Summer

What makes me happy in the summer?

•hanging with friends, lunching with friends, cards with friends, creating with friends, iced tea with friends, lemonade with friends...

•floating in the pool feeling my heart beat and my blood flow, appreciating my body's natural functions...  my favorite is to swim at nighttime by moon light and then to go right to bed all refreshed and alive.  (also swimming with the dogs to cool them off)

(photo by Kelsi Bitgood @2012)

•gardening and appreciating all that I've planted in our yard and all that nature brings...truthfully, I haven't been so good at this this year (weeds, weeds, weeds), but I'm trying not to beat myself up about it.

•quiet, dogs following me everywhere, time by myself.... no rushing, peaceful mornings.... no deadlines...

•cleaning up the annual summer basement flood caused by hurricanes, leaking water heaters, exploding plumbing, dying washers, over-watering of the gardens around the house...  Every summer something floods our basement, which is usually dry, and causes a huge clean-up.  This year the flood was in my workshop area of the basement and caused a HUGE clean-up and the washing of a couple hundred yards of fabric, re-organization (it needed it---I've been putting it off for a couple of years), the disposal of many school books that I haven't used in a long time, the drying out of other school books that I want to save.  It was a huge clean-up this year!  (This doesn't exactly make me happy,

but it does make me re-assess and appreciate my life regularly.)

•and creating.  I love to "moodle"---to play with various arts and crafts supplies and see what I can come up with.  I love fabric and paper and cards and scrapbooking and embroidery and hand-made objects of all kinds.  I try to follow no rules and to see what I can come up with. 

• I make hand-made birthday cards for many friends and family to send throughout the year.  Although I work on this all year, I try to get a supply together of about 50 to start the year, making each card appeal uniquely to the recipient, a little something that would make them happy on their birthday.  I address them and keep them in a box with a monthly file.

•I make Christmas cards and gifts during the summer, too.  For many years I made a new, unique, sewn ornament every Christmas to give as a Christmas gift.  One year I made crazy-quilted hearts, another year crazy quilted Christmas trees, covered with hand embroidery of all different colors and stitches, and each unique.  Each year I made 40-45 of them, made bags and tags to coordinate and also decorated a small Christmas tree in my kitchen with that same theme.  I haven't done this in about 5 years, but it's something I would like to bring back.  I have an idea for this year (no picture---it has to be a surprise!)

This is what I do in the summer.  What do you do?

Craziness

Craziness runs in our family.  That is, a true love for crazy quilts.  It started when my mom and uncles were cleaning out my Poppop A's house in Mt. Ephraim, NJ and found a very old crazy quilt in a plastic bag in the basement.  (By the way, that's the worst possible place it could have been to preserve it.  Whoever had placed the bag there did not know of the treasure within.)

The earliest dates embroidered on its surface are in the 1860's.  The names stitched so carefully and beautifully are Bessie and Anna--- names on my mom's family tree from the 19th century in Virginia.

Velvets and political campaign ribbons and scraps of silk and linen, remnants of early patriotic flags and memorabilia, traces of fancy gowns and baby clothing and a mile of hand embroidery painstakingly joined one eighth-inch stitch at a time.  It's magnificent and a testimony of someone in our family's dedication , creativity, thrift and...craziness.  The colorful stitching...herringbones, feathers, daisy chain, french and buillion knots, chevrons and half chevrons, buttonhole wheels and bonnet stitches...all artistically layered upon each other, decorating and celebrating every seam and in the center of the patches, too.

My mom and I embraced the idea of craziness and learned how to make crazy quilt panels ourselves.  We never aspired to creating a full size bed cover in this pattern, but we made small pieces. We started collecting pieces of velvet, silk, ribbon and lace.  We studied other family crazy quilts and compared them to ours.  We studied them in books and in museums.  We poured over every inch of our family treasure and tried to discover the secrets stitched and hidden in each of the fabric patches by one of our family members more than 140 years before.

In time  my mom started collecting pieces of other people's craziness.  She would only buy pieces with the most exquisite patterns or spectacular stitching, the finest examples she could find and save and treasure.  She decorated what used to be my bedroom as a kid with her crazy quilted treasures.

Our respect for this art grew and was something that we shared.  We explored embroidery stitches and threads and ribbons together.  We shopped for them, we shared and traded them, we studied them and got excited about them.  We made Christmas ornaments to practice our piecing and stitching and then shared them with others.  We made crazy quilted gifts for each other.

My mom had learned embroidery from her grandmother when she was very young, starting at age 7 or 8.  She was very skilled at it, precise and talented.  Each stitch was perfect and identical every time she picked up an embroidery hoop.

I, on the other hand, had no formal training and bought a small pamphlet and started practicing.  My stitches are not perfect and professional-looking.  And I'm okay with that.  I do the best that I can.  My stitches have improved over the years, but they will never be as perfect as my mom's nor the woman's on the family quilt.  And I'm okay with that, too. They reflect the best I can do on that particular day.  Like my mom and the others before us, my history is reflected in my stitching.

When my mom died suddenly and unexpectedly in January 2012, it seemed perfectly fitting in the funeral parlor and during the church service that her casket be draped with the family crazy quilt.  Most of the hundreds of people who attended the funeral had never seen a crazy quilt before.  I shared with them snippets of all that it embodies for our family... the past generations, my mom's generation and mine, and the next... and how it is evidence of the crazy threads that bind us together.

last day of August, boo hoo!

This card is for my girls, who I miss a lot today.

Through all of the missing, I'm holding on to my "bulletproof postive attitude" today! (Thanks, Kal!)

I found a nice quote by Erma Bombeck that inspires me and makes me want to do more... of

everything!

"When I stand before God at the end of my life,
I would hope that I would not have a single bit
of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything
you gave me.'"

Now that would indicate a life well spent!

Working in the basement today on my last day of vacation from school. I'm a homebody, and it will be hard to dedicate myself to work again. Ah, well! But cleaning the basement is the best way I can spend the day today!

day three

(Although I have not blogged in many a moon, I am picking up right where I left off)








































Thank you for being patient.

This is day three of the rest of my life. Thursday S & I took J, our youngest child, to college, and K, our oldest child, moved back to her college, too. So it's just S and I home alone, empty nesters...

































































It's strange, and it's very, very quiet here. Some differences. When I leave a room, it's still the same way when I get back. I was able to do all of my loads of laundry without being interrupted.
































I had lots of computer time. I made a delicious dinner with only two chicken breasts, not 4 or 6.
































There has been no drama, no facebook, no outbursts. Just calm & quiet & peace.

































































It's too quiet. But I am adapting.

































































I made the girls cards to send tomorrow. My plan is to send them each a homemade card every week. I've been pretty good about that with K her first three years of college. Here is one of the cards that I am going to send.
















































A shout out to Kristina Werner















for her design inspiration on this one. I like the way the stitching on the left balances everything.































I think that K will truly love this one.













































I think that J will love this one.

and finally, one for my friend S, who is going through some hard times.

S and I are embracing the new adventure. He spent the entire weekend down the shore on his sailboat. I went down Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and we took a speed boat to a restaurant and rode bikes all around Longport and had some sandwiches watching the sunset on the beach and jetty. I love to ride my bike so much!

Wonder what day four of the rest of our lives will be like?

Happy....

Happy


I made this banner to hang in my kitchen. It looks great and festive and makes me think of spring every day!

Birds are singing outside and the grass is greening up outside. The daffodils are blooming and sunny. Spring is here!

After I posted this picture, I realized that my snowman cross stitch, complete with reindeer, was still hanging in the kitchen. It has been replaced with a spring cross stitch that I did years ago. I'll post that tomorrow!

I've been creating up a storm!

Here is a card for Kristina Werner's color inspiration #45. You can find Kristina's

blog here.

Here is the color challenge:

This was a tough one for me! I love vibrant, rich colors so much! Here is my attempt:

celebrate the joy

"Skipping is just jumping for joy, step after step." Jessi Lane Adams

Love this quote! I have been trying to concentrate on my goals with JOY this year. Time to create has been precious and sparing, but I'm giving it my best!

One of my goals involves sending more cards to my friends. Before I can send them, though, I have to make them! Here are a bunch of cards that I have been working on.

Because I have been in a Valentine's Day mood,

Here is a beautiful Valentine's card. The sentiment reads "always on my mind, forever in my heart." This is Stampin' Up rose red cardstock, heart stamp image, scallop punch, sage shadow card stock and pink ribbon. The designer paper is from a pack of paper I bought at a craft store. Pretty, huh? Very girly, too!

Here is another version, but in more masculine colors.

Same Stampin' Up heart image, close to cocoa cardstock, pretty in pink cardstock and ink, close to cocoa ink, two sheets of designer paper and clear glitter. The pink ribbon is now retired, but I like how it looks tied on this heart. (Maybe I should have done it on the card above...?)

More girly! Beautiful designer paper from Stampin' Up..my favorite ever!

Kiwi green and pink pirhouette cardstock, five petal punch, riding hood red cardstock, flower fusion, silver brad, white organdy ribbon (retired) and stamped image from Stampin' Up.

I love this one! And we're going to make it at my next workshop!

A card for our family's college students: K and A. A went back to her college a couple of weeks ago. K just went back today. Ahhh, I already miss her! Here is a card I am going to send her tomorrow. {Shhhhh. Can you keep a secret? I sent cards several weeks ago so that they would be there in their mailboxes when they got back to school! Don't tell, OK?)

{cardstock by Stampin' Up, designer papers by ????, sticky letters, a circle stamp made out of a wine cork (!!!!), ribbon from Michaels $1 bin}

I was purely PLAYING when I was making these for our college girls. I started with the cool ribbon, and look where I ended up!

One more for today. This is another card we will be making February 6th. I have so much stuff for scrapbooking and card-making. So many tools, so much paper, ribbon, cardstock, stamps, stickers, etc. I love to layer, layer, layer all of this stuff on the cards, while trying to make them look super simple. Hmmm, it's a dilemma!

But sometimes (like with the circle from the wine cork above), I just like to stamp, stamp, stamp and watch the colors of the ink make magic on the page. Sometimes you just have to get back to the stamps. This is why I love Stampin' Up stuff!

{Stampin' Up banana cardstock and ink, apricot appeal ink and cardstock, regal rose and ruby rose ink, stamped off once, Simply Said stamps and my favorite Happy Birthday image from Voila. Also, scallop circle punch. All from SU!)

More soon! Time to create!

I've been itching to play with these block letters. They are NOT Stampin' Up, but they are fun to play with and cut out (I love cutting!), and they are the perfect size for a lot of projects. Here is this card:

{Stampin' Up ruby red cardstock, whisper white cardstock, ruby red ink, rose red ink and chunky glitter.)

I know that this is very "IN YOUR FACE", but I like its directness. It contrasts with some of the subtle cards that I have been making. And I LOVE THOSE LETTERS!

more cards!

Here's a card for my friend Shiela, who inspires me daily with her generosity, wisdom and creativity. I love to sit at her counter and sip tea and share our lives... {love you, Shiela!}

This is K&Company designer paper from a mat pack and Stampin' Up image and sage shadow & rose red cardstock. Also used, Top Note die, triple flower punch, rose red ink and the scallop edge punch.

I liked the look and balance of this card, and Stan did, too, when he came to visit me in my workshop. So, I made another one, even better I think!

This one uses all Stampin' Up materials. (riding hood red and pirhouette pink cardstock, bella rose designer paper, same punches as above, riding hood red ink, bold brights brads) We will be making this at my next card class.

More cards soon! Let's go out and create!

the beginnings of a card blitz

Here are some more holiday 08 pictures. I had a gingerbread theme in the kitchen and decorated an entire 6' tree with just gingerbread ornaments.

See the little guy sitting on the candle sconce in the background?

There's another, different little guy on the other sconce:

And one more picture of the kitchen. The hutch decoration:

I have been on a card-making mission lately. It is one of my goals for 2009...finding joy in my friends and telling them how much I love them.

Here is one of them. {More to follow when we finally have a sunny day so that my pictures turn out better. It has been too gray here lately in the middle of winter!}

for Angel, who loves frogs...it includes a pin I found at a yard sale (love you, Angel!)

all things "good"

What a beautiful Christmas! Peace, love, friends, joy, kindness, generosity & fun all abounded at our house. Life is "good" here! Here are some images of Christmas for you to enjoy!

(my dining room table centerpiece...it underwent many changes and variations between Dec. 15 and now, but here is one of the configurations. Stan gave me the beautiful centerpiece a couple of weeks before Christmas. The roses were full and beautiful red roses then.)

Now on to the new year. Hello, 2009! My little word of the year is
My goals for 2009 all revolve around joy...

*celebrate my joy in everything that I do, including teaching, parenting, scrapbooking, cardmaking, art and homemaking;

*rejoice IN the people that I have chosen to be in my life... my husband, my children, my family, friends and co-workers; rejoice WITH them whenever possible, too! Give more gifts, send more cards, make more play dates...

*exhibit GAIETY whenever possible...play more games, sing & dance & laugh more...show my joy more; try not to be so serious all the time...

*DELIGHT every day in how fortunate I am...and then thank God for it all...

*find {ORGANIZED} BLISS in all things paperwork...not only cardmaking and scrapbooking but all the tough paperwork...lesson plans, grading papers, grades....bill-paying, filing, filing, filing.... (this one will be a hard one for me, for sure)

*celebrate this JOY with others in regular, bi-weekly blogging...learning PHOTOSHOP 100%...

*DELIGHT in the moon every night on a walk with the dogs & my husband; study the moon phases (again) and REVEL in them.

now, a 2009 wish for you

(source: author unknown, some great cookbook I have studied)

Well, time to go into the workshop and create... Happy New Year!

bad to the bone!

In honor of el dia de los muertos (Day of the Dead), November 1st & 2nd, I gave my fellow Spanish teachers a gag gift of a skull toy. The bag and the card were pretty:

and used some Stampin' Up papers, stamp and ribbon. They were amused!

Stan & I went to a very nice Halloween party at S & H's house Friday night. We dressed up as a witch (me) and the ghost of a pirate (Stan). I would LOVE to show you a picture, but I am forbidden to share. (See me in person & I'll show them to you on my camera.....Hee, hee!) Thank you to S & H and P for a wonderful evening!

I had some time to create this weekend. Looking forward to some more tomorrow!

a perfect Thursday evening!

another strip pieced card...for my friend Jeri this time...happy birthday to you!
Jeri loves cats and has lots of them! She is an expert on all things CAT!

Ahhh, a perfect Thursday evening...sitting in my workshop....listening/watching the fighting Phillies and...CREATING!

Let's go!