Princess Bubbles Creates

 This stitched mandala is finished.  I did not add a lot of beading to it as it already had a lot going on.  That does make for a quicker finish!  I have yet to tire of working with the circle shape.  I have ordered a bunch of embroidery hoops and will have o problem filling them.  Sometimes I feel it is a bit self-indulgent to keep making this work.  What is the point?  Will it ever be seen by anyone other than blog followers and my family?  Does that really matter?  What if I am making it for my own pleasure and mine alone?  Does that make it selfish?  I believe I am a better person due to my art-making.  Does that not add goodness to the world if even in the smallest of ways? I am linking to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

 I have gotten back to work on my children's book.  I thought I had all my stitched illustrations finished but there are a couple I am not super happy with.  This rainbow piece was just too sparse.  I have added more gems and more stitching.  There is still a bit more stitching to add and then it will be finished.  

 This mandala/kaleidoscope is a collaboration with my sister.  I manipulated a photo and printed it onto some cotton fabric.  I sent it to my sister and she added some beading.  This piece has been languishing for years and I decided it is time for me to complete it.  I added the yellow beads that criss-cross the cabochons.  I am not sure what the next step is but I trust it will come to me. I am linking to https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/  

 Last year I painted this picnic table for Art Fresco which was a creative idea by Emily at Explore Waterloo Region.  Originally they had planned to auction the tables at the end of the season.  I am not sure why they changed their minds about auctioning the tables.  They stored the tables over the winter and have redeployed them.  My table is at  Snyder's Family Farm .  It looks like a fun place to visit! There is a good article at  Explore Waterloo Region  about the tables.  I was happy to be interviewed for the article.  You gotta love free publicity!

 I am still working on embroidering the basic 'seams' on this piece.  In the upper right, I am doing some bullion stitch.  I really should count the wraps so that I get the zig-zags consistent.  Such a good idea, why did I not think of it right away?  I guess I am just not that particular.  It goes against my nature to be knit picky.  Art-making needs to be a joyful experience for me.  Other people do precision very well and I enjoy and respect their work.  I have no need to do something similar.   I am linking to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

 Earlier this week I sent my stitched dog journal page off to Berkeley CA to be in a show at Tinsel Trading.  It got me thinking about my dog journal pages again.  I have created this fabric collage and plan to use it for that journal.  I think this one will represent Trinity who had a very lively and interesting personality.

 I was listening to a podcast this morning.  The interviewer always starts with the artist's origin story.  Were you the arty kid?  I most certainly was an arty kid.  My parent's both worked with their hands and always encouraged me to do so as well.  I remember getting a tiny set of tools when I was quite young.  Dad let me use them to 'help' build our garage.  Mom knitted and sewed.  There were always fabric scraps that I could use.  I am so glad that I took a photo of the stuffies I created when I was about 11 years old.  I am pretty sure they ended up in the garbage as Mom was never overly sentimental.   Birthdays and Christmas often brought arts and crafts supplies.  My oldest brother gave me a good set of paintbrushes possibly around the age of 14ish.  I still have them!  I was also pretty resourceful and found clay at a creek near our home.  There was a Bell telephone building not terribly far aw...