Thundersnow!!!

We are in the midst of a drought, so the snow is most welcome.  Plus I was feeling very cheated by a winter without snow!  Now we are having record breaking snowfall...not feeling cheated anymore! 

Jim was not and is not feeling cheated at all.   He really hates winter!  So glad we closed the office and I did not have to make the drive in.  Probably would not have made it anyway...the roads are terrible according to the news.

My mom has celebrated her 88th birthday.  We took her out to eat at her favorite restaurant and let her be entertained by the great-grandsons.  She is to be admired...healthy and alert, getting a bit slower because of her darned knee, but keeps going as much as possible. 

I am not getting any quilting done, keeping up with my online art journaling classes are keeping me busy.  Plus with the price of fabric..who can afford to quilt?  But I know I will continue to make small quilts...they are my favorite anyway!  This month, I am taking a fabulous class with Joanne Sharpe, Letter Love 201.  And working on my A to Z's of Me journal, as well as my Lifebook 2013.  Lots of things to get caught up on...better get off this computer and get to work...I mean play!

And in March, I hope to take a class with Natasa May...check out the class she has coming up.  Hope I win a free pass!!!  I really do love her whimsical style.

All of the above is from Letter Love 201...off to create more!

The A to Z's of Me project

For the month of February, there is a great art journaling challenge going on over at An A to Z of Me.  Bernice Hopper has organized this challenge and has put an immense amount of work into into it.  Every day will be another letter in the alphabet, she provides inspiration and journaling prompts for us to play along with.  Go check it out...you might want to join up with us!

Hope you are finding time to create this week!

Groundhog day

Don't know about you, but I am always glad when January is done...spring is that much closer now!

This year I decided to join up with the Calendar Art Journal challenge with Kate Crane on Facebook.  And I actually had my February pages done before February arrived...wonder how long I will be able to keep that up? 

Keeping busy with other artsy things.  Lifebook 2013 is in full swing, and I am enjoying it very much.  And yesterday a new class started with Joanne Sharpe....LetterLove 201.  28 days of lettering lessons...that should make a cold February easier to tolerate!

My son, Matthew graduated from the Highway Patrol Law Enforcement Acadamy on January 18th.  I am so very proud of him, as he went to school full time and worked full time.  As you can tell, Jordyn is also very proud of her daddy.

Grandkids are always so much fun...like these silly Boys Scouts! We took Caleb bowling...wild and crazy times :)

 Jack is trying out a new toy that Santa left at Camp Gramma...the Crayola Marker Airbrush toy!  I think the most fun for Jack is pumping it up.

And here are a few of the other projects I have been working on in January.

What are you going to do today?

Lifebook 2013....Intentions



a new zentangle page using watercolors



Where has she been????

I know...I've been a bad blogger!  Time is such an issue for all of us, isn't it?  But I have been busy in artistic pursuits...mainly art journaling.  And of course playing with the grandkids and working full time...you all know the drill! 

I have slowed down on my quilting endeavors....#one reason, Jim retired and $$$ are tight, so I stay away from the quiltshops.  But I have been digging out my scraps and using them to make quilts of valor.  On Veterans Day, our Kansas City Area QOV awarded 9 wonderful quilts to very deserving Vietnam veterans.  What an honor to meet one of the only living Medal of Honor recipients and present him with a quilt.  It was truly an honor to meet the men and women who served our country and received very little thanks upon returning to the USA. 

Korean war veteran

Medal of Honor

This year, starting January 1, 2013....I am taking an online course called Lifebook 2013.  Also, starting February 1, 2013....another awesome online class with Joanne Sharpe, Letter Loving 201.  Another project that I have started is an Artjournal Calendar Challenge with Kate Crane.  Here is a view of my December and January pages.  It is a great idea and forces me to journal just a little bit everyday!

I have had the week off, and spent a couple of days in my pajamas playing in my studio...what have you been up to?

Hoping that all of you have had a Merry Christmas, and that you will be blessed in the coming New Year!  

Color Lovin' Bonus Lesson #34 Build-a-Doodle

Hello all of you Color Lovelies!  and for my quilt friends, you might want to grab a pen and paper and play with us today.   How does one doodle?  How do you explain how to doodle?  I just do it, and I don't think about it...you know that "art trance".  So I sat and thought about it, and decided to break it down for you.  Use basic shapes like circles, teardrops, some curleques, and start building!

 I have labeled the Tangles that are used here.  You can go to Tangle Patterns for great instructions on how to make these.  They are Dragonair, AHH, Angel Fish, and Soo Flowers.  There are so many choices, use these or whatever appeals to you the most. 

A few more "doodled" pictures for you...

Ready to color.

I started this one while sitting and waiting for my car to be repaired!  Who knows what else I will add to it?  That's the fun of it!  Sometimes I just put it down, and go back a day later and keep on adding until it looks just right!

One of my favorite CZT's is Penny Raille. 

Check out her blog and note the breakdown called

Stacked, Unstacked, and Seperated. 

This really helped me get started, and I hope it will do the same for you. 

Be sure to check out the two videos in the sidebar, they will show you how to tangle!

Here are a couple of other links to videos that will hopefully inspire you!

Flower Explosion

Flowers Are Fun!  (don't you love the music?)

You will want to check out her Dangerous Doodle videos while you are there.  Lots of inspiration!

Your assignment, should you decide to take it,

 is to build-a-doodle using your favorite background method. 

It can be a flower garden or just an abstract object. 

Color it in with any of your wonderful supplies that we have been using.   

You are welcome to use any of the above drawings to get started...sometimes it is just easier. 

Can't wait to see what you come up with! 

Have a doodlicious time.....

Bits and pieces for now

Glam Girl

 This summer, I have been taking a couple of online artsy courses from Joanne Sharpe.  They are so much fun!  And I didn't even know I could actually do this!  It has been years....and I do mean years since I have really tried to do much art.   Most of what we are doing is creating art journals.  Here are a few of my pieces.

Jordyn, Art Girl

Max the singing cat

Last Saturday, we had our Quilts of Valor Sewing Bee...here is a little bit of show and tell for you...Enjoy!

This is a sampler made from orphan blocks that have been donated to us.

OK...all of you Elvis fans stop drooling!

This was an unfinished Round Robin that was donated and finished by a member of the sewing bee.

Yellow Brick Road pattern, but I think we will call it Road to Freedom

Scrappy Stars...don't you just love it!

Hope you are all doing something today

 that makes you happy!

Barn Quilts

I am sure most of you have seen barn quilts on your travels.  When we travel through Iowa, it is one of my favorite things to do...look for the barn quilts.  If I still lived on the farm, I would have quilt block on my barn.  But what block would I choose????

Today, I have a treat for you...a guest blogger!  My guest is Suzi Parron from Stone Mountain, Georgia.  She has co-authored with Donna Sue Groves a new book featuring Barn Quilts across the United States. 



Sharon, thanks for inviting me to your blog today.



I was in Missouri for the first time recently—Hatton, to be exact—to share the story of barn quilts with a group of interested folks in the area. On the way to a terrific farm-to-table benefit dinner, we stopped to see this Farmer’s Daughter block. Just picture perfect!

Some of you may not be familiar with barn quilts; they are quilt blocks painted on plywood and hung on barns and other buildings for passersby to enjoy. There are over 4000 of them in 46 states!


I am not a quilter of any renown, but when I stumbled upon this barn near Cadiz, Kentucky, four years ago, I recognized the Flying Geese pattern.

The owners told me that barn quilts are a way of publicly honoring quilters and the generations of women who worked on family farms, as well as a means of bringing a community together to celebrate their heritage.


Soon, I was hooked and began traveling the country, gathering the stories of barn quilts. I was blessed to be chosen by Donna Sue Groves, who founded the barn quilt movement to honor her mother’s quilting art, to tell the story of how the quilt trail began in 2001 in Ohio and spread throughout the country.


I love this photo of a block called Pappy’s Pride, in Marion, Kentucky. The farm has been in the Miles family for a couple of generations, and as you can see the barn is still in use to dry the tobacco crop.

One of my favorite barn quilt stories came about when Donna Sue sent me an article that featured this barn. She called it “elegant,” and I have to agree. Margaret Shipler, who was 83 at the time, painted these quilts in honor of her husband shortly after he passed away. She chose the simple patterns that he loved in her quilts and the patriotic colors that reflected his military service. What really struck me was the sashing that she created in between each of the blocks, complete with painted stitches!


Margaret’s story was one of many that I heard of a barn quilt being painted as a tribute to a deceased loved one, but Margaret insisted that her husband would have done nothing but grin with delight at seeing it. “He loved his parties,” she told me, “and one of his favorite things to do was to get together with friends. This isn’t just a row of barn quilts. It’s my husband’s block party!”

My three years of travel in writing the book took me from my home in Georgia to far-flung states such as Michigan, New York, and Colorado, and enriched my life tremendously. What’s not to love about a farm-fresh breakfast after sleeping under antique quilts?


Since the book’s publication in February by Ohio University Press, I am on the road again—this time to share the story of the quilt trail with quilt guilds and other groups. Quilters have been so enthusiastic about this new form of “quilting,” and I have been overwhelmed with hospitality everywhere we have visited. Right now the fridge is full of Wisconsin cheese, and there is a jar of farm-fresh maple syrup ready for Sunday’s pancakes!

The cover of the book features a Corn and Beans barn quilt—the most common pattern and a reflection of the two major crops grown across the U.S. This one is in Kankakee, Illinois—a great destination for a barn quilt tour.


For more information on barn quilts or the book, visit www.barnquiltinfo.com Be sure to check out the map; it is amazing to see all of the places that barn quilts have sprung up in only eleven short years.


Thanks again, Sharon, for your hospitality here on your blog. All good things to you!


Suzi