What a Day!

We talked about what to call ourselves. It made me think about when we were discussing the name Pantry Violets.......

I think it was Stephanie who suggested Red Shoes......

....hmmmmm.......

When we walked in, the table looked beautiful. We ate yummy food and talked and very soon, the table looked like this:
Stephanie got busy. Laura had done so much research and brought out stacks of books filled with inspiration....so we all did sketches and pulled out the scissors.
Cheryl worked on some lettering inside of her heart...
A couple of mine - above and below. I could really spend HOURS doing this!
Here is Cheryl's finished product - Didn't she do a great job on the lettering?
And, Stephanie's scissors cut out some amazing love birds surrounded by branches and hearts.

And, then there is Beth. She was truly in her element with paper and scissors. I love the faces above, with the tree atop. Below, the hand is so fantastic! The entire page is perfect....
This table is filled with all the amazing pieces that Beth did and I love them all.

It was a great day!

Thanks to Laura for hosting it - yummy food and a fabulous project.

See you next month.......xo

embroidery sampler

well, I am supposed to teach a Beginning Embroidery class next Saturday at Los Poblanos in ABQ. I get nervous preparing to teach something I have not taught before, but, I figure that since I do it for myself all the time, why not share with others what I have learned......so.....

Below is the "sampler" that I have put together for the class - what do you think?

I have tried to incorporate many of the stitches that I always use and show that it is so much easier to do some pretty complicated things than it might look. Most of the detail comes from putting together some very simple stitches in repeats and bunches.....

There is space to cross-stitch an initial in the center of the lavender square......and on the back, we will stitch our names and the date. I hope that the class is fun for everyone. If you are close to ABQ, just email nancy@lospoblanos.com and she can give you all the info.

Love to all of you....

Happy Heart Day!

Wishing all of you and very Happy Valentine's Day!

xo jone

Romance in Rio

Last night, I went with my friend, Kathie, to the Annual Fundraiser for Grayson's school.

It had a Brazilian theme, so I decided to get all decked out.

What a Rat's Nest! Actually, it was pretty fun to curl all the ribbon to put in my hair. Kathie took these photos from behind so that I could actually see what I had made!

Isn't the boa great?!

Here we are - Kathie and me! (I got her a boa, too) Hard to see, but I have on some very flashy silver eyelashes, which looked pretty ridiculous when I looked in the mirror(!) Oh well, it was a fun evening with great food, even though I was "alone" in the flashy dress....

Tiles in Porcess

Here they are - the tiles are under way.

Penny saw them the other day and told me that she really likes them.

I am so happy!

The buildings are not painted yet....but you can kinda get the idea......

These are details of the lavender plants. They might be the part I like the best. I know that Penny was the most excited about the lavender - it was her top priority for this scene.

inspired ideas

The latest issue of Inspired Ideas is ready to read!

There are some incredibly "inspiring" projects

(including a couple of mine)

and I think you will really enjoy checking it out.

Click on the link below and you should be able to get to it.

Grab a cup of tea (or coffee, for you caffeine drinkers)

and relax as you "flip" through the pages.

Enjoy!

http://www.amy-powers.com/spring2011/subscribe.html

Stephanie's House

Two weeks ago, my Creative Group of Friends (we don't have a name for ourselves - yet) were at Stephanie's house for our monthly Creative Session. We decided at our most recent Christmas Session (you may remember seeing posts from December 2009 and 2010) that we needed to have one once a month as something special for ourselves. Stephanie hosted the first January one and it was fantastic!

Of course, this vase reminded me of so many of you - truly! Isn't it wonderful?

Now Oolie, really! Both above AND below - check it out! Tiny tin teapots, cups and plates and wonderful pails and tins - I had to close my mouth so my tongue didn't hit the floor!

And houses! Stephanie's collections are spectacular. They are displayed throughout the house with such love and care and are simply a part of her everyday life. I am in LOVE!

As we entered the dining area for our "eats," the hanging on the wall caught my eye. See the detail below:
Each section attached to the larger piece of cloth has a name and date on it and we surmised that it must have been an exercise in stitching at a school, or something. Each panel is different and equally as charming as the one next to it. The best part, though, was that after we ate, Stephanie brought out a huge bowl of assorted buttons and 12x12" pieces of cloth - one for each of us. We sat and sewed buttons to our squares and had the most wonderful time! Our friend, Cheryl, who is part of our group, was celebrating her 50th birthday that day, so did not attend because she spent it with her family. I thought it would be nice to make a little something for her - so she would know that she was with us even if not there in person....so I did.

This is Beth's snowflake-like image out of mostly pearl buttons. I took a photo for her since she wanted to be sure of the pattern she had laid out to be certain she stitched them on right.

And this is the blackbird that I stitched for Cheryl. She is a collector of blackbirds and I used exactly 50 black buttons in this design.....plus one shiny red one to create the cherry in his mouth....and the "One to Grow On". I hope she will make a pillow out of it and enjoy that she was really there with us.

200th Post

I cannot believe that it has been 200 times that I have posted goodies on this blog!

For inspiration, here are some knitted fishies that were hanging in a glass case in LAX.

I thought that you would all LOVE these!

They were so bright and cheerful, silly and delightful!

Happy February!