JK Jazz - Music and Art Festival

This past weekend, I attented our local 4th annual music and arts festival known as JK Jazz. I had a wonderful time listening to top-notch jazz artists, exchanging hellos with many friends and acquaintances, helping out in the art gallery and sipping on the occasional glass of wine (or two). :)

I was pleased to be a part of the art show again this year and had a whole pile of my cards and six original pieces for sale. I sold a lot of cards and two originals and needless to say, I am happy about that.

We are experiencing another bout of heat here and according to the weather forecast, it isn't going to ease up until Friday. Until that happens, I can't get into any serious stitching as the heat makes me lazy and grumpy. :(

I have three unfinished pieces at the moment, including the one below. I am undecided about what she will ultimately be - a mini wall hanging? a fridge magnet? a pendant? an ornament?

Appliqued Butterflies

I went to St Jacobs today which I would recommend as a destination for any visitor to Ontario, Canada. Hubby and I went to see a musical theatre performance there and arrived three hours early so we had some time to kill. What luck that there happened to be a huge antiques mall just across the street. Guess how I spent the extra time.

I thoroughly enjoyed browsing at all the furniture and collectibles. Presently I am searching for a soup tureen and found one, but it was gaudy. Really horrible. I always keep my eye out for textiles too and had better luck in that department.

I picked up a couple of hand appliqued butterfly quilt blocks for only $2.00 each. They are simple and unpretentious and the whoever stitched them was skilled with a needle and thread. The main reason I wanted them was because of the vintage fabric. As I look at these blocks, I wonder who stitched them, how long ago, and what other things did this woman make. I also picture myself wearing long cotton dresses with these prints. Are these not the kind of prints found in the house dresses of women not all that long ago?

Cat Portrait

The bird legs that I mentioned in previous posts have been cut out but they still need to be embellished and attached to the body. I will complete the bird as I find time to stitch a bit here and there. This August has to be one of the most jammed packed with committments that hubby and I have ever had. The stifling heat and humidity do not help with getting things done.

In addition to the bird, I have also started a new cat. My plan is to make a stuffed animal out of this. I often scan my work as I go along just to see what it looks like from another perspective and to help me move along in the right direction. I liked this scan so much that I decided to use the image on a greeting card too.

Many thanks to some of the "new" ladies who have left a comment on my blog for the first time. It's nice to know who visits and where you are from. And it goes without saying, that I welcome all comments from new and older readers alike.

If it's hot where you are dear readers, keep cool. :)

Headdress

Thanks Judy and Cheryl for the bird leg suggestions.

I'm still working on the body. Just for fun, I turned it upside down and positioned it as a headdress. I think it looks pretty good that way too, but she will end up being a bird.

Emergence of the Bird Woman

This is the beginning of a new project. I have the body cut out as well and when I put the two together, I thought "this looks like a bird to me". Now I have to figure out a clever way to make bird legs. :)

Framing, Fencing, Guarding

FRAMING
Below is a doll I made a few months ago. My sister loved it so much that I gave it to her. She just got around to framing it. My most excellent brother-in-law made the floating frame. The background is an orange linen type of fabric wrapped around and stapled to 3/8" plywood. My BIL went to the fabric store by himself, without my sister's knowledge, and picked out the fabric.

It looks a bit bright because I took the photo outside yesterday. Indoors it's a bit more subdued.

My BIL is going to make a number of frames for me. My sister, who collects paintings, found it quite expensive to have them framed, so BIL makes all the frames now. He has invested in all the necessary precision tools and produces top quality frames. What you see here is only one type of frame that he makes.

























FENCING
Our long time beloved neighbour who has been widowed for four years has decided that the country life without her husband and at her age is too much for her now and has put her house up for sale. We were such good friends with this couple that years ago we removed part of the fence that separates our two properties, allowing us to easily go back and forth between our houses. Now that the "For Sale" sign is out, we thought we had better block off the open section as you never know what the new neighbours will be like. I think there is much truth to the saying "Good fences make good neighbours". After all, the old fence didn't come down until after we had established a solid friendship.

So that's what we did on Saturday. Again, my most excellent brother-in-law did all the measuring and cutting, and hubby and I helped put it up. I give most of the credit to my BIL, as without his help and guidance, we would still be working on it, LOL.




















GUARDING
My sister wanted to take a picture of me in her garden yesterday while I was pulling some weeds. She liked the way my green dress blended in with her greenery. So this is what she emailed me this morning, calling the picture "Inga, Guardian of the Rock Garden". This was an obvious dig at me and my recently completed doll. We do have fun, Sis and I. :)

A Good Day

I was up in the middle of the night finishing this kitty. Now I'm still up blogging about it. Maybe it's because I had too much fun yesterday, outdoors all day with my friends, me stitching and they working on mosaics. Later we watched on old English comedy film called "Father Came Too".

An all around great day doing fun stuff and avoiding the paperwork that so desparately needs doing. Oh well, I can tackle the papers today. :)

Back to the kitty below. The image will be on some of my greeting cards and the original will be mounted and framed and available for purchase at our local jazz festival coming up at the end of the month. My most excellent brother-in-law has offered to make some frames for me. He just finished framing a doll that I had given to my sister. I will be visiting my sister later today (after I do the paperwork, LOL) and will snap a photo of the framed doll to post here.