"Light Reading"

I haven't been very successful at treasuries in the past, most of the time they expire without much attention. When I created my treasury a few days ago I was quite surrprised at the attention it got and of course I was very pleased to see so many comments and clicks putting it on the second page of the "hotness" list. The last time I viewed it there had been over 90 views,which was very exciting for me.

A successful treasury brings exposure to a group of artists, but I believe the key is to find a title and theme that will interest a variety of people. My "Light Reading" treasury was a play on words that highlighted the work of quilted journals and lamps, some of which were handmade and some vintage. I am never bored and always amazed at the creativity of some of the artists on Etsy, when lightexture can take a steamer ,that I use often to steam my broccoli, and create a beautiful wall sconce, well that is creative in my eyes.



I will continue to "hunt" for the unusual and try to find other creative titles to bring attention to some more wonderful artists.

Happy Independence Day

Its the 4th of July but it is just another day here at home. Today we will just veg out on the couch and watch tv, visit with family and later this evening watch the fireworks show at the nearby military base. We are lucky to live close enough that we will be able to sit on our back deck and not have to fight the crowds of people or cars to the see the fireworks.

I am proud to be an American especially when I remember the days of living in West Berlin and knowing that there was only a wall that separated such different ways of life. As a military spouse I was allowed to cross into the "East" on sightseeing tours and could even drive my POV (privately owned vehicle) across to shop, visit museums or to eat at one of the restaurants that were frequented by "westerners".

It was always so obvious that life was very different on the "other side", even the weather seemed more dreary. Of course that could have been because of the lack of color around you. In the West there were buildings with flower boxes in the windows with blooms that seemed to overflow from their containers, bright colors in the shop windows and an abundance of things to do. In the West people seemed happier and of course more expressive of views and ideas. Those were the days when I really began to realize what it meant to be an American, what freedoms we took for granted and how easy it was to ignore the fact that not all people lived like we did.

That was so many years ago and now there is no longer East and West Berlin but just Berlin. I left there in 1984 and returned in 1995 after the "Wall" came down. Life seemed so different and it was like visiting a new city instead of revisiting a former home. It has been so many years but the memories of "East" Berlin still come to mind when I think of how proud and thankful I am to be an American. My husband spent 26 years serving his country as an active duty soldier before he retired a few years ago, there were many holidays that were spent separated because he was enroute to a duty station or was on deployment. I am very proud of my husband for his time in service to his country and I am very proud to have been a military spouse.

I thank all of those that serve and all of the families that on this day are home alone waiting for the return of a loved one from a land so very far away. May God watch over your soldier, keep him/her safe and return them to the loving arms of family and friends.

May the freedoms that these brave soldiers make possible for us be remembered and appreciated on all days not just today. If you have a friend or family member that serves post a comment and let me know what you are doing today.

4th of July Weekend Sale

4th of July Weekend Sale -- 10% off on all totes, purses, wristlets and coin purses.


I finished off my Retro Pink Tote/Purse and listed it in my shop yesterday http://www.quiltingfrenzy.etsy.com/. I couldn't decide what to make, tote or purse, so I made a combo out of it.






The linning fabric extends over the top edge of the outside to create a casing for the string tie and spring loaded clasp. Cinch in the string tie and hold it tight with the spring loaded clasp and you have a great purse. Running to the grocery store? Loosen up the string tie and you have a nice little tote for those quick grocery store trips.

This was a fun bag to put together and I hope it finds a home with someone that loves it as much as I do.

Back In Business

I am back in my workspace today for some much needed sewing therapy.

I still have lots of sorting to do in my sewing room but you can't be working in your sewing room and not take time to sew. A friend told me not too long ago that I needed some quilting therapy to get me back into the sync of things and I think she was definitely right on that point. I took my fabric out the other day, layered it with cotton/poly batting and did some outline quilting around some of the designs on the fabric.


























At the time I really had not taken the time to think about what this was going to become, I just wanted to quilt something. Well, it is a great cotton canvas fabric and it is perfect for a tote bag or purse, so now a decision has to be made, tote or purse.

I have to get back to doing the chores of the day so I will have time to think about what direction to go in with this project. Sometimes creative ideas come but it takes time to get them all sorted out into a completed project.

I hope that today creative ideas come your way and that you have time to make them into a completed project.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Yesterday morning was hot and dry just like every other morning but the weatherman kept tempting fate by saying that we had a 20% chance of rain in the forecast. Of course that has been said so many times before only to have the rain skim past us to the east or west and leaving us hot and dry with temperatures in the three digits.

With stage 2 water restrictions underway we are limited to watering our, fast deterioriating grass, once a week and yesterday was our day. Just like the last few weeks I grabbed my flashlight at 5:00 am and went out to set up our backyard sprinkler and then around to the front yard to make sure that our grass got it's weekly watering. Regardless of the weathermans words there was no way I was waiting around to see if he was right, I had been disappointed in the past too many times. The day went as usual, hot and DRY.

My husband got home from work and as our usual routine got underway I heard some strange noise. Was it thunder? We all just kept on with what we were doing, DH sitting down with his laptop, DD watching reruns of NCIS on tv and I continued to fix dinner. I decided to run outside and hand water around one of our trees that seems to be suffering the most from this dry weather, regardless of thunder I would not be interrupted by a little noise. Just as I finished shutting off the water and as I headed toward the back door I felt a couple of rain drops on the back of my neck and I thought, well that is our 20 percent I guess.

I had been indoors for no more than 10 minutes when the skies opened up and the rain began to fall. The rain lasted for about an hour which was absolutely fabulous after so many months of it being hot and extremely dry. We hope that this has at least slowed down the approaching stage 3 water restrictions that keep looming in the future. The rest of the week is predicted to be hot with little chance of rain but this blessing from above is so appreciated and we can only pray that the chance of rain will increase as the month goes on.
























It was so exciting to see the rain that I just had to take my camera out and take some pictures.