Spellbound: The Event

Spellbound, a Gilded Life Event was held in November 2012 in The Langham Hotel in Pasadena California. I will not go on about how opulent it was, I'll just post some pictures and you deduce what you will.

The Langham Hotel was truly the perfect setting for a Shea and Debbie event...

 

The property is smack dab in an old Pasadena neighborhood through which I took a quiet walk whilst California showed off its weather.

The name tag. Yep, name tag..

Welcome dinner make and take was this sweet pouch.

Here with my Kaari class bracelet and the goodie bag. Yep, bag...

Place setting for lunch...

My necklace from class with JoAnna Pierotti...

Stitching goodies from Pam Garrison.

My project which will become a journal cover rather than a wall hanging...



My Kristen Robinson project is unfinished. I was having a hard time soldering that day but the bracelet project is beautiful with lots of nice components she supplied.

Michele Muska. Oh what a lovely surprise she was.

I made the ladies a little mix {tape} as a gift...

The plan is to hold second annual Spellbound Event November 2013.

Chances are quite good I will not be able to resist...

Spellbound: French General

It had been a year and a half since I attended an art retreat. The last one was shortly after mother died and I amazed myself with the good time I had. Of course it was about the people, the place, the projects and activities. And food...
It was Art of Spring at the Church in Dallas hosted by Debbie and Shea of The Gilded Life.

I had decided to choose one event per year because you can't go to everything but I always want to. I kinda didn't want to do another Gilded retreat simply to change it up. But I chose their event again because it is a sure thing, it will be good, it will be worth the money and it will be low stress because they think of everything. So I chose Spellbound...

The night before Spellbound, held in Pasadena, California, was a Soiree at French General hosted by Kaari Meng. I have a love affair with Kaari, well, it's just me involved but I think she'll come around.

I always go to Kaari's classes for the following reasons:

1.   French General products and quality are second to none.

2.   She is friendly, funny, engaging and a calm teacher.

3.   Nothing is required. all the tools and components are there.

4.   You will walk away with a completed project that is usable and high quality.

5.   Also I love Kaari.

It was a delight to be in her Riverside, California brick and mortar store...

I couldn't even look at the Wall of Beads in Jars for about an hour and a half.

 

Make and takes.

What I bought.

The class I took with Kaari at the Spellbound event itself, her Bijou bracelet. 

Over 70 beads and charms.

See what I mean?

 

Sweet postcard make and take of French General for Jolee's Boutique.

Dee-lish my sweet sweet Kaari...

I alway act like such a goofball around her...and also everybody.

 

1600 Inches with Mrs. Hilfiger

I am so very happy to have gotten back to my machine.  I have been mostly sewing on paper for a long while but my great love is quilting really and I had forgotten just how good it feels.

1600 Inches Quilt by Jemellia



I enrolled in an excellent class at out premier quilt shop Quiltworks, turns out the teacher was my best bird Jemellia.

The class quilt is made with a 'jelly roll' or 1600 inches of two inch wide strips packaged as a roll. I used Rouenneries Deux from French General, but of course.

Let's take a moment and be reverent...

Je was a great teacher, really, she is such an excellent seamstress and whisperer of fabric. and that's not just for the whoopie pies...handmade whoopie pies...

Dear Lord, thank you for my sewing machine, hands and time...

Here is my completed quilt top in the entry.

Oh Spencer, get offa that!

And finally, speaking of naughty boys...April 11 is my beloved father's birthday. What a great dad he was. I love this picture of him (middle) in the Armed Air Forces. He and a couple of buddies about 1941 "half-tight" before their European sorties during WWII.

That optimism is bittersweet.

My Cosmo Ya'll and Post 200 Giveaway

My girl Jemellia is quite the seamstress and fabric is really her thing. She is hosting a Monthly Bag Challenge using the Amy Butler book Style Stitches.

Having never sewn a bag or used a pattern before, I took a class at the local quilt shop, Quiltworks, with my buddy Leslie using the Amy Butler Birdie Bag pattern on Friday. I chose to use a French General fabric with a bird on it for my first ever sewing project of this kind.

It went so well! I was thrilled with the outcome.

I thought "Oh my gosh, I am good at this!"

And then...

The Cosmo bag... I chose this Dena Fishbein blue with birds, of course, from Hawthorne Threads. Love their website.

Just so you know, Amy lists this as the first bag and calls it easy. I could gouge her eyes out for that. Thank God Leslie had shown me how to do the Birdie bag or I could never have figured out much of this pattern.

That last step was horrible, ridiculous and the wonkiest stitching of all is right there in the handle of the finished product. I am still reeling from the beastly ghastliness of it. Other members of the bag challenge produced some lovely bags and they can be seen in the Flikr group. Not everyone is as surly as me about it!

That's why its called a challenge and thus I am more determined than ever to complete all 12 bags this year but only because Birdie is so cute! And by Birdie I do mean Jemellia.

Giveaway!

This is my 200th post. I would like to celebrate. I feel like shipping out that Cosmo bag but I have as much time in it as it takes to get a Master's Degree, so no. I will however put together a little surprise package of ephemera to one of you, something like what you see above. Please leave a comment here to enter. Entry will close at midnight Thursday, 3 February, 2011. I will announce a winner by random drawing on Friday.

Thank you for coming here!

Must Make Pretty Things

My last post was about the 'r' word. Please read it if you have not. If you did read it, thank you. If you read it and commented, thank you, thank you. If you read it, commented, admitted you had used this word and will rethink use of it, I am deeply touched by your candor. If you said you would talk to your children about use of this and other words, then you have changed the world.

We changed the world.

Life has lots of ugliness built in to it. There is pain, sadness and ugliness. This is why we make pretty things, isn't it? In God's image, we create beautiful, interesting things, driven to do so.

On my return from Silver Bella, I had only unfinished projects. I was impressed that Jackie Peters decided to finish a project daily and post about each all week on her blog. She is so driven, efficient and productive. It feels good to produce. It feels good to make something pretty. It is very important. This is often called craft. 'Crafting' is starting to sound like a bad thing. Arts and Crafts, art vs. craft. Craft used to mean a lifetime's work, a honed skill. A craftsman. What if it is the work of a woman's hands? Creating and producing, making beautiful things. Calming herself, restoring her soul.

I have had some drive amidst the knit, knit, knitting I have been doing to get on with the projects from Silver Bella. One was Teresa McFayden's group project called Art Sisters. It was to be 2 x2 inch squares set in a frame. I found it very difficult to get much done on site. Also, if I make something, I need some incubation time to figure out what I would actually want hanging around my house. I do try to edit. Some people have no such obstacles and busted out some astounding things. This from Karla Nathan, a fully decorated frame. !

  

Danielle Muller. Oh Danielle. Look how gorgeous this is. And complete. How do people do that? It creates a little competitiveness in me. It also gives that negative voice something to work with. Mostly, however, it is like watching an athlete perform the unbelievable, it inspires me.

I love Danielle's quiet and lovely piece. Also, Danielle is cute all over.

I decided to take the Art Sisters chunks I did complete and combine them with my Junque Journal swap. Sheila Rumney completed the front and gave us the back of the journal covered in music.

I added my Art Sisters to the very back journal cover.

I added the remaining project contents and intructions to the inside face of the back cover. I intend to build the journal from my swap packages.

While I did not take the Kaari Meng necklace class, I purchased the kit. I had some time one late afternoon recently. I rarely work in our library but the afternoon sun called me to this spot and I worked from here.

Here is my necklace and it is fabulous.

From left over pieces, I made these earrings.

I found a beautiful place to sit. I am grateful to have a beautiful safe place to sit. I create beautiful things. Thank you hands, grateful for time.

Grateful for this blog.

Thank you dear reader. I feel inspired by you and these beautiful things.