Inky Fingers Sunday

It's just one of those weekends when I'm inspired to stamp. I joined an ATC swap (which I started and finished last night); and decided that I'd better wake up my stamping mojo before I got on a roll with making Christmas cards - which is just around the corner believe it or not. If you stamp, you know what I mean. This Sweet 'n' Sassy stamp hasn't seen ink in probably four years. Yikes! I couldn't believe that after all of these years my Adirondack ink pad was still juicy - as were my Copic markers. I hope you are having a fabulous weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Whiff of Joy, The Angel Company (sentiment)
Paper: Cardstock by Archivers, Paper by My Minds Eye
Accessories: Martha Steward border punch, prima flowers, spacer beads, twine, copic markers, diamond glaze (to adhere the spacer beads to the primas)

Ruffle Scarves

I discovered a new yarn called Ruffle Yarn. It's so cool! It looks like regular yarn when it's on the skein; but once you unravel it, it looks like netting. I went on YouTube and learned how to knit a simple ruffle yarn scarf. This yarn for this blue scarf is called Starbella. I believe there are 18 different colors. It took just three hours to complete one scarf. So simple and yet so cute when it's all finished. The yarn is also very soft and it drapes beautifully.

This is a closeup of the ruffles.

I started on a red scarf for my son's friend.

This is a closeup of what the yarn looks like when you open it up.

7Gypsies Artist Printer's Tray Photo Collage

Been a little under the weather this past week. I ended up not going to work for a few days to avoid 'infecting' my coworkers with what I have. "What" exactly it is could be a mix between allergies and a full-blown cold. All I know is that I've made the makers of Dayquil, Nyquil, Claritin and Kleenex very rich. I decided to craft a little and made this Artist Printer's Tray collage for my husband's desk at work. I added a few gears to give it a little 'steampunk' look. I didn't want to overdo it since it is going on a desk at work.

The papers I used were by 7Gypsies and Graphic 45. The embellishments are by Tim Holtz and Paper Studio.

I love this clock. The hands do turn, but I think we'll keep it at 5:00 since it's always five o'clock somewhere.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed day!

Handmade Christmas Tree Skirt

As I unpacked my boxes of "Christmas Stuff" I soon came to the realization that my beautiful burgundy velvet skirt is MIA. Over the summer, when we moved (military) from Florida to Colorado, some 20 boxes disappeared along with a mattress set. I'm certain my nativity, my tree skirt, and a beloved snow globe were some of the missing boxes. I didn't want to wait until I had a skirt to put up our tree and ornaments (thank goodness those didn't disappear). I went ahead and put up the tree without the skirt. I came across this idea to make this skirt through "Pinterest" but this is the original link to the project from HGTV.


I did make a few modifications. I used a white skirt from the Dollar Tree instead of paying $15 for a canvas painter's cloth. The skirt is already cut out in a circular shape, so half of the work was already done. Also, instead of using linen, I used about 2 1/2 yards of 45" wide cotton fabric in the pattern I liked from Joanns (on sale). Instead of a glue gun, I used fabric glue. If you do follow my method, I would advise that you work on this on top of a surface that you don't mind getting ruined. In other words, DO NOT use your beautiful dining table. I used an old card table that had a vinyl surface. If you are going to use your dining table, I would suggest protecting your surface with an vinyl tablecloth. The glue is a permanent glue, and believe me, it got tacky and hard quickly.
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The best thing is it's a 'no sew' project; and I completed it in 5 hours. I hope you and your family are enjoying the blessings of the season. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

A New Quilt for Lucas

A year ago, I had bought Flying Geese rulers from "A Quilt in a Day" by Eleanor Burns. I love the idea of making 4 geese at the same time; and not to have to deal with ironing along the bias (we all know how distorted a quilt block can get when you stretch the bias). One weekend, I started to play with the rulers. I kept making geese until I had enough to consider making a larger quilt with all of the geese. This is the result. This quilt has 119 flying geese. It was quick and easy; and my son will get to enjoy it at our new home in Colorado Springs.

For a very long time, I could not decide on how to create the border. Since I still had a lot of leftover batik fabric, I decided to piece long strips to create a colorful border.

This is what the quilt design looks like. I picked this one because of it's 'Polynesian style.'

Lucas is pretty happy with the results!

Crystals and Coral

I was inspired to make this necklace after seeing one similar to it at Michaels. I placed the toggle on the side of the necklace, rather than the back. I also love the combination of blue and silver. I'll give this necklace to a dear friend of mine.

A closeup of the pendant.

This necklace uses sterling silver wire and crystals from the Bead Gallery collection at Michaels (plus a few findings from my stash). It's about 18" long. I'll also give this to one of my girlfriends. It's a pretty piece to wear this springtime.


Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

Industrial Chic

I knew I was in trouble when I went to Michael's and saw this pendant holder. All of the 'talismans' and findings are from the work of Susan Lenart Kazmer from her line titled "Industrial Chic." Her artwork has been in exhibits at the Smithsonian Museums in Washington DC and at the Art Institute in New York. She calls the pendants 'Talismans."

I chose talismans which fit my personality and wired each one to the pendant holder. I also added crystals to the end of some of the talismans just to give the piece added color and to 'soften' the piece. I have many more talismans left and plan to make a whole lot of other jewelry pieces with them.

Fa la la la la....la la la la!!

Do you recognize this pattern? It's Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding, Fruitcake and 12-Days of Christmas! Moda is known for creating fabric from Basic Grey's scrapbooking paper. There are other fabrics in the store, but I only have so much money. LOL! This pattern is by Moda, and it is called "Figgy Pudding." It is from last year. I thought I'd get started on my Christmas Quilt, now, so it can be ready for the Holidays. This part is just 2/3 of Block No. 1, and already this measures 15" x 20". There are eight blocks with each measuring 15" x 36".

Scrap Happy!

I fell in love with this quilt pattern the minute I saw it in the May-June, 2009 issue of Fons & Porter's "Love of Quilting" magazine. The pattern is called "Seams of Opal." It's supposed to look like the vibrant and briliiant colors of an opal. I also call this "My Happy Quilt."

1,723 pieces of fabric went into making this queen-size quilt. Thank goodness my husband likes it. LOL! He probably wouldn't sleep under this quilt if he thought it was ugly (or too feminine).

I'm not sure if you can see it clearly. I tried to show the quilt design in this picture. I love red. It's my favorite color, and so I had to use red-binding on this quilt.

One of the new things I did with this quilt is to create a label that would be sewn into the quilt backing BEFORE the 'sandwich' was quilted together. I added strips of fabric from the same fabric used on the top of the quilt. I liked how it turned out. The embroidery was done by a friend of mine. I think it's very important to add a label to a quilt. It gives the recipient or owner of the quilt an idea of when the quilt was made, and the styles of fabrics which were available during that time. It makes the quilt a part of your personal history.

Thanks for stopping by, today!

Perserverance pays off!

I started this quilt on August 5, 2009. Now, one year later, it's all finished. Why did it take so long to complete? Well, it wasn't for lack of interest. See, I started this quilt to keep myself pre-occupied last summer while I was unemployed. This quilt (and my crayola quilt) was my saving grace. It made me feel productive, even though I was struggling to find a new job. We had just moved to Florida. The country was still struggling through a recession, and I was competing in a market that primarly focused on the hotel and restaurant industry. Yep. No Human Resources jobs available. I finally found a job in November, 2009 (so five months after we first arrived); and all of my quilting was put on the back-burner.
I love this quilt top. It was challenging, that is for sure. I love a good challenge, though. I also had been wanting to make a red-white-and-blue star sampler, so this was right up my alley. I love fabric, but I don't like to hoard it. Good quality quilting fabric is expensive (roughly $10 per yard), so really, I can't afford to hoard fabric. And, once I start a project, I have to finish it before I start a new one.
Now that this quilt top is complete, I will take it to my neighbor, Patty, to have it quilted on her long-arm machine. I will post the finished quilt once it's all finished! Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!

I ended up cutting an sewing some 800 squares, each was 2" x 2". What a royal pain in the booty. but if I didn't finish what I started, this quilt top could have taken two years to complete.

Old cards, new magazine

I had not sent any new artwork to Somerset Publications since October, 2007. So, needless to say, it was a big surprise to get the 2010 Catch Up Issue by Stampers Sampler in yesterday's mail. I wonder what other cards they may still have that I've forgotten about?

1,723 pieces and a new card

That's exactly how many pieces of fabric went into this quilt top.
1,723. LOL! What was I thinking?
This is the very first project I've made using the foundation-paper-piecing technique. I wish I had discovered it sooner. How easy peasy? OK..... it was a tad tedious.
110 blocks. Each block measuring 5" square. Then, you've got the one-inch sashing between blocks, one-inch setting blocks, and ten-inch wide borders.
But it's finished, and now, I will take it to a friend who has a long-arm machine for quilting. When it's all done I will share the finished quilted product with you. Now.... ONTO THE NEXT QUILT!!

This is the second project I worked on today. It's been a year since I've made a card. I am very rusty, I'm afraid. The vintage image came from an older Stampin Up set. I stamped with Memento and colored with copics. I stippled some Tea-Dye Distress Ink over the image and edged with chalk ink. Added some primas, punched leaves and a border (Martha Stewart Punch), and pearl embellishments. I gave away a lot of my vintage embellishments, and these are all I have left. Thanks for stopping by, today!!

My Crayola Box (Log Cabin Quilt)

I started a new quilt this past week. It's going to be a super-bright quilt. The pattern came from Fons and Porter's "Love of Quilting" magazine from their April/May 2009 issue. Here are the basic tools that I use for this quilt.

I call these strips of fabric my 'crayons.' When you line them up side by side, they don't look like they have anything in common (pattern or color-wise).

The blocks after the 'crayons' have been pieced together:

Time to add the sashing:

Attached sashing between log cabin blocks and sashing.

Here is what three rows look like sewn together. Three down, seven more to go!