Happy Dance!

I just found out my quilt, "Moon River" (see below on Feb.27 post) was chosen as the Quiltfest winner for this week! I am so honored! It gets the honor of being on the homepage for a week! The web page is here . The group is CPS Journal Quilts. We are committed to making one journal quilt a month. The size is 8 1/2" x 11". They are a wonderful group of art quilters. Just wait until the end of this year...what an art show there will be! So, just a happy dance today!

"Getting There"

This quilt is "Getting There". It represents my move and all the strings attached to it. The background is painted canvas from a class I took at QSDS. The circles are fused and machine stitched. Of course there are the beads that seem to appear on all my quilts.

Thanks to everyone that posted comments to Taylor and her quilting. Today she is happily sitting at the sliding glass doors to my studio watching "her" birds and chirping at them. One bird has even built a nest under the neighbor's deck that she can watch. I am going to buy a bird feeder for Taylor so she can have lots of birds to watch. A small payment for such a great art quilter.

I am working on a new quilt today. I bought some buttons around 5 years ago and have been waiting for the perfect time to use them. The class I am taking at Quilt University , "Self-Expressions" is really making me face the challenge of using what I have and why I don't use it. I have lots of "stuff" to work with here in my studio. I am also learning to use a timer when I work. I find I spend more time trying to make a decision, mostly changing my mind throughout the process only to realize I haven't progressed on the piece. If I give myself a limited time to say, choose the fabrics, then I can actually get on with the work. And I usually find I go back to my first decision anyway. OK, off to do some work. I may make a couple of ATCs to awaken my inner artist.

Sacred Threads Quilt Show

Hooray! A happy dance because my quilt, "Serendipity II" was judged into the Sacred Threads quilt show! The show will be in June in Ohio. This picture is a tidbit...tiny corner of the quilt. Of course if you know me, you know it is another "beach" quilt.

Taylor Cat Makes a Quilt

OK, every once in a while, I just have to do it! Take pictures of my cat making a quilt, that is. Her name is Taylor and she is an art quilter. The following pictures prove that. I also once had a cat that did sit-ups with me but unfortunately I have no pictures to prove that. (I think if you click on a picture, it will enlarge, but you never know about blogger). Oh, and she would appreciate any comments you want to make about her work or techniques.

The Inner Artist

This use to be a UFO (unfinished object) that has now become a finished object! I am currently taking an online class from Myrna Giesbrecht called "Self Expressions". I highly recommend it. It is teaching me to listen to my inner artist. This little piece had become just another piece in a pile of pieces started but never finished because there was something I didn't like about it. So I added more embellishments, used my Pebbles chalks, re-inked the leaves, added a binding and just let my inner artist take over to complete it. I named it "Moon River" because the song has always represented a peaceful time to me. I actually felt peace when I just let go and followed my inner muse on this one. It will hang in my studio to remind me of peaceful times. (The quilt size is 8 1/2" x 11")

Fabric ATCs

These are my "Beach" series of ATCs. At least the ones I have left as they were made some time ago and I just discovered them in a box. (The perils of moving!) They are made of fabric. Each one is a tiny little quilt. I used Warm and Natural quilt batting and stitched right through the batting as I quilted them. The edges are finished with a zig zag stitch on the machine. These are all machine made. I used a pigment pen to draw the birds in the sky.

Altered trading Cards

I am a bit behind in posting because I have been creating. Here are pictures of three new ATCs I made for a swap. I love using my die cuts and vintage images. Fun! And I bet you recognize that bird again? He has become one of my favorite vintage images. The ATC in the middle is aged by using my Pebbles chalks in earth tones. Pebbles chalks are so easy to use and what most people don't know is that once the chalk is on the cardstock, they won't rub off after a bit of time. They are also acid free. I managed to drive past a scrapbooking store one day that was going out of business and everything in the store was 1/2 off! So, that is how I acquired lots of my goodies to play with. I love the new cardstock by Wild Asparagus and Basic Grey. And I love a bargain!

Beach Journal Quilt

This is where I would like to be today! It is cold in Virginia. We had lots of ice which makes me stay inside today. I took this picture the last time we went to the beach. The little star in the corner is made of wool and embellished with beads. I also put some beads on the waves. (click on image to see detail)

Quilts & Friendship

These are pictures of an antique friendship quilt that my mom, aunt and grandmother each made blocks for in 1936. My mom would have been 22 years old at the time. I still love these old quilts. I can imagine the friendship times of sharing that went into making this quilt. They all took part in handquilting it so that involved sitting around a large quilt frame while their children played outside or even sat under the frame. I wonder how the conversations went. Did they talk about their husbands, their kids, share recipes and tips for getting stains out of laundry? Comparing them to the quilts I now make is quite a contrast. But I am sure that the conversations are probably close to the same when I get together with my friends to quilt. They probably laughed, sometimes cried and felt the magical feeling of kinship with their friends. Of course their tips for laundry stains might involve soaking the item in lemon juice in the sun. Ours might be, have you tried the latest stain removal? New technology may have changed the way we quilt or do laundry; but one thing doesn't change and that is conversation with a quilting friend is still a magical kinship.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 34th anniversary! Wow, some days I don't feel 34! (But then some days...) But since we have a 32 yo son and a 28yo daughter, guess I must be slightly older than 34! Ha! Today, I got a wonderful card from my hubby and I gave him one that I made (I even made the envelope). Today, we are just going to go out to eat, maybe a movie and wait until the weather is warmer to celebrate the day at the beach. It is so cold here in Virginia. Spring, come on down! Bring out the apple blossoms on the trees and the warm sunshine.

OK, got to run and get dressed for a day of adventure somewhere. I'm adding a picture of the card I made. The message inside is a quote by Winnie the Pooh..."If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you."
Fun! Enjoy life while you can.

Fun Box

This was such a fun project to make! It was a gift for a friend. We both like getting handcrafted gifts so I knew she would be the perfect recipient for this. She also collects her initial "S" so I had to add it to this box. Here are some pictures of it.

These are details of some of the pages of the box. The pages are cardstock, die cuts, vintage images, rubber stamped and distressed inks.

Monday Morning Blues...

Well, Blogger is not working well this week...it is not showing my images!! I did email them, but to no avail. I did see that I am not the only one. Maybe their new version is not so good after all! I may just jump ship to another blog site if they don't fix it soon! Sometimes you can get the pictures to show up if you hit the refresh button a few times! I think their Beta version is still very much beta. I do know a few other artists already jumped ship to a different blog. Even if it is free, if it doesn't work, why use it? Got to run and make art so I will have photos to add to this hopefully fixed blog.

Saturday's Musings

Here I am this morning trying to get blogger to load pictures. If anyone is having trouble with seeing my pictures, let me know. I even reloaded the ones from yesterday and made them smaller. Also, you are suppose to be able to click on them to enlarge and sometimes it doesn't work. I hope it helps. Anyway, not a very pleasant start to a sunny Saturday morning here in Virginia.

The Starfish is another journal quilt I made a couple of years ago. It was in the International Quilt show at Houston and Chicago along with 8 more of it's siblings. The Starfish is wool, beaded and machine quilted. It reminds me of where I would like to be on this cold day in February. I made it because while walking on the beach one morning, my husband and I saw a starfish in the sand, still alive, washed up on shore. We stood by it so no one would step on it until it was washed back into the sea.
I saw the news this morning on the Florida destruction from the tornado. We have lots to be thankful for today. I often think about what would be most precious to me of my material things that I would want to save. I think it would be our family pictures, my children's artwork and a few quilts. Some of those people that were interviewed said they had nothing left...they couldn't even recover their precious memories. One lady said she grabbed her purse and checks and walked out through her wall that was already blown away. She was probably smart about that. Without your identification, it might be hard to get anywhere. At least it would here in the DC area.

Yesterday, I carved some really neat stamps! I plan to use them on some artwork that I hope to sell. Since most rubber stamps are copyrighted, you can't use them on items you want to sell. So, I hope to get the pictures of the stamps loaded later today if Blogger will cooperate with me, that is.
And, I love to read the comments, too...thanks! If anyone wants to post and you don't have a Google or blogger account, you can post anonymous but please leave your first name so I know who it is or if you have a blog, leave the URL so I can see your work, too. Happy Saturday!

ATCs...lots!

I made some neat ATCs yesterday. I got the idea from here. This is the February challenge on the Creative Cards Yahoo group. I usually just scan the messages but they are really doing some great techniques in this group! Not your run of the mill card making group. The backgrounds on my ATCs are stamped with black ink, inked with Colorbox inks using a makeup sponge and cut. I just added a bit of "sunshine" on them...flowers that are die cut. The little squares are 1". Fun! The ATCs are 2 1/2" x 3 1/2". I use to make them from fabric but I haven't done that in a while. I scanned these so the ATCs are a little crooked on the page. I think you should be able to click on them to enlarge. I'm not too sure about this new blogger thing.

I updated my blog to the "new" blogger version. I hope I can understand it! I was fine using the old method. This new one is suppose to be better. Got to keep up with technology!

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.