Hearty and Arty Stuff

Elizabeth is having a lovely heart giveaway in celebration of her 250th blog post. Go take a peak, leave a comment, and link her on your blog so that you can be in the running for her stunning heart! But don't expect to win...........because I am going to be the big winner!!! LOL

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes concerning my most recent biopsy. Just after Barker and I returned from our early morning walk, the phone rang and it was the Dr's office. Amy, the nurse, sounded bright and chipper, and then delivered the fantastic news that all is well! YIPPEE!!! I'm rejoicing in my good fortune!

I am taking an Art Quilt Exploration class with Jane LaFazio, over at Joggles. I adore Jane and her beautiful work. She is such an inspiration for me, so I hope that some of her ideology and techniques will rub off on me over the next few weeks! It's been several days since I've had a chunk of time to devote to real fabric play, and I was getting antsy about getting behind in our assignments. Before I could begin this week's landscape quilt, I had to do some serious cleaning of my work table:


Can you believe that I can let things get so darned messy??? I can always find 30 minutes or so to explore more bead making techniques a la Sherrill Kahn, and that seems to be where the total lack of organization is coming from! I just love, love, love making the beads and painting the paper!!!

I really wish I had taken a picture after I had the entire surface clear of debris, but I was so excited over the prospect of actually getting started on my landscape quilt that I forgot...and then there were piles of fabric everywhere!

Here was one of my auditioned layers of fabric:

Jane told me to bump the yellow/orange that I was putting second down to the bottom, so I did that, and then left it for a while. When I returned, I started cutting and playing around a little bit more. Here is how it is looking now:

I still think it needs a little something before I begin sewing all of the layers together. What do you think? Is there too much 'sameness' in the middle of the quilt?

YES WE CAN!!!

Have a Heart.............

............or at least a part of it! Our friend Troy is the best cake baker we know, and yesterday we were the proud recipients of one of his yummilicious strawberry Valentine cakes. As you can see, we couldn't wait and dove right in before I could photograph it. (It's even smaller now!) Thanks Troy! You're the best!!!!!



I've spent every free minute over the past two days reading, digesting, and enjoying the wonderful images in this book by Sherrill Kahn:

Thanks to Linda for recommending it to me!

Many of you recall that about a year ago I had surgery to remove a malignant melanoma. So, now I visit my lovely Dermatological Plastic Surgeon every six months for a full body check. She is adorable, witty, extremely wise, and a very talented surgeon, so I rather enjoy our little visits. Today she found another suspicious spot:

If you are young and you are reading this: use sunscreen and stay out of the sun!!!

So, for most of the day 'my public' has viewed me as you have now! C makes light of it, in order to get me through the day, which is both aggravating and most appreciated. We went to see "Frozen River" this evening, and then ate dinner at The Majestic, a wonderful old Atlanta dining institution.

Which reminds me, I really want to thank Elizabeth B for her wonderful and thoughtful comment on yesterday's blog. It's so nice to 'know' some of the folks who drop by to read my blog. And yes, Elizabeth, I did know about the new Georgia SDA blog! Isn't it great!!! Are you going to the conference in Kansas City in May? I'm going and am very excited about it!

YES WE CAN!!!