Our new addition to the family

I've been busy playing and taking care of Riley. I can't believe it will be a week tomorrow that he came home. He sure is a lot of work but also lots of fun and what a character!!

These are pictures that we took a couple of days ago. He is really starting to fit in and get comfortable here.



Ginger still hasn't gotten used to him although she tolerates him more now than when he arrived home. At least she can be in the same room as him now. She has the attitude of "If I can't see him, he isn't there" She spends a lot of time studiously looking the other way.


So, needless to say, I haven't spent much time working on any projects. I have been watching Quilting Arts TV DVD's (series 400) which my mom got for me for my birthday. I also been watching Quilting Arts Workshop, "Print, Collage, Quilt" with Melanie Testa and Cloth, Paper, Scissors Workshop, "Layer by Layer" with Beryl Taylor. It is great to see some of the things actually being done in "Print, Collage, Quilt" that I read about in Melanie's book " Inspired to Quilt".

For my Birthday, Kara, gave me "Art + Quilt, Design Principles and Creative Exercises" by Lyric Kinard. It has some great exercises in it. I just have to take the time to actually do them.
Before Christmas, I bought myself "Intuitive Color & Design" by Jean Wells. This also has some really go exercises in it. I love the abstract look of her quilts.

Time to get to bed so I can get up at 4:30 to go to work.

New Book

I don't have any new work to show but I ran across this book, "Stitching to Dye", by C June Barnes. I don't know if it has been reviewed anywhere and I just missed it but this book is great!!! She creates quilts with different white fabrics, stitches it, manipulates it and creates texture in the fabric then dyes it. The pieces she shows in the book are wonderful. So much color and texture. So many possibilities to play with!! I love her use of zippers in her work.
If you haven't seen her work go here to her website.

New Book

Yesterday I recieved Gloria Hansen's book, "Digital Essentials". I've started reading it and love it. It's written in an easy way for the normal, non-techie person to understand. Having a book that is directed toward quilters is great. It answers questions that a quilter might have about printing onto fabric, putting photos up on the web, submitting images to a quilt show and lots, lots more. This will definately be one of the most used books in my digital library! If you are interested in it, go to Gloria's web site at the link above to learn more about it.

The Fiber Divas get together this afternoon. I'm really looking forward to it! We will try to figure out our schedule for this year and plan our challenge. The sky is nice and clear so we won't have to worry about cancelling again because of snow!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!! I hope that everyone had a wonderful day. The kids had us up early this morning. This morning Kara made the breakfast casserole which was nice for me and the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. The kids prefer those over Gary's homemade ones! After opeing presents, I spent quite a while cooking even though I did a lot of preparation yesterday. Here's Kara opening one of her many books she recieved. Everyone recieved 1 or more books and we will pass them around. We all like the same type of books.

Here's Alex watching Kara. I didn't take as many photos as I usually do so didn't have many to pick from.

These are 3 books I recieved. I had a lot of quilt and craft books on my Christmas list. On After seeing Terri's wrapped bowls and Vicki's wrapped coasters and bowl, I really wanted to give it a try, so I put "It's a Wrap" by Susan Breier on my list. I also recieved "The Uncommon Quilter" by Jeanne Williamson and "Twenty to Make - Beaded Felt Jewelry" by Helen Birmingham.

Lots of stuff to get inspired over!!