Update on my health. I can’t seem to kick this sinus thing. I finished the antibiotic on Tuesday, but feel as if the infection is not gone. I had to run a guild business meeting this morning. I came home feeling lousy. I worked on the piece I’ll show you later, but am not feeling very energetic. Steve took me to our favorite neighborhood trattoria for supper – Cafe Citti. I had the house specialty of raviolini en brodo (raviolis in an a wonderful homemade broth) and Luca’s Garlicky Caesar salad and a glass of good Italian red table wine. Soup, garlic and red wine – a winning combo. I felt a little better.

Now on to my latest quilt. First, I want to show you work by one of my favorite artist’s – Ton Schulten. He is Dutch. Here is one of his paintings.

You can see more of his work here. I am on a quest to learn how to abstract scenes and landscapes. I love how he uses colorful shapes to suggest the elements of a landscape, using  unpredictable colors.

Several months ago, I acquired Mrs. Mel’s fused scraps. I used some of them to construct a new Spooner Lake Aspen quiltlet. I used pieces of fabric and fused them in a sort of abstract way. Here it is:

The organza aspens do not show up as well on the cotton; they have a sort of ghostly look. I think I should have cut the mountains in the background in straight lines to really finish the abstraction. Anyway, I enjoyed this and will look for some other photos of landscapes, etc. to abstract.

Tomorrow morning I am getting my hair cut and in the afternoon I am going back to Dr. Felicity to see if she can help me get better.

Sometimes, I just don’t know when to stop!! I wasn’t going to post this, but I think y’all should see what can happen when you do not leave well enough alone. I quilted this piece with some luscious amethyst metallic thread. I quilted random rain drops. I thought it needed something more. So I got out some violet metallic pearlex powder and mixed it with some textile paint thickener and painted in the rain drops. Didn’t have enough pizazz so I when I was in Michael’s, I found Amethyst Scribbles glittering 3-d paint. (I told you I don’t know when to stop!) I painted in the rain drops and when it dried, I thought "This is the tackiest thing I have done in a long time!" Here it is. I am sharing it with the blogosphere.

I think this will get cut up and made in to post cards!

I so needed to do something creative – it has been too long!! The clean studio is a mess with my gorgeous fabrics strewn everywhere as I auditioned them. I  managed to finish one and the other is waiting for further inspiration! These are both under 12 inches on either side. Remember this Aspen photo that I took on our Tahoe week-end?

Here is my abstracted version in hand-dyed silks and painted silk organza for the aspens:

My hardest critic, Steve, loves this and wants it. I told him he has to wait.

I am planning a purple rain series that will evolve from the post card. Here is a work in progress. Hope to get more done on this today.:

This has fused strips of hand-dyed silk, silk organza and vintage Japanese textiles. It is stamped with purple and magenta inks. Stay tuned to see what happens next!!

I’m off to walk the dog, mail the Five Fish to PIQF, try to find a copy of Cloth, Paper, Scissors, and hopefully go to aerobics for the first time in ages!!