Month of Macro: Art project

I made a little art project the other day...

Featuring my favorite state (my home-state of Michigan).

I am by no means an artist...

But I did get a kick out of taking photos of my handiwork after the fact. I was trying so hard to paint smoothly, but as these photos show, I still have a lot of work to do!

But you can't tell from a normal distance, so that's good!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!

Coveting these coverlets

The other day I stopped by the Folk Art Museum here in NYC.

There was an exhibit of American-made quilts, and I wanted to check it out!

And while the exhibit was small...

The quilts did not disappoint! 

I couldn't believe how beautiful they all were...

And all the details were incredible- especially considering that they were all sewn by hand!

The museum had collected quite a variety of quilts for the exhibit.

There were all sorts of patterns...

The quilts dated from 10-150 years old...

And incorporated all sorts of material!

But enough out of me... check out these quilts!

I love this patriotic number...

Don't you?

I loved the fabric in this one... all different blue and white patterns!

This crazy quilt was also pretty cool...

Especially with the metallic gold thread!

This geometric pattern was very stunning...

And this tribute to Hawai'i was also very cool...

Especially the embroidered islands hidden on the bottom of the quilt!

As you can see, there were lots of beautiful quilts to enjoy!

Thanks for visiting- I hope you had a great weekend!

A bit of sparkle...

On Saturday I got up bright and early...
And made my way down to SoHo for a little shopping excursion.
You see, my coworker has been telling me about this jewelry designer she came across a few years ago. So she took me to The Market.
The market is actually an old gymnasium full of artisans from all over NYC.
And while this photo is a terrible representation, the designer we were there to visit had an amazing table full of beautiful treasures!
Of course I left with a tiny bag full of accessories- want to see what I took home? The first thing I picked out were these earrings. My family loves ginkgo trees, so when I saw these I immediately added them to my pile. Not only were they reasonably priced ($4 with the "friend" discount thanks to my co-worker's relationship with the designer), but they were eco-friendly! The designer dismantled the leaves from a pair of gaudy, vintage clip-on earrings she found. Then she soldered and hammered them into these sparkly little numbers- aren't they fun and season appropriate?
I also nabbed these, which I lovingly refer to as "the kidney earrings".
How about these dangle-y babies?
Aren't the striations on the medallions interesting?
And while I had planned on purchasing only earrings, I couldn't resist this ring.
Isn't it fun?
But my favorite find of the day was this pair- aren't they perfect?
I just love that color- especially with a bit of back light!
As you can tell, I had a pretty productive weekend, jewelry-wise!
If you're ever in SoHo, I highly recommend stopping by Jennifer's table- you won't regret it!
Thank you for visiting- I hope you have a great weekend!