Sew Little Time

2012-01-02T15:49:00.000-05:00

Here's my two submissions for the Cloth Paper Scissors Post Challenge.

2011-12-23T12:42:00.000-05:00

My orchids are blooming! I have two plants and they seem to love my kitchen window sill. Here's a watercolor rendering of their progress. :-)

2011-12-17T10:50:00.000-05:00

A few of this years hand crafted Christmas cards. I made only 40 of these then ran out of time, everyone else got store bought.

2011-12-17T10:42:00.000-05:00

Feeling in the holiday spirit I made a little table runner with the help of my buddy Dee Dee. I think that it looks nice on the dining room table. :-)

2011-12-05T21:24:00.000-05:00

For my sweet neice Izzy. Happy birthday cupcake!

2011-11-29T20:05:00.000-05:00

I finished the tee shirt rag quilt for my cousins daughter in a week and it's being shipped out tomorrow. It was a bear to do, I hope that she likes it.

2011-07-19T22:17:00.000-04:00

I didn't submit my "house of ill repute to the CPS challenge because I didn't really think that they wanted "this" kind of influence in their neighborhood but I had fun making it just the same. VBG

2011-07-15T10:57:00.001-04:00

2011-06-23T21:45:00.002-04:00

Yippee the Echinacea is blooming!

2011-06-22T20:42:00.000-04:00

I've been playing with some more portrait ideas using the word "head". I think that I've been called all of these at least once, some more than I care to admit to. ;-\

2011-06-21T19:34:00.000-04:00

Hey did you get the memo? CPS's latest challenge is a 6"x6" self portrait. I'm been practicing on the deck with my glass of wine in one hand and a watercolor paint brush in the other. OK well maybe the last one is a little "out there" but what the heck.

2011-06-21T19:30:00.000-04:00

Nothing like watercolors and a glass of wine to unwind. Mmmmm, mmmmm good!

2011-06-21T19:23:00.000-04:00

My life has been a little hectic to say the least and I've gotten behind in mailing out a couple of birthday cards. I thought that these would be just perfect seeing as it's Summer Solstice today. :-) They are ink painted and hand written.

2011-06-20T22:10:00.000-04:00

My drinking buddies trade book is almost complete. I'm just waiting for one more page to arrive.

2011-06-16T21:06:00.000-04:00

My art for the entire day was food related. This is Norwegian Kransekake (pronounced kruns-ah-ka-ka, sounds gross huh?) but it a very special wedding gift for the bride and groom. It is a traditional cake served at weddings and other special occasions. It's takes a long time to make and bake but I'm happy to do it. The top pic is the completed cake with is all done in individual concentric rings. The bottom photo is the rings after they were removed from the pans. Plus a few extras in case of breakage, they are very fragile. The whole thing is "glued" together with a thin paste of powdered sugar, egg white and touch of vinegar and almond extract. This is squeezed on to each layer so that the next layer will stick to it. It needs to set for a day or two so that the flavors mature. I hope that the kids like it. :-)

2011-06-16T20:38:00.000-04:00

Congrats Gabriela you are the winner of the ink painted tags. Hope that you like them.
Hugz, Nj

2011-06-11T11:53:00.000-04:00

The ring bearers pillow is finished!

2011-06-09T16:16:00.000-04:00

Today I didn't have much time but was itching to get a little art done. My favorite color combo is pink and orange so I made up some ink painted tags. These are ink painted on both sides and will be given away to one of my blog followers. I'll pull a random name on the 16th so be sure that you sign up to follow my blog. Hugz, Nj

2011-06-09T00:20:00.000-04:00

Erik and Beth's ring bearer pillow is almost finished, it just needs the ribbons which I finially found ones that match their wedding colors.

2011-06-08T23:49:00.000-04:00

I'm having fun experimenting with some of my sketches and photos of all things botanical from our trip to Hawaii this year.

2011-06-08T22:07:00.001-04:00

I've been experimenting with ink and dye painting and working on a little tag book and thought that I would share some of the finished pages here.

2011-06-08T22:02:00.000-04:00

I thought that the envelope looked better with some lines around the splotches. Makes them look more like a map, don't you think?

2011-06-04T19:12:00.001-04:00

A thank you card for a special friend who took us our to his special beach house to have lunch while we were on vacation in NC.

2011-06-02T22:30:00.002-04:00

Oh sweet Java...

2011-06-02T00:11:00.002-04:00

Love my moleskine! Here's todays entry.

2011-05-31T14:58:00.000-04:00

Ahhh my first Moleskine journal. What took me so long? Jane Lafazio's DVD convinced me. What a dream to watercolor on but no one get you over the fear of the first page... your on your own with that. So here's what I did to get over it yesterday. I just know that this is going to be fun.

2011-05-25T10:10:00.000-04:00

Last night the name for my little coaster book pictured here finally came to me, "Tickled Pink and Orange".

2011-05-14T15:43:00.004-04:00

Key chains from the sea. Today I soldered. Odd found some interesting shell shards on the beach so I used them in my art. I love the organic look of these and yet dressed up with a little bling. These are for sale for $10.00 each plus shipping. Email me if you are interested.

2011-05-04T14:18:00.002-04:00

My art for the day is from my new trade, "Drinking Buddies" in my Fiber Art Traders group. To celebrate our 6th birthday participants must depict some type of drink (alcoholic or not) to toast our birthday. Detail about this trade can be seen at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FiberArtTraders/ Join us in the trading fun!

2011-04-25T08:53:00.029-04:00

Here is my latest book in the series for my grandkids. I wrote and illustrated this one for our sweet Erika who loves nature.

2011-04-04T08:54:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I worked on a book for my granddaughter Erika. These are a few of the illustrated pages that will be included. The text portion has been completed and will be cut and pasted into opposite pages. The books working title is, "Erika The Bird Brainiest" because it's about how she loves birds. I will post more as I progress.

2011-03-31T13:27:00.005-04:00

Just a tiny sliver of a proposal that I've been working on. All I can say is that Lutradur TM, lace and soldering is involved. :-)

2011-03-26T11:18:00.003-04:00

I've been experimenting with a Tim Holtz stamp pad technique that looks a bit like watercolors. I like how no piece turns out the same do to the mixing of the water mist on the ink. Here's the link if you want to give Tim's art a try: http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/tim-holtz-perfect-distress/92a68d04c4fc54badef092a68d04c4fc54badef0-415951618702?q=tim%20holtz%20youtube%20distress%20ink%20pad%20technique

Thanks for dropping in.

2011-03-23T15:56:00.002-04:00

My friend Dove is hosting a triptych trade on my Fiber Art Traders group and these are the pieces that I made. One to keep and two to trade. What fun these were to put together!

2011-03-21T13:15:00.005-04:00

Come on this isn't art, well unless your heart is 6 years old. ;-) I couldn't resist! While cleaning up our yard and pruning the bushes I saved a few from the compost pile and made an Easter tree. I must admit that I haven't done this since Eden was little but I really got a kick out of it. Odd is convinced that I should be committed to the looney bin.

2011-03-14T20:29:00.003-04:00

Art for the day: A sweet reminder of the good ole days and that summer will return again soon.

2011-03-07T15:36:00.002-05:00

I made a couple more bookmarks for FAT challenge prizes last night that will go out in the mail tomorrow. I was totally energized after seeing the grandkids this weekend. What fun they are.

2011-02-28T15:57:00.002-05:00

I may not have time to create hand held art right at the moment but I can create with the words rumble-bumbling around my head. Here goes:

Bleak
by Nomajean Brevik

A dark, dark day,
so dismal and gray,
the rain pitter pat at my door.

The light at my desk,
makes me notice the mess,
I left unattended before.

I long for the sun,
the beach and the fun,
a life unfettered by work.

I hope that it won't be long,
before the birds sing their song,
and the sun comes out of the murk.

2011-02-24T09:57:00.005-05:00

I saw my first robin today and even in the craziness of my busy day I had to squeeze in a bit of art and paint a quick watercolor tonight to mark her arrival.

HAIKU TO YOU...

A hint of sping air,

a little bird sings her song,

joyful for the day.

2011-02-23T10:19:00.007-05:00

I made these bookmarks up this weekend, they are for prizes for the Fiber Art Traders challenges. My friend Michelle came up with the idea of simple prizes for the monthly challenges. It was fun to put together these mixed media pieces as give aways.

2011-02-20T16:49:00.002-05:00

This week has been a busy one so not much time for art. I did try a prompt today and it was the word: Family
I decided to make my SIL birthday card and have it ready to mail. The mermaid stamp was one that I bought in Hawaii.

2011-02-15T12:04:00.003-05:00

Aloha! My art for the last couple weeks has been some much needed R&R. Odd and I went to Maui for a week and to the big island of Hawaii for a week. We really preferred the big island but each had it's own unique flair. I brought back many inspirational photos and a few (ahem) souvenirs. The vacation was heavenly and we both felt like our batteries are recharged a bit.

So now it's time to get on with the business of taxes, YUCK! It may be a while before I'll have some studio time but I so need to get back into my daily routine again soon.

Thanks for stopping by... see ya later alligator.

2011-01-27T10:05:00.002-05:00

On this wintery day filled with snow, I leave you with this one summery thought... Like the card says, "delight in the little things".

2011-01-26T16:48:00.004-05:00

No prompt today just some knitting. I finally broke down and bought a new wool pea coat the other day. My old one was just too big after my weight lost last year. Well a new coat deserved a new hat so two nights ago I started this and knit as I watched a little TV. These whip up in no time and I just finished it tonight. This one is sure to keep my ears warm on the beach when we walk the dogs. :-) Maybe I should knit the dogs some sweaters!

2011-01-25T18:03:00.004-05:00

Prompt for the day is: Flowers

OK, OK I looked out my window and there are NONE, of course not, it's January! What I did see was my poor, shivering cold Rose of Sharon just waiting for the Spring to warm her up. (How I know it's a "her" is beyond me but she is a her and ready for Spring. ) So I snapped a pic of my inspiration and created a card with water colored paper, stamped flowers, rick-rack and a sewn on metal leaf charm. I haven't given is a sentiment yet, nor does it have a purpose other than just plane fun paper. Now while we are on the subject of paper art... I may be a little slow on the take up but I finally figured out why this sudden urge to create in paper.,. not much time to create and paper takes less time and planning for me then fiber art! Duh! Ah well perhaps I need to think about taking on a larger project in fiber but giving myself more time. This I will ponder but for now I'm having fun with paper. :-)

2011-01-24T19:46:00.001-05:00

It's my friend Wendy's birthday soon so I made her a card. This is all the art that I can squeeze into my busy day today.

2011-01-23T21:23:00.001-05:00

I love Halloween so when I saw the Stampington had a call for Halloween cards I had to give it a try. The theme is Hitchcock Horror so I picked Psycho. Oh what fun it was to make this and pay homage to the Master of Suspense a.k.a. Alfred Hitchcock.

2011-01-22T21:10:00.000-05:00

No prompt for today just plain fun in the classroom with my students. I had two classes at Beautiful Impressions in Westport, CT today. Joyce, Holly, Laurie and Debra are pictured here with some of the art from our class. Sharing my art knowledge is the very best way I know how to create. :-)

2011-01-21T21:01:00.004-05:00

Prompt for today was: "Home"

OK, OK I confess... this was a project that I started 4 years ago. If you have been in my kitchen you know that I love chickens and roosters, they are everywhere. I purchased this print from Michael's but didn't want to just frame it. I wanted it to look old and weathered. I used a wrapped frame and gessoed it black then painted it with black paint. I distressed then decoupaged the print to the wrapped canvas then had my husband cut some wood trim so that I could give it an inside frame. Well I couldn't decide on a color for it at the time so it made it's way to the cellar and there it sat until this week when I rescued it and finally painted the wooden inside framing trim red. I rather like it and the red was just the right color for this. Jeez I'm glad all my projects don't take this long to create. ;-o

2011-01-20T04:41:00.001-05:00

Ah, today is the anniversary of hubby's an my first date so my art for today is the card that I made him. We still celebrate even after all these years, isn't that too cute?

2011-01-19T19:20:00.004-05:00

The prompt for the day is: WORDS!

I've been looking forward to this prompt since I wrote it down and put it in the bag. So here goes, the Mystery Poet returns!

HURRY EARTH

Today is dreary, dull and drab,

the sky looks like a granite slab.

I check the ground for signs of life,

all I see is snow and an icicle that looks like a knife.

When will the daffodils and crocus rise?

When will the earth be warm with sunny skies?

I can't wait, my bones do ache,

please hurry earth and wake, waKE, WAKE!

2011-01-18T19:04:00.000-05:00

Prompt for the day is, "finish something"

On one of the many, many trips that I made to Florida this past year I began this little dalah horse ornament with the intention of having it on our Christmas Tree this year. Well that never happened and I don't know why because it literally took me all of 10 minutes to finish this sweet little guy. I got the pattern from the book, Scandinavian Needlecraft by Clare Youngs.

2011-01-17T19:54:00.004-05:00

Prompt today was "Useful".

I had made several of these little bags at Christmas time but had never gotten around to making one for myself. Everything was cut out and ready to stitch so I made one for me today. This little bag has a unique little closure that keeps my change tidy in my purse. I decided to add the tiny little flashlight to my bag just as I had the ones that I gave away as gifts.

2011-01-16T06:00:00.001-05:00

First prompt was "pink", say no more, I knew what to do but frankly I'm quite confused where all this paper art is coming from all of a sudden. Hmmmm didn't know that I had it in me. Well I'm having fun with it and letting it run it's course. What to do with all the fabric in my studio is the question... :-)

2011-01-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

The first prompt that I pulled today was "reuse". I stopped right there and knew immediately what I would do for art. My art for the day is actually yesterdays ATC. Ahh but it needed more any way. So my ATC is now "reused" into a greeting card. Hmmmm seems this is my year for paper. Perhaps this one should be submitted to Somerset too?

2011-01-14T10:04:00.001-05:00

Words for today: Spring, Charm, ATC

If you look really, really close you can see the robins in the trees just waiting to welcome spring in this ATC (Artist Trading Card). After all the snow we've had I can't wait to welcome spring myself. :-).

2011-01-13T07:50:00.004-05:00

Words for today: Travel, Brown, stamp

This card came together in nothing flat. I love the bike stamp and the pussy willows added some nice interest. I like this one enough to send it along to Sommerset so I'm saying Au revoir and sending it off in the mail today.

2011-01-12T15:15:00.003-05:00

You just can't beat Mother Nature for artistry. Even if you don't like the snow what's not to love about the grandure of these huge hemlocks humbled by Mother Natures idea of a play date. WOW! It's so beautiful the dogs and I stayed out and played for a very long time and had fun time frolicking in the white stuff. NOW this is true art! And I was patient enough to catch a pair of cardinals on the feeder, your just gotta love um.

2011-01-11T20:08:00.002-05:00

Things never quite go as expected but sometimes we have happy accidents. One of the marble bodies didn't quiet come out as expected so I made a second and am quite happy with the results. I call them Solder Syrens Of The Sea. I'll be teaching this class at Beautiful Impressions in Westbrook, CT on January 22. The website for sign ups is: www.beautiful-impressions.com if you are interested. :-)

2011-01-10T20:50:00.002-05:00

Today we have two part art... Whaaaaat? Well I have drying time involved in this project and so I've completed stage one of the project, tomorrow I'll finish and post stage "done". These are samples for my "soldered collage people" that I'll be teaching at the end of the month. See you tomorrow with my finished project.

2011-01-09T18:03:00.003-05:00

No prompts needed today, my friend Charmion (what a beautiful name) is hosting a button fairy trade in my group Fiber Art Traders, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FiberArtTraders. My sweet little fairy creation will be circling overhead until she's assigned a home to go to in the trade. :-)

2011-01-08T17:22:00.004-05:00

My art for the day is a "rescued" experiment. My friend Dee Dee and I experimented with Beryl Taylor's reverse applique technique from Beryl's "Mixed Media" Art Quilt Video from Interweave Press. OK, OK I'll admit that I don't have the longest attention span and that I do like instant gratification, so when my project didn't seem to be working out I set it aside and opted for another project. Well you can call me a lot of things but a quitter isn't one of them, soooooo I found new hope in the little applique this morning, when I looked at the piece it resembled the letter Q, with that in mind I beaded, water colored and stamped paper, banged some metal and quilted... WAA-LAA! Here's my project of the day with a few detail shots below. Ahhh the sweet smell of success.

2011-01-07T20:50:00.000-05:00

Today's art is one of my favorites... BOOKS! This one is jam packed with blank drawing paper to be journaled or doodled in. I began with corrugated cardboard and exposed some of the "waffle". It was painted with two different colors of Lumiere paint. I rubber stamped embossed the shell design on some purple velvet and stitched it to some water colored paper that had been salt treated to give it spots. I beaded the shells (what I've dubbed 'dragons tooth') and beads to the top left corner then lined the inside cover with some awesome purple and green batik. I then bound the pages and cover with purple braiding cord that I knotted and decorated with another dragons tooth and beads at the ends. I've made dozens of these books and each new one becomes my favorite. :-)
To heat embossed velvet simply select a simple deeply etched rubber stamp. Place your velvet nap side down on the rubber stamp (note you can NOT use gel stamps with these). Spritz back side of velvet with water and place your iron (set slightly below the cotton setting) on the stamp being sure that there you use the flat side WITH-OUT holes over the stamp. Hold iron in one place for a short while and remove, allow stamp to cool slightly before removing the velvet. Obvious these can not be laundered or reironed.

2011-01-06T22:37:00.000-05:00

Words for today are: Bird; Quilting; New technique

Well it's about time that I opened that new package of Shiva paint sticks! I bought a beautiful bird stencil from Interweave a while back and used it with the paint sticks on some muslin. I liked it so well that I cut it our layered it on a quilt sandwich and quilted away. :-) What fun to experiment. She measures 5"x7" and I'm quite pleased with this quick and easy project.

2011-01-05T10:30:00.000-05:00

Last night I joined a knitting group with my friend Dee Dee. It was so much fun because not only do you sit and knit you get acupuncture! WHHHHHHAT'S THAT YOU SAY? Yup that gal that hosts the knitting night is holistic healer and hosts right in her facility. She calls it "pins and needles", too cute aye? She asks you what body parts you want addressed, puts about 5 needles in each ear at different points and you sit and knit. It was wonderful company, chat and the acupuncture really, really made my back feel better! I convinced and I'm definitely going back for more. I call it 'soul swaddling', ahhhhhhmazing! So I made a tiny little hat for the NICU unit at our local hospital.

2011-01-04T11:17:00.000-05:00

Words for today: Holiday, blue, paint.
Water colored the card, attached reindeer, covered with ultra light weight lutradur, added cut out trees and some "snow", ribbon at the top and paper lace at the bottom.

2011-01-03T11:08:00.000-05:00

Up early this morning so that I could recreate the card that I made yesterday for submission to 'Somerset Studio'. The new card is my art for the day along with writing the directions and making the envelope. It goes off in the mail today after my 1:30 meeting. :-)

2011-01-02T15:32:00.000-05:00

Word prompts for today were: Paper; punch or cutouts; shiny. My choice was to make a greeting card. This one is going to Take Ten Studios. I love the "green" theme of this card.

2011-01-01T21:55:00.000-05:00

OK I'm ready... I'm ready to begin this year with gusto and more art. If Oprah can have her own TV network I'm sure that I can find time to make art everyday. It's time and I'm ready! Good-bye 2010 it was tough but I'm ready to begin again and find time for me. My plans are to find time to create art, art just for me, art with my own prompts, art that I keep and perhaps art that I share in my writings. I work best within a set of rules so that the art becomes a challenge. I've set up the prompts so that I randomly pull one from two different bags that I've made up. I can decide what I will create but I have to work within the prompt guidelines. Before I go to bed each night I will pull the prompts for the next day so I can come up with ideas and the next day I create the object. I'll see how this goes, I think that it has great potential, we'll see. So here is my first set of prompts and the finished project. I enjoyed making this little plus size inchie pin and it will serve as a reminder to seek art every day. :-)

2010-12-31T22:19:00.001-05:00

Well hello there fellow bloggers. I'm happy to say that 2010 is almost over. Phew it was a doozy for sure. Loosing one parent is hard enough but loosing both mom and dad in the same year is too much. I don't think that it has all sunken in yet and I have my good days and bad but I'm looking forward to a new year. Come onnnnnn 2011!

It's time to get back into my art again and devote more time to it. Time is not always my friend though and so I've come up with a plan that I call, Art Almost Every Day. Let's face it art everyday is daunting but I think with less pressure and short projects that come complete with art prompts is the way to go. I will be sharing my process with you all right here and I hope that some of you will be inspired to create along with me. So join me tomorrow and see what I have up my sleeve.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

2010-10-02T15:49:00.001-04:00

I'm delighted to announce that I will be teaching numerous soldering classes in Westbrook, CT in November. Here are just two samples from class' 1 & 2: collage pendant (1); Shell Shard Collage People (2). Hope that you can join us for a fun filled time. For dates, times and sign ups go to:
Beautiful Impressions Rubber Stamp Store
30 Westbrook Place ~ Westbrook CT 06498
www.beautiful-impressions.com 860-399-8855

2010-06-28T16:29:00.000-04:00

I'm thrilled to pieces that my seaglass and shell soldered pendant was chosen to be in the July/Aug 2010 issue of CPS.

2010-06-01T10:24:00.000-04:00

It's here, it's here! Sew Somerset summer 2010 is here! Two of my PSI (plus size inchies) fiber art trading pins (called, "Gifts of The Sea") are in this issue.

2010-03-25T13:24:00.000-04:00

"Pretty As A Picture" My entry for the 2011 Cloth Paper Scissor Magazine Calendar and it's a finalist!!!

2010-03-25T13:18:00.000-04:00

Meet Alice Through The Soldered Glass nicknamed Amorous Alice. I used text and photos to collage under the glass bubbles then foiled and soldered her. I used Artgirlz http://www.artgirlz.com/ pewter legs and arms to complete her. Isn't she sexy? Gigolo Jack thinks so. She's for a special friend in a collaborative project that we are working on. She's retrofitted into a page for the project that we are working on.

2009-05-19T14:17:00.000-04:00

High Fashion and High Fiber Handbags pattern giveaway!

2009-05-14T18:14:00.000-04:00

Tiny art is my passion. These are tiny 1 1/2" squares that I dubbed "Plus Size Inchies". I wrote and article and directions on how to make these in Quilting Arts Magazine.

2009-05-14T18:02:00.000-04:00

My Artist Trading Cards (2 1/2" x 3") that appeared in the book, 1,000 Artist Trading cards.

2009-05-14T15:50:00.000-04:00

Three of my journal quilts (8 1/2 x 11") published in 1,000 Journal Pages book.

2009-05-14T14:43:00.000-04:00

A few of the Magical Card Case Wallets that I created for my pattern and article in Quilting Arts magazine. These are slightly larger then the business card itself and has a magicial little twist to get the cards to rise out of the holder.

2009-05-14T14:35:00.000-04:00

A few Artist Trading Pins that were created to trade with Fiber Art Traders. These vary in size from 1" square to 3 1/2".

2009-05-14T14:21:00.000-04:00

Here are a few samples of fiber art post cards (4" x 6") that have been exchanged in the my Fiber Art Traders Yahoo group.

2009-05-14T14:10:00.000-04:00

Godess doll made for Fiber Art Traders and appeared in Cloth and Soft Doll Magazine. (Apx 6" long)

2009-04-13T14:24:00.001-04:00

Please join me in helping the American Cancer Society stamp out cancer in our life time. My collage titled, "98.6 IS Normal" is dedicated to my dad who is undergoing cancer treatment. The piece reflects normal body temperature which we watch so carefully throughout his chemo treatment. With luck and the grace of God he will beat this deadly disease. This piece is needle felted roving in varying degrees of color intensity. It was then reverse appliqued under black wool felt and then beaded in colors of varying degrees of color again. I've added a charm with my artist initials and additional beads. The piece is mounted on bristol board and signed and dated on the back.

2009-04-06T08:46:00.000-04:00

Three winners will receive and Egglet starter kit which includes: 6 hand painted watercolor eggs punched with spring designs, backings and yummy ribbons for tassel. All you do is paste, add the words, embellishments and grommets then bind with a wire ring and tie tassel. Good luck to all who enter.
Hugz, Normajean

2009-04-05T19:13:00.000-04:00

Ahhh Sping at last and what better way to celebrate the season then with a Egg-ceptional EGG Egg-stravaganza. The photos to the left are my little Eggs-tra special book. It's a half dozen hand water colored paper and punched with a large oval punch. I've added a bit of Liquitex Iridescent/Pearescent Medium to my water colors to give my eggs just the right touch of Easter. I punched through the eggs with other small paper punches that I have, added a colored paper backing and added Spring insiped words cut out from a quilting catalog. I hope that my F.A.T. friends (you know who you are LOL) will join me in a fun challenge/trade of these tiny egg booklets or should I call them Egglets?

Here's the challenge (Begins on Monday 4/6/09 and ends Friday 4/10/09)

We will be creating a tiny Spring egg-booklet (Egglet) with contains a half dozen (6) simple pages (paper or fiber) plus a cover of some sort. You must include some type of Spring inspirations on the pages. There are no restrictions on size but they must be egg shaped. Mine is an egg shaped page that measures 2" long x 1 1/2" wide. You do not need a paper punch to make these, they can be cut by hand and embellished with any Spring inspired embellishments, text etc.

-You will have until 9AM Wednesday (EDST, New York City time) to;
...create your 6 page (or more if you want) plus a cover, Egglet (booklet),
...post your photo's (one close up and one full view only please and make sure you include your name in the photo file so we know who's it is) and
...sign up in the database. One entry per member please.

-Wednesday morning I will set up a voting poll for all contestants with their pictures in the album. You will have the opportunity to vote for your favorite entry until
-Thursday evening when the polls close.
-Based on the voting we will have a 1st, 2nd and 3rd winners.
-Thursday evening the partners will be announced.
-Friday these need to be mailed! Please make time in your day to get them to the
post office on Friday (and YES the US Post Office is open on Good Friday but I
don't know about the rest of the world). I will be mailing the prizes to the
winners on Friday also.

I hope that you will join in this Egg-ceptional fun event.
Hugz, Normajean

2008-11-29T13:19:00.000-05:00

Mom is stuffed and Pop is too,
the turkeys not and what about you?
The kids are tired the house is a wreck,
for four solid days I broke my neck.
To fix a meal enough for twenty,
my gosh the left overs we have plenty!
So now I think I'll open that wine,
and on the left overs we will dine.
I told my kids as I raised my glass,
mom's checking out, she's otta gas.

2008-06-05T08:54:00.001-04:00

Feathers and Leaves is finished and I'm pleased with the results. The fabric is from Indonesia, the feathers from oldest daughter Anna in New Jersey and the leaves are from some costume jewelry that I bought at a yard sale while in Florida in Feb 2008. So pieces traveled from all over to be a part of this fiber art.
Nj

2008-05-31T20:42:00.000-04:00

A special piece of fabric is finding a new home in a new art quilt. There is still much to do but for now it's "resting" on my work table. It is heavily machine quilted and incorporates a feathered piece and some recycled costume jewelry. I'm very pleased with the way this piece is coming together.
Nj

2008-05-07T10:23:00.000-04:00

Yippee! My collage, Leafless Not Lifeless, was acquired in the Collage Mania event sponsored by Virgina Speigel to benefit American Cancer Society this week. Scroll down to see a photo of this piece. We held a call for art on my Fiber Art Traders group many members heeded the call. It's heartwarming to know that so many people care to share their time and talents. Thank you fellow F.A.T.ties for all you do and thank you Virginia for your hard work for ACS.

Signing off for now.
Nj

2008-04-06T11:38:00.000-04:00

I'm FINISHED! This year I headed up the challenge for the Clamshell quilt guild. I called the Challenge, "Family Values" and each participant had to use a photo that either themselves or a family member had taken and turn it into a black and white quilt. Hence the reference to "values" of black and white. The judging will take place on Wednesday 4/9. My photo was taken on our winter break trip to Washington, DC this year. I've attached a copy of the inspiration photo as well as the finished piece but WAIT there is a surprise behind the door. My quilt is called, "Beauvoir", meaning Beautiful View in French. here is the write up that I will share with my guild about this piece:

This photo was taken on a family vacation in February 2008 in Washington, DC by the artist. It is of a small unassuming door which leads into a chapel of the Beauvoir Elementary School which is affiliated with our United States National Cathedral. Beauvoir means "Beautiful View" in French and the school overlooks our amazing National Cathedral. In comparison to the immense cathedral this tiny red door seemed insignificant. However, it represents how I view my faith; a simple passage to a better place. This study in black and white also lead me to reaffirm that it is not what is on the outside that counts. For me, this small chapel door leads to the same place that grandiose door of the National Cathedral does, Heaven. It's not what's on the outside that counts, it's what on the inside. Once the judging is over for this competition I will reveal what is on the inside of my door using the latch that holds the door closed. The beading on the latch roped also have special meaning:
3- clear beads= the Holy Trinity
9-black and silver with large bead=Fruit of the Spirit
10- gray beads= the 10 Commandments
12- different beads= 12 Disciples

I don't normally get attached to my works but this one moves me spiritually. It was an amazing trip and a time of closeness that we seldom get as family anymore as we all lead such busy lives. This quilt will always let me go back to that happy vacation.

I hope that you enjoy seeing my 'Beautiful View'.
Hugs, Normajean

2008-02-18T20:58:00.000-05:00

I'm thrilled that my friend Virginia Spiegel has accepted my piece titled, "Leafless Not Lifeless" for Collage Mania II. All the proceeds go directly to the American Cancer Society. This represents my moms battle with cancer and how, against the odds, she sprang back and is a survivor of 35 years. The piece has a pale golden art paper background with squares of silk, upholstery and sheer fabrics in tones of greens, rusts and browns, these are layered and quilted to the paper background. The tree is a copper foil that has been distressed and free hand cut into tree shapes and stitched to the layered fabrics. It measures 8" x 10" and is mounted on Bristol board to reinforce the piece. Please visit Virginia's site, http://www.virginiaspiegel.com to participate in this worthy event.
Nj

2008-01-17T18:54:00.000-05:00

Wow what a wonderful and amazing surprise... Quilting Arts published my article early! This is my third article with them, the other two appeared in the QA Magazine. This one is called, "Trade Secrets" and is in their Embellishments E-Newsletter. It's all about running an Internet Trading group and the secrets that make it run smoothly. Of course my inspiration for this is my own group Fiber Art Traders, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FiberArtTraders. I'm grateful that Quilting Arts has allowed me to share my enthusiasm about Internet trading with their artistic community. The enrollment at F.A.T. has been incredible in the last 24 hours. Thank goodness I have some terrific helps on the group!

2008-01-16T10:16:00.000-05:00

Well, my inner child hasn't had much time to come out and blog because I've been too busy in my other writing endeavours. Quilting Arts magazine has accepted another one of my articles and it will appear in their online e-newsletter version called, Embellishments. I love writing for QA and I seem to have found a real home there. As you know, I've been an avid fan of their magazine for years and to see my name in print with them is such a thrill. :-) Here's the web addy to sign up if you are interested: http://www.quiltingarts.com/qallc/eNewsletter_form.html

Thanks for tuning in. I'll try to be a better blogger this year.

Hugs, Nj

2007-10-30T08:59:00.000-04:00

Thought for the day...

Be kind, be generous, be forgiving but before anything else be YOURSELF. I still here my dad's words echo in my ears, BE YOURSELF! But who is myself? We evolve, we grow, we mature. Who we were yesterday is not the person we are today. So my thought for the day is quite simply... be yourself, TODAY. Create a more beautiful world because you are in it TODAY! Don't say to yourself, someday I'll get to it, don't wait for retirement to become a great artist, do what you do best today! Because, quite simply, tomorrow may never come.

2007-10-12T15:55:00.000-04:00

I've added the photo taken of me in September 2007 with the beautiful gift that I received from the guild for serving 2 terms as President. It warms me heart and soul. :-)

2007-10-12T15:37:00.000-04:00

Quite frankly the name of my blog says it all... Sew Little Time. I seldom post but will once again make an attempt to update this on a more frequent basis.
Today I finished my Christmas gift to the Fiber Art Traders group members. I'm not saying what it is, everyone will just have to wait to see. :-)
Hugs, Nj

2007-05-02T16:30:00.000-04:00

Plus Size Inchies are EVERYWHERE in my studio! Here they are on a wall hanging that I created to be in the FiberPlay competition.

2007-05-02T12:02:00.000-04:00

Well I guess that you might call me the, Occasional Blogger. I'm not very good at posting as Fiber Art Traders consumes a LOT of my free time. We have been working on many projects including the new craze of inchie art, with the exception of one twist, I made them 1 1/2" square and they are much easier to work with. I'll post a few photos as I make them. They are fun and addictive!
Until next time, Normajean

2007-02-05T10:54:00.000-05:00

I've added a few pictures to the blog. Our completed kitchen facelift. (Phew, it's done.) Also one of my Kona coffee quilt winner. :-)