New Journal Quilt

This is my new journal quilt that I just finished today! It is "Bring Your Own Sunshine". As you can see, I love this little vintage bird. I printed him on fabric and used home decor remnants to make the quilt. The yellow and blue are not my usual colors but they just seemed to jump out on this one. The tree limbs and leaves are wool and I beaded some green "somethings" on them. The quote: "Wherever you go, no mattter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine" is by Anthony J. D Angeto. It seems appropriate for this season of cold weather and having just moved. I miss my family and friends terribly but I know I have to make my own sunshine here in Virgina.

Snow Days

I recently took a class at a local scrapbooking store. These are pictures of the cute "snow days tin" I made in the class. It was fun and I did learn a lot! I learned to use Diamond Glaze of which I have had a bottle sitting here for a while but didn't know what to do with it. The tin is actually a picture album that you are suppose to put the first snow of the season pictures in, but I didn't take any of the snow. We just had snow this past weekend and it wasn't too much fun to drive in. I see that they don't clear the roads as well here in VA as they do in Ohio. We were out in it on Sunday and saw lots of wrecks on the way home. I think they anticipate such a thing in Ohio and pre salt the roadways. And I hear that Ohio is having snow, too. My good friend, Susan, called me yesterday on her way to work. We use to joke that in the winter, it snowed every Wednesday which was the day we worked together. Of course, we usually made it any way unless the roads were icy. I really miss her and our work together in the quilt shop! So, on that note, I have to get busy on a journal quilt that is due before the end of the month. I did get my Sacred Threads entry mailed! Hooray! Sacred Threads is such a wonderful show if you are ever in the Columbus, OH area in June. Susan and I are on the committee...actually we are the publicity committee but we haven't been able to do a lot with the move and all. Actually, Susan saved the day (or I should say our "you know whats") by doing a bit of the publicity yesterday. I must do housework sometime today. I still have curtains to revamp and hem! "A woman's work is never done"...well, for me, it's still true today.

Stamp Book

These pictures (click on image to enlarge) are of the stamp book I made to keep track of all my different stamps. I have them in baskets and sometimes I forget which ones I have. By doing this, I can now flip through the book and decide what would look best for a project. I just used large, blank index cards; punched a hole in one corner and added a silver book ring with some bits of ribbons and yarn tied on the ring. Then I stamped away. I used my rounded corner punch on two edges. I think the little corner punch is my favorite tool right now. I use to use stamps just for fabric and now I have discovered that it can be used on anything! Of course, I used some nice cardstock for the front and embellished it. I am loving this little vintage bird right now. I keep putting him on all sorts of things. I just made some ATCs and he is one them. I'm even using him in a journal quilt that is in progress.
Here is a picture of Taylor, my cat. She loves to be where I am and in this picture she is in my studio waiting for me to get out of my computer chair so she can have it.

Ribbons, ribbons, ribbons!

Wow! It has been a while since I posted. Just means I have been very busy. I have a lot of projects cooking lately. I did take time to do a bit of organizing this morning with my studio. Sometimes things get so tangled up in here that I can't work...I'm speaking of ribbons and decorative yarns. I saw this neat idea here. It is a ribbon storage box. I have seen storage boxes similar to this before, but didn't really know what they were for until now. I used a wooden box from Ikea (the box name is Trissa). My DH drilled holes in it with his drill press, I sanded them smooth and as you can see in the picture, the ribbons are now in sight and look great! Of course, I have more ribbons than it will hold, so the other two boxes you see underneath it are plastic boxes with divided storage sections that hold the leftovers. Now to get busy and use some of this ribbon!

Journal Quilts

These are journal quilts I made of my mom. The first one is of my mom (seated) and her mom, my gram. The second one is of my mom. (I quickly scanned the quilts, so sorry it isn't the best photo quality) Today is January 8th and it is my mom's birthday. Had she lived, she would have been 92 today! She taught me to sew and most importantly to laugh. She was a military wife during WWII and lost her husband in the war at a very young age. When I see current news of the war and young widows, I often think of my mom. She had dreamed the night before that her husband had died. The next day, the postman along with some relatives, delivered the black envelope that said her husband had died a hero in the war. War was and still is hell...there is no other word that can describe it. It was a very hard time in her life as she loved him dearly. Later in life, she married my father and he died of a heart attack at a young age. Yet despite all her heartache and tragic illness she managed to always bring joy to those she loved. Happy Birthday, mom.

It's January, already?

I can't believe how this month is flying by! I want to show you some pictures of our new grand dog, Barley. He is a boxer and quite adorable. I made him a fleece "blankie" with his initial embroidered on it. He went to sleep on it right away while he was visiting us here in Virginia. This is our son, Matt, holding Barley. Barley will eventually grow up to weigh around 85lbs, so it is good to get to hold him, now. We all took turns holding him and of course, we had to equally hold Betty, our Boston Terrier grand dog. She is now two years old and still adorable.