Good Grief Girdie's blog

unexpected gift..........

Several weeks ago I received a very special gift in the mail from a super talented artist..........this sweet Nature Journal packed with words/ephemera/and original art by Cindy Mayfield.....Cindy had been on my our list for years  to come and teach at the Paper Crown and we finally got her to come just before the store closed and I am so glad she did.....Thank You Cindy for this wonderful gift.  Here are a few pages :

And not only did she send the Journal but she also send one of her wooden portraits which I love! 

This gal is super talented and I know one of these days you will see her in magazines and hopefully you will be lucky enough to take one of her classes at the new Paper Crown in WACO!

Thanks again Cindy for this wonderful treasure you gifted me with. ( you can also go to her instagram and check out some more of her work " yapping cat studio")

 

well it's tuesday and hope you all have a good one..............

happy monday........

several more of the shrink dioramas ..........the photos below are the few I have left on my worktable to finish up......

I still am working on the patterns for the punch needle and trying to get my act together on those.....here is one I am working on and hopefully will have finished tonight!!!

This one is rather large so I will finish it and then size it down so it will fit into the 7" hoop while you work.....I made this entirely to big and have had to take out and punch the background and adjust to many times...... these patterns  take a little more thinking than I thought so I am behind on getting them ready to sell.........hopefully soon!

Just got back from a few days in Dallas for  Gift Market..........always fun to see what the new trends are......... hope you all had a great weekend

Happy Monday and have a great week...........

zutter fun

I have been working on some journals lately and decided instead of using binder rings I would get out my Zutter........kind of something I use to use all the time and had really put it up because rings were so much easier but I like the way the spiral makes it look a little more professional.....I will still make them with binder rings but just thought this was a great change....the last photo I did rings.

 

Love making journals and will have some to sell soooooooooon!

miss girdie...........

 

Never in a million years would I think a dog would be my namesake or Girdie's namesake.....  and isn't she a little cutie.......My friend Nan is a basset lover.  The past several years she has lost  a couple of her 4 legged friends.  But now  has a new 7 week old.  When Nan was here in April she told us all that her family could not agree on her name......then one day she called me after she returned to Utah and surprised me by saying that "Girdie" may be the name of their new puppy.....well Hello Little Miss Girdie!  Well anyway you just never know how a name will fit the person,animal, car or whatever it is....... sometimes a name just fits..........

hope you all enjoyed the weekend and ready for the week.........HAPPY MONDAY!

flag day celebration............

When you have a dear friend coming from out of town who has a birthday in june, and another friend who's birthday happens to fall on flag day, what do you do.......you have  flag party!

Happy Birthday you two..................!

Another week has passed us by...........slow down summer............

have a great weekend and enjoy these summer days............

quilting at it's finest............

To give you a the info about the quilt in the above photo let me tell you just a little about the man who built the resort we stayed in at Gateway Canyon Colorado.

John Hendricks is the creator and founder of the Discovery Channel.  He and his wife both are big collectors.  John has a Classic Car Museum on the grounds that is world  known......I didn't get any photos of the cars but one of the reasons this group went, was the museum.  His wife is a big quilter. Every year in April she has a 5 day retreat called the " Alegre Retreat"  ( Alegre means Happy ) at the resort and  been in Gateway for the past 10 years. It use to be held in Santa Fe. So I just wanted to give you some background about this place.

Getting back to the quilts......All week I kept seeing all these quilts in every building on the walls. At first I just thought they were paintings until I got closer and figured out they were quilts and wondered what the deal was......so finally I asked and they told me about the owner of the resorts wife and how involved she is in quilting.  Her name is Maureen Hendricks .  Not all of the quilts on displayed are ones she made but the one you see above she did.......it is unbelievable!  This one is displayed in the entrance to one of the Restaurants and hangs high on the wall when you walk in........this Rock formation is the signature of this entire Resort.  The Red Rock formation is called the Palisade. The Ridge of the Palisade is about 5 miles long and over 2,ooo feet tall........one of the photos from yesterday we could sit on our deck everyday and see this incredible landscape.

This quilt is in 3 sections because it is so large and heavy.  Of course you would have to see it to appreciate the workmanship and how detailed it really is.

The next one is my favorite and doesn't even look like a quilt when you first see it.  Looks just like a painting........

the title of the quilt and the creator of this masterpiece........

The arm of this is crazy..........I would just go and stare because I have never seen quilting like this...........

quilting at it's finest for sure...........these two are the largest of the collection....

these  quilts are in the dining room ..........the chandeliers are to die for gorgeous.....

then you go into the Spa and these are hanging..........

The writing on this is done in fabric paint......check out the black trim with pearls sewn all the way around the edge.......

So now you know what a fun treasure it was to see these quilts all on displayed in buildings at a resort...........you just never know !   Even in our own individual casitas they had smaller quilts framed in the main living area, bedrooms, and bathrooms...........

If  you are ever in the area you need to stop even if you don't stay just walk around in the buildings and check them out.  

Hope you enjoyed these beautiful pieces of art............!

Happy quilting all................

 

summer vacation.........

Every summer Tom has a business meeting somewhere in the US.........this year it was in Gateway Canyon Colorado.........on the Utah Colorado border in the southwest part of the state.  Very different from the trees and mountains we are use to and what you think.....more desert looking like Utah/Arizona/New Mexico........and really HOT!  But we had a great time relaxing, riding bikes and eating delicious food.  It is so remote we never left the resort the entire week, which was okay.  The closest town is Grand Junction which is north and going south is Telluride..........we are home now and so glad we made it back in one piece.......long story short we had tire issues and the first time in the 45 years we have been married we had car problems, but safe and sound and I don't want to get back into the car for a while.......

these are a few more photos of the resort......

This is inside one of the three Restaurants on the grounds " Entrada".  An unbelievable place and I will wait until tomorrow to show you what surprises where inside.......you can't even believe what I found.........

come back tomorrow for a special treat.....

for now I need to finish the laundry and catch up on emails etc.

 

Happy tuesday and Happy to be home in Oklahoma today!!!!!