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!

Note to self: don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Yesterday's first practice was great - while I was exhausted by the end, I still felt up to staying late for the freshmeat only practice afterwards. While I knew I had a lot to learn about contact, I still wanted to give it my best shot in the hopes that I would catch up quickly. That was before Chickie Cutlette found me passed out by a garbage can halfway to the bathroom.

Yup, after having to skate off the rink once to dry heave and then hyperventillate over the toilet, I tried to go back to skating. Big mistake - I still wanted to barf. I got as far as the trash can near the bathroom door, saw black spots and heard a whistling noise, and the next thing I knew Chickie was handing me a damp, cold towel while the left side of my head throbbed.

I regret focusing so much on strength training and so little on cardio at the gym over the past year. I need to get into better shape. Thankfully this isn't permanent - the more I skate the easier skating will get. However, it was still embarassing to pass out - I haven't done that since I had mono.

Since I don't drink, I've had a deficit of "... and I woke up wrapped around a trash can" stories. At least this gives me one.

Dream House

Here is another paper house that I made. (See previous entry.) This time though, I used photo copies of some of my old photos to peak out of the windows, plus I cut out words from old books, to help give the house a theme.

3...2...1....Contact!

I think I finally found something I'm good at. :D

How to Make a Happy, Halloween House

I adore vintage paper houses, you know, the Christmas style ones, with the cellophane windows, and all covered with fake sparkly snow! I have a soft spot for most small scale things, plus I like a bit of glitter, so those little houses rank right up there with cool things. Inspired by those tiny treasures I made this fun paper Hallowen house. If you would like to try one, too, I will share with you how I made this one. ( I made other non-Halloween houses as well, and will show them in my next entry.)

It all starts appropriately enough with "Ghostline" poster-board, which is a nifty brand of poster board that has handy grid lines on them. This is super for people like me who dislike measurements. I found the "Ghostline" at the craft store, but recently saw some at my little, local, country grocery store, so it shouldn't be too hard for anyone else to find.

Draw and cut out a house shape. Make sure it has a front and a back, plus two sides. Also include two roof peaks. Add tabs to the sides of the roof peaks, as well as to one side of the house, as shown.
(Note: I made this little house last year, before I had a blog. it never occured to me to take pics of the whole process! The pattern example is not the same pattern that I used for this particular house... just one that I had left over, and was able to photograph for this blog entry. Hope that makes sense!)

Mark where your doors and windows will be. Draw and cut out a base for the house, as shown, adding tabs to all 4 sides. You will also need to have a piece for your roof. Make it slightly larger then the house so it will hang out a bit.

Cut out all of your windows using an exacto knife. Cut along the top and one side of your door. Leave the other side attached, as it will be the "hinge". Score on all fold lines.

Working on the side that has no ink marks and using some cheap-o acrylic paints, cover the outside of the house, roof, and bottom of base. Add details with pen and ink. Cover the inside of the door and the underside of the roof with vintage paper. Rub with brown oil pastel. Cut out some shapes a little bigger then the windows and door of your house, from the poster board. Paint these yellow and add some halloween clip art images. Position and attach these pieces with some tape to the inside of the house so the images are showing through the windows and through the door. Glue on a few more little clip art images to the outside of the house. Add a little clear glitter glue here and there to jazz it up.

Fold up the house and tuck in the tab, holding it in place with some strong, double-sided tape. Fold up the tabs of the base and using the double-sided tape, adhere the tabs to the inside of the house. Fold the roof piece and secure it the same way to the tabs on the houses roof peaks.

Ta-Da!! You now have your own fun, little, happy, halloween house! Happy trick or treat!

Happy House Pins

I am thrilled to be a part of this newest special publication from Somerset! Sew Somerset is packed full of great sewing projects that use fabrics, papers and various other mixed media. Wonderful ideas for sewn jewelry, art books, wall hangings, home decor and note cards plus lots of other art and craft projects are packed into this inaugural issue. Look for my "Happy House Pin" article starting on page 9.