Valentine Collage #5

Here is another of the Valentine collage series. Of all the ones I have posted so far, which one should I donate to the auction (or which is your favorite)?

Valentine Collage #4

Valentine Collage #3

Another Valentine Collage

The quote says, "Let your heart be your compass, your mind your map, your soul your guide and you will never get lost."

I have completed six of these Valentine collages. I will put one up each day. They are for sale but I haven't decided yet which one I will be donating to the Valentine for Aids auction.

Time Well Spent

I must apologize for not writing for a few days. This week Anna is on a week-long school field trip, which means I have been trying to make the most with my free time. She left Monday morning and will return Friday afternoon. They are only about 2-1/2 hours away in McCall studying at the McCall Outdoor Science School. Her teacher has been posting pictures on the internet. And although Anna does not appear to be in her "group", it is fun to see how things are going there.

This is the first time Anna has been away from both Frank and me for more than one night. She was very excited to go, but on Sunday, she also admitted she was nervous. She was going to miss Big Cat, her favorite animal that has traveled with us everywhere (and our website namesake). It was the first time he has not gone with her overnight. We thought it would safer for him given how many sixth graders would be there. I told her not to worry, Big Cat would be with us. She said, "Well, I'm going to miss you, too." I said, "Wow, you're going to miss us?" and she said, "Well, duh!" She was also going to miss her hamster, Clare.

While she has been gone, I have been trying to spend my time well. I have been working on the, aforementioned, online class and I have spent some time working on a series of Valentines collages. Here is one that I have completed. One will be donated to the local Flying M Valentine for Aids auction, in which I have been participating for about 10 years now.


The quote says, "Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave but not our hearts." Hmm, I guess that is pretty appropriate for this week while Anna is away. A little bit of our hearts are in McCall right now.

Affirmation Card #3

Here is another one of my affirmation cards. Making them as a little piece of art really makes it more exciting to me.

Affirmations

With a last minute decision, I decided to sign up for one of Alyson Stanfield's online classes. It just started and is helping me set goals for my art and inspiring ways to achieve them.

One recent assignment was to create some affirmations for myself. Alyson showed us a few of the cards she made one year by hand (not on the computer). There was no requirement that it had to be anything creative, but I thought it would be more fun that way. So here are two that I have made so far.


I'm hoping if I repeat them enough, it will become true (especially that second one!).

Resolutions?

Well, I've had almost an entire week to think about resolutions/goals/intentions. Each of those seem a little bit different to me. Resolutions seem like guidelines for what you want in your life. Goals seem to me to be more specific with, maybe, a time-line as well. Intention feels like how you intend to act toward the previous two. I haven't looked this up in a dictionary. These are just my definitions.

I've been reading on blogs and in papers about resolutions, etc. Some people also like to choose a word to guide them through the year. This year I have decided that my "intention" is to Be Open. That's two words to guide me and it can mean many things.
Be open. . .
to new ideas,
to new opportunities
to creativity
to transition
to change (is that the same as transition?)
to mistakes
to others
to yourself
to accept peace and simplicity in life
and so on and so on.

I also have "resolutions" which include working more on my art. I definitely have goals. They are usually a to-do list and concentrate on the smaller or more specific things. But I don't think I need to list them all here.

Flannel Frenzy

Here is another UFO finished. Sorry, the pictures aren't so great. Another flannel quilt that was already pieced and sitting in the closet. I was able to do free motion quilting on this (although it probably would have been better to just stitch in the ditch). The seams were flatter and the back is one piece. I did loop-de-doops around the trees and in the border with a variegated red, green and white thread. You can see a little better in the second photo.



Have you been noticing a trend here? I think I had a flannel fetish some years ago. I still have a flannel quilt to finish for Anna. The blocks are ready but it is not pieced yet and the border needs to be made. I also had a flannel quilt in mind for my own bed. I have the fabrics and had cross stitched some center squares for a log cabin design, but nothing is pieced yet. In addition, I have another flannel quilt that you quilt as you sew. I'm not sure if I have any fabric cut for that yet or not. I'll have to dig it out and see. If not, I might abandon that one.

Yes, I am trying to finish up my old projects. I frequently get stopped at the quilting stage, with these more traditional quilts, after the top has been pieced. I don't know what to do with the quilting and doing these bigger pieces is really not fun on my regular machine (the flannel ones get heavy, too). When I finish these, I won't be making traditional quilts anymore, unless it is an extreme, rare case.

This year my intention is to really focus more on my artwork. I want to get the old stuff finished up or out of the way so they won't be looming in my brain anymore and I can move on to new things.

Welcome 2009 . . .

. . . welcome a new beginning, new opportunities, new friends, new ideas, creativity, simple things, love and peace. Happy New Year to you!