Jan's Squash book

Jan used a Backyard Living magazine to cut out the images she used for her squash book.

Squash Book...

Mary said: I couldn't see on this squash book below that it was done by April Wood. It is fantastic. OK, girls...let's see pictures of yours...

Squash Book

Here are some pics of one of the Squash Books that was made. It was such a fun project. I want to be sure to give credit where credit is due, though. These pictures of artwork are from: http://www.herondance.org Go give them a look see to see the most beautiful artwork and lovely prose. These are out of order...so please start at the bottom. This is a picture of the Squash Book cover. #2, from bottom, is the book partially open, #3 mostly open, #4 all the way open, and then the top picture is a close up of the inside. So much fun to make...and very easy once you know the secret.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Mary said: Since April asked us each to post our Squash Books, here is mine...It is to be a birthday card for my son, Chris. I used pictures of him when he was very little and enjoyed every minute of it as they were all good memories. Thank you, Nita, for such a fun project.

Nita Gives us a Work Shop in Squash Books...

What a great day! We started with April's ATCs and each had our pick. Nita Parker came today to give us a workshop in Squash Books. We all did a variety of versions and had such a great time. To top it off, we were blessed by the presence of Grosbeaks out April's window...beautiful! Tuesdays are the best!

Our Squash Book Project

Today was so fun! Here is a photo of the group today. Left to right...Karen, Jan, April, Mary, Pinky, with our guest and instructor, Nita, in the front. Hoping one of the other girls will add photos of some of the finished squash books. They were really fun to make. Thanks, Nita!

Red River Of Truth...

I forgot to include this wonderful hanging that Jan is working on. I meant to put it with Karen's birthday picture. It is called Red River of Truth... If you double click on this, you might see all the tiny 1 inch squares that make up this entire piece. It is amazing! On top of stitching all those tiny pieces, Jan has beaded and hand sewn strips of different fibers. There are hours and hours of work in this piece and she is not done yet...She is always an inspiration to our whole group.

Karen's janbag

This is the bag Jan made for Karen's birthday. It is reversible. Someone named them Janbags a long time ago, I have made probably 30 or 40 of them, all different, mostly given away. I know Karen says the coyote is her totem animal so I put coyotes on the pocket.

More Goodies To Open...

Karen with her pile of birthday goodies to open. I feel bad because I didn't get a pic of the beautiful bag that Jan made for Karen. Jan...if you have one, would you post it? Karen loves western things and this bag was just perfect!

KarenL's birthday

Here are Mary, Pinky, Karen and April in Jan's studio, watching Karen open her gifts. Does Karen look a bit stunned?

KarenL's birthday

Jan wrote:
It was another great day in our group. This was KarenL's first birthday with us and she seemed to be rather delighted with the occasion. We all gave her some cool gifts, some handmade, some brand new and some purchased at garage sales. Mostly they were all art related. She could hardly wait to go home and look through her loot!

After she opened her gifts we tried out a little playing with alcohol inks on dominoes. Everyone made some gorgeously colored ones. No one is quite sure what to do with them except maybe make more. They are fun.

Finally we pulled out our most recent ATC's and did a little Valentine trade. These are all the ones that we traded. We had a bit of a discussion here as to whether we should arrange them all mixed up and crooked or all straight in an organized fashion for photographing purposes. As usual, we compromised and did a little of both:-)
See you next week at April's!

The Deborah Award

Jan wrote: I would like to give this award to all my S&B friends who have been the best friends that friends can be. As the award says, "Friendship isn't about who you have known the longest, but who came and never left your side." Thank you Mary, April, Pinky, Karen and Joan for being there when I have needed a kind word, and for always being supportive and above all, for being so much FUN!! We have the Best Times! Lets have more!

Nita's quilt

This is one of the quilt panels April's cousin Nita got to make a quilt for her Mom. She wasn't really sure how to quilt it so she started hand quilting and this is what happened. Turning out fabulous! I got to see it earlier, last year, before she had done any quilting on it. It is a beautiful panel, and Nita has done a wonderful job with it. Her Mom is going to love it! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished quilt. That is a lot of stitching!

Joan Unwrapping Her Presents.

These pictures show Joan opening two frames that were put together by Jan of ATCs that we all made. She has no pictures as of yet, so we thought this would be a fun present. Jan did a great job of filling the frames. The other pictures are of Joan opening her quilt and the matching pillows. She really had fun opening all the goodies. We all, also, made Joan a journal to keep track of life in her new home. Each of us did several pages in the book until it was full. We left pages blank for her to write on. We just had so much fun making these presents and watching her open them. There was lots of laughing going on that day...good medicine.

Joan Feeding Her Buddies...

While we were getting lunch ready, Joan went out to feed her buddies. She has many llamas, peacocks, two dogs and two cats. She is a lady who loves her animals, for sure.

Getting Ready For The Party...

On Tuesday, we met at Joan's new house for a housewarming. We all brought goodies for lunch, presents for Joan and brought the quilt and three pillows to go with it. We all had such a fun day. Joan has many llamas and peacocks and we were able to watch them out her brand new windows while we ate lunch.