Out and about

Another rainy day here in Maryland but that's ok. I just planted my garden this week and I am hoping all this rain makes things grow!!! Especially the pumpkins! The boys wanted to try growing pumpkins this year so I figured why.....will see what happens.....

The last few weekends I have been out and about at local events and thought I would share some of photos....

Two weeks ago I went to the American Visionary Art Museum's Kinetic Sculpture Race. It was alot of fun and the entries are so cool to look at. The sculptures are human powered for 15 miles through the downtown area and face a water test as well as an obstacle course. We went to see the water test....

Here's Fifi the 13 foot poodle....

The Platypus entry....

The catepilar from Alice In Wonderland....

Some kind of mutant dog.....hmmmm....

Lucky the elephant....

the human element to Lucky.....pedal harder!

The catepillar takes to the water.....it was really funny watching some of the entries hit the water.....they had to go around the pier and back out again. Not all of them  made it.....

Part of the fun for the day is to dress up......when I saw this costume, I knew I had to get a shot....

Yup, those are thread spools she is wearing.....and I love the tutu!!

Then last week it was off the BMA for textile day. They had lots of hands on activities for people to try.....

The boys tried out screening printing....

While they were in line waiting a turn.....I saw this on the back wall.....

Vincent's Starry Night done up in mixed media by kids......

I LOVE this!!!!

Looks like clay decorations, glitter, felt......

This would be so fun to try out.....a play day project!

That's what's great about doing projects with kids. They have no "rules" in their minds about art yet and just do what feels right.....try going fabric shopping for a project with a kid sometime. They have some interesting choices than can really make a project "bloom".

I saw this table in the museum.....it is over 150 years old. The craftmanship is amazing.....and it was all done in  a time when there were no power tools, computers, etc etc.....

And it's a circle with wedges.....imagine if it was an off center circle with wedges. Now that would have been interesting......I wonder if they tried things like that back then or stuck to the tried and true....

Have a good Thursday!

kathy

The circle in nature

My friend Amy has been on the hunt for circles lately. Man hole covers, clocks, portholes,  you get the idea.

Now I have always had a fondness for circles. Hence my interest in the New York Beauty block. I always am cutting out the curvy and spiky patterns when I see them in magazines. But I also reallllllly like organic forms.

The uneven edges, the irregularity, those things add a level of movement and excitement to an organic design. 

So when I was talking my dog for a walk this spring, I thought I would be on the lookout for circles in nature.

And they are really hard to find!

I came up with these......

Kinda of a circle with spikey edges....

A real irregular circle within a circle with the tree stump....

Yet another circle but this time with ruffles edges....

Now this one is closest to perfect circle.....but the edges are still off a bit....if I could fold it in half, both sides would NOT be equal.

It was really hard to find circles in nature.......interesting.....

Are they a mostly man made shape? 

Do we humans find circles so pleasing for the regular perfect edges they give us?

If two pictures were made up of same colors and design but one had perfectly round circles and the other had organic circles would each invoke different feelings?

What would those feelings be?

I think this would be interesting for me to explore more.....

My faithful dog enjoyed our walk.....but sometimes got in the way of my photo taking....

Poor flower.....

I leave with with circles on the brain.....have a good Monday!

kathy

Charm Pack Challenge

I joined the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild a few months ago and we are doing a Charm Pack Challenge sponsored by Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

I have a month to do the challenge. The rules are pretty simple:

Must use some of each color

Must use a new technique that is new to you

Can only add solid fabrics

Now I've been thinking about this and I want to go with either Curvy Flying Geese or Snakes.....

I actually really want to try both.....hmmmmm, maybe make two mini quilts for the challenge????

What do you think?

My good friend Amy is in the BMQG too.

She's very talented.....that apple she's about to take a bite out of? Its fake, she made it with wool....

Impressive huh!

Have a good day!!

kathy

Glass making Fun

I recently set up a glass making workshop for our cub scout pack at McFadden's Art Glass.

His stuff is amazing!!!!

Here's an example.....

How fun is that!!! I want this sink in my bathroom!!!

They offer all kinds of glass making workshops for the general public so if you are ever in the Baltimore area, be sure to make this is stop on your must see list. I made a pumpkin and glass ball before, so fun!

 There is a gallery and restaurant on site too.

The boys had a great time make glass pendants or marbles.

Even my 14 year old had fun and he wants to go back for more in depth instruction. That says something if your teenager wants to go for more!

While wandering around, I saw these.....

My kind of flowers.....yep, those are some random dandy lions mixed with glass flowers. 

Have a fun Monday!

kathy