Just ONE More Painted Piece

One of the last things we did before leaving the cottage for Colorado was to give this glider two coats of spar varnish.
It was painted by our daughter-in-law and grandson. Her mother and I helped by adding the dots. In the photo below Terra and her mother are outlining those dots with permanent ink Sharpie pens.

My Talented Friend

Throughout my posts I've mentioned my friend, Alicia. We're staying at her house on our way to Colorado. I got my camera out and have taken photos of her creative touches.
She couldn't bear to discard this old bright yellow bicycle. It's baskets became flower pots. It's "stuck" in her back garden by the garage entrance.

Alicia has helped me paint furniture at the cottage. Over the years she's painted a number of chairs ... some of them for charity auctions. This one with decoupaged flowers is in her sewing room.
She combined hand-marbled paper with her painting on this ensemble in her front hall.
This painted table and mirror are in the guest bedroom.
I had given her this clothing butler when I moved from Milwaukee. Now I wish it were mine even though I still would not have room for it in Tennessee. I do get to use it when I visit.
A few years ago she decided to spruce up all her outside doors.



Alicia is a very talented lady.

Purple Lake Postcard

Here's a second postcard that has slipped into the Lake Series. The sky and horizon of the lake are the purple Thai silk fabric mentioned in my last post.

Lake #34.5 - 4"x 6"

It's created for Dianna in exchange for one of her "Turtle Soup" postcards she made from the leftovers of "Honu II". See them here.

Basically, she and I are trading scraps. What fun! I can hardly wait to receive mine from her.

Another Purple Lake Piece

I'm not sure of the time or conditions that this purple lake piece represents.

Lake #33

One of my sisters-in-law sent a bag of scraps. One piece was this purple Thai silk. I could hardly wait to make that Lake quilt. There will be more pieces that use this silk. I plan to let the fabric speak more for itself in those.
Here's the piece under construction ... before the quilting.

Here are both purple pieces. The new one and ...#28, the one that represents a moonlit night.

Kids Painting Chairs

Our three grandsons are the same age. Their third summer I bought each of them a cute teddy bear chair for their bedroom here at the cottage.

At the end of last summer Jennings rebelled against having a "baby chair" and declared he was throwing it out. I called him into my bedroom for a little chat. I asked him if he used the storage area in this chair and if it was at all useful for getting up to the top bunk where he sleeps. Then I suggested we make it into a big boy chair.

He chose a fabric that looks like the lake and the sky to cover the seat and then painted his chair to coordinate.
This week Jackson refinished his bear chair. His choice of fabric surprised me. While he was painting, he was making rap music noises and slinging his brush to the beat.
It could not have turned out more perfectly.The only thing left to do is reattach the hinges for the covered and padded seat.

Winston has given his chair to his 5 year old sister. She's looking forward to making her art chair in August.