7/04/2010

Poppies and Finnish Stone Church...


I should say almost done because I still have to seal and gilt the button but I like to let the paint "cure" a few days before I seal it... I was embarrassed by how little I knew about Finland so all the while I worked on Ritva's block I was doing Internet searches on Finland. What a diverse and beautiful country... I was looking for a farm or landscape to paint on a button but fell in love with this stone church.. Pyha Olavi in Sastamala... If I ever get to Finland I would love to see it in person...

Another interesting fact I learned was that many of the round barns in in the US were built by Finnish immigrants. This one is is in Wisconsin and was built in 1917 by Finnish master stonemason Matt Annal. But there were Finnish-built barns in Idaho, Montana and other parts of this country and Canada... Expertise with log construction and stone masonry were skills they brought to this country..

Ritva live in Hikia in southern part of Finland, north of Helsinki... I couldn't find one picture of where she lives on the Internet so I'm hoping she'll send me some as I am next to work on a block of hers in another RR....

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

OOOOOH and AAAAH Gerry! I am sooo touched about the intensity you have showed doing this block for me! It is wonderful. I love those medieval grey stone churches and Sastamala is one of the finest.
Thank you!
And thank you finding the history of Finnish people in USA! Also my relatives are among those people who moved there.

Hugs!
Ritva

Laurie said...

How beautiful, and such a personal work of art! Love the button, just perfect! Ritva is going to love this!!

Rose Anne B said...

OH MY Gerry this is just absolutely gorgeous!!! WOW!!!

Lesley said...

I think it's wonderful how much care you put ubto each individual's block. I absolutely love the poopies. Any chance of a tutorial, please?

Ati said...

You HAVE to make an European tour to visit all your blog friends and to see all the beautiful and different countries :-D

Cathy said...

What a wonderful idea for a button. I wish I could paint! I have done a lot of genealogy research and have ideas for a quilt that involves some of that research. Maybe I will have to use Kerry's button idea - printing photos for buttons.

Anyway...lovely work, Gerry.

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