Rolling Out the Old

So this last day of 2007 came upon the Howes household and what do you think we did? We let it crawl in slowly, and lazily go about it's duty of counting down the hours while the whole household just did the same. We had our last family breakfast of 2007 at 12 pm and just a little heads up for everyone...6yr olds do not get the concept of eating brkfast for lunch. Nada, nope, no way!

I decided though that I should end the year as I want the new one to
start, by making ART! All thru the months leading up to Christmas I saw boxes being made and decided I'm supposed to make one as well. I'd created a fabric collage made from pink strips sewn to a base and then covered with an irresdescent sheer and quilted the heck out of it. It had been staring at me for a couple of weeks and I was tired of it's accusatory look that said "DO SOMETHING WITH ME, DARN IT!"

Whether it wanted to or not, it was going to become a box and it had better be glad I didn't turn it into inchies, doggone-it! Anyhoo I figured out sizes for each piece and started cutting - 1 bottom (4" sq), 4 sides (2 1/2" x 4"), 1 lid top (4 1/4" sq) and 4 lid sides (7/8" x 4 1/4").

I also cut the same from Fast2Fuse.com and a lining fabric. I sandwiched the Fast2Fuse between the top and the lining fabrics, right sides facing out, and fused all three layer between two pressing sheets (no need to get the iron all messed up on what is supposed to be an easy art day). Then came the tedious part of satin stitching all the edges (40 of them to be exact).

You've got to understand something, for some reason, unbeknownst to me, I can't stand doing satin stitching. I don't know if, in an earlier life, my only job was to satin stitched garments (probably by hand, no doubt) or that I resent the use of all that gor-gee-ous thread just for the darned edges or that I could be reading a new issue of Quilting Arts Magazine during that time or what. I just don't like to satin stitch! I'd rather do needle turn applique (which I've actually come to like). When one actually convinces oneself that raw edge applique is now one's favorite form of applique then you really really know that I strongly dislike (I save "hate" for really good stuff) satin stitching.

Okay, don't laugh, truthfully it wasn't all that bad. I got thru it anyway. Above you can see the pieces set up to be joined. I butt the edges and, increasing the length on my machine, I ziz-zag stitched the edges together. I did this in one continous stitch and broke the threads only when I reach the beginning threads. Then I turn it over and re-enforce the stitch form the inside by zig zagging over the butted edges again. Repeat same with box lid.

When finished, the sides of the box and the lid easily fold up. As you can see from the photo above I cut the box top sides in a curve before I satin stitched the edges. Gave it a little more pizzazz I thought. I then folded up the sides and whipstitched the sides into place. I even remembered to hide the knot by starting on the inside of the box (below).

It's fairly easy to hold the sides whilst you sew them up. No pins are needed at all. Be careful when stitching though cause the thread kept getting caught and I'd realize this 4 or 5 stitches away and notice that the thread wasn't pulled all the way thru. No matter, I really like what I ended up with. I really really like the way the irrisedescent sheer fabric is frayed all around the box.

A few hours later here is my finished fabric box. The year 2007 has passed along a great treasure. I am grateful for all the good that rained down on me and mine in 2007; a family to love, a new direction to follow and a belief in myself and my art that was a long time in coming.

In my 2008 Dream Box I will put all my dreams and goals for the coming year, a special space for all the good things to come.

I wish all my friends, and the many more friends I will make in 2008, a wonderful New Year filled of lots of love, happy contentment and creative success thruout the year. Hurrah!

See ya next time, "In the Hayloft",

Take it Further Challenge

In order to challenge myself and not wallow too deep into procrastination (which has been a good friend in the last few years but needs to find another shoulder to sit on) I have joined the Take it Further Challenge.

Sharon B of In a Minute Ago, came up with this one and each month she will post a key concept. Our challenge is to take the idea , develop it and push it towards a resolved design during that month.. She will make it even easier on us by posting a colour scheme as a 2nd option should we not want to complete the design concept. An even cooler thing is I can work in any medium I choose as long as I make one project per month. So for all those other techniques I wanted to try.....here goes!

I really think I'm gonna enjoy this. It fits in with my working small concept but will also challenge me to think on the spot towards a finished project and get me working more on art in my studio. Much like the Houston journal project that I couldn't commit to at the time, I get to work intuitively in a fairly quick time frame which I'm not used to but need to train myself to do.

The Take it Further Challenge (TIFC) begins in January '08. Please visit again each month to see my progress as I have committed to posting my projects each month. Also check out the TIFC blog in my sidebar to see the other 277 artists (can you believe that's how many signed up?) who decided to challenge themselves.

BTW, check out the Santa's new elves. Just click on the link below. Enjoy!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1658668882


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

A New Pattern

I finally finished my latest pattern called "Bloom Where You Are Planted". Yeh me! It is a small fused wallhanging measuring 24"x 31" (see some detail shots below). Even the black and white border is fused down.

The story behind this quilt started with my 15 yr old daughter who, at the time, was struggling with her identity among her more slighted "advanced" friends and trying to find some much needed self-confidence . Her solution was to move to a diffferent school. Ix nay on that! Things were not insurmountable so I sat her down to talk and basically told her to stand her ground, don't change who she is at the core (which is a very sweet and caring person) and to "bloom where she was planted". No matter the difficulty BLOOM! I think this is a great quilt for a girl's bedroom to remind them that their beauty will shine no matter what.

If you would like to purchase this or any of my patterns please email me at
crzyqults@hotmail.com.


I am planning on launching my website,
RedBarn-studios.com, in January for all the world to see. On my website I will be offering my patterns and original artwork for sale plus a list of workshops I will be doing at shops and nearby venues. Check back soon for notice of my website launch. I can't wait!


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

A Gift for a Friend

Last week I went to a baby shower for a good friend who also happens to be my neighbor. She got all the regular things - car seats, stroller, bottle and breast feeding paraphernalia and all manner of clothing.

Being a different sort of folk I decided to get her the Boon Frog Pod , a cool looking green froggy thing that scoops, drains and stores all those bath toys. Don't know bout you but I always found the job of gathering the toys after bathing the kids a tedious job, especially the ones you had to stretch for at the back of the tub - arrgrh! (we always enjoyed the splashing much better anyway).

As I looked at all the things she received that day I also got to thinking that I wanted to do something different for her. This small quiltlet is the result. I collect all sort of sayings and this one sort of presented itself to me as I went thru my collection.

I had originally intended to put a a sleeve on the back but decided to do something different. I'm going to cut a 3/8" dowel to size, paint it, stitch it to the back of the quilt then tie a colourful chiffon ribbon at the ends for hanging.

She's decided not to find out the sex of the baby so this had to be in neutral colours. It's only about 12" square and came together quite quickly, even for me. I'll see her later in the week and surprise her with it.

Back to writing pattern directions for me. I should have this new pattern (my latest) up on the blog in a few days. Also will have an update on the next few classes I'll be teaching in the new year.


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Christmas Has Reached Our House

We finally finished decorating the tree! After we strung all the lights and plugged them in, the lights in the middle of the tree simply would not work. No matter how much we twisted and jiggled them. It took an extra trip to the shop to get four more sets of lights and no...we did not take off the ones that weren't working, just wrapped the new ones in.

Needless to say taking down the tree this year will be a bear of a task. Only after I took the picture did I notice that Connor jumped in the picture to show off his truck.

Below is the view as you enter our house from the front door with the tree glittering in the sun room in the back. Again, did I notice Connor jumping into the shot from the stairs? But he was too cute to reshoot it. So here are the pictures of the Christmas in the Howes household and one member who refused to be forgotton.

See you next time "In the Hayloft",

Cleaning is Overrated...but necessary

It must be getting near the end of the year because I seem to be in a cleaning frenzy. My mother has this thing about bringing in the new year with a clean house and I guess I've adopted it (don't we become just like our mother's in the end anyway?)

I cleaned my son's room last week and what a major reshuffle that was. Whew!!! Let me explain something to you...he is just six yrs old but happens to be one of the biggest hoarders I know. He wanted to throw away nothing, NOTHING I say! His pile for keep was gi-normous compared to the throw away pile. I must say though that he was generous with his give-away pile (alright so he has outgrown most of those baby toys but still couldn't bear to throw them away, but giving was okay).

He absolutley loves to draw and draws this superhero he made up, KAP * W (pronounced KAP-STAR-W) all the time. HE IS KAP * W, the stongest superhero in the world! So do you know how many pictures there are of this superhero? I'll tell you...a small laundrey basket full and none could find it's way into the largest garbage bag I could find.

I was even told at one point "you're killing me Mum" to which I said...Okay hon, but only KAP* W pictures we are keeping. I know, I was a sap, a sucker and now have to come up with an ingenious way to store all these papers and probably thousands more to come.

So we are sitting there in a clean room where we could finally see the carpet and he tells me "now we need to paint". I might add that it is not even 5 minutes after we finish heave-ho his room! Do you think Santa can handle that job? No, I mean the real Santa, the one that swoops down the chimney and all.

So now I am finished with his room and will start on the next cleaning job, something I've been putting off for a long time................my studio! It needs a complete overhaul-----new storage (yummy), lots of dusting/sweeping (cough cough) and replanning where things go for easier retrieval. Wish me luck!


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

p.s. will post picture of "before" when I've taken picture of the "after". Will not embarras myself w/o showing the bee-u-tiful results.