Look what came in the mail…
(a brief interruption to your not-quite-scheduled posting….time flies when the boys are home and I can’t get “air-time” on my own computer! Hoping to resume a more frequent posting schedule soon….dream on?!)
and that I bought in Houston, and at the local art supply store……
On Tuesday (well, at this point a week or two ago), I met a student of mine in town for tea and sharing (she had done a WONDERFUL first journal, by the way, of a dream catcher with prayer flags plus another gift for a friend and yet another of an angel…way cool!), then ran some errands, including to Rockport Blueprint which, despite the name, is the wonderful local art supply store. They had these way cool little easels for all of $2, and they are the perfect size for postcards:
That is fortunate because on Saturday in the mail I had this wonderful suprise from our very favorite quiltmuse, Jacquie Scuitto:
Jacquie wrote me that the tree and star came from Germany! Her daughter and granddaughters live there (Jacquie and Lou lived there for years, too), so she goes to visit every year. I’m honored she shared one of her special German goodies on a card with me…and what a fun surprise to get the card! So it is now on the easel on my desk!
And here are two postcards I purchased from the FFAC booth in Houston. The first is by Kathie Briggs, and reminds me of the torii gates in Japan (those are the red gates at the Shinto Temples and sometimes in the harbors, near shore). I had seen this card on the FiberArts For a Cure webpage and fell in love with it, and was thrilled that it had not been sold and was still there when I got to searching for my treasures. Visit Kathie’s blog here, and her website here.
I also found this one, called Papyrus #1, by Leslie Tucker Jenison. The green is art cloth made by Leslie, with three glorious thick beads on it. I’m not much of a surface design person, but I think maybe I need to play more with paints and stamps and creating my own art cloth…..
I also totally love the idea that I was able to receive these cards made by ladies I’ve met on the QuiltArt list. If you click on this link, it will take you to the QuiltArt home page. There is a lively e-list (with about 2500 subscribed souls), who are fascinating, sharing, wonderful, sometimes crabby, always fun, which you can join; there is no fee, though us “regulars” joyfully send an annual (or more often) contribution to list-mom Judy to keep things running.
Last but not least, I’m thrilled that Virginia Spiegel (website here) invited me to participate in the 2007 Reverse Auction to raise funds for cancer research. Check out the early information here, and check back in periodically for updates. I’ll be making and donating a special piece for this auction. A dear, dear friend died of liver cancer when Joshua was an infant (I’d take him to lunch with her at her chemo sessions…the nurses loved her because of her positive outlook— if attitude alone could cure someone, Linda would be with us today), and my half-brother Charlie (a 4-pack a day, highly overweight smoker) died of cancer in 1982. My dad survived his bout with throat cancer in 1982–he used to joke that at age 83 he’d not live long enough for the doctors to know he had survived past the 5 year prognosis, but he lived to age 96. Daddy was diagnosed with cancer on a Friday. After 65 years (or more) of smoking. He quit that day and never had another cigar (thank heavens…boy did they stink). Anyway, my donations to FFAC are in memory of Linda, Charlie and Daddy.