A Frayed of Fibers

Ice, Ice, Baby

2012-01-22T22:19:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a little treacherous walking outdoors with all of the ice. Even the kitlins were a bit cautious! One of them sat on the back cement step at one point as I saw fur that looked like it had been pulled away from the body warmth and stuck to the freezing ice. I had wished I had taken a photo of it because it was really funny. I would just have to find out which one has a bald behind that had succumbed to such an act. lol

I really do love the beauty of the rain in it's suspended state, whether it is free formed or encased on an object.

Even on a windshield, it is gloriously filled like millions of diamonds!

Luckily we didn't have power outage, but parts of our county did. I didn't venture out of the driveway, just stayed home and quilted. I finally finished up Ann's other quilt. So very pretty! I love her colors.

My day was beautifully filled, inside and out!

Whether The Weather Changes

2012-01-19T22:41:00.003-05:00

Remember that dandelion and then the snow in the last post? Well the weather has changed again to rain and it rained and rained and then flooded....
The back yard

And then the front yard.

Since I was up a creek without a paddle, it was a good time to quilt the past couple of days.

I finished Ann's Civil War quilt as the waters receded today, so I got a photo of this king size monster! Wowsers! Ann did an awesome job with such perfect points too! I just wish you could see my quilting on this busy piece, but alas, poor lighting today.

The scrappy colors and scrappy look is so amazing!

Tonight I have another one of her quilts on the machine, It's a gorgeous piece too that I can hardly wait to show you soon!

While preparing supper this evening, I got a new prediction for the weather. I was making baked potatoes and found this mitten shaped one! (Remember the one shaped like a Christmas stocking I found earlier?)

Sure enough, tonight it has been snowing! Looks like we have an inch already. Hopefully I shall find a bikini shaped potato now for warmer weather:)

Busy Beginnings

2012-01-15T20:12:00.000-05:00

It's already 2 weeks into the new year and I had planned to make a resolution that I would blog once a week! Well so much for a great beginning. LOL Just like my diets, it usually goes in one year and out the other! I did however FINALLY get my bedroom remodeled. It was a long time coming and this weekend the rest of the trim went on. Now I am working on figuring how I want to rearrange my room. Here's what I dealt with before. My step son put on primer. Such a sweetie!

I painted the room with two different mismatched paints that I mixed and I truly love it! We also got rid of the nasty stained carpet and put down Pergo flooring and painted the sliding doors for the closet that were put on a year ago. They were once just two door ways and impractical. Love it being a big walk in that I can really move around in!

The floor is a lovely medium cherry!

Boa seems to enjoy the new digs! Insidently I had gotten the bedding at a yard sale for $5.00 for the bronze set and the the other corridinated set from a flea market. I know, I know, for being a quilter, I should at least have a quilt on my bed! LOL Perhaps I shall make a goal to make one for myself this year! Also more art for me! I usually give away and trade so much, so I shall work on turning a new leaf.
Hubby and I have decided to work on saving aside some extra cash for a vacation fund, so each day before we retire, we each put aside a dollar a day. So far so good in keeping that resolution!

It had been a fabulous beginning into the new year. Such lovely weather and even some blooms!

We have also wanted to take down this tree that has continued to keep leaning for the past few years and finally cut it down while the weather was still nice.

It made a nice pickup load of firewood.

We gave it away to our neighbor who heats with fire wood. Just in time as a day later it snowed!

The neighbor has a plow and cleans our long driveway so it is good to barter for just what we need!

I have managed to get some other things finished in the past couple of weeks. This is Pam's delightful quilt! Isn't it gorgeous! I loved quilting this one!

I did some ATC's for my NING group. This is a photo of my son and daughter a few years ago. I used some gold foil doilies to simulate the picture frame.

I had also made a journal page for my Fiber Art Trader's group.

I used card stock in the center and used fusible web to adhere fabric to both sides of it. It made it a lot easier to stamp and draw on. I chose to just tear the fabric, fraying the fibers. I used rubber stamps, acrylic paints, magazine photo for the face, crystals and star embellishments.

And more ATC's for my Arts In The Cards group. The theme was 2 for a second anniversary of the group that two gals started, so I couldn't help but make 2 queens as if it were a playing card. It is all hand drawn. I painted the background with watered down acrylics. As long as you don't stare at the background too much, you wouldn't know that it isn't mirror imaged. The queens however are. I just attached them together and made their hands artful holding a brush. Again I used crystals to embellish and then added glitter glue to certain areas which gave it some dimension.

Now to get back to work on another customer quilt that I have promised for next week, so I have my work cut out for awhile. Hope your new year has had a good start for a new beginning!

Old Endings and New Beginnings

2012-01-01T01:03:00.002-05:00

Christmas was a joyous one this year! We waited up for Santa.

We hung up our stockings.

Then we ate and ate until we were stuffed!

And we ripped open presents!

And we played with our toys until they were wore out!

Now it's time to celebrate again! Dig out the nip and shout....

Toot your horn!

AND....

Hello kitty!

May you have a happy and safe new year!

Welcome 2012!!!

Naughty and Nice

2011-12-23T08:40:00.002-05:00

I am getting down to the wire with last min. baking and gifts. I finished the last quilt I was going to do in time for Christmas. This one is Amy's. I just love the colors, Just fabulous! I did this same pattern several years ago in dark colors. It's good to see

something so fresh and so NICE!

Yesterday I made popcorn balls. Yummy and NICE!

I use to not like popcorn balls as they were so hard and crunchy. I have a recipe that I really like that is creamy and chewy. I am sure because it has more butter and also goes to the soft ball stage while others seem to go to the crack stage, which tends to stick to my teeth!

Popcorn Balls

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup lt. karo syrup
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. salt
12 cups of air popped popcorn without salt

Air pop popcorn and set aside. In a heavy duty sauce pan, combine other ingredients and cook on medium heat until temp. on the candy thermometer is in the soft ball stage. Remove from heat and pour over popcorn. Butter hands and form into balls.

Everyone has a favorite that they want me to make.

For my daughter, it's sugar cookies. My Ex husband's grandmother made the best! The sour cream seems to be the secret! This year I tried something different in making icing with snow flakes. Believe me, no two snowflakes are alike! After spending so much time decorating them, I kept thinking that certainly there is something faster! Nope, I didn't have any sprinkles, but the craft side of me wanted to substitute beads instead! NAUGHTY!

Grandma's Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
6 egg yolks
6 cups flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt

Cream the butter and sugar, then add the sour cream, egg yolks and vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients and combine. Roll out dough on a non stick surface and cut out into shapes. Bake 350 degrees until lightly golden.

Glace' Icing

1 lb. powdered sugar
6 Tbs. whole milk
6 Tbs. lt. corn syrup
1 tsp. flavored extract (almond or lemon)

Combine sugar, and milk until smooth. Then add the other two ingredients. Tint with food coloring or food paste. frost the cookies with this consistency. If you wish to decorate, add more powdered sugar to the mix to make it stiffer.

My son likes lemon bars the best. Somehow the first batch didn't turn out very well at all. The lemony portion was runny and didn't even taste like lemon! Then it dawned on me that I had missed putting in the lemon, the flour and the baking powder! My thoughts were to give them to my son anyway. NAUGHTY! But today I took time and remade them. It's all about the list thing, checking it twice and making the second one NICE!

Lemon Bars

2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
cut in 1 cup of butter and pat into a 9 X 13 pan. Bake 20 min. at 350 degrees.
then mix 2 cups sugar, 4 slightly beaten eggs, 1 Tbs. flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 4 Tbs, lemon juice. Pour over crust and bake for 25 more min.

I made baked potatoes for dinner. Imagine my surprise when I ran across one in the shape of a Christmas stocking!

I have some gift cards to give out this year and ran across a unique way to present them in cans. You can find the link here! NICE!

NAUGHTY and NICE....
Remember that New Year's resolution I made about hemming pants? Well they all finally got done! NICE! So I am wrapping up
8 pair for hubby for Christmas. One pair I picked up at a thrift store just for fun and hemmed it about 8 inches shorter than the others. hee hee...ha ha...ho ho.... NAUGHTY!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to ALL and hope it's all NICE!

Christmas Decorating

2011-12-12T00:54:00.004-05:00

It's beginning to look a lot more like Christmas around here, not only for us humans but for the kitties

too!

As you can see they had a great time decorating their tree!

Herky: Hey, whatcha doin', Honey Boy?
Honey: Me is gitten the last light put on!
Ani: Oh so pretty!

Cheddar: Hey, this is the best Nip I have ever had!
Jack: Yep sure is good, we won't tell mom we opened the stash early.

More pretty indoor lights...

and outdoor lights too!

Some Christmas baking

And a pretty Christmas quilt for Carol!

Now for a little more shopping and praying for a little snow.

Just 12 more days!

Hope your holidays are looking a bit bright!

Do You Believe??? WOYWW

2011-12-07T01:25:00.003-05:00

The year that I was in the third grade, I still believed in Santa. I had asked for a Barbie doll dream house. When the packages arrived, my two younger sisters, got their asked for gift, but mine ended up being art supplies along with a hand written letter from Santa that said that my doll house had been delayed as the elves had been so busy, but were working on it and would make a special delivery for me later. I was not disappointed as I had in my hand the letter in the most beautiful handwriting that I had ever seen! Besides I got an extra gift that year with getting the art supplies! I don't recall my sisters getting an extra 'cause Santa only gave out one gift! It was always the special one, as mom and dad always gave us homemade gifts, clothes and underwear! When my doll house finally arrived, I simply had to tell my school friends that I had finally gotten my Santa gift! They looked at me in disbelief and said, you still believe in Santa??? And they laughed at me! That was when they told me that he DIDN'T exist! I mean, What the Elf??? Was I played for a sucker or what? I couldn't believe what I was hearing, No Santa? NOOOOOOOOO!!! I so wanted to believe that the handwriting was authentic and sincere more than the gift itself! Just when were my parents gonna tell me? I was so crushed that I ended up being embarrassed in front of my friends.

Well now, here I find myself in Santa's workshop of Santas, spreading the belief to other adult art traders. There is still something magical about believing even if we have to grow up.(or do we?)

Arts In the Cards had a Santa exchange, so we all made our own version. Rather than traditional reds and greens, I added other colors with yet a Santa appeal. For me, Santa's weight has gravitated south, much like mine has! To my amazement, I even have chin hairs! Even my hair is getting whiter too!

My original drawing started out twice the size of this and I decided to make it more manageable to fit into Christmas card envelopes so I had to reduce it on the copier. I also bought some TomBo Dual Brush pens from Dick Blick in flesh tones. I really like how they blended!

The claim to fame on these brushes is not only do they blend with other colors, but once the color is mixed, the tips will self clean after blending! I did however manage to smear a little of the black ink from the printer in an area that I didn't want to but it wasn't enough for me to want to change it. The pens ran $26.00 for a pack of 10. Next time I will pick up the other color bold tones and the pastel set. I still want to try out copic markers one day, but unfortunately my budget won't allow it at this time. Perhaps I shall simply have to ask Santa!

For the rest of the Santa, I ended up using colored pencils. Then I embellished with crystals and glitter glue.

My Santa's workshop wouldn't be complete without working on a quilt. I finished this Christmas piece for Vickie in gold Superior thread. (I love working with that stuff!) However I couldn't get the thread to sparkle for the camera, but it really is there! Just like Santa, ya gotta believe!
PS. To check out what WOYWW is about check out click here.

A Gathering Place and Magee Baby give aways!

2011-12-06T01:00:00.003-05:00

I was blog hopping and came upon this awesome give away! Wouldn't it be wonderful to win in time for the holidays? If you are interested in participating, go to A Gathering Place to check it out! Such a beautiful piece! Lucky is the person that is chosen! Good Luck to all!

Also another fantastic give away is to win a $150. gift card for a goal setting. Wouldn't this be awesome for some lucky person. You can check it out at Magee Baby!

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree....

2011-12-02T15:42:00.002-05:00

I have yet to put up the big tree but the lights went on the outside of the house and looking very festive at night. I've been working on quilts yet, my bedroom still in disarray and nothing getting done very fast! On Wednesday I had been to Trader Joe's in Columbus and picked up a stalk of brussel sprouts! We haven't had fresh ones in a long while so simply had to get some!

But first, not before I had fun decorating them briefly. hee hee

They eventually got cut from their stalk and were cut in half. I tossed them in some olive oil and some fresh chopped rosemary. They were roasted in the oven for about 20 min. OH so yummy!

Along with the sprouts, we had sweet potato fries and some delicious pork chops. I must say, this is one of my favorite ways to make them. I hope you will try them too! Enjoy!

Pork Chops with Rosemary-Vinegar Sauce

4 large boneless pork loin chops (about 5 ounces each)
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
2 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup whipping cream
4 teaspoons raspberry vinegar or red wine vinegar (I omitted this and they were still fabulous!)

Sprinkle pork on both sides with 3/4 teaspoon rosemary, salt and pepper. Coat with flour; shake off excess.

Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic; sauté until beginning to color, about 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, discard garlic. Add pork to skillet and sauté until brown and cooked through, about 7 minutes per side. Using tongs, transfer pork to plate. Tent with foil to keep warm. Add chicken broth, white wine, cream, vinegar and remaining 1/4 teaspoon rosemary to skillet. Boil until sauce thickens enough to coat back of spoon, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour any collected pork juices from plate into skillet. Spoon sauce over pork and serve.

WOYWW

2011-12-01T02:30:00.001-05:00

It's been awhile since I have checked up on my WOYWW with the other gals, so thought I would jump back in. Actually, my work desk is not too bad at the moment since I have just finished with "Iris"(see previous post) and have tidied up. Just have to put some supplies away that I picked up today. Just got some brush markers that I can hardly wait to play with! Also picked up some glitter glues, some new alphabet stamps and crystal embellishments. The only thing that I did not get was some ink refill for my Stazon pad, but no one had it so looks like I will have to order it on line.

In between doing some arts and inks, I have been working on quilts. The quilt on the wall in the background I had just finished, have another quilt on the machine and the quilt in the foreground is yet to do.

I also made another one simular to the other quilt. Both had embroidered names in the center. They will be quilts given as Christmas gifts.

It's hard to believe it is Dec.1st already! Time will fly quickly with many things left to do before Christmas. The tree hasn't come out of the closet yet, but I do have my Christmas cards addressed and ready to send out, so I am at least getting one foot ahead of the other. By the time next Wed. rolls around, my work desk will take on a frazzled look. lol So tune in!

Zetti Challenge

2011-11-29T17:31:00.000-05:00

I love working in the Zetti style and each month we will be working with a theme in my NING group of 4 X 6 pieces to form into a book. This month's theme was flowers. Here is my piece.

She is sort of sexy even though she has that extreme menopausal chin hair! lol

This one was done by Renee' from Mn. entitled Soul Petal.

This last one was done by Marion. Love that the face was used in the calyx of the flower!

I am surprised that no one has picked up on poinsettia, but we are waiting to see Amy's flower yet, so we shall see what she comes up with.

Spring is still a ways off, but I shall think of warmer flowers for a chilly wet day in SE Ohio.

The Birthday "Present"

2011-11-21T11:39:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday to me! I am now officially older than my sister. It use to bother me that she would catch up and we would be the same age for a week! That's me on the right, with my sister, Veda. Mom often made us clothes alike and always made an angel food birthday cake with pink icing when we were younger, cause we were such angels.... well not always!

We also have a younger sister, Peggy who is 3 years younger than me. I am guessing that we are 6, 5 and 3 in this photo. It was fun to look at the old photos with fond memories. The dresses were in our favorite colors. Mine a blue, Veda's a lavender and Peggy's a yellow. My dad was an amateur photographer and would pose us on the sofa with blinding flood lights.

Somewhere I suppose that there are some baby photos of me, but none that we could find. Maybe when I go home sometime, I will find them stored in a box or a long lost album.

Anyway, in honor of my birthday, my gift to you is that I shall share how to make some delightful art fairies or angels. Since it is close to Christmas, you may enjoy making them for your family and friends. This first one was made with one of my photos above. Hurray, she is queen for the day!

First you will need to gather supplies:

Staz On Ink pad
Various rubber stamps with small designs
Colored pencils, acrylic paint, and markers
Glue stick and another glue such as fabric tac or another fast grip glue.
Cereal box or other cardboard
Card stock (white)
Emery board
puzzle pieces
photographs
Versa Magic Ink
Diamond Glaze or other finish
Bubble domes (Optional)
Crystals or other embellishments

Start by working on the body with puzzle pieces. Use the emery board to remove the finish and then paint the pieces with a coat of white acrylic paint.

With the Versa Magic chalk ink, pounce a few color combinations on the puzzle piece. Then ink your small rubber stamps and stamp over the top pieces. With a magic marker, outline each piece.
If you don't have Versa Magic, you can also sponge on other paint layers to cover the puzzle before stamping. If you water it down a bit, you will get nice transparent layers.

For the head, you can draw some of your own or use photograph that can be sized to fit into a one inch circle. Or use a circle punch to cut out first before drawing. On photos sketch in some whimsical hair. Use markers to color in. Note that I used a double layer of card stock for the head. Used a glue stick and a bone folder to seal the glue down well.

For faces, I used a flesh colored colored pencil and then used a darker peach to color around the eyes and other areas.

Outline with a brown for more definition and add coloration for the lips and eyes.

Then use a fine black marker to define all of the features for more depth.

Now you can glue the face to the puzzle pieces. They look cool as is and can be hung on the Xmas tree or make them more grand with wings!

To make the wings. Sketch one wing about the size of the body in any style you wish on white card stock paper. Add a tab to join the other wing half way. Try different designs and stamp to fill the wing in with one or more stamps. You can have the other wing mirrored imaged on the copier so that you don't have to make them exact! Or if you wish, you can make the designs different for an asymmetrical effect.

Then take both wing halves and glue as pairs on to a cereal box weight card board.

Then color in as you wish with markers or colored pencils.

Cut the wing pairs out and glue to the back of the head and body. Embellish with crystals or other embellishments as you wish. Add a small eyelet and cord for an ornament (Paint the back black) or use in scrap booking, making a birthday card or other projects. Enjoy! Would love to see what you create!

Purrfect Day!

2011-11-16T21:00:00.005-05:00

You wouldn't think to look at me that I wasn't just laying around being a pretty boy, but I was told to take a few days off and rest up. Vet's orders ! Can you see me fighting it? I actually had an abcess on my left paw! Hurt really bad too! One nasty kitty took a bite and had a piece of me. As for me, I am a lover, not a fighter, but no matter, It was worth it for my humans to make such a fuss over me.

I got to lay in bed all day! It was just Puuuuurrrrrrfect! Mom gave me treats and Daddy got fed too! He said it was the best onion soup and bacon and onion tart he ever had!

Bacon and Onion Tart

serves 6-8

6 oz. bacon cut into 1/4" matchsticks

4 tbsp. butter

2 - 3 med. onions sliced length wise

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. dry mustard

1 1/4 cups milk

3 eggs lightly beaten

heat back until fat renders and bacon is crisp in a skillet. Pour bacon fat in a 9X13 baking dish. Drain bacon on a paper towel. Return skillet to the stove and heat med. high. add butter and onions. Cook until caramelized (about 10 min.) Set aside. Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk flour, mustard, and pepper. Add milk and eggs and stir until smooth. Let batter rest for 10 min. Meanwhile, place the baking dish in oven and let heat for 10 min. Remove from oven and pour in batter and sprinkle with the bacon and caramelized onions. Return to oven and bake until puffed and golden brown, about 30 min.

French Onion Soup

Serves 5-6

6-8 onions sliced thin or chopped in small chunks

3 Tbs. butter

4 cups of chicken broth

1 3/4 cups of beef broth (can substitute and add 4 bullion cubes to water)

1/4 cup dry red wine (I used Merlot)

1 bay leaf

sprig of fresh thyme

Provolone cheese

seasoned croutons

Cook onions and butter until caramelized. Put in a sauce pan and add all ingredients except for the red wine. Bring to a boil, add wine, turn down and simmer for 20 min. Remove herbs. Place soup in a mug on a foil lined tray. Add hot soup, seasoned croutons and a thick slice of provolone cheese. (Note fill mug full so cheese does not collapse but will melt over the edge) Place under a broiler and let the cheese melt and slightly brown. Serve with additional glass of chilled Merlot! Enjoy!

Full Steam and Down Hill

2011-11-12T23:29:00.003-05:00

I received a package from my friend Norma Soulet the other day. I got a kitty key chain, a glass chicken and a piece she made that was so awesome that I had to share! She is so sweet to remember my up coming birthday and made this darling steam punk fish! Isn't it adorable! The eyes in the bottle cap are the bomb! lol

The top is a crown royal cap with a wing nut. She really looks like she can really run like a sub with all of those mechanical gears! I had to give her a steam punk name, of course! It's Miss Prudence Pickergill! Sounds like an old spinster teacher name and perhaps she is, she looks like she could be the head mistress of a school of fish, of her very own!

The pattern is by Frowning Francis. I looked up the other dolls she has made. Such a wonderful world of fantasy.

I must say that I feel quite old already! I had a dental appointment on friday for a cleaning and I had to have the cat to the vet to have a couple of teeth pulled. Anyway, the appointments were an hour drive from each other. I knew I couldn't make it without filling up with gas. Anymore, you have to prepay before you can pump the gas. Anyway, I had to pick up the cat, had to stop at the grocery for a couple of items, and had company coming later that day. I had figured I had a little time before I picked up the cat so thought I would stop home first. I was just about 5 miles to home when I happened to look down at the gas gauge and it said 11 miles to empty! Here I had paid for my gas that I hadn't pumped!!! lol Talk about a senior moment! For that, I should have gotten a discount! Luckily I finally did make it to a gas station and the fact that $50 was credited back from the other gas station. It will take awhile to catch on to this prepaying senior! As it turns out, one of the attendants says that it happens quite a lot! So, perhaps I am the norm! Now I am curious, What is the dumbest thing that everyone has done?

When life gives you scraps...

2011-11-09T23:59:00.003-05:00

Make quilts!

I had a bag of scraps arrive in the mail that were from The Art Gallery. Pat Bravo was sending out scraps to make charity quilts with.

I love string quilts and had fun stripping an eclectic medley of 8 inch blocks. I then set them on point and added a chartreuse solid
to frame out the blocks....

and formed a Bohemian style baby quilt! I had it pieced on day 1 and on day 2 quilted it and added the binding .

This baby quilt will go to Project Linus and hopefully will be well used and loved.

I am glad I got the chance to try out The Art Gallery Fabrics! They are so smooth and silky! I even see that they sell them at fabric.com! If you would like to have a chance to sew some quilts for charity, contact Pat Bravo. You will be surprised at how wonderful the fabrics really are! You might also try your hand at winning more of The Art Gallery Fabrics at the bunny hop!

The Cat's Out Of The Bag!

2011-11-07T19:58:00.000-05:00

I won on Pat Sloan's site for a featured class from Two Peas in a Pod! I was thrilled and felt very lucky! Trish Preston is an awesome online teacher and I actually learned a thing or two as my bags are constructed a bit differently. I was looking for some fabric and our 15 cats actually voted on this one! l5 paws up! on the lining too!

Trading Up

2011-11-02T23:41:00.001-04:00

I'm back to working on some trades and the theme was steam punk in the Fiber Art Trader's group. We could use metal and whites with some felting, but no other colors. These are to be pins to be worn. I used a bug theme for this one. I added watch parts and some vintage jewelry. The bug was made from metallic polymer clays.

In my NING group, The Artist's Nest, we were to alter puzzle pieces.

I colored, stamped and used faces to make some unique puzzle people. I love their unusually large heads compared to their bodies. I used a clear dome over their faces to enhance it even more as if it were under a magnifying glass. They are addicting!

And lastly, my Art Is In The Cards group chose the theme of Grateful/ Thankful/ Gratitude. Somehow I had drawn this blank at first as all I could think of was the obvious, of being thankful for friends, family, shelter, food, etc., but I chose to pick up the not so obvious and other important things in life, thinking outside the box with a bit of humor. For a woman, things that would be important are spandex, botox, hair coloring, etc. Even an Ex husband, for if I hadn't had him, I wouldn't have been able to trade up! LOL I'm even grateful for Hippopotamus cause they don't make me look fat! I printed my list on a swirl printed vellum and over laid it on a silhouette to show through.

This was on the back side of my atc.

I also finished machine quilting a few quilts this past week.

This lovely baby quilt is so cozy and made with flannel!

What can I say, I love feathers and more feathers!

This weekend is suppose to be beautiful, so I may take a break from trading to enjoy the last of the wonderful fall air. I will be back with a tutorial for the upcoming holidays.

BeWitched!!!

2011-10-30T23:21:00.003-04:00

Photo slideshow customized with Smilebox

Click on the arrow. It will take a bit to load and enlarge the screen. Worth the effort >^..^< Enjoy!!!

It's a Scream!

2011-10-19T17:16:00.004-04:00

I have been working on paper projects lately on one of my NING groups. One of the challenges we are doing is a Halloween scary post card. This is one that I finished. Isn't it a scream! LOL

My friend Vic had done some die cut bird cages and I figured I would use it to post something unusually scary. I mean, who would want this out of it's cage? Poor unfortunate girl with an awesome body and a horrid face!

In my Fiber Art Trader's group, we did exquisite corpses! Here is what I made:

With each segment you could exchange body parts.

Another challenge in my NING group, that we are working on, is that we each choose a photograph and everyone else must alter it to make a chunky book page. Here are some I have worked on.
This is the original piece:

This is my altered piece:

This is the original piece:

This is the altered page:

This is the original piece:

This is the altered page:

This last one I altered the most. It's fun to see what direction it will take by looking for things in magazines and other sources or adding some of your own paintings and such with it. I used paint rings to simulate coffee cup rings. When I ran across an ad in a magazine that had the same pose as the black and white photo, I knew I simply had to work it in. It's a scream II!

Art Inspired

2011-10-08T01:32:00.007-04:00

It occurred to me that I hadn't posted the last photo updates of the other end of my studio that I had finished since the remodeling.

I am very happy with the arrangement and can now work on things that inspire me.

As you can see, I have a new recently finished piece.(click for a close up)

The quilt evolved from an inspiration and influence of other things. It came to be, As our friend Sherry will be going through Chemo treatment, so I had our quilt group get together to help make a surprise quilt.
I have loved Karen Stone's patterns and came across this quilt that was designed by her.

Although I liked the original setting, it took a trip to Las Vegas to decide the setting that I would do. I was in the bathroom at a Casino and loved the setting of the tiles on the wall, so I quickly sketched it out. The tile blocks actually had consisted of 4 small tiles in a 4 patch, but one 4 inch block would be just what would be what I was looking for and the tilt in the design was so attractive! I wanted the quilt to pop out more and the green was just the answer for the background.

I had each gal paper piece wedges using any batik or dyed fabrics they wanted while I added a black center to each and quilted with variegated threads.

The results I feel quite stunning!

I also was inspired by the design on the carpet at the hotel in Vegas. It may work itself into a quilt one day.

But for now, I decided to make a name tag to wear to the retreat with the inspired designs.

I had my step son, who recently started a business, Cat Claw Engraving, engrave the names on metal tags for each of the gals in the group so that they could create their own inspired pieces.

Our retreat was held this past weekend.

We laughed....(Sandy)

and laughed!(Lori)

And we ate good food!(Barb, Michelle,Kris,Lori,Gabriela and Sandy)

We also shopped and occasionally even made something! lol
(Michelle, Barb, Monica and Carol)

Sandy S made chicken pin cushions.

Monica made hexagons.

Lesa made quilts.

While Kris made faces! lol (Ok you had to be there)

Some even pointed fingers!(Michelle)

Even more than they cared to count! lol (Sandy E.)

Some of us were distracted by all of the shiny beads that Gabriela brought to sell!

I had one extra block left to work it into something, so made a bag to put Sherry's quilt in.

Luckily we had Debbi in the group who has an embroidery machine that did the stitching.

We presented our creation for Sherry with many thoughts and prayers with the treatment that she faces ahead.

Again we had another wonderful retreat inspired by art and compassion for others.

Strip Search

2011-10-06T02:01:00.003-04:00

O.K. so I hadn't gotten around to putting up the Vegas strip photos. No doubt you had been searching every day. lol The truth is, I had been busy with getting another quilt finished and had a retreat coming up. Anyway, I shall back up the bus and post the promised photos.

I found these stripped bronze babes in front of the Riviera! Very cleverly done! I WISH I could say that I was one of the models. LOL

Everywhere you looked, there seemed to be some sort of figure and lots of gold, silver, bronze and bling! I love the jestures on the Harrah sign.

Along with statues there were fountains.(Ceasar's)

and even more impressive, interactive fountain shows!(The Bellagio)

I even got to Paris! (Vegas style of course)

Oh Yes, and there were more sightings of Elvis where ever you went!

My favorite was the Venetian, especially at night!

Another of my favorites was Treasure Island. They put on a show in the evening with the ships in front of the hotel that was quite impressive with fireworks and lighting. It staged sea sirens, pirates and noisy canons.

There was much to see on the ceilings of the hotels and casinos too. Some were very elaborate!

Even the shops had such wonderful rich displays.

One of my favorite places to eat was at the Fiesta Buffet. They had one in Henderson and one on Rancho Drive. The one on Rancho was much better! It was inexpensive, as well as having excellent quality and such abundance! Cost was $4.99 a plate for lunch with your player's card and $7.99 for supper and on Sundays. On Sundays you got champaign too! Still a bargain! They featured, Italian, Asian, Mexican, American and Mongolian centers. My favorite was the shrimp Mongolian BBQ. I could eat that every day. As a matter of fact, we at there 3 times while we were there! The most expensive place we ate at was the buffet at Mandalay Bay one evening. It was wonderful too and I am sure I ate my weight in shrimp and crab! It cost about $30. a plate by the time we paid for taxes and tip.

Circus Circus had fun for the whole family! You could view performers or view the slot machines below.

I loved the paintings they had on a wall above the escalator. I may try to use these somewhere in my art work!

One thing is for certain, and that is, that we took home very "little" money! lol Actually in more ways than one! See how small the money is against the real change. I purchased the coins in a gift shop and they are weighty like real coins and have such wonderful detail! Money shrinky dink style! I always knew my money didn't stretch very far! lol Now I will have to start saving up for next year's vacation. It all starts out with pocket change!

Desert Rain

2011-09-24T00:32:00.000-04:00

While in Nevada, hubby wanted a taste of the desert, so we went to see Red Rock Canyon. As luck would have it, we happened to choose a very wet day! We went anyway and shot photos between down pours.

It was wonderful to see such different plant life than what we are use to in our area. The land and the plants were all so striking.

We even found some plants in bloom.

There were several areas where the cactus appeared to have been in a fire and the land was trying to make a come back.

So much variety in color and texture!

We also took a day and went to see Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam.

I guess you could say that it was "Dam" impressive!!!

Tomorrow, I will add the rest of the vacation photos.

VIVA LAS VEGAS!!!

2011-09-23T03:15:00.001-04:00

The last time I was in Vegas was 44 years ago when the population was about 100,000 and Circus Circus had just opened. The population now is 588,507 and numerous casinos have grown and changed hands. I was 12 and Vegas wasn't much fun watching through the windows while my parents played the slots. It's one of those things you do in adult lives, so it was good to return to simply see it again. I must admit that it wasn't my first thought to vacation to this year,nor did I ever think that I would see it a second time, but the price of airline tickets changed all of that. I had gotten a ridiculas deal of $144. round trip and I also had built up sky miles, so the flight was taken care of! I hunted up some good room rates and rented a car and off we went! We spent a week at the Cannery (North). The rooms were great and the decor was of 1940's photos and advertising cans.

Loved the design on the carpet outside of our room!

We went to do the Fremont Street Experience. It was neat to see during the day, but at night it really came alive!

There were all sorts of lights, lamps and souvenir shops.

There were show girls.

And then there were girls that really showed!

Even some really bad Elvis impersonators were hugged! lol

My favorite was the light show under the canopy!
A wonderful 60's tribute with music was just awesome!

They were awesomely colorful!

There were cats and more cats!

I am now glad that we went!

I shall upload some strip photos and photos of the desert in the days to come, but for now I shall take a breather and let you absorb some Vegas bling!

Make and Bake

2011-09-09T09:09:00.006-04:00

I was in the mood to make something and I ran across a pattern to make these lovely Zip-Itself Tetrahedron Coin Purses! I used a decorative jacquard ribbon for one of them and used fabric that I made into bias with the other two. They can be addicting! You can find the pattern here. Hubby wants me to make 5 more for Christmas gifts for work! Hmmm... I will have to see what I have time for!

You can see how the blue one zips out. Just too cool! I have a purse made from one too but takes a lot longer zipper! The coin purse needs a 20 or 22 inch one.

I was also hungry for Biscotti lately. Yummy!

You can find the recipe here. Mine had almonds and dried cranberries added. I am now taking a break from the coin purses and having a good cup of Green Mountain Carmel Vanilla Cream coffee with a biscotti or two or three.... hee hee.

Herding Cats

2011-09-06T00:39:00.003-04:00

I couldn't resist adding this. Herding cats certainly aren't un"herd" of!

Summer's End

2011-09-04T20:36:00.030-04:00

The month of August went fast! It all seems like a distant memory now, so pictures are always evidence of by gone days. I would like to say that summer was relaxing as this photo, but it was all so rushed, so I took photos of serenity amongst the chaotic days I had ahead when I went back home to ND to visit family and go to my niece's wedding. Usually when I make the trip, I go through Indiana, Ill., Wisc. and Minn. to go to get home. This time I went off the beaten path through Mich. and the upper penninsula to get across. I am so glad I did. Lovely views across the Great Lakes. I took this photo on a beach viewing Mackinac Bridge. I couldn't resist the couple in the foreground. It made me want to enjoy it too! There is something about being near the water that is so calming and inviting.

I even caught a Canadian Goose trying to defect from Canada! LOL

And I caught a parasailer coming in for a landing.

In a small town in Minnesota, I ran across the BIG FISH! Certainly an eye catcher! Unfortunately it wasn't open. Appears to be an evening eating place and bar.

When I was growing up, we would visit Bemiji and view Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox. It's been many years, but somehow it appeared a LOT larger when I was younger! LOL

In August it is lovely to see all of the sunflowers in bloom in the fields of North Dakota.

It was good to see family too. This is my niece's little boy, Mason riding on grandpa Dale's tractor.

Here he is in the hot tub at the hotel with his uncle Jared.

Mason's mom is Jenifer (my niece on the left). Her Sister,(My Niece),Julie on the right, Got married Aug. 20th. The day after Jenifer's birthday.

Their brother, Joseph (my nephew) attended and his girlfriend, Jessica.

My sister Veda is on the left, is Julie's mom. I am in the center and our mom is on the right.

This is Ben and Julie. Ben is from Columbia,South America. He was adopted and he also has two sisters, each were adopted for other areas in South America. He is really a fun loving guy and I wish the two of them all of the happiness in the world!

Their wedding was so lovely!

This is Lesa, Julie's best friend and Maid of Honor.

Remember all of the flowers that I dyed? They looked lovely on the head table! The lighting was an awesome touch!

All of the flowers were silk, except that I made the bride's bouquet, the groom's bout., the cake flowers and the tossed bouquet all in real flowers. There were little crystals on the table that looked like diamonds.

I also made these yummy orange cookies rolled in pecans or coconut and dipped in chocolate for the wedding. They are awesome and easy to make. Here's the recipe if you would like to make them sometime.

Orange Balls

1 box (12 oz) vanilla waffers
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
6 oz. can of frozen orange juice,thawed
1 1/2 cup crushed pecans or flaked coconut
1 pkg. chocolate chips

Crush waffers fine in a food processor. Add all ingredients except for the last two.
roll in pecans or coconut. Shape in 1 oz. balls and chill until firm. Use double boiler and melt chocolate. Dip half of the balls and chill again until firm.

The rest of the trip home was spent helping mom. I painted her porch, her deck, kitchen and entry way. Scrubbed floors and defrosted her freezer, helped babysit the kids she takes care of and cooked. Time goes by so fast when you're busy that the visit seemed so short, but as always, there's no place like home!

Summer Retreat

2011-08-09T23:06:00.018-04:00

A week ago, 10 of us gals got together for a summer retreat and had an awesome time of fun and friendships. Much of the projects we did were smaller than usual, in fact many were purses! This purse was made by Irene. Aren't the fabrics and the purse gorgeous!?! Such striking and beautiful prints and colors!

We also had some new girls added to the group. This is Barbara.

and Carol

and Sandy M who spent time playing with her fabrics on the floor.

she made a salsa flavored bullseye wall quilt.

Carol's purse that she finished.

Lesa is making a purse like Irene's for her son's girlfriend.

Debbie worked on embroidery blocks. Look at her scrumptious thread! My feather weight is in the fore ground. I was working on paper pieced blocks with batiks and dyed fabrics.

Here are the blocks laid out. A few of the girls had never done paper piecing, so they made wedges too:)

Sandy S. worked on putting rail fence blocks together.

But mostly she napped! hee hee

Irene made Lesa kiss butt! What crazy girls! lol

I missed getting photos of Bonnie as some of them went fabric shopping during the day and she left to go home in the evening:(
Also not pictured is Sherry. She was gone most of the time at the hospital. As luck would have it, her new born grandson, Tyler Allen, decided to be born during the retreat!

Again we had a grand time, but it's always good to be back home to some welcoming cats. Cheddar and Bea had kept my chair warm for me.

So I kept quilting and finished up the blooming 9 patch quilt that I will be giving to my niece for her wedding this month. I had actually planned something different for her, but my crazy life had me choosing this one to finish instead. Hopefully she will love it just as much.

Alphabetized

2011-07-26T22:27:00.003-04:00

I was lucky enough to find a water color sketch book at a yard sale for 50 cents!!! I figured that I would paint it when I had a moment, but it wasn't until I dug out my collected alphabet inchies that I did with some on line friends, that I decided to see if they would work for the cover. As it turned out, it was perfect for a set of upper and lower case letters as well as a corresponding illustration. I just love anything with the alphabet on it! As I get more settled in my new studio, I will begin to work on pages in the book. In the mean time I will be off to a retreat this weekend. Finally a time with the gals and a relaxing time to sew!

Nice Hooters!

2011-07-20T20:31:00.007-04:00

I have been told lately that I have nice hooters! LOL I made these special little owls for Norma S. for a belated BD gift.

The fabric was the inspiration of my "taxidermy" creations. The dyed fabric was made by my friend Michelle B., which happened to match this owl fabric in coloration, so couldn't help but use it for the momma owl. This is the first project that got completed in my remodeled studio.

I also couldn't resist posting a photo I took a couple of weeks ago of an Amish buggy parked near a local grocery store and gas station. Isn't it a hoot!?! I guess one has the choice of either using gas or grass for your transportation!

A couple of days ago, two of our cats became mascots on the animal rescue site. You may have recalled awhile back a photo of the cats with the intertwined tails. While they did only a close up shot here, it was neat to see that they were mascots of the day. (Honey and "B")

If you love animals, join in helping feed the animals at the Animal Rescue site Every click counts! Also remember to spay and Neuter your pets and weird relatives!

The Under Taker

2011-07-18T01:11:00.009-04:00

My studio is nearly finished and quite an under taking. I mudded drywall, painted walls, put down new flooring, painted furniture and spent time being an interior decorator. I still have more to do yet, but I am loving my new studio space! It wasn't that long ago that things were still strung everywhere and the walls were just white! The furniture was put in the middle of the room and covered while we painted.

Things were all piled in the bedroom.

My stepson helped me put a floating floor in.

I am loving the new floor!

I have painted furniture white until I am blue in the face! As you can see here, I have another cabinet in the foreground to paint. I also plan to put up another shelf for over the doorway on the left.

This end of the room is a bit sparce. I have more cabinets that will go along the wall in the back and the wall on the right, I shall reserve as a design wall!

I have already set up to my sewing machine and sewed a bit. It feels so good to be able to sew again! Tomorrow, I shall start working painting more cabinets before I can store any more.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-20T07:04:00.002-04:00

After machine quilting for people for 11 years, would you believe that my husband now owns his very first quilt? It's like the shoe maker and his kids that didn't have any shoes! I haven't had a break between customer quilts and donation quilts until now. I got the quilt finished up in time for my husband's birthday in April, but finally finished machine quilting and binding it for him in time for Father's Day! I have yet to make one for myself though. I shall finish my studio and bedroom first. In the mean time I have one to finish for my step son and one for my niece, then just maybe, maybe, I will put one on for myself!

I only wished that I could have made one for my dad. He passed away in '97. Every Father's Day, I think about the memories of celebrating Father's Day when he was alive. Here's to you daddy, I miss you every passing year and love you very much!

What's In Your Garden?

2011-06-17T23:32:00.012-04:00

Besides vegetables and flowers, there have been a few other critters lurking. The squirrel appears to be checking out something on the ground while Ani checks out the squirrel. Actually the the squirrel is quite dead. Boa was quite proud of his prize catch. I am glad to say that he wasn't the original hunter as rigor mortis had set in, so who knows what had sealed his fate. The cats are always bringing home prezzies just for me! Ani brought home a garden snake last week! Sends the chills up and down my spine as I am not fond of snakes no matter if they are harmless! A snake is a snake!

On the other hand, I don't mind it when a box turtle comes crossing the yard. He was awhile in crossing and I had really wondered if the turtle made it to the shadows or the shadows met the turtle!

While waiting for my sunflowers to grow, I have worked on some indoors! I made this quilt for a donation for The Pet Orphanage. I have the sleeve yet to put on it and have the binding nearly finished. We shall soon be selling raffle tickets! If anyone is interested in helping raise funds for us, it's greatly appreciated! Tickets are $1. each or 6 for $5. We are also selling tickets on an ipad drawing at $5. each. You have a chance to win one of three prizes, an ipad, an ipod or a DVD player!

Yesterday, we spent the evening at the Washboard Festival in Logan, Ohio. It's a fun street fair with good music, food and fun for all.

A rain shower dampened the evening for a short while, but then the sun appeared before it went down.

Kitana went to have a henna tattoo

The design was pretty cool!

As for my studio, I am making some progress finally! I have just finished mudding all of the walls in preparation for painting. I hate all of the dry wall dust and perhaps why I have procrastinated! Well, that and the fact that I had to have help getting some furniture moved! I am hoping the next steps will go a bit faster. It will be a race between me and the weeds growing in the garden. Stay tuned to see who wins!

I've been meaning to....

2011-06-07T08:59:00.025-04:00

I've been meaning to blog once a week or once every 2 weeks, but life has been so busy and have been too exhausted to blog! I am taking a restful day, so thought that I would do a bit of catching up on what I have been up to the past few weeks.

Just before Memorial Day, I finished machine quilting a patriotic quilt for Joan B. I love the border and the lovely ribbon work in the main body of the quilt!

During Memorial Day weekend, my middle granddaughter, Hayley, graduated from Upper Sandusky High. She will be going to college this fall to study to be a social worker.

Her youngest sister, Kitana (with the dark hair) will soon get her permit to drive! Gosh, the years are going faster! She has already figured out that she wants to be an airline mechanic. She is the tom boy of the bunch! She loves 4 wheeling, doing paint ball and wants to go hunting. I guess she is the boy, her parents never had and she doesn't mind getting dirty!

My Iris' were lovely this spring with all of the rain. This one is one of my favorites as it is Logan's school colors.

I had a call from The Pet Orphanage to foster a stray cat. It was feared that his leg was broken, so they would use emergency funds to help the poor cat. As it turns out, it was his knee and what ever happened, it would have to heal on it's own. He had battle scars from fighting. We got him neutered and were getting him healed up before we could adopt him out. As it turns out, we found his owner, so all is well that ends well. We named him Mr. Weasley, but we later found out his name is Clarence.

I was glad the poor guy had a home, as so many cats don't. I suppose I end up with cats that no one wants or seem to be adoptable. They usually end up being the most spoiled! Here is Jack, (as in one eyed jack). Doesn't he seem to have the life? I use to have a Queen size bed, but my space is usually scooted over quite a bit! Oh yeah, he even uses my pillow!

While Jack has had the life of luxury, I have put in a garden and even helped my friend put in her garden and I have weeded flower beds, have had a yard sale and So far I STILL haven't gotten to my studio redo!

My youngest granddaughter spent a week here, so I took her to a bead making class too of which she really enjoyed!

These were the beads she did.

Of course I had to play again too and these were mine. This time I worked with layering and using the dragging tool for some really cool swirls and some transparency effects.

I did manage to do some painted coasters for a trade. We were to use a beverage of our choice and I chose to do tea.

We ended up winding down the week by helping out at the Warrior Dash event in Logan, Ohio. Volunteers from organizations would get $1000. per 25 volunteers! We worked for The Pet Orphanage benefit and had a rewarding but exhausting day. There were over 29,000 in attendance! I worked at the beer tent and they went through 150 kegs in one shift! I don't know how many kegs they finally ended up with, but 800 kegs were ordered for the event. There was good food, good music and a great time had by all! People were dressed in Scottish kilts, some in Indian costume, some were Barbaric, some dressed as Vikings, Some in camo. gear, some guys dressed in tutus and tiaras and wedding gowns. Some guys dressed in only a thong. It was all crazy good fun! In spite of the heat, the smell of smoked turkey legs and corn on the cob watered our palate!

At the end of the event, everyone threw their shoes in a pile for a charity. They got a voucher for donating their shoes so they could wear flip flops home.

.

Now that I am caught up to date, I shall now get back to quilting a quilt that I will finish tonight and then start working on my studio! It really is about time as I am going through art withdrawl!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T22:12:00.002-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of you that are mommies! Be it to children or 4 legged critters we are mommies to them all and I feel very blessed to have a son, a daughter, a step son, 1 grand daughter, 2 step grand daughters and 14 felines!

This year I was thrilled with the blooming of the biggest bunch of azaleas! It's actually been a rarity the past few years. The deer seem to have eaten the buds before they ever got a chance to bloom. I think what has changed is that we have had plenty of food in the woods and the meadows for the deer to eat and with the abundance of rain, that they have really flourished! I planted these azaleas many years ago for my father in law in honor of my mother in law and brother in law who had passed away. When my father in law passed away, they were doing very poorly, so I transplanted them along side of our front deck in better soil. I love the brilliant color!

It's been a beautiful day so I took a few outdoor photos of the kiddos. This is Tang.

This is my handsome Honey Boy!

This is my Ani girl!

Today I spent it working putting down an underlayment on my studio floors and preparation for painting. Hubby mowed the lawn and then we went to the Old Dutch for a buffet dinner. I was in the mood for broasted chicken! Then topped off with coconut cream pie! Yummy!

My step son, granddaughter and daughter all called to wish me Happy Mother's Day. Unfortunately my son never calls, sends a card or anything. It's all so sad as I always remember him. Maybe some day when I am gone, he will realize things I did and sacrificed for him. I guess a mother's job is never done!

Seeing Blue and Green

2011-05-04T09:43:00.004-04:00

Blues and greens have always been my favorite colors, but it seems it always changes in hue or value. Everything from electric blues, Navy, moss greens and chartruse. Lately the colors have gotten lighter and I love them too! I think we all go through different periods of our lives. I was contemplating on what color to do my studio in and I think that I shall be leaning on more of these colors. This quilt I had just finished quilting is for my friend Amy, who is due to have another grand daughter in a couple of weeks and these are the colors of her nursery.

These days I will be spending more time working on my own studio doing the walls and flooring, so will up date as I get time. Unfortunately no creative art to show for awhile, but looking forward to getting the house back together and showing you my studio soon!

ALSO on a worthy note, check out this great give away. It is in celebration of episode #1 with her pod cast! You could win these lovely 10 1/2 yard pieces!

You also would win this book.

I should be...

2011-04-25T16:44:00.007-04:00

I know, I should be washing clothes, I should be doing dishes, I should be doing the floor, I should be..... but I'm not! I wanted to finish this small mini wall quilt to send off to Sandy who graciously sent me a generous supply of black and white fabric for another project that I want to work on. Barter is good, and it made me experiment and learn something new in the process.

I sewed several mini pieces with batting in them by hand and embellished before I started putting them together. I used inchie pieces to add interest and tie the pieces together. (Not TIE in the physical sense, but in the visual sense).

I love this multi layered embellishment!

It looks like a first prize ribbon hanging from the bottom:) Just hopefully she will think the piece first prize to her too, as I have difficulty parting with it when I got finished.

Well, off to packing it to send off and doing things that I should be.

The Art of Glass

2011-04-23T20:07:00.021-04:00

I have a fascination for glass beads. I admire the wonderful pieces of work in miniature, their color, their reflection, and their sparkle have me in a trans. My husband informed me last night of a class this week, so I picked up the phone and made us both a reservation! This afternoon, I could hardly wait to attend a class by the master artist Marco Jerman of Jerman Art Glass.

As soon as I saw her work bench, I knew immediately I was going to have fun!

Marco is on the left showing me how to begin the first bead. I wore special glasses to protect my eyes from the flame.

Then my husband was instructed the same technique.

We each got to make 3 beads, the first was with dots, the second with stripes and the third with a combination of both. This is what Rog made. Aren't they gorgeous? I am so glad he decided to do it too as it meant more beads for me in the end! LOL

Here are the ones that I produced in the class. They are all far from being perfect, but I thought they turned out quite well for a first timer!

This lizard she had on her table, just tickled me! She also had many beautiful bugs, starfish and frogs and other things.

Love the textures on this one! Unfortunately it broke in half, but since it is so precise, I am thinking that I will make something with my fiber art and glue the flat surface down and built other beads around it.

This awesome piece Marco made reminds me of an Easter Egg! Since we didn't dye Easter eggs this year, I found it appropriate to purchase as a momento of the class along with a few others from the first photo.

If anyone plans to visit SE Ohio, I highly recommend Marco's class. She is just an awesome teacher! Class was only $25.00 and lasted an hour, although we were there for most of the afternoon. I could have stayed longer, but I know I will be back!

Last week I was also in a beaded frenzy, as we stopped at Penny Antique Mall in Cambridge. One of the vendors also had beads and I had a blast picking out all sorts to add to my stash. They are nothing like the Flame worked glass beads, but still some nice additions for my collection of growing beads!

Another tickled find at the antique mall was a print set from the early 30's! I was quite impressed to find that most of it was still intact! I am missing 3 lower case letters and the number 4 though.

I love anything to do with lettering and this was my favorite find of the day!

This week I also finished quilting the Raspberry Lemonade quilt.

I must now go back to working in my studio soon as I just got my flooring FINALLY! I will be looking forward to it getting it down and all of my things back in order. Just hopefully soon!!!

South West By South East

2011-04-15T21:28:00.009-04:00

I finished machine quilting Pam's quilt and mailed it off to her today. She lives in Arizona, so the quilt took on the design of the SW. It's all done in Fossil Fern fabrics! Such awesome colors.

As you can see by the photo that the water receded and I was able to hang it on the clothes line to photograph.

I live in SE Ohio and our yard is covered with all of these sweet little wild flowers. I have no idea what they are called. Does anyone know? They look a bit like Verbena but these have 5 petals instead of 6.

Signs of spring are arriving, not only because of the flowers, but the ticks too! The cats have already brought in a couple.
This week I have also been dog sitting for my SIL's dog, Tiny. She is a beagle/jack rustle mix. I was able to get her in to a low cost spay and neuter clinic, so have had her for about a week. Doesn't she look like she has quite the dog life? Or does she look a little devious?

Today I heard a knock at the door and here was Tiny on the sofa with head cocked looking at me. I went to the door and no one was there. I went back to my work and heard it again and went to the door, still no one there. I had at first thought that who ever it was, was going to the back door only this time I heard the knock again and here it was Tiny beating her tail against one of the sofa pillows and smiling at me! A little late for April fool's, but you can't help but laugh at such a funny trick she pulled on me whether she knows it or not!

April Showers bring....

2011-04-12T14:20:00.004-04:00

flooding before the May flowers!

This is what it looked like this morning from the front window. Even Fritzie couldn't believe it!

from the back yard it looked like this! Boa and Zack wonder what happened to their play yard.

We live on a corner where two creeks meet. We have a pond in the front yard, but now we live on the lake!

The only good thing about a day like to day is that it keeps me in to quilt. I shall be showing you some soon!

A Foolish Retreat

2011-04-05T00:49:00.022-04:00

Our retreat this spring was another grand time for our group. It happened to fall on the weekend of April Fool's Day, so couldn't help but have fun in a crazy sort of way. Some found themselves sleeping in beds with Easter grass under the covers at the end of their feet. hee hee

We played a game and everyone got a gift. They could either keep their gift or trade it away for someone else's. They would either find an april fool's note in it or something really nice. Sheryl ended up with a quilter's "stash"!

While Kris got patchwork with a "Y" seam (a thong!). LOL Here she proudly displays it as a beard!

Other foolery gifts included a sucker born every minute with a sucker as the gift, One note said Holy Mackeral, I've been April fooled, with a can of Mackerl of course while another note said Holy Cow, I've been April fooled. The gift was a miniature cow on a key chain that moos and lights up, also a package of powdered milk saying, "got milk?" Many got wonderful gifts of fabric and notions and the second day the ones that got April fooled, did get a nice gift after the fact.

We had a few more new faces at the retreat this time. We would get together in the enclosed glass eating area on the deck.
from bottom left with the green shirt back facing towards me is Bonnie and going around clockwise is Irene wiping her face, then Kris, Kathie, Sherry, Lee, Lucille, Sandy and Lesa.

The retreat house is run by two nuns. Sister Muriam on the left and Sister Henrita on the right.

In between all of the Tom foolery, we did manage to get some work done.

This is Bonnie working on her bargello while Sheryl looks on.

Sheryl was working on a gorgeous 9 patch quilt in an awesome setting!

Kris was working with Civil War type fabrics in a gorgeous design.

Lee and Lucille were both working with hand work.
i

Kathie was working on a green turning twenty quilt.

Irene was working with 30's fabrics while Lesa worked with fabrics more bold with a Karen Stone pattern.

I even managed to get some things finished! Lots of half square triangles made up in lemon and berry colors, yummy! The blocks were all trimmed making all of these wonderful piles of strips.

The quilt top I finished was one that was made for the Stephanie Spielman breast cancer auction in Columbus. It reminds me of Raspberry Lemonade! SO if life gives you lemons.....

I also was able to finish the binding on this quilt during the retreat too!

We are looking forward already, to the retreat at the end of Sept. A couple of days just isn't enough so we are going to add one extra day to arrive on a Thursday. Looking forward to another awesome retreat!

With the busy weekend, it is now time to rest and relax to take a vacation from our vacation! Seems Boa needs to do the same.

Happy 4th Blogoversary!!!!!

2011-03-29T14:02:00.007-04:00

My Blog is 4 years old!!!!! Yippie!!!! Can't believe that I have been blogging for that long! Time sure flies when you have things to post! Anyway, As I had promised, I did a drawing for all those who have posted and the winner is.........

.................................................. MYA!!!!

So Mya, come out, come out where ever you are to claim your custom made prize!

King of the Jungle

2011-03-23T11:27:00.008-04:00

Move over Tarazan, there's a new kid in the jungle!

I couldn't resist posting a photo of Azlan in a more appropriate setting. He actually has become quite accustom to his new look and loves that we are all telling him how REGAL he looks and he just ROARS! Now he sticks his tongue out at the other cats. lol The rest of them are just lion wannabees! I think the groomer should have left just a puff on his tail as it looks more like a feather than a lion tail.

It's so funny to see him run! He looks like a streaker here! lol

......But he is still ever so handsome, even if he is a bit nakey!

PS, Just 5 more days 'til the blogoversary draw! Any comments from the posts March 16th to March 28th are in! I will do the draw on the 28th.

Heavenly Spring

2011-03-22T00:18:00.014-04:00

I was thrilled to see that my daffodils are in full bloom so I picked a bunch still dripping from the rain showers. Although I love the rain, it too can cease for awhile. Too much of anything can't be a good thing. We have had some flooding and the ground is so saturated that if it continues, we could all be floating down stream! I do love the green grass, the budding of leaves on the trees and looking forward to Easter baskets..... even if they are occupied by cats!

Today was a good day to run around and get some errands done and order new flooring. I had made an appointment at the groomers for Aslan. Poor guy was so full of matts and I knew something had to be done or the poor guy would have his circulation cut off. I told them to do what they could and if it didn't work out, a good shave would do. I went to Home Depot and ordered my flooring. By the time I had gotten done, I went back to the groomers and my little lion was ready to come home!

You can see where his poor little hide is sore from where the matts were.

Poor little guy is now really em-bare-assed! I may have to make him a coat to keep warm if the weather changes. lol

Later this afternoon, we went out to cut down some pussy willows! OH how soft and fuzzy they are! I once had a cat named Willow, after the fact. He had gray toes just like these!

I cut several branches so that I could get some new starts to plant.

Remember Bob cat? He hadn't been to the house to eat in a couple of days. We missed him as he and Tang were usually together.

While we were gathering willow branches, we happened to look over on the other side of the creek bank and there lay our poor dear Bob cat. I hollered at Bob hoping that he was just taking a nap, but unfortunately he hadn't. Poor guy had too much of a rough winter and must have taken it's toll on him and passed away in his sleep. We are sure going to miss him and I am sure his friend Tang will too. We gathered up his poor little body and will have a proper burial tomorrow in our private little cat cemetery. When the pussy willow gets it's start, I will plant one in his honor. He looked like this when he was laying on the bank.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

Hitting The Bottle

2011-03-16T21:40:00.012-04:00

.....well at least the top of the bottle!

I found myself working with bottle caps lately. Not that I needed another hobby, but got an idea in my head, so purchased some supplies and away I went! I took a photograph of each one of our cats and made bottle cap pieces. I knew a charm bracelet would be too small to put them all on, so designed this neckpiece. The intent was to put it on display to raise awareness and funds for The Pet Orphanage. I help out at the low cost spay and neuter clinic and have become one of their board members recently.

I thought I was smart photographing myself wearing my newly made piece in a mirror. It wasn't until later that I realized I could read the letters backwards on the center bottle cap! LOL Well, at least you can see that it drapes nicely! I finally photographed it again laying it out flat on the same shirt.

This is the only way I can get a group shot of all of our cats at the same time! LOL Now If I could just get them all to smile!

I decided to do a reverse and put the cat's names on the backs of the caps.

I did zipper pulls....

and I did key chains....

Even though I am a cat purrr-son, I couldn't help but do some dogs too! These are my mom's fur babies. I shall save this and give it to her for Mother's Day.

I also made a bracelet for my niece with her three "boys" on it:)

Then I was working on some letters. Love these colors!

And then had to do some scrabble tiles too! I love these typewriter keys!

Now to put cords on them and have them ready for the local up coming craft fair and when I get time, to put some up for Etsy. If you are interested in helping out the Pet Orphanage, let me know and I shall get back to you for details and pricing. Just email me at needlewings@yahoo.com and put Pet Orphanage in the heading. Our fur people are depending on us.

I have a Blogoversary coming up in a couple of weeks!!! Time has flown and this is my fourth year! (OOPS, I said third earlier, I guess it really has flown!) I shall give away a bottle cap creation with photos or initials on a key chain for the winner in their choice of colors. All you have to do is to sign up as a follower if you haven't already and or leave a comment. I shall do the drawing in a couple of weeks! Good luck in the draw!

Heavy Metal

2011-03-06T16:40:00.016-05:00

I simply had to post the second doll that I finished. As you can see she has quite the metal jacket! Thought it too funny to add nipple rings. lol Her goggles were made from a watch band that seemed to work perfectly. The wheels I found in the doll house section of Hobby Lobby. It almost makes her look more Civil Warish! More like canon wheels! lol

Her wings quite adorned with more metallic options of bells and whistles. It's how she rolls!

She wouldn't be complete with out a key to wind her up!

I also finished making several medallions.

This one was just too whimsical!

I also decided to work on some ATC's for a trade and the theme was love. I was still in the metal mood with the background treatment. I used the metallic tape onto a card and then used one of my lino block pieces as a basis for a rubbing the design to be impressed into the piece. Afterwards I used black acrylic paint and covered the entire piece and wiped it leaving the color in the recessed areas.

In between being a metal smith, I did get back to quilting and finished this one up for Mary. These are the colors that I want to work with in my bedroom.

I also got one of Suzan's quilts finished. Such a variety of fabrics!

Well time now to regroup as I know I will be working on the floor in the studio soon, so I shall hang up my torch and goggles, needles and threads, and switch to carpentry skills.

Of Circuits and Gears

2011-02-26T21:47:00.013-05:00

The older that I get, the more that I want to resist new technology. It seems when everything is comfortable, things change and the process starts all over of having to learn something new. I swear that there are only so many brain cells and when they are used up, they are gone!

Do you remember the first cell phones? They were nice and big and comfortable, easy to use. Then they became obsolete and you had to learn a new one. Our second phone was a flip phone, even then it didn't have a camera capability.... and texting? What was that? Nope, didn't want it. I had a hard enough time with numbers let alone letters on a smaller key board! Anyway, didn't want to change and neither did my husband, we were comfortable, so why change, it wasn't broken.

Well, that all changed forcibly last week. We had to surrender our old phones as they would no longer be capable of being supportive even with a new sim card, So off to phone shopping we went. WOW, I feel that I had been in the dark ages as there are so many new phones out there that I was overwhelmed! Finally we settled on the G3 iphone. Reason being, I already had a mac computer and we would also be able to load in itunes. Yippie, sounds great! AT&T would transfer everything from our old phone onto our new one and have us trained on it and out the door in minutes.... or so they thought! I think the phones we had were perhaps made before the sales gal was born as she had never seen them before. lol It took over an hour and a half to get us up and running and then they didn't spend much time as they were getting ready to close. So we were sent off on our own to play with our new toys. I'm a show me person and I hate to read, as It takes me too long to figure things out. Everything always looks Geek to me!

Well, so far so good, we figured out how to make calls, take pictures and other things, but to down load itunes, I was so dumbfounded! As much as I tried, I couldn't not get it to load. FINALLY figured it out when I had gotten a prompt that I had to upgrade my OS in order to do that! Woah!!! Now they need more money, so I had to upgrade to get to Snow Leopard status. I had the Tiger and never got the Leopard, so I was punished in having to spend $129. to upgrade two levels as opposed to $29 if I had already had the Leopard. One could not just purchase Leopard alone to see if it was any cheaper, of course not! I did not buy the Leopard earlier, so therefor my penalty was $100. Yes, I was being fined and extra punishment to boot! Spent all day yesterday getting it loaded and updated. Today I spent all day with tech. support and they still don't have me up and running! Tomorrow I shall spend perhaps the day talking to my mobile me people to see if we can get all of this figured out. So, now no email. I also have plenty to learn with all of the new functions with my new operating system, still haven't played with my movie camera, nor my felting machine and now I have a new photo shop to learn. I must upgrade more memory in this brain! Just not sure if there is any capability or capacity left! I am like my old phone and computer, my operating system is obsolete!

My brain was tired with things that run in "circuits", so I switched "Gears". (Double pun!)
I was in a heavy metal mood, working steam punk style! I'm in a trade group in which we will be trading 20 pieces of steampunk jewelry and charms. There is something to be said about the heavy metal that lasts far longer than the throw away and buy it new society that we now live in. A time when there were repair shops that were kept in business and were fixable. They just don't make things like they use to! Believe it or not, I still have the Sunbeam toaster that I have had for 41 years!!! No kidding! I had also gotten it free! Someone had thrown it out and my dad (who was an electrician) fixed it and had given it to me! It has the capability of the bread going down by itself so quite modern in a sense for being old. It was heavier and sturdy built and has retained it's shiny luster.

Going back to a time of heavier metal, I had a vision of doing a steam punk doll for fun, so I gathered up all of the bits of hardware that I have collected here and there.

I wanted to make her functioning with some moving parts, so I found these wheels that were to be put on some wooden toy kit that I bought back in the 80's. They were perfect for what I wanted it for. To act as an axle, I cut a wire hanger, secured the ends with foil tape, yet the wheels moved freely. My thoughts were to make her look like a wind up toy with gears and such with a flair for leather and metal. I had some fabric that I had dyed awhile back that had that leather look, perfect! Yes, she would have to sport some rivets! Then I found all sorts of things in my junk jewelry pile and some Tim Holtz gears I had bought earlier. Then there was grommets, fasteners and other small bits to work with. I had figured her wearing a top hat and goggles and searched online for doll hats. I found them at Harvey's Hobby Hut.

then couldn't justify such a small order with shipping so looked for other things that I may use some time in the future. I saw these cool angel wings and thought they would be great for something some time. When it arrived, I couldn't believe the size of the wings! I thought the measurement was for the pair and not just one! As it turned out, little did I know that I would be using them in this very piece! PERFECT!!! a good way to display gears, oh my! What a wonderful doll this was going to be! Everything was coming together and I was so pleased with the results. I had initially planned to give this one in a trade, but decided that I simply had to make another so I could keep one myself! So back to the "welding" shop to produce another one of these gals. I feel like Rosie the Riveter! There is also a place where you can get your steam punk name, so naturally couldn't resist giving her mine. She has become Sarah Isabel Cogsmith! What a fun fitting Victorian name for a steam punk character!

I am also in an online steam punk swap for making charms and jewelry pieces, so I have been in "gear" again working up some new pieces for it. I have had some wooden nickel blanks to use for the base and have used some copper sheets to punch out some circles, as well as add bits and pieces of hardware. I have been enjoying playing in this era. So technology, take a backseat for now, as I am full steam ahead!

OWOH WINNERS!!!

2011-02-17T20:02:00.004-05:00

WOO HOO! Today is when we drew for the OWOH giveaways! I had 5 gift packages and 5 necklaces to give away. They are as follows:
Carole "Pea" of Peas Corners
Lone of Flower Mouse Designs
Mary Helen of A Midsummer Night's Dreamer
Sherry of Country Wings in Phoenix
Katie of Ragamuffin Girl
"T" of What's up Duck?
Susan of Threads Inspiration
Mandy Snow of Eight is Enough
Linda of Random Creativity
Robbin B of Robbin's World

Congratulations Ladies!!!! Boy, I only wished that I could afford to give gifts to all who have commented! Hugs to everyone for stopping by. If you won, you can thank my husband for picking your number and if you didn't win, you can blame him too! LOL I shall be celebrating a Blogoversary soon, so stay tuned for another give away this next month! I shall have to see what I can come up with for all of my awesome followers.

Today's the Day!!!!

2011-01-30T14:44:00.029-05:00

I am excited to be participating in my first OWOH event. Sadly it is also the last one offered:( I want to thank Lisa for all of her hard work bringing it all together for everyone to meet across the world! If you want to find out more about the event, click on the matching icon in the side bar.

Just a little about me: I live in the US in SE Ohio. I live with my hubby of 25 years with 15 cats, a huge fabric stash, a long arm machine, several paint brushes and a fetish for all sorts of arts and crafts. I machine quilt for others for a living and love being home nearly every day. In my blog, I share my life, my talents, sometimes tutorials and now my work and some supplies to a lucky winner! I have been waiting to share my loving treasures to give away and hope you enjoy the eye candy. Sit back and have a cup of your favorite beverage as we share each others blogs.

I must say that I have had a hard time making decisions on which to give away, so I am going to leave it to you to chose by leaving a comment on which is your favorite hand painted Dotti Doll.

OH and yes, that's not all, but whoever wins, will also get a pendant necklace I have made with your choice of initials. It can be for you or some one else you plan to give it to.

AND if that's not exciting enough, I always feel the third time is a charm, so in addition I will also let you choose one of three stashes; either quilt fabric and pattern, or if you are into paper crafts, some delightful papers and ephemera or if you like jewelry making an assortment of handmade beads from paper, clays and fibers.

(Note: the beads are shown in a necklace, but they will be loose in bags to create your own)

(UPDATE: Who knew I would have this many visitors! I will have two more drawings so a total of 3 will get a good parcel of goodies! 1st drawn will get first dibs of course!)
ANOTHER UPDATE: Oh my, if there are over 300 now, I will fix another package of goodies so the last doll will also be in the mix!
THIRD UPDATE: You guys are killing me! I have 4 give aways and so many people! I will throw in another surprise package for 5 give aways for 5 years. ALSO 5 extra pendants, making the odds a bit better, so at least 1 in every 50 or less would win:) And that my friends is my final offer! I feel like a game show host. LOL

So there you have it, I am feeling very generous with the 5th and final year of OWOH to leave you with a wonderful bagful of goodies to lick, just for stopping by! hee hee May you be the lucky winner!
State your 3 choices and be sure to have a way I can contact you if you win and will be announced on Feb.17th! If you don't win this time, check back as I will have a Blogoversary coming up and another give away in the works! Happy blog hopping!

What about Bob?

2011-01-29T14:22:00.006-05:00

Yesterday Bob and I both got our stitches out. I had gone in with an A.M. appointment. The Dr. told me that the tumor was larger than he had anticipated, a bit larger than an egg. I guess one never knows until they get right down to surgery. Anyway after the stitches were removed he told me to still take it easy and not stretch so much with my back. Also the fact that they had also found a polyp, that I have to go back in 5 years to do a colonoscopy then. I guess normally it is every 10 if all is well.

Bob's appointment was in the afternoon and they told me to come between 1 and 3:30 before they closed. To give myself some lead time, I started to get him ready to go at 1. Remember he is a feral cat? Remember he is still under my bed? Before I could coax him out by running the vacuum cleaner where he would run out and be trapped in the bathroom and when he would run around the enclosed litter box, there would be a cage on the other side he could run into and I shut the door. Walla! Well, Bob had learned that trick twice and he didn't budge with the vacuum cleaner. He knew how far he could go to get away from that thing. O.K. so now what? I had a yard stick and poked under there hoping it would get him moving, but no dice! I was able to pet him with the yard stick though. Remember the Dr. told me to take it easy and not stretch so much? Well, here I am alone trying to get Bob to cooperate and that wasn't happening! I took the mattress off of my bed and put it up against the wall and then took off the box spring thinking he would run into the bathroom. Well wrong again! He found a dresser to crawl behind. So now said dresser is pulled away and he runs behind another dresser. O.K. second dresser to move and back behind the first dresser. Now not fun at all! O.K. he is facing south so I put the kennel cage at the north end and then I go to the south side to chase him in. This time it worked! YEAH! BUT now the obstacle was to carry this big kennel outside, down the steps and into the back of the mountaineer. I wrestled it down and out. By now I can feel that I should not have done any of this to my back, but what's a person alone doing it going to do? Well, I made it to the vet in time and the vet tech had to cover him up to keep him from scratching her. As they removed the stitches, I realized that his little bottom was really square instead of rounded after they amputated his tail! I rather chuckled and with him being yellow, I couldn't help but think to nick name him Sponge Bob Square Pants! lol Bob is now under the bed again. I shall let him rest up from his ordeal and when we get a break in the weather, will let him go outside. Would hate to see him freeze his hind end off ....ah well, not that he has anything much left but hopefully his fur will grow quickly to cover.

In the mean time, Bisky is doing a bed side watch over Bob.

As for me, I quit wrestling furniture for awhile and on to working on my resolution for this year. Remember one of the items on my list was to hem up all of my pants in my closet? Well hubby got the idea that I need to do it for all of his too, so between the 2 of us, I have 22 pair to do! I resolve to do at least 2 pair each time I sit to sew and perhaps I shall have them all done in a month? Fingers crossed I get them finished and can cross them off of my ever long lists of have to dos! At least I don't have to do Sponge Bob's Square Pants! It's marked as "mended"!

Irrational Woman

2011-01-24T13:45:00.008-05:00

Yesterday I got a call from the Pet Orphanage asking if I would foster a cat which was a drop off down the road. Of course I said no, when we already have 14! AND NO MEANS...... "But", she interrupted, " this cat is young and deserves a chance, we can put it in the paper with photos and there should be no problems adopting it out, people look for long haired cats. I would take it in myself, but I have cats already separated and can't take in any more and with sub zero temperatures......" OH, well..... let me talk to my husband first, I said and with that, he looks at me and says, It's up to you!

God, how I hate when things are left up to me! I am such an irrational woman..... so you know how things went. I am so easily swayed and talked into things. At age 56, I would even buy a pregnancy test kit if it were on sale for $1, even if I didn't need it! You know, maybe it would come in handy some time.... you know, those type of irrational people. (However I am "fixed" and post menopausal!) I even have a felting machine that hasn't even gotten out of it's box yet from this past summer! Hey, it was on sale, I know I will use/need it! I have come to the conclusion though, that I am perhaps just a hoarder. I always think I need things, but I am also a giver too. Just ask my quilt customers, I always tell them that I give away a cat with every quilt!!! (Not that any body has ever taken me up on the offer though, but I always thought it good sales tactics.)

Well, this morning I get the call from the woman that has the cat. I ask how old it is, is it male or female? She could only say that it was black and had long fur. She has two other cats that will start marking their territory and can't keep it. She was on her way into town and would drop it off. Poor thing was having to live in a box outside under her BBQ grill. She worried it would freeze to death. Well, in she walks with this little cat carrier with a bundle of fur. I take it out and announced that it was a female, perhaps 6 months old. It took but 2 seconds before this little furry creature got up on my chest and started rubbing her face all over mine and said this is home, in between her very audible purrs. The woman so wanted to keep her and was crying when she left her behind. She was so happy as she knew we would take care of her too and promptly gave me money to get her spayed to help with her efforts of living a good and wanted life.

After she left, It took about two seconds for me to name her Anise, which no doubt will become Ani....... as in little orphan Ani. or as in Ani-mal. I am sure we will soon get to know Ani's Antics. She already loves to rub noses! Notice that half of her face has white whiskers while the other half is black. She also has a wisp of white fur on her chest. She is such a beautiful bundle of fur! Speaking of which, I will have some extra tufts of fur to save... why yes, of course, I shall save it to use as embellishment to run it in the felting machine! Yes, because I am just such an irrational woman!

All In Stitches!

2011-01-20T21:42:00.018-05:00

Lately everything is in stitches and not all in fabric! I guess you might say I had been going through stitch withdrawl with working on the house. Try as I might, I failed miserably trying to get a quilt finished before I went to the hospital to have some surgery. As luck would have it, I ran out of the gold thread I was using and had to place an order before I could go any further. Just a couple of blocks to go and the last border and I would have had it finished! Here is a peek at what I was working on.

In between working on Bonnie's quilt, we took a feral cat to the low cost spay and neuter clinic. Remember Bob? He was the one that buddied up with Tang aka Sweetie Pie who is semi feral. Bob had half a tail. Not sure if the coyotes had gotten to him or if he lost a battle in a fight with another cat. As it turned out, we were refused the neuter because his tail wasn't healed up and would break open and bleed profusely. Instead, we were referred to the Pet Orphanage who worked with us with emergency funds to pay for the rest of his tail to be amputated so that they would have enough skin to fold over, stitch and let it heal. The agreement was that we would pay for the neuter, rabies shot and antibiotic shot. That was perfectly fine with us! They covered $150. and we had to pay $65. so we were more than happy to give Bob a chance with a new lease on life.

Here is poor Bob hiding in the corner of my bathroom. His face cut up from a previous outdoor fight.

Poor Bob's newly shaved and stitched backside. Not a pretty sight! He now looks like a manx. A manx will run like a rabbit in which Bob does. He has short little legs,so perhaps why his tail was maimed in the first place. He went to the vet the night before I went into the hospital to have some minor surgery done. I had a tumor removed that was an irritation, especially when I am bent over machine quilting. It was too large to remove in the clinic so had to go to the hospital to do it as an out patient there. I also had a colonoscopy at the same time. (Don't worry, no photos of it!) lol Nothing like trying to get the most done for your money. This was the area on my back before it was removed.

It was cut out, stitched and patched up.

Then after a couple of days, I could get the bandage off. A shame the dr. didn't have gold thread either!

In 10 days, Bob and I will both get our stitches out. I wonder if I could get a "2 fer", if the vet would work on us both! Maybe I might just have to meow, but I will pass on the kitty treats. lol

I finally was able to finish Bonnie's king size quilt. I can only imagine how wonderful it will look on her bed!

1783070543938" />

Today it was nice to just stay in after getting 6 inches of newly fallen snow last night. As you can see a couple of the fur babies are enjoying taking advantage of a long winter's nap.

This is Nova who sought out the comfort of daddy's lap.

This is Cheddar resting easy on a comfy pillow on the sofa.

There is nothing more comforting than a cat or a quilt!

One World One Heart

2011-01-19T20:15:00.004-05:00

I just want to remind everyone that the One World One Heart event will soon be here! It starts on the 30th! YIPPIE!!! Hooray!!! It's a great opportunity to connect with other bloggers from all over the world, see what they are up to and possibly win a prize in the process! If you would like to participate, click on the link at the side bar to read all about it!

I am working on my give away for the event so watch for it soon!!!! I promise it will be something delightful!

MEOW/BOW WOW!!!

2011-01-10T00:14:00.007-05:00

I am sure you are all confused, as it is unlikely of me to paint a dog when we have 14 cats! lol I actually was a dog girl as I had grown up with them, (before I converted!) I had a dachshund as a very first pet and her name was Babs. She was such a funny dog, but she even saved our lives one night. We were living in a small trailer that had a wood stove and a spark had hit a wooden box with a pillow in it where she lay. She was barking furiously and trying to put it out and woke my mom up. Ever since then, every 4th of July we would have to keep her inside as she wanted to put out fireworks too! Then one day she fell down our basement steps, broke her back and died. It was such a sad day, but I have fond memories of her. I still remember her slick silky coat.

Eggcitement!

2011-01-09T00:03:00.002-05:00

It feels good to do a little creating again even with little ATC's. These were created for my NING group. The theme was birds and an egg had to be in there somewhere along with the word EGG. The middle one is my favorite even though I have a warped sense of humor. lol

I also did some more ATC's for another group that I am in for another theme. You can see them and the description posted at this site with the Jan.7th posting.

The Royal Throne

2011-01-03T11:45:00.008-05:00

The Royal Throne room is finished!

Finally an unveiling of the rest of the bathroom now that I have my shelves up! Yippie, it's all painted and complete! This is the area where the garden tub was. It now has more storage and closet space. The top portion will hold pillows, quilts and such. I think that I still want to add a piece of decorative trim, but for now, I am pleased as punch! The room beyond is the laundry room. I will show you that room later when the shelving is completed.

The bench I had, was one I bought in the 80's at a junk shop when we lived in England. It was good to do a make over. I started sanding it by hand as Zack seemed to mock at my progress. I finally got smart and got the electric sander out. Mysteriously though, my supervisor took off! lol

With this view you can see that I have added more shelving! I feel like Martha Stewart! Aslan is wondering if all of this weight will hold up above his litter box in the corner. lol

"I like it mom!"

I haven't changed this one piece that I painted while living in Germany in 1990. It was tempting to repaint it all off white and paint a mermaid on it. Then I decided to just leave it. I still like it, even if it isn't what I would like in there. What do you think? Should I find another place for it, sell it and develop something new? You see, I have this fear of letting go. Perhaps if I paint a mermaid scene on the two panels of the bench that I will eventually repaint over this piece or find another cabinet to put in the corner and paint it to match. Decisions, decisions and most of the time I am not good at that! The bottom stand is a jewelry box that Rog got me in Italy before we got married. I guess that is a keeper so won't be changing that out other than it's location.

I still have the same shower, but am looking to put a shower curtain dressing over it to make it look more cottage like. We shall see. It seems that I have to ponder on things for awhile. I did that with the wall covering. I kept going back and forth between blues and greens. Rog got a kick over it all. He says the only time that it will really bother me is when I am sitting there constipated and have more time to think about it! hmmm.... maybe occasionally I will have to take a laxative to clear those thoughts!

New Year's Wishes and Resolutions

2010-12-31T08:12:00.004-05:00

It is my wish for everyone to have a wonderful journey into 2011! May it be wonderfully filled with success, love, happiness, good health, wealth and positive things.

It's also time to fill in our resolutions for the new year. I had to sit and ponder awhile on what I wanted to accomplish so here is my list of out with the old and in with the new! My theme for this year is FEARLESS!

1. Fearless in tackling projects to be better organized! A Place for everything and everything in it's place!

2. Fearless to take charge in letting go. Time to get rid of things I have hoarded that have no purpose in my life. A big yard sale and donations are in for this year!

3. Fearless to taking charge of my own health. Exercise regularily. AT LEAST 3 TIMES a week! Either walking, on my bike or swimming and eating more fruits and veggies than processed foods.

4. Fearless in finishing. Taking time to finish that quilt for hubby that was started 3 years ago!

5. Fearless in procrastination. To hem all of my pants that have been in my closet for quite some time.

6. Fearless in learning something new. To learn how to use my camera and video camera effectively. To dig out that felting machine that has been sitting in the box collecting dust.

7. Fearless in social situations. To have a sew in with friends and to teach new things at least 4 times this year.

8. Fearless in shameless self promotion. To find a job or to develop more product and business.

I am sure there will be more to add, but these are the main ones that I want to tackle. How about you? What's on your list for the new year?

Deja Vu!

2010-12-30T11:43:00.008-05:00

Our living room finally got put back together with a bit of rearranging. I love the new corner where the cat play area is. The upper portion their "penthouse" while the lower portion is a closet with access on the other side. This isn't due to any water damage, as this part was an elective thing that I wanted done while we had a contractor here anyway.

The other side of the living room, we had to tear a whole in the wall behind the TV to get to the water that was pouring into the bathroom. No real damage since we had gotten to it right away, but the wall had to be repaired and we had an access panel place in the lower portion in case we ever have to get to the shut off ever again.

I was also excited to finally see the end of being able to put things all together in this household. With many things being piled up in my studio, we weren't sure if there was any damage to my flooring in there, so it was move cabinets to check! With a strip of carpeting laying over the vinyl it appeared there wasn't anything wrong. Having that pulled away, reveals a different story! Talk about Deja Vu! So here we go again! More work!!!!

Now where to put everything from this room???? What an utterly total nightmare!

I would say that I was going to work on a New Year's resolution of finishing some art pieces, but looks like it will take back seat again as we work on another chapter in our house in the New Year. At some point, I hope that this will eventually end! I wonder if some of this has to do with that mirror that I broke?

As for everyone else, I offer you cheer and hoping that you all have a better end and beginning to a New Year!

MEOWY CATMOUSE!

2010-12-25T12:48:00.002-05:00

From: The bearded Santa Paws!

All I want for Christmas.....

2010-12-24T22:37:00.022-05:00

..... and more!

I wasn't going to set up a tree this year for Christmas, but I had this small tree that was in the closet that was all decorated, so Christmas did arrive! It was perfect for my bedroom dresser, so hubby and I spent Christmas eve opening gifts in the bedroom. The dresser insidently was made by my grandfather. He was a carpenter by trade. Sadly, he passed away in the early 60's. I remember when I would crawl on his lap and he would either have Juicy Fruit, Spearmint or Double Mint gum in his breast pocket, that he would let me reach in to retrieve. I loved him so very much and am glad to have such great memories and reminders of him.

As you can see, My Christmas gift from hubby, was actually in the bedroom! See my big sliding closet doors! Wow, I just so love them! Now I will have to paint them, but at least they are finished. Swiffer is enjoying the view too!

Yep, my bathroom is finished too! Well for the most part anyway, I have a couple more shelves and some pictures to hang up but it looks great! I am so thrilled with my new vanity top. It was the one that I originally wanted, but it wasn't big enough for the cabinet, so I had an idea that perhaps I could have it extended with tile. I wasn't sure if it were possible, but I asked Don, our contractor and he said yep, he could do it! Then there was the decision on the tiles for colors and styles. I went to two places for designs and ended up coming up with a blended color with the floor and picked up the pewter in the granite and some bronze. What the heck, they are all neutrals, I was just hoping that they would all work out. It's always hard to envision it until it's put together. Sort of like designing when I quilt. The real difference is that I can audition colors and such with fabric, but once you have everything grouted in, I had best like it as it isn't as easy of a fix to get out and start over.

We ended up repainting the cabinets as I didn't like the stark white, so we got an off white putty color to blend in more with the flooring. Honey cat is enjoying the warm fuzzy rug and seems to approve of the change.

Ah yes, we DO have a much larger tree up, if you count the cat tree! lol Don't worry, the lights didn't stay up for long as Boa likes to chew on things. Didn't want to totally light up the cat but it would be sort of fun! LOL The rest of the cats were else where, perhaps they sensed I was sort of naughty in my thoughts. lol As you can see at the very top that I had a pent house built for the cats, so it is their Christmas present this year from us. The other side is a small closet built in where a short hallway once was to my bedroom.

Santa Paws came and Boa found cat nip in his stocking! Yummy! Not that he is always a good boy though. Lucky for him that he didn't find reindeer poop. lol

"MY STASH"!

In spite of the cat gifts, some prefer to sleep other places. For instance, my project pile.

Or where I was working.

As you can see, I also did a little arranging with my studio area to make things fit better. I like the openness much better.

For Christmas my mom sent us a cat rug.

little does she know that it is inter changeable! lol

For Hubby, I got him a Keurig coffee maker.

The kittlins got him mugs of themselves!
We have missed not having family around, missed the kids and the grandkids. It all seems so different when they are so spread out all over the U.S. now. I am blessed that we have phones to be able to keep in touch with everyone. Tomorrow we will have dinner with my daughter and her husband so it will be great to see them. All in all, we have had a wonderful Christmas! I am so grateful that the house is coming back together with some normalcy so I feel truly blessed! May everyone get all that they want with the magical spirit of Christmas. Happy Birthday Jesus! You have been the most blessed gift of all! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS YOU EVERY ONE!

Are we there yet?

2010-12-20T23:42:00.001-05:00

It's been a long haul, but the bathroom and laundry room are almost there! The wainescoating and trim are all on. Notice that the toilet is no longer sitting in the shower! I have the shower all scrubbed and shiny:)

We now have our washer and dryer back in operation! Yippie! I am no longer nakey! lol Even the cats are happy!

"o.k. you wash and I will "fluff" dry."

Here are the supplies for the next project that we are working on. I can hardly wait to show it to you... be patient..... check back in the next day or two to see what we have done!

"V"inally!

2010-12-09T21:57:00.018-05:00

Hey! It's "v"inally here! I have been waiting for today for the past 4 months! I am now walking on new vinyl and yes, I don't care that my shoes are messy and dusty as I can mop the floor now and feel good about it! This is the vinyl that I picked out for the bathroom floor. It has texture and sort of a warm putty color.

Besides preparing the floor, the past few days I have been working on the paint and trim in the bathroom and utility room. This patch of wall shows the transitions that it has gone through. The stripe was the original on the wall and when it was painted the first time was the darker color. I still like the color, but was darker than anticipated, so now was the time to make my change and I am much happier with it.

I also spent a couple of days painting bathroom cabinets and doors. They are now waiting to be put back together.

Note: I used a brush while Boa used his tail!

A final skim coat went on just before the flooring was adhered to the luan.

The laundry room was painted neutral with a paint called Weathered Wood. I absolutely love it and also the stone looking vinyl flooring!

I mean, how many people would have chosen a color to match one of their pets! Me thinks that the vinyl should be renamed "Bisky" Stone. It reminds me of the joke where this dead dog is laying in front of the door, and this guy asked what his dog's name was and he says, Mat! Get it? O.K. lame joke.lol

In between all of this, I also FINALLY got these 3 vintage quilts finished and ready to ship to my customer in Texas. I had them for over a year! They were originally a quilt but poorly hand quilted, very dirty and dingy and she wanted me to take them apart, repair the worn pieces and re quilt them. It even had to have embroidery redone on one of them. It was quite an undertaking and promised I would get them done in time for her to give them to her family as Christmas gifts. They were done by her MIL many years ago. Sadly I didn't open them up for full view shots for you to see, as It was too snowy out and also fear of getting dirt and dust on them with the construction process. Anyway, I was tickled to get them done and needed to get them into town to ship via Fed Ex and also pick up another gallon of paint before the store closed. I had millions of things going on in my mind and as I rounded the curve where the high school is, I had just passed a highway patrolman. Well, wouldn't you know it, he pulled right around and followed me, turned his lights on to pull me over. I really didn't think about it, school was over, so it wasn't a 20MPH zone at that time, but he told me I was doing 55 when I was suppose to be doing 45. All I could think of when he was approaching the car, was that I was a virgin, and to be gentle on me. lol He asked me if I had any convictions and I said no. I mean, with this innocent grandma looking face, he didn't believe me and took my license back to his vehicle to call it in. I was going to tell him that I was racing to Fed Ex since I had these 3 quilts that I have had for over a year and they had to get out in the mail ASAP! Wouldn't you think that was an emergency? I mean if he was a quilter, he would understand! Wouldn't he? Well of course not, he didn't quilt, that excuse just wasn't gonna fly. Even the thought of having to hurry to get to the paint store before they closed as I didn't have a drop left and the house has been in construction mode since August. I mean, if he had his house torn all apart, would he have understood? No, I expect not, well, no excuse, I was guilty of not paying attention. As it turned out, I got off easy without a ticket. A nice present at that! Merry Christmas officer! Maybe I should have invited him over to see my nice vinyl! Naw! Anyway for any of you who ever come to visit, I just want you to know that OHIO stands for "O"h "HI" "O"fficer! LOL

Prime Time Viewing

2010-12-02T12:59:00.007-05:00

It's been time to prime the walls, the cabinets and to find a happy mix with my paint. I have had different paint buckets around here, so am doing a bit of mixing. Soon you will see what I have concocted! At least you will know it is in the blue and green family. LOL

I am also tickled to get the door way in from the kitchen to the bedroom.YES!!!! It will be so much easier than going around the kitchen and living room to get to the bedroom or have to go the other way around from the kitchen, the studio, the utility room, the bathroom and finally to the bedroom! Who ever designed this house was certainly not a woman. LOL

I also got the closet opening enlarged! As you could see in the last photo, there was two small doors into the closet. WOW! I am going to love all of this much easier access! As you can see, the pile on my bed got a lot higher. Zack is on top now, holding it all in place. With walls and floors being closed up, he has decided not to be any part of it. He has seen what has happened to Jack and Swiffer LOL

Now with decision making, I must decide on sliding doors or bifold doors! Would love your opinions! So tell me your thoughts! What kinds of closet doors do you have?

In the mean time, I will be painting so have a bit of time to decide, so back to work and more photos next week!

Junk and Disorderly

2010-11-27T01:55:00.007-05:00

I know, it's been awhile since I have last posted. I have been trying to keep up with customer quilts and working on the house. With 3 rooms being worked on at the same time, it's beginning to look like it's junk and disorderly! Everything from the laundry room and then some have spilled into my studio.

The floors have been cut away where there was water damage and repaired.

An access panel is being built behind the shower in case we should have to get to it again. The toilet removed to lay down the luan sub flooring.

We weren't really using the garden tub and I decided to have more space, so it was removed along with those big mirrors on the wall so more walls to paint and more drywall mud.

Even Miss Swiffer was trying to get a make over with the sanded drywall. She was working on a geisha girl look! LOL

My kitchen is a little disrupted too since I am removing the pantry shelving unit and putting in a doorway between the kitchen and the bedroom.

I also have a new closet added in the bedroom and the double doors for the walk in closet will soon give way to sliding doors. For now the bedroom is torn up and the bed piled high full of stuff so I have been sleeping on the sofa. I am not sure how many cats are stuffed in boxes, but looks like we have found Miss Swiffer!

In between all of this I have gotten some quilting done. This one had to be done before Thanksgiving, so another reason I haven't had the time to post! It turned out really well and is going to a college student which is for his birthday.

I love the batik fabric she has for the border.

I was also working on quilts on my birthday which was on the 21st. I haven't even had the chance to celebrate or even blog about it. LOL Aw well, just another day. I shall celebrate big time when the house gets back together. Well I shall be off trying to get another deadline quilt finished. Hubby is getting the ceiling painted in the utility room so I have a break until tomorrow when I get back to working on the cabinets and the walls in the bathroom.
It will be awhile, but I know it will all be worth it in the end. Hopefully that there will be some dramatical changes very soon to show off. I shall update as we progress.

Caught Red Handed

2010-11-06T16:19:00.013-04:00

I did some experimenting. I had gotten 9 nosegays at a yard sale for a great bargain of $5.00! My niece is getting married this next year and she is having red roses and calla lilies for her wedding. Since the cream was really not in the scheme of things and she wanted something more contemporary, I mixed some Set-A-Color dye paints and sprayed them. I think they turned out great! Now just hope she approves and if not, well, I don't have lots of money tied up into them. Thought that they would be great on the tables for the reception. All she has to do now is get some terra cotta clay pots, spray them black and they will be perfect sitting in them for a contemporary look.

I did them outdoors so that I wouldn't have a mess! I think that they turned out great! Sure changed the appearance!

I got red handed! So if I were to do this again, I would have worn gloves, but really it did clean off quite easily and didn't stain.

It must have been red day as I was also working on red quilts the past couple of days getting ready for the holidays! I swear that it gets sooner every year.

Here is a close up. I had a leaf like template that I drew half of it and made a cathedral arch. I love the look of it! I also did lots of ditch quilting so as to show the designs off more in the applique.

Here is another one of Carol's quilts that I finished up with. She relied more on the quilting to make up the design than the pattern.

I am getting ready to ship all of these off in the mail on Monday. I am hoping that I will be seeing red again soon as I anxiously await my red camera!

Quite Crafty!

2010-11-05T12:41:00.004-04:00

After halloween, I start getting "crafty" when it comes to the holiday season. I just placed an order for a camcorder that I had my eyes set on at Staples. She's a beauty and in a holiday red too! Anyway, the price rather made me back off, but started to figure out ways to afford the $399. camera. Quite often they run sales and it was listed as $25. off plus another special buy coupon for $75. off so it made it $299. As it turns out if you purchase it online, you get another $25.00 off so now it is $274. So, while that is pretty good, it even got better than that! I have a premier status with Staples, so I bring in 20 ink cartridges in every month to recycle. (How? With home and hubby saving them for me at work! Yes, we get that many!) So each month I get a rewards check for $40.00 to spend as I wish. I had 3 of these saved up for the past 3 months, so that totaled $120. additional that I could knock off the camcorder, making it $154.00! I get free shipping besides, so with tax, the total came to $167.14 .... but wait! It even gets better than this! At the retreat, the girls presented me a surprise gift of $200. cash! I saved it so that means I was in the black with $32.86 and had enough left over for an SD memory card for it! Yippie!!!! And that's how you get crafty and get a $400. camcorder for free!

Along with the crafty department, here are some recent pieces that I made this past week.

I am hosting a trade on FAT this week. Here are some that I designed. These carriers hold nail files and such that would make wonderful Christmas gifts.

I designed the fish one to take a cover off and it reveals it's contents as well as a clever little pouch (the fin) stores the nail clipper. All are made from felt and faux suede.

In another group that I am in, they were doing a contest on a zetti ornament so this is my interpretation. The girl was actually playing a flute and I turned it into a candy cane. The skirt is painted on checkerboard style while the legs came from another photo, the wings made up separately and hand water colored in. I glued it all on card stock. I embellished with sparkling sticky craft foam, added fun wire, buttons and beads.

While on our trip, I also sketched out a Xmas stocking. I cut it out in felt and craft foam. I got it beaded while at the hotel and then finished sewing it together when I got back home. I love the funky festive design and colors. Couldn't you see one of Santa's elves wearing this?

I have also been working on some customer quilts to finish up in time for the holidays, so it's off to work I go, but it was fun making crafty things come to life while it lasted!