My Blog's Artsy-Fartsy Table of Contents

Quilt Patterns

     10-Inch Heart Square from Pin Cut Sew

     11 Different Patterns using leftover/scrap 2 1/2 inch strips by The Quilted Forest

     16-Patch Delight by Lori Dickman

     Arkansas Crossroads

     Color Wash Scrap Quilt by Terry Rowland

     Crumb Blocks into Crumb Quilts by Merry Mabel Market

     Fold & Sew SIMPLE Square-in-a-Square

     Fresh Start Quilt by Agilejack (scrap/crumb strips - gorgeous and easy!)

     Hidden Trails Table Runner from Charm Pack by Moonkin Stitchery

     One Charm Pack Table Runner by Sew the Distance

     Paper Pieced Mini Houses

     Potato Chip Blocks (using 2 x 3 1/2 in. blocks or 2 1/2 x 4 1/2)

     Scrap Strips Diamond Trip (Donna / Jordan Fabrics)

     Spring Season Quilt Block by Beth Shibley

     Sweet & Salty by Charisma Horton

     Unallocated by Michelle McKillop

Gifts to Sew

     Tissue Holders (TOO easy) thanks Ronda Winstead

     Easy, EASY Simple Fabric Bookmarks thanks to Jona Giammulva

Yarn Projects

     2022 Homeless Blanket Project (through Charles Bruce Fdtn.)

     Kim's Magic Blanket

Yarn Patterns

     Amigurumi Octopus 

     Linen Stitch Dishcloth

     Bathroom Mat using leftover yarn tied together

Knitting Book Reviews

Picture Books About Knitting and/or Yarn

Yarn Bombing

Art Techniques to Try

     Neurographic Art

Artists

     Blair, Mary (Disney Artist)

     Gaudi, Antoni (architect)

     Haring, Keith

     Kahlo, Frida

     Kandinsky, Vasily

     Kusama, Yayoi

     Lewis, Maudie (Canada's Grandma Moses)

     Matisse, Henri

     O'Keeffe, Georgia

     Pippin, Horace

     Rousseau, Henri

     Sumner, Kae (6' 3" Disney Artist & Founder of Int'l Tall Person's Clubs)

     VanGogh, Vincent

     Warhol, Andy

Learning More About Art and Artists

Blair, Mary
Disney artist

Kahlo, Frida

Sumner, Kae
Disney Artist (6' 3")

Picture Book - Two Brothers, Four Hands: The Artists Alberto and Diego Giacometti by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan

Illustrated by Hadley Hooper

2019, Neal Porter Books, Holiday House

HC $ 21.99

64 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.82 - 168 ratings

My rating:  4
Endpapers:  Deepblue

1^st line/s:  1901 - 1918  "In the Swiss village of Stampa, surrounded by mountains so high that in winter their shadows fill the valley, live two brothers."

My comments:  This is the way I like to read history and biography....in a well researched picture book!  I've seen Alberto Giacometti's sculptures before, but didn't even attribute a name to them.  So this informative, easy-to-read picture book was perfect for me.  And although I was not super thrilled with the illustrations, they did tell the story of the two brothers well.

Goodreads:   The inspiring true story of the Giacometti brothers, one an artist, the other a daredevil, both devoted to their craft . . . but even more devoted to each other.
          Everyone who knew them agreed. Alberto was the genius of the family. His younger brother Diego was his opposite--he didn't care much for books or schoolwork, and he had no idea what he would be when he grew up. But despite their differences, the two brothers shared an intense bond.
          Alberto Giacometti became one of the iconic artists of the twentieth century, whose tall, spindly sculptures grace the collections of museums around the world. Diego was always at his side, helping and encouraging, and in his spare time creating remarkable pieces of furniture, works of sculpture in their own right.
          The poignant story of brothers and sculptors Alberto and Diego Giacometti is skillfully brought to life in the hands of multiple Sibert Honor authors Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, and the spectacular artwork of Hadley Hooper.
          This lavishly illustrated 64-page book includes extensive backmatter, complete with a timeline, source notes, photographs, and an essay on how to look at a Giacometti sculpture.
A Horn Book Best Book of the Year
A Washington Post Best Children's Book of the Year

Picture Book Biography - Yayoi Kusama From Here to Infinity by Sarah Suzuki

Illustrated by Ellen Weinstein
with reproductions of works by Yayoi Kusama

2017, Museum of Modern Art, NY

HC $19.95
Not in Cumberland County Library system, Interlibrary Loan from Dauphin County

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.82 - 182 ratings

My rating:  4
Endpapers:  The title page is the opening endpaper and the copyright information and list of MOMA trustees is the ending endpaper.

1^st line/s:  "Yayoi Kusama was born in the country of Japan, on the island of Honshu, in a town called Matsumoto City."

My comments: Although the author says "She is widely considered to be the most popular artist in the world,"  I was completely unaware of Yayoi Kusama and her work!  I feel like a have a pretty decent grip on art and artists, but this has shown me that I have to check out more contemporary artists.  This is the story of her artistic life -born in 1929 in Japan, moved to NYC in the 1950's, and still going strong today, She is famous for her dots and squiggles, installations, and even fabric.  The text of the book was pretty basic, and I didn't get any sense of time, and none was mentioned.  When I read, "It was her first airplane trip.  There were only four other passengers, and the weather was stormy, with rain and lightning.  The airplane wobbled and dipped as it flew to America." I was like....what? ..... until reading the added bibliographic information at the end I realized this would have been in the 1950s.  No sense of that from the text, or even illustrations.The illustrations are pretty cool, and the reproductions of actual work are a great addition to the story.

Goodreads:  Growing up in the mountains of Japan, Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929) dreamed of becoming an artist. One day, she had a vision in which the world and everything in it—the plants, the people, the sky—were covered in polka dots. She began to cover her paintings, drawings, sculptures, and even her body with dots. As she grew up, she traveled all around the world, from Tokyo to Seattle, New York to Venice, and brought her dots with her. Different people saw these dots in different ways—some thought they were tiny, like cells, and others imagined them enormous, like planets. Every year, Kusama sees more of the world, covering it with dots and offering people a way to experience it the way she does.
           Written by Sarah Suzuki, a curator at The Museum of Modern Art, and featuring reproductions of Kusama’s instantly recognizable artworks, this colorful book tells the story of an artist whose work will not be complete until her dots cover the world, from here to infinity