Stealing

Yesterday I went 'stealing' ideas and inspiration.

It was a beautiful fall day in N. Michigan.  Bud had planned a motorcycle ride with his Harley group and I wanted to go to Fiber Arts Show In Leland.  Everyone was happy.

Before I went I needed to do a little long neglected weeding in my hostas.  I had quite a pile of weeds but it is the last time this year for that task.  I know that some people like to work in a garden but it really isn't that much fun for me.  However, my very small garden was beginning to look more like weeds than plants and I wanted to get it cleaned out before the snow begins to fall.  So, work before pleasure and it was a short bit of work.

I headed up to Leland to the Fiber Arts show.  I was very excited about the possibilities of new inspiration because the promotion picture was fantastic.  I featured this artist and I am really interested in art quilts.  One of the exhibitors gave me permission to steal as many ideas as I needed when she gave me this 'loose' quote.  'Good artist (authors) borrow ideas, Great artist (authors) steal them.  I was going stealing, not that I am a great artist but I do have inspirations for great works and art quilts are a new passion, I need lots of inspiration because I really don't know where I am going.

This piece had a lot of stripes in it.  I like the way it looks.  I think I want a little more color in my works but it is interesting.

The artist seems to do a lot of work with this 'cross' pattern.

 If you look at the stitching closely   (or even if you aren't interested to look that close) you will see that it is in that same cross pattern and it is in different colors. I think I am looking for a little different look but I liked many things about her work.  I felt this was a bit too much inspired by what I would think is the shape of various flags.  I kept thinking of the Swedish and Norwegian flags when i looked at this piece.

 It was a small show but I walked around it several times.  Some of the artist were showing weaving and fabric shawls that were put together in an interesting way.

 I really liked this piece.  Maybe it is the colors.  What you can't see is that she has copper wire stretched between the posts of the fence.  It also had more dimension than you are able to see but it was very cool.

This lady was making what the British call 'fastenators' (I can't get spell check to help me with this one so that is the best spelling I can come up with)  You may remember them from the royal wedding when everyone was wearing them.  I didn't buy any but thought they looked cute.  

This is something that I decided to buy for myself.  You won't believe it but those are canning rings wrapped in wool yard and fastened together in the middle with a cinnamon stick for a stem and a piece of felted wool for the leaf.  I loved it and knew that I needed to buy it.  Now, I just may try to 'copy' this artist's work but at least I did buy one from her.  Her work was within my price range.  

 This old building in Leland was home to the show on this wonderful afternoon.  It was about 70 degrees out, the sun was shining and of course Leland is a wonderful tourist town in N. Michigan.  I don't go there very often but it is a wonderful town, just a short drive north of here.

One of its main attractions is Fish Town.  It opens on to the 'Big' lake (Lake Michigan) so it has been a fishing town for a long time.  The piers and the small buildings have been turned into wonderful artist galleries and fun little tourist shops.  I wandered around the area, stopping in most of the shops.  I bought some wonderful Christmas presents at a very unique toy store and a few other treats.

Whenever I go to Fish Town I am remembered of a strange event that happened many years ago.  Eva and Bill were visiting and Matt was just a baby.  We went up to Leland and walked around.  It must have been summer because I was wearing a halter top. Anyway, Matt reached over and 'exposed' me in a wardrobe 'malfunction'.  Strange memory but a funny one.  

Of course, I can ALWAYS find jewelry to buy.  I was taken by this little stone and decided that I needed to commemorate this beautiful fall day by bring it home.  (I didn't steal this one though, I bought it.  Wouldn't want to end up in jail and try to explain that little quote I heard earlier.  I somehow don't think the police would agree and I am always willing to pay artist for things I can't possibly recreate.)

It was a 2 cappuccino day and that makes it even more wonderful.  Rings, sunshine, leaves, art and inspiration.  As Bud would say "It doesn't get any better than this".  He had a great ride with his Harley friends and everyone was happy in our house.