Inspiration from Somewhere

I believe that everyone is inspired from somewhere. I'm inspired by nature, music, and other people's expression of self. Here is my progress and next to it is one inspiration for this piece. It's a painting by Matisse.

Black Apple Doll

I finished my doll. I downloaded the pattern from the blog Inside the Black Apple.

Tangerine Elephant

It seems I cannot focus on one project for long without some interruption. My nephew was hurt this weekend. He loves elephants and his favorite color is orange. I made it in three hours from a drawing I did. He was asleep when I took it over to his house. While he was sleeping, his little one-year-old brother fell in love with it. I drove home and made another. They had twin elephants this weekend.

Sunday

We went on our annual fishing trip to Crystal Lake with my dad. I'm the only one that caught a fish.

More Childhood

We Help Mommy by Eloise Wilkin was my favorite book as a young young child. I realize now it was because I love the domestic life. I love decorating and creating a space called home. I love the smells of food cooking and having a place that belongs to me.
My other favorite books are those that my mom and dad read to me. I love homeschooling it combines my two favorite things into one. Today the children and I read Paddle-to-the-Sea. I never read it as a child. I now hope someday my children will remember all the books we read together. I hope they will be flooded with the same warmth, even in the coldest weather.
This is my favorite page. The color of her dress and the cherries always made me want to eat. I bought apron fabric to put in my doll quilt. I am working on. I thought I did not want people to know that much about me. The thing about sharing though, is once you start it's hard to stop.
Here's a peek at my doll. It now has arms and needs to be stuffed. The doll quilt includes so many personal elements. I am afraid they will be lost on anyone else, but me.

October Winter Wonderland

While some of our relatives enjoyed this week at the beach, we played in the snow. Santa gave us these beautiful sleds last year. We finally broke them in. I was the only one that screamed coming down the hill, but oh well. It was a blast!

Joie de Vivre

Here's the updated self-portrait. The progress is going rather smoothly considering the many directions I am pulled. I had an interesting day. I spent the day web-window shopping and reading random blogs. There are pseudo-celebrities in the blog world it's quite fascinating. It snowed furiously here yesterday. I gave into temptation and pulled a Christmas movie out. Today I went back to Fall. I lit an apple cinnamon candle and watched The Wizard of Oz. I read a little too. I am about to construct a doll for my newest project. I feel like my passion and joie de vivre has been locked in a vault for a long time. Like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs emerging from the Disney vault, so am I. I have so many quilting ideas I can hardly keep up. I have a new lust for life. My writing block is over. It's great. Hi ho Hi ho off to work I go.

Self-portrait beginning

Thankfully,
I have support from my dear, Jennifer Babcock. I am creating something I would never have created without that support.