Chair Project

  Thought you might be interested in my progress on the charity project I was asked to work on. Last I wrote I was dyeing fabric and trying to figure out a design. All fabric has been dyed and now I am in the nitty-gritty of construction.

Here is the chair which Eileen and I found on one of our walks. I really thought I was going to have to buy a wing back chair for this project-but this is the one I found on the curb!

 Background fabric and the screen printed fabric I created at Lill Street which plays a significant part in this project.

Here is the applique process I use to tell a story in my quilts.

Stitching adds depth and texture to the piece.

Design on my basement floor.

 Knit birds will adorn the quilt covered chair-not sure about the nest though.

The Chair project is being put on hold while I go meet our grandbaby!

Art students...

One of my favorite places to visit is the Columbia college gallery shop.  You never know what the students have been up to and what is for sale.  It is a great place to buy some original art at a great price.  Just think how happy you would make the students!

Here are a few things that caught my eye.

Modern needlepoint,

Who doesn't love faux taxidermy?

 

 Future NewYorker cartoonist?

Love the colors.  So happy.

This is amazing...

Is this next?

Could not decide which one I liked best. 

Stop at your local art college and take it in.  Cool stuff out there.

Eileen

Birth and Rebirth

Big week....snow fall in April.

The birth of the next generation in the Dallman family.



Audrey Hazel Rose was born on her great-grandmother's (my mother)75th birthday!

Maybe the same nose as her father- James -our son.
Both pictures taken on the very first day of their lives.

The dawning of a new day....

Who made this?

I love hand made things of all kinds.  I am especially drawn to those who are anonymous.  I collect outsider art.  Outsider Art is a broad term that refers to artists who are self taught and work without the influence of the main stream Art establishment. I have Art by known outsider artists but my favorite is the anonymous art I have collected along the way.  I love the attitude they represent.

Here is some of my favorite anonymous art.

I found this at the antique store on LaGrange IL.  Love that place.

I bought a dozen of the egg people at a garage sale.  Their grandfather use to make egg replicas of family members and these were their aunts and uncle who always brought food to parties.  Grandpa was an egg artist?  Really?  How could they ever give these up?  I cherish them!

This I just bought from the basement of an antique store in Berywn that is closing.  The owner was kind enough to lt me dig through the basement.  I think this is just stunning.  Cant believe it was in the basement unappreciated.  I saved it.

A hand made quilt wall hanging I bought from the Intuit Museum garage sale.  Who knew museums had garage sales?

Here are a few things I want but have not pulled the trigger...yet.

This is too expensive but I cant stop thinking about it. 

As my husband says, I have never met a box I haven't liked.

Happy Hunting this Spring.  Save some unappreciated anonymous art!

Eileen

Spring Break

Those 2 words have all sorts of connotation; college beach drinking debacles, family trips to historic American cities, Florida, springtime....this past week was my school spring break. Billy took some time off and we visited 2 of our 3 children and had a driving getaway to Knoxville, TN. When I told people here in Chicago that we were going to Knoxville for spring break I got lots of puzzled looks. BUT what I was not expecting was the response of Knoxvillians who had the same puzzled and amused sentiment that we would pick their city as a vacation spot!

I love exploring small cities. We spent a day biking and enjoying spring weather. Billy got to experience a day of fly fishing in the Smokey Mountains, while I was exploring the local art museums. It was a lovely week.

On our way I made Billy get off the highway to check out Metropolis, IL.  This statue stands outside of the city hall court house. Hilarious-right?!

 

We spent our first afternoon with Amanda our daughter-in-law. I FORGOT to get a photo so she sent me this one which was taken right before James' deployment. In the right hand corner of the photo you can see a paper chain which Amanda created. There is a link for every day James is gone. It was 2 months smaller when we visited!

 Our first day in Knoxville was beautiful! We spent the day on bikes exploring the river front parks.

 

 Knoxville Art Museum was a wonderful afternoon of art adventure. Admission was FREE!

 

I was attracted to this next piece because of the spools of thread.

Then I read the description...

 stepped back,

 

 

and was amazed!

 

The best part of the 3 day get away was wearing flip-flops the WHOLE time we were there!

 

We completed the trip with a visit to our son George at Miami of Ohio campus. I dropped Billy off for his senior dad's weekend. I am sure I do not want to know what the Dad's of seniors and college boys did last night!

 

Back to work tomorrow.

 

Have a wonderful week!

Lucy