Getting Flakey!

I decided I need to get myself going on the Irish Dance dress for Christy, so today I cut snowflakes. I decided I'd work on the dress for 2 of my 4 days this weekend then one of my other projects for the other 2 days. Tomorrow I think I'll stitch these on to the blue background fabric.
We're having below zero weather this week. The days are getting noticably longer. Sunsets have been beautiful, & the stars are bright at night. I missed Fur Rondy completely this year. I guess we're turning into old fuddy-duddies. No desire to freeze out there at the carnival, & wasn't even aware of the fireworks.

I got a note from Jim West, Ricky Tims introduced me to him last September when they were here on the Quilting Cruise. Jim was interested in organizing a quilter's cruise in Hawaii with Alaskan teachers being featured (myself being one of them). He wants to know if I think anyone would be interested in cruising in Feb. 2008. I of course like the idea of teaching on a cruise, but fear that it'll conflict with our Alaska Fiber Festival which happens just a month later. I asked him if he might consider making it 2009, so that Alaskan quilters wouldn't be forced to choose between which they want to spend their money on. I haven't heard beck yet, but what do you out there think? Anyone interested in a Feb. cruise in Hawaii with us?

Can anyone tell me why I can't add links like I used to? I get a big blank box when I hit the link button.

Here's jim's link http://www.sewmanyplaces.com/jim/

My Weekend

I didn't get much done in the fiber arts- quilting department, other than a few cards & 2 more heart shaped pin cushions. My sister Em had another birthday (thank God), & my friend Ilene.

Friday we fianlly finished Christmas. We went over to our friends ZTrace & Dave's & had dinner & gave them their Xmas gift. I also finally took all the decorations that had been setting on the guest room bed with the door closed since January, & got them in their proper boxes. I had to wait for Warren to get the boxes down from a high shelf, as I was afraid I'd hurt the shoulder that I'm trying to wait until May for surgery on. Broccoli has been hanging out with me. Isn't he cute?

Warren has been working on his bar. I helped him finish the trim around the ceiling on Saturday.
Here is the front on the card I made for our friend John, for his 60th birthday.

& here's the inside. It's a picture that I took when we were at the Bakery in Girdwood, after blueberry picking, & John was enjoying a cinnamon role. They have really good ones there.

This is one of 4 cards I made, all similar. I sent one to Ilene & one to Em, & another to my friend Mary, who just lost her husband this weekend.

I made chocolate dipped strawberries to take to John's birthday dinner. The dinner was wonderful. Mindy made cornish game hens with a pomegranite juice with interesting spices & pistachios on them. They were the best I've ever had.

John's cake seemed something of a fire hazard.

I thought we might have to throw it out in the snow! Word of advice here, you really shouldn't cover the top of a cake with those candles that can't be blown out completely. We had a tough time extinguishing them without getting burned!

Here I have to show you the expression on John's face when he opened his gift from Dr Pete Schaab. Pete is Mindy's boss, & he decided to give John & Mindy both a special gift. He bought them tickets to fly to Hawaii.

Oh, & tonight when I got home from work, Warren had gotten his lights hung in his bar.

They really give it a nice warm glow. I'll be glad when we get it all put together.

Sorry for the low fiber content!

Happy Valentine's Day

Here are some hugs & kisses....

And warm wooly wishes...
for you...

May your Valentine's Day be full of fun & sweetness!

With love to all my family & friends...Deb.

Eyes Are Windows to the Soul

Here's another snowflake all cut out & ready to go for Christi's dress. It's her dog Remi.
Last night I decided I wanted to do "Eyes", (for my 12x12x4-I can't do 12 this year- theme of portals). I felted green wool mixed with green Angelina fibers for the irises, on top of satin fabric for the sclera. All was layered on to wash away stabilizer. The flesh tones are from the Camel hair that my friend Kathy Jolman sent. The brown hair is baby Alpaca wool, & it's soooo soft.
I stuck 2 glass beads on to a strip of black fabric.

Then I cut holes in the Warm & Natural batting, for the beads to peak through as the pupils.

After washing away the stabilizer, The eyes & 3-D nose look quite life like.

It's still damp, so I'll have to wait until Friday (my next day off to work on finishing it). I keep saying "It", because it's so androgenous. I'm. not sure if it's him or her , although this photo looks more "her". I have to think about who this is. Hmmm... does she look like any character you know?

Weirdness!

Helen Suzanne
http://hebartjournal.blogspot.com/ tagged me for this....

THE RULES:
People who get tagged need to write ablog entry of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly.In the end, you need to choose6 people to be tagged and list their names.Don't forget to leave a comment that says you have tagged them in their comments & tell them to read your blog.

At first I was thinking that I had a hard time finding 6 weird things about me, but when I started to jot things down I realized there are a LOT of what the average person would think was weird, but seem just perfectly normal to me because that's just how I am.

I think I should do it as a count down, so........

# 6--When I was a child I often slept outside in the back of our station wagon, parked in our driveway. I would lay with my head & pillow on the open tailgate watching the stars for UFOs.
I believe there are aliens out there, somewhere.

#5--I am full of Catholic guilt, but have only once been inside a catholic church when I went to a wedding there. We were raised protestant, but my mother attended a Catholic girls school in Chicago, & I think that's where it all started.

#4--When I eat a Milky Way Bar, I like to eat all the chocolate 1st, then the nougate, then the caramel. I don't eat them very often, & when I do, it's never in front of any one else, other than maybe my DH.

#3--I have had several precognitive dreams. The oddest one involved a swing, a railroad track & a giant icecream cone, & it all came true about a month after I dreamed it.

#2--When I was little I slept in a crib & I used to hallucinate during the night when I wanted water. I remember seeing a faucet & a cup above my bed, & reaching for it to get a drink, & have it disapear. I also thought a bear lived in the closet & it talked to me at night. Later I realized it was my father's snoaring that I used to talk to.

#1--I think this is probably the weirdest thing about me. I love to read, & re-read my favorite books, & my most favorite are JK Rowlings Harry potter books, & Madeline L'Engle's "Wrinkle In Time " series. I've lost count, of how many times I've read them all. Every time another HP book or movie comes out, I re-read the books to have them fresh in my mind. & I've watched the movies so many times that my mind often slips into a Brittish accent!

I could've made this list twice as long, but I think this is enough of a confession to my weirdness.
Now I think I'll tag my family as they have to continue to love me no matter how weird I am, so.. Michelle, Melodie, Leilani, Marcy (hmm, Brandon doesn't blog so much), so lets see....
Hey Granny Fran, & Rian, anyone else? Wanna play along?


For some weird reason I can't imbed links on these names. My linker button isn't working today!

Thursday Calendar Girls & Lampwork Class

I was off work this Thursday, & had a Calendar Girls meeting. We went out for lunch & just chatted, & did a little show & tell,
this was Jackie's challenge quilt from our group challenge using the putple fabric.

Mostly we just laughed a lot.


Thursday evening was the Lampwork basic bead making class that I've been looking forward to, at Half Mook Creek, with my friends Mindy & her daughter Hope.

It was all set up & ready to go when we got there.

Alise Strause the instructor was really good. I hadn't realized it, but I'd bought 2 Lampwork beads last year in June, & they were made by her. Here she is making a stringer. She made everything look so easy!

& here I am in my intense concentration pose, chewing my lip, working hard.

Hope seems to be a natural at this.Here are the results of my labors. Not the greatest beads ever, but it was fun!

I'm afraid I'm hooked on one more hobby.

As far as the felting maching is concerned, I will be happy to explain some more, & will try to answer Helen Suzanne's tag from the last post too, but I have to go to work this morning & wake up screaming children after their dental surgery, among about 15 other cases today. It's going to be a very busy Saturday! Makes me almost wish I were having surgery myself, just so I could sleep through it! If I get to stay home tomorrow maybe I can get to it all then!

WIP Wed Felted

I'm still playing with the new machine. I started out witout a plan, just these 3 colors & went crazy! There's no rhyme nor reason to it, just play. It'll likely end up as a bag, or something similar. I'm not sure, I just know it's a WIP!

Mindy's purse

I took the patches that I felted yesterday on my new toy, & felted them together into a purse for my friend Mindy. They came over to play today while the hubbies watched the Super Bowl. Sorry that Chicgo didn't win. John & Mindy are originally from that neck of the woods.
This heart ended up as a little pocket inside the purse.

The modified log cabin block got cut & placed under the flap.

Another heart ended up on one side.

The front ended up with some fun swirls, & I added some quilting with black Holoshimmer thread. The button is a fused glass button, that I bought from our last Alaska Fiber Festival.
Flowers on the other side panel.
The back ended up with the star, & a strip off of the log cabin.

This heart, I tried some wool on to some of my hand painted silk chiffon. I think this fits with the needle felting ring challenge.

Playing with Felt on my new Janome Xpression

My sister called me from Michigan today. We chated for hours. She has free long distance on her cell phone.I was playing with my new toy while talking to her. Thank goodness for the head set for my phone. I was just doing mindless experimentation with wool rovings. I started a log cabin block, & made a heart, &
a star block. I did start the swirl in the center of the star by "spinning" the orange roving just with my fingers, & rolling it between my hand like a clay worm, then used my hand-felting needle to punch it lightly into place, before running it through Jan. Very simple. Fun play.

New Toy, It's Not a Sewing Machine

Here she is, I'll call her Jan. She lives here with her sisters Bernina , & Bernina & Bernina. Yes I am a Bernina (1260) girl. I own 3 of them because I love that particular model so much. The new machine is an Embellisher & felting machine. She doesn't sew.
See? It has 5 barbed needles that just punch the heck out of what ever you want.

These are rovings. The white is some sort of long silky wool & the tan is camel. My friend Kathy Jolman sent them. The reds, greens & other colors are ones I've bought over the past couple of months.
Here is a green sweatshirt, that I cut up the front, & removed the ribbed neck, cuffs & bottom.
I used some green wool rovings & this wool yarn with my new toy, & trimmed the sweat shirt.
I'll be doing more on it, but I wanted to show you how it's going so far.

It was fun & fast. I'll add more tomorrow. My mind is so full of possibilities for this machine. I'll keep you posted on all my playing with it!