croque-choux

ATC II

I made a second ATC, completely out of fabric. Okay, and a little Angelina fiber.
Sorry the photo isn't so good, but the grey Winter light makes taking pictures difficult. Ou est le soleil?

Inspiration shelf

I started cleaning up and organizing my craft area Sunday afternoon. Why didn't I put extra book shelves in here before?? It just seems so obvious now- more space is great. And you know I'm thinking more space for more craft books! Here's one shelf I particularly like.
Another thing I fixed is the problem I was having with Typepad. Things are now so much easier, so I should be able to add things to this blog more often!

ATC in the mailbox!

Lovely ATC I received yesterday- merci beaucoup Sylvie!! Visit her gallery and see her other ATC's and fiber art here. I love these little things. Marie Claire Idées just ran a little article on ATCs in their latest issue. I think ATCs will finally catch on now here!

Back on track

I was all ready to post of a picture of my finished redwork project, when... boom! I got hit with a sneaky migraine again. I hate this. I just had one not long ago :o(
Anyway I'm back on track as it were. The worst is that I was supposed to be the strong one this week, and take care of my daughter who went into the hospital for a half day last Monday to get all 4 of her future-ex wisdom teeth removed! Since she spent the first 3 days sleeping like a sick kitten, I thought I'd make her a little Valentine's day heart with a kitty on it. At first I thought about doing a redwork Hello Kitty, then I saw this other little Sanrio cat and went straight to work. You can see a closer view of the embroidery here. I finished the heart on the 14th, and the next day I added a red seed bead picot edging all around. This excellent tutorial from About.com can show you how it's done. Takes awhile, but the results are oh so pretty. Well, I knew the headache was coming by this time but I stitched on anyway, knowing that the next day would be spent knocked out on pain medication without any crafts or fun...
ANYway, Ombeline loved the heart, and is now feeling somewhat better. She is craving pizza and hamburgers, but still can't bear to eat anything solid. Thank heavens the French have such an amazing array of yogurts and yummy dairy products! I stumbled on to this great new yogurt, signed by well known French chef Marc Veyrat no less. Raspberry Violette yogurt- what a great combination! (And I am a total freak for anything violet, as I mentioned once before.) Not cheap as far as yogurts go, but at least Ombeline ate something with real pleasure the days following the operation. The thing we both found nice about this product is the fact that the little glass jar it comes in is super cute and can be used again for candles or something else. Worth every centime!

V day

I'm hesitating between saying something cynical about Valentine's day and posting something cute... maybe I'll do both, I don't know. Here is a redwork block I did for a swap ages ago. I think these little love-sick Moomins look rather sweet, don't they? I found a drawing of them on the web (can't remember where), then I transfered it to fabric and embroidered it. I should take photos of the rest of the redwork blocks, or better yet make them into a quilt and then take pictures- yes, I'm embarrassed to say that this is still in my UFO pile... I actually had an idea for a tiny redwork project earlier today, and it being tiny, I'm almost finished, so I should have something to show you tomorrow.
For V-Day I got the Oasis CD I've been wanting to buy for the longest, so I'm adding that to my craft soundtrack now. Yes! Love like a bomb- Yippee!
Now then, did I promise something cynical, or a snide remark about this whole Valentine's day thing? Wasn't this holiday started by Hallmark incidently? I actually do wonder how many people declare true love today and how many fights get started today... Some of these jokes about men and women are very funny if you have a skewed sense of humor, like I do. (nb: probably not for the easily offended) Q: Why do female black widow spiders kill the males after mating? ...A:To stop the snoring before it starts. Bwahahaha! Oh, and Manolo's recent post about Valentine's day chocolate had me really laughing! Mouse over the chocolate box image for the full effect!

Catching up

...on the fabric postcards I need to make.

Treasures!

This is the little fabric trinket box I made for my daughter's birthday. I wish I had read about THIS sooner though, because there's an exchange of these little beauties going on right now! It's a fundraiser for The American Cancer Society, so check it out. There's still time to participate! The always inspirational Quilting Arts magazine was where I read about fiber artist Carol Fletcher and saw the pattern for her Little Treasures, which you can find here free. You need to see all the eye candy on her site! Her Little Treasures are really beautiful (I'm almost embarrassed by my first effort here!). Thank you Carol for sharing such a neat little pattern and fun project :o)

Vintage stash treasures

Vintage lace from my stash. Still has the original ticket on it, but how I wish someone had written in the date! I "inherited" this awhile back when my husband's grandmother Fabienne passed away. She lived to be 102 and a half, and kept lots of things like this. Nobody but me was interested in this sort of stuff- what a treasure for a someone like me who studied fashion and has been sewing all her life! I've got the button boxes too. The smaller strip of lace is from someone else, and is more recent. The geometric designs woven into it make me think Art Deco.