COMING UP HEARTS

After seeing my recent post on watercolor and woven hearts,

fiber artist Liz Ackert and dear blogger friend in Texas,

wove one for her granddaughter's birthday.

I sent her my little demo heart  (above left) I used to teach with,

along with a piece of the background fabric middle) she had admired.

And another blogger superstar and fiber artist Deborah Lacativa sent her 

that gorgeous embroidered heart that she sells in her shop.

I adore Deb's hearts so much that I've already purchased two.

Plus Deb dyes her own embroidery threads that she calls "Dirty Threads"

and sells those as well.

But they go fast!

Many of us here in blog land and elsewhere use her threads in our projects

because they are stunning and add so much to our beauty to our work.

Here you can see that Liz used hand dyed fabric strips to weave with.

And she stitched them together for a longer weft.

It's so colorful and happy.

Your granddaughter is going to love it Liz!

IN PLACE

During Covid,

  I posted about an Online Workshop I'm taking with Textile/Dye Artist 

India Flint.

I've really enjoyed the daily exercises

 and if you are still interested know that the class is still open and going on.

One of my favorite projects was making this pincushion that India calls a Biscornu.

We were encouraged to use an endless variety of fabrics.

I chose to take apart a favorite family quilt of ours that had worn out years ago 

from so much laundering.

I did a few small repairs on some of the holes 

and used a special dyed embroidery floss from Fiber Artist Deb Lacativa

to sew the front and back pieces together with.

Sadly it didn't photograph well and isn't very noticeable.

Sorry Deb!

I'm pretty sure this antique button was a gift from another Textile Artist 

Morna Crites-Moore,

and the button on the backside was a small ceramic mouse that I've had for years,

waiting for the perfect spot to use it.

My son's beautiful wife Nicole is being taught to quilt and use a sewing machine 

by her dear mother Mary.

When I was there last I didn't notice a pincushion so I gifted her this one recently.

By the way,

those of you who have been keeping in touch about Nicole's mother and her cancer treatments,

she is currently in remission,

her 4th one.

Mary is my hero!!

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.