Congrats to my dear friend Jenny and her family. Welcome Lewis Alan!

Lewis Alan Fretz arrived August 31 at 9:11 p.m. in Pennsylvania to Jen Fretz and husband Andy and big sis Gwen. He weighed 9 lbs., 15 oz (beating out my Alex by 11 oz!) and was 21.5 inches long. She says he's the cutest kid ever, and it sure looks like it!
I'm supposed to be embroidering three onesies with 'boy stuff.' Looks like I'd better get that finished up. So happy for Jenny and her family. Check out her Child of Hope blog. Jen and I used to have big fun staying up until all hours scrapbooking and papercrafting when we weren't up to shenanigans at Bath & Body Works.
Jen spent some growing up years in Leesburg, where her dad was a pastor. And now Jen has a little boy (and girl) of her own. Congrats!

Finally! Took some art classes again.

After a too-long-to-measure hiatus, I finally signed up for a couple art classes at The Queen's Ink in Savage Mill, and boy, am I glad I did! The special guest instructor was Dyan Reaveley, international and European educator with Ranger products. What a treat! Dyan is a well-known and admired artist, teacher and shopkeeper from the U.K. Just listening to her accent and euphemisms all day was jolly good fun! Cannot get the technique "shimmy butt roll" out of my head. Thanks so much.
The first class was a darling 6 x 6 chunky canvas (her examples shown above) which we painted and embellished with such products as acrylic paint daubers, Perfect Pearls, Perfect Pearls glimmer mists, Color Wash sprays, Tim Holtz's die cuts, Dyan's darling, hot new rubber stamps and many new techniques.
The Queen's Ink in Savage, MD in the rehab'd Savage Mill hosted the event. It's an outstanding place for classes, and owner Patti Euler is a blast. The store is stocked to the rafters with needful supplies and goodies. It's hard not to come home with one of everything.
I met some lovely new art friends, including Donna Walsh of Words Have Wings on Etsy. We commiserated at the same table for seven hours and tried to avoid spraying each other with Glimmer Mists!
Waiting for some finishing touches to dry on my own canvas, and then I'll post pics.
My next class was an accordian fold book, and Dyan's samples are pictured here. We used a lot of the same products on watercolor paper, and added a bookbinding technique, as well as stencil use and more fun rubber stamps. Didn't get quite finished, so working on it today, and will post pics soon.
The classes were good-sized at 20, and you can see some classroom shots above. That's Her Majesty Dyan at the paper cutter. I also got some great treasures in the shop, including a fun, new journaling system called SMASH. Hope to start that today, too, and will post pics soonish. Cheerio and Shimmy Butt Roll and all that.

More painting with thread

Got my Happy Day sampler back from framing at Jo-Ann Fabrics. I chose a wooden frame in hot pink. Love it! While waiting for that, I started and finished this Halloween dress for Blythe. I started with a purchased base dress, that had already been dyed from white to orange. I added the ghostly trio, as well as a spider and web, waist and hem trim.
Wow! I just noticed that my previous post was my 500th post! Can't believe I missed that. Maybe I'll remember to celebrate my four year blog anniversary this August 2. Time flies when chatting with friends.

My recent faves- I love me some color!

See my Flickr for a link to all the wonderful photos and photographers in this mosaic.

Happy Day sampler done!

This was the most fun ever! I hated to see it end. Pattern from Pam Garrison. Choice of type of stitches and colors up to the stitcher. So I went bright (I guess you can tell).
Stitches I used: straight, back, chain, stem, satin, French knot, star, seed, bullion (first time), daisy, couched. Variegated floss used for the letters, leaves, border and some flowers.
Inspired to stitch by dear Bryanna Lenan, Little Dear/Merwing and Roxie Creations.
Can't wait to frame this or make a pillow with it. It really makes me smile.

WIP: Happy Day embroidery sampler designed by Pam Garrison

Art Making in Two of My Favorite Mediums

Work-in-Progress Weekend: Happy 4th of July!

Will this two-year-old WIP get any attention this weekend? We shall see. It's a 4" x 4" canvas I painted with acrylics and stenciled myself. So far, so good. Stymied since 2009.

More Embroidery - Miniature Version

Cross-Stitch Art

It seems all my painting is being done with fiber these days--from crochet to embroidery to an old, old favorite, cross-stitch. I just finished this little sampler above a couple weeks ago (and in fact, the pattern is for sale in my Etsy). Just picked it up from being framed at The Stitching Post. Getting ready to hang it. My work is rough; I can see it. After not doing this for probably 20 years, I was shocked at how much harder it is to see those little patterns. But, I have another piece started, as well as an embroidery sampler. Needlework is just so much easier to transport when traveling. There's no mess to clean up, and the rhythmic stitching is soothing.





Crochet Art

I've been traveling a lot lately - TN, IN, OR, MD, CT - so it's not exactly conducive to having the canvasses, easels, paints, brushes and water sitting about for inspiration to strike. But my yarn, crochet hook and little scissors passed all the airplane inspections, and so I made some tiny Blythe clothes on my travels.
The sweater pattern is from Crochet Today! magazine, Jan-Feb 2010 and is an update on a 1960s knitting and crochet flier for fashion dolls. The hat pattern is from my friend Zoe Aarden's book, Grrrlie Designs for Blythe, which I edited (see sidebar on this blog).
Meanwhile, ever appreciative of real crochet talents, I bought this intricate vintage, yet mod, flower doily for $1 at an antiques mall. I knew I wanted to frame it, and so I sprayed it with fabric stiffener and then had it mounted to a bright mat to show off the pattern. Even with a ready-made frame, that $1 doily now has more than $50 invested in it for posterity.

More Weekend Finds & Happy First Birthday Tinkerbelle!

Some treasures from a stop at Objects Found in Catonsville, MD and The Fancy Flea festival at The Pink Cabbage in Ellicott City, MD. I bought the doll, and for some reason the seller threw in Raggedy Andy for free. I didn't even ask about him. And the Edgar Allen Poe volume, copyright 1902, was inside the vintage wooden bird cage. I had just gotten a box of vintage floral birds the day before, so I guess I am officially on a bird kick.
Tinkerbelle Louise turns one today- June 6. I adopted her six months ago from the Small Miracles Cat Rescue in Ellicott City, and she has been such a joy! She deserved her birthday "cake" with candle.