Purse

At Quilt group Marjorie gave us each a small canvas purse with the challenge of decorating it. This is my result. The butterfly was machine embroidered using one of those printed pieces that have motifs on them and was just sitting in the studio waiting to be used. Buttons are a passion, so they needed to be added. I did some rubber stamping on the back but found that the weave of the canvas is so coarse that they are very faint. It is a small purse and ackward to work on.

Quilt

This is a small piece I did a while ago. The center landscape is done on the knitting machine using the intarsia function. It also has some hand stitching on it. I bordered it with corduroy and machine quilted it. It was in a show of pieces showing traditional quilts and then unusual contemporary styles. Perhaps this year I should try more of this.

Calendar Girls

I'm a member of a group called Calendar Girls. We are doing a postcard a month based on a calendar that Doreen has. http://doreeng.blogspot.com/ This is January. It is a small version of an Art Quilt I did several years ago.

Gift

Look what arrived from Scotland for Christmas.

She is from my friend Carol Clasper. Isn't she wonderful? Both of them. Carol continues to inspire me.

Wrapfolio

The Fibre and Stitch Yahoo group had a challenge to stuff a baggie with fabrics-15 min. time limit-then make something from them. I made this wrapfolio from Sueb's http://www.suebleiweiss.com/ directions. I keep it simple and will probably make more to give as gifts next Christmas-too late this year! The button is covered with a silk scrap leftover from fabrics I marbled.

BJP

I'm a member of the Bead Journal Project started by Robin Atkins.http://www.robinatkins.com/

Each month we are doing one project of a size and style each of us decided on in the beginning. Mine are post card size, and the theme is leaves and flowers. Each month I try to explore something a little different. Photos of 4 of the months show on the screen I posted about earlier. Here is December. It is the center of a flower and uses a cabochan as the focal point.

Samplers

Here are two more stitched samplers. I love to hand stitch and am looking forward to doing more of it-so nice and portable.

I'm going to be doing Sharonb's sharonb.wordpress.com/take-it-further-challenge/ Take It Further Challenge. I liked what people were doing with the TAST one, so I followed along and did my own for some of the stitches. Here are 2 samplers. Since I taught stitches years ago, the samplers are of ways to change the traditional look. I'm looking forward to this challenge and want to thank Sharonb sharonb.wordpress.com/ for all the work involved in this enterprise. I liked working on dark wool with bright colors to make it look dramatic.

Barbara, of course, I remember you. We did lots with the wearable group as well as the quilt group. I couldn't figure out how to email you without joining xanga.

Blue Glue

Judy of Color My World blog had a post about using Elmer's Blue Glue with rubber stamps. Her fabrics were wonderful. I decided to give it another try. Years ago we did it but just drew lines with the glue-not to my liking, because they were so bloppy. The old glue was more green now than blue but never letting details stop me when I want to do something, I went ahead with a painted piece of fabric. After the glue dried, I painted with a sponge and 2 colors. When that dried, I did a wash of paint. After it dried and was heat set, I washed it to remove the glue. It's a bit irregular but better than the glue lines. Must buy some new glue.

Purse from Judy

The last time our Quilt group met, it was Judy's 77th birthday. We decided several years ago that with our memories, it was hard to remember everyone's birthday, so now we give each of the group a gift on our birthdays. Judy carefully went through all her vintage purses and picked out one for each of us. Each was filled with goodies. Mine had a batik, crayons, and 2 Christmas ornaments. It was so much fun to see which purse she matched to which person. We are all going to carry them to the Guild meeting today.Here is mine.

Quilt Show

I'm in a holiday show at a gallery in Oregon. This is a detail of one of the quilts. If you would like to see the entire one plus others, go to www.ci.gresham.or.us/ On the lower right is a button for the Art Gallery Online Shows. The current one is "Tis the Season", and I'm the only Sandy. Also, I'm in the Visual Delights show that is still online.

Quilt in Progress

This is the latest in the stripe series. It was worked on the design wall in this direction, but I thought I would see how it looked in other directions, so I tried this. It's OK too.

And then this. Not bad. And finally the last. Help! Now I need to decide.

Quiltie

I belong to the Yahoo group Unlimited Textiles, and this is my December quiltie winding its way to Eva in Sweden.

Yesterday I was tired. The Year End Party(note that they can't call it a Christmas Party anymore) for my husband's work was Thursday night-dinner and a Trail Blazer Basketball game in Portland, OR. I never realized how much of a circus they have turned the game into. There was tumbling, dancers, tricycles races, lights, noise. The game seemed sort of secondary. I'd rather play basketball than watch.

Crazy Quilt Vest

I realized that it was hard to see the garment from yesterday, so here is a photo of the vest showing more of the work. I always have some crazy quilt in progress to take when I go somewhere.

Garments

There were several people that I couldn't reply to, because I couldn't find an email. Sorry, I do so enjoy the comments.

There's a gallery in Longview, Washington that uses vintage maniquins to display the garments. It's fun to have my garments there. This is crazy quilt jacket and vest with hand stitching and buttons that now lives at a friend's house. She wears it to the opera.

Gifts

These are gifts that came in the mail recently.

The pin is from Alis. She had a birthday and offered gifts for people who commented on her blog.

SueB asked who wanted to trade Postcards.

Books

This is a book I made for a friend. It is fabric paper using one of the many "reports" sent out by companies that we really don't read. Now I have a use for them. Muslin is covered with medium, then the paper is laid randomly on it and covered with more medium and painted cheesecloth. After everything is dry, I put down silk leaves, then Misty Fuse, and covered it all with net fusing it all in place. The inside has dyed and rubber stamped fabric fused to it. I cut the covers with a decorative rotary cutter and punched holes along the spine. It is filled with watercolor paper. The rings that hold the pages in place are decorated with fibers.

Grandchildren

I can't not do the grandma thing, so I'm showing the world's cutest bunny and his beautiful big sister.

Fibre and Stitch Challenge

Thank you everyone for commenting and welcoming me to blogland. I'll do individual replies once I get the hang of things. Overwhelmed right now.

I decided to be efficient(lazy) and show the result of the Fibre and Stitch Challenge piece I did. It was great fun and taught me a lot. I'm still exploring ways to join my pieces from the Bead Journal Project work. Books fascinate me, and this seems more like a folding book than a screen to me.

When we moved west from New York City when I was a child, all we brought with besides clothes was a sewing machine and books. I guess that explains me.