About Me

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I've been making things since I was very young. My first-grade notebooks are full of doodles and drawings. My mom sewed, and on her classic black and gold, 1945-era Singer, I started sewing pieces of fabric together, then doll clothes, and by 7th grade I was making my own dresses for school. I began college in 1968 as an Art major, and continued to experiment with many different media. As a young married woman (age 20!) I began making all my gifts at Christmas time for family members: ornaments, stuffed animals, and many other things. I made curtains and re-upholstered furniture for all the houses we lived in. I took inspiration from every source: magazines and books, nature, museums, stores and TV shows. I've tried pottery, oil painting, water-color painting, fabric crafts of all kinds, knitting, crochet, paper collage, beading and jewelry making, shell crafts, furniture painting, paper-mache creations, doll-making, quilting.....you name it, I've probably given it a try. I still get excitement from seeing something that makes me think, "I CAN DO THAT!!", and I go home and get started.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Cold Weather Works

Frigid valley temperatures have given me the opportunity to work on lots of new projects.  New crocheted totes, wrap bracelets, and a batch of Valentines Day stones for the Arts Center Shop.
  I love working on these, but am looking forward to getting outside.  It's so cold I can barely finish a 40 minute walk.  In another week we'll be back in Arizona and southern New Mexico for some sun and golf.  More pictures to follow of a couple other projects in progress!







Saturday, October 27, 2012

Memory Crafts

A few years after my sister's husband passed away, we began to think about making some "memory crafts" from the many shirts and other clothes he left behind. 

(It's something that some girlfriends and I had done many years back when we made pillows out of some wool jackets that were left after a loved one's passing.  Back then we thought we would create a business, and call it "Memor-ease"....that never happened.)

Anyway, I gathered a selection of dress shirts, and began to design things.  I made various pillow covers, and when a new baby arrived in the family, I designed and made him a quilt with shirt fabric from the grandfather he would never get to know.  I also created some aprons, and covered a small box with shirt fabric and buttons.  


Small sewing box covered in shirt fabrics & buttons


                     Apron constructed of three different shirt fabrics


I copied the doggie patterns from some baby p.j.s that I bought, drew patterns and cut all the pieces.  Then, ironed on and machine-appliqued each piece.



THE FINISHED QUILT, minus a bit of personalization that I added at the end.


The shirt fronts make great backsides for pillow, complete with button closure


This was a flannel shirt; the red and blue appliques came from other solid-colored shirts.

 I originally started this post almost two years ago, and found it as a draft in my list of posts.  I remember now that I didn't want to post it until I had given all these gifts to their recipients.   I decided to go ahead and post this now, hoping to inspire you to re-purpose materials  that will always spark memories of someone dear.