It caught my eye

Steve and I were at one of our local antique store and this table of items really caught my eye. The colors, the way everything was in glass containers. I just had to share it with you all. I found it really beautiful. This collection of objects that by themselves may seem plain or ordinary but put together just grabs your attention.

Tangled Mess of Memories

This is a necklace that I created for the series I have based on Alzheimer's and other memory disorders/diseases. I based this piece on the fact they seem to have this tangled mess of memories, a piece of a memory here and there, all of these little bits all tangled together. Some make sense and others don't. This is not of my normal aesthetic, I am much for simple, clean and neat. Where with these they are busy and chaotic just like what is going on with the alzheimers.
Here is the list of materials that I used in this piece: sterling silver, tourmaline(various colors), fresh water pearls(various), labradorite, rubber, aquamarine, citrine
I used quite a lot of parts in this necklace. I think it came out really amazing. I hope you like it.
Liesl  

Up North

We spent the fourth up north in Toronto Canada, Steve's home town. We up for the service of his dad who had passed. Sad times to go up for but it is always great to see family no matter what.
Even on the drive up (11 hours) I managed to get some work done.

Steve took Quinn and I on a tour of where he grew up. The now trendy beaches. even though Toronto is a massive city it has some amazing beaches that are surprisingly quite. And being me I could not pick up some rocks from the beach and what wonderful rocks they are.

I already have some great ideas of what to make with them. I am surprised by the smoothness of them they just feel amazing in your hands. Quinn even picked up a few for me, and well I have been finding rocks in his pockets all the time he likes to find me rocks to make jewelry with.
As always thanks for reading.
Liesl

quilt update

My quilting is really coming along. I have somewhere around 30 of these small squares. I still haven't made my mind up about a solid color to alternate with them yet. This is for Quinn, and he gets so excited when I finish one and he loves counting them to see how many I have done. He also loves putting all of the little squares together to make the design. He is becoming quite the maker and designer. I am loving this quilt that I am making. The colors, the feel of it and all of he hand work that I am doing (which is all of it). It is great to do as you watch tv or sit outside. I'll keep you posted on the solid color choice I make.
Happy Making,
Liesl

Pickles!!!!

Now I know that this doesn't have anything to do with making, but I am just so excited about this I have to share.
Yesterday we went for a drive and found this amazing little thrift/antique store in Connecticut great store and great people run it. Anyways I have an obsession and a great love for vintage dishes, mostly pyrex but I also love odd things, I have a spoon rest that is a radish and one that is a stack of celery and now I have this fabulous pickle dish!! You just don't see them anymore. I love it. We I was growing up my grandmother had a dish of sweet gherkin pickles out on the table at every meal. Now here dish was not as cool as mine but it still made me think of her. As she is a rather an amazing women. Anywho, here is my pickle dish!!

One shot with no pickles

One a shot with pickles

How great is this dish? I just love it and I only paid three dollars! It just made my day. And what a great day it was out yesterday. I feel like it has taken me a wicked long time to get over that horrible winter we had. But I have, a little in the game but I am here. Thanks for reading about my dish. 

Liesl

 

The studio

It has been a very rough year for us. And because of that I have been finding a hard time to get in the studio and work and also finding inspiration has been hard for me this year. I am taking some time to clean out my studio and re-organize it. I am hoping that will help my juices flowing again. I have started with my bench I think this is the most clean it has been since we moved into this space.

  I still have a lot of work to do in cleaning out my studio. I have the habit of collecting things that I really will never use. All this cleaning out and re-organizing will be like a fresh start. I am hoping to make room for my other mediums that I have not had the space to do. It will take a little bit of work.  

On a different note. One who has no problem with his creative juices is my son. He is always wanting to go into the studio and work. I get mommy can we make some jewelry all the time. It is fabulous!! He has been picking out tools that he would like to get and is asking for his own flex shaft!!! How amazing!!

Here he is working hard on his fathers day project. I need to work on his bench so he make more there. It a much smaller bench, and he likes to work on his painting projects there, I think we might have to find him a bigger bench. It is crazy how fast they grow. He continues to amaze me each and every day. Thanks for always reading and I will be posting a quilting update very soon.
Liesl

A quick break from Art All State

Here are a bunch of us sitting and chatting at Art All State. It was great being submerged in art for the two days.
Lisa Montanaro, Lauren Savoia, Rosa Ibarra, Emily Sandagata, Rob Sandagata, Me and Elaine Smollin
It was fabulous talking with all of these great artist. Thanks for making it a great event.
Photo taken by Dori Latman