A Creative Life

I've joined a fun swap on Quilt With Us. It's a fall swap so I have a little bit of time. I love fall so this is perfect for me. We are creating a 12" x 12" art quilt using a 5" section of fabric from our swap partner. Mine came last week and it's beautiful. The quilt needs to portray fall, but also needs a poem or some such to go along with it. That is all figured out. My sketch is done and now all I have to do is create the pattern. I'll do that on the computer of course. The the fun begins with fabric selections - including my beautiful fabric from my swap partner. I just can't wait to start on this. That's great cause my quilting has all but come to a stand still over the last few months. Short of taking some free motion classes my machine is very lonely. I am ashamed to say I've still not cut out the baby quilt that I'd hoped the top would be half done by now. Work outside the home has picked up which is good and bad. You want the mo…

Well this has been a week full of work - say that like Maynard - Wooorrrrkkkk - well yuck. No play time to speak of. So with the sewing machine siting alone and the workbench cluttered but nothing being produced I have a lull in my creativity. That's not to say I don't think about it thou. So some sketches have been done and some planning but no time to play. Remember what they say about all work and no play? Well it's true. I did get some experimenting done on Sunday thou with a new product for adding a patina to metal.
These are a Ranger product made just for the Vintaj metals.  I have to say they are wonderful and work great! Super fast drying and don't need a top coat or sealant.  The glaze can be added to metals that you don't want to age  or change color. I've got a test ring in copper that I've sealed the inside and will wear it every day to see if it continues to  not turn my finger green as copper will. So far so good. 

This is a Vintaj piece (not …

A plan had been put in place months ago for an on-going service project. After some discussion, it was decided our guild would adopt two projects to support. We will be making and donating NICU smocks for preemies and Booby Bolsters, which are soft pillows used by breast cancer patients while receiving chemotherapy as well as for post-op comfort and support. Stefanie our guild president got some great donations from The Quilting Squares (one of our great local quilt shops) and from Kelle Boyd of Ann Kelle Designs. So we had a great assortment of minky, quilter flannels and cottons.  We all brought some food of course and set up stations for each member to do different tasks. I was assigned to cutting but with a sore shoulder soon swapped out with a friend to do the pillow stuffing. A good mindless job. The little NICU smocks are so precious. Here is a slightly blurry photo of Leah of Burgundy Buttons holding one of the little smocks. 






My friend Edna often gets me hooked on things. We ca…

Whew finally a day off. Well I'm planning on sitting myself down at my machine today and having a day of fun. Need to get a new quilt started. I have picked out the pattern - one I've already done once. I need to get that fabric cut and hopefully get to sewing in a short time. I have promised myself not to get distracted by other projects. I want a new table runner for our coffee table in the living room and I hope to get the top finished today and be ready to quilt it on Sunday. 


I did finish up a necklace the other day I wanted to share. I had been wanting to try making a leaf from copper and this is my first try. I foresee many more of these in different shapes and textures. 

Now to go cut some fabric - it will be in civil war prints.

Today my sister and I went to the Nashville Zoo, it was my first trip there and I really enjoyed myself. We walked for over 3 hours and enjoyed the beautiful settings and animals. I'd not been to a zoo since I was a kid and this was sure a lot different. Here are a few things I saw today. 







The weather was perfect and I can't wait to go back again. 

Yesterday I shipped off the last Hunger Games jewelry I had on Etsy so I had to get my act in gear and get some items photographed this morning and on the site. I've been a bit lax here lately about getting these little things done. So it's a pretty day and the sun is shinning and good for clicking away.

Mockingjay pin on an old pocket watch part
A little bit of Steam Punk

#2 in the Dragon Scale Series
Wow I actually left one watch working and didn't take it apart!
I also have very sad news. A beautiful woman has passed from our world to  the next. She is happy now and no longer in pain.  Donna Marcum was one of our very gifted instructors at JoAnn.  She passed away this past Saturday after a long battle with cancer.  Donna was a very talented person and did some of the most beautiful smocking you have ever seen. It was heirloom quality.  She also taught knitting and jewelry making.  She always had a smile on her face and never did I hear her complain a bit.  She will be m…

I have after a lot of thinking decided to do what some will think is an evil thing. I am going to cut these old Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks and create a modern quilt. When I first purchased these beautiful blocks at an estate sale I had plans of assembling them in the traditional method - by hand. It would be beautiful of course, but it just wouldn't be me. So after a lot of thinking they will be trimmed into squares and pieced into a quilt. I've not drawn up the pattern yet but would like 2 different size blocks. 

 Yesterday I wanted to play around with some metal and created this bracelet. The small sections of aluminum were cut into odd shapes and only hammered on the edges. It gave them a somewhat arrowhead look which I liked. The center section has a cupped section of embossed copper holding a beautiful natural stone bead. The patina and texture of each section of the bracelet is different. I also used 3 different methods of cold connections for adding the embel…