Remembering

 

Picture shot at Eagle Rock in New Jersey.

 

This is the commemoration place in New Jersey, opposite of Manhattan, where  many commuters and their families

were witnessing the smoke during weeks after the tragedy.

We will always remember

Painting lanterns

After we moved to our current house, the men started the renovation.

It was a time of much noise and dust, the tiles of our complete floor

had to be removed in order to install a new concrete layer

to enable the solar energy pipes and system to work.

 

At that time there was not yet much participation needed from me

 (or so I thought)...

 

So, inspired by this idyllic picture

 

 

...I remembered these storm lanterns that we brought to Spain from our house

 in the Caribbean.

They had been left behing by the former owners of that house

 and I have a tendency of always taking with us something of the past.

 

The red color of these lanterns never spoke to me and I started with one

 of these to get rid of the red paint: dissolvent first, then sanding, buf buf, and halfway this job

 my DH saw what I was doing (while he was working that hard, oh my)

.......

 

and he suggested to wait with this until the house was finished

and I reluctantly had to admit that he might be right,

 

so I put the lanterns away

 

This week I rediscovered the lanterns

and since I have this new hobby to renew, repurpose and recycle

I started with the one lantern that was half stripped of paint and

 the other half rusted, haha!

As for me letting them completely rust would also have been an option, but DH hates rust...

 



 

I probably have to put on at least one more layer

of the black anti rust paint

 

 

but this is how it looks

after this morning's job

 

Happy Painting..!

 

Regina



Dilemma

we see the need
and don't want to look
away

but is there a solution
of this huge human drama?

DILEMMA
digital collage

Pillow makeover

Remember the dress from this post?

There were some remnants after I made yesterday's scarf...

 

 

and this pillow definitely needed more contrast, after being bleached by the

Spanish sun

 

 

so I auditioned the remnants by simply putting them over the pillow

 

 

... and then chose this piece.

Simply stitched by hand without ripping out any previous stitches,

the easy way

 

Enjoy the weekend

 

Regina

A different medium

Many years I have succeeded in refusing to work with different materials than fabric and paper...

 

It is not that I did not want to try, but knowing myself and my enthusiasm, I expected it to disturb my focus. I thought I had to make choices and thus it was fabric (quilts, sewing, art quilts) and paper (collage)

 

But about a year ago I let this selfimposed regimen go!

 

And started painting, more on that in future posts...

 

I have to say that it is nice to feel free to experiment with different media, so when I recently saw the decoration chain on this blog, I decided to give it a try.

 

 

 

there was a package of air drying clay left from our Caribbean period

(you see I was tempted already back then!),

and fortunately this material is also available in Spain

 

 so I made over twenty big beads, let these dry during two days and then painted them twice

 



 

the clay was white and I wanted it to become more or less concrete coloured. Then I remembered I had seen these little sample tins in one of the paint stores...

 

Most of their stock were empty tins (it looked so organized and impressive to me!), but there was one colour Down Pipe present in this size

so I now have completed this huge decoration chain and will certainly find a place for it, will show pictures then, ok?

 

 

and last but not least: this is how the recycled dress from this post turned into a scarf. I wore it with a sense of elegance (the drape is gorgeous!) yesterday on our 43rd anniversary diner in a lovely 'chirinquito' near the sea.

 

That's it for today, thanks for reading and enjoy your Wednesday!

 

Regina



Nature's rhythm

Yesterday we pruned the seeds from our two big palm trees. Once bundled to put them outside the fence where they will be picked up by the municipality truck, they were pure eyecandy for me.

 

 Do you notice the rhythm and order of the stems and seeds?

 

 

It is a miracle how the trees have been able to grow so many seeds,

it hasn't been raining for months now in coastal Spain!

 

 

This picture was a candidate to play with in Photoshop, but did not make it eventually...

 

 

My digital collage skills have to be revived, I think. A little practising every day...another pro of taking up blogging again!

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

Regina

After my 'sabbatical'

Well, dear followers and other readers of this blog, I am finally back!



After what seems like ages, but in fact is over a year, I am ready to restart blogging again. It has been, among very much activities in other areas, a time for me of hesitating. Should I close my blog? Let's wait some more...No, I am not ready for such drastic measures. Is someone missing this blog when nothing 'happens'? Not really either. With everything that is already being written on the web, with Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook etc., it sometimes felt like I really did not add anything interesting at all . But, while I regularly had a look at former posts I also felt like I myself was missing something: the journal aspect of Mostly Turquoise. I no longer can look back at my life, what I did then and there, and what I created at certain moments. And this is a big one for me!

 

So, after all this considering of pros en cons, I decided to give it another try.

 

Our life in Spain has come to a point that everyday life has gained a kind of rhytm again, and there seem to be less things that have to be done first, with the renovation of our house completed.

 

There is one thing that has come to full bloom since last year. My love for thrifting! After our Caribbean period, we are once again living in an area in Spain where there are few shopping possibilities, let alone fabric stores. But: we do have charity shops, thrift stores, and these are the places one can find real gems with some luck (and an artist eye, I think).

 

The dress below is my most recent find. It is sewn on the bias, so one size fits all...

And it fits, but of course does not flatter me at all, I am feeling like a pig in it. But the fabric is beautiful, for me it has the right contrast, favourite colours black and neutral, the kind of cotton is perfect for decorating. My first idea was to cut it up and sew some pillows (but there are already tons of these...), then a scarf came in mind (the same here, but a girl never has enough scarves is it?) 

 

 

 

the dress like I bought it

 

 

this detail I immediately loved

 

 

on the table after I cut it open.

 

This is where I will start from. First I have to find the threads where there is no bias (don't know the proper word for it, ont the grain or something?) and then cut it in as big a size as possible.

 

This was it for now, I am happy to be here again and hope you can appreciate it too. Thanks for your patience. One big, final THANK YOU for Rayna, you know why...!