Happy July 4th!

Happy 4th of July everyone!  We're definitely in celebration mode around here...  The weather is BEAUTIFUL and we have family in visiting from out of town.

Our day will go something like this -

Parade in the morning + cookout in the afternoon + fireworks at dusk = the PERFECT way to celebrate :)

Then on to enjoy the nice long weekend, with hopefully some time spent in the studio!

Have a safe and happy holiday everyone :)

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View From My Art Journal

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!  We're having a heat wave here in the pacific northwest... got to 90 today!  As long as it's sunny, I'm good :)  

Spent some time in the studio this weekend (when I wasn't outside soaking up the sun), so thought I'd pop in to share a few pages from my art journal.  I really like how this color scheme turned out! 

We've been tackling some house projects recently, so I haven't had much creative time, but it sure felt good to be back in the studio today :)

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Vintage Love

Happy Weekend Everyone!  We're expecting company tomorrow, so I've been busy getting the house in order around here.  The weather is BEAUTIFUL, 75 degrees and sunny, whoo hoo!  Summer, now that you're finally here, you're more than welcome to stick around for a loooong while :)

After the house is in order, I'll be playing in the studio :)  I recently found this vintage embroidery sample and was also lucky enough to find a coordinating piece of vintage fabric.  Can't wait to see what they turn into!

Have a great weekend everyone :)

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Fresh Picked

I just love summertime :)

Been making a lot of these lately - my "go to" smoothie recipe...

Strawberry Smoothie
(makes 1 large or 2 small smoothies)

1 - 6 oz container Strawberry Yogurt
1/2 cup Milk
1/2 teas Vanilla
2-3 tbsp Sugar
1-1/2 cups Ice
8-10 Strawberries
(if using frozen strawberries, omit the ice)

Mix all ingredients together in a blender or food processor, and enjoy!

Hope your summer is off to a great start :)

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Happy Friday!

Happy Friday Everyone!  I love the start of the weekend, so full of possibilities...  It's supposed to rain here tomorrow - good day to stay in and sew.  I hope to make progress on some fun things I have in the works. Hope to have some "sneak peeks" for you soon!

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Happy Wednesday

Happy Wednesday friends!  Just popping in to say hi.  Hope everyone is having a good week, with lots of time to create :)

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Color Crayon Challenge

The quilt guild I belong to recently hosted a Color Crayon Challenge.  Each member blindly picked three crayons and was challenged to "make something" using all three colors.  It was amazing to see what everyone came up with - we have such a creative group!

My colors were tan, light blue and violet.

Since I've been loving mixed media lately, I decided to create a fabric mixed media book.  I incorporated a mix of techniques, including machine stitching, hand embroidery, painting and stamping.  I wanted the feeling of the book to be free and loose, so I didn't draw out any of the shapes ahead of time.  I just cut and sewed, leaving the raw edges exposed for added texture.

Front Cover

I created each page, and then "bound" the book together by sandwiching stabilizer between two pages at a time and machine stitching around the perimeter.  Then I bound all of the pages together with a large blanket stitch using embroidery floss.

This was such a fun project, and definitely outside of my comfort zone!  I used free motion quilting to sew most of the fabric pieces in place.  I decided ahead of time that I wanted to look to be rough, and it's amazing how much easier it was to free motion quilt when I did not pressure myself to make it look perfect!  A great way to practice your free motion quilting skills.  I definitely look forward to creating more projects like this :)

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