Early morning muse...or late late at night...

1:22 am and my brain is traveling at speeds faster than light. Moving, crazily... Rebound from Benadryl...No signs of slowing. Creativity is flying. Amazing. Who could sleep with all that going on?  Greg is chasing squirrels in his sleep. So,  my sleep has No chance . Sand man where are you?
A  red leather skirt . Size 6..... $7.00  found @ Good Will  yesterday with the tags still on is crying to be cut apart and made into a hobo bag. Will the back zipper not make a great opening to a pocket if it gets cut out right of the right place and sewn onto the bag ? Add  Fabric?. black print? in a stripe? plain? buttons? black leather/suede  flower? Rose? carnation? chrysanthemum? (thank you God for spell check..) What kind of handle?  Red leather from the skirt.  hem?  waist band? Matching red lining...purse lining... what silly stuff to stay awake thinking about...

May the beauty of what you love, be what you do.

From a 3x5 photo  to a 11 x 14 drawing .

Today I worked on a drawing for a  friend. I love drawing children.  Dog fur...not so much...They were both smiling. :)

Any cash that comes from selling art work goes to feed hungry children. So...this picture will feed someone.

Happy Valentines day!!

Just in time for Valentines Day...I found a picture of these cute bags on line. They are so stinkin cute!   So I drafted a  pattern,  and then went shopping in the blizzard .  This evening I made them for our three youngest grand blessings. I hope the post office is not snowed in in the morning, so I can ship them out..

Cute eye glass Case

There were scraps from the turquoise, black and white purse. So I made a couple eye glass cases. I love them! Quilting has taught me to save every scrap no matter how small. Scrap  3 inch squares made the triangle grips for the snap bags. Pull them apart and the bag opens. Let go and it closes.

All in a days work

In the last 24 hours, between cleaning the house and laundry... I made these two bags. I can't decide which one I like the most. They were made from the same pattern. There are pockets on the inside. I am looking for whole sale grommets. They are pretty pricey.

Dear Jane...

Dear Jane,
     Your book came in the mail today, along with a pin featuring a picture of the original Dear Jane quilt that was made during the civil war by Jane A. Stickle.  Brenda Papadakis, who drafted the patterns and wrote the book, signed it "Dear Lynn, Please enjoy your Jane Journey! Brenda :)"   I also bought a book and pin for my Pastors Young wife Ema, who first told me about wanting to make a Dear Jane quilt. Yep...it's all her fault for starting me down the road to Janeville.  She needs to share in this "journey". She is expecting her third child...she may be pretty busy. She dreams about doing it. If she can eek in some time, maybe we can work on a few blocks together.
    I am fascinated. I read the pages and studied the quilt pictures.. I see a trip around the world. A trip around the world in very old civil war fabrics. Each block  is unique. Each block is  painstakingly finished and very creatively done. It is breathtaking. I am so glad it is well preserved in a museum for all to enjoy. Jane's artful  gift to the world. Thank you for the quilt Jane. Thank you  for the challenge Brenda .
      I am sorry to say that the prospect of duplicating the blocks as they are does not excite me in the least. So I set about looking for Dear Jane examples...in different colors
     While searching on line  for Dear Jane quilts, I was amazed to find SEW MANY SITES! Blogs, pictures, fabrics, Dear Jane anonymous,  Dear Jane quilting groups, Dear Jane block of the month. Dear Jane Tutorials. Baby Janes, Amish Janes, pastel Janes, earthtone Janes.   My heart fell in love with a Dear Jane that was made from brights!  Are you surprised?
   I spent an hour or so graphing out the quilt on graft paper to figure out how many squares of each color I would be making. With a Christmas gift card in my pocket, I drove to the fabric store where I  bought mostly tone on tone keepsake fabric brights. There are some already in my stash to add variety :). (So much for  being on a  fabric diet.)  I broke my first New years resolution.

    The fabrics all need to be carefully washed to be sure they are colorfast. Then ironed. Some are stacked here to give you an idea of the color I am using.
    On the back of the quilt, Jane embroidered  a note that says there are 5602 pieces in the quilt.  There are over 200 blocks  in a Dear Jane...this could take some time.
     I am officially a baby Jane now. My sister Chris wants to make this along with me. Another baby Jane.YAY .. Chris...time to get your blog up and running...What colors will  you be using?

 Love,
     Lynn

There are a couple of photos from the green fairy quilts that  have inspired me. You can find them there.

January quilting projects

I finished the crayon geometric quilt this last summer.The second week of January I sewed the  batik strip quilt for grand daughter number 4..  The woodland charm pack quilt is in the making, for a daughter in law...shhhhhh..... It only needs borders.    SEW....off to put on borders!