Remember that quilt?

Well, it's not done yet!  Seven atc's seemed to manage to get made out of it too.  

Do you suppose there might be anything else?

I haven't talked about books here for quite awhile, but I've just finished reading two that I thought were worth sharing.  Most of you will remember having seen the famous photograph taken during the Vietnam war of the little naked girl running in the road after having been horribly burned by a napalm bomb.  Kim Phuc was that little girl and she has written the story of her life in a book called 'Fire Road'.  My friend and I went to hear her speak just before Christmas and she has had an incredible life.  She's an amazing speaker and her book is one I highly recommend that you read.  ('Fire Road - A Memoir of Hope' by Kim Phuc Phan Thi, ISBN 978-1-4964-2429-7, c 2017).  

The other book is fiction, but written in a very factual way.  It's the story of Alice who, at 50, was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease.  Her story of her gradual descent into the disease is at times hard to read (probably, in my case, because both my mother, my mother-in-law, and a  sister-in-law  had the disease, and currently one of our friends is dealing with it) but gives you a good insight into the gradual decline that the disease causes.  ('Still Alice' by Lisa Genova ISBN 978-1-5011-064-2, c2009).

Today, a quote by Albert Einstein..."Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen, and thinking what no one else has thought"

Looking back once again and still celebrating

First of all, did you  know that today is 'World Embroidery Day'?  I didn't either,   What are you planning to do to celebrate the occasion?  I, of course, will be working on the grand secret project!

Please excuse the picture quality on this piece!  I thought that you might like to see it though, despite the poor photo.  This was my 2006 entry into 'The Quilt' (the breast cancer fundraiser). 

It measured 18x18" and was entitled "All I Want For Christmas"...."All I want for Christmas is an end to the disease that robs us of our mothers, sisters, grandmothers, daughters, friends and sometimes our men.  Hopefully this small quilt will help."

If you can see the snowman on the mid-left - it was one of my first forays into the use of waste canvas on my pieces.

 Yesterday was our monthly CQTeers meeting and the birthday celebration continued on.  Sue and Irene both gave me some fun things and I thought you might like to see....

Irene made me this adorable little owl, created from an Ann Wood pattern.  I promptly named her 'Hilda' and she will reside in my sewing room overlooking all I do.

Thank you Irene!

(she measures about 5" high)

Sue is the queen of all things paper (which we like to tease her about), so she gave me these pretties to create with.  I know these will be showing up on some of my atc creations in the future.

Thank you Sue!!



Our theme for this month was 'strawberries' and these are the atcs we exchanged...

The one on the top is by Irene, the two on either side were created

 by Sue and the bottom was mine.

Today your quote is from Melissa Loruso....."We cannot change the direction of the wind but we sure can change the direction of our sails"

ATC's

Today was our monthly CQTeers meeting and the theme for our ATC swap was 'buttons'. 

Sue created the one on the upper right - button is made from a wine cork.  Irene did the ones on the bottom - tiny Dorset buttons (impressive to work them that small!); and I did the one on the upper left (commercial buttons, with vintage paper).

The quote for today is from John Fischer....  "Let's assume that each person has an equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different - to realize whatever unique potential of body, mind and spirit he or she possesses"

Silly husbands and meeting

I must firstly apologize for the horrible picture, but I simply have to show you just what type of man I married!  Last night he asked what I wanted for dessert...the choices were frozen yogurt, a coconut tart or some cheesies.  My response was that I didn't care what I got and I would eat whatever appeared.  Well, being a nut case, he gave me all three...presented artfully....

How in the world he managed to balance the tart on top

of the cheesies is beyond me!

And, in case you're interested, here's the

recipe for the tarts...

JELLY COCONUT TARTS

2 eggs, beaten slightly

1 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter

2/3 cup unsweetened coconut

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon apple jelly, per tart

Combine eggs, sugar, coconut, and vanilla.

Place small piece of butter and jelly in the bottom

of each prepared tart shell.  

Spoon egg mixture over top.

Bake 15 minutes at 450 degrees.

Today was the CQTeers meeting at my house.  Irene was here, but Sue was absent due to having shingles...ouch.  Anyway, we had our usual exchange of atc's - this month the theme was 'embroidery'...

Irene did the one on the right.  Her background

was a lovely hand-woven piece of cotton she got 

while on a trip to Montserrat in the Caribbean.

Mine is the little fellow on the left - my background 

is some of my rusted fabric.

We always try to have some sort of programme at our meetings whereby we try a new technique or play with some sort of material.  This time we made little faces using paperclay and some face molds I have in my stash.  (and yes, Sue...I made a few for you too!!).  

These are now drying and will be ready to use in
future projects.

Playing catch up

Today's post will be a bit of a hodge-podge because I'm somewhat behind on several things I had wanted to show you.

Another long-awaited treasure arrived in my mailbox last week too - my copy of 'Elegant Cross Stitch Sentiments For Crazy Quilting' by Pam Kellogg (Kitty and Me Designs).  There are over 50 cross stitch patterns she has designed in the book.  All are suitable for many different applications, but you already KNOW I'll be using some of them in my crazy quilting!  

Last week was our monthly CQTeers meeting and our 'theme' was Zentangles.  Below is a picture of the art works (atc sized) that we exchanged...

The card on the upper left was made by moi last month during a class that Irene gave.  The middle card (top row) was made by Sue, as was the one in the lower row middle.  Irene created the zentangle on black on the upper right, as well as playing with fabric crayons on the one bottom left.  The three in the middle were my work.

Each month we try to have a 'program' whereby the hostess for that month teaches some sort of project or technique.  It was my turn this time and I had been wanting to try something I had discovered on the internet (but unfortunately I am unable to credit the source...if it happens to be you, please let me know so I can give proper credit!). Anyway, it's a watercolor painting (and yes, it's supposed to be birch trees!!)...

Needless to say, I don't foresee any sort of 

career in painting in my future (even after I'm dead and buried!!).

And finally, I have to show you my yard sale score.  I probably paid too much for this ($10) but I HAD to bring it home.  I think it's made of oak and is old, but I don't think it's an 'antique'.  It had legs on it, but I had Jack take them off because I think it looks far better without them.  It measures approx. 20" from top to bottom and I don't know if you can tell from the picture but the glass is curved....

A fun day

Today was our regular monthly CQTeers meeting and, of course, we ate FAR too much chocolate and did FAR too much laughing.  In between all the eating and the giggling, we exchanged ATC's...

At our meetings we quite often have a challenge to create something.  This month there were two.  Irene challenged us to play with a screen printing kit she made for us and my creation ended up being the atc on the upper right.  Done on fabric.  The other challenge was to make a paper doll (of any sort) using a purchased paper 'kit' by Mary Englebreight.  I did the two atc's in the upper row using two of the images from the kit.  Sue made actual paper dolls from hers and I, of course, forgot to take a picture.  The two atc's on the bottom are by Irene (on the left) and by Sue (on the right).

A further picture of the silkscreening process I did...

I tried some on paper and some on fabric.

At our meetings we generally have a program where we learn a new technique or how to make something.  It was my turn to hostess so this is what I came up with...

 These flowers were made using duct tape from instructions found HERE.

The flowers on the right were made using felt and I'm sorry to say that I don't remember where I found the instructions.  If they were yours, please let me know so I can give proper credit. 

Piles and atc's

Well folks, there's no real pictures of stitching today and when I do show you these photos you will understand why!!

Most of that mess is simply because of having to find

space for my new printer!!  

Yikes!!

On another note...today was our monthly CQTeers meeting and  our 'theme' was to create something using a cup and saucer die cut that Sue gave us as our inspiration.  These are what I came up with...

They're done on fabric, trapuntoed, and then painted.  I had some really shiny 'goo' that went over top to hopefully reflect the glaze that is on a 'real' cup and saucer.

Sue made the lovely one below - from paper, which is her forte.....

atc's and dolls

Today was our monthly CQTeers meeting and, as usual, we exchanged atcs.  This month our theme was 'Beads or Buttons'.  Below are the ones I received in our trade...

Irene did the one on the upper left and Sue did the one on the bottom which is actually a needlecase which came complete with buttons, thread, needle AND a bandaid (was she trying to tell us something?).  The one on the upper right was from the challenge we had last month using foil and was also made by Sue.

Below is what I made for the trade, including a couple of crocheted bookmarks which incorporated beads too.

This time we met at Irene's house and we had a number of sweet little 'visitors' - unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so I couldn't take a photo of them all but this sweet little lady came home to live with me....

Isn't she sweet? 
She has a definite snooty attitude!

Thank you Irene!!

CQTeers and ATC's

Today was our monthly CQTeers meeting and, as usual, we consumed far too much chocolate and had far too much fun gabbing and showing off our latest creations.  This time the theme for our atc swap was 'silhouettes' and here's a photo....

The two on the upper left were made by Irene (one is in the style of Monika Aebisher).  The two on the bottom left were made by Sue and the ones on the upper and lower right were mine.  We are amassing quite a collection of atc's - little works of art that are so much fun to do.

ATC's

Today was our monthly CQTeers meeting where we eat far too much chocolate, laugh a lot, have grand discussions, and learn a thing (or three) along the way.  Our theme this month was to create something using the faux butcher's twine we learned to make last month from the tutorial on THIS blog.

Here is what the three of us came up with
(and you can see examples of the 

faux butchers twine on the right)

The flower on the upper left was mine, loosely taken from a free  PrickandStitch pattern from HERE.  On the upper right is the dress form by Sue and Irene created the buxom gal on the lower left.  Hers combined not only the butcher twine, but the woven paper technique from the month before, and a couple of paper beads we had learned to do at another meeting.  The card on the lower right was from Irene for my birthday (last month) - the back reads "It gets to the stage where you need all your breath to blow out all the candles". 

Hearts and zentangles

The mail yesterday brought the heart I received in the heart swap I was in....

 Isn't it gorgeous?

The image in the centre is lovely and DeeDee has
highlighted it with a beautiful vintage crystal button
and also a pearl necklace with matching earrings.

Here's a close-up of the flowers....

Thank you so much DeeDee - I love it.
And a huge thanks must go to
Debbie Hembree for organizing the swap!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Yesterday was our monthly CQTeers meeting and
our theme 

(beyond eating chocolate, of course)

was zentangles...

The top two atcs were done by
Irene (our resident zentangle guru).
Sue did the one on the lower left

and mine is on the lower right.  

Another fun day!

A meeting of the minds

Every month our little crafting group gets together and exchanges atcs and generally the hostess comes up with a small how-to that we can play with.  This month is was my turn to host and I'm sure the ladies arrived with trepidation knowing full well that some of the 'how-tos' I've managed to come up with have been more like 'how NOT to'.  Being a last-minute sort of person I left it til last night to come up with what we would do.  

We made decoupaged buttons and these are mine...

These will be great sewn onto a crazy quilt piece.  

Above are the atcs we exchanged.  Last month the theme was 'masks' and the top one on the left was what I did and Sue made the one on the right.  This month it was 'artist choice' and Halloween is on everyone's mind I guess.  I made the one on the left and Sue did the other two.  My efforts this time were quite paltry, but I was under a time restraint and thought I did well to get anything done at all.

A fun day, with a couple of fun-to-be-with friends - what more could I want?

atc's

Wednesday was our CQTeers meeting and this month the theme was 'doors'.  The bottom left is by Sue and the one on the right (with the door open) is one of Irene's famous pebble-heads.  The upper right one is by moi -I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but there's a tiny little roll of toilet paper to complete the 'outhouse' theme.  We had fun with the fact that Sue and I both were thinking outhouses!!

The bird card on the upper left came in the mail yesterday from Debbie.  She included a nice note written on a card she had stamped with the same little bird, along with the envelope too.  Needless to say one of those little birds is going to appear in my garden journal!  Thank you Debbie!

dolls - of the little sort

 

The theme this month for the Decidedly Different Doll Doll Group was May flowers and above is a photo of the beautiful wee doll I received from Stacie.  There is an incredible amount of beading on her and I`m totally thrilled with her.  Thank you Stacie!

Below is the doll I made for Stacie....

  

Stacie and I also did a small swap of atcs and above you can see the first ones she has ever made.   I think I`m pretty lucky to get her first efforts!  She also included a pkg. of bead soup which she knew my magpie leanings would delight in.  Be sure to enlarge the picture so you can see them - I especially like the rusty coloured ones.

Thanks Stacie!

CQTeers meeting and more flowers

Today was our CQTeers meeting at Irene's.  Our theme for our atc exchange this month was 'buttons'.  In the top picture you can see what we traded.  The upper left is by Kym, using some polymer clay buttons we made a couple of months ago at one of our meetings.  Upper middle is by Irene - she did a handmade cloth button.  The lower middle is by Sue.  She is our paper wizard and does lovely things - this time combining buttons and paper.  Mine is on the lower left - I copied an old button card for the background and also copied an old pkg. of needles. Buttons are from my stash (no, they weren't pre-dipped in cat litter!). Sue did the Mother's Day atc too. 

The jar of liquid you see in the picture is homemade walnut ink which is what we played with.  Irene made her own simply by boiling ripe black walnuts and some water.  Never again will I spend money to buy walnut ink, because this stuff is great!  She very kindly shared some of her stash with us and I can't wait to do some further playing with it.

The flower is a tree peony which is currently in gorgeous full bloom in our garden.  Last year it only had one or two flowers so it was a surprise to see how well it's doing right now.  If you'd like to use any of the flower images you see on my blog in your art, feel free to nab the photos!

Art dolls and ATC's

Meet 'Windy', the wonderful little art doll that arrived in my mailbox today from Jeanne of the 3D's art doll group! Jeanne says that this is the first doll she's made with paper mache and I think she's gorgeous. I don't know if Jeanne is aware of my love for denim, but if you enlarge the picture I think you will see that denim played a large part in this wee doll! Unfortunately the photo doesn't show how sparkly she is.

Jeanne also included some atcs for my collection (see the photo below). Again, I don't know if she knew I collected them, but if she didn't, she must have ESP! She also included some pretty lace, which will be added to my stash for future use in my crazy quilting. Thank you Jeanne!!
Yesterday was our CQTeers meeting and we did our usual exchange of atc's. This month the theme was 'fish'. Irene created the one on the upper left, mine is upper right, Kym's is lower left, and Sue's is on the lower right. Our 'program' this time was to learn a little bit about working with polymer clay and we all made some little buttons.

ATC's and CQT's

Today we had our CQTeers meeting and exchanged our Christmas and Valentine's atcs. Sue very cleverly made us each a name tag atc (to remind each of us as to who we were, because we haven't seen each other for a couple of months). The three atc's above were made by Sue and she also made us each one of the really exquisite paper ornaments. Be sure to click on the photo so you can see the details! She missed our Christmas meeting, so was getting us caught up.
This month our theme was 'hearts' and you can see above what fun we had creating. The one on the upper left is by Kym; Sue did the two on the upper right; and mine were the bottom two. Irene chose to make us each an icicle doll (shown below) instead. In case you didn't notice the card on the upper right that Sue made is a heart carved in a tree with Jack & my initials. Cute idea!!
Sue also made each of us the pretty little chocolate holder you see in this picture. We had a fun show & share, lunch, and then Irene (the hostess) showed us how to make the fun fabric flowers you see on the lower left. We each had some great ideas of what we can use or make with these. I'm looking forward to making some more to try out some of the ideas!

ATC's and crayons

Today was our CQTeers meeting and, as always, I came home with some pretty cool atcs to add to my collection. This month our theme was 'artist choice'. The picture above shows what we did. The top two were by me; Sue did the one on the bottom left (encaustic); Kym the one in the middle (zentangle); and Irene the one on the right (a mini doll).

Sue taught us how to do encaustic painting using an iron and kids crayons (who knew!). I can see I have a long way to go with this technique, but it was a lot of fun. I have decided I need to invest in a thrift store iron with a solid plate. Mine has holes for the steam and, despite covering it with aluminum foil, seemed to have spots that didn't work so well. These are done on the cardboard which comes in packages of panty hose...it has a 'shiny' side which helps the crayon wax not to melt directly into the paper. Some of my experiments are below....

Flowers - of another sort!

Today was our monthly CQteers meeting and, as usual, we had fun. Sue taught us a really pretty watercolour technique and my efforts are in the above picture. I will certainly play with this again! (thanks Sue).

The below picture is the atcs we exchanged (on a 'Recycling' theme). The one on the right is by Sue; upper middle is by Irene; lower middle by Kym' and the two on the left are mine. The 'red' one is the true recycling one...made from newspaper and a bit of red paper I had in my scrap pile. The title is....wait for it.....'Black and White and Read all over'. SO original!! The other one was simply a personal challenge to make something out of 'stuff' I had dwelling on my worktable.

Tomorrow there is not likely going to be a post. We've been invited to a cottage for the day so I doubt I'll have time to be on the computer. Do feel free to talk amongst yourselves!!