The Country Lasses Are Up and Running!

DarLie, the wonderfully witty author of one of my favorite blogs "Libby Buttons", and a few of her friends have started a new blog called the Country Lasses. They will be writing about their rural life and hosting an occasional on-line flea market. Through November 30th, they are collecting comments for a "great give away" drawing. The prizes are fabulous! Check them out and leave a comment at http://countrylasses.blogspot.com/2009_11_12_archive.html.

Monkey Business

Sock monkeys have always had a special place in my heart. I wonder who the creative genius was who first looked at a pair of red-heeled socks and thought, "Hey, that would make a great monkey!"

When I saw Moda's sock monkey fabric, I had to have it. Each little square reminded me of photo-booth pictures, so I decided to make a little quilt fashioned after a yearbook page. After it was put together, it was cute but the pictures didn't really stand out. After playing around with various things from my stash, I decided rick-rack and vintage sequins were the missing ingredients.

A Glorious Morning!

Doesn't this seem like a color that would not be found in nature? But here it is, right here in our front yard! Every morning, as I leave for work, I take a moment to admire these Morning Glories that look like they come from another planet.

A Box of Treasures

I've been on a soldering roll for the past three days! Last week I decided to dust off my soldering supplies and get to it but it was not meant to be. I soldered my pliers to my jumprings, I burned myself, I forgot to put the lid on my flux cleaner and knocked it over. Luckily, I had the good sense to give it up and go knit. I tried it again a few days later and got my groove back!

As you can see, I've got a couple of different things going on. These are soldered pottery fragments and beach glass that I picked up at Glass Beach back before collecting was prohibited. The little metal tag hanging from the beach glass is a charm I made in Patrik Kusek's PMC class.


This is a mini collage.


And this is one from the vintage photo series. What to do with all of these charms? Maybe I should make the world's largest charm bracelet!

Three Bad Girls Wall Candy

I finally finished my Bad Girls project today! I'm thinking of renaming it "Bad Luck." It was one of those projects that should have been simple enough but I kept making ridiculous mistakes. For example, last night, I made the seam binding too narrow. "No problem!" I thought. "I'll just trim a little off the seam." I ended up cutting the seam too close and cutting the seam binding.
Then I left my fabric cutting wheel out on the table. My kitten, Sadie Lu, thought it was a toy and batted it off of the table. The next thing I knew, there were bloody paw prints everywhere. The poor thing cut her paw on the blade. Thank goodness, she's alright! Reupholstering the dining room chairs will be an upcoming project.
I started with a Mitch O'Connell pattern from Sublime Stitching and embroidered it on linen. I added borders from my Kaffe Fassett fabric stash and hand quilted it. I added vintage sequins and beads for extra spice. I put it all together to make...

An Array of Cowgirl ATCs!

When I found out about ATCs, I dove right in. Finally, something I can finish in an hour or so! And what a great way to use my beloved cowgirl pictures from ArtChix Studio!

The only problem was, what do you do with a bunch of ATCs when they are done? I decided to string them together with leather laces and hang them on the wall, kind of like a little paper quilt! Yippee kai aye aye!

Mixed Media Wallhanging

A few years ago, I had the privilege of taking a class with D.J. Pettit. She is an excellent instructor who is very generous with her knowledge. If you ever have a chance to take a class with her, sign up! This little wallhanging is what I made in her class. We learned how to transfer pictures using liquid Sculpey clay and then we hand colored them. The rest is just hand stitching lots of fabrics, trims, charms, fibers, etc. together to make a little mixed-media quilt. I think it turned out rather nice!