Fiber Art & Art Quilt Show

While checking out Facebook yesterday, I happened to come across a post from our local plant nursery that there would be a quilt show there this weekend.  What a great idea!

It's a small show of art quilts and fiber arts, but oh, the potential! What a great use of the space while it's empty from Christmas and awaiting all the beautiful spring flowers. 

I loved being able to see clearly all the colors, stitches and creativity that went into these amazing pieces of art.

My heart is always at the beach and this sweet gull quilt made me reminisce about being back near the ocean, the sand and the sun...

Of course, while at the nursery, I had to check out the gorgeous plants.  The color on this primrose really caught my eye.

 Next week is the big quilt show over in Oklahoma City - can't wait!

4th of July Canvas Class

Last Thursday, Jackie taught this cute 4th of July Canvas Class at the Paper Crown. Isn't it cute?

The class was so fun (as always!) and Jackie treated us to a fabulous chocolate wafer cookie cake.  Go to her blog and check out her pictures.

Friday night, Doug took me to see Barry Manilow at the BOK.  We saw him last year in Vegas and this show, although a little different from the Vegas show did not disappoint! I love Barry Manilow...

Saturday, I went to the Quilt Show here in Tulsa. The Tulsa Dolling Dames had a booth to display our dolls and sell some pin dolls for a fundraiser.

Saturday night, we went downtown to watch the Tulsa Tough bike races.  The speeds those racers got up to on the bikes were incredible.  We didn't actually see any crashes (thank goodness!) but we did see some racers all bandaged up after biting it.  Ugh... Not pretty.

Sunday, I finally got the rest of my lavender planted, gave all four dogs a bath, cleaned this house a little and that was it.

Last night, Monday, was our BUNCO night and I was the winner with the most BUNCO's!  For six months I haven't had a single BUNCO but in one night, I got three!  Whohooo!

Pin Dolls

Several months ago, our Doll Club decided we would each make 5 pin dolls to sell at the Quilt Show next week as a fundraiser for our club.  Last year, we spent several meetings each making doll parts and then assembling the dolls.  This year, we decided to do them individually and our completed dolls are due today.  

Five dolls - piece of cake, right?  Not for me.  The dolls you see are my finished dolls and I do really love them now that they are done.  But these dolls were a real struggle for me to get going on.

 I thought,  "I'll have my doll pins done in NO time!" But that's not exactly how it went.   I thought I would branch out and make my dolls be different than the ones we've done in previous years (although these are always great sellers).  I thought about what my dolls were going to be like.  I researched pin dolls on the internet.

 I went to Hobby Lobby more than once and purchased materials for the different dolls I was "going to make".  I went back to Hobby Lobby and bought the mold for the face of the pin dolls we originally made.  I even molded the faces out of polymer clay - and then left them sitting, unbaked, on my craft table for almost TWO MONTHS! Ugh...

 I was determined NOT to make the same dolls this year.  But guess what - as it usually does, time ran out on me.  Honestly, I procrastinated up until the very last minute.  I've been stressing about these dolls since they first announced we were to make them and I let it stress me for months. Crazy, I know.

 So, late yesterday afternoon, (I still wasn't going to make these!)  I went up to my craft room and started on a different doll.  I got halfway into it and didn't like it at all.  So, angry at myself for waiting so long, and disappointed that I would have to make these dolls, I set to work. I baked those clay faces (finally!) and cleared up that spot on my craft table.  I selected some pretty papers, beads and embellishments and started enjoying the process.

 Hours later, as these girls were coming together, I was happy, calm, and the time had flown by! Once I got over myself, stopped dragging my heels and set to work - I LOVED IT! I love my pin dolls.  In fact, I don't really want to give them away.  But I will - and I hope someone will love them too.

Guess that is my lesson that I needed to learn once again - just do it - it wastes so much energy to stress over small stuff - and once I get going on something, it's usually no where near as bad as I've made it up in my mind to be.

Packing for Handmade U!

Packing my bags to head to Gretna, Nebraska first thing tomorrow morning to attend Rachel's event: Handmade U!
Rachel will be teaching one class and Michelle Geller will be teaching another. Can't even wait!
I'll take lots of pictures and share next week.
I'm really trying to focus but I'm exhausted from the Flaming Lips Show last night at the Historical Brady Theatre in downtown Tulsa.


Doug is at the second performance tonight and he is backstage with Wayne Coyne putting together laser pointers. :)

Fiberfest 2011

When I first moved to Oklahoma I thought there was going to be tons of country festivals and farm markets. I love that kind of thing and unfortunately, they don't happen nearly as often as I like. I've been here ten years now and finally there seems to be more of a movement towards small markets and festivals. Not like the big state fair that is way too commercial - I like the "real thing" - the small town people showing and selling their stuff.
Today in Tulsa was Fiberfest in which there were a bunch of vendors selling handmade items along with lots of different "fibers" for knitting, crocheting and weaving. There were several free workshops but I didn't get there quite early enough to sign up for any. Fiberfest was held at this beautiful estate in South Tulsa that I never even knew was there! I would have liked to walk the entire grounds but I stayed pretty close to the area the festival was being held.

Some of the vendors were inside this cool barn. I didn't take pictures inside because the lighting wasn't that great. One lady had a table full of felted wool handbags that were beautiful. There were also vendors selling handmade soaps, jewelry, scarves, sweaters, and a vendor selling photographic art.

Lots of big trees and rolling hills. A beautiful location - serene and peaceful.

I purchased some wool and some alpaca fibers but the highlight of the day for me was seeing the two alpacas from JR Alpacas.

Janice Robinson is the owner of these two beautiful creatures and when I asked if I could take a few pictures she put them on a leash and brought them out of the pen so I could take some good shots. How awesome!
They made this cute little noise back and forth "talking" to each other and Janice said they are most definitely pack animals.

I loved hearing her speak about her farm, caring for the alpacas, feeding them, shearing them and the joy she gets from raising them. When she started her alpaca farm there were only about 13 other farms in Oklahoma doing the same thing. Now there are approximately 80 farms. They shear the alpacas once a year in the spring time and it takes one whole year for the coat to grow back in to the desired length for shearing again.

Did you know that alpacas don't have upper front teeth? Nope - just on the bottom and a hard palate on the top.

I'm not a farmer by any stretch of the imagination but I did find myself dreaming about having a little piece of land someday with some Alpacas on it.

Sweet Christmas Banner & Weekend Happenings

Remember when I said I won the cutest banner from Elizabeth over at Bluebird Papercrafts! This picture doesn't even do it justice as to how cute it is in real life! Click on the picture if you want to make it larger and get a closer look.



If you haven't seen her blog, you really MUST check it out.


I didn't take a picture of the backs of the panels but trust me, they are equally as cute! I have the banner hanging in my office right now so I can look up at my bulletin board and enjoy it. Once Christmas is over, it is going up to my craft room where it will be proudly displayed all year long!


It was a busy weekend ~ Thursday night I met Kathy and her Mom Wanda at South Tulsa Baptist Church for their Christmas Dinner Theater.

The church members served us a delicious meal and then we watched the program. Although Tulsa is a city with around 850,000 people in the metro and surrounding areas, it really is a small town.
We sat at a table with some of Kathy's other friends and who should join us for dinner was the Emergency Room Vet that took care of Niles! Turns out she is good friends with Kathy's friend Linda. I thanked her over and over for the wonderful care she took of him while we were out of town. I guess you just never know where you will meet people again!
Speaking of Niles - he is doing much better. We took down the "critical care unit" - the special playpen where we were keeping him separated from the rest of the dogs and he has been released back into the "general population" ;) Doug has successfully managed to get not only Niles but Nestle, Phoebe and Teddy hooked on "Chicken Dinner". When Niles first came home he wouldn't eat or drink anything so to entice him we mixed canned chicken with rice and heated it in the microwave. We gradually moved him to dog food with chicken. Well, now *everybody* is getting "Chicken Dinner" - and expecting it too! So, twice a day now the assembly line is set up to mix up "Chicken Dinner". We'd better wean them off that pretty quick because at $2.00 a can, that little meal is going to cost us a fortune!
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for Niles. Looks like our little patient is going to make a full recovery.
Friday I got a much needed haircut and Doug and I went to Los Cabos for dinner. I wish someone would tell them to stop putting so much garlic in their salsa. It was almost inedible! I ordered the ribs which were pretty good.
Saturday was a day of craft fairs! The Tulsa Herb Society works all year crafting for this big event called Carols & Crumpets held at the beautiful Tulsa Garden Center. Not the biggest of shows but what wonderful crafts! A few vendors had herbal soaps, lotions and other natural products that are always nice to be able to sample.
From there I headed south to the Darnaby craft fair at Union School. This show was huge! It was bigger and actually better than I thought it would be. There was a mix of handmade crafts and vendors with "retail" product which made for a good mix.
Earlier in the week I saw a promotion on TV about an Antique Toy and Craft show being held in Claremore. I was so excited and Doug offered to drive me and attend that event with me. What a disappointment it turned out to be. There were probably a total of 7 tables there - two were jewelry vendors (and not handmade jewelry) and the only "Antique" Toys were a bunch of junk that it looked like the lady had dug out of her garage and thrown on a table. We laughed about it and walked around the gun museum (the venue probably should have given me a clue as to the show!) The museum itself was actually neat, the show was the disappointment.

Yarn Store and Knitting Lessons

I am so excited! I've had "learn to knit" on my to do list for about four years now. I bought a kit to knit a hat about 3 years ago and the kit is still sitting unopened in my craft room. I just couldn't really fathom trying to learn to knit from written instructions. I'm too impatient to sit there and try to figure out what the words are telling me and trying to decipher the diagrams. I do so much better if someone shows me how to do something.
Back in the winter, Doug and I were shopping at Utica Square in Tulsa and I came upon this cute little yarn store called "Loops". Loops had the most beautiful yarns in gorgeous colors and textures and I was dreaming of all the beautiful things I could make if I only knew how to knit. I picked up a schedule of classes but somehow never made it back to take a class. I got busy and honestly too lazy to drive all the way to Utica square (about 30 minutes from home). But imagine my excitement when I discovered Loops was opening a *new* location in South Tulsa! I could hardly wait for them to open their doors.
I went in last week to pick up a schedule with hopes to finally get around to taking a class. It was my lucky day because they were actually holding a free "happy hour" that evening to learn the basics of knitting. I've learned it's best to take action as soon as possible once you set a goal so I went back that very night and got started. I picked out my yarn, bought some knitting needles and now I actually can knit! I'm working on a scarf right now and it is a little lumpy and bumpy but I LOVE it. Where the stitches aren't the prettiest I'll probably cover the area with felt flowers or something. I plan to take Knitting 101 in October, then follow up with Knitting 102 immediately after. At that point I should be ready to knit the cutest little sweater wrap that they have displayed in the store. I've already bought the sweater pattern - you know - for inspiration!