heart challenge and Theme Thursday.....

My first 2009 Projects...Woohoo! First of all the heart challenge was to use the theme of winter and incorporate something from outside...i used bird feathers and pieces of fir that I stripped the needles off of....the round little burgundy things are bird seed and the heart is a piece of Cardboard...I didnt' do snow, just because here we normally dont have it....I tried to just use cool forest colors. The image was a free one from Somerset magazine. The theme thursday challenge ( http://themethursday.wordpress.com/ ) for this week is "something new" ..How did I come up with this art quilt? It was made on New Years day and the silk and pins were given to me by my friends Marva and Helen so they were new to me..Also the saying "find yourself full of joy and love" is my New Years wish for everyone...The quilt is painted paper layered onto pieces of dupioni and jaquard with trim, the hair is fibers that are sewn randomly...Thanks for looking!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009! I am looking forward to all the good things that I just know it is going to bring. I am not really a resolution maker though I do set goals... I am definitely in a transitional period and my main big hope is that God will show me where to go from here. So that is my hope for 2009. We didn't do too much celebrating here ....I made a big green Thai curry and we had Hagen Daz peppermint bark ice cream and played Memory on the coffee table....The kids made it until eleven last night..We are still fighting the cold thing....We also sat around and said what we liked most about 2008. I wrote it down in one of Liv's notebooks and the kids really got into the spirit of things....Daniel loved fishing with Ron, meeting his great friend Sam and his birthday party in February...Andrew thought and thought...it was so cute . He came up with his "birday cake with a monsta" truck on it, Catching and eating crabs on fourth of July, ( I ate two five of dem) and going pishing'....Olivia's list was super long. Pink cupcakes and sewing and our great fishing trips and spending time with Aunt Cinda and Uncle Tom and her cousins and her Brownie camping trip and about twenty other things. It shows how far she has come that she has such joy for life and I LOVE that! To all my friends and family, I hope this coming year brings you great things!

Tagged by Marva.....

I was tagged by Marva over at http://purplepaintsmuse.blogspot.com/ to share 8 random things about myself...I think my blog is a pretty good indicator of who I am and I have played this a couple of times before. I thought all night about where I wanted to take this and I figured out a theme..Gotta keep you interested you know. So mine is going to be about my pets and animal likes.....1. I am an animal lover, and over the years have had quite a few pets. My first random pet thing is about ducks. I love them. I grew up in a town where we had a duck pond and I adore baby ducks. I still do. I spent all my time as a little kid trying to catch one to raise as a pet. Finally, when I was eight, I caught one. I named him Yakky, like the duck on the Tom and Jerry. I made him a home in our laundry room. He quickly bonded to my mom and I, following us around peeping...We had him for about a month when my mom accidentally left the laundry room door opened and our cat Trooper ate him...all except for his little feet which fortunately I never saw. Trooper ran away from home shortly after. My mom said because we were mad at him but he was an unnuetered male and I think he was out with the ladies. I still would like to have a baby duck. 2. When we had Yakky, we also had a new puppy.....he was the homeliest little thing and I named him Chopper...he was the dog friend of Yakky the cartoon duck. We had him for 18 years. 3. I had a rabbit for four years that was a real character...He ran loose all over the yard and even followed me to the bus stop about 8 blocks away. I would get on the bus and then he would hop back home. He loved my mom. I am not talking about hearts and flowers love I am talking about rabbit lust....He spent all his time stalking her legs....it was a big joke in our house that is for sure. 4. I lured a baby goose under a fence one time when my kids were little away from it's mom and the goose came right over the fence at me and beat me with her wings until I threw the baby at her...we were mortal enemies from that point on. 5. I had a crazy cockatoo that I just loved named Sasha for a number of years. He was not in love with my mom, he HATED her and would chase her all thru the house. He slept on my headboard at night. when he was ready for bed he would look at me and say " here kitty, kitty kitty...when he was chasing my mom, he would laugh the whole time..a maniacal laugh. 6.There are three great horned owls around our house and I can tell who they are by their calls....Sometimes at night when I cant sleep, I go out and call to them and they will answer back...it is pretty cool. 7. When I was fifteen a high school boyfriend gave me a red legged tarantula for a present. This time my mom put her foot down and told me to GET IT OUT OF HERE....NOW! I gave it to my biology teacher who I didn't like but no one else wanted little "spidey"...It promptly bit the you know out of him..oh sweet justice. 8. One of the coolest things I have ever done was swim with the manatees in Florida. I was awestruck and amazed by these big ol' giants and how they loved me in the water with them..too awesome for words..... Now to tag eight people....I am going to tag Mrs Noodles, Andrea, Valerie, Ranny Jean,

Miss Pearl, Miss scary, Miss Angelcat, and Jessica....When they post their eight I will post that they have on my blog so we can all learn more about them!

painted and stitched art quilt......

It is a self portrait, though it doesnt look like me, it feels like me....It is painted on a magazine subscription card and then attached by sewing to orange dupioni silk....I like it, it feels like I wanted it to. The kids and I are all sick with colds and fevers...We are going to head off to bed early. Something that never happens here!

Heart challenge and Theme Thursday tag.....

The heart challenge is symbols again this week and this time I chose a star...One of the previous challenges that I missed was white and gold so I combined that idea in with the symbols....I love the roughness of the burlap in with the smoothness of the satin....Theme Thursday is to make a tag. I am not sure if it was supposed to be a Christmas tag or not so I used reds and greens and yellow so it could go either way. The base is a sample of home dec gimp on a card that I sew a tag shape on then cut out so it won't fray...I snagged about ten of these cards in different colors and I think they make the coolest tags. Around the house we are doing the Christmas wind down. The car is out of the ditch, The leftovers are about gone and the kids are still enjoying their toys...It was a nice Christmas for us all...different but nice and who can complain about that?

Peace on Earth.......

Merry Christmas everyone......Melinda

bullseye quilt done and a Merry guy!

I finished my quilt that I have been working on...finally...Sometimes things just flow and finish up so nice...This was not one of those projects...I haven't used my quilting machine in a while, and I have a pretty good idea that a pair of little hands were making adjustments to it. I finally was so frustrated, that I took it off and just finished it on my regular sewing machine....I have had no patience the last few days anyway. I have been cooped up for way too long! I even got in the car today to get out and actually go to the store and promptly ran my car right off the road and into a ditch where it still resides....Someday this snow and ice will melt and I will drive it right out. Have I said that I hate snow yet? I hate snow.....that is on the record. So anyway, I put the quilt on my antique table in the kitchen and I think it looks really cute...The little kids eat there, but I have vinyl place mats for them and the quilt washes anyway...I am all for using what I make. I also made this funky Christmas guy with the holly on his head just cause I felt like it...He is an old photo done on this yellowed paper...It might've been some kind of copy done a long time back..I named him Harry...Harry the holly guy. ho ho ho.....

snowman and a three yr olds viewpoint....

It snowed all last night and all day today and is showing no signs of letting up...There was no wind this morning so we all decided to go out and play...Andrew is the hardest to get ready..three layers of pants, a couple of shirts, find a hat that he is willing to wear..( most of them squish his face because he is all head just like a little Charlie Brown) then hunt down where he last threw his shoes...Zip and velcro a coat and adjust it just right and he is finally ready. (this is about a half hour process...) He walks out on the deck about three steps from the door, looks around and says loudly, "nope.....I not can, too cold...." Later on when he heard the fun he wanted to "go out" again...I looked around and said, "nope, I can't its too cold".....He just looked at me and didnt say anything back...Enjoy the snowman...

another heart challenge....

I am working backwards, this challenge was from week 11 and it required that you use part of a Christmas card or cards in it...I was working on my bulls eye quilt today (I finished all the blocks today ) and had some leftover that was all pieced , so I made a crazy quilt heart....the saying" Christmas is in the air" and the train are cut from one of last years Christmas cards. I gesso'd them to make them not so shiny and then sewed them on to the heart...My goal is to make a border of hearts in one of the bedrooms...I also want to use all kinds of techniques not just fabric. Tomorrow I am going to finish my quilt...I have a feeling we will be stuck in the house again..its like a darn blizzard out there...This is the NORTHWEST people it is supposed to be mild temperatures here...I am not used to having a white Christmas nor do I care to have one this year...just for the record.

An award from a good friend....

My good friend Marva in Colorado gave me this award and I am grateful that she thought of me...She is multi talented for sure..She draws and paints and sews and makes jewelry that is really beautiful. I know, cause I have a pair of her earrings. She also has an etsy shop where she sells things like collage sheets..the best thing about her though, is she is a good friend with a huge hearts and I am all about that! Thanks Marva and go see her....http://purplepaintsmuse.blogspot.com

The award works like this....(yes I took creative license and shortened it, I apologise but I really hate to type...) This blog invests and believes in the proximity, the nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming.These kind bloggers aim to find and to be friends...deliver this to eight other bloggers and include this text.....( Marva has all the real words posted on her blog) My first award goes to a new friend Andrea, http://talkinghorsesart@blogspot.com/ she is a self taught quilter and artist and she makes some amazing stuff and she posts a lot too if you are looking for inspiration. I have just met Patty from Magpies nest, http:// bitze@wordpress.com she is very kind and also has a lot of inspiring things to see on her blog...Valerie at yarni gras, http://yarnigras@blogspot.com/ she is an apron maker, a mom and a great person... she also just showed a great bird treat for out birdie friends that the kids and I are going to do as "as our project" tomorrow...Jean at quiltingranny....http://quiltingranny.blogspot.com she is raising grand kids like me and her blog is about quilts and aprons and life and she is a good friend too...Jessica at kids napping, I'm scrapping, http://jessicarodarte.blogspot.com/ Kids and buttons and paper crafts galore...I love her tags and she uses a lot of pink too...how do you beat that? Sherry at "if I could set my soul free......http://ificouldsetmysoulfree.blogspot.com Very much a family person with the sweetest personality...she always gives me a lift with her good attitude about lifes curveballs...she also makes beautiful stuff and is a very caring person...and Debby H. at Inner reflections....http://innerreflections.typepad.com Debby is very busy all the time and she may not be able to pass this on, but I still wanted to acknowledge her...she is never to busy to reach out if someone is in need and offer her friendship and support and she is the altered book queen! I appreciate your kindness Debby, I just wanted you to know! Thanks to you all for making my life richer and keeping the loneliness at bay!!!!

Theme Thursday Green and Brown atc......

Another challenge over at http://themethursday.wordpress.com/ The challenge? To make something with green and brown....I decide to make a fabric and paper atc...Here it is, its colors slightly askew due to the computer or the photographer....(probably the photographer)

It's snowing like crazy!

The kids didn't have school today because another cold storm blew in...It is still coming down like crazy and we have probably six to eight inches...The kids played outside for about two hours nonstop..I love seeing all that energy used up. There is nothing worse than the three of them stuck in the house all day! I made another inchie ornament. These sure are fun..They don't take much time either, just working with the little cube to get the glue to hold. I also made a heart quiltie out of fabric paper for the challenge site at http://prettypaperhearts.blogspot.com/ . They do a weekly challenge open to all artists, all mediums with a theme. This week was symbols...I did a tree, one of the symbols of Christmas. I have never participated in any weekly challenge and I think it will be fun.

crazy quilt pillow and inchie ornaments...

I finished this second 20" pillow last night and it looks really cute....I love all the colors and the embroideries. Maybe one day I will have to do a throw...the blocks are really time consuming but I guess if I did a little at a time. One thing that kind of siderailed me before from finishing something big with the blocks was the way to finish it. Typically, a crazy quilt isnt quilted like a regular quilt but I did it with the pillows and it worked fine. I just didnt think it would hold up any other way and then it wouldnt be worth the work. So now I know how to make one.....Tonight I also made two little inchie cubes that are ornaments out of paper...These are really fun to make and when you are done, you cant tell they are made from paper...Daniel and Olivia and I actually made these two as gifts for their teachers...I found the tutorial over on Magpies Nest......she also has a link where you can print out a template....her site is http://bitze.wordpress.com/ go check it out....They certainly dont cost anything, you use scraps and little bits...The kids used old art magazines to cut out pictures.....

Black and white and shades of grey

These are the 8x8 fabric pages I finished for Saundra...The face is supposed to be looking thru a keyhole, but it is kind of hard to tell that. She also could be Sleeping Beauty's wicked step queen checking her face in the mirror..she has a little bit of the wicked in her I am thinking...I love to work in black and white...it is challenging to have it look finished and keep color out of it. I did have to add the green eyes though...just be glad they are not pink, I will tell Saundra if she asks...

snow day and rosy cheeks......

They were out of bed bright and early and bundled up and ready to play! It's snow.."isn't it beautiful?", I said...I think I got a "yeah" out of one of them as they ran by me full speed ready to romp and make snow angels and play with the dog...They are hoping for more snow...

Dear Santa......

Oldest daughter, Stacie and I took the three kids to see Santa Claus at Greenbank Farms here on the island. Andrew got closer to Santa, but still "no touching allowed"...at least this time I didn't have to block the exit to get him up there! Daniel was pretty good natured about playing along, even though he knew "Santa" from the school bus barn. ( this was all whispered in my ear). Andrew wants a big airplane or a toy race car and he has been a good boy, Olivia wants a "Littlest Pet shop " toy and her mom to get better and Daniel wants a Megatron transformer...Santa are you listening? We believe in miracles here...dont let us down......Oh yeah, it is snowing here now too...The kids are all hoping that it will snow all night so they can play on the hill tomorrow!

pink on the tree and altered pages.......

It has been pretty quiet and uneventful around here. I would love to say that I have made all kinds of things, but I have been more in a reading mode than anything. I did start a new quilt that I really am enjoying. It is a scrap quilt and it looks kind of like propellers with a bulls eye. I am going to make it a wall hanging size and put it in my kitchen. It has lots of primary colors and will brighten up a bare wall. I also finished a set of altered pages for Heather Robinson in our "color me silly" group. Her theme was "lost and found"....I enjoyed doing this one...It just kind of flowed together. I also owe one to Saundra, her theme is colors and my colors are black and white..I am going to do 8x8 quilties for her..I might get to them tomorrow. I had the most wonderful surprise yesterday too! Two huge boxes on my doorstep from Vickie in Oklahoma...She was my swap partner for the "Snowflakes and Sparkles swap". I had told her that someday I would like a pink themed Christmas tree...Well guess what? I got one! HOLY COW! Everything was wrapped in the most beautiful foily pink paper. She sent me so many things it is unbelievable. For now, I will show a picture of the tree.....If you look, you can see little pink foiled tussie mussies, pink butterflies, glass balls with hot pink, glittery snowflakes and her giant paper mache' ornaments...Aren't they beautiful. I pulled alot of what we already had on the tree off and put on the pink! I am so loving it.....I will show some individual stuff tomorrow....Thanks again Vickie!

What I did on Thanksgiving and Christmasy Crafts......

First of all, I have to announce that I just got a preview of Apronology the magazine by Somerset and my apron got a two page spread!!!!!! Woohoo! I am beyond thrilled. I screamed when I saw it and scared the you know out of everyone...This may be my 15 minutes of fame, so I decided it merited a scream. It looks so good and paid a tribute to my grandmas which I know they are smiling about! A nice surprise, that is for sure. It won't hit the stands until February. The two kids and the dog and I went to Oregon for Thanksgiving. We had a pretty good time and I got some rest and relaxation too....I even slept in! That probably was my favorite part. That and the great food. (What wasn't so great was the rough total of 16 hours of driving that I did. ) I also read a total of four books. Two were awesome! "Change of heart" by Jodi Piccoult and "host" by Stephanie Myers, the lady who wrote "twilight". I didn't go nutso over Twilight like some, but Host is a great read. Not sure why it was billed as an adult book though, no bad parts in it. Before Thanksgiving, I made some red and bright green Christmas goodies for the last swap that I joined and am participating in. It is the Snowflake and Sparkles swap. I am pretty sure my partner, Vickie got her pkge by now, so I am posting what I made. There is a Christmas cake stuffed with soft peppermints, a garland made out of fabric and sparkly tulle, and apron in white and red with a quilted border at the bottom and a decorated tin with some sparkly tags. The kids and I also made her some chocolate peanut clusters. I make them every year and they are a big fave around here. Oh yeah , and the snowman...I saw them on the cover of "Cloth, paper, scissors" and had to try one. It turned out so darn cute! The bestest part is, I used everything I had on hand except for a 2.oo package of clay and a bag of peppermints and for 4.00 I think she got a pretty nice box of stuff. I am also showing a picture of Liv with her bear in matching aprons. I made these as samples for a local store at their request. The bears apron is actually sized to fit an "American Girl doll". I just made up the pattern.

mommy and me swap package......

Olivia and I got our aprons from Shawnee who hosted the Mommy and Me apron swap....They are so sweet and Olivia is beyond thrilled. I mentioned that we bake as a family for Christmas so for some extra goodies she sent baking supplies for Liv. A rolling pin, cookie cutters, Christmas bags, plates and napkins and a kids activity book and a cookbook. Andrew and Daniel were right there every time she unwrapped one of these goodies and they all were ready to go bake Christmas cookies...and I mean that second. I have some antique red handled rolling pins, so I let them all roll out slices of bread and then use the cookie cutters on the pieces. They made a huge mess but it was pretty fun to watch. The aprons are really fun with all the trim and flounces and they are pinafore style which I love. I am pretty sure that they were a whole lot of work to make but they are loved, so thank you so much Shawnee and little Miss T. Tonight I also put together my own pink charm bracelet. Something I have never done...I added some silver balls to make it really full. I came upstairs and there was Liv with her eyes glittering and they were right on my bracelet. If you look in the rolling pin picture it is on her wrist. She is planning on wearing it on Thanksgiving to show to her Aunt Cinda. I was looking at my favorite quilting blogs today and I really miss quilting. I don't have any swaps anymore so I need to go down and dig thru some bins and make some blocks and finish a couple of quilts whose tops are done. Quilting is still my favorite crafty thing but you wouldn't know it lately...One funny story about Andrew...He got a new box of crayons from a friend of mine, and he was thrilled. He knows to only use paper to draw or color on so I expected him to ask for paper. He sat down on the rug , took each color crayon out and made a pile on the floor and opened all the flaps on the box. The box then went on his forearm and has been there every since. He has had it on his arm since yesterday morning. It is his robot arm. At one point it ripped and I taped it all up. I love that the three kids have good imaginations and dont rely on video games to be entertained.....

Where the heck have I been?

That is the big question in my emails from friends lately...Ok, to tell the truth it has been one big pity party around here and I have been the only celebrant....I have spent a lot of time in pajamas with unbrushed hair, played the yahoo game Big Kahuna until I beat every level twice (andrew calls it the tupid (stupid) fishy game, he heard this from auntie) and generally just moped about. And dang it , I feel entitled to do so every once in a while but I think I am over it now. It may have something to do with the fact that I am tired of sleeping and playing a video game, who knows? Life is hard right now, and the word hard probably does not do it justice and I am trying to learn to cope and move on but it is a long process I think. I pray a lot for God to show me the way to go from here and for courage to start over and occasionally, I throw a tantrum just in case he isn't feeling me that day. I appreciate all of your kind thoughts and prayers and I know they help and keep em' coming!!!!!!!! So what has been going on around here other than that? The kids enjoyed Halloween and Andrew loved trick or treating...Every morning he carries around his plastic pumpkin and asks me to take him "tomorrow"....I think to him tomorrow means today....I try to explain that it is only once a year but he doesn't get it. He also sings "happy birthday to Andrew " every day and asks if he is having a cake...you guessed it, ....tomorrow. Olivia's school had a feast day in honor of Thanksgiving on Monday and I went to that. She is always so proud to have me there, it melts my heart. We have been doing alot of cooking together and she always wears her apron and I wear mine. Andrew wants to help so I scoot a chair over to the sink and run a trickle of water and give him a sponge and he washes spoons until he loses interest. Oh yeah, and he stuck a rock up his nose...way up. I convinced him to blow it out and hopefully that is the last of the up the nose incidents. Daniel sold a bunch of popcorn for his cub scout troop...The little bugger waited till the last minute and then went out and hustled up some business...Sales runs in his blood you know....He was pretty proud of how well he did and he has had fun delivering it to customers. As far as making things, I have been , but I cant show a lot cause it is gift type stuff...I am showing one flower pin that I made that has a nice sparkle to it...I also made up an apron pattern and it is sooooo cute and soooo easy and I am going to market it. it is based on my friend Laura's mothers apron...Something she whipped up in the 40's. When it is made up, it looks great and like it took a lot of work but it has FOUR pieces....It cant get much easier. I also got an award from Sanna at http://sannasartmind.blogspot.com/. it is the I love your blog award and she also tagged me earlier for 7 random things about myself... So here goes.....

1. I can think of a zillion stories or things to write about, but I hate to type so I don't put them down.

2. I always like the book better than the movie...ALWAYS

3.I know from what part of my life I knew someone by what they call me....childhood, family, high school it's Mindy and from adulthood on it is Melinda...My real name is Melinda by the way. My dad picked it out and at the time it was unusual. I asked and he cant remember how he thought of it. I asked him why Melinda and he said, mmmm, "well so we could call you Mindy.." Well, here is a thought, why not just name me freakin MINDY? go figure....parents.

4. Bill Clinton makes me puke in my mouth...he is a lech plain and simple and it grosses me out, and that is about all I will ever say on my blog about politics. He and old Ted Kennedy should hook up.

5.I laugh really loud and sometimes I snort when I laugh which is better that saying sometimes I pee when I laugh...in my book anyway.

6. When I am mad, out comes the broom and mop and for heavens sake , don't talk to me or get in my way.

7. The most excited about a Christmas present I ever got was when I was seven and I got a hula hoop....My mom wrapped it just like it was and I would wait till they left the room and I would hula hoop with the wrapping on it...I loved the sound it made. We used to beg my dad to do it in our living room in Tillamook and we would laugh hysterically when he tried. of course when I opened it, I was surprised and amazed.....

Ok, Cinda, I am back on here..........you can rest easy now!