A Creative Life

Back From A Fun Weekend

2012-02-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

Well the scrap booking weekend was a ton of fun. We got to the park on Thursday and enjoyed the 4 fun filled days. We were at Henry Horton State Park just about an hour out of town. We had a cute little cabin to stay in that if it had been warmer we could have walked to the lodge where all the scraping was going on. But it was way to cold for walking so we would walk swiftly to the car and drive the tiny bit over to the lodge. There was a nice fire there to warm up with.

Our little cabin was straight out of the 50's with

knotty pine walls and a brick fireplace.

Stefanie who puts the crop on each year had a super cute theme

this year "Keep Calm and Crop On". All her accessories

were pink. She silk screened bags and t-shirts for all the

happy croppers. We all had a cute badge too with our

names on it for those of us who can't remember names. (like me)

I'm not sure how many ladies where there this year

but we had a full house. There was a super give-a-way with the

best door prizes to date. Ott lites and even the big new cricut.

Stefanie really did a great job as always. It's a lot of work

planning and creating all she does for this fun event.

One night we played hookie from the crop and ordered pizza and

watched the movie The Help which was super good.

Didn't get a lot of sleep and ate way too much while I was

gone but it was so much fun. So I'll get a little extra sleep now that

I'm home and stay away from fatty stuff for a while.

It was a wonderful weekend.

Thanks Stefanie

I came home to a surprise too - the new work bench has started

and now has legs and the horizontal supports. The top and bottom

shelf are in the near future - getting so exciting. I've picked out a

quilt pattern to make when I can get to my sewing machine again.

Oh speaking of sewing machines Stefanie took her new Singer 160 to the

crop so we could check her out. She is super sweet. It's the new

anniversary edition

I need to get going and try to catch up on some blog reading and putting

away all my scrap booking stuff which is now sitting in the middle of the

floor in my hobby room - as soon as I get it all put back to order I just

dump a new pile of stuff in the middle of the floor - oh well.

I try to be neat.

My Hat's Off to You

2012-02-02T04:57:00.000-08:00

For those of you who work full time jobs, blog and continue to create my hat is off to you. With my new job at JoAnn and continuing to work at the other job I can't seem to find a spare moment for anything but racing by the store and getting dinner cooked. Oh for the sound of the sewing machine, the hammer of metal. I know so many of my blogging friends pull down a full time job and still blog and get some quilting and other hobbies done. I'm sure as soon as my training is over and I fall into a regular routine things will settle into place, but for now I have that hamster in a wheel feeling. Today I only work a few hours and hopefully can get home and cut out some fabric for my next project. I also need to get my scrap booking stuff ready for the weekend crop which is coming up next week. Wow can't believe time is rushing so fast. It will be great to escape for a few days with no work, no cooking and no house cleaning, just fun and a time to be creative and see friends I've not seen in months.

A Soggy But Good Day

2012-01-26T13:35:00.000-08:00

Well today I ran some errands and had lunch with 2 of my favorite people - my sister and Ian. I had one more errand to run after lunch but got side tracked and ended up at Hobby Lobby and saw this very cool shelf that ended up coming home with me. We are loosing a lot of storage with getting rid of the entertainment center turned book shelf and I just needed some of it back. I was originally looking for a tower book shelf due to the limited room in here but found this funky metal cabinet and just had to have it.
All of hubby's books fit into with a little room to spare and the drawers on the left are only half full of stuff. The little box of drawers on top is for my jewelry stuff when my new bench is finished. I really like the industrial urban look and both of these really fit.

This weekend I have class on Saturday but on Sunday I hope to start

the removal of the entertainment center. It's huge and I'll be so very glad to see it go.

Of course in it's place will soon be the work bench of my dreams.

For now everything in here is a mess and I've moved a lot of stuff

up to my fabric/hobby room upstairs so it too is a mess. If you have a

small house you understand that when you move one piece of furniture it

can and often does effect half of your home.

Now to squeeze in a little jewelry time before dinner.

Whew finally

2012-01-22T08:57:00.000-08:00

Well I'm finally gotten over the worse part of that nasty bug I had and I'm pretty much back to normal. So glad cause I just didn't have any energy to do my fun stuff at all. I did manage to get a little hand sewing done and did get the binding on my Koi quilt finally. As I might have mentioned this quilt was in memory of my grandmother's koi pond where I spend many a peaceful hour sitting on the edge watching the fish. I was thankful for my Ott light with the black front/binding/thread. That could have been a real eye squinter.

Front

Back

Front detail

Yesterday I taught a jewelry class at JoAnn's and after class

Becky and Edna and I went out to lunch then Edna and I

headed off to the bead show. I'd promised my self I'd not

spend much money - well I disappointed myself once again,

but hey look at these beauties.

A little news too, is that starting tomorrow I will be starting as the Education Coordinator for the Rivergate JoAnn's. I applied for this position about 2 weeks ago and found out last week it was mine. It will be a really fun job, but once again I'll have to be very careful with my wallet being in the store even more than normal.

It's just a part time job but I am excited cause I know it will be fun and the ladies

out there are all great and fun to work with. It's not like I'm not in the store

several days a week anyway. Working only two and a half days a week I'll still have plenty of time for my many other interests.

It's not long at all till our yearly Crop Till U Drop and I'm getting excited about that. It's the ultimate girls weekend. I need to get my photos winging off to Sam's to get prints made and start planning which albums I'll work on. With a gift card from Archivers in my wallet I'll pick up a few last min goodies.

hack sniff whine

2012-01-16T08:07:00.000-08:00

Well I've been sick for several days and have gotten not a thing done, but thought I would show you a few photos of some of the things I made for Christmas presents.

A pillow and mug rug

a little knitted scarf

my first GFG that was hand pieced

little pillow for a dorm room

Hopefully today I will be able to get a little more done and finished the last side of binding on the koi quilt - and maybe even get that civil war quilt out and look over what I have done so far and get it back on track. I remember I used to always finish things and didn't have a single UFO - oh well now I have 2 that I can remember. Not to mention that pile of Grand Mother's Flower Garden blocks I got at the estate sale that need something done with them. I might have gotten an idea on pintrest thou for that.

Just a little something cute to close with.

Love you Ian

2012-01-10T06:46:00.000-08:00

Well on Sunday I finished the quilting on the Koi quilt and got the binding done.

So today I'm ready to get that binding on the quilt. The binding will be all black

except for a short group of colors that were used in the focal areas of the quilt.

A few days ago I got a Big Kick! Well what is that you ask?

Well if you are a scrap booker you know but for the rest of you

it's a cool machine that is used to emboss paper for scrap booking.

Yes I am a scrap booker and have even more to build my albums

on now that Ian is part of our family. I wouldn't have bought the

Big Kick thou if I could only emboss paper - Vintaj a manufacturer

of wonderful jewelry components has come up with a line of

metal embossing folders that now emboss - yes metal.

I stumbled across this on line one day and just had to have it. The Big Kick isn't a cheep toy thou, but after searching I found one on line for almost half what it normally goes for and yea - it is mine.
Then I found a set of the embossing folders by Vintaj for the sizzix (that is the company who makes the big kick. Yesterday I got the embossing folders and just couldn't wait to try them out. I put a 20 gauge disk I had cut out of copper in the folder and cranked it threw the press and WOW! Look at that impression. Now it can be colored, flamed or painted. There are a wealth of techniques to use with this and it can end up in my fiber art, scrap booking and of course jewelry. So I'm excited about this new toy.

Today I'm off to Quilter's Attic to pick up 2 patterns they have ordered for me. I wanted them for Christmas but they were out but the call came in and they are there now - yea! One for me and one for a friend. The one I got for me is foundation piecing and just my style and will become a new table runner for my coffee table and hopefully place mats too.

It's About Time

2012-01-08T08:17:00.000-08:00

Well with getting in a rush to complete my Christmas sewing I set aside a project I was working on. It was so close to being completed and I should have finished it...well it went into the UFO pile and cries to me every time I go in the sewing room. So today it came back to the machine and the quilting will be completed today and I'm also going to make my binding. There was so little quilting left to be done it's shameful I let it go this long - but today is the day. I'll put the binding on this Tuesday at JoAnns and be ready for the hand sewing part which I do at night while watching TV. So by Friday at the latest it will be completed. Yea!

I call this Grandmother's Koi Pond. My grandmother had a koi pond in her back yard when I was a kid and I really enjoyed watching the fish. It's a fond memory and this is my way of preserving it.

After this is completed I'm going to shut the machine up for 4-6 weeks! Well what in the world would prompt that? I have a big project in the works for my sewing room! I'm very excited and will fill you in as progress is being made. It will give me more usable room for playing and storage. So I'll only be sewing at my weekly JoAnn's social and after the fish quilt is completed I'm starting on the long awaited Civil War quilt for our bed. This will be my first full size quilt. A bit scary but I'm excited too.
I am also going to be starting a new hand sewing project a 30's fabric grand mother's flower garden. I've only made pillows so far from this design, but plan on this being at least a lap quilt. That's a lot of hand piecing but I'm up for it now. Having the die to cut out the fabric and freezer paper is a big help. Love my studio cutter!

Last week on my sewing day at JoAnn's I made some new displays for my earrings. I wanted something that looked better than the little black plastic cards I'd been hanging them on. Those looked a bit cheep to me and well just weren't me anyway. So I made about 25 of these. They will go well with some other items I'm making with this same distressed muslin.

Well I'd better get to quilting.

Christmas Toys

2011-12-31T14:29:00.000-08:00

Well like most crafters I always get tools and supplies for presents. I do that sneaky thing of posting a wish list on amazon and sending it to those who ask - what do you want for Christmas?

This one punches holes in metal that are 1" to 1/2"

You have to whack the pins pretty hard so hubby gave me

his short handled sledge hammer. Oh dear another hammer.

This punches smaller holes for accents or adding

rivets and jump rings. It goes threw 20 gauge metal like butter.

No strain on my hands at all.

After cutting the disks I put them in the dapping block

and shaped them into bowl shapes. Then I ran them

threw some flame and then back to the dapping block.

I nipped the bottoms of the disks with the blue handled punch

to get these zagged edges. Then to keep the patina I gave them

a coat of clear spray varnish.

These techniques will be taught in my stamped metal class

on January 21st at the Rivergate JoAnn.

On the sewing front I'm making Ian another monster.

This one will have a zipper mouth and a little vest

that buttons. It's to teach him how to work buttons and zippers.

After putting away all the Christmas decorations and cleaning up the

house playing was needed so this was a fun little project. I got lots

of ideas of other things to make with these new tools.

Well now it's time to answer that age old question

what's for dinner? To the kitchen I go in search of an answer.

Does anyone else's husband ask you this question before it's even lunch?

Christmas Day

2011-12-29T07:11:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas was just wonderful this year. We got to see all our family. Hubby's sister from out of town was here and she hadn't been home for Christmas for so many years. It was just great to see everyone.

Several days before Christmas we went to see Ice.

I'd never been and it was a real treat.

Needless to say it was very cold in there. They supply these big blue coats for you to wear and the one hand I was using to take photos was really frozen when we got out. It was beautiful thou and it's hard to image how they make these huge statues from ice. Hot coco was a wonderful treat when we where done.

We started off Christmas day at my sister in laws home

with a yummy breakfast she made.

She's a great cook and we all ate way too much.

There there was the crazy package opening.

Then around noon we headed out to my sister's home

to have Christmas with them.

This was Ian's first Christmas with us and I have no words

to tell you how much I enjoyed this Christmas.

We have been so blessed.

He dove right into the big bag of presents we walked in with.

For being under 3 he's really good a ripping that wrapping paper.

We got him the big box of Lincoln Logs.

Here he's showing Aunt Royce his new bath toy

a water squirting camera. He even styled my hair

before he took my picture.

It's hard for me to stop hugging and kissing him.

He's so sweet and loving.

On Christmas day my husband's grandmother

went to her heavenly father. This is her the first day

I met her. She greeted me at the door with a beautiful smile

and open arms. She told me that day that anyone who

could make her grandson happy was a wonderful person.

It really touched my heart then and I'll never forget those words.

Mary Elizabeth Vaughn would have been 92 on

new years day. She will be missed, but she left

behind a large loving family who will treasure

her memory for ever.

2011-12-21T05:33:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas is almost here and I know everyone is busy with family, friends, baking, presents and getting our homes ready for all the visiting. I am working a few hours today but then need to come home and do some serious house cleaning. I've been using my cutting table to wrap presents on and the craft room looks like a tornado hit. I still have about 5 gifts left to wrap and then clean up my mess. Then the last minute baking of cookies and I think I can say it's done.
I miss sewing and playing with my other crafts but during this busy season there just isn't time for playing.

One little last thing I need to get done today is put an old drawing in a frame.
This drawing was done for my little sister when she was around 4-5 and hung in her bedroom. My mom had saved it all these years so now I'm going to reframe it for another 2.5 year olds bedroom. It's marker and ink and when I look back at a drawing I did when I was 17, well it really brings back memories of how I used to draw all the time.

I saw a video on u tube about adding color to metal with Tim Holtz Alcohol inks.

So I had to run out and get some of these right away.

They are in the scrap booking section of your craft store.

After I had done all the texturizing to the metal I just dropped a

drop of each color onto the metal and swirled it around.

It dries quickly and then I followed that with a clear coat sealant.

With a little experimenting I think this will become a great new

way to add color to my metal jewelry.

Here is another necklace that I used the Tim Holtz metal accents on.

The key in the bottom dangle and the metal on the top that looks

like the hardware from a dresser drawer were from his collection.

The hardware was attached with rivets on to the brass base.

And just wanted to share this - I was cleaning my sewing room

and was tossing out this old pillow, but it seemed that my

little buddy thought it still had some good use left in it.

Thou he just barely fit, he took it over right away.

There won't be much time left for posting and I'm sure

few have time to read posts with Christmas just a few days away.

So I 'd like to wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas.

Last Minute Gifts

2011-12-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a visit from Angel and Ian and we looked at all my

trees and just had a good time. I had started making soap that morning

and finished up after they left. So I got a good amount made.

I got started making soap for my hubby and he now

has become hooked on the home made soap and isn't too fond

of "store soap". So every few months I get out the few supplies

it takes a whip up a batch. This time I made extras for a few gifts.

Some cling wrap and a little paper and

some of my scrap booking supplies.

Simple little packaging.

This is a small quilt (32" square) for a sweet little girl

who just loves Olivia the pig.

This is a drag around quilt for a 18 month old.

It was a 5 min job on the cutting and layout

thanks to my Accuquilt. I used the 12" block set.

Sewing it together was a snap too.

Well today I'm doing some experimenting with a new technique for

adding color to metal. I'm excited about this and will show you

the results tomorrow. It has tons of possibilities.

The Holiday's Are In Full Swing

2011-12-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

Well it's officially the Holidays now with Christmas parties and visits to see family I don't get to see too often. Yesterday was a whirl of activities and I had a lot of fun. First I was off to the Music City Modern Quilter's Guild Christmas Party. We had so much food and I of course ate too much. We had a secret santa swap and also did a dirty santa with fabric. After stealing someone's fabric (sorry Trudy) I ended up with some beautiful grunge fabrics from Moda. One of my favorites!

We had a show & tell and one of our members brought all

these darling aprons she is making for presents.

Leah of Burgundy Buttons models one - aren't they cute!

After the meeting Stefanie, Trudy and I went by the

new Archiver's in Cool Springs. I'd never been into one of

there shops before and oh my what trouble I can get into in there.

They had way too much Tim Holtz stuff and I did fall pray to

getting a few things. What can I say. I use a lot of his

metal embellishments in my jewelry and I love his

paper's and inks for my scrap booking

My secret Santa was a beautiful table runner

which in now on my coffee table.

Note my comfy chair in the background

with my pillows/quilts and knitting.

Then I zipped home and picked up hubby and off

we went to meet up with Angel and Ian to

head out to my Aunt's home for her annual

Christmas dinner with her family and all my cousins.

This was the first time they had met Ian and boy

did they have surprises for him.

My poor Aunt Rachel's living room was soon a

mass of paper and giggles with all the presents

they had for Ian.

Today I've been working on a bib necklace which I'm calling Winter Ice.

Here are some of the components. It's going to have a lot of bling.

Here Comes Santa

2011-12-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday was a wonderful day for sure.

I met my sister at JoAnn's and we did a little shopping

and then headed off to the mall to see Santa.

Ian and Santa

He just wasn't going to sit in Santa's lap but this turned out so cute.

He told Santa he wanted a bike - several times.

I picked these up at JoAnn's and just one guess who's photo will go inside.

One for me and one for Angel. I'll put on a chain

with maybe one off center bead on the chain.

A Day out of Shopping & Fun

2011-12-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a fun day. I went over to my friend Stefanie's house and we went to the quilt shop where she was picking up several custom order quilts from her quilter. I of course had to do some shopping while I was there.

I just love this fabric. There are about 10 designs

in the collection and it was very

hard to pick just two. I just may have to go back.

I'm trying to get a stash of 30's fabrics collected and

picked out a pretty blue and aqua set yesterday.

We also dropped by JoAnn's and since the jewelry

stuff was on sale for 40% off...well you know what happened.

This is my project for this morning. I'm making a

pillow that was inspired from the book below.

Also have to get ready for class tomorrow

and open house at JoAnn's.

Who Can Pass Up A Sale

2011-11-30T12:27:00.000-08:00

Well it's sale time in my Etsy shop

starting Dec 1 - Dec 15 every thing is 15% off.

Here is the code to use.

HOLIDAY15OFF

oooh original huh

Drop by and see what's new!

It's Beginning to look a lot like...

2011-11-30T09:04:00.000-08:00

OK I must admit Christmas is a favorite time of year for me.

I love all the decorations, the food and of course seeing all my

family and friends. It's just wonderful.

Once the Holly pig is out - it's officially Christmas.

Mother made him for me many years ago.

My cards are made and ready to start addressing.

My project for this morning is to get a pillow top cut out and hopefully pieced.

I also just took over 100 photos of my jewelry to post on Etsy. I'll be having a sale

starting tomorrow. I'll post a code here tomorrow so you can save on purchases

you make between Dec. 1 - 15 of this year.

AH The Holidays - What Joy

2011-11-28T05:23:00.000-08:00

This might just be the best Christmas I've had in many years. Why?

Because of this sweet boy.

Remember a few posts back I showed you this yellow

monster stuffed toy I made - well he sleeps with a

sweetie every night now. My sister even found a

little book about a monster going to bed at night.

He's a big help around the house too.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving I took the day to sew. With having dinner at my lovely sister in laws house I had no cooking to do and didn't have to clean the house to hospital clean. Whew. I got a few Christmas presents done - the binding on a lap quilt, my secret santa for the quilt guild, a pillow for a friend and even managed to clean and organize my sewing area.

I'd had this idea for a bracelet running around in my head screaming to get out and I knew I had to at least get caught up on my sewing before I let the idea free.

I used a new technique to achieve the color/texture on the metal. This sits on your wrist very comfy and I just love the many textures and elements.
Saturday I got the house all decorated for Christmas and it really makes me happy to see all the little trees and my decorations I've had for so many years. I remember as I open each box where they came from and each brings a memory all it's own.
Then yesterday I got my sample done for the next Social Artwork class and also have the next wire workshop project half done. Seems there is just not enough time in each day. But I am thankful for all the things I do and enjoy so much.

Where Does the Time Go?

2011-11-22T05:23:00.000-08:00

Well it will be Thanksgiving in just a few days and it makes me wonder just where has the year gone? This morning I was clearing off the mantel for the soon to be Christmas decorations - wow Christmas already! There is a pile of presents on the couch in the sitting room upstairs but so much is left to do - guess you know what I mean. So I'm sewing away trying to get some things finished.
My mom started a tradition with us after Angel and I got married and every year at Thanksgiving would give us a Christmas decoration. I've tried to keep up this tradition and try to make things for my family each year. Seems like it's getting harder to get things finished in time, but I've managed to make extra quilting time in the mornings. I can get a lot more done if I get up early and have at least an hour to play before going to work.
I got the quilt done for the shower last week a mer 2 hours before I walked out the door - whew! No time for a photo thou - but I'll get one with it's new owner soon.
Just last night I finished the binding on another present - a lap quilt. Can't show you that one cause it's new owner does pop in here from time to time.
This little wall hanging thou I can show cause it's new owner is way too busy to read blogs.

This is a Jim Shore pannel I picked up at the quilt show this year

It was fun to "trace" the drawing with the free motion.

Table runner ready for quilting.

Crazy mug rug made from the short sections

from the jelly roll I used for the table runner.

Love this type of piecing. No thinking - no planning.

Well I need a day off with the sun out to take photos

to put new items in my Etsy shop. The weather has been

grim and wet for days. Well off to get a few more things

done before going off to work.

A Wonderful Weekend

2011-11-16T07:02:00.000-08:00

The show on Saturday went very well. My sweet niece came and helped me in my booth. She was a great help. This photo was on Hob Nob, a site for social happenings in Murfreesboro TN.

This was just my second show so

I've not really gotten my booth the way I want it yet.

I did get to use my Square this weekend. If you have not

seen one of these yet it's a tiny 1" square credit card

reader you just plug into your phone. The sales I made are

already in my bank account and there is no charge for the

reader or shipping, just when you swipe you pay a small percentage.

If you do shows or any sales this might be worth looking into.

I have seen it in several small brick and mortar shops now too.

My sister's booth at the show.

She is a great photographer and

you can see her work on her site.

Something Old and Something New

2011-11-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went over to my sister's house to help her get Ian's room ready. Ian is coming to live with them on Sunday. He is 2 and cute as a button. We're all so excited. I can't stop thinking of all the things I'll make him. I'll be meeting him for the first time on Sunday and I'll taking him the yellow monster pillow I made last week. While we were organizing closets and packing some stuff up for the attic and boxes for Goodwill I ran across 2 quilts. Angel told me my grandmother had made them. What joy that was to see them. Needless to say I left with one. It's worn and at some point someone cut a chunk out of it, but it's still very dear to me. My Granny taught me how to crochet and cook. She was a tiny woman with a firm hand and a huge heart. She raised 7 children and lived to see a herd of grandchildren. I'll always remember her by her love of flowers, her support of her family and her open heart. I never heard her raise her voice - she was a super sweet lady. They lived on a farm and I have very fond memories of spending time there.

And for the new - my good quilting buddy Stefanie gave me this wonderful ruler.

I just love these better than any I've every had. I've gotten one more and plan to in time

replacing all the ones I have with the greenish yellow lines on them.

These also have little circles on the back side that really hold to the fabric.

I'd bought stick on things to put on my other rulers but these are really great.

They come in tons of sizes/shapes too.

Well I've got a bunch of stuff to do so I'll be off.

The Christmas On Madison Ave show

is Saturday and on Sunday I'll get to meet Ian.

What a great weekend this will be.

Making Up For Lost Time

2011-11-06T12:18:00.000-08:00

Well I got really behind on my quilting while building my jewelry inventory for an upcoming show. And now I just must get back on it. Christmas is rushing towards us faster than I can sew. This morning I finished up a little fun piece. I'd not made one of these silly monsters before and it was fun. I really want to make another one. The next one will have a zipper mouth I think and I'll work some buttons into it too.

I had planned on making the back of the turtle and monkey quilt I showed you yesterday, but just wasn't in the mood for making the back and pinning. So I started quilting on this cute doggie quilt. I'm really in a cute mode these days. I think this balances the hard edge steam punk jewelry I've been making lately. Well the quilting is almost done now and hopefully I'll get back on the other quilt real soon. That shower will be here and I'll be up putting on the binding all night.

Thanksgiving will be here before we know it. I have one of my critical items - Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake - It calls to me from the freezer - eat me now. I'm so week.
Well back to quilting the doggie quilt I'm so close to being done.

There is always a first time

2011-11-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

I did something today that I didn't think I would ever do...made a quilt from a pattern. I was influenced by my good friend Stefanie. She found a pattern to work well with the beautiful fabrics (the prints) I won at our guild a few months ago that were designed by Ann Kelle.
It's just the cutest fabric for a child's quilt and that was just what I am making. I needed it done by the 18th for a shower. I made the top in one day, never did that before either. I'v always leaned towards dark earthy colors and use little white so that was another new thing. Bright colors and white! Did I make this? Well it was fun to make and very quick. I think I might even make another one with this pattern - yes Stefanie you read that right. So hopefully I'll get this sandwiched on Sunday and quilted next week. Since these colors were so out of my safe zone Stefanie helped me pick them out. Wait till you see the back and binding -

For any of you in the Nashville area I'll be in a craft show on the 12th.

CHRISTMAS ON MADISON AVENUE

Saturday, November 12th 9 am- 5 pm

Farmer’s Market Community Center

315 John R. Rice Blvd., Suite 101 Murfreesboro, TN 37129

Working In Small Spaces

2011-11-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

Living in an old 1930 home, space is limited and I often use one area for several different uses. My dinning room table often becomes my drawing table and my cutting table stands in for painting and mixed media. You all know how it is I'm sure. If only I had a big 40 x 40 foot room just for my creative projects - but alas that is not to be. So I have the ever changing work spaces.

sewing on a small wall hanging

working on some jewelry

It takes about 5 min to swap from one joy to another.

This little side table also is the resting spot for my babylock.

With a tv on top of the cabinet on the left and my mac to play

me my favorite tunes I have all I need in this room.

We call it the play room. Hubby's workbench is here too

and we spend many hours in here working on our little projects.

He's often sneaking into my jewelry tool box and I'm using his

work bench when he wanders away for a few min.

It's a fun room and we enjoy it here working together in our

two different little worlds.

He's also handy when I have metal questions or need help with solder.

It's our happy place.

Sewing Withdrawal

2011-10-27T09:26:00.000-07:00

With my next jewelry show a mere 15 days away I've needless to say been twisting and hammering to get new items ready. This will be the last show of the year and I really need to get busy with my Christmas sewing. I have 2 projects on the machine cabinet ready to jump into - but that will be after Nov 12 when the show is. I did combine my two loves last week thou when I was at Stefanie's sewing. I started the base for 4 different fiber jewelry projects. I've always wanted to make one of the big fiber bib necklaces and got a good start on that - it's not done yet thou. These smaller mixed media pieces are finished.

Happy to say that I sold one of my fiber art wall hangings on my Etsy shop today.

It's always such a great feeling to know someone loves your work.

I like making wall hangings and post cards the best.

The freedom of knowing I can put anything into the art and

let my creativity run amuck is a wonderful thing.

So Stars In The Sand is now history.

Stefanie sold one of her beautiful quilts today too

I told her that her luck had rubbed off on me.

Hopefully sales will pick up for everyone

as the holidays sneak up on us at a rapid pace.

Home made makes wonderful gifts and there

are so many gifted artists and crafts people on Etsy.

I've already bought several presents there.

Blog Give A Way over at The Quilt Rat

2011-10-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

I've been following the Quilt Rat ever since I ran upon her collection of child's sewing machines on flicker. I have a few but her collection is ... well WOW. She just celebrated her blog's 3rd anniversary and is having a give away to share her joy. So click HERE and check out a wonderful blog and her give-a-way.
She's a very creative fiber artist and her quilts and techniques are a joy. I've been influenced to try many new things after seeing her creations. She is also one of the reason I started doing zen doodles.

Gone To The Dogs

2011-10-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a doggie past few days.

I got the lap quilt with the pet fabric sandwiched and ready to quilt.

Auggie helped me a little - he always thinks fabric is to nap on.

Yesterday I had a Social Artworking class at JoAnn's,

with 5 students who did some of their first paintings.

Every one had a great time and here are a few of the paintings.

One had attitude

One was customized to look like the owners baby.

The youngest student did a great job.

That's her grandmother just behind her, every time

I told Emma how well she was doing her grandmother said

"That's my grand daughter!"

While I was at the store and since they were having such a

big sale I got a new cutting matt. My old green one has been

tortured with me doing my jewelry on it. So I got one of the

new yellow ones - so easy to see the numbers and marks.

I'm going to tape the old and new one back to back and flip

them when I go from jewelry to fabric cutting. I've lost count

of how many rotary blades I've ruined from stray bits of wire

on the cutting surface.

So now I'm off to start quilting the pet lap quilt.

I am going to try a dog bone and heart quilting pattern,

to match the fabric in the border/backing.

A Bang Up Good Time

2011-10-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was a fun day all around. The weather just couldn't have been any better. The Jessie James Festival had great live music, mostly blue grass all day. The food was great and sales were good. This show is in Nashville TN just down the road from Fontanel, which was the home of Barbara Mandrell and is now a home for music dinning. Their is also a beautiful 2 mile walking trail threw the wooded property.
The show was just behind the James Gang General Store. So with this theme there were of course some shoot-em-ups, but the sheriff kept things from getting out of hand.

There were some really great costumes.

In a cloud of gun smoke the shoot out

comes to a peaceful end.

The General store is a restaurant with live music

I even made a new hat band for my hat to wear

to the show that I'm calling western steampunk.

My friend Jim Cohron told me about this show.

He is a very talented wood carver and I just

couldn't pass up getting one of his beautiful pieces for our home.

Here is some of his other pieces.

Jim often works on his carvings on the

front porch at Fontanel. If you are interested

in his work drop him an email.

For my sewing this week I've started on my

pink and white blocks for a quilt our guild is making.

I did a little cheating and did my half square triangles

using Brenda Henning's Triangulations software.

It's a super fast way to make just about any size

half or quarter square.

It's Been A Long Time

2011-10-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

Since I've been in a craft show that is. Well years ago I did the big show in our area in Centennial Park. I drove up from Florida to do this show (several times). I remember one year I drove up in a small car with my display strapped on the top of the car...Oh I'd never do that now. I was either brave or just plain silly - maybe both.
Now 20+ years later I'm getting ready for another show. The Jessie James Festival, is only 30 min from my house and just a one day show - great for getting my feet wet. Lots of things have changed since those early shows. Seems like the tent and display stuff has gotten a little heaver - oh that might be me thou.
I will also be trying out my new Square this weekend. I've never been able to accept plastic before. People just don't carry around cash anymore so hopefully this will help sales - keep your fingers crossed. I just need to do a few more things and I'll be ready for the show. I have a booth buddy to help out - THANKS Becky - your a life saver. I think I've remembered everything - but you know that nagging fealing of thinking you have forgotten something important.

For those of you who Etsy they announced a GREAT new change that will be available soon - I'm thrilled about this - you can now change your shop name. That will go into effect the 18th of this month. So my shop will be called roycecreative soon and no longer graphicthreads. I have a new header all ready to pop in there on the 18th!

Split Personality

2011-10-06T14:13:00.000-07:00

This week I spent my days sewing, hammering and tossed in a little computer work. A pretty typical week for me. Last week I did the center of a lap quilt with the D9P pattern and this week I found the perfect border fabric. I'll also be using this for the backing. I was looking for a paw print fabric but it was the hearts that caught my eye.

Speaking of quilting I wanted to share a post from The Quilt Rat blog regarding an erasable marking pen called FriXion. I found this very interesting. If you have one of these or had planned on getting one this is a must read.

On my last post I showed you my bench pin that hubby made me and there was a little section of copper on it that I'd sawed. Here is that piece completed. It's a pin and has copper/brass/nickel and steel. I really enjoy mixing the metals.

I wanted to get a quick brochure done to hand out at shows for any retail folks that might be interested in my jewelry. I don't do writing thou and had to ask for help with that. I got it from Gene. He jumped right in and wrote some really nice copy for my brochure from the sketchy list of words I'd sent him. After I had all the photos in place and the copy dropped in I struggled for a name for my jewelry. I ask for advice, I thought and thought. Then it hit me - why am I going around the world when I just need to put my name on it and call it a day - so a new logo was born and the brochure was completed. My friend Edna who was a teacher did a little grammar editing and now I'm ready to print.

I have never been a techie person - I've always had an old or hand me down phone - but this week I jumped into the modern age and got an iPhone. My main reason is to use the Square to take credit cards at craft shows. (Square will work on most smart phones) I have one show this month and one in November. I'm hopeful accepting plastic will increase sales - keep your fingers crossed. By the way I LOVE the iPhone. It was the easiest phone to learn I've ever had. I was changing the settings as I walked thew the store right after I got it - joy!

Bang Bang - Saw

2011-10-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back to jewelry today and getting ready for 2 shows I have scheduled for Oct/Nov. I'm excited about my first show with my jewelry. I've been working with flat metals for a good while but have only recently started sawing my metal with a jeweler's saw. It sure takes some getting used to, but it's much better than trying to cut the sheet metal with nippers. One thing I was needing to help with this was a bench pin and like most good tools they put a dent in your wallet. Being basically cheep I wanted to try making one and hubby came to the rescue and made one for me. These normally mount onto your work bench but I needed something a little more mobile. So I thought if I just had the section of wood I'd clamp it to my little table - well it worked out just great.

Brass & Blue - metal and chain

Steam Punk Bib Necklace

Well back to the sawing and hammering.

What I've Been Up To

2011-09-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

Well I've been kind of MIA lately. I was wrapped up in a tight deadline for a book I've been working on and now that it's gone to press I - should have more free time for creating. I hope so anyway. I did squeeze in a little sewing/jewelry time last week thou. As I mentioned I am trying to get some Christmas presents done and got one finished and a good start on another one this Tuesday.

I'll have to admit these pillow cases made me a little dizzy while cutting.

Black/white/hot pink...not my kind of colors but were

suggested for the young lady these are for.

I kind of like the black and white fabric thou.

I got 2 very cute charm packs with this puppy/cat fabric.

So I defaulted to a D9P for the quilt top.

Just need to find a good fabric for the border/binding and back now?

Thinking I'll use a dog bone shape for the quilting.

At the last bead show I went to I splurged and got some amber.

I just fell in love with them but have been hesitant to use them. I finally broke down and made a necklace. It also has some beautiful jasper, and of course my favorite copper.

These huge nuts from Brazil have showed up in some other designs.

I love the colors and designs.

They are surprising light weight.

Yesterday I got these great copper textured sheets from a new source I found here in TN. Can't wait to flame these and whip out the saw. I have too many designs floating around in my mind for these sheets. Just love them. With silver continuing to go up in price copper is becoming even more beautiful to me.

Oh Dear - Where has the time gone

2011-09-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

Well my sister and I swap off doing Christmas/Thanksgiving each year and I was just checking to see who's year it was to do what when I realized just how close to the holidays we are! Yikes! This meant I had to rush and look at my Christmas list and see just how much I had left to do - Double Yikes!! Well fall is in the air and the Holidays are always right on top of me before I know it. This year is no exception.
So today after some crazy fast housework I set down and gave that list a good hard look. Whimper...
Well it's time to set up some tasks in iCal and really get cranking.

Yesterday we had a really fun class and I taught wire weaving and every one in class finished their pendant and did a great job. One ambitious student even made a woven ring after her pendant was finished - way to go Becky! With a yummy lunch after class and a bit of shopping it rounded out the day perfectly.

So now I need to go start a pot of potato soup - one of my favorites and then sit down at the sewing machine and get some work done.

I hope you are not as far behind on your Christmas presents as I am if you are making them - if you are I feel you pain and all I can say is sew sew sew.

Oh Joy!

2011-09-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend on our way back from the Music City Quilters Guild meeting Paula asked me if I was interested in either selling or swapping my dress mannequin. I said yes since I'd not used it as I'd planned. Then she asked would you like to swap it for one of my Featherweights? Well I near drove off the interstate in my excitement. So we planned on the swap being this weekend and Sunday I brought my new friend home. Let me introduce you to "Little Paula". Isn't she sweet. I've wanted a Featherweight for years and this has made me so very happy. Her case is in perfect condition too.

Little Paula is a 1950's machine and she is the Anniversary edition.

This is a good site to read up on Featherweights

if you don't know about them and are interested.

Tomorrow Little Paula is going to visit Edna - she is a Featherweight expert. She will get the once over and I'll start learning what is what about her. Can't wait!

For those who have been asking about Ginger she is doing great! She is taking long walks in the yard and today went down the front 2 steps without being carried. Thank God for his watchful hand on her and her wonderful recovery.

The First

2011-09-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

Well Saturday was a busy day and I had to miss out on something and sadly it was Ava's first birthday party. I wish I could have been there. She is so cute. Wanted to share a few photos thou - just cause.

Oh who wouldn't love this sweetie.

Oh such joy!

Isn't her little shirt just sweet.

Royce loves you Ava - you are 1 year old now.

What a wonderful life you have ahead of you.

A Wonderful Day

2011-09-10T15:38:00.000-07:00

Today my friend Paula came over and we drove out to the Music City Modern Quilter's Guild meeting. We were having a special speaker and a de-stashing sale. Our speaker was Ann Kelle. She is just cute as a button and was very inspiring. She is a fabric designer for Robert Kaufman, and also designs paper goods for scrap-bookers and stationary shops.

We had a really good time and asked lots of questions about her business and her designs. She is a Nashvillian and used to work in the governors office. She traded in her business suite for a computer and taught herself how to use Illustrator and became a designer. I love hearing such a beautiful success story.
After her talk we had great door prizes. Several of our member made beautiful items from her fabrics. One of our local quilt shops, donated some great gift bags. We also got a coupon for Burgundy Buttons. One great on line shop for quilting fabrics.

Stefanie made these journal covers and oh so sweet

little makeup or something special bags.

Very pretty pillow made by Chelley.

We also had a very yummy brunch and then the de-stashing sale.

Too much yummy food to choose from.

Paula looking for good deals.

Oh and I won this fabric bundle of Ann's designs.

I love the monkeys!

So at 12 Paula and I zoomed out of Franklin and back to my

house to drop her off for her car - then I was off to JoAnn's

for open house where I met new students and got them all

signed up for future classes.

I'm am so tired and now it's time for dinner and some

couch time. A good day all the way.

How Does My Sewing Area Get In Such A Mess?

2011-09-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well it's beyond me how such a small area can get so very cluttered. I haven't been sewing for almost 2 weeks and I think I'm using the cabinet as storage - bad Royce! So today I am going to get things put away and get back to this pillow top I was working on - the top is half done for goodness sakes - just finish it!
Under it thou is a quilt I was working on and the quilting is also about half done. My goal for today is to finish the quilting and hopefully the other 2 blocks for the pillow top.

Ginger is still needing for me to keep an eye on her pretty much all the time to make sure she is keeping as still as a baby will do. With a special rest area here in the sewing room hopefully she will nap most of the day.

Free Day

2011-09-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

Well this morning while I was still having coffee my "boss" called and said she was closing the office down at noon and if I wanted to I could stay home...what do you think I said? So after doing the happy dance and putting my work clothes away I plopped down in my chair and talked with hubby and petted the babies. Then I decided to do a little housework and some no fun but necessary billing. Bookkeeping yuck! But with that behind me we got down to fun stuff right away.

So I get an unplanned play day.

Ginger is doing great and walked

all the way to the back fence this morning.

If there is anyone out there that is good at writing I need a little copy for

a self promotion I am working on. I'd be glad to trade your writing for

some of my artwork/fiber art or jewelry. Just let me know if you are interested.

Better Every Day

2011-08-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

Things at our house are sure better this week. All the trauma from last week is kind of a bad dream now. I'v gotten back to sewing and went to my sewing social at JoAnn's yesterday. I dropped by the Quilter's Attic yesterday too and couldn't pass up the max and whiskers charm packs. They will become a D9P for Ginger. I also got a really cute (the reason for the trip) 30's fabric to go on the back of the little pillow I am making. So all things are getting back to normal. Went back to work today too -

Ginger is getting better every day. She still has a limp and keeps to the couch most of the time. She asked for you to forgive her strange haircut. Her whole middle section is shaved. She is eating well and is down to one pain pill at night. I do this mostly to keep her from messing with her staples. The little "t-shirt" I made her seems to come off during the night.

Anyway I call her my miracle baby now.

She survived an ordeal that was a close call.

She is more herself each day.

I thank God for her recovery going so well.

Home Sweet Home

2011-08-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well today Edna came by and picked me up and we went off to get our dear Ginger and bring her home. She was asleep when the vet went in to get her and she is very groggy - my little girl is pretty drugged up.
She is taking a half of a people pain pill - that has to knock her for a loop. So I put down mommy's favorite quilt the one I snuggle with each night on the bathroom floor for her along with her reg quilt and her little summer bed. I don't think she cares what she's on - she just knows she is home. I had to hold her little buddy for them to sniff and greet each other cause I was too afraid he'd just get too excited. So now our house hold is near back to normal. She is expected to have a full recovery in about 3 weeks. I still find it hard to believe she has come threw this.

To say a big thank you to the vets and other folks at the doggie ER I did this painting last night. The vet said they would hang it in the hospital. Hopefully it will give another mommy or daddy a smile while they are waiting to see about their baby.

Ginger Update

2011-08-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

It's been very hard for me to think about anything but my sweet little Ginger and all the pain/fear she is enduring right now. She has sure shown herself to be a tough little girl and fought her way threw all this hardship. This morning they removed the chest tube and lowered her pain meds and they said she seems much happier. The upside is that tomorrow she can come home. Her surgery was on Tuesday and she's done very well since then. With the bullet in her lung - only a 1/4" from her heart it's amazing she has pulled threw this. I'm beyond words to express my happiness. Auggie has no idea where she is and he's having a very hard time with all this. He goes out in the yard and looks for her - calls for her - it's so very sad. At least now I know she will be coming back to us.
I've not been able to keep my mind clear enough to do much of anything. I've not worked this week and didn't even go to sewing class on Tuesday. The one thing I have done was work on my zen doodle. That seems to stop my mind from thinking while I draw on this. Also yesterday I did a painting that is a step by step process that I will be teaching at JoAnn next month. It was a no brainer also. That seems all I'm capable of right now.

Sometimes I wonder if it's right to love your pets this much...there is nothing I can do about it thou for they are the world to me. I want their safety and happiness. I want to see that little tail wiggle with glee and know they are very content with their life. This is my gift to them and they repay me every hour of every day with a friendship that is beyond description.

Doodle of mine and hubby's hand.

Social Artwork - Acrylic painting - step by step process

Miracles Do Happen

2011-08-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

Monday night we had a horrible thing happen. My 2 sweet dogs were out side and some idiot shot my Ginger with a pellet riffle. I ran out and saw what had happened and somehow managed to get dressed, wrap her up and get her across town to the emergency after hours vet. She was in shock. It took the whole night to get her stabilized and then on Tuesday they did surgery. As of this morning she is doing pretty good. The shot ended up in her lung about 1/4" from her heart. This is a dangerous area to be messing around in, but the surgery was a success. They have a special anesthesiologist there that studied in Colorado for special surgical events such as this and what a blessing she was available for Ginger. Really the whole night was blessed. Driving across town like a crazed bat/discovering I didn't have my glasses on/the street sign had been out at the hospital but was on when I came down the street/she held on till I got her there and then the doctors were able to pull her threw to this point. All these things are amazing. What my sister calls "A God Thing" - I was doing some feverish praying while driving. We got about 3 hours of sleep that night and had my husband's first appointment with a cardiologist the following morning. I'd been a nervous wreck about this appointment for almost 2 weeks. We got good news that surgery wasn't needed now and we'll just need to be alert to how he's doing and get regular check ups.
I'm still pretty much worthless till I hear how Ginger is doing. The only thing I've been able to do is work on my zen doodle - that seems to pretty much calm my mind more than anything else.

Make It Work!

2011-08-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

Well to quote my fav Tim from Project Runway I've made it work all day. I think I was trying to make up for lost time this whole week. So I got cracking early and have a good pot of soup on, did my bookkeeping (yuck), updated inventory and then got down to some fun.
I have a class coming up at JoAnn called Social Artwork. Need to get my samples done. Thought I'd do the first 2 paintings this weekend. I have a box of stuff to work with.

These classes are for people who have never painted and it's an easy step by step class and you walk out with a finished painting. The paintings are simple and the class should be fun for beginners and dabblers alike. So after playing around with this stuff for a while I moved over to the jewelry table and got started on some new designs. I promised myself I'd make at least 2 bracelets today.

Half Cuff with beautiful turquoise - brass/copper

Full Cuff - steampunk - pocket watch part and bee

Stone and wire bracelet - jasper/coral and natural stone

I made 4 pair of earrings today but these are my favorite

and I'm thinking they will be mine.

After spending today doing mostly jewelry tomorrow I plan on quilting.

Still plugging away on my grandmother's flower garden pillow top.

Slow work to be sure - how anyone can make a whole bed size

quilt this way amazes me to no end.

Much To Do About Nothing

2011-08-18T05:41:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get the feeling you have been running in circles and have nothing to show for it? That has been this week. If I think back I have some checks on my to do list. It's just been one of those weeks when no matter how hard I try to get something finished - it's just not happening.
I have been working on my current doodle in the mornings with my coffee thou - that time I've not given up.

A Fun Saturday With Friends

2011-08-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

This weekend was our guild meeting and after our business was completed we got down to sewing. We were doing foundation piecing. This is something I learned a few years ago but I still have to really pay attention to what I'm doing or I'll mess up in a heart beat. As I demonstrated while running my mouth and trimming off the wrong part of the block - oh well. When I had to borrow a steam ripper Stefanie was kidding me saying I'd been optimistic to not bring one. So I find out I can't talk and do this type of piecing.

One of our members brought this beautiful foundation pieced

landscape she'd done years ago.

I'd only seen blocks done with this method and I just loved this.

Then the day was topped off with a fish fry. These guys can really cook.

We had lots of good side dishes and of course fish/chicken/frog legs,

fries and hush puppies.

We waddled to the car and came home and collapsed.

A fun day!

Normalcy Returns

2011-08-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

With a quick check on my jewelry inventory this morning I think I can slow down to only making jewelry several days a week - not every day. So after much organizing of my supplies and clearing off the sewing cabinet I'm happy to say the sewing room is all clean (even vacuumed and dusted) and ready for some sewing again. Since I had a quilt all pinned and ready I'm off for some quilting. Glad it's a lap quilt - I don't have to open up the transformer cabinet for this size.

Does anyone hate removing pins as you quilt as much as I do?

well off to quilt

Oh Deer!

2011-08-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well the jewelry mess is still overtaking the sewing room.

Yesterday with doctors visits and errands I didn't

have any time to create any but last night when

I normally work on my hand sewing I did this.

It's a deer antler tip. I got several of these at the

Tomato festival a few years ago.

The lady that was selling these said

they were found not "taken".

It's about 2.5" long.

Front

Back

I don't always draw out my designs,

but this one being a little bit different

needed some mulling over before I got started.

Split Personality

2011-08-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

I told a friend of mine this weekend I had 2 personalities - she said only 2? Well what can I say. I am a quilter/fabric artist and a jewelry designer for the most part. I've signed up for a craft show in November in Murfreesboro TN called Christmas On Madison Ave. The booth is paid for and the bulk of my display is either made or purchased. So now it's just down to making as much jewelry as I can. I used to make jewelry on the dinning room table but that's not good when I'm working on pieces for days on end. So evil jewelry Royce took over the sewing room - and the sewing cabinet! Quilting Royce is not happy. She'll get over it thou.

From a quilters perspective this is a sad sight.

Yesterday's inventorying and tagging pile.

Trying to make as many different styles

as possible is good for stretching my design mind.

I'm doing simple/normal/funky & steampunk.

What I've done so far today. All those beads have

a wrap on top for adding them to a necklace.

Yes they will all be on one necklace!

I figure a few more days at this rate and I'll not feel such a need

to mass produce and can slow down a bit. Then maybe just

maybe I can clear this up and get back to quilting.

For now thou I'm hip deep in stones/wire/metal/beads and findings.

Oh Goodie New Fabric

2011-08-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

Like a hole in my head or an extra pound or 5 I really need new fabric - but as I'm sure you know that never stops us from buying it. One of my favorite places to buy upholstery fabrics is relocating and had a huge sale - just couldn't pass that up of course. I went by and picked up Edna and we were off on an adventure. Here is what I got.

The top fabric is a just because I liked it. The next 2 are for accent pillows for the

living room. It will be nice for them all to match in the near future.

The bottom gray is for a table cover for when I do craft shows.

This matches the gray I have inside my new display boxes.

Here's a look at how my grandmother's flower garden is coming along.

This will be the top center of a pillow for my sister.

I went to the neighborhood hardware store this morning to get the plexiglass cut for the tops of my display cases. The owner was nice and drilled the holes in the plexi for me - I didn't want to crack it.
He even pr-drilled the boxes where the lid hinges will go - how nice! You just can't beat the service you get in a small store.
I was so happy about this and then stopped at Hobby Lobby and found to my sheer joy that almost the whole jewelry dept was on sale for 50% off. This called for a giant pretzel when I got to Sam's to celebrate!

A Special Box

2011-08-01T12:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday while visiting my sister I showed a photo of a jewelry display box to my sweet brother in law and he looked at it and asked me a few questions. With in a few hours he'd made 2 of them for me! Isn't he wonderful! I would have made one myself and it would have probably been OK but these are so well made and strong. So today I painted one and did the padded lining. I'm going to have plexiglass tops on these and a drawer pull handle for carrying. Now when I do a show my jewelry will look very nice and be protected.

The box

Quick coat of gray paint

Cutting the board. I normally use this thick

board to make book covers.

Glue board to batting.

Trim the fabric - then glue it to the back of the

board with hot glue.

Perfect fit - yea!

All ready for the top - which will be plexiglass.

I'm having the hardware store cut this for me.

I think it takes a special saw blade.

Since I'm not sure I'll just let an expert do this step.

Now I can get back to sewing and jewelry making.

well after I get the second box done.

Going Going Gone

2011-07-31T08:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to my sister's house and she was baby sitting

little Ava. So we put on the little pillowcase dress I made her.

As you can see she didn't want to be still.

Also the dress was just a little bit big for her.

So in short order she figured out how to

undue the ribbons.

Going

Gone!

Guess I'll need to rethink her next little outfit.

__________

And this morning I made 2 more steam punk cuffs.

The first one has a slight oriental flair and

the bottom one is "Snapshot in Time".

It Was A Snap

2011-07-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

My sister requested a camera strap cover...hum. So I figure I'll make myself one and get it all figured out. I wanted it to be soft - needs layers of batting - check. Want a wider section for over the shoulder - batting and peltex - check. Want something quick to make - double check!

My friend Paula gave me this Monster Inc. fabric a while back and I figured this was the perfect time to pull it out. After all my camera case is kids fabric too.

OK one guess what all this stuff will become?

Today was a GOOD MAIL day too. I got this great assortment of watch and clock parts from a quilting buddy from the Quilt With Us group - Elaine. Thanks Elaine I love this stuff. I always have to dump it out and look at every little gear.

Had a fun day sewing with the girls at JoAnn's yesterday - the Tuesday Toppers. I'd not been able to go for several weeks and it was so good to see them all again. That is where I made the camera strap cover. We all work on different quilting and sewing projects and it's great to see what every one is working on.

My Funky Side

2011-07-24T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well today I had an urge to make some of my funky fiber cuffs. I enjoy making these almost as much as the fiber post cards. I like wearing them too. Yesterday when I walked into JoAnn to teach a class the one I was wearing got removed from my arm before I got 10 ft in the store. Let me see that! Snatch. It's fun for people to want to see your jewelry.

Yesterday's Memories

Lion's of War

Time's Keeper

This is a really lazy Sunday. Got to see my sister and her sweet hubby do some sewing and enjoy time with my hubby. A really good day.

Just How Old is it?

2011-07-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

Hubby looked up the info on the new machine/old machine I got yesterday and we found out a lot about it. Here is the link. It was made in 1896 and at that time it cost $50. That is equal to $3,000 now. Wow it was for rich people. It was originally mounted on a "desk" and had a belt that ran to a foot metal much like a treadle machine.
If you are lucky enough to own a Featherweight here is some good info on them. They have a way of dating your machine on this site. I've been looking for one for about a year and I'm just a little hesitant to get one on line. There was a man at the quilt show years ago and I hear he's still there and I'd like to get mine from him. He works on them and they run perfect.
Well I have jewelry class today so I'll be off.

The Early Bird Gets the Sewing Machine

2011-07-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

Normally when my alarm goes off at 5:00 am I'd not be happy but this morning I jumped out of bed all excited. The adventure this morning was breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then on to an estate sale of quilter's treasures. Stefanie and I were pumped up and ready for some good deals. Old quilts and blocks, books, machines and of course fabrics. My first attack was the children's sewing machines. Wanted to make sure I got first dibs on those. They had some beauties too. The fabrics were being sold at $1 per pound! Quickly I had my bag full. Then I started going threw all the vintage blocks/tops. I saw a grandmother's flower garden top and I made the mistake of putting it back down for a second and poof it was gone and I heard them say it was $15 - I could have kicked myself. Later thou I did find a big stack of flower garden blocks and got all of these for $15. We also got a box of rick rack and it's crammed full - we're splitting that.

So here are my treasures.

All my fabrics

Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks - what a beautiful stack

Haven't counted them yet.

My prize of the day!

Need to find out the date this was made.

Hubby has already started working on this

to get it working again. It's really frozen up

solid. Some of the metal is brass.

Stefanie got 2 great children's machines too.

And how my little kitten flower garden is coming along.

I only had 2 fat quarters of this fabric but

might be able to get more.

Well off to pet, ogle and love on my fabrics.

I love My Studio

2011-07-20T06:53:00.000-07:00

Well I got a new die for my Studio cutter last week and - I love it! I was recently introduced to the grandmother's flower garden pattern and my first try at this was with large almost 2" blocks. I made a lot of these and put them together in the traditional pattern. I'm going to use this as the center of a lap quilt. The new die is much smaller close to an inch. They are so cute. I have 2 fat quarters of 30's kitten fabrics I'd bought to make "something" for my little sister. So I cut these out (the die also cuts out the freezer paper!) Just too easy. So last night I started working on these. It's my hand working project for after dinner while watching TV. These tiny sections seemed hard at first but after doing the first step on a few it became fast and easy. Not sure yet if I'll do the traditional placement or not - may wander off into some kind of crazy grandmother pattern. Cutting the paper and fabric with the Studio sure made quick work of the part I didn't like doing and I could get right to the fun part of sewing. I'm so glad that Edna introduced me to this, I just love this - a sworn non hand sewer has been converted.

All ready to get started

Last night's progress

Wonderful Day Out and About

2011-07-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

Well Friday was just a great day of shopping, eating and a great movie with a good friend. We started out our day with a quick trip into JoAnn and I notice they are now carrying the Vintaj line of jewelry components - OH JOY!

Then we took off to pick up our Burgundy Button order - check out Stefanie's blog to see her fabrics. By the way Burgundy Button is have a Christmas in July sale!
Then we're off to have a yummy lunch and then hit a quilt shop - one of my favorites. Some people are a bit overwhelmed by this quilt shop - the owner really stocks her shop to the point that bolts of fabric are on top of each other and it's kind of a treasure hunt for me to go there. I have to be in the right frame of mind to sift threw the mountains of wonderful fabrics, but always find it worth while. You can give it up if you think you can run in there and find something in 10 min.

Then the highlight of the day - Harry Potter!

If you are a fan and haven't see it yet - GO!

It is great! - Saw it in 3D on a BIG screen. We were so glued to the screen the

popcorn bucket was over half full at the end of the movie - very rare for us.

Here is what I came home with.

The most joyous thing thou is the Fruitcake! (far right)

It's from seasons past and

I was lucky enough to get it from Stefanie's Destashing Sale.

She has a wonderful collection up for grabs in her Etsy shop.

Saturday was a good day too. Had a fun class - we made rings.

We all left with a cool ring on and had lots of laughs.

Then dropped by to see Paula and check out her new living room.

She redid it from the floor up and she did a great job. So pretty Paula!

______________

I'd like to send my dear love and hugs to my friend Janice who has had a terrible loss this week. Her beautiful mother and sweet dog passed on. My SBC - My Friend - My thoughts are with you always. Her sweet mother put up with all our craziness since we were 16. She was a wonderful person and will be dearly missed by all who knew her.

Too Many Projects - Not enough time

2011-07-14T06:48:00.000-07:00

Seems like I never have enough time to do all the things I want, sound familiar? Well with having several different hobbies it's just hard to work them all in. This week I had to get handouts and samples ready for my wire workshop on Saturday. Working on inventory for a show in November. Trying to squeeze in some quilting and then do a little drawing too. I did finish a zen doodle this week for a friend. This is her hand and her 8 month old daughter's.

Remember the Think Summer swap I did the moth for?

Well I got my quilt from my swap buddy.

This was made by Linda H and it's called Summer Board Meeting.

The backing fabric is sand with foot prints.

Some Like It Hot

2011-07-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

But I'm not one of them. This weather is just horrid - 100 today. So this is the day I pick to paint the trim on my back door and weed a flower bed. I was back in the house by 9:00 am soaking wet but feeling good that these things were done. Where is fall? I was on a roll thou and figured I'd paint the one other little thing I had planned and did the trim in the downstairs bath. So after all the chores were done it's on to fun stuff.

I got a fair bit done on my sunflower quilt at the guild meeting this past Saturday. We had a sit and sew after our meeting. We ate such a wonderful lunch with everyone bringing something yummy it was hard to get motivated after lunch. I did manage to get 17 of my flower petals done thou. We talked about our UFO'S and Mary came up with a great idea for my background for this quilt. I'm excited about it again like I was when I started it 2 years ago (how sad).

My friend Stefanie has come up with a wonderfully cute project

and the pattern is in her Etsy shop.

This "Burger" has all it's layers of lettuce, cheese, onion, tomato and

even the cutest pickles you've ever seen.

The 15-page pattern includes templates and instructions.

I just love it!

It's also on her blog.

Just the Push I Needed

2011-07-08T11:35:00.000-07:00

OK as I said tomorrow's guild meeting is drag in your UFO - so I went up and found my sunflower quilt and opened the box...well there it all is - now what. I looked at all the careful planning I'd done - I even made a checklist! After checking the photos I have I see with great shame I started this in 09. This is the longest I've ever let anything lie about and do nothing with it. Even my husbands 3 Stooges quilt which I had no interest in working on got finished much quicker than this. I think I just bit off more than I could sew at the time.

The original pattern I drew back in 09.

The box of parts as of today.

I'd even forgotten what some of the fabric looked like - how sad.

Well time to jump into action and get something done with this.

I'm going to try very hard to not let myself work on anything

else till this is finished - we'll see how that goes.

Here are a few links to show how I got to this point so far.

The flower center

The flower petals

The Cutting begins

New Quilting Goodies

2011-07-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got my new set of dies from Accuquilt and boy what a joy they are.

I've not used any of them yet, but plan on trying them out this weekend.

Our guild meeting this Saturday is for UFOs and I've got that old sunflower quilt

I'm taking. I've not even cut the background yet and think these dies just might be

the answer. Everything else is cut and ready to go.

Another thing that is ready to go is the fish quilt - "Mama's Koi Pond". I hope to start quilting it on Sunday. I looked at the top on the design wall for 2 days pondering the best way to quilt this. Then after a conversation with Stefanie we came up with the perfect idea. This will require a little marking before I get started thou. Will use my new marker with a wheel to do this.

And on the jewelry front I found these nice displays at a local shop for just $4 ea. The ones I'd seen at the hobby stores were $10 and I wanted at least 4 - too much money. These are nice and do the job. I had to audition several necklaces on them. I really like the look. I also needed an earring display and found one that I can make for almost no money - great!

Well working outside the house today and need to get going.

Happy 4th!

2011-07-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

Well the high today is 95 and you know it's summer - whew. I'm not a huge fan of hot weather. So hopefully I'll get more done on the taking way to long fish quilt. I worked on it last night and have the front very close. Yea I know I've been saying that for days.
Started a new zen doodle hand print yesterday and have the inking almost half done - it's so cute. Still lots to do on it thou.

What A Wonderful Day

2011-07-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

Well today was just too perfect. I've spent the bulk of the day

having fun and doing some jewelry.

I've watched movies on my computer and worked away.

So relaxing. Since it's so hot out

this is a good place to be.

Wire weaving - copper with glass seed beads

and a beautiful big amber bead .

Wire Weaving - copper with yellow turquoise and glass.

Coiled Rings - these were a test and I think I like the general look. They do need much tweaking thou. When I'm trying out something new I make the sample from aluminum sometimes - just to work out the bugs and not use my more expensive wire.

This wire is too soft thou for a wearable ring.

Not Getting Anything Done

2011-06-30T15:36:00.000-07:00

Well this week has been low on creativity due to working outside in the real world. I've gotten behind on all my blog reading/chat groups and of course sewing. I did manage to get my table runner finished last night thou. Hopefully this weekend I'll get back in the swing. I get so spoiled when I'm home for days (not working) if working isn't a buzz kill for your creativity I don't know what is - but then you do have to be able to afford fabric...what's a girl to do.

The flip side

A Fun Weekend

2011-06-27T06:34:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful weekend. On Saturday my sister and her friend came by and visited a while and I got to meet her friends baby - Ava. I'd made Ava a few hats and a pillow case dress but I'd only seen photos of her. She is so sweet. My kids got to meet Ava too and they were good kids.

Isn't she sweet.

I did the outline of a hand zen doodle for Ava's mom and put

Ava's hand in the palm of her mother's. This will be fun to draw

and I'll show you the progress as I go.

On Sunday I got the table runner pieced and started the quilting. I would have been finished with the quilting but I got in a hurry towards the end and let my stitches get too big and had to pick it out. I don't think there is anything I hate more than un-sewing free motion, but it had to be done. So I've a little left to quilt and then I can put on the binding.
I've decided to take the grandmother's flower garden I'm working on and let it be the center of a lap quilt. I just kept going with the hand piecing and it's gotten beyond the table topper it started out as. More to come on that later.

Oh what a good day!

2011-06-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

Well today started out as just a run of the mill day - a little house work, running errands and then poof! I stopped at the post office and had 2 boxes. One was a book I'd been wanting for a good while that was on sale on Interweave in the Hurt Book Sale (and overstocked) My book wasn't hurt but was 1/2 price so I'm a happy girl. Today is the last day of this sale by the way. They have a huge selection of topics.

The other package was from the watch fairy - Elaine. If this isn't enough to make me jump up and down then little else will. Oh joy look at all those parts and bits. The big pocket watch case has my mind running in circles thinking of what to make with it. The small bits are screaming Post Cards!

This morning after his shower hubby informed me there is "very little soap left". OK that sounds like we're out of soap but I know there's at least 10 bars of Olay in the laundry room - I'm a bulk purchaser.
In my mind when we get down to 2 of something we're out! So I'm thinking he's wanting more of the glycerine soap. I told him I'll make it in a day or two. After getting home from errands, putting everything away and determining what's for dinner - I had some time to kill. OK I'll try this and see how it works. So here's the mess I've made. The timer just went off so it's ready to pop out of the molds. Keep your fingers crossed. I tossed some oatmeal in one of the bars just to see how that worked out. The others are just soap and coconut scented.

All my excitement over watch parts, books and even the cutest little water melon I've ever seen - yes I bought it cause it was cute - I was not abel to pass on my excitement to the fat boy here. After he figured he wasn't going to get another milk bone he's just not interested any more.

It is cute thou isn't it. Even thou it's cute it will

die a fast death later today.

Somebody Stop Me!

2011-06-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

OK just how many projects can a girl have going on at one time? I just don't know the answer obviously. So with 1 monster UFO calling from upstairs, an almost finished top on the machine, several post cards in the works and then yesterday I stared a table runner?

These strips will be cut and then sewn together once again.

I cut these strips with my studio cutter - LOVE IT!

If that's not bad enough I go out and buy supplies to make soap?

Oh dear me. Well I just can't help myself. Hubby loves glycerin soap.

This will be coconut scented.

Today is house work day so no sewing/creating. I like to get all the house work out of the way in one day if possible. I'm all mopped out now and ready to do something simple like dust. If I do the hard stuff first it seams fun to do the simple ones - oh how I have to trick myself when it comes to housework.
But tonight is girls night and we're going to a painting class - social art - it's a good thing.

A Few Easy Peices

2011-06-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

Well I'm still plugging away on my English Paper Piecing and enjoying it a lot. Sadly thou I didn't think too far ahead and don't have enough of the white on white fabric to make this too much bigger. So a decision will need to be made as how I'll progress. For now here is how it's looking. Still thinking it needs that dash of red.

I also got my new camera "case" finished yesterday. The main purpose of this is to protect the screen on the camera when it's in my purse. It's not a high impact case (Peltex 70 between 2 layers of cotton) but will be perfect to protect the little camera when I go out. Hubby wanted to use the camera this coming weekend so this pushed me to get it done. Isn't that fabric just the cutest!

So with several little projects completed and my swap all boxed up and

ready for it's post office trip today I was able to get back to my fish quilt.

The other day I was watching a Ricky Tims video on-line and he showed this quilt - sorry I forgot the maker's name, that had these TINY prairie points inside the quilt. I loved that idea and thou I've not tried to make any as small as the example he showed I thought I'd give it a try here. This quilt will have a LOT of black and these slightly out of charter colors will really pop. My smallest point started with a 1.75" square. There are 3 different sizes and I really like the uneven effect. I have black batting ready to quilt this with. The back is finished and the quilt will be 50 x 50. I hope to have it ready for sandwiching by this coming weekend. As of now planning on the quilting being done in med gray.

Beauty and the Beast

2011-06-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

My friend Stefanie gave me the left overs when she made her beautiful niece several pillow case dresses. They were just big enough to make little dresses for Ava. So here is my very first children's garment. (remember the hat I made for her). With Edna's help it even has french seams and the arm holes are finished with bias tape. Wow for me that's pretty impressive.

I guess we all make some things just for utilitarian purposes. Those things that just need to serve a purpose and that purpose isn't being pretty. Some people would take the time to make even a tote bag for farmers market a beautiful thing to behold but I'm not of that mind set I guess. So when it comes to making a tote for my dapping kit strength was all I was thinking about. At first I thought I'd use duck cloth which I had some of, but then I saw the legs from some old jeans still on the back of my sewing chair from where I made cut offs for hubby earlier this week. One leg was just worn out at the knee but the other one wasn't too bad and this became my fabric of choice. So here is my tote and it's sure not pretty, but it is very strong. I don't know how much this set weights but I'd not want to drop it on my foot for sure.

Oh and I wanted to share with you my new hand bag. I just love it. My friend Jeanette made it for me. I picked out the fabric and she did the rest. Like the other one she made me it has a circle of pockets on the interior. This is what spoiled me so bad with the other one. Isn't the fabric on the outside beautiful.

And speaking of bags I've got the pattern drawn up for a new camera case. I'd just made my old one when my little sony pass on. So the new camera is stuck at home till a new case gets made.

Jewelry Making - Made Easy

2011-06-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

Today I've added my first post on jewelry making How To's. This will have tons of info on making and designing jewelry. If you have questions please let me know and I'll address those on the How To page. I've had so many people say if only I lived near and could take your jewelry classes - well here you go. Enjoy!

Getting Ready For A Workshop and a Little Sewing

2011-06-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

Well I've been getting some samples ready for my next Wire Workshop. I really enjoy making jewelry as you know and these new pieces have been a lot of fun. I've used a torch on metal plenty of times but yesterday I experimented on several techniques for cooling (quenching) the metal to get different results. I wanted samples for the class and well it was just fun to play. Copper and brass are my 2 favorite metals at present and those are the ones I was planing with. I'll be teaching the class different ways to change the color of the metals and also we learn how to use a dapping block - oh and a new cold connection too. So trying to work that into a ring became a challenge so I just ended up making a necklace too.

just love this patina on the copper

The simple ring we will make in the workshop.

Simple flat band with cupped metal disk and beads.

Dapping block disks torched in 2 different ways.

Both are copper - great variety of results.

Mixed Metal bracelet (brass & copper) with

yellow turquoise and pretty leaf clasp.

Well today I really need to get the directions written up for next Saturday's class but I'm thinking I'd rather be sewing - so off I go to have a good discussion with the Pfaff.

She's such a good listener.

A Look At Some of TAFA

2011-06-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

As you can see on my side bar I'm a member of TAFA and it's sure a wonderful group of talent.
I just found out I'd made 2 more treasuries on Etsy and wanted to share some of the beautiful art.

To See These Artists

To visit some of these shops.

Think Spring Swap Finished

2011-06-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

Today was open house at JoAnn and I had a good time as usual. Talking with some of my current students and meeting new ones. Talking about jewelry for 2 hours is always a good time. I did make several new pieces this morning and will hopefully get photos of those done tomorrow.

For now thou I have completed my Think Spring Swap and I'm pleased with how it turned out. I've wanted to try a moth for a good while and this was the perfect time.

When I was sewing down the top wings they did a little flapping with each zig zag which made me smile cause he was coming to life. He'll go to his new home soon but for now he can hang out in the sewing room. It's 8x10. The 4 fabrics were a challenge but he's very cute. I did use the back and front of the green to get my 2 shades for the grass.

Moths and Night Sewing

2011-06-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

Well night sewing is done while watching TV and as I've mentioned I've started a grandmother's flower garden "something". Not sure at this point how big it will get. It will for sure be a table topper. I have always normally done knitting/crocheting or zen doodles while watching tv but this has taken over and a basket sits by my chair now and I check it to make sure I have the little shapes cut out and ready. So glad I got the floor ott lamp when it was on sale half off. It's a blessing for sure. I'm really getting into the small stitches - 12-14 per inch. This is a very calming sewing project. Not sure yet how it will be quilted. Someone suggested I should hand quilt, but I'd originally planned to do it with the Sashiko. So I'll decide when it's done.

I've also been working on a new swap project. It's the Think Spring swap with the Quilt With Us Group. They sent the fabrics we are to use and they really made me think hard. Of the 4 fabrics only one was something I would buy - so it's really taken me outside my color comfort zone. You know me and my earth tones with the occasional red tossed in. There are prints I'd not use often too and it's been a mind exercise to figure out a design. Here are the fabrics again and a look at where I am so far.

I wandered around in JoAnn looking for the perfect "something" to make the moth's body out of. I even looked at fur - so I'll keep my final body material hidden till you can see it completed. Need some free motion on the tall grass and then I'll get started on that moth's body.

Oh I just love them little post cards I do

2011-06-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

I'd planned to work on my swap for the "Think Spring" swap on Quilt With Us but some how got side tracked into my little world of post cards. They really suck me in. So after breakfast this morning I set up a few ideas. Didn't know if I'd shown you how I prep my small projects.

All lined up and ready to start sewing.

1 Lump or 2

Paula gave me several great old spoons

and I've been trying to figure out how to do

something with them. This is the first one I've used.

Had to get that copper in there of course.

Tick Toc #2 in the series

Tried out a new technique on this one.

The lumpy part under the clock works.

Used my cookie cooling rack and some muslin.

Pushed the fabric into the little holes and then

ironed some steam-a-seam on the back.

Elven Shield

When I was making this one I imagined that I found it in the back yard

where a little elf had lost it in his hurry to escape my little yorkie.

The brass shield was hammered and torched for the beautiful colors.

Cherry Blossom - just needed to make a simple one too.

I did get my swap piece all ironed, all

the fabrics selected and the pattern printed.

Maybe I'll work on it tomorrow.

I said I'd never do it...

2011-06-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hand sewing that is. Well what do you know, I guess the old saying of never say never applies here. I was so stubborn about hand sewing saying I only did this when sewing on beads or embellishments I just couldn't get under my sewing machine foot. I do push a lot of whacky stuff under the foot too, metal, screen, wire - well you know how I am. I got a book with a beautiful grandmother's flower garden quilt in black and white and just fell in love with it. I showed it to my friend Edna and she said the best way to do this was to hand sew it. My heart dropped. But game for most anything I figured I'd give it a try. Was I ever surprised when I fell in love with it. Edna made me a template and I cut out the freezer paper and then ironed on to my fabric and cut that out. Sewed the paper down and then started hooking the sections together - Hooked! I will admit I've wish listed the die for this method on Accuquilt and will order it very soon. It cuts both the paper and fabric - genus! So I'll finish up this table runner and my next one will be all cut out with the crank of the wonderful handle. Till then thou I'll keep cutting by hand.

The white fabric has a white print of ginkgo leaves on it. I may not be able to pass up putting a touch of red in this little runner. I have some beautiful red orientals.

Hammering, Sewing & Knitting

2011-05-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

That's what I'm doing today. I will have to cram in some cooking at some point too I guess. I just finished a crocheted hat and I'm knitting the matching scarf using giant needles. I've had these a while but never used them, they feel very strange to knit with.
I played around with some metal this morning and tried several new things like brass. I'm normally into copper but the brass was fun to work with. I was trying to do some things with my little torch and asked hubby why it wasn't working and he said my torch was just too wimpy. Then he brought out his... instant fear! It's big and the flame makes a whoosh noise. But I did it and - I liked it!

Hammered Brass with Hammered Copper

Double wrapped copper on copper

Here are my reading glasses for scale, those are big honking needles.

But I love the way it looks.

And here is the cute little hat that Stefanie helped me to make on

Friday for sweet little Ava. Can't wait to see her with this on.

Thanks Stefanie! I have pattern issues and Stefanie had to take me

threw this the first time.

And my sewing projects are a new swap I'm in called

Think Spring! The hostess sent fabrics out to each of us

and we have to use these and can add another few fabrics and

what ever else we want too.

I think I have a plan for this, but I have a plan B just in case.

See, tough fabrics to use.

And here is the back of the fish quilt.

I have the front cut out and ready to zip into.

This is kind of a mixed up post, but really kind of an average day for me.

Hope your day is good and your with family/friends today.