BLACKBIRD DESIGNS

I wanted to tell you about a very lovely engagement calender by the Blackbird Design ladies. I bought one at quilt market for myself, it is done so sweetly! You can get one here at the Kansas City Star Pickledish store, or here. It would be a wonderful gift for yourself or for all your sewing family and friends. Be sure to look at the "check inside" the pages are very pretty.

KINDNESS

Well, the word on the street is, BE KIND TO YOURSELF. THERE IS NO PRINCE, YOU MUST RESCUE YOURSELF! Some of the things that really make me happy are:

1. Walking in the morning. I love how the morning air feels on my face.

2. I like watching the evening World News, doesn't matter what channel.

3. I like listening to my music LOUD and I like to dance around the house when it is playing.

Speaking of loud music, This is one song I like and I did find it on You Tube so you can all swoon over the 1988 version of (26 yr. old) Michael Ball singing Andrew Lloyd Weber's, Love Changes Everything.....he does it for me in this video...... okay, enough swooning already! There are other videos of him singing this song, but this is my favorite....nothing like being 26!

There is a commercial on TV where someone says, "Life is bigger than 8th grade." Isn't that the truth? These are the things I am going to try and do everyday to be more kind to myself. What about you?

SEWING DAY

Remember these? I haven't sewn on them since Spring, I have left them for my fall project at sewing day. The group of 11 ladies I sew with every Wednesday is at it again....We will see how long it takes to finish this project. I think I will have enough for a queen size quilt. Off to sewing!
EDIT:
EDIT # 2
No pattern is available for this particular version. Although you can find the Bull's Eye Pattern by Country Threads Inc.# 307 HERE.

CHANGES

Once in a while in your life, something comes along and makes a profound impact on your life. This book is one of those. The author, Geneen Roth was on Oprah's sometime back. I looked her up on the Internet....you know....the Internet knows everything! She is the author of several books dealing with eating--weight---etc. However, it isn't about weight. It is about YOU, taking care of YOU, being in the moment, enjoying the moment...like pulling up a chair if you stand and eat at the frig.
Sorry about the scanned book covers.....I wanted you to see exactly which book I was talking about....This book, When you Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull up a Chair. Made perfect sense to me. I have read it twice now in the past week. Here are some of the things I learned.
1. Fat or thin is a "shorthand" for inner stages of the mind and heart.
2. Remember, thin people have cellulite, get old, and die
3. Act on your own behalf, you have to be your advocate.
4. Enjoy life at whatever stage you are in. Enjoy what is in front of you.
5. Celebrate being alive, you have arms and legs that can move.
6. We are not our thoughts.
7. You are more capable of more greatness than you ever imagined.
Geneen talks about "food" as her drug of choice, it could be shopping, alcohol or whatever addiction that keeps you from being your best self.
The chapters are 1-2 pages long which made it great to sit and read just a few pages at a time so you could absorb them.
This is the book Oprah was talking about on her show, and although I have just started reading it, I am glad I read the other first. Woman, Food and God is a lot deeper. But both have been good. ANYWAY....just thought I would share.

PIN CUSHION

This is what came in the mail the other day from my editor Kimber Mitchell. She sent me this darling hat pin cushion as a gift to cheer me up from my sprained ankles. She sells them. edit: you can check out her new blog here.

It had the cutest little note card...all aqua and pink...two of my favorite colors. And boy did it ever cheer me up!! Thanks Kimber!

Last night as we were eating our dinner, a hummingbird came to visit the flowers out on our deck. It looked similar to this one, but thinner.

It fluttered about all the little pink flowers, going from one to the next. Never going to one twice....how do they know that? Can they smell the nectar? It only went to the small pink flowers, not the red ones. Can you see the lower flowers next to the table? She, (I will call her a she because she was very petite and slender, not very much color...only green, you know those males, they get all the color!)... She stopped flying and sat on the table to get the to the lower flowers. It was SO DARN DARLING! We watched her for several minutes. Such a nice visit!

TABLE RUNNER

Not fancy, but fast and fun. A couple of hours entertainment and there-you-go....a green and cream table topper. This technology always amazes me. Click here, click there....and the whole world can communicate with an email, blog or twitter. (Although I don't even twitter, I barley use my cell phone) So wonderful! Gone are the days when you had to wait until 11:00pm at night or on the weekend to make an expensive long distance phone call! What a wonderful world we live in!

SNIP-STRIP-SEW

I snipped a few scraps into strips.

Sewed a few together

Made nine patch squares and made a table runner that I will show you next week.

MARKERS and STUFF

Several people have emailed me and asked what kind of markers I am using for my art journals. I really like the Sharpie Ultra Fine for the lettering, and the Fine for outlining and coloring.

I can tell them apart from the tops.

All the colors are on sale at Walmart in a two pack for $1.00....Fine, in all kinds of colors, and ultra fine,in black...GET THEM NOW!

This is a 12 pack, but right now Walmart has a nice 8 package of primary colors or pastel colors for $3.98. In the school section they have some, but go back to the regular art/office supplies and get the 8 pack off the shelf. They may not be marked the sale price, but they scan the sale price.

These Bic Mark-it is a nice one. I got mine in a 4 pack sometime ago.
Then for coloring and doodling, I just have some every-day markers...probably Rose Art or Crayola, what ever is cheap. I find I use just a few favorite colors.

Next are the Paint markers. I got some of mine in a package at Walmart. They do come individual, but they are more expensive. I got a bunch of white ones at Michael's. They were on sale. These are the COOLEST. They are paint, and will actually write on ANYTHING.

The white one is what I use to do the dots all over the page...sort of at the end of everything. I really love them. They even come in florescent....love my green one. Sharpie makes a paint pen that is more expensive and I don't like the white as well....so I am sticking to the Elmers Painters!
Then of course I have my trusty box of colored pencils.
And my trusty crayons....robin's egg blue and yellow green are my favorites. A lot of the permanent markers will write over the crayon....and the paint markers do really well over the top.
Next are the pastels. They are artist chalk pastels. This is the only brand I could find in my town, so I am making them work....After you have your collage pieces on the page, then you can rub the chalk around and create a nice background color if you don't watercolor the page. Then you rub them in and around with your fingers. Wash your fingers and WIPE off the excess chalk with a paper towel before you do any pen work, or it will dry up your markers. But after you have wiped the excess off, you can do wonderful doodling, coloring and lettering. All the pages I have shown lately have had the pastels. The first ones I did 6 months ago were water color. I don't find a lot of difference and this is faster.....I say "use what you have".....you can even use crayon or colored pencils. The pastels were not cheap, aprox. $12.00 for the package.
I got out my stamping letters and other stamps and have been experimenting. That has been fun.
I just use 2 strands of the crochet cotton for the book binding. Double the strands works best, makes the book a little more secure.
Now...my nieces and nephews are coming this week and I have bought everyone their own black markers, and a white paint marker. I am going to introduce them to the world of art journaling. I hope we have fun.

OUTSIDE THE BOX

ART JOURNALING: This has become my new passion. Remember in the 80's when we all did ceramics, and tole painting? I needed something else besides sewing one more quilt pattern to stimulate my brain. I wanted to think OUTSIDE THE BOX. Do some things I haven't before. Expand my knowledge and creativity.

I have been on several art journal blogs, here and here: and loved the idea of just being free in my thinking. I have loved to color my entire life. I remember the first time (I think I was in starting 3rd grade) I got a box of 64 crayons....you know, the one with the sharpener in the back....and all those colors!

I went to lunch with Dawn Ramirez yesterday. She is FUNNY, creative, inspiring, and encouraging, (she "get's" me) She mentioned that sometimes it is the PROCESS, not the finished product that we enjoy. I think that is what art journaling is for me because some of the pages are not my favorite when I get finished....but I LOVE the process to coloring, cutting & pasting, and drawing.

I bought this Art Journaling magazine, it is one of many published by the Stampington & Co. by Sommerset Studios. They have some very WONDERFUL magazines for all kinds of things....beading, doll making, quilting, art, Where Women Create.....and their pictures are absolutely brilliant! Such a beautiful magazine.

Water coloring, fingerpainting and journaling like Erin Kenepp Very interesting article about her journal for the entire year that she turned 30.

The fabric journals by Lynne Redmond are inspiring as she tells her story of how she came to this kind of journaling.This journal, by Debra Cooper Handmade entirely from the outside to the inside...is very intriguing and tempting. She is a mixed -media artist. So fun to see what all kinds of media is being used for journaling. The whole arts and craft movement is back in full swing, but in a bigger and brighter way since there are so many products available....including the Internet for classes and workshops and videos....

Like this video by Teesha Moore on how to make your own 16 page journal from a 22 x 30 sheet of watercolor paper. I have actually made some for my nieces out of poster paper because we are not going to watercolor them.....so you don't have to purchase an expensive piece of watercolor paper to try it out.

I have fussed around with art journaling since Christmas and have found what works for me and what doesn't. Some of the products I have not been able to find in my small area of the world...and I haven't wanted to invest a lot of money into this project if it is only a whim....

So between Michale's 40-50% off coupons, Walmart and a small shop here that has art supplies, I have found markers that I like....LOVE Sharpie markers....and NOW is the best time to buy them when school supplies are cheap. Two pack Sharpie markers for $1.00 at Walmart....LOVE THAT! Most of the journaling I have been enjoying is collage using magazines. Cutting and pasting pictures that I doodle into something else, although I do actually write and date the pages like a journal.

This was a bush...who know what it will become!

Here is the collage part....waiting for another day when I need to be creative. These one page projects are a lot smaller than a quilt top....when I am finished with it, I can move onto the next page. Very satisfying to me to work on smaller projects and see them completed.

Yesterday I doodled this entire page with markers and my new paint pen from Michael's. So, There You Go....my entire soap box on art journaling. My final words are: try something OUTSIDE YOUR OWN BOX....whatever it may be.