Sisters

Finding the balance.

I'll be back tomorrow to share some more art.

2nd Finish

First illustration of the year!

I am almost too embarrassed to tell you how long it took me to do this. This illustration is a year overdue. It didn't take me a year to make it, just a year to get it started & a few hours of working on it to finish. Totally unacceptable. I'll be sending this off later tonight to the lovely Heidie of Simply Sweet Marriage. As always you will be able to download it for free & give it to your sweetie! Look for this card & all my other cards ::here:: Thanks for being so patient with me Heidie!

2 down 50 to go

1st Finish

1st Finish

To say that I've been inspired by Dana of Old Red Barn Co. & her loverly blog would be an understatement. I don't even remember how I ran across her blog but I was hooked. With her down to earth personality & love of family, home, & crafty goodness how could I resist? She made quilting look not only fun but dare I say it, easy? Something that always seemed out of reach for me became an attainable goal. I have attempted my own version of "quilting" in the past but it was laughable. I knew I really needed to get back to basics to figure it all out. Although this is my first official quilting project & full of imperfections, I had such a fun time working on it. Thanks Dana for sharing your talent!

My garage is full of several bins of unused fabric. It's sinful. I have all these amazing fabrics & even memo samples of luxury fabrics from when I worked up at Lake Tahoe for an interior designer. I decided that I really need to do something with all this fabric I have. If I don't then it feels a little like hoarding. So I dove into my stash & put all the pieces together. The Nativity toile that I used for the top has been sitting in a box since Sloan was a baby. Sad huh? The cream cotton on the back I bought in college, gasp! The two squares on the back are from Bernhardt & Cowtan & Tout I've had the pleasure of working with both companies on several projects . Their products speaks for themselves. It felt good to use what I had sitting around the house to create something. The table runner measures 70"x17". I used a free motion quilting machine for the top. It was a little tricky to get the rhythm down with the pattern but once I did it went pretty quickly. I chose to hand sew the binding on. It took two tries & a visit to a local quilting store in San Diego to get this part right. Silly me, I'd forgotten how to hand sew. It's been years people! I worked on the binding over several evenings while watching movies with family over Christmas holiday. This project has motivated me to keep moving forward with my new found love of quilting. It's a total challenge for me & I like a good challenge. If you are interested in buying it you can find it in my shop!

I'm so excited at the response I'm getting for this "52 Finishes" challenge. I have a few kinks to tinker out with the Flicker page & Facebook page but once I have them up (hopefully this weekend) I will let you know. My hopes are that this challenge will encourage creative living on a daily basis. That maybe you will view this world we live in & the life you live with new eyes. Don't let things, people, or circumstances hold you back from following your dreams. Life is short & sweet & I choose to live it to the fullest. Can't wait to see your 1st Finishes!

1 down 51 to go

linking ::here::

52 Finishes

I'm super excited to share the biggest of all the goals I've set for myself. Why am I so excited? I'm sharing in hopes that YOU will want to join me. My goal is to have 52 creative finishes before the end of this year. Won't you join in the fun? Creative projects can include but are not limited to sewing, quilting, painting, drawing, photography, furniture refinishing, & jewelry making. Basically anything creative is perfect for this challenge. I will be setting up a "52 Finishes" flicker group for this project & have links to it tomorrow. I'm also creating a Facebook group for "52 Finishes". Both will be great places to share your finished creative projects. Come back tomorrow & see my first finish. 

San Diego Adventures

We had so much fun in San Diego. My only complaint is that our holiday break came to an end much too quickly. I loved spending time with family & dear friends. Once again we were totally spoiled not just with gifts but family time too. Dean & I were even able to go on a date. I was able to work on a project in the evenings when the kids went to sleep. Dean did some work for his mom & Dad & went over the plans for the addition he will be working on. This year is already proving to be a busy one. We have a case of the booger noses making it's rounds & I'm pretty sure Omri is trying to cut his first tooth. It's making for some sleepless nights. 

Even though we have started the year off with the yuckies I'm feeling very positive about the year ahead. We've chosen "Simplicity" as our family motto this year. Dean & I both feel an urgent need to simplify our lives. This means getting out of debt so we can follow the goals we have set for our family. There is so much chaos in the world right now. Our hope is that by slowing down & enjoying the simple things in life family, friends, faith, talents, healthy living, & living debt free, we can live fuller & happier lives. I'm very excited about the goals we've set as a family. What goals have you set for this year?