New Year's Cheers

Wow this is my 100th post. In a way I feel that it should be my 1,000th post, but also in a way maybe only the 25th post. Time sure has a way of confusing the brain. And tonight we will be marking another version of time, by changing from 2006 to 2007.

I have only been blogging since about May, and must tell you that since I've started blogging my life has changed somewhat. For the better I might add. I have become more confident in my art work and am not afraid to publicly share it. I have pushed myself to create more. Before I had the feeling that I didn't have to get anything finished really, but I'm not sure why I had that attitude as I really enjoy making and seeing finished pieces. I guess I wasn't very disciplined and was becoming very lazy.

Another benefit to blogging is getting to meet (in a way) wonderful people with like interests from all over the world. I've never been one to feel the urge to be a world-wide traveler and I know I will probably never leave the United States, but getting to know some of you from other countries has made me feel almost like I have traveled there. From visiting your blogs and from conversations with you, it is a fun and interesting learning experience for me.

Now this next part will seem a bit strange to some.....but I have developed some wonderful friendships through blogging and from the online groups I belong to. Strange how? Well I have never met these friends in person. We talk almost daily, sometimes share personal issues, and mostly share our love of crafting. After a period of time, one starts to feel that you've known the other for a long time. Perhaps someday we can meet in person.

Thanks to everyone who has left kind, wonderful, and encouraging comments on my blog. I hope all of you have a healthy, safe, peaceful, and loving new year.

So Long, Fare Well....

come on....sing along with me. No, I'm not going anywhere. I'm so excited...I'm getting high speed internet next week. YIPPPEEEEE! No more agonizingly slow page downloads. I'll be able to zoom around the web and visit everyone in lightning fast time. That means I can spend more time sewing and crafting and I should be able to create more stuff. My inner voice is saying "yeah right, you'll probably just spend more time surfing the web". Oh well!!!

The one downfall with switching internet service providers is that I have to get a new email address. Now I need to try and figure out all the places on the web that I need to update. And of course there's all of you who will want to be sure to stay updated. Right???? It sounds like a tiresome task, but in the end, the high speed will be so worth it.

The Winners

Here is everyone's name before they went into the hat. The hat was kindly offered by my hubby. So I won't keep you in suspense any longer.....the winners are:

1. BlueJude
2. Dianne (FaeryDi)
3. Joanna
4. Anna Nowicki

I will be contacting each of you via email soon, so that you can send me your mailing address. Thanks to all who played along and were so generous with your comments and suggestions.

WIP Wednesday

Wow I think I missed a few WIP Wednesdays. Oh well... The photo below shows a fabric design that I've made for a fabric book cover. The theme I've chosen is "nature". This is going to be for a fabric page swap I'm involved in with the Fabric Art Friends group I belong to. Each month someone in the swap will make a page for me and I'll make a page for someone else. In the end, I should get 9 pages from others and I'll probably make a page for myself also. The pages will be 9" x 9" when completed.

Merry Christmas!

I'd like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas. Be safe and healthy. Share peace and hope. Spread cheer and goodwill. I'll be spending Christmas day at home with my family. Ho Ho Ho!

Guess What?????

I've finished them. Wow, I made the deadline. As you can see in the picture, I've got them all packaged up neat and tidy. I've named them "Scrubbles". The name credits go to Trek. Thanks Trek for the creative name. And many thanks to everyone who had name suggestions. I appreciate your help.


On another note....imagine my surprise when I was flipping through the pages of my new issue of Cloth Paper Scissors and there on page 22 is fellow blogger Shari. Wow Shari, congrats!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I love you Dad!

Fighting in the Comments

Now now, none of that. I'm loving all your name suggestions. I still haven't decided on what I'm going to name them. But I'll let you know when I do. I'll even show you the label I come up with and the entire package.

There has been questions about the kind of yarn I'm using. I have been using Lily brand Sugar and Cream 4-ply cotton yarn. And I've also picked up one called Peaches n Cream. Don't know the brand on that one. The Sugar n Cream I found at Hobby Lobby and they had a ton of color choices. The Peaches n Cream I found at Walmart and there weren't lots of choices there.

And for those of you who'd like the pattern...here is where I found it.

I'd love to be able to send each and every one of you a dish/wash/bath cloth, but alas, I think I'd be knitting into the next century and wouldn't get to do any of my other projects. So instead maybe I'll have a little blog contest.

If you'd like to enter, just comment on this post and your name will be entered. I will pick 4 winners and each will receive a dish/wash/bath cloth. I will draw the winning names one week from today (12/28/06). I'll let the winners know they've won so that they can e-mail me their postal address. If you enter, please be sure I have your email address. Sometimes the comments I receive don't have email information and I have no way of contacting you. Thanks!

More Cloths for the Dishes

Three more sets are complete. Only three left. I think I'm going to make the deadline. Yeah! I'm still trying to come up with a catchy name...haven't made any final decisions yet....so if you have any ideas for me....please leave a comment.


PS....are you getting tired of looking at dish cloths yet? I think I am.

Dish Rag Update

Well I've got 3 sets done. I discovered yesterday that I had forgot a person when calculating how many to make and now I need 9 sets (18 total). Ugh! Here's what I've got completed so far:

I need input from all of you.....I'm looking for an alternative name for "dish rag" or "dish cloth". I am planning to put a paper label around each set and want to give them a creative/different name. Okay, I'm off to do more knitting.

Weird

Fellow blogger...Sharon...has challenged me to list 6 weird things about myself. The challenge actually was issued about 2 weeks ago and it has taken me this long to think about my weirdness. Below are my weird qualities.

• I hate all citrus. This includes fruits and juices.
• I am nervous when in an elevator. When I was a youngster, I got trapped in one. The doors only opened about 6 inches and stuck there. I couldn't get out and the store maintenance had to come and it took forever to get them open.
• I don't like ladders. I will step up on the first or second rung and that's as far as I will go.
• My favorite cereal is Grape Nut Flakes. But the weird part is I like them to sit in the milk for a bit so they become somewhat soggy. Mmmmm that's how I like them best.
• While at work, my desk has to be neat and orderly or it drives me nuts. But at home, I can easily skip cleaning and straightening and it doesn't affect me at all.
• I hate feet. Except my own.

Well, Sharon.....how'd I do? By the way...if any of you haven't been to Sharon's blog...go check it out...she's been creating some wonderful journals lately and Sharon's artwork is fabulous.

How Lucky Am I?

Just before leaving on my trip, I received a lovely little charm from fellow blogger, Shari. Shari had held a contest on her blog and I was one of the lucky winners. Here is the charm she sent me. Thanks so much Shari...I would have posted it sooner, but I ran out of time.

Then while I was gone last week, a surprise box arrived for me. When I got home and opened it I found this:

And when you open the doors, you see this:

Two handmade books/journals.
This was made by the lovely and talented Sue Bleiweiss. I feel so honored to receive this lovely gift. Thank you Sue. I'm going to try and come up with a special use for the hand made books. Any ideas?

In response to some comments left regarding yesterday's post...I will share my experimentation with the All-Purpose Inks. My hope is that they will work somewhat similar to how watercolor paints act. I'm not going to hold my breath but I thought I read somewhere that they can be used like watercolors. I do have the Fantastiks applicators that you use with these inks....I plan to try them and also try paint brushes.

I do plan to use my dish rag....believe me...it's not professional quality knitting, so I don't feel so bad about using it for dishes. In fact, I'm currently knitting about 16 of these for use as Christmas gifts. I have 7 sisters-in-law and plan to give each a set of two. And I will also make a set for my mother-in-law. Even though we don't officially exchange gifts each year, there seems to be small gifts for everyone and I've just gotten in the habit of making something handmade each year. I'm hoping to improve my knitting skills in the making of these dish rags. I'm going to be busy knitting for the next several days...wish me luck...I've got two done so far.

Baby in a Bag

Both my cats love playing with plastic bags. Whenever I leave one laying around they seem to make a big game with it. I was actually able to get a photo this time.

Here are some new toys I got in the mail yesterday. I had looked for these at every store while out west but no one seemed to have them. Can't wait to play! They supposedly work very well with fabric drawing/painting.

Here are some new books I've added to my addiction library lately. Just paging through them I found myself drooling. I'm hoping 2007 will be a year of learning new techniques and lots of experimentation.


Remember the dish rag I was knitting out west? Well it turned out funky and out of shape and I didn't like it. So I ripped it out and made another one from a different pattern. I like this one much better. Hope you do too.

Home Again!

I arrived home last evening after an uneventful flight. It feels so good to be home again. I enjoyed my visit with Aunt Jude and Uncle Bud very much.

I got a little lazy with blogging the last few days. Sorry. The following photo is a paper pieced dragonfly that Aunt Jude made while I coached her. She has done paper piecing before, but needed a refresher course. The colors she chose are lovely.
And this next photo is an iris-folded design on a greeting card. I showed Aunt Jude how to do this technique also.

Well I'm off to get my house back in order, do some laundry, and start putting all my newly purchased supplies in their new home. Have a great Sunday!

Crafting on the West Coast

Thanks everyone for your comments on my new photo. My family was nagging me to change it...they said the old photo reminded them of a convict. I'm unable to respond to all of you personally while I'm away from home, but please know that I'm enjoying all your feedback and comments and I thank everyone.

Today was spent putting up my aunt's Christmas tree and other holiday decorations. My brother is here till the afternoon, then will be heading back to Seattle. It was so nice to be able to visit with him over the weekend.

Over the last couple of days, Jude and I have been doing some crafting. She has been teaching me a few of her cardmaking techniques. Here is a picture of what we made. Jude's are on the right and mine are on the left.

This next photo shows a sampling of cardstock we designed. The left one is drawn freehand and then colored with inks and a white crayon resist was used around each drawn element...although that is hard to see. The right one was background colored with ink and then stamped with rubber stamps. This was fun, it reminded me of when I decorate fabric with textile paints and stamps.

About 25 to 30 years ago my mother taught me to knit. At that time, I either didn't enjoy it or something because I didn't really get into it. Well I'm having Jude reteach me and I'm making a dish rag. It's turning out a little lopsided, but I'm getting the hang of it.

More Goodies!

More photos from shopping....I bought some variegated threads. Then as I was roaming around in the store I came across a bin with a bunch of small spools of beautiful, vibrant solid colors for only 50 cents each.
And of course I can't pass up a great kitty fabric.
I found a couple of books. I hadn't had the opportunity to page through these books before, as they were never to be found in a store around home. They have great photos inside, hopefully I can learn something from them.
And this is Boris. He is my brother's dog. He is so well behaved and well-trained by my brother, who had never had a dog before in his life.

Hi From Oregon/Washington

Well I made it to Portland yesterday despite all the flight delays I heard about elsewhere in the US. The weather was a little misty/rainy, but that's typical on the west coast.

I've already spent a big wad of money on yummy supplies. I'll show a few pictures each day...don't want to overwhelm you!

Here are a bunch of fun fibers I found, all were on sale, yippeee! I love all the different textures and colors that are available.

Then I found some wool roving. I've been wanting to get some of this to play with. These colors are so luscious.

I've also been wanting to add some oil pastels to my line-up of pencils, pens, and such. Found this inexpensive set to play with. Also got some walnut ink and an opaque white ink pad that will work on fabric.

I found this Lumiere Exciter Pack with some yummy metallic colors, some Shiva Paintstiks and a couple colors of Dr. Ph Martin fabric paint....hopefully to use for fleshtones.

Here is the view from my bedroom window at my aunt's house. She and her hubby live in a wooded area and have maybe an acre or two. It's so beautiful here.