More Postcards received

I have received more postcards and as I needed something to keep me busy I have made some for Carma house as well. The ladies have sent some beautiful cards. First four The cup and saucer is from Marion in the UK> the others are mine




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Cards from Gladys D, Diane B, Ricki J. and more of mine.
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I finished thread painting the large panel of flowers - I am happy with the way it
turned out -- It was helpful,as working on something so beautiful helped me deal with all that is going on with my son. Shirley

Postcards for Wellspring

I just received three more beautiful cards from Susan Loftin, Sharon McKay and Julie
(quilting Jewel) from the Learningfa group. They are wonderful and will be delivered to Wellspring to be sold with the proceeds going to Carma house for support for Cancer
survivors, their caregivers, families etc.
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As my friends are being so kind by sending these beautiful postcards, I have decided to make some to add to the ones I receive. It is for such a good cause. I have a lot of fancy fabric on hand so I will be able to use some of it.

We are in the process of packing up as we are probably going to move at the end of July, so we are busy with all the things going on with my son. It looks like it is going to be a very long year or two for our family.

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It is a lovely day -- I am finishing up the panel and will be sending it home shortly. then will get going on a few postcards to add to the beautiful cards I am receiving from my friends.

Hayley

is my five year old grand daughter - what a joy.. She had this taken last weekend on
"Super Soccer Saturday" where about 20 teams of different sizes played soccer.

the hat is a tarantula with eyes and arms so the team was called the "tarantulas" -they were all 4 - 5 and 6.
They are so cute and it is so much fun to watch them. I thought I might share. Shirley

I have been thread painting

a floral panel for a friend from the Big Sky retreat -I thought you might like to see how it is turning out.
Click on the pictures so you can see the thread work.
It has been something I have enjoyed doing this past week in between visits to different hospitals.

Postcards for Wellspring

I have just found out that the members of my group (Learning fa (fiber arts)) are going to be sending me unaddressed postcards to me to give to Wellspring to sell and hopefully raise funds for Carma House which has just opened here in Calgary- Wellspring is a
center for cancer survivors and support for cancer patients.
Who would have thought that I would be using their facilities a year after I decided to
support them by donating my wall hangings to raise money for them. As mentioned in
my last post - my son has just been diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer.

If you wish more information please let me know by commenting on this blog.

Thanks to all the people who have sent me supportive emails, phonecalls and posts during this difficult time. I especially want to thank publically the members my online group
who have shown me nothing but support and kindness during this past week. Special thanks to Deb, Verona and Caroline and other close friends -who are giving me unqualified support . Shirley

Shirley

I haven't posted for awhile

as we have had some bad news and have been trying to deal with it this past week.

I won't go into details, however we have found out that my oldest son is very ill . This has thrown our family for a loop, and it has been
a very busy week, going back and forth to hospitals for tests. Things have settled down for now, and he will be receiving treatament, once they get all the paper work done.

I want to thank all of those who have sent so many messages of support. It makes a Huge difference.

Our health care system is under fire, but I will tell you this -- if it is urgent, and if it needs immediate attention, they do a wonderful job. We only found out a week ago today, and he has had minor surgery to help him eat already, as well as two tests with more booked.

I likely won't be on line much for this next while. Thanks for your kind thoughts, they are so appreciated. Shirley

Miniatures -

Here are most of my miniatures. some of them are in private collections but some are available.













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Miniatures -

I have decided to put my miniatures up for sale with half of the proceeds going to Wellspring (the new Carma House) I am selling them for $110.00 U.S. each and will accept checks or money orders.The $l0.00 goes towards postage and Wellspring will receive $50.00 per miniature for each of them which are sold. I hope you will give some thought to this. If you are interested, please email me at painterlady2@shaw.ca. If you scroll down through recent posts you will see three or four posts showing the miniatures. I have donated one or two to the two retreats I am going to as prizes, and once I get back I will post the ones that are for sale. Each one is an original and they are approx. 12" x 12" (some are an inch narrower).

If there is one that appeals to you and you wish to buy it, and it is gone, I will make another one which will be generally the same as your choice. Shirley

More miniatures

Here are two more of my miniature quilts - they are such fun to make. I am thinking about teaching a class on learningfa or here on my blog. They are much faster to make than the larger wall hangings. The first one is mainly thread painting with appliqued fence. I really enjoyed
doing this one. The second is 'view from a cave' and I used hand dyed fabric for the ocean, a lovely brown and black batik for the rocks and then I painted the foam with acrylic craft paint mixed with textile medium. I have to cover the back and sew on the sleeve for the
cave and will take it with all the others to the retreat this weekend and will spend the time finishing up some bindings and sewing the 'sleeves' down on all the miniatures.

I am really looking forward to the retreat this weekend and will post some pictures when I get home.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Shirley

Carma House for Wellspring

I took some photos of Carma house yesterday and thought you might be interested in seeing this beautiful house built by Carma Developments on a wonderful lot near the Bow River and one of the bigger parks in Calgary.
the companies that work with Carma also assisted in this project. It is absolutely beautiful- the trees were left there and so it doesn't have that 'bare' look. It has some lovely gardens in the back as well as patios, and quiet places for visitors to sit. You feel like you are in the country.

The house itself is warm and welcoming, even though it is so large. The 'great' room has beautiful brown leather couches donated by LaZboy and will be wonderful for open houses, visitors etc.
We lost a friend we've known for 60 years last week and I am thinking how much this wonderful place would have meant to Jim and his family.

There are rooms for reading, counseling, yoga, art, childrens' play room, and meeting rooms, as well as good sized offices and so much more. There is going to be a bar b que pit outside, and there are two or three balconies where visitors will be able to sit and look at the beautiful landscaping. It is right across the street from a lovely park. I will let you know how the opening ceremonies go, after I attend next week. To me this wonderful place shows how much can be accomplished if people pull together to help.

Shirley

As you know,

if you read this blog, I have donated different wall hangings to Wellspring which is a support group for cancer - Carma Developers here in Calgary has built a wonderful house for Wellspring called Carma House. I have been asked to attend the grand opening next week and will be donating 'Moose Country' to their new house. I will be speaking few words and I am honored indeed to be able to donate to this wonderful place. The new house is awesome and will enable the staff to help patients, support
families and friends. T here is a wonderful Art room and I hope to be able to help them next year in the art room.

I will let you know how the opening day goes. Our Mayor and other dignitaries will be there for the ceremonies. Wellspring does so much to assist cancer patients and their families . Carma house is absolutely beautiful, with wonderful gardens, and lots of room. LaZboy furniture stores here in Canada, donated all the furniture on the main floor. They have been wonderfully active in assisting the Quilt Project for breast cancer throughout the years.




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I am leaving on Saturday morning for our Big Sky retreat which is held north of Calgary at Old's College. This is an annual event and it is wonderful to see all our friends. Most of our members are from Western Canada but we also have a dear friend from Atlanta, another from the boston area and 3 or 4 from Idaho.

Two weeks later I will be attending the Western retreat which started in Strathmore ,Alberta ,9 years ago - it is another annual retreat. I will post some pictures of each of them when I get home.

I finished two more miniatures this week. I do enjoy doing them and am getting quite a collection. I think the will end up on a wall at Wellspring but haven't decided for sure.

Well that is it for the day. I hope to post again before I leave for Olds. If not, I hope you all have a great weekend. Shirley

A few years ago I

spent a lot of my time painting on fabric. Here are some pictures of some of the many many tote bags I painted . I hope you like them. I
haven't done much fabric painting in the past few years, but did keep busy when I was doing them. I painted quilts, table cloths, wall hangings, etc. Looking at the forest trees I see I incorporated some rough edged applique into the bag as well, although the large trees were definitely painted. I used acrylic paints with extender when I painted on fabric. Shirley

My miniature quils\ts

are so much fun to make. Here are two more that I just finished- the others have been posted in previous posts. I had a beautiful piece of my hand dyed fabric and decided it would be great for a sunset.

As you know from previous posts, I love Mt. Rundle so did one for myself.

I am getting ready for the Big Sky Retreat which will be held at Old's college next weekend. It is an annual retreat and some of us have met every year since 2001. Two weeks later I will be going to the Western Retreat at Sylvan Lake. It is great to meet old friends and make new friends each year. Both are lots of fun and I look forward to attending each year.

I am also finishing a larger quilt that I have made for the new WELLSPRING house, which is being built by Carma Developers, here in Calgary,I believe - it is opening the middle of June and will be a great asset here. Wellspring is dedicated to the support of cancer patients , survivors and
families and caregivers. It is a wonderful place and I am honored to be involved in helping them out. One of my wall hangings will be featured in one of the rooms in the new house. I was honored that they asked me if I would contribute to their new home.

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I am hoping to do a wall hanging of the house which is featured in my header- It was the first house we bought and our children spent the first part of their lives there. It is Vancouver where we were stationed with the Canadian army in the 60's - I have such happy memories of this little house. Chris (a member of the learningfa group) is teaching the group how to 'build' a wall hanging of our house. The class is underway now but I won't be able to work on mine until July or August. Some of the houses are beautiful. She asked that each of us do a house that means a great deal to us and this little house has such great memories for me.

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It is so nice to have lovely sunny days here at last. finally.
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My best wishes go out to all the people in the United States and Canada who have lost their jobs, or homes, or have other problems caused by this recession. My prayers are with you all. Shirley

Our first home -see header

-we purchased a little house in Vancouver in the 50's. Pat (my husband) was in the Canadian army, and up until then we lived in Army quarters. This little house has not changed except for the skylight, in all those years! My son took a picture a couple of month's ago. I loved Vancouver - the picture shows the house in autumn and this scene brings back
so many memories, as during those years we got very little snow but lots of rain. There are lots of maples planted along the road in front and I planted a maple tree in the front.

One of our learningfa members who is very talented, Chris in NJ is teaching a class on how to do a wall hanging of your house. I have decided to do this one, as I have so many happy memories of this house when the children were small. I planted the trees and shrubs and they are very large now. I am hoping to do this one for each of my kids but we will see how it goes. When Kelly, (my son) sent it to me , it sure did bring back some wonderful memories.

Fabric Painted quilts

We have been having an interesting discussion on learningfa about painting on fabric as well as other methods of coloring fabric. My first quilts (in 2000) were painted quilts. I started my first quilt with the help of my friends at the park in Arizona where we spent our winters, and carried on from there. Here are some of the quilts. I used acrylic paints with
textile medium and two are still in use on my bed - others were given away, sold or given to charity. I went through a period of Southwest work and most of my quilts were done during this time. I painted most of them on muslin or fairly heavy thread count cotton -

I loved doing the southwest 'little people' especially the borders with the children.

I hope you enjoy these. Shirley

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY

to all of you - I hope you have a great day and spend it with your families and loved ones.

Shirley

12" x 12" landscapes

I have been doing quite a few of the little landscapes on heavy timtex - I just finished the underwater scene a few minutes ago.

I am really enjoying doing them and it is a nice break from the larger wall hangings, which are much more work. I mailed the water fall to the winner today.

I went shopping today to find some gifts for the two secret sister swaps I have joined for the June retreats.

Older work

Here are a couple of pictures of some of my older work. The first shows the greeting cards, I taught to a class in Arizona in the 90's. The cards were on display at our 'Art Show' that is me on the right. The second picture was from the New Zealand Women's weekly magazine in l971! I did copper tooling and usually the subjects were the
Maori faces, which are tatooed(?). The
one I was working on was a well known
Maori Chieftain, from when the treaty with the Maori's was signed many many years ago.
I did commission pictures and my husband framed them. We went back in the late 80's and many of my friends had copper pictures of mine on the walls. As you can tell from my dark hair it was over 30 years ago! It was an honor to be featured in their magazine.

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Another beautiful day today- I am heading out to do some shopping for the two retreats I am going to this June - need some goodies for the secret sister gifts. I am looking
forward to them both.
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I worked on another timtex picture last night - I made an underwater scene and what fun!
I am really enjoying making small wall hangings, and they take so much less time.

I think I might do another underwater scene so that I will have a pair.

Well, it is time to head out. Talk to you all later. Shirley

2nd anniversary prize - Learningfa

We all visited in the chat room on Saturday night and Lola Watters won my l2"x12" wall having. I just finished it and it is ready to go in the mail. Here is a picture of Lola - the new header is the wall hanging I made for her. It is called 'Water fall" and was thread painted and appliqued on heavy timtex. I am enjoying doing these smaller scenes.

I hope you like it Lola! Shirley