Pay It Forward or Spreading the Love

I've been noticing something lately, we humans seem to be on the wrong track, too many selfish acts and not very many selfless actions.

Thoughts and deeds that help others, rather than fill our own tanks all the time, needs to be the order of the day on a more regular basis.

I realise that the only way to make the world a better place is to start with ME and to do something small for someone else. One way I can do that is to use my creative talents to bring a smile to someone else's world. My life is always spinning with blessings of all sorts (no matter the down times) and so in that vein I propose an offer to you.


Gift Giving

I will send a little creative gift to the first 5 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward gift exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet but you'll be getting a little ray of sunshine coming to your post box soon, that's my promise!

The only thing you have to do in return is to pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. Once you leave your comment, copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog and 5 lucky people will be recipients of your creative work.

While you are doing this small exchange, think of how you can do more to pay it forward and help someone in your community or someone across the world who could definitely use a bit of kindness or your help in standing tall once again.

Let's all Pay it Forward!


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

p.s. don't forget to leave me your email so we can communicate offline.

My First Ribbon!

Look, look, I won a ribbon!

One of the guilds I belong to is the Lake Norman Quilter's and we had our first show last Saturday. We are a group of about 44 members and we worked our butts off to put on the best show we could muster. We had very good feedback from attendees who loved the variety of quilts (about 224 at last count) we had on display.

And lo and behold. I won a first place ribbon for one of my quilts "ColourBlocks" (which is also a pattern). Yippee!!!!!!! This is only the second show I have ever entered and I am tickled pink to get my first ribbon! I also won a 3rd place ribbon for my quilt "Bluberries and Mint Parfait".

Not bad for a newbie huh?

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Some Rain at Last...Thank Goodness!!

Whenever I'm on the road I always have my camera at the ready...just in case. On the way into Charlotte for an appt yesterday it was all I could do to keep my eyes on the road, the sky was absolutely beautiful, it looked like a piece of cloth that had just had fun painting. It was heavy with clouds that were bursting with long overdue rain. This little bit we get will just have to tide us over for now.

I wish I had a better shot of this next photo. I forgot to roll down the passenger side window before I took it so you can see the messy glass I shot it thru.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

I'm Still Here

Bet you thought I got lost somewhere, never to return again. WRONG! As I mentioned when I started this blog, things (read LIFE here) will get in the way but........I'm back and eager to fill you in on happening things.

First I had such a fun time with Karen Stone this weekend. She came to visit our guild (Charlotte Quilter's Guild) this past week and she was a real hoot...warm, funny and very generous with her knowledge and time. We had so many members sign up for her workshop that I had to ask if she could do two instead of the usual one workshop to accomodate all those who wanted to attend (that was 40 ladies all eager to be near Karen). Sent her off on her merry way on Sat so she could prepare for her daughter's 18th birthday. Happy Birthday Chelsea!

News about my wayward foot...I will eventually have to have surgery done. Remember I told you that I was SPECIAL because I have all those extra sessamoid bones on each of my toes (the nurse still insisted I contact the Guinness Book of World Records to report this). Well apparently the original X-ray (taken in June!!!!) was mislabeled and when my new Doc looked a bit closer last week he could see that one of the small round bones was broken. The only thing with that was it showed I should be having pain in my right foot and not the left.

Got new X-rays done that same day and YUP...one of those little teeny tiny bones cracked right down the middle. That's why I'm still limping darn it, they were all looking at the left foot X-ray which really was a wonderful picture of the right foot with no problems!

So, in the end, Doc decided I should just have those little culprits both removed, hence the surgery and six weeks convalescence for healing...3 wks on crutches and 3 with a boot. Would you believe the best time for that is Christmas??? It's only then that I can almost guarantee that DH will be home long enough (Business Trips'R Him.com these days) to let me recuperate without too much getting up and down.

That's all for now. Will have some pics of new work next time including the new ones of the last piece I posted with the Sonji-like bundles I added to it. Cool stuff those bundles.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

On Being a Pandora

Today was a good day. Today was a good day to be a Pandora. We four Pandora's hadn't met in a while, not since we had such a blast dyeing fabrics back in July. So it was a good day for us to get together and talk and relax and just be with each other. Don't get me wrong, we see each other quite regularly (all belong to the same guilds and talking constantly by email and phone) but it was nice to come together as the group we formed, Pandora's. We are not, by the way, the Pandora's, we are just...Pandora's.

One of us, Lushorn, had just finished building a pool in her backyard and she invited us over to christen the pool. It was such a hot day that a cool dip in the pool was just what was needed. She, in fact, spoiled us today, us Pandora's.

We all arrived by 9:30 and Lushorn had a small breakfast of fresh fruit waiting for us...smooth cantelope, juicy watermelon and sweet strawberries. We sat outside on her pool patio and got business out the way while we munched on all that gorgeous fruit. When it got to hot to sit still, those who brought swimsuits geared up and went for a cool and refreshing dip.

Thirty minutes later we were called out of the pool to a beautiful lunch of baked salmon and pasta (didn't I tell you we were spoiled today?). Another member, Susan, brought her version of Tiramisu, the fantastic coffee liqueur dessert. Yummy, yummy, yummy. By this time it was just after 1 pm and we all needed to head back to normal life, picking up kids and feeding dogs, etc.

No matter what our daily lives brings it's always really good to be a Pandora. Thanks my friends.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Art Dolls with a Twist

A friend told me last night at our guild meeting that she likes to read my blog but thinks I should update it more often. Well...me thinks she's right. I have been amiss and will make every effort to keep it better updated. Thanks RM, I really appreciate your honesty. It's not that haven't been in my studio working, I just haven't had a chance to post and let you all see that I've been working on.

It didn't help that my modem got fried (3 days without internet) in the brutal thunderstorm we had last week. The rain came down in sheets and blew patio items all over the place, couldn't see out the windows because the rain was so heavy against the glass themselves. Anyway I am back online and love the new little dolls I made.

Growing up I really didn't play with dolls much, at least not the cuddle up kind. I loved making paper dolls though and all their clothes . I use to forget sometimes to cut out the little tabs that helped the clothes stay on their bodies...whoops! My sister and I had a whole set of them.

I saw an article in the magazine Art Doll Quarterly, summer 2007 issue, and knew I had to make one...okay....I kinda got carried away. I decided to make 6, one for me and a couple of quilting friends.

I painted a large piece of 90lb watercolour paper with Pebeo Setacolour paints in a rainbow effect. I knew that some of my friends liked certain colours and cut out each card with their colour in mind. Then it came time to embellish...yummy! I wrote, painted some more and stamped. To get the charms to stick to the heavyweight paper I use heavy gel medium. These are a few of the finished cards.

Each doll has a different personality and as they sat on my worktable for a couple of days, I contemplated whether I should add more. Alas..........no. In the end I decided just to add the arms, legs and the head by punching holes thru each part and connecting them with square brads (found in the scrapbooking section of the craft store).

I was going to mail them to each person but thought not, even though they fold up quite nicely on themselves (see back of doll below), It was better in peson seeing them unfold their special dolls. I wish I was still as agile as the picture shows.

Here they all are, kicking up their heels in joy at having been created!

The 1st and 4th dolls are obvioulsy way too cute to kick up too much in their pictures but that's not their real life personalities though. Those two really kick _ _ _ sometimes! So watch out for all these girls, they ROCK baby!

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

A Week at Quilting By the Lake

It's 9 am and I'm sitting in Syrcuse Airport waiting to board a 12 o'clock flight, the first of two flights to get me back home to my family. It has been a long three weeks traveling but I would not have missed it for the world.

This past week has been wonderful and I feel as if my creativity got a kick-start, a big nudge from a very genourous intructor, Bill Kerr of FUN QUILTS. He and his wife, Weeks Ringle, usually teach classes together but my classmates and I got a rare chance to work just with Bill at the Quilting by the Lake Conference. The staff of QBL and the staff at Morrisville College (part of the SUNY University system) were fantastic at making each participant feel right at home.

QBL started 26 years ago and there are actual participants who have attended all 26 years, if you can belive that! One of the longtimers was Sally Davis, a former quilt shop owner and friend from my NJ days, with whom I had the chance to renew a friendship when we bumped into each other on the grounds of the campus. It really was like old home week for me because a few of the members of the the fantastic guild I belonged to in NJ were there as well and it was good seeing them as well.

Bill's class, "Idea to Quilt" really helped me see that the process to a finished piece does not have to be full of details. His suggestion to distillate an idea to it's barest essentials was so key for me. I realized I didn't have to put the whole cow in the cereal just to get a bit of milk. One of his tools I think I will use from now on...maybe not for every quilt... is to create a maquette. Having never heard the term before I was intrigued. A maquette is a small version (say 8 x 10) of an idea that might just be a colour study or a function study to see if what I envision will work. I came away with all sorts of ideas and different techniques, not to mention a whole lot of valuable information, resources and germinations of ideas for the next few quilts.

I cannot finish without mentioning my quad mates. We we housed in one of the dorms on campus that had four bedrooms, a kitchen and a sitting room or common area as it is referred to. Me and my friend DeLane, who I convinced to come on the trip with me, made two new friends, Sandy and Eva from Toronto, Canada. The evening activities were over by 8/8:30 so we were were usually back in our rooms soon after that. I can't tell you the amount of nights we just stayed up talking and laughing with them. They are a hoot and I miss them already. We promised to try and bunk up together again if we attend QBL at the same time but in the meantime we will definitely keep in touch. Here are the four quad sisters themselves: Sandy, Eva, DeLane, me.

I am exhausted from traveling and I haven't even begun this leg of the journey yet. I have some good memories and made some new life-long friends (especially all my classmates) and will definitely be back at QBL again...maybe not next year but certainly the following year. QBL is an experience you shouldn't miss, think about coming with me next time. It has been a fantstic, fun, brain swamped week and I am eager to get back into my studio and play.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Quilt Olympics Event

It been a long two weeks and I'm still trying to catch up on paperwork and have yet to finish the couple of piece I've been working on. Will post those in a few.

Last night I presented a different program to one of the guilds I belong to. We had a QUILT OLYMPICS event where teams compete against each other for prizes. The game I started at the beginning of the meeting was GOTCHA! In this game there is a forbidden word and anyone who says it has to give up one of the 6 pins they started the night with. It was hilarious because there was a lot of bleeping going on...that is, when they remembered to bleep themselves. As the night went on I added more forbidden words. Bet you can't guess what the original word was...QUILT (or any derivative of it).

At the beginning of the program I had everyone recite the Quilt Olympics Pledge. Check out the solemnity of the occasion with all their right hands raised. Such dedication! One of the things I had them promise, other than to do their utmost best for their fellow team members, was to never pass up an opportunity to buy more fabric. No one seemed to object to that bit...wonder why?


Couple of the events included Frog Stitching...every quilter's favorite thing to do (NOT! ) and Thimble Toss...look at those ladies run! Check out one of the team members helping the thimble into the cup. Priceless!
Team 4 trying to name the 36 blocks I had given them

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We had so much fun laughing and enjoying ourselves I'm thinking we will have to do this again.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",