The Best Advice

Well, I'm back from Atlanta visiting and helping with my new granddaughter. It was a great week full of wonderful moments AND I'm exhausted.  I can understand why it takes a "youngin" to raise a "youngin". My daughter said to bring lots of stuff to work on - lots of "down time". That's a bit of an oxymoron to put "down time" and "newborns" in the same sentence.

     I did manage to finish one of my small pieces for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. On this piece, I used a silk screen of a leafy image on each side. I used Lumiere paint which might be a tad too thin for screening.  In this case it smeared and made a mess. 

     I remembered something I learned in a workshop from one of the greats in the quilt world - Roberta Horton.  In this workshop, someone had goofed and Roberta said - if you make a mistake that can't be fixed, repeat it 2 MORE TIMES to make it look intentional.  I can't tell you how often I've thought of those words and acted on it. You can see the smear of green and gold where it should have been branches - (right side).

 so onto the left side where I added more paint (smears) along the bottom.

 And sides - now it's starting to look "intentional".

 I also went back and added some beading.

 My favorite beading technique is something called "Dots" - a small seed bead on top of a much larger seed bead, a technique my friend Mary developed and can be found in Mary's "Beading Buddy" - a wonderful reference guide featuring 78 beading stitches. If you're a beader or even a beginner like me, you don't leave home without it!

 This edging of beads is the perfect touch.

 I also added small seed beads to the "leafy" images.

 And across the mushroom caps, like I said - it's addictive!

 And here's the finished piece called "S'hrooms"

To find out more about the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative and become a part of it, visit their website. It's easy to make small pieces (no larger than 9 x 12") and for such a wonderful cause. I'm happy to be part of it.