John's Workshop

John enjoys working in his garage/barn/workshop. (He is very safety conscience, and isn't sawing in the picture - just posing.)

He misses having this space to work in when we leave here and go back to California. I have promised to remove all of my 'junk' out of the California garage. I have left overs from when I had an antique booth, but I will find homes for everything or sell it at a garage sale. That way he can make a small workshop to use during the months we are there.
















John's sense of humor shows in his sign above the old pay phone. (The phone is just for retro display.)

Wicker Chair

I found this cute wicker chair yesterday in a little shop in Sonora, KY. A pretty good find I believe, and it is quite sturdy. It only needed a little cleaning. I'll also give it a fresh coat of paint, and cover a cushion for the seat. I'll probably keep it a creamy color, and I'll choose one of my vintage fabrics for the cushion. Also, I haven't decided just where I will use it, but it is so light weight that it can easily be moved to suit my needs.

Use Your Stash Challenge - Mermaids

I made this piece in a challenge for one of my Yahoo groups. Use Your Stash challenge. We get a new theme every two weeks, and this two week period theme was Mermaid.

I used this cute piece of fabric with a mermaid and collaed it on a background that is a blue jean leg, and a fan quilt block. I embellished it with a photo printed onto white cotton that is from a 1920s photo of two young women in their bathing suits. The photo caption reads "Bathing Beauties". It is just one of many cute photos I obtained a few years ago when I bought photos albums from the 1920s and 1939s.

The button card at the top gives the artwork its title, and it is finished off with three red glass shank buttons at the bottom and red croched trim at the top.
The finished piece measures 9" x 15".

Whistle Stop - Glendale, KY Series

The subject for this fourth in the Glendale series is the Whistle Stop restaurant in Glendale, KY. It is located in the downtown section next to the railroad tracks.

The photograph of the Whistle Stop is printed onto white cotton, and then sewed onto a yellow floral cotton print. The second photograph, also printed onto white cotton, is of a road sign on one of the roads heading out of town alerting drivers that Amish buggies are sharing the roadway. It is sewed to a blue and white polka dot cotton. The background fabric is a vintage kitchen towel probably from the 1940s.

The hanger for this piece is an old dough blender, and a copy of the 1929 patent drawing for the blender is sewed to the bottom of the wall hanging. I used a technique that I read in a magazine to create 'paper fabric' that makes paper extremely durable and somewhat waterproof.

Other embellishments include a crocheted potholder, buttons and blue and white checked bias tape. The wall hanging measures 10" x 24" excluding dough blender. Click on image for larger view.

Seasons of Elegance - Glendale, KY Series

I finished this piece last week, and I'm just getting around to posting a picture of it. It is the third in a series I am doing that features Glendale Kentucky. I love the old buildings that are still alive with shops and restaurants. This building offers a covering for the walkway, a railed upper porch as well as that really cute false front at the very top.

I used another piece of the wonderful burned ceiling tin for the wall hanging. The tin is sewed to the wall hanging with glass beads added at each hole. The background fabric is part of a vintage towel. The picture is printed on white cotton and placed on a cotton floral print. Embellishments include white rick rack, antique lace, red plastic button and mustard colored plastic belt buckle.

I have been working on one more in the Glendale series that is almost complete.

More on that later..........

Featured Artist Profile in Layers Upon Layers

Cyndi at Layers Upon Layers posted an artist profile about me today. She not only features various artists, but she also posts some really great art related articles and tips.

I was happy to have the opportunity to share my profile with her readers. I know that I have enjoyed reading profiles about other artists she has interviewed.

The fabric collage pictured here is one of the artworks she included in the article. It was sold some time ago from my Etsy shop.

I'm inspired to work this afternoon on the Kentucky series that I mentioned in the article. I am currently working on another piece featuring Glendale.

Hanging Tobacco - Rineyville, Kentucky

I of course know the ills of smoking. But, I still think there is a unique beauty to the tobacco plant. On our walk recently we came upon a farmer hanging tobacco in the barn. We started taking pictures from a distance when he invited us to come into the barn to take more pictures, and see the operation up close. This is hard work! I remember in past years seeing tobacco proudly wearing its ribbons at the state fair.

Yes, I think it is beautiful too.

Raspberry Shop - Glendale, KY - Wall Hanging

This is the second in a series of wall hangings that I am making that depict places in Kentucky. This is another old building in Glendale that is used today for a shop. I took the picture two years ago so I'm not sure that it still has the same name. The hanger is another piece of that wonderful old ceiling tin from the burned down building in Rineyville.

The background fabric is a rose chintz. I collaged other fabrics that include, rose bark cloth, green & brown cotton, grey and pink cotton and a deep pink ribbed thick cotton. I embellished the piece with antique lace on the header and a generous piece of delicate multi layered lace along the bottom. Sewn to the lace at the bottom is a piece of old costume jewelry of pink beads. The header is the old tin and is attached to the fabric with small mother of pearl buttons. The tin is hung with a piece of trim that is also attached with mother of pearl shank buttons.

Use Your Stash Challenge - Stamp Theme ATCs

One of my online groups has a challenge to make artwork with the stash we already own. I think I have quite enough stash to make artwork for the rest of my life without buying another thing! The theme for this two week period go around is "Stamps". It can be postage stamps or inked stamps, however you want to incorporate it into any form of artwork. I decided to make fabric ATCs for this challenge, then I added old Russian postage stamps that are affixed to card stock and then sewn to the ATCs. I also used beads, buttons and ribbon for embellishment. I had just ironically used stamps for another August challenge. These stamps have beautiful and unique images, and are little works of art in their own right.

Glendale, KY on Tin - Wall Hanging

I acquired a few pieces of ceiling tin from an old building that was burned down in Rineyville. It was a controlled burn by the fire department to take down an old store in town. The fire gave the pieces of ceiling tin a nice patina. I used tin shears to cut it apart into sections. I decided to use at least some of them for wall hangings. The first wall hanging I made in this series features a picture of the old town of Glendale, KY. It is such a cute little town with lots of shops and restaurants. The old buildings still look like yesteryear and it is such a fun place to take guests. I will also feature spots in Rineyville and as well as Elizabethtown and Hardin County.

This first piece is made with antique blue and white ticking as the background. Embellishments include part of an antique quilt piece, lace and an old button. The edges are sewn with a blanket stitch using embroidery floss. I punched extra holes in the tin (it already had some nail holes from where it was nailed to the ceiling) and I sewed the wall hanging to the bottom of the tin. I also sewed tiny mother of pearl shank buttons into each hole. For now I have it hanging with a scrap of lace, but may change it out for wire if I find some that I like.