My Crafty Little Mind Externalized and Materialized

Starry Night Cathedral Windows

ABC Toddler Quilt (made with scrappy fabrics)

Tote Bag ( from a friends UFO projects)

Denim Pocket Bag  (Repurposed Tommy Hilfiger Dress Top)

Autumn Leaf Mug Mat  ( one of four)

Happy Leopards Childrens Quilt

What is it? A Tabletopper? A Door Mat? A Super-sized Placemat? A Cat Mat?

Asymmetrical Thingamagig

Closer Up

This is what can happen when you decide to take some tote bag straps you made earlier with canvas fabric, & make something else with them. "It" measures 30" W. x 15" H.. The rust colored straps have since also been cut up for two placemats. I'll try to get some asymmetry going there on purpose, but we'll have to see about that. ;-)

Listening...

"Everyone needs a good listening to."

Pillow Ticking Bias Binding Becomes Eco Chic Women's Pouch

Pillow Ticking Women's Pouch

I dunno...I "kinda really sorta" like the way this pouch turned out. I will have to consider making one for myself one of these days. The exterior is made of rows of pillow ticking bias binding leftover from another sewing project sewn onto the interior fabric, with a layer of cotton batting sandwiched in between. The interior fabric, including the pocket, is what's left from a wallhanging (previous post), the red button came from Goodwill, and the Angel zipper charm was won in a Listia auction.

Cat Naps and Human Cat Mats

Afternoon Snooze

This looks like a shot from a grainy foreign film. The cat is accustomed to getting into my lap when I'm sitting in my hickory rocker taking a little break, or on the sofa watching a Netflix movie in the evening. This is the first time he wanted to snooze while I was lying down. He was uncomfortable with his first position...but you know cats. They figure it out!

Taupe Cathedral Windows wall art

This is one of those wallhangings that was not preplanned . It began with using a linen dress for the frames. Then the frames sat in a drawer for probably a year, or maybe even more. I kept loving on em....something about the sagey-grey colors feels restful to me. A few months ago I did buy several fat quarters that I thought might be suitable for insets, borders, etc.  And last week I began working on completing the piece. Scrounged around in my bias binding drawer yesterday & latched onto the navy and taupe stripe binding. The second photo of the quilt looks wonky...photography is so not my forte!

Intriguing Tangram Placemat

Looking straight at it this simple quilt design looks like bowties, but takes on an elongated stars look at an angle! (found the placemat at Goodwill & had to bring it home!)

Taking the New Cat Mat for a "Test Drive"

Testing, testing....

This is fabric I bought at Yardsellr.com with free photons. The batting was a machine quilted silk blanket from the neighbor's trash. The silk fabric was worn but the cotton batting is very thick & perfectly intact...makes a very nice weight cat mat.

Happiness Unhappiness v.s. Joy

Yesterday's insight:  *Happiness is a chemical in the brain which I experience by "doing" for others. After awhile the brain auto-corrects & balances out, which explains the cycles of happiness/unhappiness and the need to do something again to feel happy. *Joy comes by opening the heart & releasing one's Essence. The supply is endless & does not require "doing" for others. *I got the visual of a window in the heart area. Upon opening it rainbow colored butterflies (representing Joy) flew out & went everywhere. ~Sarah July 18, 2011

One Definition of Success

“To live well, to laugh often, to love much, to gain the respect of intelligent people, to win the love of little children. To fill one’s niche and accomplish one’s task, to leave the world better than one finds it whether by an improved flower, a perfect poem or another life ennobled. to never lack appreciation of earth’s beauty or fail to express it, to always look for the best in others, to give the best one has. To make one’s life an inspiration and one’s memory a benediction. This is success.” 
(variation of the original)




"A door opens in the center of our being and we seem to fall through it into the immense depths which, although they are infinite, are all accessible to us; all eternity seems to have become ours in this one placid and breathless contact. Where already, supernatural instinct teaches us that the function of this abyss of freedom, which has been open within our midsts, is to draw us utterly out of our own selfhood and into its own immensity of liberation." ~Thomas Merton

facebook wisdom

‎"At some point you will realize that you have done too much for someone, that the only next possible step to do is to stop. Leave them alone. Walk away. It’s not like you’re giving up, and it’s not like you shouldn’t try. It’s just that you have to draw the line of determination from desperation. What's truly yours will eventually be yours, and what's not, no matter how hard you try, will never be." ~ L. D. D.

via: Kitty Ackerman Armstrong on facebook

Christmas in July Sale

CIJ10 is the "Christmas in July" Discount Code for the month of July. Enter it upon checkout for a 10% discount on your selections! For more see my etsy store: Christmas in July Sale .

Sweet Geranium Cathedral Windows Wallhanging

Cathedral Windows

Sweet Geranium by Free Spirit

Finished today! This is the first black background I've tried with the Cathedral Windows.  For more than 10 years I refrained from using black because I thought it would be too fatiguing for my eyes, and discovered much to my surprise, that it actually was not!

I Have a Heart Shelf!

A Goodwill  Shelf

Today Fred installed the wall shelf. It was a Goodwill find that fits my needs perfectly. My needs being that of having something attractive to hang my tote bags onto for photo ops. Little things like this actually make me feel quite happy!

Floating Petals and Reclaimed Linen....

My latest....

For all the little details click....this link!

Fiber of America Etsy Treasury

One of sixteen photos in a treasury collection featuring fiber art and craft handmade in the U.S.of America.

http://www.etsy.com/people/hatchettdesigns

For the rest of the treasury click ... Fiber of America Etsy Treasury

Rocky Mountain size Floral Pancakes

Yesterday I finally cut the floral piece of fabric I've been mooning over for months - thought I had enough to make 4 zippered zafu covers. Not so fast! Turns out there was enough for the eight circles, but not enough for the sides, which incidentally I did not notice till this morning. (continued at bottom)

Pair of Round  Floral  Pillows

Another View

OK...now there will be two zafu covers, and these two (Rocky Mountain size) floral pancakes.

The "Rocky Mountain size" thing...I thought you'd wonder. Years ago my parents went on a cross country trip to Colorado with my Mom's sister and her husband. One thing I remember they said was that the further west they travelled the larger the breakfast pancakes were.

Gingko Cathedral Windows Quilted Wall Art Raffle

"Gingko Fantasy"

Gingko Cathedral Windows Wall Art

Mostly handstitched and handmade by me in 2005, this quilt is being donated & raffled off this year to benefit the Old Miakka Schoolhouse's ongoing Restoration Fund. The Old Miakka Schoolhouse is the only original one-room schoolhouse left in Sarasota County. The Community Club members are once again hosting the Hootenanny, their one annual fundraiser, this fall on October 2nd.  For last year's blog post about the schoolhouse see: http://earthnsky8d.blogspot.com/2010/02/old-miakka-schoolhouse.html

Same Quilt - Another View




Raffle tickets are available for $1.00 each. If you are interested in purchasing one or more please ask for my mailing address in a comment. You will need to send a self-addressed stamped envelope with your postal money order, or if you want to pay in postage stamps the club is always needing postage stamps too. Or, we can use Paypal to receive payment, too, with a small fee added to cover Paypal's commission & postage for the tickets. No need to be present to win.  

Hirsute Spider

Hirsute Spider

Not liking it...he's in my bathroom ......it's gotta be a "he" with those hairy legs, right? I want someone to remove him to the exterior of the house unharmed. That would only solve the problem for a while because there are more in the house. OK, Fred has responded to my request for removal. He says its just a little one. That must be the boy in the man speaking....

Buddha Nature - 喜多郎 Kitaro