WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!!!

The winner chosen by random.org is

EMBELLISHER

Please email me your address! Looks like the giveaway is going all the way to India! How cool is that!
Thanks everyone for entering!

50 followers ....Let's celebrate!

I am so thrilled that so many of you liked coming to my blog and seeing my work or photos...
It is so nice to have met you and seen your beautiful, inspiring work...
Without each other, none of this would have meaning....
I have enjoyed meeting some of you in person, some I feel I almost know you through your work, your comments .
Thank you, thank you for being a part of my life....

To celebrate I will host a giveaway....An old doily, an Amy Butler pattern, some metallic thread, some butons and silk ribbon, a little lavender heart made by me and a little fabric booklet...
The lucky winner will be drawn Dec 30!!!Good luck!
Just leave a comment on this post!
And thank you for keeping an eye on me!

Love,

Gabriela

Leilani's Meandering Challenge

I recently participated in one of Leilani's exciting 5 day challenge projects. Each day she would give us a technique to do and we didn't know what would be next. It is very freeing doing this type of challenge. We are usually bound to rules knowing what the end product will be. I really love doing these!

I wanted to share with you the process and finished cloth which I have not decided how to use yet.....

You can check Leilani's website at http://studiogypsy.blogspot.com/

The first day we had to get a piece of fabric and transform it by painting. The second day we had to use stamps or write or doodle all over it. I chose paragraphs from poetry from one of my favorite poets, Pablo Neruda.

The third day we added another piece of fabric for the backing and then run it through the sewing machine in no special design, just all over.

Day 4 & 5 we had to cut holes and slits into the fabric and then embellish it with just stitches....

In doing this, some of the fabric puckered, so I made like veins stitching the fabric together to 'hide' the puckers...

Thanks Leilani for all the fun!

OWL CRAZY!

When I went to the retreat, my friend Wanda showed us how to make this very cute owls...I finally got these done and I am officially addicted to making owls! You will see more in future posts for sure! They are so cute and each has their own personality!And they are easy to make too!

WORKING ON MY FLOWERBED by Sue Spargo

I have been working on finishing this Flowerbed Wallhanging. As much as I love how all the embellishing looks when done, I am still having some trouble with it because it's not in my nature to 'over embellish'. However, the more I work on these blocks, the more they pull me into that direction and now I even worry I am over doing it! LOL...
When Sue wrote her book she said that she had a hard time figuring when she was done with it...and now I understand....the more you do, the more you want to add and it could easily be an endless project of embellishing...
Here I share a few shots of the blocks for you... My friend Lori's cat Frank liked checking out my blocks too!

TEXTILE OBSESSION

Ok, so Leilani tempted me with the idea of creating an etsy treasury...so here it goes!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cd1959ccce06d91cc7fc8fe/textile-obsession

NO WORDS FROM ME ARE NEEDED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlccsLr48Mw&featu

CORITA KENT

Recently, Sue Spargo (http://www.suespargo.com/) did a lecture at our guild's luncheon .

If you don't know her work, please check it out!

In the lecture she read a few lines from a fantastic book by Corita Kent called "Learning by heart".

I bought it right away because it struck a cord with me, and I knew if Sue recommended it, there was a reason to read it!

As you may know i started to design my own patterns, (I will show a preview soon...) and this book really appealed to me . I think that it is hard for me to focus on one type of craft or design, and this book is a 'manual' or exercise book, to channel that inner creative spirit. I just started it, and part of it is creating a 'sense diary' , or a collection of all those things that mean something to you, that move you, that cause you to react.

I am in the beginning stages but so far I am both intrigued and feel somewhat 'led' in this adventure. I highly recommend it.

Thanks Sue, for your limitless inspiration!

Check out Corita Kent's website:

https://www.corita.org/

Fibonacci numbers

Check out this beautiful video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkGeOWYOFoA




FIBONACCI SEQUENCE INSPIRED ART

I have always loved the Fibonacci sequence and its link with nature....I thought I would share some with you.....

About Fibonacci
Fibonacci was known in his time and is still recognized today as the "greatest European mathematician of the middle ages." He was born in the 1170's and died in the 1240's and there is now a statue commemorating him located at the Leaning Tower end of the cemetery next to the Cathedral in Pisa. Fibonacci's name is also perpetuated in two streetsthe quayside Lungarno Fibonacci in Pisa and the Via Fibonacci in Florence.His full name was Leonardo of Pisa, or Leonardo Pisano in Italian since he was born in Pisa. He called himself Fibonacci which was short for Filius Bonacci, standing for "son of Bonacci", which was his father's name. Leonardo's father( Guglielmo Bonacci) was a kind of customs officer in the North African town of Bugia, now called Bougie. So Fibonacci grew up with a North African education under the Moors and later travelled extensively around the Mediterranean coast. He then met with many merchants and learned of their systems of doing arithmetic. He soon realized the many advantages of the "Hindu-Arabic" system over all the others. He was one of the first people to introduce the Hindu-Arabic number system into Europe-the system we now use today- based of ten digits with its decimal point and a symbol for zero: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. and 0His book on how to do arithmetic in the decimal system, called Liber abbaci (meaning Book of the Abacus or Book of calculating) completed in 1202 persuaded many of the European mathematicians of his day to use his "new" system. The book goes into detail (in Latin) with the rules we all now learn in elementary school for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing numbers altogether with many problems to illustrate the methods in detail. ( http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html#Rabbits )

The Fibonacci numbers are Nature's numbering system. They appear everywhere in Nature, from the leaf arrangement in plants, to the pattern of the florets of a flower, the bracts of a pinecone, or the scales of a pineapple. The Fibonacci numbers are therefore applicable to the growth of every living thing, including a single cell, a grain of wheat, a hive of bees, and even all of mankind.
Stan Grist

Coolville was really cool!

Here are some of us striking a pose!

Susan, Gretchen, Debbi,Wanda,Monica,Gabriela, Thea


We all gave Wanda a little gift ...she did so many special things for us in spite of having so many issues with her home...We hope she will be able to use it and think of us when she turns on her water!

Debbi loves her baseball games, so in the evenings she sat in front of the tv, but
was so nice to work on the bindings for Sandy's quilts at the same time!Thanks Debbi! You rock!




Here we caught Gloria on a still moment pretending she was actually working!!!!LOL
She had so many stories and we were so happy to hear them that it was hard for her to work!She actually did make some incredible zentangles.....




Wanda after a swim! She had as laughing (mostly) the whole weekend!


Monica finishing her English paper piecing project!






Sandy watches Gretchen as she lovingly does her part on sewing on the binding....







Wanda found yet another kitty to love....


Wanda and me....working on Sandy's memory quilt binding

Debbi and Wanda by the lake...


Monica worked by the lake too....







If you look hard, you can see the fish that everytime we sat on the benches to sew, would come and stare at us....







Saying goodbye to my dear Gloria....she is the sweetest, most fun lady! We only knew each other from the online group and I was so happy that she had visited Uruguay before....in a couple of weeks she's going to India.. I wish I can grow up to be just like her!