Prayer flags of August

 

Here are some of my latest flags made this August that are a  part of an exchange

 with a trading group I belong to

 http://heartisttradingcards.blogspot.com/
 

I continue to paint and hand stitch on humble pieces of cloth

and make  these small bits of art and hope
 in little bits of time.

  When I make art my world is centered and calm.
Because every  moment  counts.

Wordless Wednesday

Sweet smelling Saturday

Saturday's  sweet smelling surprises

 

Often the white flowers are very fragrant and heady to make up for their lack of color or did I read that or dream that ?

or perhaps learned in Dr Horace Clay's Botany class in 1980 something?

 what about the white pluemria lei that was placed around my shoulders the first time I set foot in the Hawaiian Islands, the one that said welcome home

 in invisible words only I could hear.

 

Even the papaya blossom so fragrant and enticing to the bee

smells like heaven on earth to me.

 

Spider Lily 's  white flower with stamens of a pinkish hue gives off a perfume not yet possible in bottles.

 

White or butterfly ginger ( Hedychium coronarium)

 

 

When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else.
Georgia O'Keeffe

 

Butterfly or white ginger is another favored and fragile flower found in my yard

this time of year.

Each evening we pick a handful and fill the house with the most divine fragrance.

 

I am recovering from  last weekend showing at the

Hale'iwa Arts Festival

  taking  plenty of time to smell the flowers deeply.

Mahalo to all
new and returning folk, who came by to say HI

 and visit and to purchase  my fabric art!

Aloha, Sonja

Hale'iwa Arts Festival 2013

the Hale'iwa Arts Festival

                         

(poster art by Mark Howard)

 

It's that time again!

And I can hardly wait! 

 the Hale'iwa Arts Festival

 at Haleiwa Beach Park on the beautiful North shore of Oahu.

(near the war memorial )

 

 

 Sat July  20th   10 am to 6 pm

Sun  July 21th 10 am to 5 pm!

 

It's the 16th annual of that wonderful juried visual arts show.

Both traditional and contemporary  art will be  displayed and for sale.

It is the  15 th time for me

to set up my fabric arts, it is like Christmas on July !

SO  much art in the tents under the shady trees, as well as

 musicians, singers, dancers and  keike art activities .

Entertainment is scheduled for every hour both days

and

 a  wide selection of ono foods and beverages are offered.

Bring family and friends and visitors to enjoy the day

in the country! 

 I shall be manning  booth #109

 near the front of the fair and  near first aid tent.

So come by and

see

 .

what

I  have been thinking and painting and quilting and making 

 since last time.

 

 

 

So   come  by  and   say  HI!

see you soon, that's this weekend!!!

 

Aloha, Sonja 

 

 

 

What a wonderful world - LOUIS ARMSTRONG.

I love this song and this man.

What a wonderful face and what wonderful words.

What kind of picture does Satchmo paint for you?

 What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele (as "George Douglas") and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1967.
what a wonderful song.
be well, Sonja

Aloha Noodles

"when a lovely thing dies smoke gets in your eyes"

.

 

 

we lost our just 3 year old adopted cat Noodles

July 3, 2013, to kidney failure. he always loved water and wanted drinks from the bathroom sink you might recall from an earlier post. he helped in my studio as a kitten and charmed us win his energetic  boo game and walked with us at sunset about the yard as all of  the cat folk did in the past. after 2 days in cat hospital and therapy to remove toxins from his little kidneys he passed peacefully.

he will be missed and remembered. 

aloha noodles 

first cut, dismantling a pineapple for food and future planting

Pineapple.

I was delighted to see this pineapple on my counter one day ready for harvesting.

we love fresh fruit salad and this is a great addition to the usual fruit,

 one that is grown locally.

 first cut is the deepest, removing the crown

 

 then trimming the sides

 

cutting into chunks

 

rest of it stored in fridge and cut  fresh each day as needed

 

then  removing the crown of leaves

 

and peeling of about an inch of leaves

  

put into a jar of water with bottom just touching the waterline.

(cranky blogger won't let me upright this  photo)
 

 soon it will sprout little white roots

 

 next step to plant in a potting soil after sprouting  roots

 (I have a compost heap so I dig to the bottom of that  black gold.)

 I will plant it into a pot until I decide where I want to plant  in the yard.

 

 

I have some comfy sandals for my feet this summer, recommend by a nurse as I have developed plantar fasciitis n the last 6 months.bummer.

 they are called

OOfos and are available at TheInsoleStore.com

 I am a very happy customer.

 www.TheInsoleStore.Com

AND I have another pair just like these!

 

 

This is the latest homemade happy birthday card made for husband

 with Noodles as inspiration.

 When he was a kitten he loved to play BOO!

 He would run up behind you,

tap you on the back of the calf or butt, and streak past you like a flash!

like, now your it!

flashback

a couple years ago in a painting class I did some demos of an animal and a fruit as an afternoon exercise to loosen up a bit after lunch. a silly cat and some flora  and a tiny pineapple and then larger pineapple appeared n the cloth before long . Recently i found those pieces languishing and together with some yardage painted that day I made a shoulder bag. 

It's free motion quilted on the Bernina 830 record

.   

 

May your all be pineapples be sweet

 and

 may your feet be happy

 every summer !

 

Aloha nui loa, Sonja 

 

 

 

 



zentangle ATC exchange

 

 

 

 My  first two attempts to make Zentangle ATC's

 went by the wayside, into the ditch,

off the road...
I filled the backs of  envelopes with  black lines but nothing surfaced .
my doodles ended up needing to be quilted and after starting out with a piece o plain muslin, the  black thread I used  kept breaking . I switched over to a variegated blue called de Nile by Superior of the king tut line that I got a cone of because I like it so much, then  the quilting /doodling went much smoother. free motion quilting is so like the doodle marks we made in margins of our note books as students in  class or on the phone with a pen or pencil. The this case the fabric is the paper and the needle is the pen only reversed because the thread is stationary and I move the blank fabric beneath the needle. the foot peddle got hot . I quilt barefooted.

 

When the quilting and cutting into sections was complete  I was thirsty for color so I painted the cards colors in  magenta, sky  and golden yellow and colors they make combined . I sprayed water and let the colors run outside the lines

 and the next morning..

 they had  dried and curled up like so many chips in the sunshine!
 that is not a problem with a hot iron on hand. I  fused some of the art paper made from those  painted coffee filters, again, on the backs and placed a weight on finished cards to flatten them for the mail, overnight. 
 

the finished ATC's

all ready to mail out.

 

 

and now

 that age old question

egg or chicken?

 

A prayer flag for Boston

Aloha is the flag I sent to Boston after reading about a  request call from the

 North Jersey Modern Quilt Guild. 

I used fabric paints, finger tips and a big stitch to make one of my favorite and reoccurring themes,

Aloha.

this is a  one  word that has many levels and meanings, many.

 

 

below, a bit closer look .

 

 

a month or so ago

 I did an exchange of prayer flags with a group of artists I have traded with for years. we started with fabric postcard with " art2mail" in 2006 if  I recall, and  this arting  still goes on with an occasional  "something else"  challenge exchange . The half dozen  members remaining in contact is a manageable  amount to trade with .
And Getting original fabric art in your mail is a most wondermous thing.

 do you think this might just be a modern  form of pen pals ? 

 

above

  are 4 Flags I made and sent to Texas, Ohio, and England .

 

I kept the Grace one for my collection

 

                                   

  above are the flags  that came in my mailbox.

we each picked what ever words we wanted to reflect a sentiment

blowing in the breeze

and around the planet.

 Thank you Kate, Barb and Jo! 

 

hip to be square

While I painting some fabrics this weekend, I was thinking about what the creative process, my process, might look like from the outside, in slow motion. I say slow because I am slow. I say I make slow art because it goes that way, meandering like a cat unable to walk a straight line and I can't hurry creative process, that much I've learned. And  I don't want to hurry the  process. I so enjoy being in  the "zone " I forget to eat occasionally and am often reminded by rumblings from my gut.  I enjoy ALL the processes very much, the painting, some planning, cutting, sewing, adding, subtracting, quilting and on and on. so many choices to be made along the way and I can't make them far ahead but only until the choice just before has been put into action.  then you can, of course have a change of heart  if an idea sprouts up .

this poured out box of scraps of many colors await a new life

 



random joined pieces become strips or squares.

I add on  till I get 4 1/2'' squares after trimmng.

like  these   cuties

then I cut 1 1/2" strips of my hand painted fabric and same size of a batik I like and sew them side by side and

sew a unit to all four sides of inner square.

 suppose I could call this a log cabin crumb I guess.
 I just call it fun as I don't like to over plan and once I get a rhythm,
 I'm  humming  now.

 Poof! another Saturday melts into a possible quilt top and scraps dwindle a little bit.

 

I have 16 blocks done so far  and  placed on the flannel covered stretcher bars.

I  just  might  make  more blocks.
(will post photo of quilted  up quilt in later post)

 

 or perhaps, I will take a nap.

Does your cat (or pup) assistant snore?
 Noodles does!