Itchy Fingers

Wow - that is all I can say. A while back I started recording daily gratitudes. I could have filled a book after last night's Guild meeting....

Leslie had already hinted she had something special for me. And she wasn't wrong. Apparently she "negotiated" with a dealer not once, but twice, to get me this little vintage sewing basket. She always makes me laugh with her stories (and she has lots!). And inside I found the scissor case she made and scissors. Thanks so much L - and I promise I will figure something out to put on the top LOL.

Stephanie, who is moving to Arizona, had already contacted me to say she had some old music and would I be interested - but of course! This is only a few pieces - love The Postman song (apparently that is the job aspiration of the young man). The graphics on many of the covers are great and my fingers started to tingle thinking about how to use them...

Then Fran pulled me aside and said "My elderly neighbour (I think she said she was in her 90's) had a flood in her house and while I was helping to clean up I came across these and thought of you"....DAH! This is only a handful of what was in the shoebox. Lovely, lovely old patterns. At this point my itchy fingers were going into overdrive....

But wait!Another Guild member (and I feel absolutely terrible that I don't recall her name) handed me a grocery bag and said I could have all of these photos of "unknown" relatives...

...another big addition to my "family" picture collection. Oh my, oh my, oh my! Again this is only a small portion of what was given. THANK YOU everyone for your generosity. I love everything given to me and will put them all to good use! Enjoy. Jewels (who has a very big smile on her face at the moment, and more gratitudes in one day than she has ever had before - itchy fingers to)

Lousy Weather BUT...

...very pretty Quilt Show. All of my Guild friends could not believe the SNOW we were getting earlier Sunday.

But the good news is it did not seem to deter the crowds (thank you) that came out to our show over the weekend.

Our best turn out ever - just keeps growing and growing every year.

I'm rubbish at these kinds of photos with my little camera - but hope you can get the gist of some of the lovely works on display.

Our Challenge Quilt theme was "Wish You Were Here" - members had to pick a country and create a 22 x 24 "travel poster". We all agree we have a very talented bunch - and folks were literally coming from all over the state to our little show.

Heh those look familiar!This will have been our 8th show and I think we are getting a reputation - we certainly seem to have many repeat visitors.

So congratulations everyone - and see you next year! Jewels

Lucky Me!

Unfortunately weather interfered, our montly meeting was cancelled and we did not get to do our Guild Secret Valentine Exchange :-( It has been postponed to March. BUT some of the hard working Gals from Guild were at my house today planning for our Quilt Show and it just so happened my Secret Valentine got delivered!

Can you guess what it is?
Clever Gal who made this! I LOVE it (and it follows all the rules). But then I got an additional Valentine from my pal Carol!!!!

Yes it was the one she described as "whopperjawed" but I LOVE it too!

She even personalized it for me YYY What a lucky girl I am indeed!

Shhhh - its a Secret

Well I'm just pleased as punch...we are doing a "Secret Valentine" at Guild this month and I get to experiment again!

The only rules are - you have to make it and it has to include a heart....simple as that.
Easy starting with this little hanger...

Lots of fabric and

vintage doohickey things (the more doohickey the better, I say) to work with...

I first saw some of Rebekah Meier's work in Sew Somerset - this is a great book for inspiration which I used ...and it just all came together - can you guess what my masterpiece "says"?

I ....

Love...
To...

...Stitch! How sweet is that! Even hubby figured it out...

I really don't want to give it away - it was one of those projects where everything just seemed to work out - definitely one of a kind. Thankfully, I have enough materials to make one for me!

I also finished my ATC - this month "Under the Big Top". I've been using a lot of old birthday cards lately for another project (more on that later) and this one just happened to fill the bill for our theme! I've had a peek at Carol's and it looks fun to (dang, she's ahead of me on our Challenge Quilt).

But I'll be taking a break from crafty things for at least one night...LOST starts up again tomorrow (hurrah) - the final season - so will we finally find out what is "up" with the Island? Stay tuned...

ATC Tutorial and Give Away

Well September is here which means our Guild will be kicking into gear again for the 2009/2010 season. It also means time for my monthly Artist Trading Card (ATC) exchange with three of my Guild peeps. I thought I would not only give you a “look see” what I’ve done this month, but also share the steps on how I actually made it.
We always do ours in fabric, but ATCs can be made of pretty much anything as long as they follow some basic rules:
2 ½ x 3 ½ inches in size (just like a Baseball card)
Exchanged not Sold
Vital stats on the back
(You can GOOGLE ATC to find out more but WARNING - you will also pull up stuff on Air Traffic Control – who knew). After that, it’s pretty much up to you how you make it. I know the gals I exchange with all have their different styles and approaches so you are only seeing my take on how to make them.
First off – what’s your muse! Fortunately we have a theme already lined up for each month – but even then I either get overly ambitious or stuck for an idea. This month it is “underneath the sea” – I went back and forth on mermaids, treasure chests, fish…finally settled on a Seahorse.

I love scanning images or finding them on the web (but be sensitive to copyright) I usually copy into Microsoft PowerPoint (do I need a copyright sign here?) so I can ensure the size is right and adjust. I usually print a paper copy first (black and white) to check.

Then print on to fabric. You need an inkjet printer for this (though there are lots of creative ways to transfer images on to fabric). I get my trusty Michaels coupon to buy the fabric I use to print on – mind you there are many ways to prep fabric to go through your printer (some definitely more economical). I typically design my back label the same time and print those out as well...

Books have been written about it!
Once that is out of the way – my card usually consists of 1. Fabric Layer 2. Batting 3. Paper back (Heavy Stock). Have fun choosing your fabric layer (you can get really creative).
This fabric looks watery to me – a very pretty batik (which Carol will like ;->) – it is actually more purple then it looks in this shot.
First step is to adhere the fabric to the batting – I use either Wonder Under or Steam a Seam(whatever is at hand). TIP – do NOT get carried away with the Iron! Too much heat results in a lumpy top! (been there, done that)
Then you get to “play” and see what kinds of embellishments will look best – looks sea weedy to me! TIP – you need to decide what order you are going to adhere/sew things into place – especially if you want to achieve a clean finish on the back – more on that.
I decided to sew my little fella into place first and then sew around the edge edge of the whole card – including through the paper backing (Don’t worry, I will show you how this gets covered – though some times you can just leave as is).
Then I fussed and got my “seaweed” in place – whatever glue works for you. Since the gals I exchange with like to use the plastic baseball sheets for storing their cards I normally try not to go over the edge (though I may buck a trend some time this year just to be different!)
I also like to set my cards under a stack of books overnight to “flatten” out (unless there is an embellishment I don’t want to do this to).
Finally, I adhere the labels on the back – which covers up that sewing you saw earlier!
So there you have it – by the way notice that I made SIX this month instead of four? If you want to own an original piece of Jewels art work let me know (but I don’t want to see you making millions on EBay with it LOL) and I will send your way (first two folks who ask will receive)! Meanwhile, hope you enjoyed some of the other cards from past exchanges – enjoy!