late to the party again!

 I always find myself behind the trends it seems.  When I saw sashiko boro patches (Japanese method of mending) show up on Pinterest, it sparked something in me.  I've been doing small sashiko projects for years but never thought of pairing them with fabrics to create small pieces of art ... art that could enhance clothing actually. 

The last couple weeks my arthritic fingers have been super busy producing these pieces for my sharny etsy shop . . .

The denim pieces are ones that can be applied with a simple running stitch to jackets, jeans, etc. The other two can be applied as well or hung from chopsticks as a wall ornament.

And a table runner that got me started . . .

Wish someone would tell me what the next big thing is so that I could get a jump on it!  Anyone?

Four Pin Friday ~ OMG!!!

Just discovered a contemporary artist I have fallen in love with.  Where have I been!?

Here are a few of many paintings from Kelly Reemtsen.

 

She is best known for her bright and bold paintings of women carrying household tools such as chainsaws or axes. Her work often investigates the role of the modern woman, deconstructing societal perceptions of gender, power and femininity. Reemtsen's paintings are characterized by their thick impasto, stark white backgrounds and anonymous figures. Her most recent body of work explores the idea of breaking the metaphorical glass ceiling, often featuring female figures climbing on objects like chairs or ladders. 

Collections

 For the fun of it, I started counting the woven baskets we've collected over the years!  I came up with 75, give or take, and know there will be more if we ever empty boxes we moved into this garage over 5 years ago.

I know ... I know ... We have, in our 66 years of married life over~collected certain things we love.  Some of our baskets are very old, old, mid~century, ones I wove and newer but I treasure each and every one.

Here are my personal collection of tiny baskets ~

and my bittiest one.  Can you even imagine trying to weave this small of a basket!?

Next, my bowls.  Stay tuned

 

Olga Suvorova ~ Russian Artist Extraordinaire

 

Olga Suvorova/ Ольга Суворова is an acclaimed Russian Master. She was born in 1966 in St. Petersburg. Olga Suvorova has created her own style of painting – lifestyle portraits of costumed characters in the interiors of different epochs. Her work is a nostalgia for the St. Petersburg “World of Art” movement with its retrospective and love of the 18th century. Olga is the daughter of the Honored Artist of the RSFSR Igor Suvorov. She graduated from the Academy of Arts of Ilya Repin in 1988. . Her paintings of the players in "Comedia de arte" have a haunting quality that sets her apart from the many young talented artists emerging from the Institute. Recently she has produced a series of magnificently detailed screens which have been widely praised and collected. She also paints portraits and landscapes. Olga has exhibited in Italy, Germany, Sweden, Finland, France, Britain, Ireland, China, and the USA where her work is in many collections.

I do love her style . . . filling the canvas with the intricacies that can take some time to view and appreciate every stroke of her brush.

Four Pin Friday Garden Creatures

 A few years ago I made a post about scarecrows.  People seem to have upped there game since then!  Found these beauties on Pinterest recently and thought I'd share.  Makes me wish I had a vegetable garden again to build one of these for it.  

Scarecrows have really evolved since Grandma's Day!

How did they survive?

 Fascinated by these devastating photos from the 1930s that capture the poverty and hopelessness of the decade. 

Can't believe this was the era when I was born.  We didn't have much but I never wanted for anything as a child.  Lived in a rental, no car but luckily lots of relatives and friends, enough food, and a roof over our heads.

These photos from Pinterest show the poorest of the poor after the market crashed in 1929.

Dashed off a greeting card

 Thinking it's easier, cheaper, and much more personal to make a little card for a friend or relative than to go out and buy one.  So I quickly made this one for my granddaughter this morning.

What takes the most time is going through my stacks of papers to find just the right ones!

I didn't even know this was a thing

 Apparently this has been going on for a long time.  

Mona Lisa Reimagined

and then there is Mona and Friends

I cracked up when this came up on Pinterest. There are hundreds of images of Mona Lisa reliving her everyday life on the pages of my favorite go to internet time waster!