Book giveaways, bowls and spirals

Sunday night in the studio, and I'm planning the next week's projects. First up, I just received these two books from Interweave Press to review on the blog and give away. I requested "The Art of Mandala Meditation" even though it's not a quilt book because I thought the beautiful mandalas would be inspirational for any artist. I'm almost done reading it, and I'll post a review in the next few days. I'm also really excited about "Vibrant Quilt Collage," which just came out this month.

 

Then there are the bowls ... I'm churning them out to sell next month. It's really hard to stop, even though my arthritic thumbs are screaming in pain.

The start of the corn bowl.

I pulled out some fall colors to make a Thanksgiving bowl, which I imagine heaped with corn muffins (in paper cups so as not to soil the fabric).

Coiling the corn bowl.

Finished corn bowl, with today's tomato harvest.

And finally, I decided to finish a spiral quilt that I started more than a year ago. I got hung up on the design at this point (bottom photo), and then had a bolt of inspiration a few days ago. I'm going to cover the black circle (black hole) in the middle with a calm, yoga face photo of a family member who doesn't know about this yet. I printed her face in a few sizes on paper and am meditating on it ... procrastinating, in other words. When I decide on the size, I'll print it on fabric.

I just realized that the common thread here is CIRCLES: mandalas, coiled baskets and spiral designs.

Have a colorful day!