Time Spent

Time is the coin of your life.  It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.  Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.  

Carl Sandburg

Ahh, such words to live by.  The older I get the faster time flies by.  I remember when I was pregnant with my first child.  The months moved so slowly and the ninth month was at least a year long.  Now it seems that Christmas was just a few weeks ago and yet the year is almost half over.  We've been back home from vacation for a month and my has it been a busy one.  There have been Dr. and Dentist check ups, car shopping for my DH, a new Grandson and I managed to finish a quilt.  I still have a few things to share from our trip (it's not like I haven't been posting) but I will try make it interesting for you.

You get to SEE many things at museums!

Still need to hang this up.

Stockbridge still looks the way Norman Rockwell painted it.  The Norman Rockwell Museum was worth the trip and we could have spent more time there.

I LOVED the builds at Mass MoCA!

What's not to love about a Mary Cassatt?

The Williams College Museum of Art and the Clark Art Museum were wonderful!

We were first greeted by a bird at the Hancock Shaker Village

The next thing we saw when we got inside the welcome center was this beauty!

Yes, I bought a ticket.  Maybe it will be mine.

Great workmanship!

The round barn

I loved the barn.  I'd love to live in it, with a few changes.  This little fella would have to sleep somewhere else and it's a little drafty.

Baby Lamb

Didn't get to add any of these to my collection, sigh.

Nothing like the Shaker Craftsmanship

Wouldn't that drying rack be a great idea for a quilt display rack if it was about 7 feet tall and you had the space for it?  It was just 3 dowel ladders that were tied together.  They had one for sale in the gift shop for $85.  It stayed there.

We didn't get to see nearly all of the Hancock Shaker Village.  Part of it didn't open until May.    It is beautiful and all the workers are full of knowledge about the farm and the Shakers.  If you go be prepared for a lot of walking and the steps into some of the buildings are at least 12" high so it's not very little old lady friendly.  My husband had a hard time with some of them and he has good knees.  I had enough sense to not even try.

Well, I took a few moments to share for me and you.  I hope you enjoyed to quick glimpse of my travels.  I have one more post about my fiber acquisitions that might interest you and then I'll move on to other things... like the next trip I have coming up maybe.  Just kidding.

Linking with  May for Me at Marcia's Crafty Sewing

Functional Art

Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end.  

Henry David Thoreau

I'm not much of a shopper.  I can go weeks without buying anything other than groceries and staples.  When my husband and I travel we frequent antique shops and museums and the occasional gift shop.  This vacation was no different.  We went to a few antique shops, they were not too common along the paths we went and we went to four art museums.  We did have to go a little out of the way to get to them.

I love to browse in the gift shops at art museums!  They have some of the most unique items.  Some of them are very functional.  Here's a few of the things we found.  They will add a smile to our days as we use them.  Maybe you have seen them before but I think they are fun.  Like I said, sometimes I don't get out much.  LOL

Can you tell what it is?

This cute little helper came in a rainbow of colors, of course Mr. CPA picked black.  It came with a whole notepad of pictures of ideas of how to use it.  He plans to hang it on his rear-view mirror so he can keep up with his cell phone.  It's very bendable.

A better look

People Pyramid

 Can you tell what these guys are?  They will stack up in various configurations.  It's little people figures on a magnetic base.  What to do with it?

Personal Person Paper Clip

Aren't they cute!  Art with a purpose.

Meet Adam

This is Adam the Doodle Man.  He is resting on a reproduction art supplies tin.  

Adam says Hi!

I already had a wooden gestalt figure that I had got at IKEA (they had them in many sizes).  This one really caught my eye and I just had to bring him home.

Ready for a Nap Adam?

The inside of the tin has a small brace support and a landscape scene inside the lid.  I'm not sure what decade the original was from but it looks like something from the 40s to me.

Adam's very flexible.  I wish I could move like that!

Bondi Man and the Art Tin came from the Mass MoCa Museum www.massmoca.org.  
Adam and the People Pyramid were found at the Williams College Museum of Art wcma.williams.edu.

Vermont Maple Syrup

We didn't make it to Vermont although we were close in Williamstown.   I did find this great bottle of syrup in Stockbridge.  Being the tree lover that I am I had to have it.

You may have noticed the batik background.  I'll share my fabric finds later.  I have a few more items from the museums' shop too.  The antique shopping is another story as is the Pottery shop.

As a quilter I feel that what I create is functional art.  I like to have things of beauty and things that tell a story or make me smile in my home.

What are your feelings about functional art?  What do you like to be surrounded by?

Linking with:

Really Random Thursday

Perspective at 100

If you live to be one hundred, you've got it made. Very few people die past that age. 

George Burns

An Impressive Horse Statue

I love to look at horses.  I think they are so beautiful (just don't ask me to ride one).  I love art made with horses in it.  This one was designed by one of the world's most famous artists.  We saw it back in January of 2010.  It was magnificent!  Want another view?

An Even Better View

  

Isn't he impressive!!!  I realized this morning that according to my visible stats, I've reached the 100 followers mark.  I want to say a big THANK YOU to each and every one of you!  I may have reached this impressive (to me at least) mark a little earlier but I don't have a way of checking all the the RSS feeds out there.  I am excited and humbled by this.  I realize that some of you have signed up just to get in on the prizes that I offer.  That's fine.  I've done that on a few blogs too and don't have a problem with it.  so far, I have made following my blog optional to be a winner so I like to think that the numbers are from people who have felt a connection with me in some little way from what they have been reading here.  

The Rule of Perspective

It was a cold and rainy day when we made the trek into the city to see the High Museum's Leonardo da Vinci exhibit.  The horse was in the courtyard and was the first thing we saw.
When I was in one of my first art classes in high school I'm sure that I learned this rule of perspective.  If you want the viewer to be able to relate to the size of an object in a picture you put a person in it.  These are two of my favorite people.  The others weren't there at the time.  I realize the picture is a little slanted but when I tried to straighten it I was loosing part of the horse's ear.  Apparently I have a tendency to hold my camera crooked.  It must be a eye dominance issue.

Sforza Monument Info with Raindrops

What I find even more impressive about this horse is that Leonardo designed it more than 500 years ago.   Now I hold no hope that what I have done or will do in my lifetime will be remembered 500 years from now.  Perhaps a few of my descendants will be alive and may have me on a list of ancestors somewhere but it's doubtful.  My quilts will survive me but I doubt they will last that long either.  Da Vinci is a name known worldwide now and it probably will be 500 years from now too.  If you want to know more about this project perhaps Google will help.  

What can I learn from this?  Leonardo worked on this project over a 17 year period.  It was never completed.  I have more than one quilt project that I can say that about.  I refuse to count exactly how many that can be said about.  I'll get them done one day!  Before I left the museum that day I purchased this magnet.

It's nice to know that I think like that too!  Great minds think alike, right? LOL  I've been trying to photograph all my quilts lately.  I have found that as I look them over this one needs a repair here, that one has a place where the binding didn't get stitched and more than a few need labels.  Maybe it will get done or not.

Back to all you 100+ wonderful followers.  I have a giveaway going on now that will end Sunday night.  When I announce the winner, next Monday, October 1, I will also announce a giveaway that will be just for you!  Thank you for being interested in my little corner of blog land.  I have several posts that I want to get done like the Easy Angle tutorial.  I have a lot more pictures of quilts that I have taken that I need to get edited.  If you haven't checked out my 'Quilts' page yet I have put some of them there.  I will continue to do so and want to post a story about each of them too.  They are not in any particular order as of yet.  In the mean time I am working on not one or two but THREE big post days, October 4, 8 & 10.  The buttons are in the sidebar.  So I'm staying busy just not able to do a lot of writing and editing yet.  I also have a quilt on the longarm that needs more attention and a few more waiting to follow it.  Maybe I need to get off the net now and get busy!


Take a minute to share your perspective on art or unfinished projects in the comments.

Thank you again for following my blog!!!


Sharing on Live a Colorful Life