The Winner of the fifth give away is.........

Marlene of Marlene's Musings!  Congratulations, Marlene.  Send me an e and give me your address and I will get this dooleybobber out to you in the mail. 

See how happy we are that you won?  Actually, this picture is from last year, but still, we are happy that you won, Marlene.  

Today we gathered at April's but it was only 3 of us.  April, Karen and Jan still managed to have a good time, even though Pinky and Mary were missing.  And Lyla too was not in attendance.  April and Jan worked on their crocheted rag rugs and Karen made cards.  She is gathering her give away items, I will post them later in the week.  No cameras recorded today's activities, that is why I put up the old photo.

Hopefully there will be more to post about soon.  In the meantime, in case any of you are interested in purchasing one of Lyla's collaged books, they are for sale in Jan's Etsy shop.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/Laughingdogarts.  Get one now, before she becomes famous and her prices rise.

Fifth give away-a Dooleybobber

For our fifth give away Jan has contributed this Dooleybobber #13.  It is a felted and embellished small art work.

A sheer heart with beads and sequins is incorporated into the piece, as well as small ribbons and plenty of hand stitching.  After the hand work was finished, she stitched a piece of brown kunin felt to the back.

A small shell was added near the pebbled bits off center.

There is a little dooleybobber face!  Where did he come from?  This piece measures about 9"X7" and has a small bamboo rod attached for ease of hanging.

If you would like to win this give away, leave a comment on this post.  If you are a follower you will get two chances to win.  We will draw a winner on March 29th.  Sign up now!  This is a one of a kind piece of art by Jan Brattain, a legend in her own mind.

Good luck!

Winner of third give away and fun at Jan's

Two weeks in a row we were able to get together!  That has been rare this winter in spite of our efforts and desires.  We met at Jan's and our first order of business was to choose a winner of our third give away.  It was April's turn to choose a number, she chose 7 and that made Nita our winner!!  Congratulations Nita, April intends to deliver the altered cigar box and goodies in person to you.  Nita is our second local winner.  Our first winner, Anja, lives clear over in Germany, so these last two winners will be easier to deliver.

April took over Jan's camera and snapped this shot of Jan and Mary.  We had all ordered more of Lyla's books after seeing the one she contributed to our first give away.  They arrived in time for us to pick out our favorites. 

As you can see, Pinky is very pleased with her choice!  Just try and take it away from her!  On second thought, you better not.

Here are the books that Lyla sent us.  We picked our favorites and Jan will list the other one in her Etsy shop for sale.  If you want it, better hurry on over and buy it because I don't think it will be there for long.   Here is a link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Laughingdogarts?ref=pr_shop
I haven't listed it yet but am going to do so right now. 

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!