Good morning

It has been some time since I posted. My son is very very ill and to be honest, I haven't felt much
like doing anything. Things are not going to get better, and soon he will go into hospice.

The type of cancer he has is the most painful and difficult (esophageal) and it has metasticized so he is on heavy pain killers but he is reaching a stage where he is still hurting even with the drugs.

Cancer is such a DREADFUL disease -- I pray that soon they will find a way to stop it early, and especially to understand and be able to deal with it at the beginning.

I will likely not do much posting in the next weeks --

I do want to thank all the WONDERFUL, online friends (hundreds of them - liverally) who are praying for Rob and our family. I have collected l20 postcards from all over the worlds and will donate them to Cancer support for sale at the quilt auction here in Calgary, in November.

The beautiful roses (2 dozen) were given to me by my family for my birthday - They are the same ones I wore for my wedding 54 years ago and meant so much at this difficult time.

Please keep us in your prayers.

MY TOP IS FINISHED

I placed two birch trees on the side of the landscape and thread painted some shrubs. I am quite happy with the
results. I still have to square it off and put a backing on it as well as a binding and label. I am happy it is finished as I started it before the Big Sky retreat, and due to illness in the family it has taken me until now to finish it. It sat for a month without being touched. It will be sold at the
Quilt Auction for cancer support in November.

I have decided to try a floral which is out of my comfort zone a bit. I am also getting a thread painting class organized so finally I am starting to feel normal. It doesn't change anything but I decided the only one who could get me back on my feet is me. I am going to work on the thread painting projects and the floral this next month.

Thankfully, Julie in the learningfa group has kindly taken over the reigns on the group and I am able to drop by when I feel I can. It is so helpful to know that the group is in such good hands - the girls are so wonderful in that group.

I would strongly recommend that you visit Val Hearder's blog - just click on the side bar. She
lived in South Africa for years and goes back and teaches to the women there. She has posted the most
interesting video of her last visit - it shows the wonderful, colorful work that the african ladies do.

I would love to go with her on her next trip. oh well - it is great that she brings back such wonderful pictures. Shirley

Work in progress

I started this wall hanging in June, and FINALLY finished the main portion of this winter wall hanging. I still want to put some snow and birches on the wider side. It will be one of the quilts I will sell for
Carma house at the auction in November. I have made up my mind I am going to do my best to get back to normal. I don't remember a time in my life where I wanted to do NOTHING! I think I have allowed myself to get into a bit of a depression and decided today to stop it. grin.

I will now cut a few 3/4" strips of timtex for my trees and will lay a snow drift on the bottom left hand side
of the piece. This will give it a 3 dimensional look.These winter scenes sell quite well so I hope to
raise more money for Wellspring (Carma house). I give 50 - 75% of the proceeds to Carma and the rest buys my fabrics etc.

I am also getting together my thread painting workshop - the 4th I will have taught on learningfa and have decided to do some different subjects to make. I think this is such a good series and want to make it interesting for the students. We will start with thread painting some flowers, some birds and animals and then into landscapes - showing how thread painting can really enhance the work.

I also put up a class to be taught this winter if things go well, showing how to do a jean shirt with a scene or floral arrangement on it. So I am getting myself together and trying to get at least partly back to work.

I also hope to do more of my l2" square scenes - I hope to have more for the auction. So I am setting some goals for myself which I really need. I will post the scene once I have the birches added. Shirley

More crazy patch

here are the last of my photos of my crazy patch.

MY CRAZY PATCH WORK

I got interested in crazy patch a couple of years ago and made some pieces for myself and a few for gifts.

Here is some of the work.

here are some more

I also painted table cloths a few years ago - using acrylic craft paint with textile medium. Here is another one of Betty's jean jackets as well as others in the class. This was a few years ago at the Western retreat. I also did a lot of pottery, mostly hand built, while at the park in Mesa Arizona. I loved doing the hand pottery. In fact, as you can see from my work I love to do all kinds of new things as long as I can design my own. I am going to gather pictures of my crazy quilting and put them in a post as well. Enjoy! Shirley

CLASS WORK OVER THE YEARS

Ihave taught a lot of classes over the years. Many have been showing people how to make pictures on jean shirts or different types of jackets. The ones shown here are my friends Betty and Isobel who took a class from me at Big Sky retreat. Isobel's vest is very attractive and Betty's jean shirt looks wonderful. We had a lot of fun in this
class. That is me peeking over Betty's
shoulder.

I also taught a lot of landscapes
over the years
and here are a few pictures of he results.
I love teaching the thread painted chickadees and other birds. I love teaching - it is very satifying when you see someone make something that they are proud of. These are only a few of the pictures but it gives you an idea of what people are capable of if they are interested in accomplishing something.

GOOD MORNING - I spent a lot of time

a few years ago, painting and appliqueing jackets and skirts and teaching lots of classes. I decided to show you some of the pieces I did and still wear. I hope you like them. I
also did a lot of knitting - designing my own sweaters.
The jacket was done about 4 years ago and I wear it quite often. The jean shirts have been well worn too. I have taught a lot of classes decorating jackets and shirts. I found that the students in my class really liked doing the forest and the floral scenes. I am also thinking about teaching the girls in learningfa how to put a scene on a jean shirt once things
are easier for me. Right now I am doing mindless work (checking
old photos, working on a wall hanging etc.) I will do a post on pictures of wall hangings my students have done, as well as some jean shirts.

My I enjoy posting on this blog! I hope you will comment and let me know if you enjoy my old work. grin. Shirley

More of my work

I am posting more pictures of work I have done over the years. All the pieces are original (I am not a pattern person (grin)).

I taught a class using the plastic canvas and various yarns - We used a southwest theme and the bags were wonderful. I wonder whether the girls on learning fa would be interested in making one of these bags. I used my two bags for nearly l0 years.

Good Morning

I have been organizing my photo albums and found a few more pictures of my work and decided to
post them to addto the stepping stones.

Here are two photos of tv tables I made for friends. I have 2 or 3 here as well and they are conversation pieces. I took a silversmithing course in Mesa and designed and made m y own Jewelry - I still wear it all the time. I did a couple of pieces for a store in Scotsdale and they wanted more, but we had decided to come home and stay for the winters so I didn't follow up. I will post some more pictures of other things I have made over the years.

Hi everyone!

I haven't been blogging much this past 8 weeks as we have been dealing with a lot of stress due to the illness of my older son. Things have settled down and he has found an excellent physician who is over seeing his treatment. As a result I am feeling more like getting back to work.

I have been checking out some of my stepping stones which were a major project for me for 4 years. I used original designs cutting out glass and putting them face down in a mold - then pouring fine cement over them and letting them dry. I taught the stepping stone class while we were in Mesa and made and sold the stepping stones (Usually by private orders) for people who wanted specific themes. We had a cottage in Central Alberta and I had a little shop. Here are some of the stones I made. As we are living in a condo, I am not doing stained glass any more. I hope you enjoy looking at them.