BONSAI?

What a surprising end to a busy week!

I've been puttering around, trying to get all the fabrics I need and the parts department collected for my upcoming trip to Cambria. 3 of my friends and I will be having our own personal retreat the first week of April in Cambria, California, right by the ocean! I'm am getting pretty excited now!

I've decided I am going to work on my Michigan fruit baskets, and Hubby has decided that the quilt now needs to be king sized. That means I have 52 more baskets to make. And THAT means I have a lot of parts to get ready. Remember these? I have about 20% of the half square triangles readied, but that's still about 400 more to go.

So, in the middle of this, one of my neighbors who follows what my art projects are, stopped by to see if I would be willing to make a lap quilt for her husband. I was showing her my ideas, and then I showed her this one for the size.
She gasped and asked if it was available; it was JUST what she wanted! So last night, I sewed down the binding, and sold it to her today. She thinks she got a bargain, and I am pleased with my profit - so we both win. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it after it was completely quilted, but you get the idea, right?

While she was here she asked if she could talk to me seriously about contracting for a commissioned art piece. It was my turn to gasp (inwardly), and we talked a bit about what she wanted. Her husband is an avid Bonsai horticulturist. I guess that's what you call them:) He is difficult to buy for, and what man isn't?, so she thought he would enjoy an art piece of a bonsai. She is planning it for her bedroom, and has given me complete liberty with color, size and materials. Of course, I couldn't let the idea go after she left, so here's my first sketches of where I want to go. Now, it will just have to gel in my head for a while until I get there.

The Kanji script is BONSAI-two words that mean tree in a pot. Nothing special there, eh? I did learn, however, that there are and sharis and jins in bonsai, which are bark stripped areas either on the trunk or a branch, so I can have a higher contrast in the trunk areas for texture. I also learned that all bonsai pots should have feet for proper drainage, and the shape of the pot is artistically matched with the shape of the tree. The kind of bonsai I seemed to be most attracted to in many different types of pictures was always the Moyogi, which is an informal upright. The windswept ones are just too severe, and the cascading ones, while beautiful, just don't inspire me to work on it in fiber.

Now, I have something to look for when I am out shopping on the left coast. I think I'd like to find something light and airy for behind the tree - maybe even an old piece of kimono silk? Who knows where this story will take me?