Decorating the ears: a quick craft

    Joe got me a new jacket for Mother's Day and I needed some earrings to tie it in with my motley outfit...to take in both the cool rainy days and hints of warm spring. The jacket is pink and I was going retro with black blouse and crops. I stopped at two bead stores to pick up some "stones" and I had some silver wire headpins at home to twist into shape to attach to earring findings. Some day I must get up the nerve to pierce my ears so there won't be so much hardware involved.

    There are many videos on how to make earrings. If this link goes dead, just Google How to make earrings. I get a bit goofy sometimes adding fish, teacups and turkeys (Thanksgiving). But it is fun to have an endless supply. Today's effort is the pair top row second from the right. The beads around the colored malachite of red and black, are black and pink but didn't photograph well. The other earrings are recent efforts. Click to see better.

Paper piecing: a journal quilt of sorts

Time flies on a Mother's Day weekend. Let me say I LOVEd it. I didn't get the projects made I intended, but enjoyed letting the grandchildren experiment with and cut up fabrics and thankfully take some home.

In the spirit of the weekend, I thought I would finish this paper pieced heart block. I studied Carol Doak's book, Show Me How to Paper Piece. Paper piecing allows beginners and experts to create accurate quilt blocks. According to her, you 1) pin oversized pieces of fabric to preprinted paper patterns; 2) stitch along straight, printed lines with your sewing machine; and 3) tear off the paper patterns to reveal perfect, accurate blocks! She has written several books on the subject, and I certainly needed one to follow! The method is fun and quick and I found it very helpful in creating Dear Jane blocks. (The Jane Stickle 1863 quilt of heroic proportions at the Bennington Museum has inspired thousands of quilters).

P.S. One funny thing happened at the end of the Mother's Day. This little dog, Emmit, got left behind when his family drove off. I cell phoned them to remind and they drove back immediately saying it wasn't on purpose! (Emmit, in charcoal, is lifesize.)

Mother's Day Beth: a journal quilt

This week I am doing, not one, but two journal quilts...and really there should be a third for the east of Weston MA big water pipe break.

But this is Mother's Day weekend. I subjected my daughter-in-law, Beth, mother of my three grandchildren, to a quilt portrait: I put tea or coffee cups in the background because she makes me welcome at any time, and is always offering coffee, tea or supper. She is a devoted mother. The three paper dolls make her crown, and she always has plenty of bags on her shoulders.

Who will be next in this two hour exercise. Thanks to Clara Wainwright and Adrienne Robinson for the inspiration for this sort of casual portrait quilt and to Geri Barr for the idea of these sketches, 8"x 8" journal quilts, one a week for a year. Hoping not to portray Beth so horrifically as I do myself, I used the stamp filter on Photoshop Elements for a teeny bit of help, but mostly, I cut out free hand and scribbled with the glue stick and sewing machine.

Click to enlarge.