I'm not normally a "girly" girl, but when I picked up a wood heart for the chac gallery auction I just HAD to do a CQ heart. It was fun, and I kept it pretty minimal...some of the ones that get turned in are really "crafty" or else kind of "edgy" art, so I thought this was kind of a fun change for them.

I sewed on the loop at the top (they provided a hanger but it was horrible), but I did glue the fabric piece on the back that covers my staples and such...we sort of having a running joke at our Crazy Quilting group that "anything goes" (no rules in CQ) but NO GLUE! :-) I'm sure that could be stretched too, but it's kind of funny, so I go out of my way to avoid it...I need stitching practice anyway.

I actually enjoyed this and it was fairly fast. I need more quick projects.

Speaking of lace and pretty, if you haven't popped around to Devonhouse Recollections, she has some LOVELY lace. I'm not very religious, but the piece at the bottom...the bishops cloak is absolutely fantastic!

So, now on to work on my embellished bra (which is due Sunday! :-) - yikes!). I now have a better idea of what I'm doing. Today I'm going to piece it and print out a few things on the computer for it.

Oh, and my camera's still on the fritz...I hate that! I must look up the repair place today. Stumble It!

I haven't really started the embellishment, just a bit of overlay lace and a few pieces on the edges. I got the piece in the middle from Meggicat...I've actually been thinking about it for a while and this seemed like the best place. This is for a charity auction at the CHAC Gallery here in Denver. It's very "arty"...I have a feeling this will be very victorian for them, but crazy quilting and heart just sort of said victorian to me. So, we'll see. Maybe I'll throw just a teeny funky touch for the arty crowd.
My camera isn't working so this is a scan...just doesn't catch the subtleties in the fabric...I hate that!
Stumble It!

Thanks to everyone who sent me messages of "good health".....Chloe, I'm still trying to wipe that syrupy goodness off the mouse, but it helped !:-) What a mess tho! (you all will have to read comments on the last message for that!)

Anyway, it all got worse before it got better, poor little Alec (pictured in the last photo on a better day) got both the strep and an ear infection and was MISERABLE! However, by last night, after some antibiotics and some sleep he seemed a bit better and he seems a LOT better today. I'm fine except some weird enlargements in the back of my throat... which now also seem better. Not my favorite sickness.

Yesterday I got banner block #2 done:

Today I'm working on an embellished heart that will go up for auction. It's a really "arty" auction at a gallery...I wonder what they will think of a CQ heart? I'll have pics this afternoon.

I'm also doing an embellished bra for another local competition. I had my idea all worked out, started to attach the fabric and decided I HATED the look of my bra I bought...so KOOL-AID to the rescue! I'll have a picture of that later too...my camera's being tempermental.

Oh, and I have great ideas for fabric storage (Stash Sunday) and also some bad ways I keep stash, so should have good stuff there.

Stumble It!

So, it has been an insane week. I still have the work project that will never end. I'm about to unveil a little fundraising project we're doing for the Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilters, which I'm hoping some of you will support (more on that later...has to be completely done by the end of the week) and i'm SICK!

Not just a little sick, but a LOT sick. Finally got so frustrated (ie, couldn't swallow, couldn't sleep) that I got my entire family up at 4am to go to the emergency room. Turns out I have a wallowing bad case of strep throat! I'm on 2 vicodin every 6 hours and it still doesn't totally make the pain go away, so you can imagine how horrible I felt at 4am. Good news, is that drugs are in process and I should be on my way back. (except I'm drowsy and kind of out of it as I write this).

Now onto other productive news, I'm done with one of my 2 Banner blocks...the other one is SO close and I'll post it tomorrow, but here's the first one:

And our RMCQ Round robin, that was severely delayed by life and other issues, is finally drawing to an end....here's mine back - isn't it absolutely fantastic? Leslie even worked in all my pets!:

Okay, and isn't this the cutest backpack in the world on top of the cutest sweater? Nanna (MIL) knitted the sweater - not the best picture because I couldn't get the little bugger to stand still, but the Gromit backpack (which he got for Christmas from my brother) is SO cute on him and he takes it EVERYWHERE. He even sleeps with it.

Okay, I'm off in my stupor to bed. Be the first night in two nights that I've really gotten sleep, so wish me luck and much more eye candy tomorrow! I have several cool projects in the works, just nothing photographable yet. Stumble It!

There has been NO stitching this week. I have been so mired in WORK (read this is a BAD word in my life this week) that I haven't had time to breathe. However, today and tomorrow (except for a little side trip and an AFC Playoff game (GO BRONCOS) - I don't plan on doing anything but stitching.
I'm working on my stash submission for tomorrow and other projects, but nothing is particularly photographic yet. I even managed to haul Rex to the fabric shop today!
Oh, LOTS of neat things happening over at the Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilting site! Stumble It!

Got these neat little pieces from the crazy quilt meeting this weekend. I love this form of stripe...irregular.

Lots of news from the crazy quilting meeting, but I haven't firmed everything up yet!

It was great to meet Samantha and I've been inspired to start several neat cool projects...more to come!
Stumble It!

I'm making myself draw. I know this sounds stupid because I've always been artistic, but drawing "off the cuff" makes me nervous for some stupid reason. So, I'm going to try to commit to Illustration Friday. I always think that typical 50's advertising model types look vacant, so I thought "E is for an Empty Mind" was kind of funny.
Stumble It!

Ok, I'm pitiful! I'm excited...I've never been tagged before and this one is at least interesting. Thanks Samantha.

Four jobs you've had: worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken (High School), sold wholesale clothing at the Denver Merchandise Mart, cleaned hotel rooms in Estes Park, Sold advertising in 2 different newspapers, on the radio, in a business newspaper and on the movie screen.

Four movies you could watch over and over: Baby Boom, Star Wars - Attack of the Clones (Part 2), Tank Girl (doesn't get much play with kids around) and French Kiss

Four places you've lived: Leadville Colorado (2 miles high!), Denver Colorado, Pueblo Colorado, Nevada Missouri, Loveland Colorado,

Four TV shows you love to watch: The Apprentice (I know, I know), The Office (British and American versions), Dick Van Dyke (we have almost all of them on DVD), Law and Order Criminal Intent

Four places you've been on vacation: Australia, Mexico, California (who hasn't) and Moab Utah (we love it and have been back 2 times despite a major breakdown the first time and have plans for more trips).

Four websites you visit every day: Too many blogs to mention, My Yahoo, Washington Post Cartoons (my hubby sends them), Flickr

Four of your favorite foods: Spanacopita, Pot Roast, Roger's Chile, Angel Food Cake

Four places you'd rather be: Stitching (pretty much anywhere), Relaxing in a cabin in the mountains, Relaxing on the beach (Mexico was nice), Sitting in a coffee shop

Four albums you can't live without: About anything by Cheryl Wheeler (she's where I got the name of my blog - "Driving Home" and "Mrs. Pinocci's Guitar" are my favs.), The Soundtrack from French Kiss, Joan Baez - ring Them Bells, Mary Chapin Carpenter "Stones in the Road".

Ok, I'm going to tag folks I think will have interesting answers: Leslie, LouAnne , Arlee and Tina.

I think a lot of you will enjoy this site...I especially loved this photo

I just can't recommend highly enough visiting Stuff On My Cat - I got a big giggle out of a LOT of the photos...some of the cats look VERY unhappy, however, some are oddly contented. Gotta love cats. Stumble It!

I'm avoiding doing all sorts of work. I'm unable to work after about 8pm and it stinks...oh well, I guess I'm allowed to be imperfect. However, this imperfection without childcare currently may make me neurotic, which is REALLY imperfect - the reality is I have way too much work and I'm totally freaking out!
I haven't posted Self Portrait Tuesday in a while and this is actually a couple of months ago. Anyway, I'm pursuing my deep devotion for pop art in this "poparty" picture of me. Not sure about it, but it's fun. A good stretch of my expression.
These are the postcards I'm working on....the left one is sort of on the way to done. The other two are just fabric bases. I've added two beads to the bottom one. Anyway, I'm kind of having fun. Ok, I'm off to bed because I'm now going to HAVE to get up early. ICK! Stumble It!

The bloggers who embellish webring, which yours truly runs in her free (ha, ha) time, has now reached 100 members! Hooray! I even took out a few dead links and a few folks who didn't really have blogs and we're still at 100...cool, eh?

There are still several in the ring having a hard time with ring code and other blog issues, please feel free to join our "bloggers who embellish" Yahoo group...where you can not only ask questions, but scroll back through others who have struggled with the same problems. This group isn't just for members, but that's the main reason we're there! Stumble It!

This post is a bit picture heavy, but I've spent the day organizing and updating pictures. For those of you who follow our group, I finally got a bunch of the groups photos posted on the Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilters Flickr group - I also completely redid the website...we're planning on adding a lot more content. I redid the logo...you can see it on the site.

New Years Eve we took a trip to the Art Museum. It was a great way to kick off my commitment to the "artist's way" book. (which I managed to do all but one day this week). This photo is of the new expansion at the museum.

It's going to be full of contemporary art, can't wait. Rosenquist and Lichtenstein are some of my favorites, and they never have a lot of it up, but they did have this one:
This is done with SAND!!!! I still can't get over it. They brought in a group of Buddhist Monks who did the piece in the museum. I'm just entranced by it. The artistic value is phenomenal....
I just thought this was a really cool couch. I should have noted the date. Rex thinks 30's, I reckon it's a LOT older than that. I can just see Grace Kelly lounging on it in a gorgeous dress. Lord that fabric is to die for!
This is an American Indian vest - all completely beaded. There were others, but I really liked this design. The colors are fantastic.

I really enjoyed visiting the museum and getting all this inspiration, not sure where it will lead, but I'm kind of hoping I can print them out and at least use them in my morning pages.

So, after we all got back from the museum (we stopped at an English pub that Rex says it is as English as he is!) and Rex and the kids played Bocci in the back yard. The weather is just weirdly gorgeous. I should be enjoying it, but instead it makes me wonder when we're going to get several feet dumped on us. It's really really dry, in fact there's actually a wildfire in the area tonight. Odd. Almost as odd as Matey Moo insisting on wearing his jacket and Elmo slippers. Underneath is a Superman shirt...complete with cape. He's an odd kid.

Speaking of Superman, Walgreens had a huge bin of really really old cartoons...including the very old Superman episodes. They're especially fun when you've seen "The Incredibles" and can appreciate the art and what the movie is paying homage to. I tried to get the art deco train, but maybe the next time we watch it I'll catch it. It's totally cool.

So, in closing, here's a nod from Clark Kent! Sorry this was so such a long, graphic heavy post, but now that my photos were totally organized, I can pull it all together and post more cool stuff. I've been actually stitching and I'll post some new postcards I'm working on tomorrow.

Stumble It!

I'm off to meet with some of my RMCQ buddies- secret project! ;-) All I will say is that it involves having my work professionally photograhed. The bad news about this is that I realized how many of my things are "close" but not close enough to done to finish up in an evening and have photographed. The huge funny thing is the amount of members of our group that didn't have any finished projects! You have to love a group that not only has UFO's, but None of them finished!

Update on the good block/bad block request.....I can do this two ways. Mostly I wanted them for our class here in Colorado. So, if you're worried about me smearing your ugly blocks all over the net, it won't happen! However, I had actually pondered posting them on the Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilting site (which is in the middle of a huge expansion and makeover) and giving newbies something to look at. Thanks to the folks who have sent them in! My crazy work week (I've decided I may banish the holidays next year! ;-)) has kept me from answering hardly any emails at all, but I will send you all a thank you!

Please send over what you have...even if you have just a particularly good or a particularly bad one I'd love it! Thanks for everyone's help.

Note: I have SO much bad log of great posts....hopefully next week I'll get to them. I really MUST quit sleeping! Stumble It!

We're working on our January class for the Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilters here in Colorado and we thought we'd do crazy quilt design.....bad and good!

What we're looking for is your best and worst design - a photo of each. Maybe with a description of why or what happened, etc. I'm going to print them out for the class so we can look at the examples! We have some real beginners, so I think this will be very helpful - so even if you're a beginner then you should post something, please?! Any piecing techniques will work, but it should be somewhat Crazy Quiltish! :-)

I'm trying to find two....I can't find a picture of my "good" example right now, but this is one of what I consider a "bad" one. it's been kind of a challenge to embellish. It has a HUGE seam down the middle and if not for that handkerchief I would have sewn myself into a corner! Ha, ha! (I'm getting so I use that trick a lot). I'm off to find a "good example" - I know there must be one somewhere! Ha, ha!
As I'm writing this, I realize we didn't really talk about whether this was embellished or not! So, go ahead and give me what you have! I think plain are interesting...just to see the layout! And also then to see what embellishments do or don't do to it! Does everyone agree? Stumble It!

If you remember my disfunctional family pillows, you'll know why I love this! "Mother was right!" Throw Pillow - now I must save my pennies to get one!

NOTE! They don't have my pillow anymore! It's now a couple waving (which is cool, granted) but NOT the pillow I wanted. I must email them! Stumble It!