Happy Birthday Mr. C...

A very Happy Birthday to my dear Mr. Createology. Today is his special day. We will be celebrating at one of our favorite local restaurants tonight for dinner. As for projects...Mr. C wanted some new specialty car towels so he researched and this is what we did. Bought the nicest thickest plushest towels I have ever seen or touched. Of course in white! Next as you see in the photo above we cut them apart. Why? Because there can be NO banding or edging to impair the surface of the towel or cause any roughness or drag. So we cut the towels apart. Have you ever cut up a super thick plush towel? The "lint" is overwhelming and covers every surface...me, him, the cutting table, the floors, the carpet. What a mess.

This is just a small bit of the mess on the carpet in the sewing room. Looks like it snowed. :o)

Next we sew the cut towels. With a special cotton thread in white. No other blends or types will do for these car towels. Only cotton or the thread might scratch the car's surface. I merely zig-zagged the edges to control the amount of raveling that might occur. Then a nice clean run through the washer and dryer to remove any contaminants that the towels might contain. NO softner in the towels as that will hamper the ability to dry and buff. Alrighty then!

Now we have the new "required" car towels for Mr. C. One large bath towel minus all edging and borders cut in half and one cut in thirds. Special sizes for each special task.

Happy Birthday Mr. C.

P.S. I am still sweeping and vacuuming debris. This is one project I am glad to have finished.

What is the most unusual project you might have done? I would love to hear your comments.

Happy week and may the sun continue to shine for everyone. What? Really? More rain coming tomorrow? No thank you. We have enough water this year. I hear Florida might need some water table moisture...

Spring Chickie...

Spring?

Hellooooooooo Spring...

Spring please come back.

It is so cold and we have had snow again.

Winter has been with us since before Thanksgiving.

Please let Spring come back.

Three days of Spring was just mean!

Miss Lace Spring Chickie is waiting patiently.

She is gathering twine for a nest.

If you look closely what do you see?

She has an egg to lay in her nest.

Spring...Where are you Spring?

Please come back and stay until summer. We would be so warm and happy...

Butterfly Effect...

This is a new butterfly I made. Utilizing the foam center with sheet music backing and a Monet inspired fabric front. The Monet fabric was salvaged from an umbrella which I just couldn't bear to throw away. I sewed an assortment of laces to the fabric sandwich. Next I added a layer of vellum over the laces. Hearts were punched into the vellum for a sneak peak of the laces. A row of colorful buttons for the body. Ribbon antennae complete this butterfly. Now I am sending this butterfly to the Butterfly Effect hosted by Trudi Sissons of Two Dresses Studio in Canada. Then Trudi will send all the butterflies she collects on to the Holocaust Museum in Houston Texas. This is such a beautiful and heartwarming project. Teachers have incorporated making butterflies into their classroom projects and the kids have made their own versions for the remembrance of children victims of the Holocaust. This teaches us all to be kind and generous and to do for others. I know many of you have already made and contributed butterflies to this very worthwhile cause. In fact we can all make and send more. The goal is to obtain 1.5 million for the museum. Lets all donate more of our handiwork. I have loved butterflies all of my life ever since I was a little girl. My mother did a lot of traveling in her adult years and after one trip she returned with a butterfly pin attached to the top of her shoulder. I remarked on it and she promptly took it off and pinned it on me saying, "Butterflies are the bearers of 10,000 happinesses". "Now you share this with someone else." I don't know how many pins my dear mother passed along her journey of life but I do know it was her way of paying it forward. To this day I share my butterflies with others in honor of my mother. Afterall butterflies also represent beauty, charm, grace and rebirth. May you have a truly beautiful day and create what makes you happy...

April, Spring and Easter...

We are well into April and I am amazed at how quickly this year is passing. Happy Birthday to my sister Joyce today. And Happy Birthday to my friend Lisa tomorrow. April holds many birthdays for us to celebrate. How fortunate to be born in Spring. The surprise of new leaves and buds and blossoms all sprouting the excitement of fresh new life.

April this year is also the celebration of Easter. Very late in the month this year however all the same it holds lots of fun, parties, cupcakes, eggs and chocolate deliciousness.

These images are of some fabric postcards I made. I love to send these in the mail. The little bunnies having tea or picnicing or cooking were cut from some vintage fabric I had. They are so adorable. I do not remember who made the fabric so I apologize for not giving credit. I really enjoyed using this varigated thread to satin stitch around the edges. I honestly think satin stitching is a boon to thread sales.

May you have a wonderful and sunny week ahead.

Are you working on something special for Easter?

Spring and Quilting...

Here we are April 1st and our weather has given us a glorious Spring day. The sun is shining and the frogs are croaking their mating songs. The Robins are searching the grounds for just the perfect things. I have spent the better part of the day working in the yard. I decided to put my blinders on as we still have some snow on the ground in the yard and also so I wouldn't get overwhelmed with the massive job to do just cleaning up the debris from such a harsh winter. I chose a small walkway near the pond and merely worked in a small circle hand raking and picking up pine needles, oak leaves, old acorns and heavy wet soggy mushy plant stems. After a few hours I had finished with my little piece of heaven walkway. I have daffodils blooming and there are even hopeful tiny new green sprouts on a very dead looking geranium I didn't think would survive the winter. Life is good. Now for quilting...my small little patches of cleanup work remind me of how quilting goes. In small little patches of fabric that eventually become the finished piece to be proud of. The photo above is a small piece of Cathedral Quilting I did all by hand about 4 decades ago. It was tedius and took forever because I wanted my stitches to be as tiny as possible. Now all these years later it is still perfect...in my eyes. Oh yes, I can see flaws however these only make it more cherished to me. Now days I don't quilt however I know that someday I shall...when I am ready. As I follow blogs and find things that really speak to me I was super fortunate to find Terri Stegmiller. I know many of you already know Terri but for those who don't here is her link. Terri is also part of 3 Creative Studios and you will find lots of inspiration there. From Terri's blog one day I visited the Twelve By Twelve blog. I was intrigued by the quilts that various artists were creating. They were each only 12 inches by 12 inches. Hmmm...now that seems much more doable than some huge king-sized piece that is montrous to work with. I digress but back in the 70's Dear Grandma and I each made king-sized crazy quilts out of small pieces of double knit fabrics. What were we thinking?!! And I don't even still have that monster...me who never gets rid of anything! I do hope you visit both Terri and the 12x12 just to see all the amazing art that is created. Twelve By Twelve had a lovely coming out party online for their book they published and I was super fortunate to be selected one of the lucky recipients of a copy. The book is published by Lark Crafts and Terri actually signed my copy that she sent to me. Thank you very much Terri. This photo above is the front of the book cover. This photo is the back cover. I have perused this book from front to back and it is so beautifully done. Each of the twelve artists who participated and created twelve quilts in the 12x12 inch size are featured. How fun and challenging that each quilt had a theme and it is amazing to see how each artist represented it in their quilt. I will definitely be devouring this book for a very long time. Each time I look I see something new and different. Who knows...maybe this is the catalyst for me to make a tiny little 12x12 inch quilt of my very own to be proud of for decades to come. How are you enjoying your weekend? Maybe a little outdoors and a little indoors creativity? This sunshine is definitely re-energizing me after all the gray, cold, wet and snowy days we have had. What?!! Rain is predicted for Saturday???