Eclipse Inspired Art Quilt from Outerspace!

Stars, planets, meteor showers, and blue batiks make up this art quilt made by Loretta Zortman.

“She’s got the whoOOOLLLe world…in her hands!…”—-gotta admit, I sang that song a few times while making this fun, space-inspired throw.  Gathering all my universe themed fabrics, all the various stars and skies, the many planet fabrics, and even black/blue swirly batiks was the easy part!  I had no real plan or block for this project, initially. So it was a Hot Mess for the first half—which left me feeling rather confused and frustrated. But somewhere in there, I turned the corner—and it started taking on shape.  By the time the top was complete, I loved it.  It was quilted it with stars around the border, some crazy-spirals, some shooting lines that are not too controlled—since this IS outerspace!  Just realized these pics are pre-quilting, oops!  LOL!  I’m inspired to continue digging into my stash of fabrics to stretch my creative juices.  🙂

#eclipse #quilt #starrynight #stars #artquilt #artquilter

Happy Valentines’ Day Floral Watercolor Heart Quilt

A floral heart to brighten your day!

Just a reminder that Valentines’ Day is only a few short days away! …What’s on the agenda for you on this special day?

For those of us who are looking forward to Spring in a big way, I recently made this quilted wallhanging of a floral heart out of 2-inch squares of fabric. It’s called Butterscotch Heart, because of the warm yellow fabrics I chose for the center. You can find this for sale on Etsy under my shop called Color Me Country, along with other floral watercolor/impressionist style quilts as well.

Watercolor impressionist art quilts are made with a color pallet made up of a whole slew of different fabrics. First, I have to cut fabric into 2-inch squares, then I put the various squares up on my design wall and arrange, re-arrange, re-rearrange, flip, switch, swivel, turn, replace, and replace, and replace them until I’m happy with what I see. I usually like to “live” with the piece like this for a day or so on my design wall, just pondering what I see to make sure I’m happy and satisfied with everything. The danger with waiting at this stage of creation is: A little breeze, a mischievous cat, small children, or a well-meaning visitor can destroy the piece in just seconds flat! For instance, I learned firsthand, don’t place your design wall in direct line with the output of an air conditioner vent — I did, and it blew all my fabric squares off the wall onto the floor. Anyway, once I’m ready to “commit”, I then sew the squares together, and it’s bound and quilted, with a hanging sleeve built in the back for ease of hanging. Viola!!!

This is a great Valentines’ gift, Mother’s Day present, or just a little unique something for that person who loves gardening, flowers, bright colors, happy fabrics, or just to cheer up a corner of a wall.

Cheers to the arrival of Spring-like weather!!!!

If you’d like to book a cabin rental, just let me know…870-491-5151.

Loretta Z.

Superbowl 2014 Weekend, Woo-HOO!

So the big game is tomorrow…where will you be watching it? Very excited to have a little Superbowl gathering here with a few of our best buds, including our “snowbirds” from Iowa that we love so much! It has become a bit of a tradition! Besides being focused on the game, we all like to focus on the food selections, too. Not sure what to make this year…probably the usual 7-layer dip. Frank loves spicy hot wings. Although, there’s been a lot of cauliflower recipes lately posted on Facebook and Pinterest, have you noticed? …perhaps I’ll break down and try one of those in an attempt to be healthier. Nah! Let’s roll with dark chocolate brownies, artichoke/spinach dip and/or maybe jalapeno stuffed mushrooms. If you have a favorite game day recipe, please share!
Have a great weekend, enjoy the game, and stay safe and warm!
LZ

It’s Not About Price. It’s About Value!

If low price alone is paramount — and your single, solitary, primary concern when it comes to planning your vacation, then by all means, we are not the resort for you, and there are other establishments better positioned to serve you.

At Mockingbird Bay Resort, it’s all about VALUE. (And people who know me will tell you, I’m not the least bit hoity-toity; I’m not pretentious; I’m all about saving money and getting the best bang for your buck…) That being said, there is an old adage that says…”You get what you pay for…” Well staying at Mockingbird Bay Resort is definitely worth it.

If you value VALUE, and appreciate spending time with your family on Norfork Lake at a clean, beautiful, reputable resort run by honest, friendly and approachable people, then we ARE absolutely the resort for you.

However, if you choose to spend your single week of vacation and hard-earned greenbacks to bring your family to the cheapest-rate place around, then that’s certainly your prerogative, and I wish y’all the best. I hope you have a stellar time.

Keep in mind though — should you arrive to your low-ball accommodations and be disappointed, I hope when you call me in tears while standing in a malodorous cabin surrounded by less than appealing grounds with unsympathetic grouchy owners, begging me, “PLEASE TELL ME YOU HAVE AVAILABILITY…I can’t let my family stay here…I’ll walk away from my deposit to come there, PLEASE!“…I hope I can tell you “yes”.

So do your due diligence, people. Don’t be gullible. Some people choose to “scout” their lodging options first before committing — and I actually think that’s a good idea. In the very least, ask around and read the reviews — dig past the bogus 5-star reviews attempting to bury the legitimate 1-star reviews, and be informed. Your family deserves a nice vacation. That being said: If you come to Mockingbird, you’ll be so glad you did — because at Mockingbird Bay Resort, you definitely get what you pay for!

Hope that helps! Cheers! 🙂

The Art Odyssey Open Studio Tour

Mountain Home AR Studio Tours

Guess what everybody?! We’ve been selected to take part in The Art Odyssey, Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce’s third annual open studio tour — so put May 17, 18 and 19 on your calendar, and stop by to take a tour of our home studio where you’ll be able to see where Val and I work when we make jewelry, lampwork beads, art quilted wallhangings, paintings, all-natural soap, etc.! You’ll be able to purchase our various whatsits, too! Looking forward to seeing you here for our first Open Studio Tour…See ya then!

Welding the Dock

Bulletproof Swim Deck

15,000 Watt Beast

How would you go about getting a 400+ pound generator onto a dock? Frank and my Dad took the beastly generator over to George’s Cove and then loaded it onto the 18-foot pontoon (after taking the boat’s front railing off). Once the generator was on the front of the pontoon, they had some difficulty getting the boat off the shore! But eventually, the generator made it to the swim deck, where Frank, Kevin and Buddy-Jack worked for several hours welding steel reinforcements onto the dock frame. The broken steel dock piece has been fixed and the entire swim deck is now steel-fortified. Mission Accomplished!

Norfork Lake Levels…

…are coming up from the recent rain, so Frank and I went over to George’s Cove this morning to adjust the courtesy dock and pull it up out of the water with the truck.

Before

After

It was such a pretty day! It’s finally warming up, and I do believe that just maybe Spring REALLY IS going to show up after all.

(Norfork Lake is currently at 549.23. Normal Pool is 552.00.)

All Copper

Record cold temperatures + River of water flowing out of the gameroom = broken pipe!
Yes, thanks to the prolonged frigid temps, we suffered a broken pipe in the resort laundry. (By the way, shop-vac muscles are definitely hamstrings!) The offending pipe was behind our new commercial washer, and ran up in the ceiling. But order has once again been restored in the land — Frank has replaced the old pipe with new copper pipe, wrapped and insulated, and included an easy-access shut-off valve.

Blizzard

There’s a blizzard here at the resort! Not snow…LEAVES! As much as I love fall, with the colors and the cool weather — it’s a definite pain in Frank’s back dealing with the aftermath of a bazillion fallen leaves. After 5-1/2 hours of blowing, the resort is beautiful again!

Rain, Rain

…go away, come again another day!

Enough is enough, already!