BOO!

Are you scared yet? Halloween was a big success here at our house! The kids went to a harvest party and played games and ate and watched a puppet show and did a little Trick or Treating too...The three of them have a pumpkin full of goodies and lots of stories to tell about their great time...I planned to do some sewing today, and did none...I did finish another art doll yesterday for a "funky doll swap". Her name is Madame Zella....I am getting dolled out as it really is not my thing but I only have two more left to do and then I think I will leave the dollmaking world behind. Happy Halloween everyone!

Back to the 70's...

Yes it is a tie dyed quilt! I named it raspberry float and this is the one I have been yammering on about....The way this quilt came about? well, someone at the store ordered all these hand dyed panels called "solo" panels from timeless treasures... Probably because as I have mentioned before, we have a hippy turned fifty and up population here. These panels have sat on the counter because jeez...what do you do with the things....Now we know and hopefully there will be a mad rush to buy them..ya never know! I remember the days when the cat and dog were right there when I was working on a quilt to "help". Usually by lying in the middle of it. Now it is my little boobutt. He thinks it is a great peekaboo quilt for a little troll. So here it is, the quilt from the seventies, rockin the house....

Where does time go?

It is supposed to "Fly, when you are having fun" but I am not sure that I have been having fun at all! What I have been doing, as usual is running around like a chicken with it's head cut off....Which when you think about it, is a really gross expression....In the last two weeks I have had two really sucky migraines...I hate the darn things! Not only because of the pain, but because I am bedridden and I lay and think of all the things I would rather be doing. I know they are stress related...(stress? not in my life!) but what do you do about that! Besides throw everyone out in the cold, mean streets and move to the Bahamas with no forwarding address? I threw an all out temper tantrum two days ago and demanded that I get my sewing time or ELSE! Days are just zooming by and it gets harder and harder to squeeze things in. My main problem is I am crazy about having my house be clean. I mean "eat off the floor clean" and I want it to smell pretty...ALL the FREAking time! I spend most of my time picking up and I have to either let it go to some extent or get rid of the kids...so the kids are going....just kidding! really! but it drives me bananas! The moral of this story is I either clean or sew, I don't think I can do both, it is too time consuming. I also am the taxi now too...something I have already done once in my life....The kids sure are cute little buggers though. Andrew just had his second birthday and he was adorable! We are getting ready for Halloween now. We got costumes a few days ago and we are going to carve our pumpkins from the garden tomorrow night. Expect pictures!!!! Liv has her Halloween party at school and I am helping. She is pretty excited about that. On the creative front, it has been hard. I got it into my head to do a massive interior and exterior fall cleaning and paint the entry way and hallway.....which I did. I also made more curtains and some place mats and that is about all I got to....I finally went down two nights ago and got caught up on post cards that I owe and some atc's that are going in the mail tomorrow. The Jack' postcard is for the "something with J" series for Arts in the Mail and the Halloween ones are going all overseas to some ladies from the same group. Tonight I also quilted the raspberry quilt I talked about a while ago and I will finish the binding tomorrow. It is a wild tie die thing....Whidbey Island actually had a hippy fest here this summer that was quite the big do....the tie dye thing would've fit right in....It is not my taste though I love the batiks in it...Especially the great colors! It is for a store sample. That's about it for tonight folks......

I love the fall!

It is starting to feel like fall here now and I just love it. The air has this wonderful smell and I have gotten over the fact that my flowers are all dying. We took the kids to the pumpkin patch today and it was so beautiful out! We went to a place called the "M Bar Ranch"...they had an old fashioned ghost town all set up with a jail and saloon and stuff...It is in a really awesome location. I have a friend that volunteers there in the summer at a camp for the mentally disabled kids. She helps them with the horseback riding. They do the pumpkin patch thing to help raise money for the camps which is a great cause. I took pictures that I will post later. In June, before I even had any kids here, I planted one pumpkin plant in my front garden, just for the heck of it. Now I have exactly three pumpkins....Cracks me up. One for each of the kids. They are still growing and I am going to leave them on the vine until right before Halloween then the kids can go pluck them. I had everyone cracking up at work the other day and I thought I would share a quick little true story with you....Our house is right on the Puget sound and behind the house there are woods and on the side is a holly orchard and a vineyard.....A little bit of three different worlds is how I look at it. Needless to say we are surrounded by all kinds of nature, and with nature comes nature noise.....The sea lions are in the bay because there are anchovies in schools out there and Sea lions love them....We also have Great horned owls in the woods and right now the grapes are ripe to bursting and putting out this delicious grapey smell that draws birds from all around. The farmer put up netting but they still get to the grapes. His next brilliant plan has been to play a looped tape over a loudspeaker of jungle noises and birds in distress...Now, I sleep with my window open at night and the other night this is what I heard........"ooh ooh ooh...(imagine a monkey) shriek shriekkkkkkkkkk, ARR, ARR, ARR(sea lions) (Cooper now is barking like a fool) hoo, hoo,hoo.......(Andrew is now awake and shrieking) at this point I opened the window and screamed "SHUT The @##$%$%###% up!" Did it help? no,,, but it made me feel better...It really is a jungle out there I guess...I am hoping for a quiet night tonight since there is no full moon, we will see.....Liv asked me the next morning what all the noise was...I told her all the nice animals were having a party...she asked me why if they are so nice was I screaming at them...no answer for that one I guess. Now on to things made......I made a couple more ATC"S for my ATC group....I also made a table runner for the store as a sample and I really like it. It is kind of a small one so I bought fabric for me and I am going to make four of them and use them for long place mats over these suede leaf place mats that I have. I think after cutting the fabric, it probably only took me forty minutes to make...The fabric is soooo pretty, I have been admiring it since it came in. I might makes some pillow covers for the living room too. I always have big plans, I guess.....I also have been working on completing a couple of big quilts that I will post when they are through. And a picture of the jacket......Now, keep in mind that this was for an embellished fashion show of clothing so it fit right in......It has six different fabrics in it and assorted beads and trims....Pretty wild. Too much stuff for me, but I had fun making it.This is on a dressmakers dummy at work.......Back to the jungle for now I guess!

Ok, I have been bad about blogging again!

I still have been creating all kinds of cool stuff though! I also managed to paint my kitchen a nice sunny, buttery yellow and I made some retro curtains and hung an old wooden ladder over my antique table to dry my lavender and hydrangeas on.....I have to say, it turned out awesome looking...Looks like an old farmhouse kitchen which was kind of my idea. I have been scouring the local antique stores for red handled rolling pins and have found four so far so I have those hanging on the walls too and I like it a lot...Now all I need is a redone gas pump...Why do I want one? I don't know, I just do...and a coke cooler....ya never know, it could happen...

The fashion show that I have been talking about happened last Saturday...It was a whole lot of fun and we made a lot of money for hospice. I got a lot of requests to make things and some commissions out of it so that was cool....I did get my jacket done and it turned out good....I will maybe take a pic of it tomorrow...It was quite the embellished outfit. Nothing I will ever wear but it was perfect for the show. I actually have some one that wants to buy it and the vest too, so that is a great thing. I don't ever want to sew something with a lining again though...All that slippery stuff sliding all over the place! It is just more work than I want to do. I did buy some beautiful hand dyed silk and a pattern to make the coolest in the world three way wrap. We will see if I ever get to it!

I have been making some atc's the last few days trying to get things rolling again on one of my groups....They are all fabric with stuff on them and the theme is fabric with a bit of orange.....I also am working on a quilt with a "solo" panel...It is very 60's looking and has a beautiful raspberry batik as a base. I am going to call it "raspberry float." Also am showing a picture of my latest spread in the "color me silly" group altered journal round robin....Rachelle's theme is "pleasure" and yes I had some naughty ideas but I was good and did a layout on sewing and how it gives me pleasure.....I just have one more book to do then hopefully, I will get mine back full of gorgeous art! Currently, it is still lost somewhere in the Canadian wilds, but one can hope, right? Now back to the first season of Carnivale on dvd......Very strange so far, but I have been sucked in......

kitty quilt done!

And shown complete with a little troll on it! The troll is Andrew, enjoying his sisters new quilt. She is in bed and he is not, the stinker. He has gotten in the habit of staying up with me until I go to bed. I do have to say that it is earlier than it used to be! He wears me out! I went in and wrapped this around Olivia...She will get to wake up to her new kitty quilt. She has been so anxious for it to be done, I know she will be thrilled. I am also posting a picture of my "ocean jewels" spread in the altered book I did the other night and a quilted handbag that I made tonight using Christmas fabrics....It is going to be a store sample for a while. It was funny, because the directions said to bind the seams and I had no clue that you could even bind seams....the edge of a quilt, yes but a seam? I had to refer to my singer sewing basics book and by gosh, you can bind a seam. I am learning new things all the time. I have the cold? flu crud courtesy of Andrew and was in bed all day....I am surprised I got anything done at all! I finished the binding on the quilt while I was talking on the phone to Sanna.....I am turning into a multitasker I guess. It is that, or get nothing done at all!

altered pages for other peoples books...

I worked all night on a layout for one of my "Color me silly" members...It is for Else and her theme is the ocean. There are twelve us all together and we have decided to do a round two after we are finished. I only have two more books to work in, and then my part is done. I know that I have grown incredibly doing this. i had never done an altered book before, so the intimidation factor was huge! I also started doing different things and using different mediums. I am most comfortable with fabric and thread but I actually ventured more into drawing and paint. I have really had fun with this project and of course, i cant wait to get my book back and see all the pretty pages! I also have to figure out a way to assemble it, but more on that later....These books are fantabulous....It seems like they just get better and better which is hard to imagine even being possible! I finished the Ocean' spread but was too lazy to take a picture! Can you believe it? The only reason I am on here now, is because I cant sleep...Anyway, my book is currently lost in Canadian customs somewhere so hopefully, it will turn up soon...I am posting the very first altered book layout I did in Penny's horse themed book....I like it a lot, and it brings back good memories for me....My dad, mom, sister and I went to Portland one weekend when I was a kid and we went to an old theater and saw "National Velvet"...at first we complained about seeing and "old movie" and of course, once we saw it, we both wanted a horse and to be jockeys......I Loved this movie!!!!I used to dream about having my own horse....and no the plastic horses for my barbies did not count darn it!

Angela tagged me for a spell out your name thing...I have never been tagged before so I am willing to try....

M is for mindless....how I feel in the mornings lately with all these kids running around....

E is for exhausted...again with all the kids running around! haha...

L is for love...I am such a romantic at heart though if you knew me you probably wouldn't guess this..I keep it hidden

I is for intelligence which I try to show by mostly keeping my mouth closed..

N is for naps which I dearly love and treasure

D is for daring...you know to this day, I have trouble turning down a dare...I know I shouldn't say this cause someone will dare me something stupid and I will feel compelled to do it...I am going to change it to drama queen which I sadly admit I am......

A is for achievement....i love getting things done and achieving my goals...especially since it happens so seldom despite my best intentions......

Ta..da.......I now tag Miss Marva and Miss Judy Spencer. we want to know all about you two!

but can she make clothes?

I guess she can! In a truly generous act of kindness I used some fabric picked out by my ex boyfriend of two years, two years ago and decided to finally make the shirt that he asked me to make..Why? I don't know...it was just bugging me all this time yet I couldn't throw it away. It turned out pretty good, but I would still rather make a quilt. I am going to mail it to him I think. Since he plays the guitar I know he will like it...I got it out when I made the postcard and realized I need to either sew it up and be done or throw it out.....maybe this is some kind of closure issue thing! Who knows.....(any therapists out there)

the postcard is for my Arts in the Mail group..."something starting with I'...I had fun just playing and doodling with my sewing machine. Some may not like that not every word is spelled out but I like it...so there....random words appeal to me I guess...Last of all I drew this little baby on watercolor paper and I didnt like it so I gave it to Olivia to play with and she did the watercolor wash of pink and blue...I looked over and am like, "give it back, I really like that!!!!" and I really do...maybe I will give her all my duds to alter!

Slowly but surely!

I am still playing catch up, but things are getting better as the family and I get into a routine. I am not saying it is easy, but we are doing it! I have been getting my sewing and art time, and it may not be what I am used to, but it adds up! I have made a few postcards and atcs...the postcard showing is one of a free motioned guitar for a friend and the atc's are for my fabric atc group....I had to laugh because I was putting them in a "Moon" lottery...I found out I was a month late....Oh well! Time just races by...even faster now that every hour is filled with the kids. The little basket my daughter made with scraps of fabric wound on clothesline and then I sewed it on the machine with a zigzag. We are working on some baskets in Christmas fabric now....The next ones will be embellished. Also showing a picture of my doll for the "funky doll trade" on my fabric atc group.....I have to make two more by the end of the month. This one was a pain you know where because I put timtex under the front piece and I had trouble turning it right side out after it was sewn...I wont do that again! That is usually how I learn! My life has done such a 360 since I started this blog...I cant believe I used to be on here all the day...Life is funny sometimes!

Catching up!

Surprisingly, since I moved my sewing room down to the laundry room, I actually am getting things done again and it feels GREAT! I was ready to unsubscribe from my groups and call it good. I seemed so behind in everything. I guess the kids coming in and out and wanting to "help" or make their own things was more distracting than I thought. Plus, it is quiet downstairs and on the cool side..perfect for this crazed, hot flashing woman!

I have so many things due by October that I have been working on several things at once. I got one altered book mailed out and just finished another! I was embarrassed to actually have three of them in my possession! This latest one is titled "Fairyville" and it is by Barb B....It is the coolest idea and book! I used the tree picture of Liv that I posted last time and one of her and I together and then I made our wings out of angelina fibers....I found the butterfly fabric at the store and thought it would make the perfect background. I see the pictures of these books on our "Color me Silly" site and they are so great and then you get the book and see it in person and it blows the picture away! Barb is going to love her book and I know I am going to be crazy about mine too! I also made some "H is for " postcards...I did hummingbirds and hearts...The colors on three of them are pretty somber for me but I still like them... I have been trying not to use my typical brights so much but gosh, I sure love em!!!!! Last of all I have been working on the fashion show stuff....It actually is a luncheon, fashion show and silent auction to benefit hospice....When I lost my mom to breast cancer, hospice was so great that I am happy to help even though I am not much of a garment sewer....I am trying though...really! I am modeling the funky vest, jeans and purse with a black top underneath and the next outfit is more sedate....I am posting a picture of the skirt and tote bag that I just finished. The skirt is a "my favorite things" pattern and I love it....It hangs so nice and looks good on, even though I am the sewer! haha...The bag is dupioni silk and the center panel are the fabrics that are in the jacket I am making...I love this bag and I love the silk....We have all these great silks at work, and I was just itching to try my hand at using them. Who knows, maybe I will make more clothing type things....Just what I need more projects! The kids went to school today...there first time on Whidbey Island and all was a success and right now, life is good here...

Long time, No Blog!

Things have absolutely been crazy here and I mean Crazy! Here is a brief rundown......July second... get oldest daughter and grandson from bus station...Stacie has surgery and spends twenty four days in the hospital while I keep Daniel and work at my new job.....We have weekend company twice, Stacie finally gets out and then I get the phone call from my youngest daughter Lisa...."mom, the reason Mark and I are having marriage problems is because we both have drug problems and you better come to Portland tonight and get the kids because we cant take care of them.....I have now had Olivia, age six and Andrew eighteen months, since the twenty sixth of July. Lisa and Mark are getting a divorce and Lisa just entered and inpatient rehab....I also have gone from working part time to working full time...Do I make art? Hah! What is that? Actually I do, just have to squeeze it in when I have the energy...I am trying to get things running smoothly and that is a job in itself! Daniel and Liv start school soon and Stacie got a job and is doing well..She helps me a lot with the two little ones. I am going through all the legal custody things and arranging school and counseling and trying to do laundry, groceries, clean and all that too...I finally told Stacie that I have to sew or make something for at least a half hour a day or I will go bonkers!!!!I have finished a charity quilt for a girls club..They pieced it and I put it together and quilted it. I also made an embellished outfit for our stores fashion show and an auction that we are part of to benefit hospice.....It is a vest with paint sticked fabric and an art purse...The picture is of it hanging in the store...I also was published as an inchies artist in Quilting Arts magazine! Woo hoo! Can you find my inchies? and I am posting a picture of Liv that I took for the fun of it...We were playing at being fairies for an altered book spread for Color me Silly" My altered book group.....One day soon, I will get caught up and more organized! Until then, it is one day at a time or I will lose my marbles for good!!!!!Thanks for hanging with me!!!!

Altered photos for an altered book and quilt tops!

I did another altered book spread for my "Color me silly" group...The theme was altered photos and the color preferred is orange. This was pretty fun to do, but I had to think about it a lot before I started. I used a picture of an orange tulip in my garden in full bloom and then a picture of Andrew, my grandson, from the same time frame and called it "in a child's eyes." I like the picture of him a lot. He is looking out the window at a flower and the light and shadow are playing across his face. On the tulip side, I used two of my fabric charms. I thought they added a nice touch. Things have been crazy around here! I am working more and I now have my daughter, (who is doing great by the way...) Daniel, Olivia age 6 and Andrew, 18 months here....It has been fun, just challenging...and boy, do they eat. It seems like I am either feeding them, or doing dishes and it is nonstop! Andrew is the most work but he is so darn cute that I don't mind. He is my little shadow. I had to clean the sliding doors today, his hands are all over them. You could tell how tall he is by the handprints. I know how fast they grow up though, so I am just enjoying the moment........and finally, the debut of my One block Wonder quilt....I have talked about it a lot and I put it on a piece of fabric today to get the layout right. Now I have to sew the rows together, fill in a few more spots and then do borders...So far, the way you see it it is about a queen. There are a 135 blocks in what you see and more to come. I also have three dimensional cubes to put on the border. This is by far the hardest and most intricate quilt I have ever done. For one thing, I hate to pin anything and that is all you do! Pins, pins and more pins...It has been a lesson in patience but the kaleidoscope effect is stunning. Mine is the green and orange, blue and pink and my friend Laura's is the black with orange , brown and green. She made hers from one Asian fabric...Ok, all you artists! We need feedback...Does anything stick out...How is the blend? Let me know what you think before we start sewing these babies together!!!!!!!

All caught up on my projects!!!!!

It has been crazy, but it has finally settled down around here and I have been able to sew and play more in my art room and MAN, it feels good. It sure does make me feel better mentally to have some time to make things and not feel guilty. Stacie is getting better every day and it has really been fun to have her company around the house. She sits in a garden chair and we talk while I putter around outside or we'll watch something on tv while I sew. She still sleeps a lot and doesn't eat much but that just takes time. Cooper loves having her here. A captive audience for him! Dog heaven. When I leave to work, he runs in and gets in bed with her. It makes me laugh! I have been doing a zillion projects at work too so it has been a pretty creative week. I have been making "go green " shopping bags, silk scarves with beaded fringe and I re-decorated the bathroom. My boss says everyone comments on how beautiful our bathroom is and since we have a home dec dept. she thought it was time to revamp. It was Mary Englebreit now it is French country looking....It cracks me up, but hey, it is my job! Stacie and I made her a tote bag last night. I will share a picture. It didn't take much time with her ironing and reading me the directions. She loves blue and yellow, that girl...She was all happy because her bag matches her quilt.....Not the same fabric, but the colors. I also got caught up on my postcards for "Arts in the Mail"....The Asian swap was harder than I thought...I had to make things out of the fabric I have but I ended up pretty happy with them. I also am still working on my One block wonder quilt....It is starting to look incredible...the blocks are anyway...I am almost done with them and Tuesday I am going to put them up on a board and take pictures and then I will post them. I think this is going to be my Fair entry quilt....I am posting pictures of the fabric...It really is beautiful. I am making it just to make it and learn a new technique. Don't know who will end up with it! My hydrangeas are incredible.....There are these hot pink beauties that I have got to go cut and dry.....I want to hang a ladder from the ceiling in the kitchen and use it to dry stuff...I need to find a ladder first because it needs to be kinda ugly and made out of wood.......and I still haven't painted the kitchen or made curtains....I did recover dining room chairs though...I make myself crazy with all these things I want to do!

Postcards and good news!

First for the good news....My daughter is home and doing better!!!!!YAY and a huge sigh of relief....Thank you to everyone for being so supportive...She has got cards from people she doesn't even know which she has been so surprised and pleased by..This whole thing has been a HUGE ordeal for her and our family..She was in the hospital soooo long that yesterday when I went to get her and we started down the hall, all the Dr's. and Nurses and aides and general hospital people came out and clapped and cheered for her and told her, "don't come back! ".......(meaning, take care of yourself and get well Stacie..) I have been on cloud nine....Now to establish some kind of normal routine again. Things just were crazy! She is thrilled to death to be out of room twenty too....We have giggled and watched bad TV and I have been trying to entice her to eat with any kind of food that sounds good...I spent some time today showing her all the art I get from trades and she is amazed....I put her in the guest room and she had me hang postcards all over so she could look at them while she gets well...That and she is all tucked under some comfy quilts, of course......I got her some herbal mint, ginger and fennel tea that a herbalist recommended for nausea, and she says it is helping. Some of the medication makes her sick but she has to take it anyway.....There is a really cool chinese herbalist in the Seattle area. He looks at you, your tongue and takes your pulse then mixes up all these mysterious looking barks and fungus looking things and then you drink a bowl of it for ten days straight. I have done it the last couple of springs and it really does help...The problem is getting the stuff down.

I made a couple of postcards for swaps on Arts in The Mail.......The first is Mae West for a "Hollywood Icons" Swap and the second is a kimono for an Asian themed swap...They didn't photograph very well, but I thought I would share anyway.....I also have been working on my " one block wonder quilt"...Wasn't sure I would like it but I think it may turn out to be really beautiful.......I cant really post a photo until it is done because it doesn't make sense until then...I am steadily working on it though...So many things to do!!!!!!!!

New pillow, quilting class and daughter update....

Stacie may just be a few days from coming home. They are waiting on one more surgical opinion, but so far, two surgeons are saying a couple more days on IV antibiotics and she can come home. My dad is coming from Oregon to get Daniel for a couple weeks so he is all excited over that! He loves his grandpa..Dad will probably stay a couple days and visit the hospital. I know Stacie will be glad to have the company too. As crazy as things are, they are starting to seem almost normal...It doesn't make sense I know, but in a weird, kinda way......You know what I mean. I finished my felted pillow and I just love it! It is a store sample and the owner really loves it too...It is the first pillow I have ever made. I kind of guessed how to make an envelope back and then I put a button and button hole so you can close it...I look forward to making more of these...There is something fun about stabbing fabric with a sharp needle!!!! Haha....Therapy! I also got a break from Daniel tonight and went to that "one block wonder" class....Now this was some cool stuff....It makes blocks that look incredible...I am still in the cutting phase but will post pictures later...Everyone teased me because you have to pin a lot to match the patterns as you cut and I never pin...ANYTHING! Blasphemy you say?....but true......It felt so good to just talk and relax......