2012 WIPocalypse…

Thanks to Patty over at PipStitch I have signed up for this. Maybe I’ll actually get some of my WIP’s done…next year! If you have a lot of WIP’s, you should sign up too!

A Little Bit of Awesomeness…

I found this via Craft Gossip…it’s just too cool not to share! Just click the link and see what I mean!

Planning Ahead…

I have been very uninspired about making Christmas presents. It seems that every other year this happens. One year it will be gangbusters sewing, the next…not so much.

I am however, planning ahead. I have a project I want to work on in January…when I can’t feel guilty for not using my crafting time to make presents.

I have found the cutest little free block of the month here at “With Needle and Thread.” Here are just a couple of images of the blocks:

 

Aren’t these darling? And since I apparently have a purse fetish (you should see how many I’ve made!) this will make the best little wall hanging for my sewing area! I’ll print them out as is (minus the dotted lines) and embroider all the details. I also plan to use only fabrics from my stash…I have way too much fabric!!!

So what do you think? Anybody want to join me?

Bias Tape

So I’ve never been very good at applying bias tape. It seems to be a problem for many of us. I just stumbled across this video from Amy at Angry Chicken…it’s awesome!

A Ghastlie Day 9

Here’s who is up for today:

Mrs Corrie Ghastlie

Mrs Cheryl Ghastlie

Mrs. Linda Ghastlie
Mrs. Pickles Ghastlie

Please stop by and give them a ghastlie hello!

It’s the Seventh Day of Ghastlie…

…go check it out!

Miss Daisy Ghastlie
Mrs. Dana Ghastlie

Mrs. Elaine Ghastlie

Mrs. Gramma Sheri Ghastlie
Ms. Suz Ghastlie

On The F0uth Ghastlie Day…

Here are my Ghastlie sistahs that are participating today:

Mrs. Katherine Ghastlie

Ms Sharon Ghastlie

Mrs. Gooden Ghastlie

Ms. Selina Ghastlie

Mrs. Melinda Ghastlie

Here’s a sneak peak at the Day 4 Giveaway

I’m especially loving the alarm clock…think I’ll have to make myself one!

It’s A Ghastlie Day!

 

If you have this thing for Ghastlies

and they have tied you in a knot

and you wish you could get them out of your mind

than this may be a thought.

We heard her plea for a cure

Mdm Samm was pos/it/ively sure

that we could stitch the nights away

in hopes that we MAY----???

( all 54 of us) 

BUT....

The side effects are Ghastlie

there is no mistaking too.

if you don't run this very minute

YOU too will catch the FLU...

We suspected all along

this was her master plan

she did not want to be alone,

with all  YOU Ghastlie FANS..“

When Madame Samm put out the call for Ghastlie lovers around the internet, I just couldn’t resist. I had to play along with the blog hop! I discovered this material by Alexander Henry last year and fell in love.

For those of you who don’t know me…I have something of a purse fetish. I have made so many that I have lost count! I knew right away that I had to make a purse…or two… from this addicting fabric.

First I made an everyday purse. I sketched out the shape I wanted and went to work! I used a metallic braided ribbon and made a shabby rose with an antique rhinestone button for the center. Lots of pockets inside and a magnetic clasp…it’s my new favorite everyday purse!

front:

back:

Then, since I had a wedding to go to and just COULDN’T carry a dress purse I’ve been seen with before, I knew I had to make a fancy one with my two favorite Ghastlie ladies! I used the tutorial from here to draft my pattern. Mine was a little fiddly since I have a shaped purse top. I had to sew my purse to the frame as it is the sew in type. I used antique lace from my grandmother, a necklace for the strap and silver beads on the trees. I LOVE how it turned out! Here are both sides:

Life wouldn’t be complete without a journal to write things in…we must record the important things in life! I covered a composition notebook with the dinner table vignette since this represents the Ghastlie family so well!!! First I had to paint the cover white so the book’s pattern wouldn’t show through the material, then I adhered the fabric to it. I finished it off with more of my Grandmother’s antique lace and a ribbon on the edge!

Last, but most definitely not least are these portraits framed and ready for the wall. They will hang above my sewing area so that I will always remember the fun I had joining in this blog hop!

Here are the other participants for today:

Mrs. Barb Ghastlie

Miss Karen Ghastlie

Ms. Jen Ghastlie.

Ms Penny Ghastlie

Mrs Rhonda Ghastlie

My Ghastlie Sisters…

…have you been visiting them???

Our Ghastlie blog hop has begun! Today is day two for the festivities! Tomorrow is my day so be sure to hop on in and see my lovely…er… ghastllie offerings!

Here are my sisters showing their goodies today:

Mrs. Annie Ghastlie

Mrs Doris Ghastlie

Mrs Brandie Ghastlie

Ms. Alidiza Ghastlie

Mrs. JudyC Ghastlie

Did I mention there are prizes???

Don’t You Just Love Babies…

My daughter’s dance instructor is having a baby…a little girl. Of course, I had to make something for the little one! I made an elf hat and a pair of Mary Jane's. I think they turned out darling!

The hat was a free pattern found here. I did double rows of color instead of single ones. The shoes are a paid for pattern found here. I don’t recommend the shoes for anyone just  beginning to crochet.

Speaking of babies. My baby boy, Boy Genius, had his first date last Saturday. He went to the homecoming dance. Don’t they look awesome!

Oh…by the way…I have a surprise in store for you all next week so don’t forget to check back!!!

Fashion…

…through the years…

I totally stole this from Bloom.

Recognize your styles?

Giveaway Alert…

Jenny over at Elefantz.com is having a giveaway! Check it out! (just click on the picture!)

Fungi…

Do you pintrest? I do. It’s amazing the things you can see on there! Things you wouldn’t normally stumble across unless your whole life is spent online.

I found a darling, and new to me, pincushion tutorial that I thought I would share with you. Aimee Ray over at Little Deer Tracks shares it with us. While you’re there you should check out her other crafting goodies…they’re adorable!

Why “My Art, My So Called Life”

So Dawn over at Sweet as Cinnamon wants to know how some of us got the names for our blogs. She’s even offering a lovely gift for one of us to win if we participate by explaining ourselves! So here goes:

“My So Called Life” was a short lived show that ran for only one season in ‘94/’95. I was very disappointed when the show was cancelled. I was fascinated by the main character, Angela, played by Clair Danes. I don’t know why I identified with the character Angela. I never went through a rebellious stage in high school. I didn’t have an antagonistic relationship with my mother, but still I get something about the character. Maybe it’s her social awkwardness or the not knowing exactly how to define herself or what group she belongs in.

“It just seems like you agreed to have a certain personality or something. For no reason. Just to make things easier for everyone. But when you think about it, I mean, how do you even know it’s you? And, I mean, this whole thing with year book, it’s like, everybody’s in this big hurry to make this book, to supposedly remember what happens. It’s not even what really happens, it’s what everybody thinks is supposed to happen, because if you made a book of what really happened it’d be a really upsetting book.”

– Angela Chase “My So Called Life”

I honestly believe that most blogs are “books” about what we want people to think happens. If we truly told the day to day, boring, grinding, sometimes angry and annoying truth about ourselves…well…really, who would read out blogs? And seriously, anyone that would like to read that type of blog is not really someone we want to be friends with. We want to surround ourselves with people who exhibit the same personality traits that we ourselves show to people. When we see only perfect lives on blogs…they’re lying!  What we see is a “so called life” as it were. That’s the honest truth in my humble opinion.

The “My Art” part of my blog title is rather self explanatory. I like to show off my “art” in all it’s varied forms. I have had many different “so called lives” over the years when it comes to my arts and crafts.

For years I crocheted. I started crocheting when I was five and at my pinnacle, I made the most beautiful doilies and pretties. I think I was pretty good at it.

Next came cross stitch. I did that for years, made lovely large “paintings” with thread.

Then came beading. Probably the art that I have been the most skilled at. I ended up branching out from making beaded things to teaching others how to make beaded things. I helped my father to design a bead loom that he still sells and gets wonderful reviews from those who have one.

Now, I am a bit more eclectic with my art. I sew. Both by hand and by machine. I like to embellish what I have sewn with beads and embroidery. I have started to incorporate many of my skills into single pieces. I really like it as it adds an extra dimension to whatever I am working on.

So now y0u know why I have chosen the title I have for my blog. It’s all about my art and my so called life…the part I want to show you!

Terrible, terrible picture…

I know this is an awful picture but I wanted to show you what I have been working on lately.

This is a 20”x20” appliqued quilt block for my husbands niece. In my husband’s family, when someone gets married, they receive a quilt made up of blocks from whatever relatives wanted to participate. My niece wanted all fall colors. I wanted to do some applique. So that is how this block was born. I would have a better picture of it, but, as is par for the course for me, I left making it until the last minute and it had to be delivered tonight…so no natural light to take the picture by.

My hubby was so sweet to offer to drop it off at my in-laws after all the hard work I put into it.  

Christmas gifts…

Wouldn’t these darling bath bombs make great Christmas gifts? I see some of these in my future!

Go visit Little Birdie Secrets to get the tutorial!

I have a secret…

…a Ghastlie secret!

I am going to be participating in a blog hop that will happen from October 24-28th and October 31- November 4th.

Its all based on a common love of Alexander Henry’s “Ghastlie” material line.

These are just a few peeks at this awesome material.

As part of the blog hop, you will get to see lots of awesome projects made with this fabric. I already have two thing done to show you and have one more special one to do. You will find giveaways and tutorials and eye candy…so please stop by and check it out!

October is around the corner…

I know that I have been MIA a lot this summer. My summer has been incredibly busy! I’ve definitely been living my life on fast forward.

It will soon be October and as we all know (or should) it will be Breast Cancer Awareness month. Some of you know that my stepsister Kathy passed away just over a year ago from breast cancer.  Well, now I have another story to share with you.

We all know that we are supposed to check our breasts for lumps on a monthly basis, ideally in the shower, but how many of us actually do it?  Many of us go through life, not unlike our children do, thinking that it can’t happen to us…”it’s not in my family history, so it isn’t something to worry about.”  WRONG!!!

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer this past July and I want to share her story with you.

One day, while showering, my mother found a lump in her upper breast.  Now for the women in my family, this is not such an unexpected occurrence. You see, my grandmother, mother and I have fibrocystic breasts. This means, for us, that we form cysts in our breast tissue. They are benign, but can become uncomfortable so we go off to the doctor and have the cysts drained. No big deal, not fun by any means, but not life threatening. Most women with this have a cessation of it in their 50’s, when menopause is complete.

My mother is 65 and hasn’t had a problem with them for a while. When she found this one, it felt different to her than what we usually have experienced. For starters, it was up high, right above what we think of as breast tissue. Secondly, it didn’t hurt. That can be a big warning signal, fibroids are usually uncomfortable at the very least.

Off she went to the doctor, who decided that it needed to be removed. The next week, he removed it and sent it to be tested. It came back positive for two different types of slow growing breast cancer. The doctor had my mom back in the next week to remove more tissue and also check her lymph nodes. Needless to say we were all on pins and needles waiting for the results to come back.

When the results did came back we were over-joyed to find out that everything looks clear. Her lymph nodes are clear and a bone scan showed no signs of cancer anywhere else.  As a precaution, my mom is now getting radiation treatments. She is also taking a medication to reduce the estrogen she has in her system.  Estrogen feeds cancer…it’s like candy to it.  My mother is very proactive and has said on many occasion, she will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t come back and that she is around for many, many years. We were very lucky.

Because the mammogram my mother had back in October of last year didn’t show any signs of the lump, we are telling every woman we know…check up high!

I made a drawing for you based on where my mother’s lump was located…CHECK THERE!!! If we can help one woman find something that would have otherwise been missed, there will have been some purpose to this rollercoaster ride we have been on. Tell your mothers, sisters, daughters…everyone you know.

…no, I’m not giving up my day job…and no… it’s not a self portrait or a drawing of my mom…we should be so skinny!!! Ha-ha!

Mark Twain…

There has been this quote running round and round in my head. It really sums up my summer…

Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most.

I definitely think I need to embroider this on something and display it prominently in my home!

I didn’t realize that the quote was from Mark Twain, but soon discovered it, and many more funny ones, while looking for it’s author.  I always enjoyed reading his work, but now can truly appreciate some of his quotes. He had such a dry, snarky sense of humor and it really speaks to me!

Here are a few of my favorites:

Last week I stated that this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister and now wish to withdraw that statement.

Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.

It is by the fortune of God that, in this country, we have three benefits: freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and the wisdom never to use either.

You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

I do believe I would have enjoyed knowing this man.

So who makes you chuckle, or stop and think?

2011 Fall Haute Couture…

Proof that fashion designers either need prescription drugs or are already taking too many:

Valentino:

Christian Lacroix:

The embroidery on this one is exquisite, but who really wants to look like a dead Russian bride?

John Galliano and Bill Gaytten for Christian Dior:

They wants to asphyxiate us all in cellophane.

 

…or maybe the Easter Bunny never visited them…

Chanel:

I find them to be one of the least ridiculous of the design houses. They actually have some lovely designs, but they too feel the need to dip their toes into the avant guard nonsense.

…really??? A pinecone???

For totally avante guard check out this house:  “On Aura Tout Vu” Lady Gaga wears some of their designs…’nuff said!

Have to get me one of these…who wouldn’t want to be a futuristic, yet feminine, Viking???

Though there are many other design house offerings that I have looked at online, they are hardly worth mentioning. Some look as though they are designing for the female characters in Star Wars, most are just unimpressive. There are a few lovely pieces that will probably trickle down to the unsophisticated masses in the form of knock offs, but lets pray that the other garbage stays where it belongs…with the rich who have more money than sense. They can look down their snobby noses at us in a superior manner as we snicker behind our hands at their total lack of taste and style.

…just my two cents worth…

MIA…

trying to find the cure to my antigravity suit so I can post more goodies…

Hidden Treasure…

Cuteness of Elephant Proportions…

I’ll Make You, My Pretties…

So I Googled “pincushions” tonight. Usually I’ll type in “pincushion tutorial” at the search engine, but not tonight. Just the single word. Boy did I find some cute, amazing, adorable, awesome pincushions! I now have a bunch more projects to add to my 5,653 other things to make this year!  I adore pincushions, what can I say? When it comes to them I can’t help myself, it’s like the Queen song says: I want it all, I want it all, I want it all and I want it now!!!

Here’s the eye candy…just click the picture to go to the original link:

…and last, but not least, my favorite: