Moving or natural disaster?

The deadline draws near and all is chaos. Will it all get done? That remains to be seen. The sewing machine and fabric are packed. Paints and papers, doodads and glues are packed. Will my sanity be intact before this is over? Again, that remains to be seen. Moving is hell and I havent moved yet...I am just in the getting ready to do it stages. I probably wont be posting much because I am not making anything to post about...bear with me, I shall return.....

Theme Thursday...Use a label

For my "label challenge, I made a tag using a tiny little label I found in a magazine on a Marie Antoinette image...It is on the big tag in the middle. Can you spot it? During OWOH I made a new friend and found the blog of Sherry Mitchell. http://www.smdesigns.typepad.com She actually does a tag giveaway on Friday...What she does is digitally makes tags and then emails you a sheet of them to print out. For people like me who can't alter anything with the computer it is really cool. So I used her Marie' tags and layered them up and Wa-La... here they are. My fave part of them is the hand dyed silk ribbon and the velvet and ecru lace on the bottoms...I could just admire it all day. If you want to see other Theme Thursday creations or want to play too, go to http://themethursday.wordpress.com

Miss Emma the cat for Marilyn

Marilyn was the recipient of my OWOH giveaway and I got her pet portrait done tonight. Emma is her baby, and I want to say that she is 14 years young and still going strong, if I remember right. She was a challenging kitty for me...She is mostly grey and has a big head and I had a hard time getting her right. There are layers and layers of paint and thread on this baby where I worked and reworked it. I love the turquoise with those blue eyes. I also had to add a little bling , just cause she seemed like the kind of kitty who might enjoy that. This art quilt is about 12x14...enjoy it Marilyn! P.s. You can go see Marilyn's blog at http://marilynbutler.blogspot.com she is very talented!

Thankful Thursday!

Today was a beautiful day and I just enjoyed being out in it. The blue sky and the sun on my face was so amazing. Tonight,( because it is going to be beautiful out tomorrow too) the sky is clear and full of stars. The three kids and I went out on the deck and admired them. I am thankful that we all can enjoy it together. I am thankful that we appreciate the beauty of a blue sky and the warmth of sunlight. I am thinking that God smiled when he saw it made us so happy.

Dresses hanging on a line...

Arent they sweet? I got these in the mail from Jennifer at http://artrageousafternoon.blogspot.com ....They are from her dress swap. Liv and I cant wait to hang them in her new bedroom.

Daniel's tenth birthday

Today is Daniel's tenth birthday...My gosh, where did the time go? He is my first grandchild, and it seems like he was just a little baby in my arms. Aside from the Dr., who delivered him by c-section, I was the very first person to hold him...I wondered, before he was born, what I would feel for this little baby? Would I feel like he was my flesh and blood? Would I feel that bond that I felt when I held my own babies for the first time? The second he was in my arms, I was hooked..hook, line and sinker..My little Daniel Bug, just a tiny little guy in my arms. Now I see a boy growing up and I wish I could have just a few minutes back, when he was that baby again. It has been hard on him. All these changes in our lives. It is hard on both of us that I cant just be his grandma like I used to. He has to share me and I am a full time parent to the two little ones. Sometimes I wish things were different too, Daniel. I miss you being the center of my world when it is just you and I together. I hope before you become a man that we can have a whole lot more of that time, just the two of us! Happy Birthday!

Andrew's quilt and two button Atc's.....

Well, I got little boo butts quilt done, and he is really happy with it. It is hard to tell in the picture unless you click to get a close view, but it is Pirate fabrics...I love the bright colors... He has played pirate all day. ARRRGHHHH and Walk the plank. In my fabric Atc's one to one group, the atc challenge for this month is buttons. I had fun using the cloth collage sheets that I got from Kristin Hubrick as the backgrounds for some real buttons. I have to say that her fabric sheets have the best color of any I have gotten. I really appreciate that! If you look in the backgrounds of the kids pictures, you will see evidence that I have been packing...I have made a dent, but there is still sooo much more. Tomorrow I am going to tackle the main bedrooms closet...

Happy Valentines Day!

It was a fairly quiet day here...I worked on Andrews quilt,( I will have it all done tomorrow). I also finished a book. The kids loaded up on Valentines sweets and played outside. I probably should've been doing more packing but I just didn't feel like it. I actually have quite a bit done so I felt I deserved a break. A friend in Germany, that I have traded atc's with had a call for quilt blocks for a "healing heart" quilt...She is putting them together for a friend who is terminally ill. I like to do things like this. It is wonderful to use your gift of creating to give someone else comfort, even if you don't know them. I made this block last night. No pattern, I just cut free form hearts and played. I like it and I hope she does too..So many blogging friends out there are so giving that I am always inspired to do it too...You can visit Dagmars blog at http://quiltmoose.blogspot.com ...She is super talented and I know that the fabric atc's I have, that she made, are just beautiful little works of art with these tiny little stitches....

I laughed my head off!

This reminded me so much of my grandma's sense of humor...I just love this woman...I laughed so hard that the kids came in to see what I was watching...You gotta take a peek at this one!

Theme Thursday......

Check out Theme Thursday and join in a mixed media challenge...http://themethursday.wordpress.com ..This week the them is board games...I used pieces of a Monopoly scrapbook paper and a couple of collage images and this is what I came up with...I love playing Monoploy. When I was a kid we would play for hours and hours. I am known for buying everything I land on. A real tycoon I guess. Mr Ivan John Jones wanted to make a guest appearance on my blog too...He is studying to be a nurse with my daughter...

OWOH WINNER!!!!

The random number generator picked # 85....Much to my delight it is one of my new blog friends, the talented Marilyn Butler ! Congratulations Marilyn and thank you so much to all that visited and entered. It has been a ton of fun! Melinda

Thankful Thursday......

I found this on Rhondi's blog http://rhondisrosecoloredglasses.blogspot.com/ and decided I wanted to be a part of this. You can see a whole list of Thankful people taking part and go do some visiting . I think being grateful for what we have, even the little things makes us all better people...Today I am thankful for God loving and caring for me no matter what. I love knowing he is there for me through good times and bad. I am also thankful that Spring is almost here and I am thankful for the peace I have been given in these rough times...What are you thankful for?

A Valentine Pin and Last call for OWOH giveaway....

I have been busy around the house trying to get things done so I wanted to make something simple and fast...I was snooping around blogs today and I saw the Martha B. had made a cute Valentines pin...Ahhh, just the thing..So Olivia went on downstairs and she made her teacher a card and I made a pin to go with the card. Isnt she sweet? The big One World, One Heart event is almost over, tomorrow is the last day...I am planning on drawing a name by the random number generator On the night of the twelth...Maybe right before midnight, Pacific time so you still have time to enter. I am headed off right now to go see a few more blogs and pretty things....

Van Gogh Girl 8x8's...

This is the last round for my "color me silly" yahoo groups altered round robin...This artists theme for her book was "open"...she just wanted vintage something. My friend Cathy had sent me a little art box and it included some Van Gogh dresses so I went with that. I really enjoyed working with the cooler colors and there is a whole lot of texture on these pages and that is my big thing...We always include a tag and mine is an accordian tag that is tied on the page with a ribbon. My altered recipe book is almost complete and man, is it a stunner! I will have to show it off when I get it all put together. This is our second year and our second books. I am wondering if there is going to be another round? The OWOH giveaway is almost over...if you have a blog and would like to sign up, feel free to do so. I think today I hit 200 entries, which I am pretty excited about...Especially being stuck kind of in the middle of the list. I have made some friends and found some new blogs to drool over and shoot, I may just win something too...

Theme Thursday and The third Valentine......

Theme Thursdays challenge is to make any piece of art with borders...Mine is a 4x6 fabric postcard. It is bordered by lace and fibers that are couched on and a zigzag stitch....See her little traveling bag? That signifies my upcoming travels and the fact that I have to pack all my sewing stuff. I used a vintage button card with tiny little pink buttons too..just sewed it right on. The images are from Kristin Hubrick....Go check out all of the entries to this challenge at http://themethursday.wordpress.com/ I also finished Jean's Valentine for one of her grandchildrens teachers....Olivia was not shy about asking where her teachers Valentine is..We are going to make her one this weekend. I loved the Valentines day parties at school when I was growing up...Moms always made home made sugar cookies with frosting and then we all had boxes decorated and all out school mates put Valentines in them. I was always so excited to see what people had given me. I dont like the whole commercialism of the holiday but it is fun when you are a kid. (is commercialism a word?)

best friends....

The pictures about say it all...this goes on every day and night until they go to sleep..where one is, there is the other...a little boy and his bestest friend...

Valentines for teachers and little Mai tai..

I had two blogging friends ask me to make gifts for them for other people...Jean asked for three valentines for her grandchildrens teachers...Two of them are done and I am posting pictures. The pink toned one is fabric paper that I made and an image from Paper Whimsy. I like the fabric paper ruffle a lot. I used hot pink felt to back it and hide the seams. It says "For teacher". which you can see if you click and get a big version. The second is layered papers with this adorable Valentine Kewpie doll image from Kristin at Retro Cafe Art Gallery...Her collage sheets are so fun...this one I backed with Fabric. I made ribbon hangers just for fun. Then there is little Mai Tai, the Pekingese... Her owner is an 87 year old woman who just had to put her fourteen year old baby to sleep. Anyone with pets just dreads that day. So, this is for her in remembrance of her best friend and the years they had together..She was a challenge for me...All that hair...I used lots and lots of thread and I got pretty close on the likeness....I guess the lady loves cheetah print and that darn Olivia got to it before I did....I found it cut and sewn into a little teddybear quilt. She cracks me up...I used a green velvet as an accent and then dupioni silk in green as the binding. It was fun to play with color combinations. I have had quite a few people ask me if I am going to sell these. After some thought I have decided that I am going to. I will open an Etsy store when I get moved...Speaking of moving, that lovely process starts tomorrow. I am going to go get boxes and start packing...Oh JOY!