I am reading (again) a book called Created to be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl. Awesome, incredible, Bible-based book. I'm enjoying it, because it reveals how being a godly wife is all about me and my relationship with God, and has nothing to do with how good or bad a husband I have. Wow. Something I read today really stuck. Debi writes: A man cannot cherish a strong woman who expresses her displeasure of him. You can say that he should model Christ's love regardless of how she acts. Is that what you want? Is it what Christ wants? Do you want your husband to be forced to seek supernatural power just to find a way to love you? Again I say, WOW! If that is not a humbling, convicting statement, I don't know what is.

I'm also preparing for Sunday's lesson. We've just started using a new curriculum from Lifeway -- MasterWork. Interestingly enough, it's based on books by two authors I really respect -- Adrian Rogers and Randy Alcorn. The first lesson is fascinating - it should be interesting to see how the class responds. I'm looking forward to teaching!

Adieu!

:)

More photos from Malaysia

Here are some details which caught my eye

Malaysia!

The light fantastic - at a restaurant in Kota Kinabalu
The rivers run - on the plane trip to Sandakan from Kota Kinabalu
Looking out over Sandakan harbour from the Buddhist temple on high
Edible wild flowers in the Borneo jungle

Maylaysia merderka!

This was the catchphrase we saw everywhere, as this Friday is the 50th anniversary of independence. We are just back after a 2 week tour of Sabah, Kuala Lumphor and Singapore. I collected Malaysian Batik fabrics and these will go into a new quilt for the new bed! Above are a few photos of the trip - more to come later!

New Worlds

This photo, taken 17 years ago, shows my daughter Em looking at me after she realized for the first time, just how big and really magical this world we live in could be. Being able to share with her something as wonderous as seeing the ocean for the first time was precious. I have been blessed to share in the daily discoverings of both her life and her sister's life, and I am so deeply grateful for the privilage.

Tomorrow Em leaves for college, and for the first time I will not be a part of her daily life, to see her sweet smile as she comes through the door, hear her laughter at the dinner table, or feel her arms around me as she gives me a goodnight hug. I will miss her deeply.

My wish for Em is that her future be as deep and wide and wonderous as the ocean, and that she may find all of the treasures buried within. And to always know that where ever she goes in this world she will always be in my heart.

Prized Fabric Finally Used

Another new pincushion! This one features a retro head on top of a wooded game piece. Looks like one of those bobbing head figures! Now that would be cool, a bobbing head pincushion! I'll have to work on that one. The fabric on this little cutie-pie is from my prized Junko Onishi prints. (It has taken me a long time to bring myself to cut into it!) I love this fabric. It features multiple prints including birds, shamrocks, checkerboard, diamond flowers, gourds, and polka dots!

I think I shall name this pincusion person Penelope. Look for her in my etsy shop sometime this week, along with a couple of other pincushions made from this wonderful fabric!

Pure Joy!!

I was deliriously happy when my dear friend Maggie surprised me with these two absolutely delightful additions to my plastic clothespin family! I was delighted to receive the green grannie, as I previously only had one grannie, which I wound up altering and making into a little art doll. I like my grannie angel doll, yet always regretted that I no longer had a "pure" and unaltered grannie, but now I do!!!

I just about went bonkers over the blue dog!!! I knew there was a dog as part of this series, as I saw it once in a book or on the web somewhere, but I had never seen one in any of my flea market searches. And the fact that it is blue! A new color to add to the group! Yippee!!!!

Thanks Maggie! I LOVE my two new old clothespins!!!

Below is a pic of my grannie clothespin doll, and below it is one I made from one of the girl clothspins.

Stupid headache.

My head hurts. However, I'm excited about P-town. I wonder if Commercial street is actually as flat as it seems... I'd really love to spend as much of this week on my skates as possible, seeing as I'm missing three practices. :/

I'm really bummed about that. I loved Wedesday's practice, and I felt like I was doing a pretty decent job up until I ran out of steam for hell. Funny how hell was the thing I was most confident about until I learned that my form was all wrong. I'll get there with more practice (and more PT for my damned knee). I just hope that missing three practices won't put me too far behind.

Even though I need a lot of work, I always forget that I'm getting better until I go to a practice where it's mostly new girls. I'm so glad I had a chance to be at practice while the Massacre was in Ohio - it reminded me that I'm improving. I always forget that there are so few new girls compared to the number of vets until nearly all of the vets are gone.

I can't wait to be a really good skater. I'm so glad that all this practice time is helping me as much as it is. I love the fact that I'm learning a new skill, and that it's so much hard work. I love leaving practice hungry and tired, and I love waking up sore in the morning. I suppose this is what the vets mean when they talk about being new and full of energy, so I plan to ride this for as long as I can.

I must sound like a total nut, what with liking the whole pain and soreness aspect of derby... I wonder if contact will give me the same "good pain" feeling or if it will kick my ass in a bad way. I'll find that out soon enough, I suppose.

I guess I just haven't done something quite this hard before, and I'm amazed at how much it's making me change for the better.

Boondoggling

This morning while playing a game of Scrabble with my girls, I was double checking the spelling of a word in my very worn out, falling apart Merriam-Webster, which I have had since the fourth grade, (I am a horrible speller and am constantly looking up words) when I came across my new favorite. "Boondoggling" a noun meaning a trivial, useless, or wasteful activity. Well I'll be hog-tied! Not only did I find a new favorite word, it actually stands for something that I am well experienced in!

I’m official!

My derby name was accepted! I can now find excuses to write "Dreadnought" on everything I own.

Oh my GOD I'm so excited. For some reason this just made me feel like an actual derby dame rather than a hanger-on with a bum knee.

Gramps and Junior

This past Friday was the artists reception for "The Dog Days of Summer" show. We had a great turnout and it was a fun time for everyone! Pictured here is one of my little quilts that is in the show. I call it "Gramps and Junior". It features vintage fabrics and hand embroidery. The inspiration for "Gramps", (pictured on the left) came from an image of some silly looking dogs on an old 1930's Snap card. (Snap is an old kids card game.) Little "Junior" was inspired by an itty-bitty pen and ink cross-hatch illustration, no bigger then a half of an inch, that I found in an old 1880's paperback Mother Goose book that I have.

Roxie the Redhead

Here's another pincushion. What can I say? It's like eating potato chips, you just can't stop at one!

Pincushions Rock!

Well, I do believe I am completely smitten with pincushions! They are extemely satisfing to make, aesthetically pleasing, and functional to boot! What more could a girl ask for? I dig 'em! I made this one up today. The neat thing with this design is that it has a mini " baby" pincushion riding piggy-back. I think the smaller pincushion would be great to stick my really thin, small needles into, and use the larger pincushion for regular needles, embroidery needles, and pins of course! I posted this one in my etsy shop, and plan on making more of these as well as the cute ones with the heads.

This is the underside of the pincushion. I wanted to put some type of "BooDilly" lable on it. I have been fooling around with home made ones this last week, and really like how simple this one was to make. I simply printed up my lable info in printshop using a lable template and then flipped it so the words were reversed. Then I printed out a sheet of these backward lables onto t-shirt transfer paper. Next step was to cut one out and iron it onto a strip of satin ribbon that was a little more then twice the lenght of the lable. Let it cool, peel off the paper backing, fold the ribbon in half, and stitch the lable into place!

Seize the day!

Some pretty images from my overgrown, drought-stricken garden

Seize the Day!

I have been thinking a whole lot about how to really ensure success in achieving ones goals. Sometimes, of course, life gets in the way. The next challenge for me is doing a budget that will work for us. I'll be quilting until I'm 100, that's for sure. But at least it's a job I like. A recent study found that although self-employed people work harder that those in paid jobs, their rate of happiness is higher.



That may be because the business owner has more control over how they spend their time. Also, any rewards that the business gets through greater sales, increased productivity etc, are immediately enjoyed by the person who created them.



I'm a bit of a consumer and am very guilty of affluenza. Mr Costello (the nicer one of the two brothers) said on TV that compared to ten years ago we (in Australia) have bigger houses with more bedrooms with fewer people in them, bigger mortgages and we spend, spend, spend, on cheaper electrical goods and clothing. And yet we are less happy and more stressed. I have been measuring every cent we spend for about three years. This sounds weird, but when I come home from shopping I put it all in the computer to look at where it goes. After a couple of years I came up with the following conclusions. (Which aren't rocket science and sound a lot like Noel Whittaker)

1. We spend all we earn, and more.

2. Credit cards always get used when they are carried around.

3. The things we worry about (rates, insurance, interest) are only a fraction of what we spend on consumable or discretionary items.

4. Once a "must have" item is acquired it is soon taken for granted and more things are desired.

5. The only way to save is to "pay yourself first" We have now gone into salary sacrifice into superannuation to put $$ aside.

6. 99% of spending is triggered by emotion - a fact well known by advertising people.

7. There is no product that will make us: younger, sexier, happier, wiser, more creative.

8. The only things which have lasting value have to be: earned, saved for, sacrificed for, planned for, and time allocated for.

9. Every human in the universe has only 24 hours each day to work with, money only assists.

10. Finally, high returns = high risk. If you want to earn lots of money working in a war zone, be prepared for some flak. And if it's too good to be true, it probably is. (thank you Noel Whittaker)



Now, to seize the day!

Heads Up

I found these great vintage heads about half a year ago at a local junk shop. They are the type that were used to make those sweet little Christmas angel/caroler decorations, you know the ones with the pipe cleaner arms. Well, I fell head over heels for them and knew that they would be great for something! Promptly went home, and put them in my ever expanding "these will be great for something!" stash, and pretty much forgot all about the poor little things. But Ta Da!! I was right, (as usual!) and they are great for something! They make great little toppers for pincushions!

(I had pin cushions on my mind as a friend of mine who has her own gallery asked me the other week if I would be interested in participating in an upcoming pin cushion themed exhibit she was thinking about doing. Doesn't that sound like a fun show!?)
I have just made this one so far but think that I will be making these exclusively for the next week or so as I have close to 30 of these little heads, and they all desperately want a body!
For the hands down best pin cushions I have seen in a long time check out this etsy seller's site Bethsbagz.etsy.com, or click on the link to "my etsy store" and go into my "favorites" to link to her site. She has some great colorful pincushions with amazing vintage toppers on them! I don't know her personally, but I think her work is lovely!

Jocelyn & I had fun yesterday evening. It's nice to be able to spend some one-on-one time with her before she heads back for her final semester. We were laughing so hard in Target, it was hard to make it down the aisles! I'm sure our goofiness turned some heads. I pretty much bought her whatever it was she wanted/needed. My thinking is, when you can, you can. Last night I could.

The horror of the bridge tragedy is still very overwhelming. The video clip of the bridge collapsing is like some out of a movie scene.

My friend and co-worker is still in the hospital after having surgery for a broken hip. She is being treated very poorly by hospital staff and I don't understand it. Unfortunately, a nurse was killed as she walked the crosswalk to the hospital during the week, and I'm sure it devastated staff. However, there can't be a complete loss of care to those patients in the care of the hospital. I'm so angry.

Sometimes it's hard to remember that God is in control of all things. He is certainly big enough to handle it all. It's up to me to *faithfully* lift it up to Him, and to trust His will and wisdom. For me, it's a case of "easier said than done." Not that I can't do it, I just have to get to the point where I remember that's what I'm supposed to do.

Lord, how I thank You that You ARE in control. You hold Lola, the victims of the bridge collapse, Jay and his family, the people effected by the flooding in South Asia -- You hold all of that in Your mighty hands. Your word teaches that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Lord, I pray that You will allow me to act accordingly. To lift those to You who need strength and hope right now. To trust You in each situation. To remember for Whom I was created. Where I can, allow me to be salt & light - a reflection of Your love. And allow me to give You praise and honor in all things. In the precious of of Jesus --

Amen.

:)

Obligatory post! Just kidding. Well, sorta. It has been a very long time since I posted. I've got no excuse except for a touch of laziness, and a hectic life. My son has become engaged and is planning on marrying in March, 2008. My daughter is heading back to school for her senior year, and will graduate from college on May 10. My children and husband have been/or are going to China and Africa and Montana on mission trips. Work is crazy and instead of the 28/32 hours a week I typically work, I've been working 48/52 hours.

Life is crazy!

When our new Sunday School year started in May, I left my youth girls and went back up to adult ladies. I'm teaching our youngest adult ladies class, which is absolutely wonderful!

My dream right now is to someday own a B&B. While we were in Virginia this summer, I found a home that would have converted beautifully (and with very little effort) into a superb B&B. I'm almost heartbroken that it's not a home I can just buy and do with what I want! It was just perfect. My heart hurts just a little ... just a tiny bit ... that the beautiful old home won't be mine.

Today is Friday! It's time to get ready for work and get this day on the road!

Adios!

Doing the Hard Yards

Why is it that creativity requires so much discipline? I've been racking my brains to work this out for yonks! I guess creating art is like all the tough things in life - saving money, losing weight, becoming fit, playing a musical instrument. And that explains why so few people really achieve a lot in these areas. It is not a quick fix, you can't take a pill for it and it takes steady slow and regular effort. All of which I have not been doing.

But I think I can get back on it again. That is a good thing about all of the above. It is never too late to start and it is never to late a reap a benefit for effort put in.

What I did was create a timetable for my week. The first three days are the days where I do the things I need to do for income. I work hard those days, very hard. Every week day between 7am and 9am I work on my designing on the computer ready for publication of my work. If you think you want to design and publish something, think of the time you think it might take and then multiply by a hundred! I think initially much of the time goes on creating a system that works for you. There are many road blocks and dead ends until it starts to gel. After that, it gets easier. Rewrites are still a possibility, but they don't take as long.

Discipline - I think all that really means is to quote Woody Allen - just "showing up". I made myself sit at the computer for those two hours this morning and it began to happen. If we made ourselves go to the studio or sewing room for a set time that would happen too.

It meant for me, leaving the breakfast dishes in the sink til smoko time. Who cares! I did, however, have a shower straight after our early morning walk and I will keep doing that otherwise I will be sitting here feeling very unwashed when my customers start arriving for the day. So - it is a little more than just showing up. Be showered, dressed and preferably made up for the day. I am not made up, but that is OK as I don't have anyone coming before 10am.

Also - do we really allow enough time for family, shopping, cleaning etc. I decided that I would no longer commit myself to any evening activities, including making myself sew or design at night. If I feel like it, I can. Instead I have given myself one whole day for creative activity, plus the weekend daylight hours. This will work, because I will have cleaned the house (yippee) on Friday, which is today. All of Friday is for household chores and shopping, except the morning, when I still do the 2 hours on the computer, designing.

Enough of that. Here are some photos of a mega huge quilt I have stared making. It is inspired by the Neil Young song: "I am a child, I'll last a while.....the sky is blue and so is the sea...." There is a photo, a modified image, and the pre-quilted canvas on which is attached some early pieced sections. (The hat of the little girl).

Reflections of Home

Be sure to check out the newest issue of Somerset Home, (available at Barnes and Noble or Border book stores, or go to www.stampington.com) to see and read all about the beautiful ideas and inspirations for creating and decorating your home with amazing artwork and craft projects. Please be sure to look for my artwork and article entitled "Reflections of Home" that feature house shaped wall hangings. The focal point of each house is a small collage peeking through an altered round glass mirror. I scrubbed most of the reflective paint off of the mirrors, leaving just a bit remaining, to create a deamy, aged look.


These pieces were inspired by memories of my YaiYai's home. (YaiYai is greek for grandmother. My actual greek grandmother sadly passed away before I was born, but I was blessed to have a Great Great Aunt whom everyone called YaiYai, despite the fact that she herself never had any children of her own).

YaiYai's home was cozy, yet full of magical mystery to me, with it's icons, and the smell of incense mixing with the heavenly scent of freshly baked greek pastries. And even though YaiYai died many years ago, and her lovely home with the beautiful rose bushes was eventually tore down in the mistaken name of progress, I will always have fond memories of YaiYai and her home.

Crossword Quilt

What's Black and White and Red Allover 20x 28

Made for 2nd Proverbial Riddle Challenge, see all the quilts at http://www.proverbialchallenge.org/

Also made for a black and white and one color challenge. I took the limited palette as a dare and managed to use 100 different fabrics. I hand appliqued the letters, hand quilted and did a bit of beading. I used red netting/tulle to take the red allover pun to a higher or it is a lower level?

I love word play and puzzles and combining those with my love of fabrics was a delight.

It is on display at the Springville Museum of Art Quilt Show in Springville, Utah from July 21 to Sept. 2, 2007.