Falling Leaves

Such an original title, I know...

I finished my leaf quilt. Well, at least I think I am finished with it. I love the beaded fringe across the bottom. The pieces that are stitched on with yarn are embossed pieces of old CDs. Fun to do! I'm pleased that it is FINISHED. Click on the photo if you want to see it close up!

Books!

My friend Susan got this list from Bibliomaniacs blog. I love to read, although I don't read too often, because I tend to get so engrossed in my book that the rest of the world falls away for a while. Often, I'm just not sure what to read. This is a great list! Hopefully a few more titles will be changed to bold type in the future.

Look at the list of (100) books below.Bold the ones you've read.Italicize the ones you want to read.Leave blank the ones that you aren't interested in.Movies don't count.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible (Only parts)
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) *half-bold because I read half, but couldn't get through it!
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones' Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
Consider yourself tagged!

Cave Painting

Remember Miro??? Well...I sort of stalled out on that painting, and decided to move in a different direction. I chose, instead, to replicate a cave painting on fabric. The piece measures about 5.5" x 6.5", with the center painting a little less than 4x5. My inspiration is a detail of the cave paintings at Lascaux, France. I used Lumiere and Setacolor paints, and Shiva Paintsticks to build up texture on the fabric. I hand seed-stitched the background for texture. Click on the photo if you want to see it close up. I made three paintings - all the same - two to trade and one to keep. YAY!

My New Journal

Check out the gorgeous journal I received in my trade! I just love it, and those of you who know me, know that the bright colors are right up my alley! I want to thank Barbara in Ohio for creating this beautiful journal for me. I'm going to keep my new art ideas in here. What a gift!

Click on the picture if you want to see it close-up. The buckle is just an amazing detail.

Back to Creating

Time to put some more art on the board! This is the start of my final piece for the Self Expressions class. Of course, I signed up for part 2 of the class, so there will be more to come. I didn't want to lose my momentum!

I am planning to change the border a bit and extend the striped fabric to the corner (I meant to do that, but cut it wrong). I'm also thinking about curving the edges, but we'll see how it develops.

I made the leaves using the same technique that I used in the stained glass postcards that I posted a photo of earlier. I am really enjoying this technique and have decided to continue to develop it further.

In Memory

Last night I mentioned to my 9-yo daughter that it was going to rain all day today. She said, "I know, God is going to be crying with us." I'm sure someone at school told her that - but how true it is. Today we had to put our precious cat, Jack, to sleep. He would have turned 14 in April. He had inoperable cancer, and it was time. I know he is at peace, but I sure am going to miss his silly, sweet ways, and that motor that could keep you up at night. Rest in peace, buddy boy.

I can't mention Jack without mentioning Chester. He also succumbed to cancer in March of 2006. He and Jack were not litter mates, but we got them at the same time and they were about two weeks apart in age. They were brothers, and took care of each other. Chester was incredibly intelligent and always made sure he knew what was going on. One time we took a 19-day trip, and the night we returned, Chester slept on my head! We bought a deciduous magnolia tree last spring and buried Chester beneath it. We will bury Jack next to him. When the magnolia comes into bloom, its buds feel like cat's paws. We didn't know this when we picked it out. I miss my guys - I hope they are happy chasing butterflies together...

A Change of Pace

I needed a change of pace from working with fabric - just for a bit. A group that I belong to challenged its members to create something with a door or window theme. The piece had to incorporate paint, fibers, and recycled/found objects. This is my piece. I glued blue tissue paper (recycled from an online shopping order) to canvas, and painted a simple water scene. For the window frame, I painted a brown paper bag. The trunk of the palm is also from the same bag, with some bronze paint added. The flowers and palm leaves are painted dryer sheets. I embossed details on the leaves. I also embossed the centers of the flowers - and I'm still debating whether or not I want to add some beads or small buttons on top of that. I tied seashells (found!) to the fibers (!) to meet that part of the challenge. It's a fun piece and was a nice break from sewing. It's been warm here (80) for the last few days, so I guess that has me thinking of summer!