What smells so good?

"My buh-tt." Sharon Englund answered quickly.

Bustin' a cap':
At Camp Wapo I laughed so hard I peed my pants. Then at Leaning Tower of Pizza after an MCQ meeting I laughed so hard my nose started to bleed!
And what do your best friends do when that happens? What do the people who love you so do when that happens?
They whip out their cell phone cameras and start taking pictures of bloody mess! Well, they did hand me some napkins so I don't get any blood on them.


Me with blood down my shirt...and a wet towel on the back of my neck, somebody said that stops the bleeding.

The Sexy Librarian Dishtowel!

My elementary/highschool chum Annie was in town for the weekend to visit family (cheap tickets $139 RT with fees included!) so her and Roxie came over for dinner last Thursday. To all you who know Roxie, Annie and I, we had a great time talking about you! (giggle)
I embroidered the dishtowel for Annie a while ago, but didn't want to post the picture until I gave it to her.

Blue and White quilt...the back!

Today I decided to start fiddling with the back of the blue and white quilt and oil paint sticks.

This is the one I already painted with yellow. Today I added some blue and green. I'm not sure what I wanted for an end result, so I don't know if I'm happy with the way it looks now. I'll let it dry for a week and then think about it some more.

Daily Art

Tonight was the Minnesota Contemporary Quilters meeting; our speaker was our own Mimi Holmes. And as I expected, she's humorous and she inspires me artistically. I didn't know that she's drawn a self portrait daily for years. Daily art. I feel that experiencing creativity every day is very enlightening. It let's things out of you, good and bad.
I feel like this blog has really helped me work on daily art. To get something done and post it on here is just one more benefit to finishing something. And then there's a record to show you all the little things you do add up to an accomplishment.
I enjoy 'copying' Mimi, she has art that speaks to me. She showed something tonight that I wanted to try but I can't remember what it is at the moment. It will come back to me.
One of her childhood crafts was making hotpads out of those square looms and the knit bands. She discovered that she could whip one of those babies out in 20 minutes so she sewed them together to make a hotpad quilt!
She also brought a very special wallhanging she made to anticipate representing her pain of losing her grandmother...it's something that came out of her very quickly, produced quickly, it's full of emotion, connection and she feels it's one of her best pieces. The feeling of the art pouring out of you is such a fabulous experience. It's all you and nothing else.
Some how I let too much get in the way of that. I'm sure many do the same...real life sets in. What is believed to be 'not necessary' gets pushed to the back burner and 'more important' things get done first. For me, simplifying is the secret. Not that it gets done like that every day, but making life as simple as I can gives me more time to do what makes me happy.
That and taking care of my anxieties, emotional problems, denials, etc.

I've finished repairing the top and back to the quilt from my Grandmother. Now I have to decide cotton batt or wool batt and put it together again. I've set it aside for a while. It can 'rest' until the cotton or wool answer appears more simple to me.

Simplifying my sewing room is a whole 'nother problem. It's packed. And some how I have to get the stuff in the living room into the sewing room because I'm having friends over for dinner on Thursday. I have managed to hem 5 pairs of pants, and I have 4 more to go. It's great...all of a sudden I feel like I have so many clothes! Wooo!
I guess daily art keeps the mending pile down too!

The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness

A true story, ready by the author Joel ben Izzy, is titled The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness.

Still working on the quilt made by Grandma Ouradnik

I'm still chuggin' away on the repairs on this quilt. This photo shows the little circles of fabric I'm machine appliqueing down over the holes from the yarn in the center of every square.

Yesterday I had a fabulous day with Sharon Englund driving up to St. Cloud to visit Carn Lage, but I haven't had time to sit and collect my thoughts on the day. It was lots of laughter, sunshine, pretty white clouds, fabric, repose, fabric, warm wind blowing through the car (not breeze, wind!) and fabric!

Sharon is such a great friend, full of smiles and jokes, thoughtful reflections when we actually dare to speak of something serious, and always finding the humor and irony in life.

Carn has such a full life, she's in 4th gear with the pedal to the metal and yet always when I see her she has a casual easy going disposition. She enjoys life. Still working on her "and still counting" piece (her blog is somewhere in the list here on the right column). I forgot to get some squares and black floss from her before I left to bring to an MCQ meeting. She has other projects going too, but like my life theme lately, not having enough space alters the weave of life. [Although my theme doesn't feel like a 'weave'...more like a hunk of leather!]

My quilt buddies don't know how much they enrich my life. Each and every one of them.