Believe it or not...progress!

Stitching away....

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Inspiration

getting ready to dig in the fabric...

I am always inspired by this artist:

http://juliewhitmorepottery.blogspot.com/2013/03/making-spoons.html

Loving this music right now....

Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones. The daughters of the late Ravi Shankar

and check out these fabric beads! 

http://thesillyboodilly.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-obsession-continues.html

and I just love this!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boodilly/sets/72157621004144235/

the inspiration for stitching today:

A new/used book  by Janet Bolton I ordered on-line.

The fabric template squares were in the pocket of the book!!!! SCORE!

Remember I stashed most of my fabric in storage???? Well, I have just enough at my desk to start this project. I know I am just showing you what I am starting, but I have to begin somewhere. I am in the gathering phase...so enough "gathering"....time to get busy! 

Thinking this would be fun...

http://pixiecampbell.com/soulodge-2014

:)

a little heart...

This was my little day off project in 

between all the "have to" stuff.

 (laundry, cleaning and cooking).

 It is a little punch needle heart. 

(ya know the kind you wear?)

I was dissatisfied with it after I cut it

 out and stitched it. I will keep

 it and use it in a future project.

Things that made me happy and smile today :)

This is a gift from http://marystanley.blogspot.com/.

She gave it to me many moons ago, but it still makes me smile.

Thank you.

and this...

a tiny little stitch man made by Becky Lowe.

Thank you.

This was found while "thrifting" yesterday for
the mere sum of one dollar.
It really is quite beautiful.  It is for a chair
pad or pillow. I will make it a pillow.
Note: Not a lot of light for pictures this morning.

Also, a new addition. I already have several of these little
baskets, but I absolutely love them. They are so handy.
I pick them up at my local health store. They come from
Africa and are part of fair trade.

If you do not like the shape of the basket you just dampen it and shape it the way you want it.
fun!

Lastly, while visiting my local wool place I was gifted with this book:
I was talking to the owner of the shop about Janet Bolton and how I found
her work inspirational and the owner of the shop disappeared literally behind
a curtain (like the Wizard of Oz) and out she came with this book for me:

I wanted to share some of the pictures inside the book, but alas there is not
enough light and it creates a glare on the pages.
This is written as a children's book. At the end of the book is
a pocket that held patchwork pieces of fabric that were pre-
printed to create the small doll quilt you see on the front cover of
the book. There were no patches in this book, but it is a treasure
to me.
Have a great day!

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Wide Awake!

After a long absence...well I never really was far away, just working like crazy. I still am. I have missed visiting my little "blip" in the world and keeping up with what everyone is doing. My thoughts about 2013....

1. If you let work consume your life...it will!

2. If you let others set the agenda...they will!

3. If you do not "carve" out time for yourself it will never happen!

4. I have lost myself to everything else...time to find me! :)

5. I was so busy with work that seeing my crafty stuff just piled in stacks was depressing, so I packed up 99% of it and put it in a storage.

6. Living in the north forces you to deal with the snow/ice. Some days I don't mind and some days I do. (Well, I can do without the ice! It is actually scary :/)

7. I can do without clutter in my life. Less is more!

8. One of my teenage daughters began driving and working and my mom radar is constantly up!
Sometimes I am anxiously waiting by the door!

9. I traveled to Philadelphia for a business trip and could not believe there was a Nuclear plant right smack dab in the heart of a town and how people were very non nonchalant about it! It was surreal to me.

10. Time that we carve out and we give to ourselves is precious and necessary.

11. I have been consciously trying to "see"the beauty where I am. Some times I am going so fast that I wake up and realize, Öh my God, I have been driving by this for years...and it is so beautiful!

So over the months....

Little Oliver has grown and stolen our hearts...

he is hard to catch in a picture because he is always moving!

He is full of little tricks, he is like a little circus dog :)

I flew to Texas to see my daughter and had such a great time!

My trip to Philadelphia and the Nuclear plant just past the parking lot!

 I try to take time and sit by the wood stove while I am home...but not for too long.

During the holidays we chose a beautiful balsam fir and added colored lights and we all agreed it did not need another thing! I love easy!!! :)

me one quiet evening...

time with one of my sons...

while visiting my daughter in Texas, we stumbled across a cute little hidden shop that carried Japanese fabric...score! I was so excited. I bought a few snippets to bring home and create a little traveling kit.

Lastly, a little punch needle pumpkin man i have been working on.

Glad to be back, if only for a few moments!

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