Beautiful Big Bookshelf

This is the last piece of furnishings we'll be able to fit in our family room, we've saved a spot for that special something that catches our eye. Well we found it a couple weeks ago.

This is actually a china cabinet that sit atop a buffet, we ended up with the buffet also, it's going in my closet to house sheets, blankets and pillows.

Anyway, today we constructed a lower half. I must say.....fabric, thread and textiles are easier to work with than wood, putty and nails.

But, it's done. It has a satin finish over the provincial stain and can hold many large books along with many paperbacks. I like the little drawers for paperclips, staple, scissors and etc.

Did I mention it's 6'long and 7' high? C&G Design.

Clothscapes-part 5, Cornucopia, Butterfly

I purchased this beautiful cornucopia at a second hand shop, it was in a frame complete with glass and has hung on my wall for several years. It is cross stitch on linen.

Counted cross stitch is different from cross stitch but the same. Counted is done on a canvas or aida with marked areas for your stitches and so many counted stitches for your project. Cross stitch is the same without the holes and the counting, it lends to more flexibility. It's recommended to do counted as a beginner in order to be able to get the feel for the size of the stitches. This is embroidery because it's with thread.

My butterfly is done, there is a faint sense the original picture was oval. Much of the matching yarn had frayed or split over time, I think exposure will help it blend together. This lovely is a example of needlepoint, it's the seed stitch in rows. The picture itself is worked by starting from the center, out. I don't recommend the base material for a budding needle artist. It's interlocking canvas, meaning it's double the thread both up....and across.....
Very difficult to work with. C&G Design.

Picture Quilts

One of these days, I'll find a good subject matter to forever immortalize in a large quilt. These are gorgeous and many times, a subject of conversation. They are picture quilts and have less structural rules than regular quilting, the biggest rule change is....you don't have to have the same color background. Or you don't need a background at all like in the upper photo and the one below. I love the Monopoly.

A picture quilt can be your house, landscape with horizons, or even leaves of a particular tree, but always a theme. The color fabric of the picture is appliqued, with embroidery being the main staple of detail.

A variation of the picture quilt is the portrait quilt, it is assembled the same way. Many quilters use a group of textiles, such as this Marilyn Monroe done in silks. The quilting is generally a wave pattern.

Plan on investing in a whole lotta scotch guard. C & G Design.

Triple Ann and Andy

I've had a post on two of the three pictured Ann and Andy's, The large pair are the first of several I've made. They both have button eyes and stitched faces, they date to 1985. The little orange pair are the two I did a recent post on, I thought they would look cute sitting among the older brothers and sisters. Tee hee. Lastly, the medium sized pair are a couple I received in the hospital recently. Madam P convinced her Dad to go into the gift shop and she presented me with Ann (Applause Co) on her first visit, she said he was too cheap to get Andy!....Next visit, she gave me Andy........

I think he thought I'd rather have flowers or a plant....C&G Design.

Fungus Among Us

New England has had some strange weather this year, first a total accumulated amount of snow at over 16 ' and then the wettest summer I can remember. Things could be worse, it could be the hottest summer.

I wanted to segment into the alien beings popping up around my yard and the easiest way to do that is to let you know how gloomy and drippy we've been.

Well, I'll let the pictures explain....

My former veggie garden.....

We will plant grass because we need a sunnier spot for the veggies......

I hope the spores don't spread when we rototill......

This one is in the play yard.......

So is this one!!!!!

Everyone agrees, this one in the front yard.......Is quite pretty......

Crevice crawler!!!!!

And RIGHT behind my mailbox.....

Maybe it'll bill snatcher the really high ones....C&G Design.

Ken

This is the only older Ken in my collection and unless I find a first edition, it will stay the only one. He is Malibu Ken from 1971.

I purchased him in a 70's Barbie case that also had Francine in it,and several early clothes.

Ken's leg was detached and has been repaired, I was alittle nervous about undressing Ken because all his movable limbs were stuck, sometimes as doll collectors we forget to move body parts so they won't stick over time. They all came out okay.

He has bright blue eyes, and perfect extremities, sometimes with older played with dolls you find a child has chewed the feet or hands.

Kens outfit is listed in one of my books as a hard to find clothing, it is marked Ken on the jacket, and I have the matching shoes. The pants and jacket seem to be made of tweed but his turtleneck is made of polyester. I washed this outfit before I knew it was valved at a approximatly $45.00.

I'm not real sure which way these pants are to be worn, the only seams on the trousers are where this zipper is.....continuing around to the behind, and down the insides of the legs. It has darts at the hips. I find my quandary funny, I can't figure it out.
So he wears them the conventional way. C&G Design.

The Kiss

Remember "The Thinker''? I do, we always had a chance in school to see this historic figure, be it in social studies, history or English. Just seemed "The Thinker" was always there.

Few people know where "The Thinker" and other common statues originate from. "The Thinker" and my little statue came from "The Gates of Hell" by Auguste Rodin, french sculptor, 1840 - 1917.

"The Thinker'' is at the top of the gates looking down. Mr. Rodin's ensemble was commissioned by the Directorate of Fine Arts in 1880 meant to be delivered in 1885, Rodin worked at this commission on and off for 37 years, up until his death. Before Rodin's death he donated drawings, sculptures and reproduction rights to the French Government.

The Decorative Museum Arts was never built, the first floor of the Hotel Biron was the work site of "The Gates'', in 1919, two years after Rodin's death, the hotel Biron became the Musee Rodin housing a cast of "The gates of Hell" and related works. "The Kiss" is in the gate doors amongst the other suffering beings.

The Gates of Hell'' has 108 figures.

Auguste Rodin was the most important contributor to the 19th century, he made the way in a change of extreme realism and long domination of greek influences. His inspiration came from Gothic art, dance, works of Dante, Donatello, and Michelangelo.

Second in popularity to the "The Thinker", "The Kiss", although being part of "The Gates of Hell'', Rodin felt these figures didn't fit and individualized them separately. The sculpture has amazing highlights and shadows that creates an illusion of actuality.

Thank goodness mine is less graphic that some others repos, thank goodness.

C & G Design.