Craft Test Dummies

Well, I’m thrilled to say that we are going to be making these fab-oo bracelets at Grand River Beads in the merry merry month of May. The first class will be offered on May 1 (Thursday, 6 PM) and the on the last day, May 31 (Saturday, 1:00PM.)

I’m stoked to do this one because A) I love to make beads to match my outfits, and B) this is a simple way to learn how to use Artistic Wire. It come in a rainbow of colors, and it very high quality. Eva is going to teach the part using the coiling gizmo while our beads bake. I think folks will be amazed at how quickly this bracelet comes together. Fun, fun, fun!

If you are interested, just check out the GRB site… they now have it set up that you can register and pay online. How easy is that?

OK, so we didn’t really swap fabrege eggs… we made Artist Trading Cards inspired by them. I got these last week on Wednesday, right before we headed out of town for a funeral. I apologize for being late to my wonderful swap-ees, Trish, Katherine, and Agnieska (from Poland!) These are gorgeous, and now I have to find a clever way to display them next Easter.

I only hope that my swap partners were as pleased with my polymer clay ATC’s. Usually my CPS yahoo group sticks to cloth and paper… not too much clayin’ going on there. Maybe I’ll start a trend!

So life comes full circle. A lovely woman who attended one of my classes during the Artist’s Way Retreat in 2005 is now planning her own retreat in September. Tentatively dubbed “The New Artist’s Way Retreat,” lovely Wendy is spreading her own wings and planning a weekend of creativity and reflection.

I am pleased and honored to be part of her new venture. I’ll be facilitating the Madonna art doll pins. I love the pins, the process, and sharing them with others and I think it’ll be a great fit for the retreat.

So Wendy and I had a lovely lunch yesterday, sharing tales of mommyhood, our journeys, and some really great belly laughs. I wish her the best in her new venture, and hope I get to see some of her Big Dreams come true.

Please visit her link to see what classes will be offered, and consider joining us in September in Sandusky!

Whoo-hoo! One of my favorite magazines, Quilting Arts, now has a television program. I’ve heard that they’ve shot many segments already - and some in Cleveland, no less - but so far I haven’t seen them on our PBS channels. That’s about to change!

It’s set to air on WEAO PBS 45 & 49 on Saturdays at 1:30PM starting on 4/19. I’m so excited! The DVR is all set and ready to go!

To learn more about Quilting Arts Magazine, or Quilting Arts TV, just visit the links. I guarantee loads of eye candy and inspiration!

I got notified last night that I am the first place winner of Poly Clay Play’s Monthly Challenge for March. The theme was to make a  green (naturally) pin, and I entered my shamrock pin. Hooray for me!

I have won a book, and I selected Recycling with Polymer Clay. Sounds right up my alley, doesn’t it? Well, I’m anxious to see what kind of projects and ideas I can pick up.

I must have done OK with this design, because I also sold one of these on Etsy. (Which, if you need one for next year, I have one left at my Etsy Shop!)

Ok, enough self-congratulations. Back to claying!

Friday at the Expo started bright and early, and then went pretty much non-stop all day. This was the agenda:

• 7:30 AM: Up at the hotel, barely moving. I had gotten up at 4:30 AM and had a wicked time getting back to sleep. Wishing I could blow off my morning class…
• 8:30 AM: Quick shower and quicker breakfast later, I’m taking “Crocheted Flowers” from Megan at Stitch Cleveland. Except it’s not Megan, it’s Erica from River Colors Yarns. No matter. We got a great class kit with 3 skeins of yarn, a needle, instructions for 3 flowers, and a little plastic purse to keep it all in. Now, I have to start by mentioning that long ago in my life as a Music Therapist in a medical facility, I’ve had a number of patients try to teach me to crochet. What I figured out is that there are often multiple terms for the same stitch, and nothing was too consistent. So my big challenge was matching up what I knew how to do and what it was called. Oh, and how to do it correctly and consistently. Two hours later, I had a flower and a half that looked pretty darn cute. Yea for me!
• 11:30 AM: Time for coffee and Barb Callahan’s fashion show. She also does jackets (I’m sensing a theme, here!) and sells her patterns. She picks me out of the audience and makes me model the bracelet that we made in class last night. (OK, I was in the front row and I’m no shrinking violet. Still, it’s funny….)
• 12:30 PM: Back on the vending floor to pick up supplies and ideas. I even sat through a demo for an felt embellishing machine (Husqvarna’s version) and oh, yeah, I want one of those! If only $350.00 would fall out of the sky!
• 1:30 PM: Quick lunch of baked potatoes. And there’s that sweatshirt-into-a-jacket lecture again….
• 2:00 PM: Nicole is off to her felted clog class, and I’m wandering. I run across Susan Schremph’s demo of silk ribbon embroidery by machine, only to discover she’s doing a class at 2:30. Quick! Where’s Nicole??? She has my free class ticket!!! I call her cell, I find her class… well, hijinks ensue and I get to the class in the nick of time. Susan spends the hour showing us how you can use tacking by machine to create ribbon flowers. My mind starts to whirl. ATC’s! Postcards! Fabric cuffs! Literally, I get so wound up I get a headache. Consequently….
• 3:30 PM: I’m spending my kid’s lunch money on “Simple Silk Ribbon Embroidery by Machine” and enough silk ribbons to weave my own blankie.
• 4:30 PM: Get to the rest of my wandering. I decide to skip the trims, beads, and quilters’ cottons. I do pick up some silk fat quarters and a new pattern. (Editor’s Note: I bought 3 patterns last year from the same vendor. I haven’t made a-one. Hmmm.)
• 5:30 PM: I try to get out to find Nicole, but I get swamped in the end-of-day-giveaway melee. No choice but to wait….
• 6:15 PM: The day’s done. I’m exhausted. We both agree that we’re done. Fini. We won’t come back for Saturday. Dear daughter is still running that fever, so we go pick up some Chinese and head back to the ranch for some family time. And to gloat over our classes and purchases.

To read about Day One at the Expo, read here.

Well, I’m back from the sewing expo and my head is swimming. I took four classes over 2 days this time, and a good time was had by all.

My good friend Nicole made the trip up from Charlottesville, Va, and showed up to celebrate my birthday with some serious girl time. Three days of shopping, sewing, and girl talk. Whoopee!

For those who’ve never been to the Expo, it’s a pretty gi-gundous show. It goes over 3 days and boasts oodles of hand-on classes, demos, trunk shows, fashion shows, lectures, and vending out the wazoo. Here was my agenda on Thursday, the opening day of the show:

• 8:30 AM: “Really, Really Broken Dishes” applique class with Kim Montagnese. She is a great person, designer, and teacher. She taught us to use Do-Sew to back our appliques and use a blind hem-stitch to mimic needle-turn applique. Great class. (Great person, too. I love Kim! She’s the one who took this silly picture of me.)
• 11:00 AM: Snack break and fashion show. We saw a lecture on how to open up a generic sweatshirt along the side seams and create a festive jacket. Looked cute and easy. And when they passes around a toddler version with yo-yo’s on it, I just about had a coronary it was so cute!
• 11:45: Wandering about vending floor. Made a point to get to Cotton Candy Quilts which had the Do-Sew for sale. Also picked up some really cute fat quarters with my mini-patchfolios in mind.
• 2:00: Lunched on a tuna croissant (standing up) while taking in another fashion show. Another sweatshirt-jacket take by Londa, but more upscale.
• 5:30 PM: Completely overstimulated, we head over to the hotel to check in, only to find that they don’t have our reservation. And I don’t have my confirmation number. Undaunted, we work it out and schlep up to the room. I grab a quick snack, then head back down to take the shuttle back to the IX center to get to my class. Whew. I’m getting tired!
• 6:30 PM: Take Barb Callahan’s Vintage Beaded Bracelet class. (Easy peasy. Just stitch buttons onto elastic! I know what I’ll be teaching next time we have a Young Jewelry Artist series during summer camp at Silverthorne!) Barb was a hoot, too. Hope I get to take a class from her again.
• 8:00 PM: We’re done early. My shuttle doesn’t come until 9:30. I make calls. Nicole tells me the shuttle will come early. I find out that my sweet baby girl is still running a fever. I wait until 9:15, and some complete strangers from Pittsburgh take pity on me and drop me off at the hotel. Thanks, ladies! You’ve done PA proud.
• 9:30 PM: Meet Nicole at the hotel bar. I’m hungry, damp and ready for a drink. Nicole and I share some Mediterranean quesadilla thingy, and I down 2 Great Lakes Brewery Porters.
• 11:30 PM: Exhausted and with a sore back, I hit the sack. Even the hotel bed feels good after standing on a concrete floor all day.

To read about Day Two, click here!

I got a chance to get to the Lake Farm Park Quilt Show on Saturday - all by myself! It was lovely just to walk quietly through all of the quilts, without distractions from kids or hubby, and soak it all in.

Coupla things I noticed:

1. The show seemed smaller. I really think there were fewer bed-sized quilts this year.
2. There were more art quilts than traditional ones. And they were fantastic. Lots of food for thought.
3. The contributions for dolls, clothes, and bags were slim. Only 4 or 5 jackets that I can remember. (Note to self: Make wearables for next year!)

I took some random photos of quilts or details that spoke to me, and I’ve put them into this slideshow to share with you. Enjoy!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Just had to post this great piece by MaryAnn Weber, who took my PC class at Stamplistic yesterday. It’s got great design, and her use of the “raw edges” of the clay is inspiring. MaryAnn and I are collaborating on a PC/bead embroidery class that we hope to teach later this spring at Grand River Beads. She is a gifted artist, and such a nice person. Ok, go ahead- ooh and ahh!

PS… MaryAnn teaches at Grand River Beads, so visit that site to find out when she’s teaching next!

There is a guerilla knitting movement afoot! I read in the Plain Dealer today that there is a group of folks who are covering trees with knitting in Yellow Springs Ohio. Really.

Now, I know because we are Ohioans, we are a little late in the game. I had heard of a guerilla-knitting group who blog under Knitta, please and they have taken to the streets, knitting cozies onto telephone poles, rocks, sculptures, car antennae, and even in the backs of cabs. Really!

The Micro-fiber Militia is out of Chicago, and they are cozy-ing up bike racks, construction scaffolding, and light poles. (The picture of the crocheted flowered lightpole is from them.)

I  have to admit I suffer from “Needle Envy.” I can knit only the most simple of dishcloths, and can only do scarves in crochet. Can’t read a pattern for squat. So a part of me is really intrigued by this phenomenon…. folks doing a positive style of graffiti.

I know why this hasn’t caught on in Cleveland. Too friggin’ cold! (Oh, and that little blizzard that just ran through, dumping 2 feet of snow on us.) Anyhoo, it would be cool to see in our fair city. We could use some random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty in our struggling city. Couldn’t we all?