hearts and flowers and chocolate day

i would show you the chocolates but i already hid them 

in the freezer so we can devour them after dinner !!

this is a 3 inch piece , 

started by a painting upon a coffee filter,  layered, quilted and beaded all around 

 have a sweet day

Be well, Sonja

wordless wednesday- nature's valentine

Year of the Horse 2014

Happy Chinese New Year of the Horse !

Recently I found a photo of my very first horse, 
actually she was a Shetland pony 

Beauty
She was brought home from the local pony ride farm
in West Redding I think  
that I dragged my parents to many a  Sunday. I loved her even though she was old and shabby and threadbare, in some spots her hair was  very thin, especially around her withers. I recall she liked to escape from her pasture and was found out on the old Boston Post road more than once . But I was 6 and she was my first love.  

 and then forward 50 oddyears,
 my last horse, Lily who really was a beauty!
So not a bad span of many decades
of horse love..

Lily was my prairie home and ranch companion for 2 decades
Her Hawaiian name was Liokalani, horse from heaven in Hawaiian, but we mostly called her Lily. 
She now gallops in a part of my heart reserved for great unconditional love.
She was a real sweetie!
Speaking of sweeties,
here is one having a rocking good time!

2014 is the Chinese year of the wooden horse so in honor of this 
 i located an older photo of my youngest niece riding on a horse I designed and painted and my DH built and carved of wood . The rockers were made of beautiful Koa, a wood dear to the islands.The wood horse was painted in the colors of Lily as she was when i got her at age 5 when she still had lots a dapples.
 And now my niece's  little girls get the rides although the last time i saw this sweet wooden horse,
she was sans a tail. Perhaps that is yet another worn  and threadbare by love story!

It is almost February 14 Again,
so just  bring on the chocolate please! and  the hearts and flowers too!

here are some of the hearts painted 
and hand quilted recently by me 
 and finally sent out to my clients.
I do notice things take me longer to complete than usual
 and
even longer if I time them so i have to stop that, 
the timing!
and just enjoy the ride !!
i have  not posted in a while, not that i ran out of words, i have lots a those
  it is just that i had computer issues, 
mane ly with me!
be well, Sonja

hearts of fabric

Do you have any idea  of HOW many songs have the word 
 Heart
 

 

 in them ? mucho plenty!!
 

 

i made a batch of  valentine post cards  last week to trade this month that started with painting a heart on cloth 4 by 6 inches .quickly. loose.
 the backgrounds colors were watercolory in lights.
 i layered paintings up for some simple quilting on "Bernadette".

added a  bit of glimmer and shading and i was done .
While i  was making these cards to mail,

 

i  thought of as many titles as i could sing a few bars of before

 i googled a list.more than i recalled  but none the less a fun mental jog.

Every beat of my heart-Rod Stewart
Heart of gold-Neil Young
Piece of my heart-Janis Joplin
Young at heart-Frank Sinatra

those are just a few i reviewed in my mind  and sang as i painted and sewed.

and who doesn't love the sight of  a cat in the sink?
Noodles pauses in a Sunbeam of  light at his morning drink in the sink.

 

 

May all hearts be happy and well,

Sonja