New Share Bar...

I just added (a couple days ago), and forgot to tell you...that I added a share bar that will show up under each post. You can email, facebook it, twitter it, etc...kind of fun. I just emailed Pinky's key challenge to her girls...cooooool.

Great Day At Mary's...

What a great day today! We all had our key challenges done and showed them to one another. It always amazes me how different we all are in what we come up with. I love it!

Joan came with Jan, April, and Karen and was a little queezy from the ride down hwy. 202. We were all glad when she started feeling much better.

The following pics are of our individual key projects.

Take a good look by double clicking on any pic to enlarge...Enjoy!

Jan's Key Challenge...

None of us were surprised to see Jan's wonderful project with keys. She made a piece of hanging art. She use a piece of her rust dyed fabric and also did some tea dying to make her gingham fabric look old. She used pounded bottle caps for the frames of two pictures, old lace, needle felting, beading, and old time photos. It has the appearance of someone's heirloom. She said she might like to make another, but with photos of ancestors in her family. This is a fantastic piece. The hanger for it is a branch...perfect. Sorry, Jan for the upside down pic!

April's Key Challenge...

April's idea was wonderful! She took some recycled parts from a wind chime and assembled them with many keys hanging with fishing swivels. She painted the recycled parts (a butterfly on top) with alcohol paints in vivid purples and teals...just beautiful. The sound that they keys make is beautiful. I thought this was such a unique idea for our keys...perfect!

Karen Did Two Key Projects!

Karen never fails to amaze us in what she comes up with. She did two key projects! Her first is a book that she has been making over a period of time. She used her keys to finish the cover and added keys to the binding. It is a wonderful book and has many wonderful memories inside. She is just a natural at mixed media art.

Her second project was placed on a piece of recyled wood found in the barn. She added a crow, real crow feathers, a heart, and of course, 4 keys. It also has a very old square nail on the bottom that holds the keys. She told us it would go on wall. As with everything she makes, it is so neat! Karen can take just about anything and turn it into something wonderful.

Pinky's Inner Child Key Challenge...

Pinky did a large mixed media collage that included a little mesh envelope with a message inside. It said Key To Your Inner Child. Take a close look at all the detail. She always amazes me. She also did an ATC with a key them. Both were just wonderful!

Also included is a pic of Pinky's finished beading project with cats.

Mary's Key Challenge and Misc.

Mary said: My challenge turned into a pillow. Quite awhile ago I did some rust dying and had a neat piece of fabric to work with. I arranged the keys in a circle and stitched them all on with rust colored thread. After the keys were all on, I did a bit of beading on it and eventually sewed it into a pillow cover. I put the slip cover onto a recycled pillow and there it goes...This was a fun project. I loved what everyone else did also...we are all so different. The little cowgirl box is something that I worked on today. It is a small wooden box that I covered in old stamps and then put pics of cowgirls in the 4 openings. It was fun to do.

Hey...I am working on my key challenge...finally!

Just got an idea last night and going for it. I hope I have enough time to git er done! Here's a hint...

We Missed You Pinky!

It seemed so strange to ride over the hill without Pinky today. Normally, we solve all the problems of the world while we travel to our group. We will see you next week, Pink, at Mary's. The key projects will be due...don't forget.

Joan's Beading Project...

We were so happy to have Joan join us in a project. She picked out her own beads and sewed them on to make a magnet for her home. She told us today that it is a tree and we could all see it. Usually, Joan brings knitting and works on that while we work on other things. It was so fun to see her working right along with us all on our beading projects. Today, she framed her project by pinking the edge of the felt and adding the magnet to the back. I think she was having a great time.

Karen's Beading Project...

Karen is having such fun with her beading project of a horse. She has added a fringy thread around the horse and decided to add some padding to make the horse stand out. She , then, did a blanket stitch around the part that had the padding. Take a close look...this is looking wonderful. Karen has really enjoyed this project.

April's Create Book....

April has put various papers on on her pages now and is starting to embellish each page with writing , art, other mixed media. She is doing a beautiful job so far. As you can tell by the big smile, we all were having a great day!

Jan's Wall Hanging and Tin Trade...

Jan did a tin trade with a group online and received her's this week. The tin was decorated with alcohol paints, rhinestones, and a piece of vintage costume jewelry...very cooooool. Inside was the neatest little book that was fabric pieced and embellished. We all had a good time checking it out.

Jan's wall hanging is really coming along. Today she was sewing on felt pieces to add to what she had done last week. She also told us her key project was almost done! Sheesh!

Double click on any picture to enlarge it. Check out the detail on Jan's hanging.

Mary's Cards...

Mary said: I took a little break from the beading projects to work on several special cards. I did two wedding cards, one 50th anniversary card, and a feather card using the paper clay stampings that Jan gave us all a few weeks ago.

April's peacock embroidery

Jan is posting this older piece that April Wood made.
It measures approximately 15" X 15" and is crazy pieced, hand embroidered and beaded, then framed with a satin fabric which is also the backing. April made this for Jan, on the back it is signed and dated "To Jan, April Wood, 1997"














Here is a close up of the peacock. It is beautifully rendered in several colors of cotton floss, and there is a bead in each "eye".











Here you can see the bead embellishment along the framing fabric.











This is a good close up of the peacock where you can see how well she blended the colors. (sorry about the lint and hair, I didn't see those until I viewed the photos) April did a masterful job with this piece. It is a portrait of my peacock, Mr. Mel, at least, I like to think it is. Mr. Mel is gone but his legacy remains;-)

I feel so blessed to have been gifted this beautiful piece of art made by my friend. It hung in my house for several years until I noticed it was getting dirty and I took it down to protect it. I wasn't sure how to clean it so it sat in seclusion for another couple of years. Finally I knew I had to gently wash it in plain water and hope for the best. It worked and now I have it hanging in my studio. Thanks again for this, April. It is a treasure.

New Name????

Just something to think about...Are we ready for a new name for our group? We were called S & B...Stitch and B____. You guessed it. As it happens, we have evolved into not only a stitching group, but a mixed media, beading, scrapbooking, painting, etc. etc. group. Can we have some new suggestions for a new name or do we even think that is necessary? Give me some input, OK?

Post card at the right is made by April Wood

Key Challenge...

Mary said: In a garage sale we bought the end of, Kit and I found a large can of keys of all kinds. Some of us in the group have used keys on ATCs before, so I bagged up a bunch for each person in the group. When they all received the keys, we thought it would be fun to do a challenge with the keys. Again, it could be any choice of what to do with them and size could be up to the individual. This pic is of one of the assortments of keys. They will be so great to work with. I heard of a couple of us say they already had an idea. With the variety of things we each come up with...this should be a fun project and due in a couple weeks. I will post them then.

Pinky's surprise...

Last year at the Rod Run Kit had the girls pick out a metal bed each that they would like made into a bench. Pinky picked the smaller of the three. I think it had been a twin size. When Kit's brother, Marc, was here for a visit, they built the gate and then worked on these benches. The first one completely done was Pinky's. It now resides by her fire pit. This pic is of the day we delivered it. It turned out so cute. Kit painted it pink, of course and finished it out with cedar boards to sit on.

Look Who Joined Us On Tuesday!

Amber (April's daughter) is all done with school and applying for a teaching position. We are all so proud of her! She joined us while filling out apps on her laptop. It was so fun to have her with us...

April's New Project...

When April stayed at Lincoln City not too long ago with her Mom and then, Bob, she made the house owner a wonderful little book to go in the beach cabin. She forgot to take a pic, but it is very similar to the new one she is starting. Each page was a letter that she did in mixed media. When the book is put together, it spells BEACH. She decorated each page.

This new project spells create. You can see she is just in the process of cutting out the letters. It will be so fun to see what she comes up with to decorate the pages. She made me (Mary) a book for my birthday that just brought me to tears, so I know this one will be amazing.

Karen's Pretty Little Horse...

Karen has been gone on vacation and joined us on Tues. She did more beading on her horse. She tried some larger beads this time and it is just looking so coooool. As you can see, she is trying some colorful fringe-type threads around the edge of her design. She is doing the stage of finishing it off and asked for some ideas in doing so. She has never tried beading and is having so much fun with it. Can't wait to see it all finished.

Pinky's Newest Iris Folding Project...

While the rest of us were working on various beading projects, Pinky was working on this Iris Folding one. It is amazing how she can take all those tiny pieces of paper and and turn it into a wonderful card. I keep encouraging her to put some on Etsy...She has such an eye for color combos. That is something I really struggle with and admire her for.

Cool Art on Sweatshirt

This is what was on the sweatshirt of the gal who came to our place to buy hay last week. Forgot to show it to you girls when you were here Tuesday, so I'm adding it here for you to peruse. It would make a great beading project, don't you think? Pretty cool, huh?

April's Finished Bead Project...

April's cross with beading and other embellishment turned out so well. The colors she used and the threads combined with beads are fantastic! It is a beautiful piece of art. She started out making a pin, but now has decided that it will be a small hanging. Yes...we all can change our minds!

Jan's Pillow/Wall Hanging...

Jan started out making a pillow with a bull's eye type appearance made out of felt. It is hand done, but with some machine stitching in colorful contrasting felt. It is bright and cheery and beautiful. It was to be a pillow. Jan, later, thought it over and decided it might be best as a wall hanging. We will see what her final idea is in a week or two.

I am also enclosing a picture of Jan's bag with attached beading project. It is such a nice contrast on the black leather. It is a wonderful piece of art.

The picture of Jan shows the new tee shirt Karen picked up for her on her trip south. Jan took care of Karen's animals for her while she was gone.

Mary's Two New Beading Projects...

Mary started two new beading projects. One is an Indian head button with beading around it and the other is a tiny sand dollar with beading around it.

Joan's beading project

This is a photo of Joan & her progress on her beading challenge. She has used color coordinated beads that really look nice on her cotton fabric. This is backed with a piece of felt. She is thinking about making it into a magnet. Great idea, Joan. More later!

Horseshoe Nail Cross Artwork

I've tried to add this photo, but can't see it, so if it shows up twice, please accept my apologies. I originally started my beading challenge with a Laurel Burch Kitty fabric, but after little motivation, changed to a new project. Kit Fox gave me a Horseshoe Nail Cross, which he and his Men's Bible Study Group had made. (Thanks Kit!) I was, first, going to make a pin, but then couldn't quit, so it became a piece of wall art. I'm pleased with how this piece turned out. Thanks, again, Kit for the creative push with such a fantastic starting point. (Get it? Point? Like on the nail? Oh, man, I crack myself up!) :~D