Have Supplies...Will Travel

My sister Cindy gave me this little suitcase. It was old, just what I like! All of the outside coating was peeled off and there was just wood showing. I took Sharpie markers and started drawing on it. I thought this case would be perfect for taking my art supplies on trips or camping. Yes, I take stuff to do when we go camping because I am usually the first one up and I have a hard time doing nothing!! Anyway,
I lined the inside with material and organized all my stuff inside. You would be amazed how much "stuff" fits. Happy Trails!

A New Favorite

My new favorite book is called "PATCHWORK STYLE" by Suzuko Koseki. I love this book because it is easy to follow and I am direction impaired most of the time. I have made a few things out of this book. I adapted the floor mat by sewing a pieced scrap quilt right around an existing floor mat that I already had. I have it in my laundry room and it makes my feet very happy!

Tags

I have been working on some gift tags. These little tags are tea stained, then I sewed some old pieces of quilt blocks to them, added a printed fabric picture and embellished them with hand stitching and buttons. They are super easy to do, and make a gift even more special!

Sew Special!

I can't believe so much time has passed since my last post! School is back in session and it's almost Fall Break! This must be my year for completing projects.
The first quilt I will share with you was started at least 5 years ago. I drew out and painted the cowboy, then embroidered around the design, added two bands of fabric
and then I stopped. I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish it and I put it away, then ta-da a new quilt shop called M's Quilting came to town and the perfect fabric was waiting there for me!



The next quilt is made from very old Sun Bonnet blocks that were in my stash of blocks that I picked up who knows where or when!



The next crib quilt is made from scraps that I thought were really pretty.



This is the Dresden quilt I am working on now. The blocks were made in 1939. A friend of my family gave them to me. I have had them for some time now and decided to start sewing them together when I saw a picture of a "Dotty for Dresden" quilt in the book MATERIAL OBSESSIONS by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke. Once I sewed the blocks together I embroidered dotted circles in the center of the blocks and in between the blocks. This one is going to take some time, but I love it!



That should be enough for today. I have a lot of little projects I'm working on and I will include them in my next post.

New Beginnings

Tomorrow I go back to school. I have had the most wonderful summer and will take
my renewed energy back with me. I am so lucky to have a job I love. I have the opportunity to be creative and show children that art comes in so many wonderful forms. I made little beanbags for an art game for the first day of school. They are made of little colorful scraps of fabric and I will give them away to my students.



My last minute project was to recover my outdoor cushions. The Arizona sun reeks havoc on fabric outside, and I only can hope they will last for a little while!





I pieced 6 of these covers together. I hope they last!!

Isn't it funny. I have lived in Arizona most of my life and as I grow older I love it more and more. I had a hard time seeing the beauty of the desert when I was young. I was born in Wyoming and a part of me will always miss the beauty of green grass, beautiful lakes and big trees. You know, I have my little plot of grass, a beautiful view and pots of flowers. I have a wonderful family and I am happy. What more can I ask for or be thankful for?

Quilts..Quilts..Quilts

I am currently working on 4 quilts! My creative juices flow in the summer when I have time off to work on many projects at once. I usually start a lot of projects and then finish them little by little through out the school year. Here are 2 of the quilts I am working on now.





This is a circle quilt. I have it all sewn together and I am quilting it.



These are my black and white blocks. That's as far as I have made it!

Here are some of my piggy banks. I have been making these for years. Someone gave me some cardboard tubes and I cut them up, decopauged handmade paper on the ends and then covered them with old quilt that I embelished. I have also made them with drawings on paper that were colored with Sharpie markers and decopauged. My students love to make and receive these!



Here is my thought for the day..
The happiest people don't have the best of everything.
They just make the best of everything they have.
~unknown author

Something New!

I have been working on storage for my art room at home. I bought a shoe holder and made it into an organizer for the back of my chair.







Here is a pickle bucket a friend gave me. I just cut part of the shoe holder off and added some embellishments. Now I can store my ribbons and lace in it.
I also took a piece of the holder and made an apron with it.