That Jolie Girl

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, I made these cards for my mother and mother-in-law.  I traced the flowers onto card stock and then embroidered the flowers.   It's a bit tricky embroidering paper which can tear easily.  Since I couldn't see from the back side where my needle should go, I made those holes with my needle first which created a guide for my needle.

PackRat Power: The purple card stock is leftover from my wedding invitations 8 years ago.  The white glossy card stock  is from a botched print job from my last job.  They were going to throw out a big box of this paper since one side is printed.  I grabbed it and have been using it for projects ever since.

Each mom got a themed basket.  Cooking for my mother-in-law and spa for my mom.  I am blessed that our families can celebrate together.  We went for a wonderful Italian meal and then met up at my sister's house for presents and chocolate cupcakes (that were to die for!).

Thirty-Four

Today I am another year older.  As I sit here with my cat on my lap, all I can think about is that life is good. .. really good.

Jefferson Dancers

As part of my Birthday present, my sister took me out to dinner and to see the Jefferson Dancers.  This high school dance troupe was started in 1976 and is one of the oldest dance companies in Portland.  I first heard of them when they came to my high school to perform a showcase.   I was hooked after that and saw them religiously for years.  I hadn't been for several years now, so this was a great treat.  They performed several contemporary numbers, but they also did a hip-hop routine, tap dance and the finally was an African dance.  The talent these young kids have is extraordinary.  If you are in Portland, this is definitely something you don't want to miss. 

Wondrous Art Wednesday

Spring has finally come to visit us in Portland.  It's been a very wet winter, but now the sun has arrived.  I choose Andrew Daniel as my artist of the week because his work just makes me think of spring.  I love the colors in his vibrant work.  His paintings just make me happy.  You can see more of Andrew's work on his blog.

Star Pillow

My last sewing class was this past Sunday.  A 14 inch pillow was my final project.  I was happy because the pillow has a zipper and appliqué.   Both are new skills for me.   My pillow ended up a bit too small for the pillow form.  The instructors first gave us the wrong directions.  I think it worked out all right, but you can see my stitches around the edges of the pillow.  I will probably buy a smaller pillow form to correct this problem. 

Here is a close up of the satin stitching around the star.  I probably should have stuck with an easier form like a square for my first try at this, but overall I'm happy with how it turned out.

The back with the zipper.  I was surprised how easy it is to insert a zipper into a project.  I definitely will be doing more of this in the future. 

After class, I came home and made my second pillowcase.  I had the pieces already cut out.  The sewing went pretty fast.  I love having a matching set.

Here is my lovely sewing machine.  We are definitely liking each other more and more.  I was impressed with the fancy machines I saw in class that would let you sew at a super slow speed.  While this and the other fancy features would be nice to have, I'm sticking with my friend for now.  Maybe when I become an expert seamstress, I will look into an upgrade.  I also learned that putting a piece of felt under the spool of thread can help make your stitches look more smooth.  I cut a couple of squares with felt I had and it worked like a charm.

Here is my cute sewing case that I took to class with me each week.  It was a present from my super cool friend. 

Short Fuses Pendants

At last!  More Short Fuses pendants to show.  I made these awhile ago, but am now just getting to show them.  I'm so in love with the butterflies.  I keep telling myself I should move on to different things, but I seem to always come back to them.  I do like the new flowers I'm doing.  Those are a lot of fun.

Pillowcase

I successfully finished my pillowcase in last week's sewing class.  I'm really happy with it and it wasn't too hard.  My biggest problem seems to be controlling the speed of my machine.  If I had my way, it would plug along at a very slow pace.  Since my foot can't seem to figure out how that works, I get a lot of fast, slow and then fast again.  I know this will get better with practice. 

This is the pillowcase on top of my comforter.  The colors blend really well.  I like how the pillowcase has much more blue whereas the comforter has blue as a very subtle accent color.  I have all the pieces cut to make a second case.  I can't wait to have custom pillowcases for my bed.  How fancy!

Wondrous Art Wednesday

Marmee Craft is my WAW artist of the week.  I love the ladies she creates with the long necks.  So elegant and also whimsical at the same time.  Her animals are also wonderful.  I just love her style.  Her blog is also worth checking out. 

Making a Difference

Friday night was the 11th annual Making a Difference Award banquet at the college where I work.  I was nominated for two awards: the Helping Hand Award and the Tender Heart Award.  I won the Helping Hand award.   When I went up to get my award, I received a standing ovation.  The only one of the night.  That was so wonderful.  I don't have a glamorous job, but I am very passionate about doing my job well.  I am so happy to be acknowledged by students and staff for all the work that I do. 

Sensitive Teeth

Rock Star Karen is a moniker I gave my friend years ago.  My sister and I both have a close friend named Karen, so adding Rock Star helped differentiate between the two.  I chose Rock Star because Karen is all things cool and hip (not to mention smart and hot).  She seemed to embody the rock star life.  Now years later, she is a Rock Star.

Yesterday, I got to see Karen front the band Sensitive Teeth in the 2008 Ladies Rock Camp Showcase.  Ladies Rock Camp is a weekend event where you form a band, write a song and perform it in three days.  The proceeds help support Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls.  10 bands performed at Satriycon.  It doesn't get more rock and roll than that. 

I'm so proud of Karen.  It took a lot of courage to sign up for camp and then perform in the showcase.  She can't wait to do this again next year.   I can't wait to see her rock out again!

Wondrous Art Wednesday

Louise from Art and Ghosts is my artist of the week.  She combines digital photography with paintings.  The result is stunning.  I just love the images she creates.  So beautiful!  Her blog is wonderful as well.   Definitely check out her work.

Sylvia Beach Hotel

I was given a gift certificate to the Sylvia Beach Hotel.  The person who gave it to me couldn't use it and it had one week left before it expired.  Luckily we got to use it Sunday, the last day it was valid.  The Sylvia Beach Hotel has rooms themed after different authors.  We stayed in the Herman Melville room.  We had a great view of the beach.  We also had a wonderful dinner there that night. 

Sunday afternoon was beautiful!  It was definitely cold and I needed a coat and a hat to walk along the beach, but the sun was out.  I just love these birds all perfectly in line.

I happened upon this carving while looking for fossils in the rocks.

When we started walking on the beach, it looked like this.  At the end of our walk, it was getting pretty stormy.  We were snug in our hotel room just minutes before it started to hail. 

I am a designer

Just look at my beautiful hat!  I love everything about it; probably because I made every decision even down to the little curve underneath the button.  This hat class was one of the best classes I have ever taken.  I can't begin to give it the justice it deserves or recommend it enough.  Being able to design and bring to fruition my own hat was incredible.  My friend designed a completely different hat and her hat is super cool!  I learned lots of new things in the class from cabling to knitting in the round to sewing two knit pieces together.  The crazy thing is I think I could knit a whole new hat outside of class with the skills I learned.

This is a side view of the hat.  I love my one cable that runs perfectly up the side.  I knitted the brim separately and then sewed it to the body of the hat. 

Double pointed needles were not that hard.  It felt a bit awkward having so many needles, but it wasn't tricky to knit with them. 

I've already started dreaming up my next hat.  This class was an inspiration and just the kick I needed.  Knitting has never been this much fun!

Wondrous Art Wednesday

Aline Yamada is my WAW artist of the week.  As you know, I'm very drawn to birds.  I just love these prints.  They are done in pen and ink with watercolor and then enhanced digitally.  The end result is just lovely.

Sewing Class

Yesterday I started a sewing class offered through PCC.  I have a great sewing machine, but I don't know how to use it well.  So when my friends said they were going to take a sewing class, I jumped at the chance to take it with them.  I brought my machine with me since this is the beast I need to tame.  The first class was all about learning the different parts of your machine, threading it and sewing different stitches (zig zag, satin) to see what the machine can do.  We were sent off to buy supplies to make a standard pillow case and a 14" pillow.  Last evening at Joann's I bought the above fabric for my pillow case and pillow.  I can't wait to start sewing these projects next week.