Creative Crones of studioQ Meeting

Yesterday my art quilters' group met here at my house.  We had our "show 'n tell", a little "class time", and lunch....and much laughter and sharing of ideas!! Our last 12" x 12" challenge was to do a self portrait!  I had just done one last month for my Art Quilters Around the World Internet  group, but decided to do another one for the studioQ group.  Not everyone had their self portraits to show.... here are the ones that were finished.

Heather's-Notice the eye!!!

Kay's...one cell of her brain!

My portrait...used the fusible monochromatic technique

Lynn's...a page from her journal

Starting last month, we have decided to experiment with and try to learn more about the Elements of Art...and how they can be used in our art work.  Our first element to study was the element of line.  At Heather's last month, we did an exercise in drawing various types of line, then for this month we were to take one of those drawings and recreate it in fabric.  Here are some of the examples of that session:

My line drawing in fabric 

Dyanna's created with a jelly roll 

Heather's line drawing in fabric

Kay's line drawing in fabric

Beth's line drawing done in her sketchbook

Our element to study this month is the element of shape and we will do a fabric example of what we drew in an exercise yesterday for next month.

Memory Monday #8

Chalkboard Art

   
      In my last memory blog, I introduced Mrs. A. my second grade teacher.  Although I was initially a little scared of her, I learned to really admire her.  Even at the tender age of seven, I was very fond of art and Mrs. A was quite the artist.  Her drawings with chalk on the board were really fantastic!  The example I am showing of chalkboard art is not nearly as great as her work....she was really good at landscapes and animals.  And that was probably the first that I was introduced to the world of art.

      Mrs. A. was my grandmother's age and the mother of one of my dad's good friends.  One of the many positives of growing up in a small town is everyone does know everyone!  And one of the negatives of growing up in a small town is everyone does know everyone!  But probably the positives outweigh the negatives.  Anyway, I can consider Mrs. A. to be the first person to influence my future as an artist.  She would occasionally allow the students to use her colored chalk and to draw on the board.  And as I remember, she was very encouraging to me.  I remember her expressing my "talents" to my mom and dad, thus starting me on my road to creativity!!

On My Design Wall

Unusual Lone Star

     This is a paper-pieced pattern designed by Karen Stone.  I have had the plan, the fabric, and the paper pieces for about two years now.  There are 120 individual diamonds that have now been paper pieced; the sewing of all together is yet to be done; I wanted to put it all up on my design wall before starting so I could see the color arrangement.  At this point is measures 72" from one point across to the other.  It will shrink by about  4-6 inches after sewn.

      I am making this for our bed...queen sized.  So I will need to add several borders in order to make it big enough.  I have made only two bed-sized quilts before...and both of them I hand quilted.  This quilts will be machine quilted...by someone other than me!!!  I will farm this one out to be quilted by a pro!!!

     I have a few other projects in the works also....

•  Cotton Robin-need to finish and mail off by March 10
• Creative Crone of studioQ meeting next week and our last challenge to do-"Self-Portrait"...also an example of using Line in quilts
• do my Bead Journal Project for the month of February
• do my "Carnivale" quilt for my Art Quilts Around the World challenge due March 31st.

So my finishing my bed quilt may have to continue to be a slow process!!  But at least I have it up staring me in the face now, so it won't be easy to ignore!!!

Memory Monday #7

A swing set/tetter-totter similar to the one in my school yard

     As I related in my last Memory blog, I loved my first grade teacher....now, my second grade teacher was a little different story!  Mrs. A. was a large woman; she was a bit more strick and I was a little bit scared of her!  She did have one mesmerizing feature though.  When she would work at the chalk board, especially when she erased, I was in awe of her rather extensive underarm flab as it would sway excessively with the movement!!
      I remember one time on the playground, I had walked into the seat of a swing!  I was always a little "unobservant"...had my head in a cloud..so it was no surprise that I would get smacked in the mouth!  The swings were heavy wood with iron on the ends and chains attached...not the cute light plastic swings of today.  Anyway, I wasn't hurt badly, but  I did end up with a bloody lip.  I just remember being back in our classroom with a wad of cotton stuffed behind my upper lip with the admonishment to "leave it there"!
     So class proceeded...Mrs. A. gave us instructions to get out paper, etc..  I, being the smart child that I was, knew we would also need scissors, glue, etc.....the knowledge which I needed to whisper to my across the aisle neighbor.  Because of the wad in my mouth, he could not understand me...so I had to repeat myself a couple more times, getting a little louder each time!  By my fourth time to blurt out, Mrs. A. came striding down the aisle (we were in the back), reprimanding me and reminding me that this was my last demerit for talking!   And the ultimate punishment for this was public humiliation...a dunce cap and a seat in front of the whole class for a period of time!!

Not really me, but add a couple years, and it certainly could be!!

     See what the kids of today are missing!!!  No one considered that to be child cruelty and I don't think it scarred me permanently!  And I don't remember ever talking in Mrs. A's class again!!

   

Ash Wednesday

 

   Today is Ash Wednesday...although this is not my "Memory Monday", I do have some very distinct memories of being Catholic during Lent...especially Ash Wednesday so I thought is would be appropriate to write today.  Living in a predominately Protestant community in the 40's-50's, many of the traditions of the Catholic Church, when the mass was said in Latin, were considered somewhat bizarre! One tradition was the symbol of the ashes placed on one's forehead.
     When we moved to Mississippi in the '70's, we lived in a very small town, where being Catholic was even more of a minority than where I grew up in Illinois...This was the "Bible Belt"...capital B!  And the Catholic Church we attended was considered a missionary church because it was so small and we had to share our priest with two other churches.

    I remember one Ash Wednesday, we had a late afternoon service with just the kids...about 15 of them.  The priest at the time, Father Joe, was a wonderful man...loved his job and loved the kids!  He had devised an Ash Wednesday Service whereby the kids would all write down their wrong-doings on paper, then we actually burned them on the altar in a container, and when they cooled down, he used these ashes for their foreheads. Well, he was quite generous with the sprinkling of the ashes to the point that the ashes spread down their faces and clothes!  About that time, the back door of the church opened, a workman who was to do some repairs poked his head in.  The kids all turned to look at who was there...the man looked very shocked and said "Oh, my Lord!  What are you doing to those children???"  I am sure the smell of burning paper and all those little blackened faces were rather shocking!  Fortunately, we were able to explain to him what was going on, but that is the way ridiculous rumors get started!!

And while looking up some images on Google to add to my blog, I saw this cartoon and thought it was cute!!!

Memory Monday # 6

     I learned to read when I was four...my sister was two years older than I, and as she came home from first grade, learning to read, I learned right along with her.  We didn't have kindergarten back then...and as I have mentioned, we lived only two houses down from the school.  I wanted to go with her...I remember, in nice weather, I could hear the kids out playing during recess...my mom had a tough time keeping me home..I would try to go down to play with them!!

     In first grade, when I finally got to go, my teacher was Miss Cosgrove...the sweetest, kindest lady in the world...a perfect first grade teacher.  And I think I and a couple other of the little girls were kind of her favorites as we were Catholic...in a public school..in  a town where Catholics were in a minority.

    Again...back in the good ol' days, people didn't get too hung up about separation of religion and public schools.  Miss Cosgrove would have never tried to influence the Protestant kids, but I remember her helping us Catholic girls learn our Catechism.  First grade was the year when we would receive first communion and go to confession for the first time.  She would have wanted us to be very proper and good at it...and to feel comfortable.  So we practiced...my mom always told the story that I confessed my "sins" (at age six!) to Miss Cosgrove rather than Father Scanlan!  ( I was kind of scared of him...tall, white haired, red-faced...I grew to love him but not yet!)

     We even had a Christmas Pageant at school...and guess who got to be Mary???  Yep, blonde haired, blue-eyed me!!

First grade Nativity Scene-(me far left as Mary)

Books! Books! Books!!

     I love to read...I usually have two or three books going at the same time.  I have a Kindle which I love...I am kind of a tightwad so I only "buy" books that cost...Nothing!!  And there are a lot of books out there that do qualify as free that are very good.  There are also a lot of books that are not so great.  I usually look at the genre and the recommendations!  So all and all, I probably have 75-80 books on my Kindle...unread!
     On the other hand, I love old-fashioned hardback backs or paperbacks...the written word on paper!!  But again, my tightwadedness keeps me from buying many books.  Fortunately...there is the Public Library!!  Every where we have lived, one of the first things we do is to get a free library card to be able to check out free library books!  I don't know if other countries have Free Libraries, but that institution is certainly one of the greatest perks of living in the United States!
     And I don't always have to read the most recent books.  I am currently reading a book that was published about nine years ago.  It is by one of my favorite writers...Alice Hoffman.  I just discovered her about three years ago...she has written at least forty books and I am working my way through all of them.

"The Probable Future" by Alice Hoffman

     I highly recommend her books to anyone who enjoys a good read and is kind of into fantasy/human nature.

     My choices of literature are very eclectic!  I love historical fiction, scifi, good mysteries, human interest, biographies...all kinds of stuff.  And, one thing I discovered in my senior years, that if a book doesn't grab me in the first 25-30 pages, I quit it!  I used to feel that if I started a book, I HAD to finish it!  No more...life is too short!!  Oh, and one thing I learned early...do not bend down the corners of books to save your place!  Use a bookmark!!
 

Memory Monday #5

     I do have one other memory of before my dad came home from WWII.  I must have been about three years old; my mom and grandmother (who was my dad's mother) took Judy and me to a family reunion of my grandmother's kinfolk.  My dad  came from good farm people and the reunion took place on the original farmstead in Missouri.  My home town was in Illinois but we were only 20 or so miles from the Mississippi River and my dad's family was on the other side of the river in Missouri.  None of us lived too close to the river to be concerned about flooding though.

     What I remember most about the reunion was that Judy and I were the only little kids there...we got a whole lot of huggin' and kissin'...UGH!  I also remember that they had great food (I enjoyed good food at an early age!), lots of homemade cakes, cookies, pies, AND  homemade Ice Cream!!!!! YUM!  But, my mom wouldn't let us eat any of the ice cream because it was made with unpasteurized milk!!  Mom had a friend who had contacted undulant fever as a child which, according to my mom, left her sterile.  (Now I did look up undulant fever and created a link if anyone is interested in it! And there really is such a thing that you can get from unpasteurized milk so I guess she wasn't totally paranoid!!)  She didn't explain all of that to us at that time...just wouldn't let us have any!!  Knowing my mom...and my grandmother...who did not always see eye-to-eye...I am sure there was a lot of pressure on my mom...but she DID NOT give in!!  She was a "townie" so, I imagine she was considered kind of prissy to these "country folk"!!

Allison Family Reunion- 1943

     Judy and I are the only little kids...front row, right..I am the littlest one.  Mom is on the back row, right...You can just see her head peeking out between a couple of ladies.  We really didn't know any of these people..and except for my grandmother, and never did get to know them in the future.  I don't know if they never had reunions again, or whether we just didn't go to them.  I do know a few "family tales" which I will relate in later Monday Memories!!

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl

   

  Forty-eight years ago, I gave birth to this wonderful baby girl.  We were living in Anchorage, Alaska as my husband was stationed there in the Air Force.  We had been living in Reno, Nevada when I became pregnant. Then, before she was born, we were transferred to Elmendorf AFB.  This was only a few months after the big earthquake in Anchorage area in 1964....needless to say, our parents were very concerned about this move.  But when the Air Force speaks, you listen!
        She was born at the Air Force Base....our expenses were something like $7.50!!  I was in the hospital for I think four days; military hospitals are not quite as patient-friendly as civilian hospitals!  She was brought to me swaddled in a khaki green coarse blanket with instructions to NOT unwrap her!  Ha! Like that was going to happen!  As soon as the nurse left, I did examine MY baby!!  Under the green wrap was a flannel blanket...and the sweetest little baby in the world...with all her toes and fingers, etc!  I suspect they are told to not let us unwrap the babies, but then purposefully leave us alone so we can!!
    The hospital was very efficient...even though there were cracks in the walls from the earthquake of a few months before.  After the first initial viewing of the babies, the moms had to go to the nursery to get them for feedings..at least through the day.  The first time I had to do that, boy...did it ever hurt!  But being stalwart Air Force brides, we survived!!  Actually the care is very good...just not plush!

     We lived in a small apartment off base.  It was February in Alaska....only 3-4 hours of sunlight!  I couldn't take her out to get fresh air..too cold, so I made sure she got sun exposure for a few minutes each day when we got a little beam of sun in the middle of the day!!

     Happy birthday, dear daughter....what a wonderful young lady you have become!!  Probably all that sunning helped you along the way!!

Art Quilts Around the World Challenge

 

My Self Portrait!!

   Today is the day we are to reveal our first challenge for the Art Quilts Around the World Challenge..."Self Portrait".  Andrea and I joined this group this year..it is made up of 30 women from all around the world.  There will be a bi-monthly challenge chosen by various members.  I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to "meet" many of the gals through their blog and our group Facebook.  So with no further ado...here is my portrait...and a bit about the process.

 #1.- thought up all the words that describe me...woman, mother, daughter, wife, teacher, etc...and came up with 25 words. #2- created a list with definitions on my computer. #3- made my background by printing list off on fabric.  #4- drew the outline of my head (not factual). #5-divided head into 25 sections, made a second copy on paper to cut up, applied freezer paper and cut out sections with my hand dyed fabrics.  #6-added fusible web, applied to a muslin background. #7 stitched with variagated thread and zigzag stitch over all sections. #8-stitched head to printed word definition background. #9-then embellished with stitched eyes, nose, mouth..added hair (cut strips of fabric), and glasses (tin foil) and necklace.  The necklace is beads and words.  I had originally created the words on computer/printed on paper and was going to fuse them to the sections of the head, but felt there wasn't enough room for them there. So I fused them to a different fabric, cut them up and sewed them loosely around the neck.

First drawing on paper

Hand dyed sections

Background fabric with printed words

Basic head before embellishments

Some embellishments added

Beaded and dangly words necklace

I loved doing this project and am looking forward to the next one!!!  Please go to the link for the Art Quilts Blog to see all the finished portraits. And  I have linked you to Andrea's blog also to see her work.

Bead Journal Project-January

I had signed up for another challenge for this year.  I have discovered that I really like beading, so when I saw the Bead Journal Project, I signed up when they opened for membership!  The plan is to select a specific shape and bead that shape repeatedly once a month.  I pondered for a long time on what shape I wanted to do.  So many of the beading artists had such wonderful ideas in years past, but I finally decided on the "Yin-Yang" shape for mine.  I drew and cut out 12 circles-about 3 1/2 inches in diameter from Timtex and then drew the symmetrical curve to create the yin/yang.  Then I had to decide on colors!  And here is my January beading!

January

Each month I will bead a new "Yin-Yang" of different colors and different design.  Then at the end of the year, I hope to create a complete work of art, using these 12 shapes.

Memory Monday # 4

      Memory is a funny thing...as I told in my last memory, I clearly remember my dad coming home from serving during WWII.  But try as I might, I have only one more memory of him during the year and a half we lived in the little apartment where my mom and sister and I had lived while he was gone.  I have decided I had a bit of a memory loss because it was a very traumatic thing to have him return.
      I was just two and a half when he left and I didn't see him until I was nearly five....a little over two years.  I don't have any recollection of his going or being home on leave at all.  During that time, my mom and sister were my family.  We all slept in the same bed (after I was out of a crib); we did everything together...then here came this person who was a virtual stranger to me...not that I was shy when he first came home obviously.  But he did displace me!  My sister and I ended up on a sofa bed in the living room while mom and dad naturally took the bedroom.
   One other occasion I do clearly remember though was a trip we all took to St. Louis, Missouri probably not long after Dad came home.  It was quite an adventure for  a five year old who had never been away from home.  Even though we lived in a small town in Illinois, St. Louis was the closest big city to us.  Two things I remember....we took a ride in an airplane!!  Now, that was a big deal in 1945...way before commercial airline travel became commonplace!

Over St. Louis

      It was a private sight-seeing plane...I am thinking that they were giving special tours to veterans and their families.  Looking back, I am surprised my mom would go for such a venture.  She was not the most daring of souls, especially anything involving putting her babies at risk!  

Stix, Baer, and Fuller

     St. Louis was on the cutting edge of the future.  One of the large department stores, Stix, Baer, and Fuller was one of the first places to have an escalator!!  The Magic Stairway!  One of my mom's friends even gave me a book about the Magic Stairway that following Christmas, I was so taken with the experience!!!

An early escalator

   

Memory Monday # 3

     This very imposing looking building is where my sister and I went to the first and second grade. It housed one first grade class and one second grade class on the first floor as well as the seventh and eighth grades.  As you went up these stairs, the first grade room was to the left and the second grade classroom was to the right.  The yard was full of playground equipment...slides, teeter totters, and swings.  The rest of the building held  the entire high school...9-12. On the other side of town was an elementary school that held grades 1-6. This arrangement was to keep the youngest students close to home.  We didn't have hot lunches...everyone either brought lunches or went home for lunch.  Since the apartment we lived in was only two houses down from the school, so we walked home for lunch!

Higbee High

       In 1945, when WWII ended,  my dad came home after being stationed in Europe for nearly two years.  My mom didn't have a car so when he was discharged and sent home by way of St. Louis, Missouri...the nearest   city to us...she borrowed my grandmother's car to go get him.  Even though I was just four, I have a very clear memory of him coming home.  When he arrived, my sister, second grade, was at school  so  he put me up on his shoulder and we walked down to the school to get her.  It was recess so all the kids were outside playing. He was in uniform and with me on his shoulder, all the kids began to shout, "Judy, your dad is here!!!"  With Judy in hand, me on his shoulder, and all the kids racing around us, we made quite a parade going up those impressive steps to tell her teacher that he was taking her home.  Coming home from the war to a small town was a great celebration for the whole town.  Judy's teacher just happened to be  mother of a good friend of my dad's who was also soon coming home and had probably taught both my mom and dad, too....she would be my second grade teacher also...a story yet to come.

Blog Party/Ami Simms

The above badge is from the blog "2 Bags Full"...I really don't remember signing up for this Party, but I probably did!!  It was suggested that on the evening of January 18th, those involved are to write a little something about how we got started blogging.  I started blogging at the suggestion of my daughter who is a blogger.  My blog is pretty eclectic....I sometimes just ramble...sometimes I have a purpose.  

I am a fiber artist, so much of the time, my blog deals with my art work and the art work of those I admire.  I am a member of a wonderful group of gals. We are the Creative Crones of studioQ and we have a marvelous time meeting and learning from each other.  I am in the process this year of doing a Memory Monday...stories of my past which is vast...so therefore includes little snippets of history!!

With this current blog I am also going to promote Ami Simms, a very well known quilter/designer who has been very influential in sponsoring Alzheimer's  Research through her quilting.  She requested that those of us who blog might encourage others to look into what she does and what others can do to help the cause.  She has an ongoing auction of small quilts which everyone can contribute to.  Just click on the following link and learn all about it!

http://www.alzquilts.org/

Memory Monday #2

Well, here I am again with another fab tale of my youth...Another memory I have while living with my mom and sister when my dad was overseas is when my sister conked me in the head with an iron fireplace broom!

This would have been pre television days. We all had developed great imaginations...could make fun out of anything.  But one day, while playing outside with several of the neighborhood kids, I ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.  As I remember, we were playing some fantasy with magic involved...there was this huge lilac bush in the yard and we had been pretending that it was some type of magical tree...my sister was the head magician (or something like that), so she had the power to make this bush/tree open up and let us in.  In order to make the magic work, she had to say the magic words and swing the magic wand/broom, which happened to be an iron fireplace broom.  Now here is where the story gets weird...no one I knew had a fireplace so where did the broom come from?  I was standing right behind her and as she spoke the magic words and swung the magic broom, she made a full turn and wham!!  I got hit right across my forehead!  I remember screaming and running for mommy...who picked me up, got a neighbor and took me to the hospital...had to have stitches and got much attention which I am sure I loved!  I still have the scar albeit faded, today!

Of course, my poor sister who was 2 1/2 years older than I and was a really great big sister, was terrified and went home and hid under the bed, so I am told.  My mom was so relieved that I was OK; she was a very understanding mom...realized it was a total accident...so she was not mad at all. You know how head wounds can really bleed; that was probably what scared my sister...I remember seeing the drops of blood on the sidewalk for days afterwards...thus adding more to my glorious escapade!  After realizing I was not dying, I relished in my fame among my peers!!  I had stitches!!!!

Judy-my big sister!

She is probably about four or five in this picture, would have been around this age when the incident described above occurred.  She doesn't look like a bully, does she!!!

Technology!

  I am not a big telephone talker, landline or otherwise...I will not talk on the phone while driving...I never did any texting because my cell phone was too obsolete...it spends all its time in my cubby in my car...for emergencies only!  I get very ticked at those who drive and are on the cell phone/ at people in social situations that HAVE to take any calls regardless.

But I love technology!!!  I have envied those who have a smart phone and can take pics at a moments notice, download and post them almost instantaneously!  And have the internet at their fingertips everywhere!!!  So for Christmas, I got the best gift ever!

My iphone

I have downloaded a few APPS (something else I love...apps!) and have been having fun trying them out. I have the one where you can scan those code thingys, and immediately see a video of interest!  Amazing!!  I have texted my granddaughter...and a few others!  I have even actually made a couple of phone calls...and have taken several pictures!!  Now, my strong opinion of using cell phones while driving and at social occasions has not and will not change...but I think I am going to  really enjoy the technology offered!

Memory Monday #1

I enjoyed reminiscing about the past before Christmas so much that I have decided to continue the trend by blogging every Monday about a memory of mine...this may not be the most exciting topic for many of my readers, but there may be some of you who can relate to some of my memories...and maybe jog a few of your own!

One of my first memories is living in an apartment with my mom and sister while my dad was in the Army during WWII.  He served from Fall-1943 (leaving just before I turned three) until the end of the War in 1945 and came home right before I turned five.  He was stationed in Europe and saw action in France, Italy and Germany.

I remember our apartment....which in reality was very tiny....had one bedroom, a living room, bathroom, and small kitchen.  It was the front area of a house in which the landlady and owner, who was a family friend lived in the back.  Upstairs lived a minister and his wife...an elderly couple.  The town where we lived was a small, midwest farming committee in Illinois.  My mom didn't have a car, but that wasn't a problem.  We lived just two or three blocks off the town square...we could walk everywhere. Everyone knew and took care of each other.  Milk was delivered to the door, groceries could be delivered, doctors made house calls...and, of course, these were all people who were friends and contemporaries of my parents....the parents of my friends.

It really was pretty idyllic....kind of reminiscent of the little town in "It's a Wonderful Life"...at least to my memory!  And my first pet was a Border collie puppy received from a friend of my folks who lived in the country.  We had to keep Fuzzy tied up in the yard when we first got her as our landlady didn't have a fenced yard.  I remember going out to see her and she would get so excited, she would run around me and the pole which she was chained to, winding the chain all around me and the pole together....so we would have to be rescued by my mom!

A Couple of Simple Challenges

Judy Laquidara has a very interesting blog!!  She has challenges, recipes, great daily stories, etc.  While looking at her latest blog, I saw a challenge or two that I think I will give a try.  One is a cooking challenge...she will list ingredients once a week and participants are to use them in some way make a dish using them, picture and post.

The other challenge is "Getting It Done"....a monthly list of four things to accomplish along the quilting/creative lines, post the list; then, on the last day of the month, repost what was accomplished!  That sounds more doable for me than a daily or weekly challenge and an inspiration or "check list" to get things done!

So for the month of January...my four goals are:

• Finish my Art Quilt Around the World Challenge "Self Portrait".
• Do my Bead Journal Challenge
• Get at least half the Paper pieced triangles done for our bed quilt/cover.
• Do the blocks for the new Mystery Quilt "Back to Square One"

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!

When we moved South about 40 years ago, we discovered that Fireworks are a big thing on New Year's Eve...hadn't had this experience in the North!  I guess it is too cold to shoot them off in December/January!

I looked back at my "goals" for 2012 and was glad to see that I did accomplish a few of them....but there were many I did not get finished....so they will go back on list for this year!  A couple of the things have been on my new year lists for so long that I feel I should just give up on them....but I WILL NOT!!!  That stubborness gene in me will not allow that to happen!

Here is my new list: (which I posted last week)

• Do bi-monthly challenges with Art Quilters Around the World.
• Do monthly challenges with Beading Journal Blog.
• Participate in Cotton Robin-2013
• Finish the 12" block for Crones
• Finish the quilt for our bed.
• Make a quilt for the guest room bed.
• Keep a journal for the year/ do more mixed media experiments.
• Finish the Color Challenge of the month blocks and make something with them.
• Continue with the Crones' Challenges for the new year.

And here is my list from this time last year...so combining both lists should keep me busy enough!!! I think I need to print these off and keep before me in my studio!!!  I had actually forgotten about a couple of my goals for last year!

Dye fabric this spring (I have had the materials to do so for about three years!)

Do silk painting (again, have the needed materials...just the ol' 'roundtoit!)

Finish about five UFO's

Continue with the Round Robin Challenge

Keep doing the Internet BOM

Make the Scotties for all the Dodds'-side children

Make the quilt for our bed

Make the quilt with my mom's embroidered birds

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

Today, my buddy and I are celebrating our 49th anniversary....only one to go until the big 50!!!  We are planning to go out to dinner and take in a movie.  That is a big treat for us because we really don't go out very often....a choice we both make...we like to stay home!!  So going out on our anniversary makes it a more special event...and is somewhat traditional!

December 29, 1963

We were married in Illinois at my little Catholic Church.  We had selected this date so my buddy could be home for Christmas as he was in the Air Force...that way his leave was two-fold.  For our honeymoon, we went to St. Louis, Missouri for a couple of nights.  And the hilight of entertainment was a nice dinner and a movie...we saw "The Cardinal"...a big production back then!

Almost a New Year

Almost a new year....and I am ready to say "goodbye" to 2012!!  Really looking forward to a new start!  A new year is always such a terrific opportunity to open up a new chapter; to refresh all those ideas/projects that didn't get done and to create a new slate of things to accomplish!

One of my fellow art quilters Linda Moran..from the blog "Art Quilts from Around the World"...is starting a "plan" for organizing and planning to help really "get things done"! So I have decided to attempt to follow her plan through the foreseeable future.  I can always use a helping hand on organization!

She first recommends the following steps:

1. Reflect on what I have finished throughout the past year and reflect positively on accomplishments...so here goes!

• Nine 12" blocks for my Creative Crones' Challenges (well, made all but not all completely finished)
• Art quilt with beading...done and entered in Guild Show...won 2nd place
• Guild Challenge for show.."100 Years of Girls Scouting"...won top prize.
• Miniature log cabin for show...won 3rd place.
• Finished thread painting of tree...entered in show..no prize.
• Finished "An Unusual 4-Patch"...entered in show...no prize.
• Made a journal with felting on cover for the Felt For Peace project and mailed it off to my person in Greece.
• Participated in the 2012 Cotton Robin Challenge...loved it!
• Made Potato Baking Sacks for gifts.
• Participated in The Diva's weekly Zentangle challenge every week.
• Participated in the Bright Owl's Zendala weekly challenge.
• Survived some pretty heavy medical concerns with my buddy!
• Read too many books to list.
• Traveled to Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas (twice).

2. Identify what I did not get finished!

• Started my "Unusual Lone Star" quilt for our bed.
• Have five of my Crone challenges to finish.
• Started to participate in a Color Challenge blog..got only half done.
• Started to participate in the Scrap Quilt Block Challenge...dropped out after three months.

3. Start a list for the new year:

• Do bi-monthly challenges with Art Quilters Around the World.
• Do monthly challenges with Beading Journal Blog.
• Participate in Cotton Robin-2013
• Finish the 12" block for Crones
• Finish the quilt for our bed.
• Make a quilt for the guest room bed.
• Keep a journal for the year/ do more mixed media experiments.
• Finish the Color Challenge of the month blocks and make something with them.
• Continue with the Crones' Challenges for the new year.

4. And lastly, share my accomplishments with others.

• Am working on my first Art Quilters' challenge-self portrait.  Follow our blog.
• Have started preparing for my journal writing using my new book "365 Days..."

Christmas Eve 2012

One last memory for this year...again, my mom...In her wonderous decorating, she had cut out letters in gold of the words from a song..."Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me!"  Each year she would place the words on the brick wall above their fireplace.  It was then and still is a beautiful sentiment!

In 1979, my mom and dad rented a four-plex in Kissemee, Florida at Christmas with the invitation, that if we could all get there, they wanted to treat the whole family to a Florida holiday!  Well, we all made it there...my sister and her family, my cousins, my brother, and even my 83 year old grandma!  We had a wonderful time...each going their own way sometimes, and doing things together other times.

But it WAS Christmas, so as well as having a tree, decorated, in their apt., and enough food to feed the whole city (and my mom was a wonderful cook!), Mom had brought with her from Illinois her cut out wordings; had attached them to the wall in the hall for all of us to see when we first walked in!

My daughters, a niece and a nephew under Mom's sign!

And I found this You Tube connection to share with all of you!! Enjoy and have a wonderful Holiday Season!!!

Zentangle #100!!!

This week the the Diva posted her one hundredth challenge!!!  ONE HUNDRED...that is a bunch!!  To celebrate this auspicious occasion, Rick and Maria, the original Zentangle teachers, were the designers of the designated zentangle to be used.  They created a new one...."Diva Dance"...... to commemorate the challenge. Please go to the Diva's blog to see the really interesting information about her getting started in the Challenges...and the instructions on the new tangles.

Challenge # 100

As the Diva says....she is taking a little vacation from the Challenges...until after the Holidays.  I, too, am taking  break...I am not going to be following the challenges for awhile.  Although I have loved doing the zentangle challenges, I have taken on a couple other challenges for  2013 so I'll see how my time goes before committing to the Zentangles. I will follow with great interest the Diva's blog to see all the fantastic art created by other followers!!

Not the End!

Mayan Calendar

I love it when society gets all excited about rumors such as Y2K (remember the end of the 1900's/beginning of  2000"s) and end of the world predictions!!  It is all so entertaining!! As you all are aware...it has been predicted that today the world will end.  There has been so much discussion on the Internet and tv that I felt obligated to add my two cents!

One fact that has come out of some of the chatter is, although the Mayan Culture is no longer a strong civilization, Mayans do still exist...just as many North American Indian tribes still exist.  So some of the remarks have been rather thoughtless about their no longer existing.  The explanation I like about the whole "end of the world" thing is that it is not the END of anything...but the BEGINNING!!  That according to the calendar, which I happen to think is a beautiful work of art, tomorrow is the start of a whole new era! And I love starts...so I am ready for a whole new beginning...May everyone enjoy and take advantage of a new period of time!!!  And may it be a happier, healthier time for all!!

One last item....I love this cartoon someone had posted on Facebook....

Maybe this is really the explanation!!!!

Dare # 35

Last week, the Bright Owl gave us a challenge of drawing our own Zendala by starting with a paper snowflake for the outlining design.  She even gave instructions on how to cut out a snowflake to trace....here is my snowflake, followed by my zendala design.

Paper snowflake for Zendala Dare #35

Dare #35

This is really a week late, but because I worked on it pretty hard, I decided to go ahead and get it posted on her site!  The challenge for this week is already posted so I am really late!!

Buche de Noel

When Andrea was in high school, she took French three or four years.  Her teacher really liked to cook...and to enjoy the fruits of her labors!  One assignment the kids had to do was to create a French menu/meal.  And for extra credit, the students could actually make the meal...and moms would sign a statement verify said meal.  One recipe that Andrea did and turned out to be favorite of my husband's, is Buche de Noel!  Or Yule Log.  We don't make it every year, but our Poker Pals met at our house this month so I made one to share with them.  It is one of those elegant looking recipes that is really easy to make!

Buche de Noel

Here is the recipe if anyone wants it:

Chocolate Log

1 6-oz pkg. semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

Combine chocolate chips and water in top of double boiler. Place over hot water until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat; stir in baking soda.  Combine eggs, vanilla and salt; beat until very light. Gradually add sugar, beating until thick and lemon-colored.  Add melted chocolate and fold in gently. Fold in flour.

Turn into a greased and waxed paper-lined 15 1/2" x 10 1/2" x 1" pan (jelly roll pan). Spread out evenly.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Loosen around the edges and turn out immediately on a dish towel dusted with powdered sugar.  Remove the waxed paper. Roll cake immediately in towel starting with the long edge.  Cool thoroughly.

While cake is baking, make the filling and frosting;

• 1 6 oz pkg. (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
• 2/3 c firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 3oz pkg. cream cheese-room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• dash salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Melt semisweet chocolate chips in top of double boiler over hot (not boiling) water.  Combine brown sugar, cream cheese, vanilla and salt; beat until creamy.  Beat in egg yolk, blend in melted chocolate; fold in whipped cream.  Cover and chill until thick enough to spread.

(I do all the above one day, and construct the cake the following day.)

Take cake roll and gently unroll from the towel. (It is best to complete it on the tray you plan to serve it on. As my tray is not long enough, I cut off part to create the branch log)

Spread the filling in the tightest part of the roll first then gradually fill all the interior, roll back up, place seam side down and cover the rest of the cake with filling/frosting.  I will cut the smaller log at an angle before frosting the exterior and place it next to the larger log.  Chill for several hours or freeze.  Then wrap and store in the freezer if not to be eaten in the next couple of days.  If frozen, allow dessert to stand approximately 30 minutes at room temperature before serving.  I "garnish" mine with plastic greenery and berries....not edible!

Another Christmas Memory

Yesterday, as we took our daily walk around the neighborhood, I noticed all the mistletoe up in the trees.  Now that the leaves are almost all off for the winter, it is much more obvious.  Seeing all of it took me back  a few years to right after we moved to Texas and I was made aware that mistletoe grew wild.

Mistletoe Growing Wild in Texas

Growing up in Illinois where mistletoe does not grow...cannot survive the winter weather...it was a plant we used for decorative purposes at Christmas.  If we couldn't find it "live", sold in flower shops, we would use plastic "look-a-likes" to decorate.  Little did we know that it was a tree-killing parasite!!!

Decorative Mistletoe

 My mom, again in her decorating frenzy, would always have mistletoe hung somewhere in the house!  And, of course, as we grew up, we learned the tradition of a kiss under the mistletoe!  Much giggling would take place in adolescent years as adults would partake in the activity!!

I found the following information about the tradition:

Why do we get kissed if we stand under the mistletoe? Since ancient times, the mistletoe has been one of the most magical, mysterious and sacred plants of European folklore. The ancient Druids considered the mistletoe to be a sacred plant and believed it had miraculous powers which could cure illnesses, serve as an antidote against poisons, ensure fertility and protect against the ill effects of witchcraft. It was also believed that the mistletoe was an aphrodisiac or a sexual symbol. From these strange beliefs has come the modern-day custom of hanging a ball of mistletoe from the ceiling and exchanging kisses under it as a sign of friendship and goodwill. The tradition of smooching under the mistletoe descends from the customs of several different cultures. For instance, exchanging kisses under the mistletoe was a tradition of Greek festivals and marital ceremonies. If a couple in love exchanges a kiss under the mistletoe, it is interpreted as a promise to marry, as well as a prediction of happiness and long life. The Anglo-Saxons associated the powers of the mistletoe to the legend of Freya, the goddess of love, beauty and fertility. According to the legend, a man had to kiss any young girl who, without realizing it, found herself accidentally under a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. Guys would pluck a berry when they smooched the girls and when the last berry was gone, there would be no more kissing! In France, the custom linked to the mistletoe was reserved for New Year's Day: "Au gui l'An neuf"--Mistletoe for the New Year.