Dragon in Motion

Here it is, though my photos are pretty bad....

The Dragon in Motion at the park - a dress rehearsal in preparation for next Friday's "performance."

I am so pleased that it came out looking very much like the image I had in my head before we began - how lucky can you get?

I love it when the "dragon" kneels down. The body is so fluid and the legs just fold down so gracefully. The kids did a magnificent job!

Scales in the sunshine. It was a gorgeous day today - bluest skies and greenest leaves in the trees. Lucky again.....

Dragon Scales

Yesterday, on my friend Trudy's back portal, we laid out the scales and pinned them to the cloth body - Trudy is probably sewing them on as I write this!

The kids did a magnificent job and aren't the colors fabulous?!

Tomorrow is the Dress Rehearsal, so I will pack my camera along so that I can share the Dragon in Action!

DRagoN

The Sixth Grade class at the Santa Fe Waldorf School is having a ceremony next week where the younger classes will "slay the dragon"....

I have spent the last several days working on the head of this illustrious dragon, which will be attached to a long body with fabulous scales painted by some of the members of the 6th Grade.

Thought you might like to see a couple of photos of this project - it IS pretty cool, if I do say so myself.....

I am pretty proud that it actually came out looking pretty much like what I had envisioned...

HOW does that HAPPEN?

I will take photos at the Dress Rehearsal on Sunday.

Our friend, Eric, is the teacher of the class this year, which is why I am involved at all.

Turns out that I know quite a few people in the class, too, so it has been fun.

bird stuff...

Just wanted to share a couple more of these stamps.

I think I need to stop for awhile until I figure out what to do with them.

Danielle suggested little cards....and I like that idea.

Must find the right paper for that, though, so they look wonderful.

I love the nest.....

....And with these, the actual stamp is the darker image...kinda hard to tell as you look at this photo. Lots of birds.....guess I really like birds...ha!

another obsession

I know that for a time there were lots and lots of little papier mache girls standing on boxes holding things....

...and birds on branches....

...bugs on tiny medallions......

...boats with flags....

welcome to my latest obsession!

I cannot stop carving these rubber stamps.....I am in love!

I know that I have a way to go, but somehow the imperfection is what intrigues and delights me ..... I can't help it....

...trying to let go of my "control" thing....sigh.....wish me luck.

..hmmmmmm, lots of brown in this post....

Quilting Beasts

When I got to my mom's last week, this sweet little "maileg mouse" was sitting on my pillow when I went up to bed. I don't think my mom knew it, but I have wanted one of these little guys for a long time.

I was so happy to see it.

The real reason she got it was because it reminded her of some little creatures that my friend Mary and I made almost 20 years ago.

Actually, Mary did all the hard work - stitching and stuffing.

I just cut the stamps and printed the fabric for the quilts.

I think we called them "Quilting Beasts" and sold them in several galleries around the country.

I guess we were a little ahead of our time.......

Here are close-ups of the quilts - pretty cool.

(each is 2 1/2 - 3 inches )

I found all the stamps I cut and am amazed at my own ability

- whew - I think I must be crazy!

Each quilt was hand-stamped and then Mary stitched (quilted) around every tiny pattern.

I am in awe of her miniscule stitches.

Below are three of the "Beasts" themselves......

BUNNY

LITTLE PIGGIE

SWEET PUP

When I look at them, I think we really were pretty incredible.

Mary was extraordinary in her talent.

I have some more of her work to show you....

...maybe in tomorrow's post.

letters

When I was at my mom's she showed me a letter she had received from my niece, Haiden.

I just had to take a photo to share with you......so priceless....

My brother drew the lines for her to write on so it would be straight.

There was an extra little note on the back of the envelope.

Here's the letter, "BLYMIE IS A PIRATE WORD." They had just studied Pirates at camp.

Nice hearts for a 5 year old, don't you think?

This is another note from her twin sister, Cece. She practiced writing the letters that were already on the piece of paper she was drawing on.

Does it get better than this? I don't think so.......

Daddy's Children's Books

I was going through lots of books on my mom's living room shelves today and, to my delight, I found a small stash of my daddy's books from when he was a child - in Swedish! What luck!

I am in love with the pictures (!) and the lettering.

This one is a song book....so......
...here is the music!

I am looking forward to making copies for papier mache

I think that these boats are pretty wonderful....

Here is the cover of the book. Just occurred to me that Elsa Beskow is the illustrator. I have so many of her books in my collection at home.

This one is from another book of poetry....and beautiful pictures.

There are so many really exquisite pages - colors and delicate images.....

I feel so good having found this little connection to my daddy...... pretty special for me.

GREEN CHILES!!!

Long Greens, to be exact.

This is the time of year in New Mexico, that the incredible smell of roasting green chiles fills the air. Every grocery store and most parking lots in town have large roasting baskets set up with burners going hot! They pour the chiles in and turn them over and over to roast all sides of each chile. YUM!

We took 30 pounds of chiles up to our friends in Laramie, Wyoming this past weekend. They had requested them and we were happy to oblige!

Above is a plate of freshly roasted chiles from the grill - almost tooo much!!!! Just "peel and eat"

Below, we made pizza - and the guys ended up with chopped chiles all over theirs.

We each had our own pizza to "decorate" with toppings....The guys put theirs on the grill to "toast"....

Cullen added some goodies to his.....

...And then the green chile! A whopping amount!

Here is the pizza that Deb made (mine looked more like hers than the guys')

It was soooooo yummy! It was a "blustery" evening sitting outside, so we ate pretty fast. Still, it was pretty nice.

YUMMMmmmmmmmmm!

carving

blogdelanine.blogspot.com

wow....that is the site that inspired me to carve stamps again.

It has been years since I did it and it will take some time to get

the "feel" again.

be sure to watch the 10-minute tutorial she does on carving.

she makes it look so easy....sigh......

I thought, "What have I got to lose?"...so I pulled out a carving block I bought ages ago, along with my Daddy's old lino-carving tools......and this is the result.

Of course, I chose a pretty intricate design (what was I thinking?!)

I think I will go a bit simpler with my next one....

I love the photo with Dad's tools.....so worn and loved......

I found them last year at Mom's house and she let me "borrow" them...

thanks, Mom

xo