And Passover and Bunny Day! This photo is too funny not to share. Have a great day. Hope you are sewing or spending it with family and friends that you like.
Happy Easter!
Tag: Best Wishes
Have a Nice Day!
I hope that your day is filled with good, peace and joy, whatever you are doing or celebrating or not celebrating and that all of that follows you through 2012.
Wishes for Peace in Your Life
My dad is a master at popcorn balls – at least he was when I was a kid. He was also all about decorating at Christmas. Above is a snowman made from the popcorn ball recipe/technique. I don’t know if it was eaten at the end of hte holidays or was thrown out. Dad made our holidays magical.
Mother’s Day Leaf
This is the card and wrapping I received from my mother for Mother’s Day. I love the wrapping paper. I think it is the colors.
Happy Blogiversary!
I missed my Blogiversary last year and was only reminded after listening to Amy of the Creative Mom Podcast talking about her Podcastiversary (is that a word??).
I guess it isn’t that important to me. Or, perhaps the beginning of the year is so full of celebrations – birthdays, anniversaries, Mother’s Day, etc, that I couldn’t take another celebration. Too much of a good thing and all that….
Still, today is kind of a special day, because it is the 5th anniversary of starting this blog. I have to celebrate. I am really proud that I have kept it up; that people read and that I have made progress on my creativity.
Here are some interesting facts about Artquiltmaker Blog
May 2005 – 7 posts
May 2006 – 6 posts
May 2007 – 20 posts
May 2008 – 24 posts
May 2009 – 39 posts
May 2010 – 16 posts, as of May 9, 2010
Total AQ blog posts: 1274
Comments: over 2400
Pages: 11
Categories: 51
Tags: 90
Have a great day and thanks for reading!
Birthday Extravanganza
I am REALLY fortunate to have wonderful friends and family who are willing to give me books and quilt related items that I love. I really received a lot of gifts; so many I will have plenty to write about and read and think about during the gift giving drought that is the rest of the year.**
My birthday was a week and a half ago and the gifts just keep coming. Julie gave me some fabric, a book, some note cards and some little things while at the retreat over the weekend.
The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns by Jinny Beyer came from a gift certificate I actually got from TFQ for Christmas. I think of it as a birthday gift to myself! Thanks, TFQ!
Art + Quilt came from DH. I have been borrowing TFQ’s copy and now I have my own. I am pretty excited about some of the exercises in the book.
Sew, So Cute by Mary Engelbreit came from Julie. I have wanted this book because of the apron on the front. I love it. It has some much style. I can’t wait to make that apron. Perhaps I will add it to my gift arsenal?
The bottom three reading material came from my sister. The Crafty Chica book has a very cheerful layout. I also like the pocket bag, which is made out of tablecloth vinyl. I love the tote on the front of the Sew News magazine and Artful Blogging often has links to great new blogs.
I really like they style of that tote bag on the front of the Sew News magazine. I looked at the directions last night and they are a little cryptic. I am going to look up the designer at some point and see if there is some additional explanation before I dive in. We’ll see.
I am so fortunate to have so much new reading material and project ideas. it is nice not to have to get these books out of the library and read them quickly. I really enjoy dipping in and out of books, especially quilt books. Thanks!
That wasn’t all, though. I also have some fabric to go along with the project ideas. Above are some pieces that my sister bought for me. they are colors that she loves, so I wonder if she is angling for another bag or a quilt or something? Hhhmmm.
Here is the wonderfulness that came from TFQ. Her gift was right on time, actually early, and I opened it as soon as I could get it in the door. The journals (Miquelrius) will not go to waste. I think I have to write more so I can get through them faster. 😉
The pink and red fabric (on the right in the middle) is a Malka Dubrowsky screen print (batik, maybe?). The funny part of about that fabric is that I bought TFQ some of Malka’s fabric as well. We roared with laughter about that! Great minds, you know. 😉
I have only glanced through Creative Time and Space, but I love the Voodoo lounge podcast, which is also by Rice Zachery-Freeman. I am reading Life is a Verb and really like it. I will write a full on review when I finish it. One thing I already like about it is that the author says that she created large margins so people could create ‘marginalia’. I have done one of the exercises she suggests and enjoyed it. Unlike Maisel’s book, I can do them in the 20+ minutes I carve out for creativity every day with minimal technology requirements.
I loved all the gifts and cards and phone calls and emails I received, but this card is really special. One thing I really appreciate is when people give me some of their precious time. When someone takes the time to make me something, like a card, or when they take the time to write me a letter, it is most appreciated. I love it when someone sits down and writes me a real letter about things they are doing and observing. Even if those things seem mundane, I love hearing about the day to day things in others lives. Mailing the letter to me with a real stamp in a real envelope is one of the best presents I can receive. I love it that Julie took the time to make and write the card.
I had to cut off the writing because is personal. Isn’t Julie creative? She put flags on the inside, too. I really like this card.
I am so fortunate to have such generous, thoughtful, wonderful and creative friends.
**Do Valentine’s Day, my anniversary, and Mother’s Day count? 😉
Happy Birthday, TFQ!!!
Nota bene: TFQ: if you have not opened all of your gifts, stop reading now!!! Go open them and come back.
Yes, my good friend TFQ is 39 again today…with some years experience. 😉
In addition to the gifts I have been collecting for her, I also made her a couple of things. Did you guess journal cover and pencil roll? I am so predictable, I know.
The black and white fabrics, from Lonni Rossi‘s Paint Box collection, are the fabrics I used to make Marilyn’s Multi-tasker while I was visiting TFQ in November. She admired those fabrics and that stuck in my mind.
TFQ is an excellent colorist. She can put fabrics together in the most amazing ways. I strive to be like her, which requires cultivating more patience and determination in my quiltmaking process. If I want to make something for her, I feel like I need to really do an excellent job of picking colors, thus the clue that she liked these fabrics gave me confidence.
Using only those black and white fabrics together was too depressing, especially in winter. I had to add the dots. They cheered it up quite a bit.
One of the things I like about some of the prints in the this [relatively] new Lonni Rossi line is the screen printed look. Note the black circle on the white fabric. It really looks like a screen print when you see it up close. It doesn’t have that icky, plasticy sticker feel, though, you find with some screen printed-like fabric.
The small rows of lines under the circle also have that screen printed look. It is much more subtle in the white/grey on black colorway.
I didn’t want a repeat of the size problem I had with my mom’s journal cover, so I ripped out the bottom stitching three times until I was satisfied with the fit. I don’t know if I got it to fit perfectly, but I didn’t have to cut the journal’s plastic cover to get the journal cover on it, so I was satisfied.
Lately, when I have started a journal cover I just start piecing until I get a piece big enough for the outside. I use this type of piecing for a warm-up or when I only have a few minutes to sew or when I need a little bit of thinking time. Usually I want to achieve a certain look. With my blue journal cover, I wanted to use a variety of blue fabrics because I liked them and wanted to see them all the time. I also wanted a calming effect.
In this case, I only had scraps of the Lonni Rossi fabrics left and needed to make the best use of them. I wanted it to have a somewhat cohesive design and, finally, but most importantly I wanted it to appeal to TFQ.
I have started to think of pencil rolls and journal covers as sets. I also love this pencil roll pattern so much that I am looking for excuses to make it. Of course, time is the issue on that front.
This is a rather large pencil roll – 18 slots, I think. When I use my pencil roll, I prefer to put pens in every other slot rather than each slot. I find it easier to get the pens out.
For the moment, this is the last gift to which I have committed to make. When I say committed I mean to myself. There is one I am thinking about making, but I need to finish the FOTY 2009 blocks first. Look for a post on that project later this week.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
I am very grateful for many things in my life, including all of you who read this blog. Best wishes for a wonderful day with family, friends of with some peace and quiet.
Happy Fourth of July!
Ursa Major on Flickr took some great Fourth of July Photos. Hope you had a great day (if you were celebrating) and enjoy this photo.
Happy Valentine’s Day!!!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
I read Dear Abby this morning and Abby had printed a letter from Eric, which really made me happy. Remember those beautifully decorated boxes with the little slit from first grade? Eric’s letter made me remember how nice it was to look through the Valentine’s.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to everyone.
May your 2009 be filled with the positive, peace, happiness, health and creativity.
May your 2009 be filled with the positive, peace, happiness, health and creativity.
If you are thinking about your resolutions, read the post on Christine Kane’s blog, Resolution Revolution.
Merry Christmas!!!
Have a great day no matter what you do!
Happy 3rd Blogiversary!!!
I have never celebrated a “blogiversary” before. I saw others doing it, so I looked up the day of my first post and here I am.
Three years.
Over 400 posts
Many, many comments.
Fabulous readers.
Thanks for helping me feel successful!
Birthday Wishes!
How lucky am I ? I got a blog post all about me, except for the little bit about Jake. 
Kristen is the best. Thanks, dear!
Kristen is the best. Thanks, dear!
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Happy Birthday!
