This is a shawl my dearest and oldest friend knitted for me. Cindy is a professor of interior design at West Virginia University (and my interior design business partner), but she spent a lot of time knitting me this beautiful shawl. She knows me so very well since we have been friends for 32 years. I know a great deal about her design thinking about this particular piece which is based on a series of 3. There are 3 stripes of blue which are broken up with the turquoise which is 3 sets of 3 rows for a total of 9 rows each.
In one corner she introduced a small charm...a heart which is engraved with "made with love". I can't tell you how much time Cindy put into the planning, not to mention the knitting, of this shawl. Making the choice of yarn, alone, took weeks.
Cindy also brought me this beautiful book which she used to guide her in knitting this shawl. This is a project she will continue with for other people, too. She is keeping a journal of the shawls she is knitting and the people who will receive them. Am I a very lucky woman to have such a friend, or what?
This is also a beautiful handmade gift I have received from a very dear special friend of mine who lives in New Zealand. As you all already know, I am a great lover of glass art and my friend also knows this. Lesley McIver is a glass artist who owns Glitz Art Glass. I absolutely love this piece because to me it speaks of bridges...bridges of life. She has not only designed and made the glass portion of this necklace, but she has also designed and made the beautiful metal hanger which supports the glass. If you have any interest in glass jewelry, at all, please visit Lesley's web site to see the work she is doing. Her work is of very high quality materials, creativity and design. The back of this beautiful piece is as beautiful as the front.Share with me some similar experiences you might have had with some art friends.
Have a Beautiful Weekend! I wish for you the greatest of spring or autumn weather.
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16 comments:
Well Kim, of course you know how excited I am to see your necklace. It is simply lovely and so special. I did visit Lesley's web site and her work is outstanding. Your shawl is very pretty also. Very nice shade of blue. You are lucky!
(P.S. I think I just figured out how to link on my blog! I was still having some techno-weenie trouble of my own, but I think I've got it!)
Hi Kate,
I thought you would like seeing the necklace. She has sent me some lovely pieces, I have to tell you. I will try to get some photos and show you. I thought you would like to see her web site.
Ah, the shawl is really special. She put so much thought and work into it...like we all do, uh?
Yippee! That Babs and her techno-weenie...she has us all saying it!
Have a Lovely Weekend!
#:-)
Hi Kim,,That is a gorgeous shawl,,,and being that it's made with love, it will keep you even warmer! Gift to treasure, and she obviously knows your color preferences.
The necklace is an awesome creation! It has the feel of a landscape,in spring.The silver surround is so artistic too!
One of my favorite gifts from an artsy friend is a 24 in. long windchime. It was made by an artist in Arizona, and has a large copper bell at the bottom. The cording is braided leather with alternating ceramic, wood, and colored glass beads in different sizes. I keep it on the swing arm of a floor lamp in the office, as the kind of winds we often have here could possibly ruin it.
Jack is obsessed, looks at it and says: "Babs say no".
:-)
Wow! What incredible gifts! It just goes to show what an amazing friend you are to have warranted such presents! They're gorgeous!
Thank you, Babs! She knows me so very well. I would say she is an unusual academic, too, since she has the greatest respect for so many people and understands so well the power of self-education, too. She is an amazing woman and I am blessed to have her in my life and keep her in my crazy moving life.
Les creates some incredible pieces! She is so artistic and to me she paints with glass!
Oh, do post a photo of your windchime! The combination of the materials sound so beautiful. I would love to see it! If you get a chance .... or does "Babs say no"? What a sweet little one...
Thanks Babs!
Fiona, thank you!
I have so many amazing friends...look at all the gifts I am given here each day! Every single person who posts here gives so much to me and to everyone who reads these posts!
Each of you are blessings in my life! Thanks for taking a part! It is also an honor to be let into this part of your life!
LOl Kim.
I let him touch it, feel the beads,make the music,,,but he'd like to take it down, drag it through the house, banging on everything in his path. That's when Babs say no, lol.
I'll put it on my blog soon,,,,it is beautiful.
Oh Babs! I knew you would let him touch it and move it to make music. I remember a glass windchime we saw somewhere once when my children were little. I told them to blow to make it move...they about hyperventilated...so don't try that!
I know Babs only say no when she has to do so. :)
I can't wait to see this windchime on your blog!
Thanks Babs!
Oh Kim, what very special gifts these are!! The shawl is just gorgeous and it looks so soft. The necklace is exquisite too! I have a dear friend who sent me a gift I'll always treasure! (Babs, thank you!!) She sent me the most lovely little painting that she titled 'Sunrise for Faye'. I recieved it shortly after my Mom, whose first name was Faye, passed away last July. I treasure that painting beyond words and Babs, you are a bighearted and wonderful person and I know that you had to go through the pain of also losing your Mom just a few months later.
Thank you, Lynette! You have read the photographs very well, I can tell you. The shawl is so soft and warm and the necklace is a real head turner!
I know that painting! It was featured on the interview Babs did here on this blog! Yes! It is incredible and what a special gift for you...from a special friend. Babs is such a special person to all of us, but I know the friendship between the two of you is a very special one, indeed! Let's decide right here and now to keep her, okay? :) Yes, a real keeper that Babs!
Awe, Lynette! Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful story here!
(Blushing)
Going a little off topic here,Kim,,but just an interesting aside:
Some paintings just scream to be painted, don't you think?
Lynnie had emailed me that her Mom had passed, late in the night.Of course I was stil up. I went right to the studio,,got out my acrylics,,,and that little painting just jumped onto the canvas,,,practically all by itself.It could also have been in my series of "Internal Landscapes"
as I was feeling huge emotions. Sadness for Lynnie, yet wonderful peace for Faye,,a new sunrise in a far better place.
Also a new beginning for me, as it was the first piece in which I used the wire screening.
And I loved it too.
Our (yes, I have to share you) Dear Sweet Babs! There is not any need to blush here to be sure! :) And going from one topic to another is just what this is all about, I believe!
I totally agree with you that some paintings just yell out to be painted. And I also believe if you don't listen to that yelling, someone else is going to pick up the energy of that scream and go with it! a la the reason we sometimes see things we had thought of before...just my opinion there.
I have found some of my best work comes from those feelings of HUGE emotion. I find it difficult to understand how others don't understand that or can't find their own emotions in an abstract painting. I think you captured that feeling of sadness and joy at the same time in this particular painting. And art wouldn't be art if it didn't have some of the artist in it. "Sunrise for Faye" is an outstanding painting and Lynette knows that.
I have a story to share along the same lines. My parents do a great deal of volunteer work with an organization which goes in and helps people rebuild after anything which might tear a community apart (natural disaster, war, etc.) Each year, this group has a large auction which lasts for 2 days. The people there are very traditional and will buy some really unusual (to this artist/designer) items. They will pay huge money for these really crappy pieces. Anyway, I think the work is outstanding and want to support what they are doing. I have donated a painting for them to sell this year. The painting would have a value of about $400 or so...they are worried if it will even be sold at all, since it doesn't show anything which most of the buyers might connect with. Of course, we have spoken about how my husband can't stand any runs or drips in any of my work, either. The one I am going to show here this week really has set him on end. Well, am I getting off on another blog post here? LOL Now who has gotten off track?
Babs! You are an amazing person...and an amazing artist! It is such an honor to know you!
Thanks for being our friend!
You certainly are lucky to have such a lovely friend, though I'm sure you're very special to her too. That blue shawl is beautiful and what a lovely touch to include that little charm in the weave! Glass jewellery is becoming very popular here too (much to my delight because I adore glasswork too!)
Hello Jess,
I am very blessed, indeed, with such lovely friends. People here included. What amazes me about that shawl is how she did it with everything else going on in her life...it is near the end of the semester and she is teaching a lot of studio classes which means a lot of work. You know her including that charm has made me think a lot about how important small touches like that are to everyone. Her plan is to continue knitting with intension these shawls for adults and small lovies for challenged children. She is looking for an idea of what special little thing (like the charm) she might include with the children's lovies. If you have any ideas, she would love for you to share them.
Ahhh, glass...quite an amazing medium, indeed. Les does some really beautiful work...lots of fun things. She is in a number of galleries in New Zealand, sells from her web site and attends countless markets in the summer months (NZ summer, that is). I think it is a medium here to stay, don't you?
Thanks for visiting me, Jess! As always, you are an inspiration.
Sending big hugs to both Babs and Kim, you're both very special ladies!!!
Thanks Lynette!
We have such a special group here, don't we? So many lovely, lovely people share here.
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