My Cyber Fyber ATC

I think I've decided to send this ATC to Susan Lenz for the Cyber Fyber exhibition.

Cyber Fyber

I am thrilled to be participating in the Cyber Fyber Exhibition. To explain what this is, it's easiest to quote from the website:

"CYBER FYBER is an exhibition of international fiber art scheduled for January 8th through 20th, 2009 at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios, 808 Lady Street in downtown Columbia, South Carolina, USA. The brainchild of Susan Lenz, this exhibit will focus on the supportive, global community of fiber artists with whom Susan regularly shares new techniques, contemporary approaches to textiles, and finished work by Internet websites and blogs."

To learn more about this, the website is here. I made several fabric ATC's (artist trading cards) back in 2006 when I was a member of a small group of artists who met twice a month to make and trade cards. I have some of them left, and I think I will use one of them for this trade (unless I decide to make something new, which I might). I'll decide in the next few days.

The ATC that I'm getting can be seen on Susan Lenz's blog here. I am really excited about this!

Hemming New Jeans

I journaled today about one of my less favorite sewing activities - hemming jeans. I think the journaling was more fun than hemming the jeans. Although to be honest, every time I do hem jeans, I decide it really isn't that bad. It doesn't really take all that long. These jeans had been in my sewing room for about a month now, waiting for me to get to them. I only finished two of them - hopefully tomorrow I'll do the last pair. I saved the off-white jeans until last, figuring I probably wouldn't be wanting to wear them as soon. But I do want to get them done. If you want to know what the journaling says, you can click on the picture to enlarge it.

Stained Glass Art Journal Page

My latest journal page. The writing states: "Last month, we went to the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa to see an exhibit of Frank Lloyd Wright. I was really impressed with his stained glass. This is my interpretation."

Light on Snow by Anita Shreve

I finished this book today. Pretty quick read, made quicker by the fact that I've got (another) bad cold and didn't feel like doing anything other than read today.

Nicky, age 12, and her father go for a walk in the woods and find a newborn baby abandoned in the snow. As the story unfolds, we learn that Nicky's mother and baby sister were killed in an auto accident two years earlier, and Nicky's father decides to leave New York and escape to remote New Hampshire. They've been living a pretty isolated life. When the baby's mother shows up and a big snowstorm hits, Nicky and her father must confront their own grief as well as decide what to do about Charlotte (the baby's mother).

I rate this book 3 out of 5.

Happy Valentine's Day!

My DH brought home a pot of beautiful tulips for me yesterday, so of course they found their way into my journal.

As for him, I made him his favorite cookies today - peanut blossoms. I really don't know why I don't make them more often - they're pretty easy as cookies go. They're peanut butter, bisquick, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla, rolled into balls and baked. Then you take them out and put a hershey's kiss in each one, and they're done. I also gave him a set of margarita glasses, a shaker, and researched margarita recipes online (we both like margaritas, so this was probably as much for me as for him - we don't usually do a lot for valentine's day). I may have to do a second journal page!

A Few More Skating Pics - Senior Dance and Senior Pairs

Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto - dance gold medalists -



Meryl Davis and Charlie White - dance silver medalists -



Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker - pairs gold medalists -



Rena Inoue and John Baldwin - pairs silver medalists -

A Few Skating Pics - Senior Ladies and Senior Men

Mirai Nagasu - ladies gold medalist -



Rachael Flatt - ladies silver medalist -



Evan Lysacek - mens gold medalist -



Johnny Weir - mens silver medalist -

Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill

I finished this book today. It is one of the best books I've ever read. It tells the story of Aminata Diallo, a young African girl who is captured and enslaved at the age of 11 in 1757. She is taken to South Carolina to work on an indigo plantation. She travels from South Carolina to New York, then to Nova Scotia, Sierra Leone, and England, where she helps the abolitionists in their quest to end the slave trade (not slavery, just the trade, which is a sore point with Aminata). She loses everything and everyone she ever loved, and it is a truly remarkable story. I rate it 5 out of 5.

Two New Art Journal Pages

I finally finished the page below from our drive to St. Paul. Basically, I took pictures of the state signs as we entered each state so that I could sketch them later. The color gets lighter toward the top of the page because the farther north we went, the more snow there was.



I have season tickets to the Tulsa Ballet, and I attended a performance on Sunday. So the page below is from that. I actually had the page almost finished that night, but I was waiting for my Pan Pastels to arrive so that I could do the sky. I love these! It is an artist-quality pastel in a pan, so they have a much higher pigment content than all of the other chalks I have from scrapbooking. They also have lots of tools available for them. Here they are if you're interested: pan pastels.

Journal Quilt

This is the second in my new series of alphabet quilts. The six rectangles are actually separate pieces that I've attached to the quilted background with brads in the corners. Left to right, top to bottom, I drew the letter P with markers, I painted the next single pear with paint sticks, the next two are rubber stamped and colored, next single pear is appliquéd, and the words are rubber stamped. I really feel that this one is much more creative than my "A is for Apple" quilt.

Journal Quilts

I'm taking a journal quilt class right now at Quilt University. Journal quilts are just small quilts that can be anything you want them to be. I'm doing them to try out new techniques and try to do some things without a pattern.

My first quilt is all about not having enough time to do all the various things I want to do. Not necessarily the most artistic quilt, but it was my first one, and I was happy with it. I tore all of the strips with writing on them to go with the idea of being torn among activities. I also did a bit of bobbin work that doesn't show up very well - this is where you put a thread in the bobbin that is too heavy to go through the needle, and then stitch from the back so that the heavy thread is on the front.



Then I decided that I want to make a series of journal quilts around the alphabet. I started with A is for Apple, but I won't do the rest of them in order - my next one will be P - Pear. I rubber stamped ". . . is for . . ." I stenciled the "A" and "APPLE." I appliquéd the apple, stem, and leaf after drawing them myself. I used my own hand-dyed fabrics for the apple and the leaf, and also inked them to make them look more like I wanted them to look.



I'm hoping to get my next one done tomorrow - I've already got some ideas for it.

Baking Bread

I baked bread 5 loaves of bread the day before yesterday, so of course I had to do a page in my journal about it!

New Art Journal Pages

I sketched this page on our way to St. Paul a couple of weeks ago - it is my impression of our drive through Kansas on that day.



I sketched this next page on our drive to the Mall of America when our car said that the outside temperature was -5 degrees F.



This next page represents a word game that my mom and I play, called Perquackey.



And I did this last page on Sunday, when I basically did 3 things: cleaning our bathroom (ugh!), attending an OSU Wrestling match (OSU won, but it was a very close, and exciting, match), and then making my first Journal Quilt.

What Kind of Flower Are You?

I am a Daisy What Flower Are You?

"You are just a sweet person. When a friend needs a shoulder to cry on, you are happy to offer yours with a box of tissues as well. Once in awhile, you wish you could be a little more dramatic but then sensibility sets back in and you know that you are perfect the way you are."