Happy New Year Eve!!!!!

Hard to imagine but it's almost 2011!!!!!
To begin the year off with a new goal I have signed up for another online challenge:-)
Notice the button on my blog listed sketchbook challenge.....
Well to prepare for the start date of 1/1/2011 I gathered up some of my sketchbooks a few old, a few partly used...and lol a couple completely empty books I discovered in my MI home's basement packed away in boxes unknown a drawback of living in limbo for the last 7 years.... (notice the cute cute funny face pad in my photo.)
So now let the fun soon begin.....happy new year to all!



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Wonderful Christmas

So we made it to MI and the holiday so far has been very blessed! I can finally post some photos of some of the quilting I completed during the month of December....thankfully though my back was probably the worst it has ever been I managed to create 4 different quilts and a few 10 minute holiday runners ...I love that quilting worked as my ART THERAPY! Thankfully it made me feel better to be creating ;-)
So one quilt I had a lot of fun making was for our family gag gift exchange....3 years ago my daughter had drawn my name and gave me a group of photos printed on fabric to as she put it to "show me support in my desire to focus in art quilting"... ;-) It was a very cute gag gift at the time and the photos are atrocious... my kids had posed in silly close up facial poses. To add to my idea for the gag quilt if you recall I attended some classes last summer w/ Nancy Crow and anyone that has taken classes with Nancy knows that you spend time creating FABRIC lots of fabric!!!! ;-) So I had a stack of fabric that I had sitting around my studio crying out to be used in some kind of creation! Next enter the fact that I drew my lovely college niece's name and having drawn her a few times in the past I was struggling for something new to surprise her with????? I decided she would be the perfect recipient for this special creation I had in mind. ;-) So I gathered the fabric photos and the Nancy Crow fabrics and began to design....My niece attends college in Upper MI where it is quite cold so a quilt could/would be a handy item to keep in her car in case of break downs ;-) or in a cold apartment and to make sure she understood my reasoning I had a lot of fun in my free motion quilting including the lesson I wanted her to take to heart ;-)
"COUNT ON FAMILY TO CYA".... ;-)

Thankfully she appreciates her God-mother's sense of humor.

and the other 3 quilts I completed during the month of December were:

Quilt on left is a large 9 square block scrap quilt, the quilt on right is brown lap quilt Christmas 2010 present

Christmas present to my daughter-in-law's mother



Surprise/specially designed lap quilt for husband Christmas 2010 present
The large middle square fabric are cut from his deceased mother's house coat (a treasured memory)
He was pleasently surprised.



Okay so placed it right at top for the time being!

We are headed up north to celebrate the holidays with my folks and most of the family. Will be a quick visit with many time demands if we're to get to visit with as many relatives and friends as possible..some reflective time, possible some a sad farewell to someone special to my husband that the Angels might be calling home far too soon. We hope to get in some kisses and hugs from a couple of the grandkids and if we're lucky Santa will find us and leave plenty of surprises. whoops and we get to celebrate my parents 65th wedding anniversary!! just that alone shows how blessed we are!
I'd like to take this time to wish all a very blessed Christmas and Happy New year!

which before I sign off it brings me back to my title :-) I have been meaning to commit to participating in the sketchbook challenge! Thus my new added button on the blog. funny it seems I have a stack of many sketchbooks all scattered about,always told my students how important sketching is, so I am hoping this challenge will help me become a little more organized. I must admit that though I felt I had not completed my other two challenges I hooked up with this summer I did complete two Christmas quilts as presents thank to the nine patch square challenge this summer and I sadly need to look up the name of the other sew along. Sadly thanks to my injection yesterday my brain is feeling like mush today on recall...something about that twilight they give you...leaves me loopy for days :-)
Leaving on a good note...I have high hopes RE: my injection....time will tell.
Merry Christmas!

Sorry for being absent for a while....

Wow, I just noticed that I have not been keeping up with my blog. It's amazing how quickly I seem to let my habit of posting slip away? Please tell me some of you are feeling the same?
Possibly I can blame the holiday season or could it be some of the demands I've been putting on myself regarding trying to get some last minute lap quilts completed in time to give as holiday gifts this year? lol..... Add to this some minor yet very frustrating health issues I'm dealing with and boom!  Posting somehow got put on a back burner.  I have been having some back issues once again which is sadly putting a kink in my day to day living. I am trying to deal with it, have a scheduled injection and some testing scheduled so hoping this too will pass.
I have made a pact with myself to try to get back to my norm which includes posting regularly to my blog. Please wish me luck ;-)

detail

detail

detail of Christmas surprise

On a good note I am finding out that art therapy is good for my soul. I have been able to keep sewing throughout the back issues as long as I don't have to stand up and down a lot. ;-) I managed to complete one of my quilted holiday surprises, wish I could post a photo of the piece but just in case some of my relatives actually read my blog I will resist rather then ruin a surprise. But here's a hint, if you've ever taken classes with Nancy Crow you know students spend a lot of time making new fabrics. Well rather then waste some of my left over fabrics I managed to create the perfect family Christmas exchange gift.
Here are a few detail shots. I promise to post a photo of the gift after Christmas day.....What fun I had making this! I'm pleased with the end result and it's going to be a fun surprise.

It was a semi productive week ;-)))) YAY!

I've had some fun this week reconnecting with my sewing machines. I managed to quilt two lap quilts on the HQ16 just have to add their binding ;-) and hmmm remember those 9 square blocks someone on facebook convinced me to try this summer?? Well I got that top pieced today and it's ready to put on the HQ16 hopefully Monday morning. ;-) It was total scrap fabrics, wild colors for sure yet think it's going to be cute once I quilt and bind it. "Cheery"
Next up..... I hope to complete a baby quilt I owe a special baby. ;-)
So here's some peeks at this past week's projects...

9 block for fun

lap quilt in browns

UFO strips on muslin to be continued...