Mounted Mini Quilts added to My Etsy Shop

I actually had time yesterday to add a few things to my Etsy shop. The kids played nicely and hid out in their room. Occaisionally they will do this in an attempt to get out of schoolwork. I had things I wanted to get done so I let them get away with it. The sun also came out so I could take some pictures outside. Photography seems to be a problem in the winter. Usually it is raining or just to cold to hang out outside. The other is that the light has a very blue cast. The sun is so low in the sky. I don't know if there is a setting on my camera that will correct for it or if I need to learn how to use some type of computer program. Just imagine that the paper is a creamy white and adjust the colors of the quilts accordingly.

Roayl Dreams

Sunshine

Swept Away

The Key

Unto Thee

Vibrant Dreams

Red Hot Dreams

My Heart

Exclaimations!

Hidden Dreams

Growing Dreams

Fields

Blossoms

Bloom

Adventure

Off to the Art-O-Mat

This weekend I finished preparing another batch of works to send off to Art-O-Mat. I love the sight of all the boxes lined up and filled with little works of art. Each a small treasure. I had fun making each of these 2" x 3" mini quilts from my rainbow scraps. I then gave my husband the honor of naming them. I love the fresh take he gives them. We joked that he is "Adam" so naming is an appropriate job for him. Let me know what you think.

Bed in the Grass

Sharks in the Garden

Off Kilter

Red Mountain

Sharks at Sunset

Breaking Forth

Sunset Looking West

Skyscraper at Sunset

Biten

Lawn with Lawnchair

Lizzard

Mountain Majesty

Darkness Encroaching

Hot Daze

City Sunset

In the Shadow of Greatness

A Lot of Reading to Do!

Okay, I'm not going to be able to use all these bookmarks myself, but I just love the colors and textures of the fabrics, papers, yarns and ribbons. I can't help but touch and fondle them. I can capture a touch of the rainbow each time I pick them up. A little touch of peace and joy among the chaos of life.

How I wish I could just focus on that and block everything else out for a few minutes. I am so easily distracted by all the noise, rarely can I finish a thought in my head. I can't think straight with talking or music in the background or even a little person staring at me watching what I'm doing. I'm always listening for the urgent that I can't focus on the important. Tis the life of a mom I guess. Do you have the same problems or are you able to keep all the little distractions from taking over? Any tips to achieving a one track mind?

My First Craft Fair

I did my first craft fair last weekend. I needed something positive to focus on and my friend Mandy convinced me to join her at a fundraiser for the local Pregnancy Resources Center. The vendor fee went directly to a good cause so I didn't really have anything to loose. For a week and a half I was busy making Tea Gift Boxes, Mini Treasure Box Ornaments, Inchie Ornaments, Cards and Bookmarks. I also brought some framed pieces and mounted mini quilts. Everyone was impressed with the work. Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of customers come through so sales were a little slow. I did enjoy the day hanging out with friends and came home with a few extra dollars in my pocket. Now I have decorations for my Christmas tree and Christmas cards to send out. And if I manage to get organized, I'll get a few more things up on my Etsy site.

P.S. Forgive my spotty posting -- my kids are now doing a computer based homeschool curriculum and have discovered the internet so I have to fight for my computer time.

Home (?) from Art Fiber Fest

I really wish last week and all the house stuff hadn't have happened so I could still be basking in all the fun and wonderful things I learned at Art Fiber Fest. I had such an amazing time. The people were wonderful. I was immediately welcomed by everyone who had been coming for years, including Gail, Betsey, Laura, Debbie, and Carol, and we were quickly old friends. We stayed up late (okay, late for a sleep deprived mother of four) talking and working on projects in the dorms with all the girls. We were often joined by Darlene, Pamela, Teri, Gwyn, Alma, and Lori . I was also befriended by Jodie and her stepmom Susan. They had travelled from Arizona and Hawaii. Everyone was so accepting and encouraging.

The first day of classes I took Lisa Engelbecht's Book of Intentions. We worked on creating an ABC book based on our dreams, goals, and hopes. I have to admitt that I didn't get very far. I got hung up on the lettering and wasn't happy with anything I did. I enjoyed painting the backgrounds but that was about it. I did at least learn that I don't find my handwriting on fabric particularly beautiful. I'm sure practice would help, but I don't think that is a direction I really want to focus upon. It also didn't help that I didn't get any sleep the night before. The beds were awful and my back hurt from the springs. There was also a light right outside my window and I could hear everything someone flushed the toilet. I finally gave up sleeping around 6am, showered and went for a walk. The next three nights I folded up an extra blanket and used it to fill in the dip in the bed and cusion the springs. After that I slept I was able to sleep at least a little.

The next day I learned Nuno felting from Mary Stanley. I love my scarves that I made. We felted wool fiber onto silk chiffon scarves Mary had dyed for us. For the first I accidently got an extra long scarf that had sneaked into the pile. I am so happy that I did because the length was perfect. I felted some vibrant mohair locks I brought from home and some whispy merino wool in cool blues and purples. On the second scarf I took a more aggressive approach. I added two thicker layers of wool and also tucked some metallic yarns under the wool. I then felted the back side with swirls and angellina fiber. The scarf ended up much shorter from all the felting. It makes a great accent piece.

The last day I took Tracy Lampe's Funky Chunky Yarn Lumps. We learned to spin thick, chunky yarn on a drop spindle. I absoluelty loved it. I love to just touch and play with fibers. I got to do that and make something wonderful at the same time. Plus, I have very dry skin and working with the wool was magic. All that lanonlin left my hands feeling beautiful. The dark red yarn was my first batch. We used natural colored roving and then dyed it with Kool-Aide. This is a combination of Grape, Strawberry and Lemon. The red was definetly the strongest color. I then made three more "lumps" from fibers Tracy had previously dyed. I came home with a garbage bag of fibers and ready for a spinning wheel.

All Packed and No Where to Go

My heart is broken. We were all set for the sale of our house to close Monday and ready to move into our new home Tuesday. Then we got the call -- the whole thing fell through. Mrs. Buyer's job somehow mysteriously vanished. She claimed she work there, but her employer told the bank in no uncertain terms she didn't and to never call him again. Pooff! My dreams of having our life settled and moving forward in a positive direction have once again been put on hold. Now I have to put the house back in order and ready to show tomorrow. Needless to say, I am feeling rather discouraged and hopeless at the momment. I did have a wonderful time at Art Fiber Fest before all this blew up and I will blog about it as soon as my heart can recapture some joy.

Art Fiber Fest

Wednesday evening I'm off to Art Fiber Fest in Port Townsend. What a crazy time for a weekend away. The sale of our house closes on the 27th and our new house on the 28th. Then we have two days to move. Then, add Halloween and two of my kids birthdays. Did I say my life is a little crazy. I'm just hoping that it wont take me long to decompress from all the house sale stress and I will be able to relax and enjoy my time away. I'm thinking I might need to sneak a little wine into my suitcase just in case.

I have quite the suitcase of supplies. I spent the weekend gathering everything on my supplies list and also packing my studio to move. I wasn't very selective about what went into the suitcase. I figured I might as well take all my fabric paints and paintbrushes, all my colored pencils and pens, all my painted fabric. My husband was teasing me that I wouldn't be able to lift the bag. I told him it has wheels. Plus, it isn't nearly as heavy as some of those moving boxes of magazines I packed.

I'm very excited and a little nervous about going to, as my family calls it, art camp. I think the only time I have ever been somewhere overnight where I didn't know anyone was back in high school when I visited Boston to check out MIT. I'll only be an hour away from home and I'm familiar with the area this time, so it shouldn't be nearly as scary and lonely. And hopefully fiber artists aren't nearly as intimidating as a bunch of college students to a shy high schooler.

I made a bunch of treasure boxes filled with "dreams" to trade at camp. I love the pile of bright colors and textures and all the wonderful secrect they hold. My fingers love to stack them. I love to play with the beads. They are just so little and fun! Hopefully, others will think so to.

Art-O-Mat Openning in Seattle

Last night I attended my first Art-O-Mat openning at Venue during the Ballard Art Walk. My husband and I were able to drop the kids off with my parents and head to the big city for a date. It was the first time in years that we have been to Seattle without visiting the zoo or science center and I realized how much of a small town girl I have become. We had a great time though. I met Clark, founder of Art-O-Mat and other artists. It was really fun to see people picking out their treasures from the machine. My husband bought a tiny oil painting of birds sitting on a line. He asked if he needed to buy my work, but I didn't really see the point of that. One woman bought a "Bad Boys Pincushion" and let out a scream when she openned it. The machine was very busy the whole time we were there. I, of course, didn't bring the camera and didn't think to have my husband take a picture with his phone. Maybe Clark will have his pictures up on flicker and I can ask to add one to my blog.

These are some more "Dreams" that I am making for them. I haven't come up with names. I have a feeling I wont have a chance to finish naming, labelling and boxing them until after we move, but they have been a fun distraction.

I'm finally starting to have faith that everything is going to work out with our house sale and purchase. It's only two weeks until we close and I'm going to Art Fiber Fest on the 22nd, so I'm going to have to really start packing soon. Speaking of that, I really should get back to work.

Gifts

What fun I have been having my rainbow of fabrics. These are a couple 13" x 18" wallhangings I have made based on the log cabin pattern. I've never really had any education in traditional quilting, so I don't know if the arragement is based on anything tradtional or not. I just put the colors together in a way I liked. They are sewed together with a zig-zag in copper thread. I haven't finished the edges yet or trimmed all the loose threads yet. I think I might try a copper foil binding. It that doesn't work, I'll try a zig-zag. I'm planning on mounting them so they will be ready to frame if desired.

I love the cheeriness the bright colors add to my day. I hope the people who recieve them have the same feeling.

Backpacking ... in Rhinestone Heels

Today is the day for our latest reveal, Shelter, on the Twelve by Twelve blog. For my piece I chose to do a blinged version of Boulder Shelter, a backpacking shelter in the Olympic National Park. If you'd like to read more about it feel free to hop over to the blog. It's also my turn for picking the next topic. I wont give any clues until I post it later today. Now its time to make some coffee.

A Rainbow of Raw Materials

The raw materials are done. I spent the weekend painting a quilting away. I have a whole rainbow of quilted fabrics and fabric paper. For one set, I quilted white fabric and then painted it with very watery acrylic and fabric paints. For the other set, I painted the fabric first and then quilted with metallic threads. I'm not sure exactly what I am going to do next, but I know that I need to get to work on my twelve by twelve piece. Shelter, very fitting for the last two months. I started one idea, but it just wasn't working. Now, I've got one week. I think I'm trying to hard and thinking I need something grand. Time to stop taking myself so seriously and enjoy the experience.

Time to Get Back to Work

The house still hasn't sold. It seems that everybody who is interested in buying our house can't qualify for financing. Oh well, at least we have a low house payment while we're still here. I'm also getting a more lax about cleaning. Dust bunnies are gathering in the corners and the toys are spending more time lying about. I've decided that it will all be okay and I need to get back to focusing my energy on the things I enjoy.

My art has definetly been on the back burner this summer and I have had a very hard time getting motivated. It's time for no more excuses! I've got to get back to work or I'll go crazy.

I started with a whole rainbow of fabric paper. I've also prequilted a bunch a fabric for painting and I'm painting some other fabric to quilt with metallic threads. I'm excited to have the raw materials to work with! Who knows what fun designs will appear in the next few months.

I'm also getting excited about ArtFiberFest at the end of next month. Four days away from the family doing art! I can't remember having so much time for myself. Plus it will be first classes I have ever taken. I feel like a kid dreaming about camp.

Stuck in a Clean House

The challenges of living in a House for Sale! I'm not used to having to keep my house clean all the time. Somehow I didn't get the cleaning genes from my mom. My only way of keeping things clean is get nothing out! The only problem is that I'm getting tired of not really "living" in my house. I miss my art. Currently I have been making lots of little yo-yos with my hand painted fabric. I don't really know why, other than I can keep all the supplies in a ziplock bag. I am so out of practice, I guess they are an easy way to try to get back into the groove. I so want to be able to just jump back in and recapture the joy. Ultimately, it comes down to being a little afraid. I've placed expectations and goals upon myself and my perfectionism is coming up against my fear of failure. I know, get over it and get to work. I know, I know. At least I'm putting my toes in again!