I know Someone Famous

My friend Pam Rapport has her portrait challenge face published in the latest issue of Quilting Arts Magazine. She has a full page. Her portrait face will also be a traveler for a year...so maybe it will come to somewhere close to you so you can see it up close and personal. If you would like a quick peek you can go to:

http://art-quiltz.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_art-quiltz_archive.html

and then slide down to the bottom to see the photo. Or better yet wait...till you can get your hands on the latest issue of the magazine.

I am so excited for her...can't wait to get my issue...am going to make her sign it!!!

Postcard Frenzy

Having a great time making postcards for my two swaps...have a total of 30 to make...using different techniques, different art materials and having lots of fun...my goal is to make 30 originals...no repeats...Here are my cards I made this week...I have until April so that there really isn't a time pressure on me...and I really need to do other things than make cards...the dust bunnies are demanding their fair share of my time too.

Happy Valentine's Day

My hubby gave me a great card and a Tracey Chapman Cd...I now own all of her CDs. (For those that know me...if Bo had another new CD out my hubby would have sprung for that one too...he understands my devotion and lust for that man!)

I also got my first lesson from Joggles.com, a class with Susan Sorell. Her web site is listed below.

http://www.creativechick.com

The class is a six week class and is one that is worked with yarns/ threads/ and fancy stitches on a 7 X 7 square.....since I am not a small worker am going to increase my size to about a 9 X 9...will need more stitches to cover the work (might be sorry about this change in the long run)...but this larger size will fit my comfort zone.

It is cold in Florida this morning...true we have no snow...lots of sunshine and just looking out the window you would think suntan weather...but it is cold out there...a great day to stay in the sewing room and play. Hope everyone enjoys their love ones today and has a great day.

Postcard Swap

I just joined a postcard swap...have until April 30th to make and send out 24 postcards...no theme...just anything that I want to do. They all are to be mailed through the US Mail...so that means I will really have to sew on my beads and trims tightly. I think it will be great fun to have cards arrive from all different locations...I know my mail carrier will enjoy this swap also...last postcard that came in she was in awe...I have 76 days to make 24 postcards...lots of time...that's about 3 days per card...does anyone take three days to do a 4 by 6 card, I don't think so. This swap will be a piece of cake...I'm going to start this afternoon.

Be Careful What You Ask For

My Hubby eats breakfast at a small little restaurant 4 times a week. They have three waitresses in the AM shift that are known for their sassy talk and their picking on the customers. No conversation is off limits with them. They will sing, dance and sometimes let go with a joke that will turn your face red. There are many regulars that eat breakfast there daily, but sometimes a snowbird or a tourist will wander in and get their special "greeting" and it is fun to watch their face reactions...because it certainly isn't a "How are you today?" greeting. Then the whole place breaks out laughing and the new guest (or victim) usually smiles and slinks off to a booth.

My Hubby asked me to make three valentine postcards so that he could give them to the ladies on his Monday morning visit. I needed something to do this morning so I created three valentines....am not sure they are what he had in mind...but when I think Valentine I think mushy and sweet...he can always write some crabby message on the back.

THREE Bags Full

Two posts in one day...a first for my blogging record. I just wanted to share I feel like Ms. Baa Baa Black Sheep...I have three bags full of fabric that I have cleaned out of my rolling carts...the scary part they still look full. I don't have many empty blue containers left to fill up with new fabric. Wasn't that the purpose of this major discarding?

Also I am proud to say that I never paused or waffled in my "give away choices", once I made up my mind that it was not a keeper it went straight into the black trash bag. I have to admit that I feel liberated...but also there's still a little nagging thought running through my head...saying, "Ann you spent a lot of money on this stuff and what do you have to show for it?"

All I can say to this nagging thought, is "Three Bags Full."

REMODELING

My weekend goal is to go throught my three rolling carts of fabric and get rid of those fabrics that no matter how long I keep them, I will never use. If I start to hesitate because I start, to "think" about keeping the whole piece...I plan to tear me off a fat quarter and put the rest in the plastic garbage bag. I found a church group that is making small lap quilts to give away...so the fabric will go to a good cause. Over the last 6 years ...my fabric taste have gone from one end of the spectrum to another...now I want textured type fabrics...bold fabrics...so cleaning out the stash...gives me the opportunity to start rebuilding.

My husband has agreed to make me a small working table that will be built over some plastic shelfing drawer units that can be rolled from one area of my small sewing room to another. I finally have arranged my four sewing machines so that I have four areas that are really working...embroidery... Embellishing.. freemotion... and regular sewing. I am hoping by sunset Sunday night, the sewing room will be in it's final arrangement...and I will be satisfied and happy with the arrangement.

Perhaps with everything in order...I will be free amd more able to concentrate on making something instead of finding something!

Mind Ramblings Of an Old Woman

Am hoping that Blogger.com treats me good today...I lost an entry the other day...and in trying to replace it lost the functions of my keyboard, then when I tried to publish the site was down...hopefully today all is well.

First I have two watercolor entries in our small local watercolor show at the library - one is a picture of my husband and the other is a painting of my grand daughters playing with a crab.

Today I am going to my Bernina dealer to go shopping...she has a great deal...in your birthday month you get a discount equal to half of your birthday...this is the one time that it pays to have lots of years on you...I will receive a 31% discount on all that I but today. I have a list of things that I want...it will be like Christmas in February.

I have just mailed off three Valentine postcards...had a lot of fun making them, have my fingers crossed that they arrive intact..with all of their embellishments. I also have 12 postcards to get off to Virgina for the Chicago Show Fund Raiser. I am now hoping to join a postcard exchange so that every month I can both send and receive postcards. Am hoping to find a small group so that it still remains a fun exchange rather that a time demanding exchange.

Panama City is having a quilt show this weekend..its more of a traditional show than an art quilt type show...last year their take on a art quilt was a small quilt that showed a cutesy Santa Claus Sled scene...not exactly my idea of an art quilt, but it was a winner in that category. I always go but usually spend more time in the vendor area than in the show itself.

Well guess I have "old lady rambled" you enough this morning...

Beloved SIL Disappoints MIL

Yesterday morning my daughter called to tell me that my beloved SIL was taking the girls snowboarding and skiing for Spring Break instead of making a trek to the Beaches of South Walton so that their loving grandparents could spent a week with their grand daughters. He had his wife , my daughter, deliver this unhappy message because he suffers from MIL FEAR, otherwise known as Avoid Grammy's Anger! At first I thought, this man doesn't know who he is messing with... then I decided to act grown up and mature and channel my emotions and feelings into a painting.

Painting always releases and soothes away the "bumps in the path of life." AND NOT seeing my grand daughters during Spring Break is a definite Bump in my scheme of life things. So I decided that a way to release my emotions was to paint a picture of my beloved SIL.

As I painted and "slung" the paint onto the canvas, I started to become calm and almost peaceful. Since my son-in-law does visit and read my blog from time to time , I wanted him to know that Grammy Ann holds no hard feelings against him... and hopes he never experiences any other hard feelings ever.

I did want to share my beloved SIL painting on my blog, am kinda of proud of it, ... it still needs a little work ... like a few darts, and a few slashings.. but at least I feel better as I stand back and look at it.

Now to give it a name, all works of art need a name, does Jackass fit?

Little Doll Pins

Yesterday, our Art Quilter group met and we shared what we had been doing since our last meeting in January. One of our members, Mary brought supplies and patterns for us to make a little doll pin....we had so much fun. Here is my pin...and now I want to make more. Isn't that always the way fun things go, you just can't make one.