freeform

Oh boy, I had so much fun in my little class. There were only thre of us in addition to the teacher, Janet who was very patient and cool. She showed me some little tips since this was my very first class. I so enjoyed having a crafty afternoon with some kindred souls. I found out there are a couple of quilt guilds in my town and the ladies encouraged me to check them out. Apparently there are some very crafty types and they aren't all hard core quilters.

I loved this technique because it was FREEFORM! While we still used strips of fabric (great for scraps) and were encouraged to sew relatively straight seams, the blocks will still work if things go a little wonky since they are trimmed at the end.


These are the three squares I made and I started on another. I doubt I will actually make a quilt with these but I could definitely see myself uding this technique to make a quilt in thr future. I would also like to experiment with making some bags.

woohoo!

I am getting ready to take off to my class (yay.. I am excited and a bit nervous) but thought I'd pop in here for a couple of seconds to post that something GOOD happened today for Portals. This is hopefully the answer to our production problems!! I will share a little more later... (I know, I'm a tease.. but I figure I should tell Joleen first!)

More later.. have a great day!

needlework

I scanned this fun alphabet out of the vintage book that Raesha sent me back in July. I think it would be so cute for initials on a little girls dress or a bib. You can click it to see the full size in my flickr album.

I signed up for my first quilting class which is tomorrow. Its only 3 hours but I am excited. Ever since I saw Lisa's fabulous log cabin pillows I have wanted to learn to do a log cabin pattern but anyone that knows me knows that I am not very good when it comes to straight lines and fabric as a combo! So, when I found this "Freeform Log Cabin" class at my LQS I knew it was just the class for me. Unfortunately this picture from the class website is small and not great but hopefully I will have something fun to share tomorrow.

ouch

Ugh, I had a root canal this morning. It was my first ever. I have been fortnate to not have to have too many procedures done on my teeth. Never had braces, the worst has been a crown and repair of a broken front chomper.

I must have a very high tolerance to pain killer. The doctor had to stop three times during the procedure to give me more shots including one in the root! OUCH!! The whole thing lasted about an hour, but toward the end I about had a panic attack and lost it. I HATE having to have pain killers whether local or otherwise. I never react in the textbook scenario and it really causes me to freak out. I was soo glad it was over and could not wait to get out of the office even though the endodontist was very nice and really tried to calm me during the whole procedure.

My step dad was nice and brought me a milk shake for lunch. It took about 4 hours for the novocaine to wear off and I was trying to manage the pain with advil when Greg finally convinced me to fill my prescription for Darvoset. I have never taken it and am a bit leary in attempting one after my horrible experience with Vicodin after my yucky c-section. I am in a fair amount of discomfort so I will probably take one closer to bed time. Until then I will just deal with feeling a bit funky and take the opportunity to veg a bit.

triptych

No much to report other than having to have a root canal tomorrow. Ugh, I can't think of much worse than dental surgery...

Here is a piece I did when I posted my other "Home" piece a couple weeks back. It is hinged with bookbinding tape on mat board. Eventually it will also be available on my Etsy shop. I just need to find the patience to list the new things ;)

OH, I have added some new blog links over there ------> so go check them out!

WIP and One Cool Cat

Today, in addition to some much needed clean up (porch) I snuck some time in, in the studio while the wee one napped. I decided to get out the ta gel and revisit the techniques I learned from DJ Pettitt at AFF. This fusing technique is very cool and my ideas for applications of the finished fused pieces are seemingly endless. In our class, DJ provided each of us with a fused base to work on so this was my first shot working from scratch. I did some small pieces on watercolor paper and used one of Carla Sonheim's transfers as a centerpiece.
Then I did a piece on painted canvas paper. To this I added some fabric pieces, glass glitter and gold thread. Sparkly!! This is slated to be a journal cover.

Finally I went for the au natural look and fused some tissue and dyed paper towel onto unpainted canvas paper. I am not sure what this last piece will be. (probably multiple pieces) It is just the base so I will be adding more paper, fabric, sparkle to it.

I also spent this evening laying out and pinning some fabric to attempt some "random sewing" a la Alma Stoller and Deb Cooper. I can't wait to start the actual sewing part!!

Now, to leave you off with this CUTE shot of our kitty, Zoe staged by the wee one this morning. We are blessed to have some very patient pets :)

Mama's got a brand new bag...

Ok, Sharon was nagging me because I haven't blogged since before we left for our little anniversary get-away and Tink is worrying about the future of Blogging.. (is it out of fashion already?) due to the posting dip by bloggers in general as of late. Talk about your peer pressure!

Anyway, we had a lovely time. It was sooo refreshing to be AWAY from phones, TV, computers and a busy, almost 3 year old. We actually got to FINISH conversations! We slept in! We ate yummy food!! Yay! All in all it was too short, yet too long. Its amazing how you need some peace and quiet but you end up missing the "noise".
So, the day we were leaving I got a package in the mail. It was THIS cool tote bag I ordered from the lovely and talented talented Deb of LittleBlackKittyArt who is in my Alphabetica group. She sent it to me very quickly along with some fun fabric beads she made. I carried it during our little trip and got several compliments. I LOVE it!! I picked up a couple of other fun bags (Mommy & Baby) while on our trip but I haven't taken any pix yet so I will save those for another post.

Happy Anniversary to me!

Tomorrow (er, today rather...) is our 7th anniversary! We are heading off for a couple of child free days and nights at this beautiful inn where we spent our wedding night. I will be back on Wednesday! Ciao

Home

Home and checking in after a couple of days away. I am really pooped after not sleeping well last night. I HATE futons!!
We saw Talladega Nights- The Ballad of Ricky Bobby today.. sooo funny!! A great "stress relief by laughter" movie.

This is a small collage on matt board that I completed last week. I have been trying to find uses for the bits and pieces laying around the studio.

Thrift Thursday

I actually got these cool curtains a couple of weeks ago but I saved them to share on a Thrift Thursday. I LOVE the fabric and seem to have a thing for old curtains. I don't have any plans for these, they are intact with no holes but won't fit any of my myriad windows in this house. Some have small spots and fades so I am thinking they are going to be cutters so I can use the cute fabric in projects. I really want to make a craft apron or two a la Sharon Wisely or the darling aprons Pam had at AFF which I don't have any pictures of. :(
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In other news.. ALL of Portals 2 have been mailed. EVERY.LAST.ONE! Joleen and I are busy on issue 3 but we need ART for the gallery. The guidelines are available on our website. Also, we are very excited that the lovely Hope of PaperRelics, has offered to assist us in our website redesign and some graphics work. Watch for a special surprise from Hope in issue #3!!!

S is for Siren...

I gave myself permission to just LET GO today. I only had a very limited amount of time in the studio today while the wee B napped. This is my piece for Leticia's Alphabetica book. I started out doing N is for Nest but somehow that mermaid ended up on there and M was taken so S for Siren it became. I told myself to just start sticking stuff on there and go for it. If I hated it I could toss it since I did it seperate from the actual book and sewed it on to the page afterwards. There were parts that didn't work that were covered up but most of the time I found that if I just didn't second guess myself it would work ok. I need to practice getting myself in this frame of mind more often because I am always more pleased with my results when I can manage.

Happy to be done with this one way before deadline. Cheers!

so lucky

OMG, can you believe it? I WON again!!! I just won thru BLINGO. I won a $10 iTunes gift cards.. woohoo. If you don't know about Blingo, check it out. It REALLY works and is handy and they don't send you a bunch of spam! I am SO going to buy a lotto ticket tomorrow!
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I was delighted to get my quiltlet wall hanging from the quiltlet swap I participated in before ArtFiberfest. As the pieces were turned in it was decided to submit all the work to Quilting Arts Magazine for possible publication. I was one of the patient "chosen few" who allowed Shari to send our finished wallhangings to send off to QA for photographing. I just got my wall hanging yesterday and today we learned that the project is slated to be published in the Spring, about the March issue. Yay!!
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This next little part is for Sandy, who requested some pix of my little vintage dresses in the "baby's" room... Here you go Sandy and by the way, I am LOVING THIS blog post of yours!!!

This pink one hangs on her armoire door with a little sparkly LOVE plaque.

These two hang over her curtains due to current lack of wall space. In between is one of Alicia's darling cagelets. Click on either of the images to go to my Flickr account and see more and more detail.
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Last but not least this eveing, all the Portals Zines should be out now. If you don't receive yours by next week email us and let us know. We have been having a bit of difficulty with our resprective mail carriers (my usual person is on vacation and I MISS HER!!) I was telling someone today that if all of these mishaps weren't so frustrating, they sure would be funny. Its like a Zine soap opera. Anyway, if you are a reader of Portals or are interested in its future, please visit our website and read our latest update about what is going on.

time flies

It seems like forever since I last blogged but I gugess its really only been a couple of days. I had a really nice weekend with lots of ART! and a nice visit from my BIL and neice. Sometimes it helps to have two littles around to entertain each other and the additional adult presence helps too.


Anyway, back to the art part of the show. I finished up another journal for the Alphabetica Round Robin. This one belongs to Debra and was kind of different in that the pages mostly focus on the whole alphabet as opposed to one letter each. I was stuck and then did this spread which looks a little bit flat in the pictures.
In addition I did my ATCs for Audrey's "Vintage Kids with Party Hats" swap. I need to get them all off in the mail tomorrow. I worked on some other stuff too but its not ready for prime time yet. Paint drying and all that!
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In other news I was pleased to receive a fun package from Raesha, a new blogger, who hosted a thifty little contest on her blog last week. I won!! I can't believe I won two things in one month!! Wow, maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket!! But, I digress... Raesha sent me a little package of vintagey, thrifted finds. The book is a funky 70's craft book which actually does have some cute things in it.
In fact, I thought this picture looked straight off the pages of Alicia's blog. I wish I had that eye! Maybe I need more patience. Anyway, Thanks Raesha! I love the goodies and can't wait to use some of the things in my art.
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One last thing before I sign off. I was thrilled to discover a couple of new blogs over the past few days. First, my friend Deb (who I met at AFF) is a new blogger! Her blog is called Snickering Licorice, I am sure it will be as wild and wacky as Deb herself. I was delighted to also learn that Kris has a blog. Kris is the wonderful lady who used to have the Altered Asylum, where I was fortunate to have visited before she unexpectedly had to close at the end of 05.

3!

Someone I know is turning 3 soon! Birthday party invites are going in the mail tomorrow. (finally at #3 I actually MADE them) The pink boots have arrived.

cute and sweet

Isn't this little dress sweet? I rescued it from Savers last week on my thift trip. It was only about $2 and is in perfect condition. I need to try to get a better shot of all the detail, it has such darling little pin tucks and embroidery. It will be hung in the wee ones room along with 2 other vintage dresses I have in there.
I also finished up a few more little notebooks and salvaged some "tags" into some little wall hanging things for my Etsy shop. They aren't listed yet, but should be in the next day or so. I felt like I was running all day and now just want to veg. I managed to get all my orders out and a good start in one of the journals for the Alphabetica round robin.
 
I just got word that I won another little contest! Must be my lucky month! New blogger Raesha, hosted a contest regarding how much she spent on her thifty finds last week and I guessed the closest! She is going to send me a little packet of some of the goodies she scored. yay.

I got nothin'

Nuthin' much going on. Just spending time with the wee one, enjoying the summer weather now that the heat wave has abated. No new art to report, nothing particularly inspirational or exciting going on. I just got nuthin!

Wish I could take credit for just one of these shots. These are among the latest of my favorite flickr picks. I tag pictures as one of my favorites because the are inspirational or speak to me in some way or another. By clicking on the image you can see the images larger and get more information about the talented people who took these shots.
That's about all I've got for today. Tomorrow is a work day and the first order of business is to send off the orders I have gotten in my shop. Thank You! I will also get the last few issues of Portals in the box.. we are completely sold out and working towards issue three. Its not looking real promising in finding an affordable printer with such a short run of Zines.. but we will perservere in one way or another. Joleen assures me that the bulk of the magazines (the ones she was shipping) did go out. I imagine they should be hitting mailboxes soon if not already. We are going to work EXTREMELY hard to make sure these snafus do not happen again.

Thrift Thursday

Woohoo, I actually went thifting on Tuesday but I was good and waited to share my finds until today. I have a few more things that I didn't manage to photograph but I will share those later. I already shared the cuuuute wee bear I got. I just love him. His little face makes me feel so happy.
I managed to score a pile of clothes for the wee one. Most of them are a bit large for fall and winter but I was super excited to score a LIKE NEW Hanna Andersson dress for $3!
Since the wee B just moved into her "big girl bed" (unexpectedly) I was short on bedding. I scored 2 complete sets of bedding for her.. cute Pottery Barn doggies and some fun PURPLE embroidered sheets...
  On top of all these sheets I found a great, heavy pink wool blanket that someone had cleverly sewn a flannel binding too. Its nice and soft up near the face and the perfect color for her room. Each set of sheets was $3 and the blankie was $2!!
I don't want to bore everyone with my other thrift scores so you can click any of the images to see my other finds in my Flickr group. I will just share these 2 sets of vintage trims that I really thifted... "FREE" from my Mom... 
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In other news... HOORAY! We sold out of issue #2 of Portals Zine today. We are in the last phase of mailing this week and hope to have ALL of them in the mail by Saturday!

Joleen and I had a planning meeting today and are working away on issue #3, the BEAD issue. We are looking for submissions of articles and art for the gallery so if you have anything you would like to share, please check out the website: www.portals-zine.com. Please bear with me as I try to figure out my FTP glitch too. I have been trying to FTP in my changes to the internal pages with no luck. Its either something obvious that I am missing or something on my server. I will need to talk to my tech support guy (Dad) in the morning and try to work it out.

Night all...

randomness

Hi all, I don't know what I have been doing the last couple of days. Just screwing around finishing things up. I recently updated my Etsy shop with some fun new tags, a couple of wee notebooks and some vintage paper assortments. I have some other fun things in the works that I hope to get to soon, since pretty much all of my deadlines have been met with the exception of my ongoing Alphabetica Round Robin.

Yesterday I went thifting with my Mom to Savers, which is the BEST thrift store EVER! We always find lots of treasures there. I am going to save most of them to share tomorrow on "Thrift Thurday" but I just can't stand not sharing this little guy who I rescued for a whopping .69!! He is darling, jointed and mohair. I don't know if he is old but he is a cutie for sure.

In closing, I want to wish my hubby Greg a very HAPPY birthday. Yeah, its over now because he went to bed but still.. Happy Birthday Mr Honey!