Skating?

I'm taking a crack at skating tonight at an open skate. I figure if I skate veeeeerrrryyy gingerly and don't try to be a hero, I should be ok. Wish me luck NOT falling on my ass and fucking myself up again. :D

I feel like such a weenie. I'm actually nervous about a goddamned open skate. Yeesh, get over it, Jess.

It's Snowing!

Checking out my little weather gal on the blog page, reminded me to say something about the SNOW! It was crazy this afternoon. The snow was really slushy and not really sticking then the storm really blew in and it started lightening and thundering!! and the snow was blowing diagonally North to South. OK it wasn't straight horizontal blowing , but it was CRAZY! The DH and DS3 just came in from blowing and shoveling the driveway and walks. It sure helps w/the holiday spirit to see the snow out there.

Merry Christmas Everyone!! Lauri

The Jacket is Done!

Yea! The jacket is done and I've actually worn it twice and I actually really like it. At first it seemed a bit big and stiff, but I washed and dried it and it softened up a bit.

So this is how I made it. I cut the ribbing off the bottom, cuffs and neckline. I cut up the sides and took out the stitching in the sleeve seam. Then I folded the front in half and cut up the middle. I spread it out on the cutting table and made sure it would lie flat. It didn't have raglan type sleeves like most sweatshirts and I think I would have preferred raglan sleeves. It would have laid flatter. But Oh Well, it's what I had. So I measured it from end of sleeve to end of sleeve and from bottom front edge to bottom back edge. I think it was 68" x 90". Making the lining a bit bigger. I used 3 1/3 yards folded in half the long ways and seamed it. Loaded it on the machine. Laid the sweatshirt on it and used safety pins to hold it down and rolled it up to make sure it fit before I started stitching.

I used Pam Clarke's 1" line stencil on a 45º angle and marked the cross-hatching lines. I didn't use a ruler (too lazy) I just did wavy lines and went back and forth in matching grey thread. It was REALLY boring. But then I got to do the fun part and I added the vines and berries free hand in variegated threads. Yep, Superior Thread. I maybe should have ironed on some totally stable to keep it from puckering up. It only did a little bit and then I tried to be more careful. It's comfy and warm and even looks a bit stylish.

Yup. Broken.

Hooray! I apparently did "break the hell out of" my tailbone. At least this happened at the last practice before a short break. Granted, I'm supposed to be staying home for a few days to rest, but that's a bit tough when it's the last week before the holiday break and we have no subs because everyone else is out "sick" and is "recovering" in sunny Bermuda.

It really sucks to actually be injured, but feel too guilty to stay home. What the hell is wrong with me?

Happy birfday to me.

All in all I had an excellent birthday. I had a great time at my party, I got some excellent gifts, and I ate lots of cake. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it. Hooray!

One birthday present I could really do without, though, was whatever I did to my tailbone during practice. Afterwards it hurt to sit at all, and I spent the night alternating between resting on each hip. When I woke up today I could barely move. I'm definitely seeing the doctor when I can, because I think I really hurt myself.

While I've heard that ice is good for tailbone injuries, I'm going to see if eating large quantities of birthday cake helps.

Doing Too Many Things!

So I really have been trying to get back to put something new on my Blog. But Craziness reigns around here. Tis the Season. Right? I have several things in the works and thought I'd share pictures of some of the projects I am in the middle of right now.

First is the Grandmother's Flower Garden that I'm using Ami Simms Invisible Applique techinique to hand piece. I don't have pictures because I want to show a little tutorial when I get a chance. So keep checking back for that. I don't have her book but saw a clip of her teaching it on The Quilter's News Network. It works Loverly, and I'm addicted. I love it because I can sit and do it in my comfy chair in the family room while the family watches a movie.

Second, I've decided that my extended family members deserve a quilt from me. I've made some for nieces and nephews, but I kind of skipped my siblings. So I put a top on that I've had for a while. Here's a picture, but I can't say who it's for right now. I'm working on having a consistent spine. Usually I just freehand it, cuz it's easy. I love feathers. You'll learn this as we go along. I can't help myself I just have to feather things. This is the first time I've tried this curl thingy. I really like how it's turning out.

Then I started a quilted sweatshirt. I took a class at Innovations in Seattle a couple years ago and learned how to do this. I came home and made one. I gave it to my friend Niquie. She loves it and gets bunches of compliments on it. I've told myself TONS of times that I'm going to make more. Then last year I actually bought a couple sweatshirts and guess what? I never did it last year, so here I am doing this year. Basically you just cut the sweatshirt apart. First cut off the ribbing from the bottom, sleeves and neck. Then cut up the sides and the sleeve seam. Then fold the front in half and cut up the middle of the front. I bought a really cute woven stripe and I love it, but because the shirt lays out funky to be flat the stripes won't quite be vertical on the back or front. But I'm going to use the leftovers to do bias binding around the edges and that will look awesome.

My Niece had a baby in October and I promised her a quilt for her little girl, and so I actually purchased a pillowcase kit because they didn't have any yardage of the cute fabric in the kit. So I'm just adding borders and going to quilt that up. Here's a picture of it laid out w/borders. My niece likes frogs, so the center panel and the green border have frogs, insects and cute sayings.

This is Santa's little helper. NOT! This is my 2 yr old that keeps interrupting mommy's projects and probably why I have so many things going on at once, because I can't remember to go BACK to the one I was working on before and then I get started on something new.

Here's the pink quilt on the ironing board waiting to get the seams pressed. Oh Well. Someday.

Til then Happy Quilting!!!

Keep checking back, I have pictures for how I load my quilt and baste the quilt to zippers.

Paper Angels

Here are some pictures of some retro inspired angels that I made last year. (Sorry, they are not the best photos, but it has been dark and rainy in my neck of the woods for days now, and as far as natural light, I just had to go with what I had.) I originally made them to sell, but I quickly became attached to them, as they look nice sitting atop my hutch, and decided to hang on to them. (This is one of those things that I had a lot of fun making, but will probably never make again.)

The tops are vintage magazine pictures, enhanced with glitter, backed with cardboard, and more vintage paper. The skirts are made from old pattern tissue, which I coated in beeswax. A bit of tulle netting and some angelina fibers complete the outfit, along with a dash of glitter and a pipe cleaner belt. The wings are also made from angelina fibers. Each one can stand on their own as shown, or hang from the attached beaded hook.

The angel above is a pretty big gal, measuring 16 inches. The blue angel is 11 inches tall, and the red angel is 8 1/2 inches. I also lined the two bigger angel's skirts with colored tissue paper, coating it with melted beeswax as well. I like the way the color peeks through the pattern tissue, and also it gives the skirts more strength.

I Can't BreathE!

Well, I'm sick!! Sorry no pictures, cuz I look AWFUL!!! Last week the 2 year old ran a slight fever and had a cough and runny nose. He's doing better now, but now I HAVE IT! and I can't breathe. Well, something good did come of it cuz I decided I was sick and that meant time off work. Right? So I didn't feel like stand up quilting at the LA machine. Sooooo, I started putting together the pink quilt on the design wall. It's amazing how differently a quilt looks when you sew the blocks together and this particular design has some 1 inch and 2 inch strips sewn in to make all the different sized blocks fit together. However, I cut up the extra 2 1/2 inch strips into squares and I piece them and use them for the filler strips. It makes it look more scrappy. But the MAIN reason I do this is so I don't have to measure!!! I can just count the 2" finished sections of the blocks and count that many sqaures and Voila! It fits. (My son in Canada would be proud of me using French in my blog! Yes, he's in the Quebec/Montreal area.)

Which gets me to thinking if anyone reading this blog lives in Canada, my DH and I are heading up there in February to pick our on up and I'm terrified that I'm going to freeze and come home as a block of ice!!! So any hints on staying warm in the Frozen North, I need them!!!! Also, I would love to visit any Quilt Shops in these areas. We'll be in Ottawa, Quebec, and Montreal. I'll just tell my DH and DS that I HAVE to go in and get warm!!! Also, any interesing sites, but I'm sure my son will be able to direct us to many of them because he's been living up there for the last 2 years. But he wasn't being a tourist, so I'm sure we could use suggestions.

I'll post pics of the pink quilt when it's all put together, and then it goes through another amazing change when it's quilted. That picture may not happen for a while as my quilts don't get quilted to quickly. They usually have to "age" a couple years before I actually get them on the machine. LOL!

I'll bet I'll be sewing tomorrow, cuz I'm still breathing through my mouth, I HATE that dry mouth feeling!! Hope you're having a Happy Quilting Season!! Lauri

My Computer is Missing!

So, My DH has been playing with my computer again and again and again. He really HATES Vista! That said he discovered something was wrong when he tried to format the drive and it wouldn't respond. After hours on the phone with the Tech people, he unplugged it from everything and sent it back to HP to get a new mother board!!! So now I have a monitor and keyboard and can't do a thing w/them! I watch streaming TV and listen to podcasts while I LA quilt and with the monitor there I keep wanting to go turn the computer on. It's only been one day and I miss it already!!!



So here's my computer cabinet minus the CPU. Just wires where it should be!! I'm so sad. So how am I posting to my blog. OK we have 2 other computers in the house, they are just up two stories and not as convenient as my computer downstairs. It's a sad little computer, but it works well enough to do what I want to do!


So now on to quilty stuff!! Here's what's on my design wall. It's been on my design wall for a week or two and it's just waiting for me to sew it all together so it can be a quilt!! Well, at least a quilt top, because getting it quilted is another story. As most LA quilters who have customers know. The customer quilts come first. Unless there is a family emergency ie: a wedding, birthday, or other important event that calls for a quilt gift.


I guess I should add this is a quilt designed by Kaye England. I took a class from her at our Utah Quilt Fest in 2006. This is my second quilt from her design. She taught us how to use the Nifty Notions half square and quarter square ruler. I LOVE them!! I don't do much in pink and when I saw the Moda Quilt Pink Jelly Roll I bought it and made this quilt. Yes, I add more colors, I couldn't do it completely Pink!!

And one more thing, someone asked to see if my husbands lighting job went ok. So here! We have a 2 story house, but after one of our neighbors slipped and fell off his roof and had to get pins put in his ankle, DH doesn't do the 2nd story. I used the picture w/o a flash so you could see the cute star lights. Merry Christmas!!!

I'm Back!

Just thought I'd post pictures of the finished quilting! I just did daisies and swirls and stuff. I love it when a quilt just calls for an all-over design. I'm not a pantograph gal, although I do look at some to inspire my all-over designs. However, mostly I go with what will complement the fabric. I usually come up with a design inspired by patterns in the fabric. Thus, the Daisy and swirls. I did use variegated thread from Superior Threads. Awesome stuff!!! I even had a bright pink pre-wound Bottomline bobbin from a variety pack I ordered!! Too GREAT!



I hope to post in the future tips and tricks to help you prepare your quilt to be quilted. For Example, the proper way to put on borders (at least according to your Long Arm quilter). It will help keep the borders from being a wavy mess and finish off your quilt. Also, binding, keeping your block square and any other trick I've learned over the years. So keep

checking back!!

Until then, Happy Quilting! Lauri

Good Morning Neverland!!!!

OK so that's a line from the movie Hook! It's OLD now, but we're exploring new movie options w/the 2 year old, because the family is getting tired of watching all the other animated movies ten thousand times.

Since I started the blog last night, I've had like a hundred ideas running through my head of what to put on it. This morning I did get up and take a picture of what's on the machine. It's a quilt for my friend Niquie. She pieces tons of tops and I have a pile of them in my closet to quilt. She gives away most of her quilts to family and friends. She has a very lucky extended family because most of them have a quilt from her.

So here's her quilt on my A-1 Long Arm. I haven't named my machine like so many quilters have. I find it hard time naming inanimate objects. Oh Well, Poor nameless machine.

Well, tons to do today. I'll get back with you later. Until then.

Happy Quilting!!! Lauri

Howdy!

So, I've tried this blogging thing several times, but now my daughter's got her's up and I think i can do it. I'm gonna be like the little engine that could and think positive. Even though I think adding one more thing to my life is CRAZY! We'll see how this goes.

So Hello! Everyone. HA! Like anyone will read my blog besides my daughter (ocassionally)! Mondays are always crazy around here. Especially when my hubby decides to take the day off work and put up the Christmas lights. Then the 2 year old doesn't want to take a nap and I get NOTHING of my stuff done all day! OK so caps around here don't mean that I'm yelling. Just putting emphasis on my words. It takes too long to underline.

I did get a couple of minutes to quilt today, which is always my main objective. Well, it's the MY time around here. Even though I'm quilting someone elses quilt on the Long Arm, I enjoy coming down and playing w/quilts and fabric. I'll try to get the picture thing figured out and post what I'm working on. Not only did I LongArm today for a little bit, but I'm also hand-piecing a Grandmother's Flower Garden. Yep, I'm pretty much crazy. Actually I'm addicted to the piecing techinic I'm using and my quilt top is taking shape! Yea!

Well, that's enough for today. I gotta leave something for tomorrow, right???

Happy Quilting! Lauri

Vintage Bling Brooches

This little piece of wearable fiber art is part of my "Vintage Bling Brooch" series. I added this one to my Etsy shop today and will be posting a few more this week. Each one is made from repurposed and recycled materials, such as bits of vintage fabrics and lace, old buttons, velvet flowers, guitar strings, and pieces of vintage jewelry. I think they look terrific this time of year worn on a coat or jacket!

Deconstructed /Reconstructed Doilys

I hope that everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday! I spent my time enjoying family, great food, (none of which I was responsible for cooking... to which I am greatly thankful!) and participating in a wonderful, grass roots effort, the Community Arts Market in Lancaster's historic Eastern Market.

This week in my Etsy shop, I will be posting some of my Deconstructed/Reconstructed Doilies. Each one is made up of various bits and pieces of vintage textiles including lace, crochet, and embroidery work, along with snippets of fabric and ribbon. I have carefully cut, layered and machined stitched these random elements together to create a unified, organic looking piece of fiber art. Each one can be used on a table top, or hung and framed.

Loosening Up

Today I had two objectives in mind:
1) Come up with some designs to be later reinterpreted in fiber.
2) Loosen Up!
I decided to forgo pen and paper, and used the paint features in one of my mysterious, unexplored computer programs. (Yes, I know I am late to board the bus.)
Why had I not realized the potential that this little computer paint brush, and paint bucket held for creative brainstorming?
Drawing with the little paint brush feature was just awkward enough to prevent me from reverting to my usual anal-retentive ways! It allowed me to do exactly what I wanted to do, loosen up!
Adding color via the little paint bucket allowed me to play with lots of color combinations with no clean up!
I am in heaven!
Looking back on my two objectives, and at the dozen of designs I created today, I feel like I was very successful, and am looking forward towards finding some time to create some new fiber pieces based on my new designs!

Gallery

I was very surprised today when I received a copy of Somerset Studio's newest issue of Gallery, (Winter 2008) in my mailbox. I looked inside to find two of my art quilts! I had sent them in ages ago, one to Somerset's "Bohemian" theme issue, and one to their Tenth Anniversary issue. Alas, my art quilts didn't appear in either of those issues, and I had all but forgotten about them. Happy to say that good things come to those who wait, as it is always a special treat to see ones work published! So, next time you are at the bookstore, take a peek at this issue. It is packed full of some wonderful art, and I am thrilled to be a part of it!

The quilt on top is called "Happy Birthday". I was inspired by a vintage illustration in a children's text book, which I re-worked, changing the banner, and adding the birthday hat, along with other little changes. I painted the image with "fantastix all purpose ink" from TSUKINEKO. I finished by embroidering all around the image and beading the background.

The bottom quilt is called "Gypsy Girl" and features a vintage postcard and a bit of text torn from an old book which I have sewn on to various fabrics including silks and upholstery fabrics. I embellished the piece with various beads, buttons and trinkets.

Moab Rock Talk Quilt in Quilters Newsletter

Woo Hoo. I'm so proud to announce that my petroglyph/rock art quilt: Moab Rock Talk is in the current issue (December 2007) of Quilters Newsletter magazine on page 34. My art quilt guild AQuA of Grand Junction, Colorado is featured in the Readers' Quilt Show on pages 34-36. Please checkout the issue of QNM and our website. I'm also listed at the back of the magazine on page 97, Extra Credit section, letting people know I teach hand applique, do trunk shows and quilt appraisals. I have to admit it was quite a rush to open up the magazine and see my quilt. A big thank you to Quilters Newsletter and AQuA members Marla Ferguson and Marge Fox for publicizing our work.

For more information about the quilt, see my Rock Art post of January 10, 2007. You can simply scroll down to the bottom of this blog or click on the January Archive tab at the right and it will take you to the quilt.

The Invasion Continues

This is another free-motion embroidered, red-work piece from the "Invasion" series I am working on, (in-between working on other things). I have to admit the ball at the woman's feet bothers me. The shape is off and I am not thrilled with the shading. Actually this was the 2nd one that I attempted. On the first one my shading got way to heavy on the woman, making everything else look off. To balance it out I would have had to show all the shadows being cast from the objects, and the whole piece would have been over-worked. So I tried again. Because I am drawing with my sewing machine, erasing or painting over the parts I am not happy with just isn't an option. And since the stitches are rather tight and often clustered, ripping them out isn't a great option, either. So I have learn to live with the things that bug me, which becomes good practice for me in letting go.
(One of my extended life lessons, and something I am continually working on.)

slice quilt

I got a surprise when I visited the Springville Museum Quilt show in Sept. and found a quilt I had worked on but hadn't entered. It was the ocean scene quilt by my friend Bev Hart (click on link at right for her blog). We slice-n-dicers, a group of 6 Utah women, each found an inspiration photo, divided it into 6 sections and then made a slice from each photo. We each worked separately making our slices so they are all unique and we all used different techniques. Bev chose the ocean scene shown here. I chose a Utah redrock scene, Rainbow Bridge (what a shock). Other scenes: an old gas station, a European fence with a grapevine, a still life w/books and clocks, and a winter street scene from a danish cookie tin. Working on each quilt and figuring what techniques to use to make the pictures come to life in fabric was quite a challenge and a learning experience.

I think Bev is the only one so far to have completed her quilt from the 6 sections. She did a great job. You can read more about her quilt on her blog.

On Bev's quilt I did the bottom left triangular section with the bright fish, seaweed and manatee parts shown in detail photo. I pieced, hand appliqued, and couched on my section.

07 Journal Quilt

Wow, things have been busy in the last 6 weeks. In addition to the great AQS news, I also learned that my petroglyph quilt Moab Rock Talk will be shown in the December issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine due out November 15.
I made a quilt for the last journal quilt project now showing at the Houston Quilt Festival show. I used a photo taken while hiking in Arches National Park with my godtwins and their grandma. Here is the quilt and the inspiration photo. I scanned the enlarged black & white photo and then used caran d'ache watercolor crayons to paint in the photo.
I also took classes, did an antique quilt trunk show/lecture and lots of appraisals at the Utah Quilt Guild annual meeting. Then onto the American Quilt Study Group seminar in the historic textile town of Lowell, Mass. My brain is overflowing from all the beautiful antique quilts I saw there and just the wonderful history everywhere, what a treat for us westerners. We don't have any cobblestone streets in Moab or anywhere in Utah. I'll soon post photos from Mass.

More photos of Karen's quilt

Here is a close up photo I took of the quilt just after it was quilted

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!

Happy days are here again, as I finally have figured out how to add a link to my post! (t took me long enough to catch on!)
Check out the two links below for some Halloween treats!

The plastic vintage witch head, as well as the plastic vintage cat head, both started life as cupcake toppers! My friend Maggie, Happy Silence bought these cute toppers, along with a skull and a pumpkin, from A. Bel Emporium and was generous enough to give me one of each. As of now the skull and the pumpkin are content just as they are, but the witch and the cat begged to be made into something new. Above is what I came up with.

Queensland Quilters Show 2007

Wow, what a great honour! My customer, Karen Mersiades has won first prize in the Non-Professional Commercially Quilted section of the 2007 QLD Quilters Show! Her quilt, "Star Gazer" was custom quilted with freehand spirals and diagonals on the backgrounds, and detailed quilting within the red stars.

Pictured is Karen, on the left, and moi admiring the quilt at the show!

Visitors

I would like to introduce you to Space Man and his trusty companion, Space Dog. They are two new visitors to our humble planet Earth, and the newest additions to my Etsy Shop!

Retro Space Love

Below are a couple of wonderful, retro, space theme flea market finds:

This is the cover of a children's book written by Marcia Martin, illustrated by Frank Vaughn and published by Wonder Books in 1953.


Here is a picture from inside the book illustrating the hero, Tom Corbette, who magically appeared one night with his trusty rocket ship named Polaris, to whisk little Johnny and little Janie off to the moon, for a fun-filled night of space exploration!


Above is the cover of a needle book which was made in Japan and distributed by the William Shaland Corporation. Below is a close up of the illustration.

So goes the month of October . . .

I cannot believe how fast this month has gone by -- although I guess I should really be surprised since this is the tenth month in a row I've made that comment. 2007, what's your hurry??

I'm so enjoying my ladies Sunday school class. I've got the best group of women; they are so determined to walk in relationship with Jesus. It's so exciting to see! They are, for the most part, passionate about truly knowing God's Word. It is such a blessing for me!

God, I love You!

:)

Hit and run.

Last night there was a hit and run on Memorial Drive. Some anonymous pig drove up onto the sidewalk and hit a man walking alone at about 2AM. He landed in the middle of the street, breaking god only knows what and losing consciousness. The driver sped off, and Steve and I were the first people to find him.

We were driving through the rain, talking about our night, and everything seemed fine. Then I saw a large lump in the street, and asked Steve "what is that?" He had noticed it too, and he said "it's a person."

Steve stopped the car, and his tail lights illuminated the man's body so people would be able to see him. I called 911 and Steve rushed to see if he was conscious. Two other people who had been driving behing us stopped too, and waited with us until the cops came about a minute later. They shut down Mem drive, and we waited while the ambulance lifted him into a gurney. The side of him that had been on the ground isn't something I'd like to describe or ever see again.

The cop took our statements, and he told us that the man died when they lifted him into the ambulance. Steve and I spent the ride home believing that we had just watched a man die. We went to bed, and I think I fell asleep some time after 4AM.

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. My father had heard about the accident on the news, and he wanted us to know that they had resuscitated the man in the ambulance, and that he was in critical condition. I was so relieved that I decided to give practice a shot after all. After calling around, I got a ride from Pussy, and was set to hopefully pass my last assessments and have a pretty great day.

However, when recounting the details of last night to Trixie, I remembered something I had forgotten from the beginning of the whole mess: I noticed the guy in the street because I saw at least three cars drive around him and leave him there. I went from zero to crying with rage in about five minutes, and after talking to Dash and Xena, I ended up sobbing like a baby in the bathroom until Steve could come and pick me up.

I have no clue why it took me until just before warmups, but it was like I hadn't gotten a chance to really think about what happened until that exact moment. It was like I was only just seeing what happened right then. I feel like SUCH A DRAMA QUEEN even typing that, and I feel like the biggest drama queen in the world for going to practice and freaking out like that. A much smarter person would have had the sense to stay home. I really should have. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm so embarassed that everyone saw me like that, but oh well. I spent most of practice sitting on the floor trying not to cry, and when I finally managed it I got up on the bleachers long enough to see the girls play blood and thunder. I was mortified, but glad I was going home.

Steve, Mike, and Terry came and got me, and I lost it all over again. I'm home now, and feeling better, but I'm very, very tired. I just don't understand how someone could drive up onto the sidewalk and hit someone and then just drive away. I suppose he or she was drunk, or not paying attention, or asleep, or driving too quickly. That person is beyond contempt, and that's not what has me so angry. I just keep losing it over the people who drove right past this totally helpless man lying in the middle of Memorial Drive. They had to go into the opposite lane to avoid him. They had to see that there was a PERSON lying on the ground and decide not to help. That is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen with my own eyes.

I don't know if we'll be able to find out if he survived it or not. I really want to. I just hope that the person who hit him is never ok. I hope the people who passed him do the right thing next time. I hope I never have to see anything like that again.

Invasion

This is one of the machine-stitched illustrated pieces I have been working on this week. The first one that I felt happy enough with to share! I call it "Invasion: July 23rd, 1955". It's a small piece, (apx. 7" x 6 1/2").

So what is this all about? Well, a few weeks ago I was joyfully watching old re-runs of the Twilight Zone on the Si-Fi channel. Several of the episodes featured flying saucers. I got such a kick out of them because they were so cheesy looking by todays standards. Nothing more then a toy model spinning around on some invisible string. Much to my delight and amusement, all the episodes featured the exact same model flying saucer, absolutely no variation! I got such a kick out of it, and the next thing I knew, I was doodling space ships, flying saucers, alien creatures and outer space vegetation every chance I had. All of this doodling unleashed lots of buried memories. No, not of any suppressed memories of alien abductions, but of lots of happy childhood memories, most of them I admit, centered around the television. What can I say, I am a very visual person. I remembered how my favorite cartoon characters were the Martian from Bugs Bunny, and the not too often seen tiny space man Kazoo, from the "Flintstones". My favorite "Munsters" episode was one where Herman is convinced he has contacted Mars on a ham radio. I loved all the old space theme movies, especially the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" I got a kick out of "Lost in Space",( yet I was never much of a fan of "Star Trek". I think it was too intelligent for my tastes!) I also really enjoyed a Dick Van Dyke show where Rob is convinced he has seen a flying saucer, as well as the episode where Danny Thomas plays an evil space alien, transforming all of Rob's friends and family into evil space people with no thumbs and with eyes in the back of their heads! Yes, as noted before I watched a lot of T.V.!
I was even a martian once for Halloween. My mom made me a green space suit, ( which she still has!) and a silver helmet. I carried a large green water pistol that acted as my ray gun. She painted my skin green with green food dye! (Not that easy to wash away!)

For this little quilt that pays homage to the media images, and imaginings that so many of us grew up with, I decided to stitch it with red thread, because I love old red-work pieces. I adapted and re-worked the image of the little boy and girl from a vintage illustration which I found in an old children's school workbook.

New Pincushions and Creative Ramblings

Here are a couple of new pincushions that I made the other week. I added a small vintage doily to each of these. Besides these I made a few others that I have been selling at the local craft shows. Hope to get a few of the new ones posted in my Etsy shop sometime this week. And then I think I may be taking a break from making them for a bit.

Feeling a bit burned out and run down. Been so busy this summer and fall making things to sell at all of the shows. I feel myself getting antsy to create some new things. Slower things. A little more art, a little less craft. This is how I always am, flip-floping back and forth, easily bored. (Big sigh)

I have been doing a lot of doodling and illustrating on the sewing machine this week. I love to draw with the machine, as it is very freeing in a lot of ways. Still working on figuring out where these ideas and doodles are going. If they amount to anything worth sharing, I will be sure to post them!

This embryonic stage of creating can be very exciting at times, but also frustrating as I stumble and fumble along, making lots of mess, and seemingly little else. I have learned, that for me it is just part of my creative process, and to just give into it.

Hope to be showing something new and different soon!

Collage Cottages

The spool of thread helps show the scale and size of this little paper cottage.

The cottage was constructed the same as the ones in the previous posts, but instead of cutting out windows and a door, I simply collaged everything.

Old papers, and brown shoe polish cover the outside. Photo copies of old photos, touches of paint, and words cut from old books are added.

The roof is enhanced with a bit of glitter and some copper tape.

The cottage below is a combination of the one above and the one from my previous post.

The windows and door were drawn on.

Old photo copies were collaged all around.

Silver glitter glue was added to create the window panes and doorway.

Text from an old book helps to tell a little story of the children who live in the house.

For an extra hidden touch, a small bell can be dropped inside the house, before the roof is put on. This makes for a fun little surprise when the houses are picked up!