Handstories

If you love stitching like I do,

 and haven't had a chance to check out Cindy Monte of Handstories under Artists I Follow,

please take the opportunity to do so.

Her work is exquisite, 

her stitching so very fine,

her design ideas incredibly lovely.

I recently was so moved by one of her pieces that I wondered if it was so sale.

Cindy told me someone else wanted it but if that didn't happen it would be mine.

So several weeks later she e-mailed me and said the other person had declined, 

so I am now the very proud owner of one of Cindy's journals.

One of my favorite things about purchasing an art piece is how creative artist's are when they wrap their pieces for transport thru the mail.

Cindy did not disappoint.

When I pulled the journal out of the mailing envelop there was a beautiful handwritten note about where all the fabrics had come from in the journal.

How special they were to her.

It made my heart swell that all these pieces of cloth had so much meaning.

Then there was a layer of shibori cloth as a wrapper,

hand tied with her hand spun yarn.

Then another wrapper of pattern paper that I love to collage with,

and more hand spun yarn.

Even the way she folded the wrapper was special.

And then the Tah-Dah moment when I saw the cover of the journal called Wonders.

Keep in mind that this journal was made on a super small scale, 

so her stitches are amazingly tiny.

Then open to pages one and two.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unbelievable, right??

Pages three and four.

GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!

And then on to a brief cover tease before the unveiling of pages five and six.

Magical!!!

Notice the little buttons above that you have to unwrap before opening fully.

So sweet :)

Also notice the Cloth Weaving that leads from page six to the back cover.

Brilliant!

I am just so in love with this journal and can hardly believe it's mine.

It has a very special display place in my mountain studio where I enjoy it's beauty every weekend.

What a treat!

Thank you Cindy for creating such a remarkable piece 

and then to be able to part with it.

I promise to take very good care of it.

It's found a happy, loving home.

Liebster Award from Jen Clair at Bayou Quilts

    

LIEBSTER AWARD

A big Thank You to Jen Clair from Bayou Quilts (http://www.bayouquilts.blogspot.com/) who has nominated me for the Liebster Award.  I'm so excited you found my blog and liked it enough to give me this award.

Christie Carter, fiber artist and photographer from Lopez Island, Washington, talks about the"Liebster Award" that she received and about her grandmother who taught her to sew.  Above are her grandmother's needles that I found on her blog ( http://www.sweetpeapath.blogspot.com/.)

This is how the Liebster Award works: (copied from her blog)

The 'Liebster Blog Award' is of German origin, too...liebster  translates to 'dearest' or 'beloved, but it can also mean 'favorite.'  My grandmother used to call me by that name in my not-so-frequent moments of good behavior (I was a bit of a sassy handful).  A timely coincidence, yes, in my time of a full heart!  Thank you, Penny, I am honored.

So here's what it is: in the spirit of fostering new connections, the idea of the Liebster Award is to bring attention to blogs with less than 200 followers.  Just a few rules for the recipient which come with acceptance of the award:

Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

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Copy & paste the award onto your blog.

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Reveal your own five picks for the award & let them know by leaving them a comment on their blog.

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Have faith that the love will spread...

  There is no obligation should any of you not wish to participate...simply know that you are very much appreciated out there in the blogging world ~

 According to the rules, I now pick 5 blogs under 200 followers to give the Liebster award to.   No problem, since there are so many outstanding art blogs out there to choose from  :)

                                          My 5 top pickes are:

*Lori Lawson at http://www.paintspinknit.blogspot.com/ in San Juan Capistrano, Ca., owner of Capistrano Fiber Arts and my good friend and mentor.  She is a self-taught fiber artist who quit her law practice to do fibers full time.  She is a spinner, knitter, weaver and dyer extrodinarie.  Be sure to check out her etsy shop to see her lovely work and fibers for sale.
*Deborah Lacativa at http://www.morewgalo.blogspot.com/ in L'ville, Ga. whose blog I just discovered 2 weeks ago.  She hand dyes all her fibers and then handstitches them into exquisite works of art.  You can also visit her website at http://www.lacative.com/.  I adore her small art quilt works and am saving up for one  :)
*Lucy from Attic 24 at http://www.attic24.typepad.com/ in Yorkshire England.  I love strolling thru her blog, her life is full of color and she brings it into her crochet work, her decorating, her baking and her gardening.  She lives in a 100 year old Victorian home and the views from her attic window are spectacular, showing us all the seasons as they are changing thruout the year.
*Susan Fletcher Conaway at http://www.fiberalmosteveryday.blogspot.com/ a fiber and craft artist as well as a nature photographer.  Her handstitching is incredible and her hand dyed fibers, so lovely.  I just found her blog 2 days ago and I can't wait to read all her posts and admire her art quilts.
*Cindy at http://www.handstories.typepad.com/ in Seattle, Wa.  Her title on her blog is "Adventures with Fiber and Life".  Cindy is a knitter, handstitcher and nature photographer, and I just found her 3 days ago and was delighted with the work on her blog.  Like Susan, I just can't wait to sit down and go thru her whole blog.  She's also very funny and I like her writing style.  But I can't find an e-mail address for her to tell her I'm nominating her for the Liebster Award, so if anyone out there has it could you please pass it on to me.  Thanks!

I hope all you fiber artisits out there enjoy these women and their blogs as much as I do.