MIdnight Vigil at the Bead Tree

Lots of beads...little bits of fabrics as accents this time...

This is the small piece I created for the proposal I sent to Lark Books- they are putting a book together on beaded quilts, and asked me to submit...

Update: not accepted - boo hoo ~

Mardi Gras at Emmanuel

Sunday was our annual "Feast of Fools" celebration at church. Here we see the lovely blonde Brenda (one of the high school youth) sticking her tongue out during the lasagne meal, and the children donning their hairnets and getting ready to perform a skit with Jason...remember Gladys and Tyrone from Laugh-In??? The kids and a few adults had a lot of fun bopping him with purses...in another skit, yours truly played Edith Ann...and that's the truth (insert raspberry)

I Believe in Love

Without love I wouldn't believe in anything that lives or breathes ~
Without love I'd have no anger, I wouldn't believe in the right to stand here ~
Without love, I wouldn't believe ~ I couldn't believe in you, and I wouldn't believe in me without love. I believe in love.

elton john

The last group of notecards

Let there be light!

Oh my...I re-discovered more light in my studio! It was completely covered up by a tall shelving unit which now has been emptied, and all contents are on the floor. But, there's light...

What I also found behind: In 2000, I had to have a hysterectomy because of severe endometriosis. Grieving a bit for different reasons, I wrote a poem that my surgeon's nurse read as the surgery was ending ~

"I was the gift, the fruit that as a seed grew and was nourished by my mother's womb. My son is a gift also, a gift of my womb as fruit to the whole world. I am remembering my mother today, wishing she were here - to help me prepare for what is to come and to learn that even this rite of passage is a cause for celebration. Her spirit is a gentle presence in my life always ~
Blessings to all of you here today, especially to Dr. Moore who delivered
my beautiful son, and who now is providing me the chance to heal by
delivering the womb which has been wounded and full of pain. O Source
of Creation, as the blood now stops flowing from my body, show me that
my creativity will continue and that other gifts will flow out of me instead.
My womb - as a maiden, mother and now crone, I bless you." 11.2.2000

She's Traveling Again

"Green Goddess Dressing" is on her way to Quilting Arts, LLC ...

The green lady in all her naked glory will be included in an article about the Small Wonders exhibits which will be in the April/May issue.

She was supposed to arrive yesterday, but was delayed for some reason that made no sense to me - it made me a little nervous...tomorrow, they said.

When I hear that she's safe in Pokey's hands, I will breathe again...

Wednesday's notecards

Still having fun with these...and I only have 6 blank cards left ~

The whole process of creating these notecards has given me more ideas for future quilts than actually doing small quiltlets and postcards. Interesting - I'll admit that it's been quite freeing to not agonize over thread color, or go through every bead container for once. I've been writing in my journal about all of this, so I dragged out an old journal from 10 years ago when I was heavy into appliqueing. When I started back then, I stitched mostly geometric shapes to make it easier. As I read through my notes and thoughts from back then, I realized that it was more than wanting to keep it simple. As my applique techniques became very good, I found that I still preferred the simple shapes.

It seems that in the past 6 months or so, these simple shapes have been creeping back into my work.

More notecards

When I got home from work tonight, I had one thing on my mind (for a change). More notecards...

These are my favorites so far...the paper underneath the embossing are cut outs from an old calendar of Van Gogh paintings.

We have a winner in the "Tyvek, Anyone?" challenge! Debbie of DubiQuilts - Quilts and Fiber Arts
was the first person to comment on yesterday's
post - congrats!

Now be sure to check back...there's a lot more stash to go through - you never know when I may find something else to give away ~

Tyvek, Anyone?

What to do on a Sunday afternoon when you're not a football fan, and it's freezing cold outside - find a large box filled with scraps from projects '06, have a garbage bag nearby, close your eyes and start pitching some of the scraps (okay, most of the scraps), also have an empty bin nearby to place neatly (???) folded and separated fabrics...
~ooh, I forgot about that piece - where shall I put that?
~wow, this 4x4 square is the only piece I have left of that one (save it for I don't know)
~healthy fused scraps for my students (and me)
~lots of ugly dyed pieces for pressing cloths
~what was I thinking pieces
~pathetic prints to overdye or paint
~how did that Little Debbie Nutty Bar wrapper get in there?















Tyvek, anyone? I have never quite warmed up to this product...here is a shot of one bin of folded and separated fabric with some Tyvek and a small piece of Angelina on the top (sorry, don't like that stuff either). If you would like it, be the first one to comment on this post, and I'll send it to you! It's not a lot, just a few pieces, a couple of them are maybe 10x12...















All that organizing made me hungry for playtime: these are some notecards that I made. Easy! I used some fused scraps of my hand dyes and ironed them on the front of the cards~stamped and embossed images from greeting cards and from an old calendar~put some double-sided craft tape on the backs of the images, and laid them on top of the fused cotton.

The latest

Oh, boy! Now, I'm not complaining, but just when I thought it was safe to go into my studio and clean...

My article for Cloth, Paper, Scissors has been sent, and the artwork has been shipped ~

And...I should have started the cleaning before I read my e-mail the other evening ~

The proposal I sent off to Houston for a demo at the Chicago Festival's "Friday Night Sampler" was accepted, and of course, my mind started racing again (if only my flab moved so fast). I'm working today on the hand-out, and photographing some finished projects, so I can e-mail them to Houston.
On the PAQA yahoo list, Maggie Weiss and Wendy Butler Berns posted the request looking for members to submit an idea for the Sampler nights. Foot in the door, maybe? Instead of foot in mouth...

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Lark Books about submitting a beaded quilt for a new book coming out ~

Can she do it all? I love working with the children at church, and exciting things are happening for our congregation. My part-time gig at the local Jo-Ann's is good. The spring teaching season is coming soon. HOW DO YOU HANDLE EVERYTHING, AND STILL MANAGE TO FIND STUDIO TIME? SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME!