I was surfing a bit today and came across this site: David Walker - Artist and Teacher. There are some spectacular art quilts and I really like the "meditations" and "diversions" sections.....good stuff there! Stumble It!

So, for all of you who are "experienced crazy quilt" web surfers, you may already know Rissa's Pieces Stitch Dictionary . Cute name and a great site. In addition to Sharon B's stitch dictionary (see my sidebar), I can't imagine you'd need much more! I'm currently surfing for more stitches for my needlecase....maybe if I make some progress tomorrow I'll post a new photo.

I also just got done totally reorganizing my photos. I realized I have become so involved in needlework photos that I've neglected family photos - especially pertinent since my brother is leaving for Oxford England in a couple of days and the rest of the family (except my parents who are in town) are scattered in Maine and Australia....gosh, makes you wonder why they're all so far, eh? Anyway, in order to sort stuff out, you'll find I have two webshots accounts in my sidebar. My projects all live in this folder and my family photos are all in this one! The family photos desperately need updating, so maybe in the next couple of weeks! Matey Moo has grown so much!! Stumble It!

Well, woke up at 2:30am and couldn't get back to sleep. Big sigh. No idea why I've been getting insomnia lately. It's irritating.
Anyway, I haven't posted any pictures of my other hobby (ha, ha!!) my kids, so here's Matey Moo and Missy C, actually kind of an old picture but one of my favorites:



In my surfing this morning I ran across: The Q-List by Crazy Quilting Sites. I think I've been to most of the sites, but it's still a great list! Stumble It!

Totally off topic, but worth mentioning is All Consuming. This is a website that is dedicated to searching weblogs for any books they have mentioned that link to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. Actually a pretty cool service I guess if you're a complete bibliophile. It seems to be a great way to track interesting books, not to mention to get a lot of feedback on some of the most talked about books. I haven't delved into it too deeply, but it seems to be an interesting way to seek feedback before you get that next big major bestseller.

I found this site because they linked back to one of the needlework books I had suggested. Gosh, the net is a huge place, eh?
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Ok, so I was wrestling with whether or not to even post this on the weblog, but I figure, what the heck...not like they don't expect it! ;-) Yesterday I had the pleasure of being interviewed by one of our local TV news stations about Blogs....little did I know that I was the "featured" real blogger...wow! What fame! You'll find the written story and even the actual broadcast (if you have the right plugins) right here: 9news.com News .

I feel kind of funny about it, I haven't been doing this that long, and the moment of "fame" (if you can call it that), seems kind of funny, but I guess you take it where you can get it. Oh, and beware, I do refer to blogs as "creepy", but I actually have a friend (Amy, who will never read this) who really does think it's a little weird. So, those are her words...not mine! ;-)

The great news is that I got crazy quilting mentioned on TV, which...for most of us fans of crazy quilting...is quite an accomplishment.

The bad news is that I actually have time to write tonight because the kids are in bed and my hubby is totally asleep...sick. Bummer, eh? Especially since tomorrow we're expecting at least 35 people over for a political get together (should I spoil it and say for who? Nah!!)...and so it's going to be a very busy day!

I think the guy at 9news was a little disappointed that I didn't rant more about my political beliefs (it does say I might in my header) but I've decided that the artistic outlet is more important and I really don't want to offend any of my "quilty buddies".

So, I'm going to surf a bit more (maybe some shopping?) and off to bed. Wow, gosh, all the excitement! ;-) Stumble It!

So, if you've read my old posts, you may remember that I was absolutely determined to start a new project AND finish it! So, I found this: crazy patchwork lesson - Needle and Bead book by Annie Whitsed .

Well, here it is, pieced and about 1/2 embellished:

A couple of the stitches are totally new to me, so wish me luck. It's a bit of a sampler really.

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After living 37 years of my life with the old fashioned name Mary-Frances, trust me, it catches my eye when I see the name in print. I was reading an email from one of my listserves and it mentioned a store in Berkeley, CA. My brother went there to law school so I went to have a look. It's a fantastic lace shop, Lacis, but the thing that really caught my eye was the The Mary Frances Sewing Book! It's a doll, sewing patterns and a whole series of books. Oh, good heavens, now I MUST have them! :-) Just what I needed something else to collect!
Anyway, great victorian artwork and I really would love to see one of these books!
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So, my sewing area is a small part of my spare bedroom. I've been working on it, but frankly it's pretty lame. I ran across this on a group I'm on: Sewing Rooms. WOW! Pretty amazing stuff! One of the gals in our crazy quilting group has a pretty awesome basement, but some of these even rival her space (sorry Jessica!!)
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So, I've gotten obsessive about finishing things! I'm finishing a project for my mother's bday...a few of you may have seen pics, but not available here until its' finished. However, it's finally coming along.
I think this is going to be my next project:
crazy patchwork lesson - Needle and Bead book by Annie Whitsed

I was reminded of her site by Sharon B. at "In a minute ago" (who graciously mentioned me in her blog again, AND added me to her list of sites...thanks Sharon!), I had stumbled upon Annie's site ages ago, but she's added a ton of new stuff and I guess she's in Sharon's Crazy quilting group in Canberra! Well, I may be picking all of their brains for hints on starting our own crazy quilting group here in Colorado....we're having our first meeting in a couple of weeks!
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Ok, this cracked me up! ON the other hand, it's also really really cute! Check out the ipod covers at : craftster.org ! What a cute idea! I wonder what it would look like in Crazy quilt!
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So, over the past week, I've brought home a heap of my grandmother's buttons from my Mom's house....the amazing thing is that I took a fraction of them...there are probably 3 more button boxes there. For those who don't do crazy quilting, buttons are an integral part of the design and so invaluable! So, I randomly went through and picked up some of the ones that intrigued me the most or I thought would go with my current projects:

So, in trying to "research" the background of buttons, I ran across: Collecting antique buttons - a pretty good short history. I need to find more in depth articles tho. Stumble It!

I ran across these toolbars on someone elses site: Anna Knits :: Dynamic Percent Bar . Basically you can have a toolbar that shows the progress of different projects you're working on. Kind of cute.
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Well, I've been working a lot on my fairy

You can't see, but in the upper right hand corner is a dragonfly in process. I'm about to put a heap of buttons on the area with the flowers. Those are my first attempts at Silk Ribbon embroidery and let me tell you...it's harder than it looks:

I have to "replace" a couple of the petals on the big flower, but it's passable. I hope I get better as I go along! :-) I embroidered my fairy's hands, and I did a new necklace, I hated my first attempt, so I'm trying beading.

finally, I'm working on the border. Oddly enough it's my first "from the beginning" CQ project. I've been working on my grandmother's crazy quilt, but I always have a few pieces of fabric to start with and so it's not done "traditionally"...I'm not sure this was either, but it's a start....no embellishing yet. I think I'm going to attach it all and embellish all of it together, but I have yet to make a final decision:

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