Welcome to a Brand New Year!

So much has happened since I last blogged about anything. So glad it's a brand new year. I'm going to keep positive thoughts...this will be a good year, this will be a good year!

The sweetest two year old around got a guitar for Christmas from her step-daddy. She used to watch him play and would try to help him pick the strings. When she opened her present and saw she had her very own guitar, the look on her face was priceless. She patiently waited for him to try to tune the little guitar and then sat right down and held it properly and tried to play a tune. She sang, "Down on it" and the faces she made were perfect. Do we have a future SuperStar in our midst?

Leading up to Christmas was chaotic. So much to do and never allowing myself enough time to finish in time. I vow to start gifts at least in October this year instead of waiting till two weeks before Christmas.

Of course, I was in charge of the HOMDA Christmas Party again this year. It was wonderful as always. Our centerpieces this year were votive globes painted with a blue snow scene. The gifts for all attendees were large clothespins that are used as Memo Holders. We had 24 attendees.

Once that was over I felt I could actually concentrate on my own Christmas needs.

Earlier this year I joined a new (to me) on line group called Art4Mail--Ladies who Share Common Threads. This group is for anyone from beginners to the more advanced who are interested in making fabric postcards, ATC's, Inchies, Quilties, Art Dolls, Dotee's, Button Fairies, and other fiber art to be exchanged through the mail. Swapping is with people from all over the world. I joined this group because they have a pincushion swap also, and I'm addicted to pincushions. Plus I had heard about Dotee's and they have Dotee Swaps.

So far I've been involved in two pincushion swaps, one Dotee Doll swap, one crazy quilt block swap, and two Circle Art swaps. That's in a little over two months. Those swaps have certainly kept me busy! I've loved the pincushion swaps. The dotee was a new experience and taught me a bit about painting faces on fabric. The circle Art swap was also a learning experience but gave me a chance to try new media I've heard about but never tried.

The top block is the one I made to swap and the one below it is the one I received.

This orange pincushion is the one I made for the October swap. It's supposed to be a chrysanthemum on the top and pumpkins and oak leaves on the side.

Here is the one I made for the November swap. A pointsettia adorns the top and snowflakes and beading on the sides. The veining on the pointsettia leaves were added with color pencils. The center of the pointsettia was beaded. I really liked this and should have made a second one for me to keep.

Both of them were made from wool felt

This pincushion is one I received from my swap partner for the November swap from Art4Mail. The silk ribbon embroidery along with the beading is awesome!

The Snowqueen Dotee Doll below is what I made to send to 3 different swap partners in December.

It was lots of fun to design and make this doll and I learned a lot from this experience.

For 2010, no one jumped right in to take on the task of being Pincushion Swap Hostess for Art4Mail. Since I wanted continue the Pincushion Swap, I jumped right in and decided to be Hostess. I can't imagine it will be any problem at all. Yeah! Two pincushions a month. One at Art4Mail and one at Crazy About Pincushions.

I also belong to another list, Crazy About Pincushions, which is primarily a list devoted to making and swapping, what else, but pincushions! I joined this list about two years ago and have made friends from all over the world. They have a pincushion swap about once every month and a half or so. Usually there is a theme to their swap.

Another pincushion related item...the local Sewing Guild has asked me to put on a demo/lecture about pincushions and their history next week. I've known about this for the last month. I plan on having everyone make a pincushion at the meeting. It's one that I wrote the directions to and have shared with the members of Crazy About Pincushions, a flower pincushion. Plus I'll share my pincushion collection and show them how they can re-use some of their everyday stuff, such as cans, lids, leftover linens, embroideries, tatting, etc, and make them into pincushions. I'll definitely let you all in on how it turns out after next week.

Where Did the Time Go?

Time flies when life happens. Children live at home then move out, then move back, then move out, then move back, then .... oh it's just a never ending cycle but we never turn them away, do we. The good news is they both started college classes full time a few weeks ago and found day care for little Mia so Gramma Fluff has time to herself most days.

That means she's been doing more sewing and painting these days. I've been making lots of pincushions and finishing quilts I started years ago. The painting, well, not so much, but I have been finishing lots of things.


Here's a few of the pincushions I've finished lately. The first is one from a pincushion of the month kit I purchased from Quilt Fabric Delights in Australia. Their PC kit of the month program is done now, but they had the greatest kits. They still have the patterns. This pattern also had a wrist pincushion and needlekeep, which I also made. I especially liked the fabric which was in the kit.


I played around with some crazy quilting for pincushions and got a little carried away. The first one was designed with a baby theme with a picture of a baby being carried by a stork as the center block. I did the crazy quilt embroidery by hand on that one. It took a few evenings of sitting in front of the TV to complete, but it looked pretty nice, I thought.



The next ones I crazy quilted were designed around a Victorian Lady center block. The crazy quilt embroidery was done by machine on the majority of the block and some hand embroidery was added to complete them. I learned a little more each time I made another one. I have several more printed designs I want to work up into blocks, but I have so many more ideas for pincushions I don't want to get stuck on doing just one type of pincushion.

I also have been working with friends on a handpainted quilt for a raffle for my Painting Group, Heart of Michigan Decorative Artists, HOMDA. Members of the group painted a square of fabric with a flower of their choice and several of us got together and put sashing around the blocks, along with the borders, which are all batiks. My friend, who has a longarm quilting machine, and I then spent about 20 plus hours quilting the designs on each block, based on how each block "spoke" to us. This was quite an experience for me. Then another member put the binding on this gorgeous quilt. It it very impressive now that it is complete! We are selling tickets for this quilt, 6 for $5.00 or $1.00 each. The quilt will be raffled off June 2010. Take a look at it here:

If anyone out there is interested in purchasing tickets, please drop me a comment and I will get back with you about how to purchase.

Last but not least, I've written directions for a flower pincushion that is sooo simple to make. I have to figure out how to add a pdf file to my blog and as soon as I do that I'll share the pictures and pattern for everyone.

I won't wait 6 months to write again either!

HOMDA Christmas Party

We had a wonderful time at our Annual HOMDA (Heart of Michigan Decorative Artists) Christmas Party on December 9th. It was attended by 29 members and guests. We had a lovely brunch served by Chef Teri Faulkner of Lansing and we had a great gift exchange and fantastic raffle. Members of the Christmas Party Committee worked very hard to make this a memorable occasion by painting a charger plate for every attendee and there were snowmen centerpieces as door prizes.

You can see the place settings were loved by everyone! The chargers were painted blue with a Christmas Tree in the center and a snowman on either side of the tree. Wooden lightbulbs, painted red, blue, yellow, lavender, green, and orange, were attached to the rim of the plates which had pine branches tipped with snow painted around the edge.

The handpainted centerpieces were taken home by seven lucky attendees! They were made of muslin, covered with gesso, then painted to match the chargers. The base of the snowmen had pine branches decorated with red, blue, yellow, and green lightbulbs and garland. The arms of the snowmen were made with floral wire wrapped with brown floral tape. Miniature lightbulbs on string was draped across the arms of the snowmen and cardinals were attached to their arms of hats. The faces on the snowmen were handpainted and their noses were made of fimo clay. Scarves were made of fleece and their hats were made of either flannel or fleece. They were each about 14" tall.

New officers were installed at the end of the event. Our new Board of Directors includes me as President, Jackie Ferris as Vice President and Program Chair, Sandy Young as 2nd Vice President and Special Events Chair, Becky Hilbert as 3rd Vice President and Membership Chair. HOMDA is a subsidiary of the SDP (Society of Decorative Painters) which is a National Organization. SDP has groups in just about every state and many countries overseas. They hold a National Convention every year in which they host reknown teachers, classes, special events, and a wonderful Marketplace where you can purchase items for painting. If you are interested in finding out more, click here.

My First Blog Entry - WOW

I've always wondered what it's like to have a blog and finally gave in. I love to sew and paint primarily. I used to teach fitting of patterns but haven't done that in a while. I primarily quilt now, but also love to make pincushions, mostly because I can finish them quickly and get immediate gratification.

I also love to do tole painting and my favorite type of painting is of animals. I've been doing that for about 5 years now, although I've been doing something with art since I was very young. At one point in my life I wanted to go into art as a profession and even attended the Center for Creative Studies for a while. However, I found I was more at the bottom of the creative geniuses that attended that institute and abandoned that specific path. Now I use painting and creative sewing as a way to calm myself. Had it become a profession, it would have been more of a stressor.

I hope to use this blog as a means of sharing some of my creative energy with the world. Perhaps I can create tutorials of some of the things I create and share. My husband thinks I should be selling my stuff, but I get more pleasure, right now, in gifting it to my friends who appreciate the time and effort that has been put into it.

I'm currently working on centerpieces for the yearly Christmas Party for our Painting Group, HOMDA, (Heart of Michigan Decorative Artists). I'm making 7 of them and they each take several hours to put together, paint, then decorate. They are fabric snowmen that have a Christmas tree with two snowmen painted on either side, who are decorating the tree. Then the fabric snowman needs a hat made and arms, which I'm making out of floral wire and wrapping with brown floral tape to look like wood and bending to look like arms. In their arms I'm placing a string of fake little Christmas bulbs. The bottom of the snowman has garland around them with larger Christmas bulbs glued in. Finally, they have clay noses that need to be inserted. Now, the clay noses were bought at a painting convention I went to in early November. When I came home from the convention, I pulled the bag of noses out of my suitcase and put them in a safe spot so I would know just where they were when I was ready to use them on these snowmen. I sure wish I could remember where that safe place is. I've been looking everywhere I can think of for the last three days!

If I don't find them by Friday, I'll have to resort to chenille noses as a substitute. I'll post pictures of them on Saturday after the Christmas party. Can't post them now just in case one of the HOMDA members sees this blog. They're centerpieces for the tables, but they are also door prizes and a surprise.

I have a lot to do before Saturday to finish all the things that need to be done for the Christmas Party. We have 26 gals attending. Fortunately I didn't wait till the last minute to get everything done like I usually do, but I wish everything was completed already.

I have my granddaughter coming over everyday starting Wednesday and she's only 10 months old. When she's here I get nothing accomplished. She is the sweetest little thing and she's starting to walk and talk and she loves to follow Gramma around. So the next two days will be full of getting everything else I need to accomplish finished!