

  I had a goal of making a section once a year for 6 years. 

  The section was 7 hexagons across and 52 rows down. 

It was all paper pieced and all hand sewn and quilted.

There are more than 3,000 hexagons in this quilt.

This quilt reminds me of a gum ball machine.

It is not a very heavy quilt, great for summer weather.

I like the honeycomb effect of the quilting on the back.

This was a great project to  pick up and take when you were going to have a wait.

 

MAKE A WISH

 I love the slow ritual of making a cup of tea.  

It is the contemplation and infusing that creates the space to reflect.

The Wishing Fountain.

I used to love wishing fountain when I was a child. 

I would look at all the coins dropped into the water with a wish.

 I wondered what their wishes were and how many of them came true? 

Who knows how things evolve into reality? 

Maybe it starts with a wish.  

.

I think this was a beautiful way to Celebrate the future.

So my fountain contains a "cup" for the wish or intention.

Below is a place where I can put a Word for the day or the week.

The Cicada is my totem animal.  He is a hermit like me...but sometime he comes to the surface and sings.

MOON DANCE

 This is my contribution to the Full Moon Art challenge that Woman With Wings, Peggy challenged us to make in January or before the next new moon.   Peggy  is a herbalist, fiber wanderer, moon-watcher, homekeeper.  I love reading about the different phases and the energies associated with the moons influence at her blog.  She also inspires me by showing the process of her work...not just the finished products. 

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Be Thankful/A Time To Dance is the inside door panel of my Celebration Shrine.  I thought that being reminded on the full moon of transforming my life through being Thankful would be a good ritual.  I have a pot that I can plant my Thanksgiving strips in it all month long.   Then on the full moon I can light a candle and read them and do a little Moon Dance.  I will  roll them up and put them in a bottle and make a pill for those days when I am not feeling on top of the world.
     One of the reasons that I have not been on a lot is that I have been really working hard to get this hexagon quilt finished.  I am  hoping that by April 1st I will be through.