Monday, January 31, 2011

Question of the month: April's reply


Mary presented the question this month:
How did S & B get started and would you suggest it to other people and why... April wrote quite a detailed reply and answered very well.  Here is her reply:  
 
S & B started September 2001,  and we have a scrapbook that we started some time after that.  It hasn't been kept up, though, but it does have photos from our first several years of projects.    
    As to why we got started, I'm not exactly sure.  I know, or at least I remember that our first project was the bull's-eye quilt, and  that Jan was the reason I tried it at all.  She has always been the best encourager!
  

 I would definitely suggest for people to join a support group for whatever their interest is.  Our group offers a chance to work weekly on the type of work that you enjoy, but also to step outside your comfort zone on special challenges or projects, on occasion.  It gives us an opportunity to enjoy what our other members enjoy.  It might not be our cup of tea, but we GET to see the joy it gives them through THEIR eyes.  And there is always that chance that we might actually like the new activity, and find that it might just become one of our favorites, too. 
  


If you can't find a group to join, then start your own.  That's what we did!  Find some people who like what you like.  Find a time that works well for you to all get together.  Find a place that you can all get to, or take turns going to each other's home.  If you're like me...you'd rather not spend your time in the kitchen, so ask your other members to bring their own refreshments.  (Occasionally, I DO offer a lunch...now and again, and it's pretty easy to stop at the store for treats.)  :~D     You will want to be sure that you all have an understanding to be loving, kind and caring to each other.  You ARE a support group, after all.  We have found a way for us to be successful is to avoid those subjects that might be troublesome like . . . religion, politics, etc.   But even when they do come up, we TRY to be respectful of other's opinions.  (Except me...who forgets to listen, and tends to SPOUT OFF.)  Sorry, girls!!!
    I love our group, and after over 9 years of getting together once each and every week, I look forward to every gathering.  Can you believe it?  I can't wait for each Tuesday.  That's pretty amazing, don't you think?  I think it has a whole lot to do with the ladies in our group, too, though.  I love each and every one of you, girlie girls!   
 
The quilt blocks shown in this post are  ones that we made for each other in a round robin style. We each completed the quilts ourselves and I must say I love mine!  Thanks girls!  See you tomorrow.
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Friday, January 28, 2011

Great Day In The "Studio"...



I had some cute fabric and made a reversible apron out of it. If one side gets too messy, you can turn it over :>)) It has a friendship theme to it and was fun to do. I used to make aprons years ago and they are back to being popular again. Just thought I would show you what I was up to this week.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

HOORAY!!!!!! I FOUND IT!!!!


I am praising the Lord today! I found my beautiful heart that Jan made me. I was just sick because I couldn't find it...thinking it fell off my jean jacket. Something April said on the way home yesterday got me to thinking that possibly around Christmas I may have put it on one of my heavier coats because it was cold. Sure enough! There it was. I am soooooo happy as I just treasure the pin. I had to put a pic on of it because it is sooooo neat!

Working On At The Same Time!

As soon as I got done with my post, there was April's!!!! Thanks, April. Beautiful pics!

Shutter Card...


Until April posts the other pics, I will show you what the shutter card looks like...very fun to do. Jan was our teacher of the workshop and we all made cards on Tues. Hey girls...post your cards on here if you will, OK?

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tri-Shutter Card page 2


Check out this spread! Karen had croissants, rolls, pastrami, turkey, mustard, MAYO, 4-bean salad, pasta salad, mixed nuts, lettuce, tomatoes, hummus, crackers, blueberries, & a poppyseed dessert. YIKES! It was fantastic!
















April's 3rd card is made up AGAIN
with some paper just like Jan's. Great minds!

As you can see this green card (April's 2nd) is made up of some of the same papers that Jan has used. We have the same paper pack! :-D












Karen's 2nd card is just in the beginning stages! You can see that she used the same southwestern themed paper.


















This tourquise and striped card is Jan's 2nd card.
Check out how different it looks by using different
papers in the center portion. Neat, Jan!

Karen and Pinky...hard at it!















Mary's Card started with a two-colored(kinda pink & blue) card stock that Pinky gave her. It fit perfectly for this TriShutter Card. Mary also used a little corner punch, curlique punch and some decorative paper that Jan just gave us to enhance her card. Pretty cool, Mary.

This purple card with green dots is one of April's cards. This is a really fun card to make, and I
sure appreciate Jan showing us how to make
them. Thanks, Jan!

TriShutter Card

Everything's ALL upside down! Yikes! Who gave me control over this, anyway! You'll have to just try and make heads or tails outta this mess. Sorry, girls!!!




First, let me say that I'm not very familiar with putting 'stuff' on here. So if anything is out of order...or pictures a little 'funky'..it's because I'm not usually the photographer. (You girls will be more apt to remember your cameras from here on out. Karen was our hostess and let us use her great big table that's downstairs. Jan was our instructor, today, for our TriShutter Card Workshop. Jan did a fantastic job (of course!)



Here's a photo of the girl's working. Jan on the left, then Karen, then Pinky hiding behind Mary. Check out all of Karen's neat decor!


The second picture is what the TriShutter Card looks like after you have made your first folds and cuts.



The lavender card, with the lovely butterfly, is the beginnings of Pinky's Card. It's gonna be beautiful! The Teal and Lavender 'Leaf" Card is Jan's example (and of course..since it has leaves...I love it!) The rusty southwestern looking card is Karen's Card. It really turned out neat. For some reason this would only let me put up 5 photos, so I will add some more in a minute.

Forgot My Camera Today!


Sorry to say I forgot my camera today! April did take some pics and hopefully will post them on here. Jan taught us how to make a tri fold shutter card and they were so much fun. I only got two made, but April did about 4. I think Pinky and Karen made two.

We were at Karen's today and as usual, the time went way too fast. Karen prepared for us a feast for lunch. Jan made us some beautiful papers to use on our work.

As usual, our Tuesday was a wonderful time of friendship and creation.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

What a Trade!!! Mary To Sarita And Back...


I answered a post on the barter site for www.farmgirlsisterhood.org for Sarita looking for a certain size AERO knitting needle. I had those and a pair of vintage wooden ones I could send. I wrote her and she wanted to trade. I sent the needles and Sarita sent me back this huge ball of wonderful roving. Look at the colors!...so yummy. I am going to share it with you girls on Tues. If you are interested in more roving, you can find Sarita at coffmanspinningcfarm.blogspot.com
I am thrilled!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Finishing Touch For Joan's Card....




I took Jan's suggestion and tied the card instead of leaving the ring on it. It turns much easier. Since Joan loves books, I put strings, ribbons, threads, etc. and glued little miniature books to them that I had already. I really didn't know what to do with them until this came up...perfect.

I added the pics of both sides of the pages we did for Joan's card. Sorry about the sideways one! We all enjoyed doing an extra page of our challenge for Joan.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Our late Christmas party!!


Our chip board challenge that Pinky set for us. From left:  Jan's, Pinky's, Mary's, April's and Karen's on the bottom.
After having to put it off for two weeks in a row due to bad weather, we were finally able to get together and have our Christmas party!  Whoo hoo!!  We nearly had to cancel this week also due to the river almost flooding, but that is another story and it didn't happen anyway. 

Karen's finished chip board challenge

Last year Pinky had purchased some chip boards and challenged us all to do something with them.  There were 5 boards for each of us.  We like the "no rules" approach and followed it for this challenge.  Our only rule was to finish them by a set date and even that got changed.  But they were finally finished so we revealed them today. 


Pinky's chip board was turned into a birthday card

April's chip board is a hanging display of  Bible verses
Mary turned hers into a recipe display

 Joan couldn't join us so we all made one board for her.  These are the ones we made for Joan.
After we finished showing our handiwork, we exchanged gifts.  I didn't get many pictures of that except for this one of Mary who has just opened her gift of a Fiesta bowl from April.  You can see that Mary is an avid collector by the display behind her.
After we ate the delicious soup, bread, cheese and dessert that Mary had prepared for us, we finally began to work on some projects.  Most of us were making cards.  I barely got started when it was time to go.

It was such a fun day.  Even the drive is fun because we talk and talk and laugh and laugh.  Sometimes we cry a bit too.
This last photo shows some stones that Mary had.  She isn't sure what they are but they were found in a near by creek.  Does anyone out there know what they are?  Evidently there are a lot of them.  The holes in them go all the way through the centers.

We appreciate all the comments that you leave for us and thank you for stopping by.  Wish you could join us!

 
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Monday, January 17, 2011

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Jan's Tri shutter cards

They aren't quite finished but I thought I'd post them anyway, in case I ruin them from here;-)  I intend to embellish them with the gel pens, maybe some ribbon or something.  Fun to make, lots of possibilities with them.  I'll bet the rest of you could really go to town with these.

I just added this photo later of the card closed.  It measures 4"X5".   You can see I also added a light piece of paper over the dark area in the middle, that wasn't there in the above photo.  The black parts on the paper are fuzzy.  That is some of the paper I won from Tristan's giveaway.
 
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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Pinky and I persevered :>))



I'm hoping the others will add pics of what they did yesterday. Pinky and I worked on projects here at my house on Tues. Pink made some beautiful cards with her iris folding technique. She gave me directions to do the starfish iris folding that she did on her card. Her other card had a neat kite done on it in iris folding. I put one on my star book...thought it fitting since it was a starfish on the star book :>)) I worked on a a project called a star book...a little trickier than I thought it would be :>)) In the picture, you will see that I am not done. I still have to put in the final part of the star that has the decorated pages on it.

We missed you and hope to see you here next week.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

SNOW?????? NO TUESDAY?

Jan says the forecast is for snow on Tuesday and that's when everyone would be coming here to the Long Beach Peninsula...What is this...the 3rd week we have had to cancel? I miss you all! I need my shot of S & B! Am I throwing a little tantrum? YES!!!! Be careful driving dear friends and stay near the fire and keep cozy. See you in a bit.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Mary Jane's Farm...

Hi Girlies...

I just got my new Mary Jane's Farm magazine and found such a neat chat area to go to. You can find out about anything. There are people interested in art, crafting, farming, sewing, quilting, etc. and you can put a question on there and people answer almost right away. It really is fantastic. Here is the site: www.farmgirlsisterhood.org Look for chat or forums when you get there. I got the cutest apron pattern on there.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Question of the Month, Jan's reply

Here is Jan's answer to the question, "How did you get started making your art?  What steps led you to where you are, what you are creating now?"  All art shown in this post created by Jan.
My earliest memory of needle work was sitting at my grandmother's knee, being taught to knit.  Also, my mother drew around animal shaped cookie cutters on muslin and taught me the basics of embroidery.  I did a lot of embroidery on clothing in high school, I made my own clothes too.
  I believe my first real steps towards becoming an artist were fueled by an article by Bird Ross in Threads magazine.  She told how she created raw edged garments with wild fabrics.  I had to make one, I still have that first bolero style jacket but I have made many many more since then.  I began to sell them and eventually I was ending up with so many fabric scraps that I decided I should make quilts and so I did.

That first quilt I  also still have, and I moved into making fiber art wall quilts, and now am into more mixed media and needle felting.  My main passion involves color and thread in some form or other, but I make good use of beads and various paints and pens to supply color too.
 I think being involved in this Stitch n' Bitch group for the past 9 years has really helped keep me on track and fueled my passion as an artist.  These women are always so positive and cheerful, as well as talented, I don't know if I would be as focused without their continued support.  Thank you, my friends!

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