New Wheels

I am in style now!  Check it out...

I got my trolley from Zeller's.  WOW - it's the best.  A dozen glass frames can be very heavy!  Yes - that is a bumper sticker.  Yes - I know it's tacky.  I went a little overboard a long time ago with freebies from Vistaprint.  At least now I have somewhere to stick it!  I was worried that someone might 'borrow' my cart at trade shows, thinking it belonged to the hall or something. 

Everything is up and running at Prairieland Park.  All of the landscape & floral themed art is up in Hall A.  We went to set up on Thursday night.  There is some really fabulous art for sale there!  Wow.  I still can't get over the sound of a couple dozen artists hammering nails into their boards in a giant hall.  Next time I might just bring ear plugs!  lol

I'll be volunteering on Sunday.  Looking forward to all the greenery and beautiful smells of the flowers!  Thank you everyone for the sweet comments from the Friday Feature post.  I sincerely appreciate each and every comment!  : )

Friday Feature!

Today is my turn to be featured at The Needle & Thread Network.  It's a blog built to connect Canadian needle arts & crafters through link-up parties every Wednesday, and blogger profiles 2 Fridays per month.  Anyone can follow TN&TN.  Anyone can enter the upcoming giveaways.  

I am really enjoying the community we are creating there!

The Needle & Thread Network (click to link)

If you are new to my blog, WELCOME!  Please enjoy clicking on my links.  I work as a full time artist and dabble in teaching.  I exhibit & sell my work and take commissions as well.  I have a bazillion Flickr photos if you want to look there.  There's a growing CV at the top menu if you are into that.  There are plenty of sewing tips and tutorial posts up there as well.  If you get bored of all that, I have a big list at the very bottom of my blog for you to do some blog hopping.  ; )

ps.  You can also find My Sweet Prairie on Facebook.  Have a great day!

NINE Thread Paintings!

I did it!  I have 9 pieces of art packed and ready to go.  They are all for sale.  I'm hanging them on my wall at Gardenscape tonight!  They are:  Poles Along Highway #7 (this was as SaskMade Marketplace), Bloom #3, October's Eve, Flax at Jackfish, At the Buffalo Jump, Spring Greens, Sundown on Valley Road, Spring on the Prairie, and a new Canola field called Thunderhead.  They can be seen in my flickr sets for Fibre Art 2012 and Fibre Art 2011.

loads of hand stitched French Knots on 'Thunderhead'

Gardenscape is at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon and runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  There is an entrance fee though I'm not sure how much.  You can read more about Gardenscape here.

p.s.  I didn't get Tipi and Rosehips completed in time, but it will be at the next show...

I Got a Little Carried Away...

Here is me, proving that I can earn my stripes when it comes to the 'Versatile Blogger' award.  Check it out!  I hope you can sense my excitement.  I got a little carried away with the Bobbin Play on Monday.   My van quit and and my husband's truck lost it's steering.  To make it worse, he was parked behind me blocking my way out.  So I was stranded at a moment of excitement, when all I wanted to do was head back to Creative House for those really thick threads (Razzle, Dazzle, Sizzle).  What's a woman to do?  So I looked around my sewing room for options...

Not wanting to destroy my Horizon trying this out, I loaded the loosely-set Janome bobbin into Fiona (Penny's trusty sidekick).  Fiona is the 12 stitch Kenmore.  She looks like an ogre but can be a real princess.  : )

lock & load - here we go!

That's right!  Sparkly blue yarn in the bobbin case.  It's loosely set and marked with green nail polish to remind me that is the 'fun' one that I can set myself.  I sewed along and flipped over my work to see what happened.

EUREEKA!  Are you as surprised as me?

Or barley.  It looks like blue pot barley in home made soup.  : )  Isn't that cool!?  So I did lots of other things.  I loaded crochet cotton and embroidery floss too.  Wow, this is fun.  Linking up to The Needle and Thread Network.  It's not so much 'work in progress', but more 'play in progress'.

Enjoy the blog hopping.

Versatility

Margaret in Alberta awarded me with the 'versatile blogger' award.  She was nominated by Anna Hergert (a  fibre artist who happens to be with our guild).  Small world, hey?  Well thank you Margaret!  Thank you for the lovely comments you made, and thank you also for the great email conversations you and I have had in the past.  I learned a lot from you.  : )  (Wink wink this has nothing to do with fibre art.)

So, the rules of this contest are to pass the torch to FIFTEEN other blogs, and tell you seven things about me.  I can chose to accept or decline.  You know me... I will bend the rules a bit.  That's too much work right now.  lol  I will nominate 6 SUPER-versatile bloggers, and tell you 3 things about me that you might not know.  How about that?

I follow a LOT of blogs, but most are not 'versatile' if I understand the term correctly.  Most are experts at what they do, and they do a lot of that one thing they are really good at with little deviation.

So who are the 'deviant' ones that I follow!?  hehe  Drum roll please...

#1.  Cheryl of Grandma Coco's Designs.

She quilts, does incredible applique, postcards that blow my mind, illustrations that throw me off my chair, and she knits, makes & sells patterns, she even makes jewelery.  Versatile?  Absolutely.  Cheryl - you rock.  Oh - and you make the prettiest cookies I have ever seen.

#2.  Christie of Describe Happy.

She was the first blogger I found that is truly versatile in a sea of cookie cutter quilt blogs (or at least that's how I felt at the time with all the quilt alongs - everyone was doing the same thing!)  Not Christie.  She makes her own off-the-beaten path quilts, and fearlessly I think.  She comes across as - well - Happy!  So, who cares what other people think?  She posts a lot about her beautiful pooches, her woodpile and how it's stacking up, and now she's stirring the post by making 'confetti' art quilts based on her photos.  She great at it (photos and art quilts)!  Oh - she also was running, and that's why I wrote to her to see if she would like to reward each other with mail goodies if we promised to run regularly for a period of time.

#3.  Becky of Becky's Blabber.

Becky makes weird quilts now and then.  By weird, I mean strange - but good!  She's good at it.  Hmmm I'm not doing this justice am I?  let me explain.  When I found Becky's blog, she was making chemistry blocks I think.  Or blood cells?  I think there was sperm & eggs too that she appliqued!  It was truly out-of-the-box.  It ended up being a cool modern quilt.  It went into a show and she was interviewed in by her local newspaper.  That was COOL!  She also got addicted to postcards and we swap at Postcard Cottage.  She dove right in and she is GOOD!  She's so creative - and versatile.  She'll be the one to email me to tell me that it was all done in glow-in-the-dark thread.  : )  She has kindle covers in her etsy store... and probably a lot more since I last looked.

#4.  Michelle at Periwinkle Quilting & Beyond

Michelle takes BEAUTIFUL photos.  Michelle knits and hooks and crochets and felts and designs blocks and quilts and takes more beautiful photos of all of that.  Her blog is very relaxing.  The lighting is always good.  She has a mood, and being there is like a little vacation to a new place plus a trip to the antique store.  : )  Very versatile indeed.  She's the owner of our local quiltshop, and if you want to see a LOT of quilts photos, she filled her gallery link at the top of her blog.  Go look!

 #5. Elle at Elle in da Coop

Elle's blog is intriguing to me first of all because her banner is her chicken coop.  : )  She quilts, she doodles, she beads, she rearranges and repaints and refinishes her home, she is an awesome grandmother to some lucky little monkeys, and she experiments a lot.  She is very versatile, and she is good at showing so much process and photographs everything she tries out.

#6. Jane Lafazio of Janeville

Jane is a very well known artist & teacher.  She hes been on Quilting Arts TV many times.  I like her blog because she is quite open, joyful, colorful, experimental, creative.  She's extremely cute and always seems quite happy.  (Grumpy or serious artists are just not fun to follow.)

Now for a few things about me...

#1. I was pregnant with a boy who was BIGGER than a 10lb sack of potatoes.  When we go to the grocery store, I make him try to lift an 11 pound watermelon so he can be amazed at how big he was when he was born.   He LOVES that story.

#2. I went to an all girl's highschool that was taught by all female teachers.  It rocked.  It was like a giant slumber party and there were no cliques.  My only complaint was the nun who was nasty to me because I was not Catholic.  (Yes - taught by nuns, we had dress codes and all!  lol)

#3. I have never been anywhere besides BC & back.  I have never flown.  Still - that's prairie, lakes, forest, badlands, mountains, ocean, and the Okanagan all together!  ; )

Okay, passing the torch now to Jane, Elle, Michelle, Becky, Christie, and Cheryl.   Thanks again Margaret!

Expanding Your Horizons

I had a good time on Saturday at Creative House.  It was a small gathering and more informal than we had anticipated.  Wendy bought SO much food.  Her grand kids and my children got to pig out on fresh fruit and cheese for the rest of the night, so it all turned out great.  : )  Thank you to the women who came!  I had a great little catch up with an old high school friend who showed up, not knowing that it was me she was coming to see!  ; )

Pretty Penny did a good job.  I am really surprised how often I meet Janome and Horizon 7700P owners that didn't know about awesome features or can't get something to work (hey- I was one of them!).  I had two phone calls this month plus an email asking for Horizon advice.

Did you know there's an extra-high presser foot lift?  That's great for stuffing quilts under, or a stabilizer hoop.

Did you also know that there's a little screw to adjust the height of the presser foot for free motion stitching?  You don't need a screwdriver.  You just use your fingertip to adjust it.  You'll want it lower if you are working on scrim or any thinner surface.  You'll want it higher if you are quilting a big fat quilt.  How high?  I tell people to set it at the lowest level you can that will not create any drag at all.  You want it somewhat close as it acts to stabilize the fabric at the point of quilting.  When the foot is too high, your fabric can bounce while you FMQ or threadpaint, and this will ultimately cause skipped stitches.

Another tips with the Horizon is to get the needle plate engaged for FMQ.  Again, this stabilizes the fabric while quilting and will prevent those horrible skipped stitches when you free-motion pretty curls. Read your manual.  It's easy to do.

Hands down, the Horizon loves Topstitch needles.  I do use a lot of Wonderfil thread, and they also suggest topstitch for nearly all their threads.  Maybe that's the variable.  So... Topstitch it is.  It has a long, long eye and I never get shredded threads ever.

When most people free motion quilt on a domestic machine, they lower the top tension to achieve even stitches that meet-in-the-middle of the quilt sandwich.  If the top is too loose or the bottom is too tight, you will get those horrible eyelashes / feathers on the back.  With the horizon, you can leave it on auto tension for the top, and change to this alternate 'blue arrow' bobbin case.  The blue arrow bobbin case is pre-set with a lower tension and creates PERFECT FMQ stitches.  You don't have to fiddle and test on a sample first.  I used to get eyelashes all the time no matter how carefully I sewed or how precise I thought I was setting my machine tension manually.  I found that when I tightened up the top thread, I would ended up getting my top thread snapping during quilting.  Everything was too tight: top and bottom.  That's enough to make me cry.  This blue arrow case is brilliant, it's only $25, and OMG it fits my old non-computerized Kenmore!!  wow.

With that in mind, I popped my other loosely-set 'play' bobbin case (yes - I have another case for bobbin work) into that old 12 stitch Kenmore.  It worked!!  I marked it green for fun with nail polish.  This is the one I play with and set very loose according to the cord / floss I use.  I don't want to play around with my other ones because they are perfect and I would like them to stay that way.

bobbin play sampler

Now I'm really looking forward to doing bobbin sewing on my Horizon - all the pretty stitches she has!

So I was thinking...
If any other Horizon owners would like to get together to experiment with the machine together, or if you need help troubleshooting, I would love to gather at Creative House in the sewing area.  We can set up and sew together for a couple hours. If you are upgrading from a Kenmore to a Janome, the presser feet are the same on the low shank machines FYI.  The bobbins & bobbin cases are all the same for high or low shank Janome & Kenmore. 

I'm linking this in as a "Tips on Tuesdays".  I hope many of you find this helpful.  : )  And yes - I drop the dogs, especially when threadpainting on a low, thin piece.  On quilts, I don't notice drag if I forget.

Have a great day everyone!  I hope this was helpful.

Sunday Snapshots

pre-'A Prairie Dress'

Canada Geese - they are back!

My favorite inspiration mug.

Happy Sunday!

This Was Worth the Wait!

Over a year ago, I was invited to be a feature artist in the lovely pages of A Needle Pulling Thread magazine.  Late last summer I wrote up the article to meet the deadline.  That feels like soooo long ago!  This was worth the wait.  Here it is!  Copies have just arrived at my doorstep!

www.aneedlepullingthread.com

a peek inside...

There are three pages loaded with pictures.  It's such a beautiful spread!  Wow.  Pinch me.  I had to re-read the article because I didn't remember what I wrote!  I like it.  I like it better than what I have planned to say tomorrow.  lol  Maybe I should just crack it open and just read to everyone instead?  hehe

Creative House in Saskatoon will have over a dozen copies to sell at the open house event tomorrow (11:30 to 2:30... I speak at 1pm and will demo shortly after).  McNally Robinson Booksellers will have them in Saskatoon and Winnipeg, as will Indigo Books across Canada.  Our very own Wool Emporium should get them too!  When everyone runs out, I'm sure you can get back issues.  I've ordered lots.  : )

Spring 2012 - hot off the press!

To the editors Carla and John at A Needle Pulling Thread magazine:

 a BIG WARM THANK YOU for such a lovely honor!  

The article looks wonderful and I am so proud to have this accomplishment under my belt.  WOW. 

Things I Love Thursdays

I love my husband.  I love to buy flowers for him.

You know I love postcards.  

Did you know I also love my new post card spinning table top display rack!?

ordered from Eddies in Edmonton

SUPER.  It just arrived in the mail today just in time!  Gotta love when that happens.

Happy Thursday!

Deep Breaths.

Inhale.  (weeeeeeeeeee!!!)  Exhale.  (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!)  It's hard to calm down when I have to plan for public speaking and public sewing on Saturday.  I have bouts of calm and bouts of nerves.  So I figured I would take the pressure off by chilling and check my email.  It didn't help - not one bit.  There it was!  I now have my letter of acceptance into Canada's national juried quilt show in Halifax later this Spring!!  O M G.

A Prairie Dress is heading to Halifax, Nova Scotia!

I have Jackie to thank for all her pestering to enter.  Actually, she threatened me and said, "if you don't enter this, I'm going to fly to Saskatoon to get it myself and enter it for you!".  lol  She's awesome.  I also have to thank Karen for her support.  Seriously - go to this post HERE and read her comment.  It's the first one at the end of the post.  I wonder how long it took her to type that word!??  Oh my gosh.  I bounced up and down in my chair when I read it.  lol

What do I do with this nervous energy?  I think I'll get into my running shoes and head out for some fresh air.  That's what I'm working on!  Linking to The Needle & Thread Network.

(A little while later... )

Aahhhh... feeling more grounded now.  I just got back from a great long walk out in the sun with my husband while the kids are in school for the afternoon. MAN is it nice outside.  What a nice treat.

walking outside always grounds me

Can you believe it though?  I feel like ever since I started creating with a needle and blogging all about it, things have been working out incredible well.  I wondered the other day if maybe a lucky leprechaun had hopped into my pocket.  I mean really!  It's overwhelming at times.  I often stop myself from posting things because I'm worried you all with think, 'here she goes again.  brag brag brag'.  It's been nothing short of fantastic on a daily basis.  I am truly thankful.  My head is spinning and my heart is full.  It's all good.

: )

Lastly, 3 Prairie Postcards will be auctioned off at a local Le Leche League fundraiser on Sunday!  The cards are a series of simple prairie scenes.  Each one is different.  You can see them HERE.  If you are going to the event, bid high! ; )  It's a good cause.

Number Forty-Two

Happy Spring Equinox!  Not much to report around here except that I'm continuing to complete many, many Prairie Postcards.  Here is mail art #42!

Mmmmm, makes me happy!!  That sweeping sky and the pretty yellow....  I love the prairies (but you already know that).

Creative House 'Showcase of Possibilities'

This is just a reminder that Creative House is hosting a Spring Sneak Peek Art Show of my work THIS SATURDAY March 24th.  I'll have the pieces I've made for Gardenscape on display for viewing only, and the "Wish You Were Here" art cards will be there for sale.  (Gardenscape is the weekend following.)

Wish You Were Here #30

Don't come too early!  I'll need to set up by 11 am.  At 1:00 pm I will be doing a little show & tell... actually, it will be a tell and then show.  ; )  I'll introduce myself and my work and then I'll sit with Penny and do some demonstrating of various features I like about the Horizon.

Come meet me, 'Penny', the Creative House owners and super-terrific staff & teachers in the solarium.  They are at Avenue I between 21 and 22nd street West.  There is LOTS of free parking.  We have a few surprises up our sleeves too, but oh gosh - cross your fingers that Canada Post will pull through!  : )

HAPPY SPRING!

Sunday Snapshots

On the Ides of March, my daughter and I went for a little adventure, walking through a local school yard.  I challenged her to find a tree that was brown.  She is taught in school to color tree trunks brown - we all were!  Instead, we found mostly shades of grey, some white, some nearly black, shiny copper, orange on evergreens, maroon bushes, and even 'ugly' green (at least that's what she calls it).  She made a vow never to color a tree trunk brown again. She was actually quite upset about ever coloring a tree trunk brown!

I love these curly grasses!

We walked and walked and never did find a brown tree.  Isn't that funny?

love the furry moss

This tree happens to be charcoal and orange.

crazy looking bark!  : )

And the best picture of all - me & my girl. 

Happy Sunday!

Learning New Things

On Wednesday...

          I tried hooking a second piece with 1/4" fabric strips.  I gosh-darn love it!  I am hooked.

Prairie Rug Art #2

On Thursday...

          I was lucky enough to take a wet felting sculpture class from June Jacobs.  No kidding!  It was part of the university class I'm in.  It was my fourth try at felting, and my first try at wet felting.  Sadly for me... I still do not enjoy felting.  Like, I really don't.  :(  I rolled it for three hours and ended up with dish-pan hands, sore shoulders, and what feels like cactus prickles in my fingers and palms.  Wool plus hot water plus detergent is just not a fun thing for me.  Maybe if I could felt something that didn't look entirely like crap, I might get over the aweful tactile sensation of creating it in the first place.  But no.  I pretty much suck at felting.  And I'm okay with that.  I'll just enjoy what other people make.

petals on a vine

!?????   (the reason I don't felt.)  Seriously!

On Friday...

          I took the first of a four part class on Wonderfil threads at Creative House.  It was basic quilting / sewing thread first.  It was SO nice to just play - not sew for anyone or anything.  I haven't quilted in forever.  I spent the entire year threadpainting it seems.  I was actually surprised how easy it was to quilt again!  I had so much control and ease while free motion quilting.  Practice does make better, I just hadn't planned that all the threadpainting would be the practice for my quilting.

Tutti Wonderfil on black.  mmmm!

Very fun.  I forgot that my Horizon doesn't exactly look like everyone else's!  : )

Pretty Penny and her bling

They all laughed and made jokes.  "How do you not get distracted while you sew!?"  lol  I'm paranoid.  I don't trust that a sewing machine technician wouldn't get my machine mixed up with all the others.  So I added some laptop stickers from the dollarstore.  Sweet.

Now it's the weekend, and we will spend most of it outside on our bikes.  WOOHOO!

yes, even my old bike has stickers on it. ; )