This week

This is a little mosaic of my week...

Some time in the garden. Not enough. The weather wasn't that great.
A short trip to Brussels, mainly to buy some Japanese groceries.
Lots of time in the studio, experimenting with fabric, paper and paint...

No real plan in the next sample. Simply some layers of fabric, and free stitching. Excellent way to relax...

I also had a nice dyeing session. I needed some backing fabric for my "Orient" quilts.
This one is too good to use as a quilt back.

Next is a lovely drawing my granddaughter did a couple of weeks ago. Isn't it great?
(It's me and my hubby. :-) )

And look at this beautiful family! So cute!

December...

Already? Really?... Am I losing the blogging habit?
I'm afraid I am...
I still take pictures of my work though. I even had this little mosaic ready at the end of October, showing a little peek at my sketchbooks and some beautiful paintings of my GD...

I don't know where November went... I didn't get much studio time, but I managed to do two small quilt tops, one mixed media painting, and lots of sketching.
I also finished my colourful piece of weaving and started another one, although I try to be careful with this as my back pain might  be coming from there.

On the Japanese studies front, I finished the first unit of "Japanese for Busy People II", I know about 140 kanji (still a long way to go!), and I discovered the NHK News Web Easy, which is wonderful. :-)

And now, let's see if December can be a blogging month... Once a week maybe? What do you think?

Transition

My mom passed away peacefully. She had been sick for several years and we knew this was coming, but it feels strange and sad to think she's really gone now.

The whole family had a beautiful celebration a few days after her passing.

Life has to go on now. I am slowly going back to the studio. I finished my super-secret quilt that I can't talk about until next year. I think I'm going to take a break from art quilting for a couple of months. I want to concentrate on painting, weaving and reading this summer.
I also need to go back to my Japanese studies. Did I tell you that I did really well at my end-of-year exam?

This is a mixed-media painting, using acrylics, collage and my own calligraphies.

Back to quilting

Carla Sonheim's class is over. I had so much fun. I definitely need to keep this habit of drawing a little everyday.
Here's a picture of my desk yesterday night just before I cleaned it up...
And here's the little guy of the other day. I think he became a little gal in the meantime.
Now it's really time to start working on my Metamorphosis quilt. The deadline is February 12th!

Did you see the last exciting news about Twelve by Twelve? You didn't? Look here then. A 6-page article in Quilting Arts magazine. Nice, isn't it?
There's also an article about us in Patchwork- und Quiltjournal, and yes, it's official, I am a cover girl. ;-)
Ok, enough boasting for today! I am off to my studio now to try and cut up that rejected dandelion quilt.

Two more creatures

An imaginary creature in watercolour and pencil,and a quick scribble of my beautiful boy...
Yes, we also draw real creatures in Carla Sonheim's class. :-)

Hello 2012!

First post of the year, at last!
This week, I am having fun doing Carla Sonheim's Imaginary Creatures online class, as a belated birthday present to myself.
Here are some of the creatures I painted yesterday...
This class is wonderful. I'm so glad I finally decided to sign up.

I haven't started to work on my Metamorphosis quilt yet. But I'm seeing change and impermanence everywhere...
Yesterday evening, I somehow forgot a pot of rice on the stove... I can tell you that the lovely whiteness and fluffiness of cooked rice is highly impermanent... I'm not yet finished cleaning the ugly black hard stuff that's now sticking to my pot...
Anyway, one of the ideas I had for this Metamorphosis quilt was to transform one of my rejected quilts.
This dandelion was a candidate quilt for the first Twelve by Twelve challenge back in 2007. I finally made another one featuring a white dandelion seed head. But now I am thinking of recycling this yellow flower and using it for the new challenge.
I like this idea because it would involve many layers of metamorphosis.