They Did It Again!

Remember all my whining about how terribly nervous I was to do a presentation to the Saskatoon Quilter's Guild on my fibre art?  Well, I'm not sure how they pulled this one off.  Shortly after my presentation, a committee member named Sheilagh called me up one night.  She said there was a short spot in the next evening meeting that they needed to fill with some kind of programming.  The remainder of the conversation was a blur, and the next thing I knew I was sitting there on my couch saying, "yes of course I will do a presentation on Postcards & Swap groups that night".  !?  (I will?)  I snapped out of it and said, "Sheilagh, how did you do that!?  Are you magic?"  She just laughed.  And so on the night of May 30th, I'll be public speaking again, and showing off all the gorgeous cards I've received in the past year, including this gem I got last week.

Isn't that sweet!?  It's from Becky at Becky's Blabber blog.  Thank you Becky!!  I love it!  I've also received cards from my running pal Christie at Describe Happy.  It's a message of encouragement, and very fun!

I heard that Diane from Random Thoughts... Do or Di  has mailed hers off and one is coming my way.  !!  I can't wait!  Here's a link to her post on that.  I'm so glad she joined the PostcardCottage Swap group...  And now I'm also welcoming Cheryl from Grandma Coco's Designs to the batch!  The next swap I'm in is "Summer Road Trip".  That will be a fun one.  If you are interested in swapping (no blog needed), you can read all about it on the group's homepage by clicking the link in the left sidebar.  It's the one that says, "Swap Here".  The next swap topics will be posted on June 1.

There you go!  Check out all their links.  : )
~Monika

Works in Progress Wednesday

Okay... I said I was taking a week off, and I took a day off.  Can you blame me?  I'm addicted.  So here's what's up this week.  With Mother's day coming up quick, I'm working to complete that tree.  I had Mandy come over this morning and she and I planned an arrangement of beading and chunky french knots.  I want her getting this soon.  So I have a lot of hand stitching to do know which I will thoroughly enjoy!!  I am so in the mood for that.

I haven't worked on Kate's highway poles, but that will come soon enough.  Their possession date for a new home away from the prairies has not yet arrived, so I'm not feeling panic.

Jesica's stitching will be planned out, but not complete to until after the end of the month.  I have an art exhibit to produce by the end of this month, and (yikes) who am I kidding!?  Deadlines press.

I took off to a sewing retreat on Sunday.  I spent the whole day in a vaulted cedar room overlooking a lake with the windows open.  (See last post for details.)  It was awesome!  I specifically took no existing projects with me.  I figured the art was too messy with all the yards & beads & threads.  I didn't have a plan for a quilt, so I just took along all the solid precuts I had in my stash and made a big quilt top.  I even did all the piecing with Fiona (my Kenmore ogre who is really a princess).  She did a marvelous job!

I also put together some single log cabin blocks for a baby quilt top.  It has five shades of pink if you look really close.

But wait!  There's more.  Remember the wonky owl quilt?  It looked like an earthquake.  I wasn't happy with the quilting and i didn't show you because it was too much.  Well I decided ripping out the stitches would take about 5 days... so I jsut kept going.  It looks like a dozen tornadoes.  It's a natural disaster quilt.  lol  I kept thinking, 'it's okay.  Anno is very unconventional.  She'll like it!  She'll laugh.  Laughing is good.'  She saw it last night and loved it.  So all I have left to do it hand stitch the binding before our six children go on a playdate tomorrow.  : )  Then she heads home which is out of province.

spirals upon intersecting circles...  tornadoes!

Finally - I'm threadpainting and handstitching some postcards for the spring swap at PostCard Cottage.  Join if you like!  The link is on the sidebar.  I can't show you a lot, but I'll give you this, which is turning out pretty and quite enjoyable to do.

All righty then!  Head over to Lee's at Freshly Pieced to see what other quilters are up to!  : )

~Monika

Post Card Swaps are Up!

Just a quick note... if anyone is interested in trying their hand at making quilted postcards (and receiving three) the link is on the left sidebar.  The new swaps have just been posted in the database.  The topics are "Canada Geese" (they're back!) and "In My Garden".   If you sign up, you'll need to create 3 postcards and mail them before May 15th.  They go in the mail with a regular stamp, no envelope.  You'll get three back.  They need to be stiff, 4x6 inches, and secure with no loose buttons or beads.

find this on my sidebar to link to the yahoo homepage

Enjoy!
~Monika

What I'm Working On Wednesday : )

Happy Groundhog's Day!  (Is it happy?)  It's Feb 2.  Midwinter.  The temperature here is rising 30 degrees in 24 hours!  My machine is off to a new technician, and now I wait.  I've been hand stitching some things.  Want to see?  I got the binding on the bookstore quilt.  I hooped the bare blocks and began stitching out sillouettes in chocolate brown.  I used a fast-fade fabric pen.  It does fade fast FYI.  lol  Can you guess what these will be?

imagine brown button eyes...

I also had a long overdue visit with my beautiful 19 yr old nephew.  He's the sweetest guy ever. 

Our parrot likes him too.  He's a Pisces, and turning 20 soon.  He told me his favorite colors are deep ocean colors - blue, purple, green, and black.  Got it.  He's getting a quilt. I think he really liked the friendship star blanket i made my oldest boy.  It's full of triangles, so that's what he'll get.  If it takes a long long time, then maybe I'll put it in the guild's show in the fall first.  : )

Oh!  And the new swaps are up at PostCardCottage!

Spring Bunny pop-art postcard, 2010

Interested?  The link on my sidebar will take you to the homepage.  The themes are:  Green & 1 other color, Paper-pieced Fish, and Landscapes.  You have to make three cards for every swap you join and mail them out by the middle of March.  Easy.

And check out my horoscope for the week, courtesy of the Sunday paper.  Hmm... 

That 'picture in my wallet' is of a machine that sews properly so I can make amazing things.  Until then, Mandy's commission, Jesica's, and all my art for Gardenscapes will have to wait too.  Oh, and then there's the commission I got from an Etsy shopper too!  Part of me has this crazy ideal that I'll actually be able to sew how i want.  But it feels like a dream and not a realistic expectation.  Still... I wish...  crossin' my fingers!

~Monika
To see what others are up to this week,
visit WIP Wednesdays at Lee's Blog

Fashionably Late? Happy 2011!

* * * Happy new year! * * *

I kinda missed it didn't I?  What day is it anyhow?  I've been very sick, not with a cold or flu, but blood poisoning.  (!?!)  I finally woke from my fever after three days of deep sleep and loads of penicillin. 

at least it was sunny all weekend (this is me on the couch)

I don't really recall the past few days except when my children came to kiss me or put their (what felt like) ice cold hands onto my hot hot head.  It all started with a little nick on my knuckle.  You know the type:  the one that gets re-nicked and re-kicked.  Well, it got infected.  That's all.  It must have travelled up my arm and loaded into my lymphs and I was down for the count.  (sorry for the gory details, I'm done now.)  Incredible really.  Today was the day I would go to hospital for an IV if nothing changed.  But the fever broke and this is my first day sitting upright.  All I can say is:

o m g.  the house is a mess. 

So I missed our first ever new year's eve house party.  I think we'll just reschedule.  In the mean time as I sat (upright!!) on the couch this evening, I worked on some embroidery beyond my lone french knot for the first time ever.  I picked up a book from Molly and tried out a few on a sample postcard.  It's white crochet cotton on red faux suede.  Don't ask me why I chose that.  I don't have an answer.

Not perfect, but pretty and very fun to try something new! 

 
Oh!  By the way!  The new PostCardCottage swaps are up.  If you are interested in fabric postcards, click on the link in the left side-bar.  You can join the group at any time.  New swaps go up on the first of each month.  If you sign up for one, then you need to make three cards and mail them out by the middle of the following month.  I picked some good topics this time, and I think they are nearly full.  Check it out if you like!

Other than that, I haven't set foot in my sewing room.  I'm still too weak to sit up and think.  Take care everyone and I will post again very soon! 

~Monika
who seems to have misplaced her new year's resolutions.  

What I'm Working On Wednesday

What am I working on?  LOTS.  Possibly too much.  I'm done Grandma's Cabin.  Carol-Lynne came to pick it up last night.  It looks so nice in that shadow box.  It sits a couple inches behind the glass.  Looking into it is like looking into a memory.  The person she is gifting it to is soon to turn 94!  WOW.  I know you've seen this piece before, but now it's really done and gone.

quite possibly the most detail i've ever done

Next up... I'll call it "Mandy's Magical Tree Quilt".  It's a commission that came my way.  It will be made almost entirely from the fabric of a mother's baby slings and cloth carriers that she wore her babies in.  Here's the fabrics...

magical indeed, for i do not see tree parts here.  : )

Mandy sees a tree.  I met with her recently and we laid out all the fabrics in a way that matches her vision of it.  I get it now!  It's planned to be very colorful and very whimsical.  And it will deserve a lot of curly quilting.  I am looking forward to this one very much!!  She wants SPARKLE - and she'll get it!  : )

This is another bag sent to me.  It's a quilt commissioned from Jesica, a long-distance friend of mine.  Her Grandmother passed away last year and these are the fabrics she has from her.  Her grandmother was VERY significant in Jesica's life, so this is a bag full of love and memories.  She wants a big white quilt with little bits of color all over the top.

waiting for the cutting table...  lots of bold colors!

Sweet Jessica!  She included a BIG FAT sampler book for me to because she knows I make postcards  Awesome!  THANK YOU!  No 2 alike...

200 or so postcards just waiting to be made!

Speaking of which, I put 3 new swaps up at PostCardCottage (a yahoo group I adopted - go join!).  So I'm signing up for a swap and need to make 3 postcards for that.

And then there is the preschool fundraiser quilt.  

I have less than a week to finish it.  

UGH! 
It's
so
hard! 
lol  

I had no strategy for it.  I had the children in my daughter's class each design a block with glue sticks and fabric scraps I brought in.  I took them all home to turn it into a quilt.  The it will be silent-auctioned amongst the parents on the 6th for the St. Nikolas Day party.  The top is nearly done, and can you believe it!?  It's ALL APPLIQUE!  That is something I swore I would never ever do.  (Never say never ever.)   Here are a whole whack of photos from this project.

cleaning up the connecting threads...

the children together and their homes below.  ok, i like it.

When big projects overwhelm me, I am drawn to fine detailed tasks.  I took a well deserved break from that one, and fiddled around with some prep for a fibre art piece (that one floating around in my head...).  My daughter and I made some cloth beads for the first time!  Arwen made red ones.  I made white.  My white ones are inspired by ice and winter and the great north.  They are PERFECT for my Arctic Art.

 

* hand-rolled beads of cloth, sheer, and irridescent threads *

Lastly, a stitching magazine has asked to feature me & my work!  H*!y C^@p!  That caused another moment of stunned - crying - honored - excited.  I texted my husband and told him I was going to "barf butterflies".  lol  How else do I explain it?  How thrilling!!  However, it also means another pressing deadline and I'm just not sure I'm up to it right at this moment.  It's all moving sooo fast.  So I have chosen to have this on the list for next year.  No rush.  I'll be doing this for a long time...  I do not plan on changing careers anytime soon.

surprised how this has become full time work!
~Monika

thanks to Lee for organizing WIP Wednesday!  ; )
see others' here:
Lee's WIP Wednesday Link Up @ Freshly Pieced

Calling All Swappers!

Earlier this month it was announced that PostcardCottage was coming to an end.  It is a fibre art postcard swap group on yahoo.  (Say that three times fast!)  I have been so thoroughly enjoying this group and all the opportunities it has offered.  I wasn't ready for it to quit, after all I just got there this spring!  So I stepped up as the new list-owner / moderator.  .  Want to see what kind of gems you get when you join?

I loaded a whole bunch of photos of cards I received into a new flickr photo sharing group.  Here it is!  If you are already a member of PostcardCottage, go ahead and add photos.  Flickr is pretty easy, and the first 200 photos are free.  Not bad!

* * * PostcardCottage on Flickr * * *

Want some too?  It's so easy.  You go HERE if you want to join the group.  In the group, you can sign up for swaps.  Swaps are posted on the first of each month, and yours must be mailed out by the 15th of the following month.  In each swap you make three cards to mail out, and you'll get three cards mailed to you.  Each swap has a topic to inspire you to create something fabulous!  They go out with regular postage depending on the country you are sending them too of course.  No envelope required.  Further card-making instructions can be found in the files that are already there at the group.

See you soon!

~Monika

many hats, many aprons.