WC Painting and CQJP 2012 - August (Peridot) Block submitted in October

This month's block includes one of my oil paintings from a few years back along with the watercolor.  This is a painting of two of our horses, Taffy and Star.

This watercolor painting is of the house I grew up in.  We had peony bushes and tiger lilies and a huge lilac bush that were planted by my grandmother.





  Look carefully and you will see the use of these paintings in the block below which I have submitted in October.  It will be used for August having the birthstone color of Peridot.  It is the companion block to the one I submitted last month.  This green is not a favorite of mine and my first thoughts were that I had nothing in this color family to use on my block.  You know how we tend to buy things - even supplies - in colors we love, and avoid colors we aren't quite as enthusiastic about?  I was surprised when I found a few items I had in the Peridot color!

 

Below is my block before adding the top layer elements.  Although there is an issue getting the colors photographed accurately, adding this green really changed the look of this block due to the way the colors played off each other.  Interesting I thought.  The lace is from a neck piece I had purchased at a craft show years ago.  I didn't wear it any longer so I removed the old ribbons, buttons and beads and decided to put it to new use on my block.

  

 

I was really pleased with the lace on this block once the silk ribbon flowers, sheer ribbon, beads and embroidery were added.  I especially liked the shades of pink, lavender and blue contained in the variegated pearl cotton thread.

Just above the image of the house (photo directly below) you can see our registered livestock brand which was the "Rocking V".  It was created using chain stitching.  I have the actual "Rocking V" branding iron my dad made as well.

I had this enamel butterfly pin in with some of my old jewelry.

I had some silk ribbon that would work for this block and found these acrylic flowers at Hobby Lobby.

That's my cousin and I on our horse Queen.  I have so many wonderful memories of riding the horse when I got home from school and in parades in our small town.  Such a carefree time in life.  I wouldn't trade my childhood for anything.  Growing up on a farm I had so many pets.  Besides the horses, I had lots of kittens every year, pet chicken, dogs, and my all time favorite, a pet lamb (shh, she thought she was a dog).  I even brought some baby skunks into the house once and tried to talk mom and dad into letting me keep them ~ lol.  I think you can guess how they responded.

We all have our own special childhood memories.  I think my kids have happy memories even though they were city kids.  They did get to spend a lot of time at the farm visiting their grandparents and I know those memories are good.  I hope you have good childhood memories as well.