Murphy's Law

When I was making my Steam Punk postcards for the trade at http://www.postmarkdart.com/ I spent a lot of time searching for the parts, trinkets, images, etc, that I wanted to use.
I went to thrift stores looking for medical books about the heart to take apart so I could use the pages,  I looked for gadgets that I could take apart...and some cheesy quilting related item for a gift exchange with Cave Women.
The results weren't very good.  But I had fun looking at everything and found some other things I didn't want to live without.  Like a brand new, still sealed, set of paint pens.

Last week I stopped at one of the same thrift stores and I found a medical book exclusively about the heart with lots of images, wind-up clocks to take apart for parts and a cheesy little metal sewing machine that was a pencil sharpener.

Apparently God and the universe heard my wishes but they had more important things to do and I was near the bottom of the list.  Which, of course, is right where those types of wishes should be.

Trusting or letting go.

My steampunk cards in the PostmarkdArt trade are ready to mail.  Addressed, stamped, signed, sealed, delivered...I'm yours.  Whose am I?

I've been hesitant about sending out something that I spent so much time on.  I spent hours on the cards but even more hours on my quest to find what I wanted for them.  It was all fun of course, but if the recipient doesn't receive them, well, that would suck the joy right out of it.

So if it gets lost in the mail, that means someone else would have my little piece of art, right?  Well, isn't that still nice, that someone else liked it enough to steal it?  (I believe that's a Federal Offense!)  Someone else wants to enjoy looking at it?  I should be so honored.  Or not?

Today I carefully covered them with removable painters tape.  As I was taping them I felt foolish.  It is suppose to be postmarked art after all, and what challenge is it if I cover it up?  It's not exactly postmarked art if I send it in a box.  Isn't that the same as covering it up?  If I ordered a shirt from a website and when I receive it in the mail, does that mean it's postmarked shirt art?

If I just trust in the Universe, that the card will go where it's suppose to go and if where it goes isn't where I wanted it to go then what?  I was mistaken?  I was presumptuous to think what I want matters to the Universe?  I was dumb enough to not understand where it really was suppose to go?

Or should I worry more because I'm going on and on worrying about something that hasn't even happened and may not happen?

OK. You're right. Tomorrow I will put them in a mail box.  And I will let go.

It's been a long time since I posted!  But that doesn't mean I haven't been doing 'stuff'.
I have spent wayyyy too much time on my Steampunk postcards for PostmarkdArt.
Way too much time on something that could get lost in the mail.
I spent so much time driving around to get my 'parts' for the cards.  Luckily for me Archivers had a nice selection of steam punk and some of them were actually gears!  It looks like most of the other postcard traders also bought the same gears.  I spent time at Home Depot, many thrift stores, JoAnns, Michaels, etc.
I wanted gears, things to take apart, cheap books that had medical 'stuff' in them.  I wanted the type of medical books that have the clear plastic pages showing the different parts of the body.  I found one that only had the whole body.  But I still bought the book and ripped it apart.
So I gave up on that and decided to print my own.  Thankfully in my old couponing days I got free samples of 3M transparency sheets because when I looked for them at the office supply stores they are $60 for the smallest box!
Then I was looking for a copyright-free heart.  I spent way too much time searching the internet, and Dover Publishing.  No luck.  So these 6 hearts belong to some text lesson somewhere.
I printed the heart on the transparencies.  I wanted a blood red fabric for the background.  But then the transparency didn't show up. 
So I also printed the heart on photopaper, cut it out exactly, cut out the center, and colored the white edges to match the heart.  Putting that behind the transparency was perfect. 
I arranged my assorted gear paraphanalia so that it would fit in the cut opening of each of the 6 postcards.
I glued, then handstitched every little gizmo down to the red fabric, backed by interfacing.  I also cut apart the copper sheets I embossed and painted in my previous post.  I glued down the photopaper hearts.
Each postcard will still have timtex (pel-tex) in it I had to cut the center out to accomodate the thickness the gears and 'stuff' were adding to the postcard.  Since each of the 6 cards gears are different I had to cut out each one to match.  I never do anything the easy way!  I fused the red fabric with all the stuff on it to the tim-tex.  For the written side of the card I fused light blue fabric.
Then taking the medical textbooks I added a page and tore out where the heart goes.
Now to assemble them!
Lining up wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, but pounding the eyelets was.  The plastic and metal form you use to pound the eyelets with wasn't fool-proof.  Every one had to be checked and then hammered again to even it up.   I think it said something about 'pound lightly'...are you kidding?  I had to pound the crap out of it!
Then I trimmed them to 4 x 6" and I was relieved to be done!
Now on to van Gogh postcards:

The Crafters Devotional - 365 Days of Tips, Tricks and Techniques...

...for unlocking your creative spirit.
By Barbara R Call.

This book is boosting my creative spirit.  I've borrowed it from the library so I can't take each day to read one devotional, but I try to get through several each day and keep a notebook to jot down the ideas I start to think about.
I've always wanted to make those pop-up cards or books, and she suggests buying a childrens pop-up book and...redecorating it.
She shows you an easy way to draw a labyrinth, which types of tea dye which colors on muslin, how to make color paste paper, using bleach to alter your photographs, inspirational quotes, how to meditate, and on and on.
If someone were to read your journal in 100 years, what would you want to tell them?
What animal keeps occuring in your life?  (Sharon, you're a fish!)

Fun book:
Name Your Link

Copper Sheet Molding

A little of this, a little of that.
A little laundry, a little lazing.
Not getting much done!

. . .

Pillow for Syd

This is one of those quick pillows that you make with 5 squares of fabric.  Put your backing fabric right side up (first picture is back).  And then you fold the other 4 pieces in half, either straight or on the bias (wrong sides together).  This pillow has them folded on the bias.

 Then you lay each folded fabric piece, one at a time, on one side of the backing, going around on all 4 sides.  The first fabric will need 1/2 folded back so the 4th fabric can lay down and then put the 1st fabric back as it was, like a pinwheel.  Pin and sew all the way around the square.  Turn right side out and insert the pillow.  Use or make 2 buttons to coordinate and then stitch the back button to the front button through the pillow, catching all 4 fabrics on the front, and cinch tight and knot.

Heike from Flensburg taught me how to do this!

Lots of fun!

Creativity

The thing that boosts my creativity is laying in bed at night with a drawing pad and crayons (yes, as in crayola!) and just letting things roll out.

I mostly use crayons because it reflects my art...basic, simple.

Kindergarden level in my mind.
Because of the crayons I can convince myself that I’m going back to a mental state where I didn't care what it looked like in the end.  It all looked like great art to me. No room for criticism. 
And the delicious smell of crayons; like the smell of lumber, or fresh cut grass (After the gases of the lawn mower blow away!).
And journaling about ideas...you start writing notes on one idea as you go along and then a bunch more ideas start bubbling up.

Tis' bliss!

Quilling

Yes, quilling.  Not quilting.

I want to try a little bit of it so for Christmas I put some of the tools and a few kits on my Wish List.
This is my first attempt using the instructions that came with the tools.
They are tiny.
I also got a kit of beautiful flowers but mostly I want to do the snow flake kit.

All about Isaac

My favorite nephew Isaac has gotten into some bad habits lately. 
He can't seem to get up before 3 pm.
It's apparent that he likes to sleep on his knuckles.

But when he did get up, he made Christmas Dinner! 

Can you believe it? 

He said he wanted to do it! 

Well then, let's take out double the ingredients so he can make 2 meals for us! 

So here he is, hard at work mixing Grandma's meatballs.

He also put together and baked the Scalloped Corn, and peeled and mashed the potatoes! 
Below is my plate, a normal persons plate...except the meatballs and gravy were passed before the mashed potatoes, so my mashed potatoes are actually on top of the gravy.



But Isaac preferred his mashed potatoes, gravy, meatballs and scalloped corn to be mashed up in one big heap. 

The green beans on the side were added to Isaac's plate by Eric AS he asked Isaac "Do you want green beans?"

Isaac custom made this beautiful train display box for his Grandpa. 

It is so freakin' gorgeous!

Did I tell you I love my nephew? 

He is such a fantastic kid and growing into a generous, thoughtful young man.

Christmas in the Cave

Last night Cave Woman had their Christmas Potluck.  It was such a lovely evening.  Good food and lots of laughter.  I need Sarah to give me the recipe for the India Rice she made...or whatever it was called, is was perfection.
I thought of showing the postcards I've received in my recent trades from Postmark'dArt but I forgot to bring them.  And I remembered to throw my camera in my purse but forgot to take pictures! 

Sharon had her cave perfectly decorated for Christmas, with the little tree in the corner and all her fantastic works of art hanging on the wall like it's a Cave Art Gallery. 
Hey, that's kinda funny, her 'cave art', only not quite prehistoric.     Yet.

Pet Pillow Projects Performance Progresses Prolifically

Pet beds.  Center black pillow is a kitten pillow with my machine quilting pattern Sunrise.

It drives me nuts when I turn a mole hill into a mountain.
When Edith Dalleska said she wanted pet pillows to raise money for animals she proposed that we ('we' being all those with in ear shot) sew two hunks of any fabric together, leaving one end open like a pillowcase, and as we're doing all our quilting, we're just throwing all our threads and little fabric scraps into them and when it's full, sew it shut and we have a pet pillow!
How easy is that?
Sharon Englund is making hers out of scraps of polar fleece and actually has a small (clean!) trash can that she puts the pillow 'case' in as if it was a trash liner.  Then all her threads and scraps go in there and when it's full she sews hers shut and puts in a new 'liner' for the next pillow.
I already had lots of chunks of fabric that I used to practice machine quilting on.  It wasn't a big deal to sew them together and do the same thing.
Then I started looking for scrap fabric to sew together so I could sandwich it to practice machine quilting on just so I could make it into a pet bed.
Then I started looking for old panels, cheaters, and left over blocks and kept going.
Where did my regular projects go?
I don't know.
Now I'm all of empty pet beds.

Green Egg and Ham

We're getting eggs from a neighbor.  All different colors.
Dr. Suess, eat your heart out.

Binding Quilts

A woman generously donated a huge amount of quilting fabric,kits, notions and some UFO's that belonged to her deceased Mother.

Some little UFO's only had a little left to do so Doris and I took them home to finish up and then they can be sold at the MQ Small Quilt Auction next summer.

I added the binding to the little appliqued heart and the Christmas table runner.

 All the items belonged to her Mother, Eleanor Eggan.



Christmas table runner, 44" long