Happy Thanksgiving!

I went for a short jog on the trail this morning. Lovely. Yes, it's cold and I'm a little bit crazy. I was going to do the turkey trot with some friends but one woke up with a terrible cold and the other accidentally refroze her turkey. I was already half-bundled so I headed out for some fresh air and exercise.

I have so much to be thankful for this year, most of all my amazing family, the support of my wonderful friends and my funny sweet little cat who makes me happy every day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dress #2

Here's another dress. #3 is on the painting table. Having lots of fun with these.

Tagged

Sheila tagged me for this creativity meme. Go check out her Angel of the Rock quilt - it's really lovely.

1. When did you start and make craft?

I was always puttering around with something. Latchhook, candlewicking, making elaborate Barbie "houses" that took up the whole living room. At the same time, I was really bad at art in school and really good at most of the other subjects, so despite the puttering, I had this idea that making stuff wasn't my thing. Then when I was about 22, I decided to crochet a blanket for my new baby nephew. I loved it and after that I never questioned the need to create.

2. Why did you start creating?

I don't know. My mom is very talented and was always making stuff so maybe part of it was wanting to be like her. Looking back now I can see that there are a lot of very creative people on both sides of my family, so maybe it's just hardwired into my brain.

3. Why do you create?

Partly because I have to. I guess it's the hardwiring...I get itchy and cranky if I'm not making something. Also I find working with my hands to be very soothing and I love the "in the zone" feeling I get when I'm totally focused on creating something. Making something that "looks cool" is a tremendous rush and something I get a lot of satisfaction from. Creating has become such an integral part of my identity that it's hard to step back and analyze the why.

4. What do you create?

Quilts, embroidery, mixed media collage/paper quilts, delicious meals and baked goodies, home dec stuff, a bit of knitting and crochet, whatever strikes my fancy.

5. How has this changed since you began crafting?

I define when I began crafting as making the baby blanket for the nephew because that's when I really began crafting with intention. So back then I crocheted a lot and then I did a lot of cross stitch and then I did a lot of traditional quilting. The main difference is that I used to be happy using patterns and now I prefer to make it up myself. Same thing with cooking - I used to be content just following recipes, but now I consider a recipe to be just a suggestion. Also, having done this stuff for a while now, my skills have naturally developed to the point that the finished product is usually much closer to the initial idea than it used to be.

I'm tagging Melissa and Jenn and anyone else who feels like doing this meme. Please leave a comment if you do.

Dress #1

7" by 9". Mixed media collage? Paper quilt? Not sure what to call it, but this is what I've been trying to achieve - a combination of the painting/collage/paper with the embroidery/embellishment. Simple and whimsical, but with depth and texture. I left the edges unfinished so I can make more of these and stitch them together into a quilt.

I needed a hat

to wear for the First Friday artwalk downtown. It's November now, time to put away the cute sandals and bundle up in cute hats. I found this supercute crochet pattern by Melissa Rotert and whipped it up with a skein of Angel Hair yarn that's been hanging around for a while.


The galleries in downtown Spokane hold their opening receptions the first Friday of every month, so I bundled up and headed out with my friends Bridget and Carol to see the sights. These are postcards from 2 of the shows. On the left is a clay tile piece by Alice Fairbanks-Wilcox called Still Want to be Desired, showing at the Kolva-Sullivan Gallery. I love this piece and was very happy to see it was on the postcard. On the left is a collage of works from The Mask Show at Artisan's Wares. Lots of fun, whimsical masks by some of my favorite local artists, including Rik Nelson who makes amazing art from post-consumer recyclables.

You can't always get what you want...

but it sure is nice when you get cookies! Especially yummy spiderweb and pumpkin and ghost and BLACK CAT cookies!


I was having such a good day yesterday. I got some work done at the house in Cheney, I had a nice lunch with my friend Shadan at Chili's, I found this book:


I got two pieces of mail: the new issue of Gourmet magazine and a package from Aunt Susie full of the excellent Halloween cookies pictured above and a pair of black cat socks. And when I got in the car after lunch, Jake Locker immediately threw a 99-yard touchdown pass.


Good things were happening. It was a GOOD day. I just knew my Huskies were finally going to win a Pac-10 game. But no. I was wrong. Once again, a loss at the very end. Drat!

Feeling Fall-ish

I'm generally not a big fall fan. I'm all about summer and fall is when all the lovely sunshine and heat and flowers and bright colors go away. But there are a few things about fall that I really like:

Halloween. When I was a kid, it was all about the costume and the candy and the running around town trick-or-treating with my friends. Now, well, how could I not love a holiday that provides a perfectly acceptable excuse to wear bright orange shirts with black cats on them? So here's a little Halloween-y collage I just finished. It's 8" by 5.5".

Football. Favorite. Sport. Ever. Football is all wrapped up with happy memories of childhood and family and my dad. We are both obsessed and can discuss our Huskies for many happy hours.

Socks. Now generally, my feet just want to be free. But they are also smallish and way down at the end of my longish legs and they get cold. Snuggling into a cute new pair of socks for the first time each year is as much fun as painting my toenails bright red for the first time in the summer.

See, it always comes back to summer. But I'll go ahead and enjoy fall in the meantime.

Yes Kitten, I agree...

Sometimes you just gotta stop and take a nap.