Giving A Hand

I am giving a hand to the project described below. Thank you Teodo Linda of Appunti Patch for the alert.

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My goal is to get as many hands as possible to compose a big fresco for our friend.

In order to get a beautiful fresco I need various fabrics and colors. And so there will be a sort of unit, power and sense of whole coming from this work.

Somehow the only freedom is the choice of fabric and color. No matter the quality of the fabric, no matter whether it is new or used, what counts is to understand this project and to participate for the pleasure of doing it.

Instructions:
Take a piece of fabric, a material or a color that reminds of you.

On the back side of the fabric trace the contour of your hand (right or left like you prefer).

Then cut leaving from 5 to 8 cm for the arm.

Do not embroider, do not embellish , do not collect anything. Do not try to distinguish with your name, adding pearls or anything else. I really insist about this !!!!!

There is no need to line it either, it is really necessary that the hand is in accordance with the others.

Put your hand in an envelope and send it to me, writing separately on a piece of sheet your name or your nickname.

There is no need of inscriptions nor confirmations, and to gain more time I leave my address:

FREDERIQUE BOULOGNE
3 BIS RUE DE LA LIBERTE
67114 ESCHAU (France)

Especially do not lose time writing me by e-mail to tell that you want to participate, or to explain that you could. That you have not been able to. It would be only lost time .... The time, that we need so much!

I won't send e-mail to confirm that I've received your hand but
everyday in a corner of my blog I'll update the list of the received hands.

And above all, please do it as soon as possible.

Those who want to show their hands on their blogs, explaining
for example their choice of materials and colors, and perhaps this will allow other quilters to add their hands to ours.
Come on then, help me to demonstrate that the virtuality of our relations is based on the reality of our friends.
And if you have any questions ask here on the comments of this post I'll reply so that everyone can take advantage from them.
I'll count on you and your friendship. A big thanks in advance!

And the Winners Are...

My sincere thanks to all who took part in my first blog giveaway.

The names were drawn from my little guy's Indiana Jones hat and...congratulations go out to:

Janie

Diane Duda

Leanne

Please visit the wonderful blogs of these talented ladies...you won't be disappointed!

Flowers On A Wrought Iron Fence

At the end of March the round robin blocks for Jane were due. Her theme was "fences". I made trellised flowers on a wrought iron fence for her.
Yarns, threads, and silk flowers are collaged over a background fabric with a wrought iron pattern. Black tulle topped it off. When I finished the quilting I saw that the leaves had gotten lost. So ... I got out my oil stick pastels and touched them up with bright yellow-greens. I also added shades of pink, green and gold to the flower petals and orange to their centers.

Pastels added

Illustration Friday ~ Save

Do you like to SAVE bits and pieces of fabric, trim and pretty paper? Then you must be a lot like me and this little craft fairy. You just never know when you might need a little piece of this or that. After all, it only took a bit of leftover decorative paper to give this collage a little something extra...every little bit helps. So that's why I SAVE.

(Miss Craft Fairy is available in my CafePress shop as a magnet.)

© Nancy Lefko

To the Mountains

Most of you know of my love for Lake Michigan, but the Rocky mountains are also dear to my heart.

44"x 35"

This is the photo from which I was working:
One of my favorite spots is on the shoreline of Bear Lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park. My quilt will not be exactly like any of the photos that are posted, but will incorporate what I remember and feel when sitting quietly and looking across a high mountain lake. For those of you familiar with the Rockies, the snow covered mountain on the far right is Longs Peak in the above picture and my quilt.

I like sitting on big flat rocks that jut out into most of the lakes up in the mountains. However, I'm not sitting in this pic. My husband likes a pose :-)
My next step is to machine quilt what is in the background. Then I will compose the shoreline in the foreground based on these photos.

This picture was taken along the Big Thompson River that runs past our cabin. I will be including some of these flowers on the shoreline of my lake piece.
Now that I've caught your interest for this piece I'm sorry to say that you won't be seeing it finished for a while. I had rushed to get it started to see if it could be finished in time for the Smoky Mountain Quilts Guild Show. Well, I determined that I could, but it's too late. The limit for the number of quilts that can be displayed in our show place has been met ... in fact we have to turn away quite a few submissions :-(

Watch for it to reappear late May or June. Now, I can get back to the lake series.

Can You Guess

... where I'm going with this?
Stay tuned to find out.

Collage Mania 2008 Contribution

Virginia Spiegel had put out a call for Fiber Art For A Cause, a fund raiser for the American Cancer Society. All donated collage pieces will be auctioned Monday, May 5th. Here's my donation made in honor of my friend, Gayle Lowndes, who lost her battle with Cancer in early March of this year.

Hope - 10"x 8"

You may recognize the design elements from "Come With Me to the Kasbah". It is composed from the pre-quilted pieces that were not used in the large piece.

I also made an ATC for Julie who is presently adding her creativeness to my "Exquisite Corpse" piece. It is double sided.