My beloved Janome 7700 in the "sewing zone" of my studio!

Hi all!  Janome-America is hosting a challenge:  to reach 20,000 “Likes” on Facebook!  To reach that goal, they are giving away some machines and featuring some folks (including me!) on their blog!   I’m thrilled…to be included and to be able to use the phenomenal Horizon 7700 for my machine work.

You can reach the blogpost about me here — it is dated Friday, December 30, 2011, if you end up on the website homepage and need to scroll.  That post in turn has links to the three articles I did for Janome on free-motion quilting…hope you enjoy! As always, thanks to Janome for their support and encouragement.  If you are surfing in from outside of the US, click here (at the global site: http://www.janome.co.jp/e1.htm)  and then select USA from the site locator to access Janome-America’s blog.

What a concept… blogging about art on a blog named Art and Quilting in Camden (and now Hope, Maine, too!)….

Last year, I found myself with unaccustomed time on Christmas day and did a collage that soothed my soul and fed my need to create.  This year, I hoped to do the same but was instead happily busy with family and food and joy!  So I decided to make and keep some time on New Year’s Day for art… I think this is something that needs to turn into a tradition!

This year’s collage got a jump-start when I popped into Camden National Bank in mid-December and they had give-away calendars…those little ones that make a triangle stand on your desk and have photos.  The theme for 2012 was “Images of Maine.”  Perfect!   The 2012 collage turned into one about Home in Maine for me….

My January 1, 2012 collage

From time to time I also troll through magazines that are headed to recycling and cut out words and tear out pages with pictures I might like.  So this time I found this catalog (Title 9) where they use REAL (very athletic, on the young side, ages early 20s to 40 ish, trim and fit…sigh) where one of the models was Sarah…  for each one they had asked them to fill in (or their creative catalog person got REALLY creative) questions, including “Most At Home”–her reply, “in Maine.”  And her friends call *her* the Energizer Bunny, too!   Too fun…so of course I tore that out and modified a couple answers.  I used the Jan. 1 date from the calendar, and seven of the photos, plus others from my stash.

The big photo on the left page is of downtown Camden — our local “hub” which is a town of under 6,000 — decked out for Christmas.  I love the torn edges, but also liked the perforated bits so kept some of those.

My collage from Christmas 2010 is in here, and it was interesting to compare… that one has words like Back from the Brink, Coming up for Air, Jo ahead….Jump,  Saga, Family, It’s all a balancing act.  Certainly tells the story of where I was.

2010 year-end collage

I used aquarelle pencils an small squares (1 inch) of color cut from magazines, and it is more colorful–I was trying to brighten up my life and my pages.  This year’s is much more peaceful… the chaos has, I think, finally ended.  It’s all about “home in Maine.”   Anyway, after looking at that one I then thought The “Winter’s End” page that I added to this year’s might be metaphorical as well as literal…..It’s time to begin anew, to create and to revel in life!

It’s nice to have time and folks with whom to share!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well…. at least just south of Union (not sure where the town line is…either in Union or Warren) on Route 235 there are!   ……. I LOVE these unexpected treasures and decided what better way to start the new year than with a bit of fun!  (and yes, I took these photos in early autumn, as you will see by the green and apples on the trees!)

The first time I drove past this farm I did a double and then a triple-take

Here’s a closer look:

I totally love these guys... they look like they are playing pat-a-cake instead of fighting!

And closer:

Isn't a zoom lens wonderful?

Some day I’d love some whimsy like this in my yard!

For a while now I’ve been part of an online fabric postcard exchange.  I was a bit late with this one, got distracted selling off or donating the last of mom’s things.  But I did get these done recently, and thought I’d share. I joined two swaps this time:  Alphabet and Song Titles.  I came up with the idea for the Alphabet, and fortunately a lot of people liked that one–we had two groups of six swapping letters A-B-C-D-E-F.   I picked F, and decided to stick with my “Maine” theme for the exchange:  Fiddlehead Ferns are common throughout the state, and are in spring considered a delicacy.  I’ve been told by a friend who grew up here (hi JQ!) that these are a taste best acquired in early childhood, but that even then she didn’t! But they are still beautiful:

I also had fun with the Song Title card, and love that quirky song, Beep Beep.  So I made these cards, with both the Little Nash Rambler and a fun cartoon character, the Roadrunner:

This card is the first time I’ve send one without quilting…but if I had done that I don’t think they would have been finished until about Easter!  Those little fiddly bits on the car were, well, FIDDLY!

If you don’t remember the song, here it is, thanks to YouTube:

A while back I mentioned I had taken a class (then another) with Jane LaFazio at Joggles.com.  And I fully intended (hah!  My road to hell just got better paved) to blog about it as I did the lessons.  Sigh.  But better late than never?  An early autumn lesson (well, it was early Autumn in Maine) from late August/early September, was to sketch in a park or the great out of doors–after all, the class was about sketching “on location.”  Since Maine is rural, I chose our garden, starting with the St. Francis statue we inherited from my late father-in-law.  I discovered in high school that the Feast of St. Francis is the same day as my birthday, so I have considered him “mine” ever since.

St. Francis birdbath

Using the Tombow water-soluble ink pen

I added the rose hips and goldenrod, but my leg were getting seriously bug-munched sitting on the grass wearing a sundress, so I’m afraid I rushed a bit at the end (plus I had to go fix dinner). Here’s the “first” finished:

I thought I was done....but I wasn't

After some very helpful feedback from Jane, I went back and filled in more on the goldenrod, mo bettah!

As always, Jane's eye is spot-on and adding more detail to the Goldenrod really improved this composition

I wanted to do another bit–these small sketches are done on 5×7 watercolor stock, and I have to say having GOOD quality paper makes all the difference in the world!   The large trees (there are actually two) just to the right of the arbor that connects the upper meadow to the larger lower meadow were just starting to turn color in the first week of September:

Early September and the leaves were already starting to turn. That tree is now bare bare bare and has been snow-clad a few times!

A memory of a late-summer, early-fall day. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this! Tho now that I see this in blog format, I notice that the angle of the "rafters" of the arbor are off from the photo. Not sure if that is because I took the photo from a different spot or not....they definitely look like they are tilting up too much in my sketch.