The Mistle Toad

O.K. here I am better late than never. Last month I kept myself busy trying to catch up with my commissions and I managed to teach a quick dye transfer class in Columbus last month. Christmas came upon us so fast that I could barely get time to put up a tree for the holidays. The stockings didn't get hung.... come to think of it where were they this year? Probably in the dirty laundry! I seem to cut things down to the wire and even got my customer quilts done two days before Christmas. Whew!!! Now for a few days to relax and regroup again. My fiberart group in Columbus had a Christmas get together at an Italian Restaurant, Buca Di Beppo. My favorite of all was the Dolce with a sampling of a lot of desserts! We had Italian again the following week. My daughter and her husband took us to the ShadowBox in Columbus for a show and then we went to Easton to have a fabulous Italian dinner at Brios. Of the two, I can undoubtedly say that this one was my favorite! Afterwards, we did some last minute Christmas shopping, enjoyed the singing on the streets and the magic of Christmas with all of the lights. I only wished that I would have brought my camera with me to share some photos. Speaking of photos, I really didn't have much to share this time and it dawned on me that I haven't had one photo of me on the blogspot! So here I am decking the halls with the after effects of Christmas Cheer. With a few glasses of wine below my belt, I am able to sing any Christmas song I want and feel pretty good about it and of course kiss the Mistle Toad for good luck!

Feathered Friends and Sunflowers

Today I finished machine quiting a top quite fitting and appropriate while I watched the birds outside feasting on the sunflowers. Feathering the background reminds me of all of the fluttering going on with the finch amongst the 7 feeders. It seems there are more than usual. I always thought the expression "eating like a bird" meant that you didn't eat much at all, but it doesn't take them long to empty the feeders. If I were a bird, I think the warmer weather migrating south, would attract me more! Last October we were off in the Carribean. Ah, to have the option of having wings and fly there when we want to soak up the sun and drink exotic alcoholic fruit drinks!

Wings Of An Angel

It's been awhile since I have posted as I have spent much time with a dear friend who is terminally ill. It's just been so hard to believe that someone that shares the same interests with you, will be gone soon, so I have spent a lot of time quilting her quilts to leave reminders to her family of her behind. Besides her quilts it seems that every thing I have touched lately has turned to feathers as symbols of angels that lurk among us. May there be a quilted heaven.

How to have a meltdown

At the request of another quilting art friend, I have decided to post the makings of one of my postcards that I had entered into the art card event. It was a fun process and can be quite addicting in experimentation. Below are the steps I did to make the post card. I am missing a few steps but you will soon figure it out when I explain it. I started with drawing out a design on a recycled tyvek envelope that I marked with a water soluable marker. Then I cut out a peltex piece post card size and fused on black fabric as my background. (a step not photographed) I laid the tyvek on top and stitched through all layers. Then I used Dye Na Flo and colored in the areas with a mop brush. I let it dry and then took a heat gun and melted away as much as I wanted to and even some as much as I didn't want to! lol (Notice I was too busy melting away to get a photo of this step!) I also melted angelina between teflon sheets and cut out any extra designs I wanted to add and stitched them with metallic thread. Lastly I fused crystals on and satin stitched the edges with rayon thread. I entitled this piece Galactic Melt down.

A few extra feet

I have enjoyed having the granddaughters here the past week. They are such a joy in my life and I miss them terribly when they live 4 hours away. They have had a lot of fun playing with iphoto and computer programs, a wonderful oppertunity that they have now compared to when I went to school. We also had the best time dyeing and couldn't resist tie dyeing so that we would have matching tshirts and socks. It's hard to believe how tall that they have gotten as well as the size of their feet! Kitana, the youngest, wears a size 7 shoe. It's the same size as I wear! She will be 11 this month. The other two, Hayley who is 14 wears a 9 in shoes and Kristal who just turned 16 this past week wears a size 11 shoe! Just how did they get so big? I remember when I was 21 and I wore a size 5 1/2 shoe. At 52, I wear a size 7. I can't imagine the granddaughters when they get to be my age! Unfortunate of all, gone are the days of the pitter patter of little feet, sigh!

Gallery Showing

I belong to a fiberart group "Off our Blocks" from Columbus Ohio. We periodically show quilts in various galleries. For the next couple of months it will be viewed in Logan, Ohio at the Logan Art Gallery. Be sure to stop by anytime or join us at the reception, the first Sat. in September between 6-8 PM during Late Night Logan.

What's Old Is New Again!

There are so many fabrics we end up with that no longer appeal to us, so by over dyeing you can created some new beauties without alot of added expence. Here is a sample of a quilt finished with many new over dyes. The quilt is called Star Struck. A scrappy and snappy new piece:) Click on the photo to take you to my webshots to view more of my quilts and customer pieces.