crazy day

Well, today was crazy! I got the boys to school and stayed to read to Sam's class. I got home at 8:30 to eat and clean up a bit. Then, I made a post office run and went down to the church prayer room for an hour. When I got home, I came into the studio to start working on a birthday gift for a dear friend who turned 50 today. I thought I'd do something simple like a soldered necklace pendant but wanted to use an oblong flat backed marble with words collaged to the back and then taped up and soldered. Well, I was almost finished with some wire wrapping on it when it completely came apart! I mean, just came apart. So, now on to plan B. Only, by this time, it was time to get the boys from school! So I asked them if we could change Family Fun Day to tomorrow so I could get Louise's birthday gift finished. They were angels this afternoon letting me make her gift. I decided that the sizes of glass I had for soldered pendants were too big for Louise and didn't suit her so I ended up pulling out some beveled glass pieces a fellow artist friend, Jan, sent me from Ohio. I decided to make some sort of larger soldered hanging piece for a wall or something. OK, so I wanted to use the words of Louise's favorite hymn along with some images and other religious stuff. The piece is reversible so it could be hung from the ceiling to view both sides at once or she can just change it every one in a while on a wall. It took me ALL afternoon! Plus I made her a card. So, here it is:

Now, here is the April Journal quilt IN PROGRESS. I still have to do some embellishment as well as the quilting. It has taken many hours just to get this far! I decided to sorta' go with the theme listed for April within my JQ group which was weaving. I think they meant fabric weaving which I'd planned but the plan went a different direction. The weaving I did is somewhat visible in the close up photo. I did a paper weaving of a hymn and some Hebrew writing from the book I got at Fran's at Passover. The weaving of two beliefs. I used a transparency printed from a watercolor painting I did several years ago of the sheep. The lamb is symbolic for both the Christian and Jewish faiths and since April was the month of celebration for both Easter (Jesus being the sacrificial lamb) and Passover (the sacrificial lamb also being part of the celebrating). The transparency is sewn on and then pieces into all the crazy fabrics. I love these fabrics. The colors have representational meaning for me with them representing sin that Jesus died for, the blood he shed, hope, grace, peace, new life, growth and joy. I hope to maybe finish this piece next week. I'm thinking for the embellishment, which will go below the sheep, I'll make a soldered microscope glass piece with the word "Sacrifice" and sew it to the piece. Of course, the plan could change at any given moment!

For the weekend, I'm helping Sam finish writing a story so I can bind it for a special teacher gift to be given to his teacher the last day of school, which is Wednesday.

Now, I'm beat and headed for bed! I have to catch up on my housework in the morning so I can have some fun time with my boys tomorrow.