my apologies for not posting or visiting much over the past couple of weeks. i'm having some unforeseen demands made on my time and energy and may be a little bit slower in response for the next month or so.




i have finally gotten all of my strawberry field blocks sewn together and am now trying to make a decision regarding which background fabric i should set them together with. the setting will be in a streak of lightening or zig zag form as i have laid out in the photos below.

the colors are all coming across fairly "true" and you should be able to click and enlarge if you would like.

this cheddar fabric was just a touch brighter than i wanted so i gave it a brief soak in some instant coffee. (not the best for drinking but a great "dye" for this overdye technique.) i think it took the edge off quite nicely and even if i don't use it for this little quilt i think it will be useful in some future reproduction style quilt project.

if you have a preference please feel free to share your thoughts as i'd love to get feedback on this before i start cutting and sewing my little top together.

okay, i'm sure that you've all heard stories of the American wild wild west and that those tales were full of gold nuggets, cattle ranching, poker games (that every man cheated at), a few "loose" women and saloons full of men sitting at tables and setting back shot after shot of whiskey . . . (which quite frankly does explain all of that gunfire that you undoubtedly also heard about).
and maybe it did go something like that but this morning i am convinced that it's really all about our WILD "SPRING" WEATHER~!!~

on sunday i actually hung my first hummingbird feeder (this happens to be my own personal mother's day tradition). it's very early here for hummingbirds but every once in a while i get the special gift of seeing one actually pull up to the "station" in a feeding frenzy. to me this display means that the spring season can officially start and brings a smile to my face and an exquisite (nothing else like it) joy to my heart . this doesn't happen every year but it does happen just often enough to inspire me to put out one "early bird special" feeder. this year i watched the feeder all day long and it just wasn't happening . . . maybe it was a bit too chilly or too windy . . . i continued to hope and watch . . . and late in the afternoon i was rewarded with a tiny, beautiful, HUNGRY male hummer. imagine my delight. i continued to watch as he darted in and out of the feeding area seemingly elated at having found nectar-like substance when (be still my joy full heart~!~) in darted another tiny, beautiful, HUNGRY male hummer~!!~ yes, i received not one, but two mother's day hummingbirds at my feeder~!!!!~ now, i should have run for my camera in an attempt to document this wonderful sight but i was intent on enjoying every moment and not scaring them off with a barrage of my excitable and clumsy attempts and the assortment of lenses that comes with those attempts. i did consider it and firmly decided that there should be no paparazzi on this first day.

i was out of town yesterday so don't know if the hummingbirds continued to make themselves at home or not. i was imagining that they were though . . .

and then~!!~this morning was flabbergasted to wake up to quite the snow storm~!!~big wet flakes falling from a windy sky and even accumulating on the emerging green blades of grass within the lawn.

that was hours ago and it continues to come down like there's going to be no (spring) tomorrow. i did duck out onto the front porch and and snap a photo of my cactus garden with the snow coming fast and furious.


so what does one do when there's a giant spring snowstorm and one is feeling more than a bit annoyed and downright depressed about it? one practices their zentangling. i've been intrigued by this interesting form of doodle drawing for quite some time and finally jumped in and gave it an honest effort. i thought i would like more color in mine but . . .

it turns out that using (only) a black pen seems to make it quite a bit more graphically appealing.

i think i need a LOT more practice which i won't consider a hardship as it's very relaxing once one gets into the "moment" of it.


remember the collaged bit of stationery that i was working on last post? i ended up collaging away all of my writing space and had to stitch a small cloth bag (recycled from clothing tags) into the collage for the purpose of inserting a letter into.

you may have guessed that this will be going all the way to Honduras to my daughter. i wonder what the poor girl is going to do with all of the crazy mail art that i have sent her over the years~!?!~

this is a collage piece that i am going to use as stationery. i think i'll call it collaganery~!~


i thought it might be a fun way to spice up the letter writing/receiving process . . . makes the "how are you. i am fine" bit a lot more fun don't you think~!?!~



i have used the reverse side of a scrap booking paper with a high fiber content as my base. the first thing i did was scrumble it up. then i stitched a piece of hand painted lace diagonally onto it.at this point i decided that i would not use glue for attaching bits . . . as i didn't want the stiffness it would bring to my page. i consulted with my daughter regarding her own (loosely interpreted) recipe for Pesto and used a micron pen to letter it onto a scrap of fabric then stitched it down and added the small cutlery charms.

i created my own dictionary style entry and penned it onto a section of the page.

this little bird fetish was rescued/scavenged from a favorite beaded necklace that i wore in my teenage years.

i'll do more with it; as it comes along it seems to make it's own suggestions as to what should be next . . . the joy of collage.

a very good friend brought me some flowers for May Day and not only are they gorgeous to look at but they smell Divine~!~

a tiny peek inside of the tulip . . .

my heart is filled with gratitude for friends and for spring flowers in a reused blue glass bottle sitting within the morning sun showing me just how i'm supposed to greet the day; full of faith , light and celebrating every beautiful moment . . .

~!~Happy May Day~!~

yesterday i was visiting Ati's blog at: www.malinaplass.blogspot.com and discovered a cute "shabby flower" that she had made.

she generously provided the link to the instructions (www.robenmarie.com/home/2010/3/17/shabby-flower-video-giveaway.html ) and i spent the rest of the afternoon making one. it didn't take long and was quite fun~!!~

link over and build yourself a May Day shabby flower (or two~!~).