A RIOT OF COLOR...

 Autumn in the Ozarks is a riot of color...  

 Nature's paint brush has swept across the hills and hollows of the foothills creating amazing living landscape portraits of farmlands...

 And mountain vistas...

 Winding country back roads... 

 With leafy bowers...

 Pretty ponds...

 Sculpted hillsides...

Clumps of trees...

 And pretty puddles of pretty leaves...

"Over everything connected with autumn there lingers some golden spell—some unseen influence that penetrates the soul with its mysterious power."

~Northern Advocate~

P.S.  Thank you so much for your continued concern, the spider bites are healing.  The large venom area is still visible and looks like a red sunburned area.  My skin is very different there, almost like a scar.  The doctor said I might always have this due to damage to the skin layers or it could eventually go away if the damage was not too severe and the skin can repair itself, it is a wait and see process.  I gave some serious thought to plucking some of these horse apples (also known as hedge apples or Osage-oranges)...

 They were once used to repel spiders and insects by placing them under ones bed.  The extracts from these actually do repel many types of insects just as well as the synthetic DEET.  Hmmm, maybe I should have brought a few home!

GIVE AWAY WINNER...

  I have to say a hearty "Thank You" to your overwhelming response to the idea of sharing a class beginning in January.  I have already begun work on it and can't wait to share this gift with you all.  Step-By-Step Saturday sneak peeks coming soon!

Now for the cuff winner...

Carola of Boxwood Cottage!

Congrats Carola, please email me your mailing information.

And a little sneak peek at my next Heritage Collection piece...

If everything falls into place I will finally have the first piece complete this weekend.  I had hoped to have it done by now but I never know what a day might hold with my mother so I have a super willy-nilly work schedule right now.

A very dear friend gifted me with a package of vintage ephemera from a variety of sources that were all produced in the 1800's.  The images below were printed in Harper's Bazar.  I think they are so intricate in detail and really beautiful.  I wanted to gift a few of these beautiful images to you...

 Enjoy!

WEEKEND SNAPSHOTS...

 We had a very busy weekend here at that Quill.  Friday I went on an all day field trip with my grandson to a pumpkin farm...

 

It is actually an educational homestead that represents life 100 years ago that was started by a group of teachers.  I wish I had more photos than I was able to take of the day but it rained off and on and we adults spent most of the time holding a tarp over the kids to try and keep them dry.  After picking muddy, wet, slippery pumpkins and viewing the first three exhibits it finally stopped to an occasional quick sprinkle here and there.  By then we were all a little soggy and cold which put a little bit of a damper on the fun.

Our precious grandson stayed over night and declared Saturday morning was art time.  They have been doing self-portraiture in art class at school and he wanted to paint a portrait of grandpa.  This is the kindergarten rendition of Handy Hubby...

 

Sadly, we had to surrender him to his other grandparents so they could spend some time with him too on Saturday afternoon.

Sunday morning the clouds and drizzle were blown away on a brisk warm wind.  In the afternoon we had a few free hours that I intended to spend in the studio.  However, it was too pretty and the too perfect to stay indoors.  We hopped into our sailing ship and cruised across the land...

 

Great old music playing on the radio, hot sunshine (low 80's) warming the air, wind whipping through my hair and snatching the hat off of Handy Hubby's head ( we had to make a detour to go back and retrieve it), over hills, around curves, up to the top of the mountain, catching the first glimpse of the lake...

 

     This is where I tossed out the challenge, "Take me somewhere I have never been before."  Off we sailed down back roads dotted with cattle speckled farm lands into verdant green forests ( we are just getting a blush of autumnal color here)...

 Scudding out beside the lake to the point of Devil's Fork for a brief stop then over to Cherokee Park...

 

 Where layers of land, water, forest, and sky painted pretty pictures...

 

 

I was enamored by the little nature sculptures scattered along the shoreline...

 Strong winds lapped the water against the rocky shore mimicking the sounds of the mighty ocean...

  

We were the only people in this small and secluded park.  Having the whole place to ourselves, we walked the shores and spoke aloud dreams, wishes, hopes, and desires that turned into making plans.  Change is on the horizon... 

Adventure sated, hearts shared, hopes risen, happy memories made, we took one last look...

 

 and headed back home with a handful of weekend snapshots to remember it by.

GIVE AWAY SIGN UP...

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS GIVE AWAY IS CLOSED
 

 I have been trying to think of ways to express thanks to all of you who take time out of busy days to drop in and visit.  I am more grateful than you will ever know for this online community.  I have made some really treasured friendships.  I find so much encouragement through you all.  I can't tell you how many times in conversation I will say, "My blog friend...(insert your name here)..." because I do think of each and everyone of you as friends.

 One small way I can say "thanks" is to host a give away but that only benefits a small few and I wanted to include everyone.  While I am hosting a give away today I wanted to give something more.  Over the next couple of months I will develop a free online class called Step-By-Step Saturday.  Anyone and everyone is welcome to join in and create alongside of me a project from start to finish.

 Here is how the class will work, the class will be created as its own blog so there will be no jumping links to find the next weeks step, everything will be contained in order in one place.  This will be a public access blog with no codes, etc.  As it stands at the moment I think the class will be between 6 and 9 weeks, this could change slightly as I develop the class according to the steps in the process.  I plan to have materials lists for each week posted in the class introduction so those can be gathered ahead of time.  Each new step will be posted on Saturday, tentative date for class start is the first Saturday in January.   

 Many of you, after seeing sneak peeks of my new art work, expressed an interest in creating something that uses your own heritage bits and pieces so that is the direction I am going in.  We will be creating a substrate as a foundation for building our piece on, covering some fun techniques, making embellishments, and having a messy good time together!  I plan to launch the class in January 2013, this gives me time to get the tutorials done, glide through the coming holidays, and hopefully gives you something to look forward to in the coming new year.   

 Also, I plan to try and use a lot of really common supplies without you having to go out and make purchases for too many special things.  This is going to be a really fun and great challenge for me and hopefully something you will enjoy.  Now, for the give away!

 The hand made cuff you see featured in this post is my small thank you for your friendship offering.  The cuff base is completely hand stitched fabric, lace, and fiber with an overlay of embroidery.  It features vintage mother of pearl buttons, hand made duponi silk flower embellishment, hand wired glass bead/vintage pearl flower and leaf sprays, as well as hand tatting (done by my best friend Pam).  The fabric cuff has an insert of an adjustable metal cuff blank and is lined with a soft flannel for comfort.  

 To sign up just leave a comment...that's it!  Anyone and everyone is welcome to sign up, no restrictions apply to this give away.  Sign up will be open for the next week with a winner being announced on Friday, October 19, 2012.

I am still plugging away at my first heritage piece, stitching rumpled roses, making silk flowers with hand beaded centers, and embroidering/beading trim... 

 I am off the studio see if I can complete this piece today!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!