First pastel drawings

Well, guess what I got for Christmas - pastels, and I'm having great fun playing with them!


The first one I tried was my version of Monet's garden (I think it needs more work), which I did while watching the pastel video "Landscape in Pastel, Reflections of Monet's Garden" by Urania Tarbet. I guess it's not bad for my first pastel.

Here is my second attempt - a landscape from a lesson in the book "Creative Painting with Pastel" by Carole katchen. Different techniques to play with, and I'm happier with this painting.

Ok, the last one for the day is my own design, but inspired by Ann Fahl, since I was watching her video "Ann Fahl Teaches you Coloring with Thread" while still playing with my pastels. This is my favorite so far, and I think it will be framed for my studio as soon as I add a couple last touches that I realized were needed when the picture was uploaded.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I hope you all have plans for a wonderful Christmas this year, spending time with family, or whatever you prefer to do. Don't forget to take at least a few minutes to relax and enjoy the holiday!

Thank you for all the great comments

This last week I received a special comment from my cousin. We used to live close enough for frequent visits, but now are across the country. Boy, do I wish we lived closer and could visit whenever we wanted to!

I wish I could email everyone when I receive comments, but it seems like that is not the way blogger works. For those who would like to receive an email back, or contact me more privately, there is a link for my regular email in the upper right of my blog - as far as I know blogger won't block responses if you email me that way.

I've been visiting the sites and blogs of those who have posted comments, and there are lots of great blogs out there! Some people don't have a blog, and when I try to emial you back, blogger won't send it to you - instead it comes back as undeliverable, so thank you for leaving your wonderful comments, and I hope you'll take time to come visit my blog again.

Quilting a New York Beauty

Recently someone was looking for quilting ideas for a NY Beauty quilt on one of the lists that I belong to. That made me check to see if I'd ever uploaded pictures of mine, and I found that not only hadn't I posted any pictures (because I made it before I had a blog), and I found that not only hadn't I posted any pictures, but I haven't even't taken a "good" picture of the whole quilt once it was finished - only close ups of some blocks. I'll have to take one asap, but for now I'll post some of the block pictures. The quilt was quilted with quite a few different threads, trying to blend with the fabrics and repeating some designs as well as creating some new ones to fit the spaces. My border was quilted with a variety of designs that were fit together.

Online Quilting Class in January

For those who didn't get a chance to take my "Artistic Free Motion" quiltng class in November, I'm repeating it in January at Quilter's Threads. It is listed with the other classes at http://www.quiltersthread.com/store/January2008.html, and packed with lots of information and designs, as well as ideas to get you creating some of your own designs.