STOLES

Since it is Vacation Bible School week I am not getting to do much personal crafting.  Any craft time I have involves 105 kids from 3years old thru 6th graders,  So, in order to keep posting I am digging back to what I have been doing since spring. 

Today I am featuring stoles I made for each member of our church's confirmation class.  I have been been making these stoles since the 1990's.  I'm not actually sure when I started doing them but I know I began while Rev. Kaylor was pastor and he retired in 2000.  I'll guess it was around 1998.  I have used this design each year I have made them, but each stole is personalized with a label listing the confirmands name, the date of their confirmation, the location and the name of the minister that confirmed them.  I used to also put the name of the confirmands mentor, but we don't use mentors any longer so that line has been eliminated.  I print out the labels on my computer using pretreated muslin sheets that have been adhered to freezer paper.  The dove is appliqued and the ribbon under the dove has a pretty edge.  I try to find something with gold on it but this year I could find a ribbon with gold that I likes so I used a ribbon with embroidered roses on it.  Some years I've had to make 12 or more.  This year I think I did 8.

CARDS AND INCOME!

Yes I have found time to do some stamping.  I have even more incentive to stamp when it involves making some income and every once in a while that happens.  Unfortunately not as often as I would like, but then I am a crafter not a marketer.  A few months ago I received an e-mail from a friend of a friend who heard I made cards.  He asked if I could make wedding cards and if so would I make him several for weddings he was attending this summer.  OF COURSE!  That was my reply with a few questions on the type he was looking for.  His response was ones suitable for weddings....the rest was up to me.  OKAY!  Then I panicked....weddings are very important events, very special events and not just any greeting card would do.  Could I create something that would meet his expectations????  Well I guess I had to since I already had agreed to! 

I set to work starting to look for the  wedding set I thought I had.....oh yeah...I sold it at a yard sale because I found making wedding cards to stressful because of the importance of the day!  So first stop in making these cards was a trip to Michael's and the AC Moore....neither store had anything I liked anymore than the stamps in the set I sold.....things were not looking good....Fortunately then I had the opportunity to make a trip to BWI Airport; don't remember why or for who, but I did and this put me within a quick side trip to the only rubber stamp store I know of  in the area! (Metro DC is just not known for its interest in crafts or craft supplies I have decided.)  Fortunately they did have a couple of stamps I liked.  At this point I'm starting to think no one must like making cards for weddings because there does not seem to be a demand for wedding stamps and there for no real selection to choose from.

I purchased the two stamps I liked best and these are the three cards I came up with.  Fortunately my customer was pleased with them all.  WHEW!  Now I need to get back to using them once again and make more wedding cards.  This has been the year of weddings. I've already attended two, have two more to attend and have declined invitations to four others....I guess all those kids I have watch grow from babies to young adults are now at that age. 

Fortunately I am ready for what follows after weddings....I have lots of  welcome baby stamps.  I do hope I don't need them for a few years at least.  Though come to think of it...there were a few weddings in the past three years so maybe I do need to start planning........

I'M BACK....I HOPE!

No I have not fallen off the face of the earth, though there have been days when I've wished I had.  I can't believe that it has been since April that I posted here!  In that time a lot has happened in my life and the life of family and friends around me.  There have been laughter and tears, lots of long hours working, weddings of family members and friends, funerals, even a few days off for vacation.  Through it all I have managed to get some crafting done, though never quite got here to post about the projects completed and those in progress.  I hope to do some catching up over the next few days showing some of these projects so I have a written record of them and my crafty friends don't begin to think I've become a crafting slacker...

Today I am sharing a photo of my completed quilt for my local guilds April quilt show here in Gaithersburg.  I took the picture of the quilt last week as it hung in the American Quilt Society show in Knoxville, TN.  I treated myself and my mom to a two day visit to the show.  We had a wonderful time.  I admit to having a bit of an ego.  I was amazed at the thrill I felt when I came around the corner and saw not only my quilt hanging, but also saw several women seemingly enjoying looking at it. It was a wonderful feeling of affirmation.

I feel very honored to have a quilt in this show and I feel humbled as well.  The quilts here were amazing.  I don't think even in my dreams I could ever approach the talent and skill I saw in many of them.  They were absolutely amazing and I could have looked at them for hours.  I wish I could show some of them to you.  Unfortunately I can't. Though viewers were allowed to take photos of the quilts we are not allowed to post them anywhere.  I guess due to copyright issues.  Personally, I would be thrilled to have someone want to show off my quilt, but I understand others wanting to not have that done with theirs and so I will honor this rule of the show.  So you are stuck with just seeing mine. 

I have one final photo I would like to share it is a close up of the top box on my quilt.  The name of the quilt is "Good Things Come in Boxes".  So of course I had to put something in one of my boxes.  It's hard to see this when looking straight on at the quilt, but this last picture was taken looking from the side.  The top box has a tassel hanging from the lid.  It you lift up the lid under it in the box are diamonds.  Well really crystals that are adhered to the quilt top.  You get an idea how this works in this last picture.

So there you have it. I am back to posting.  Tomorrow I will try and be back with a card or two I have made in my absence.  Though I have been mostly sewing I have done a bit of stamping and need to do more, maybe this week....we'll see.  This week is Vacation Bible School at our church and I am in charge of crafts for over 100 children.  I do have many able helpers though so hopefully even with work in the afternoon following VBS I won;t be too tired to post or to craft on my own......
So till tomorrow.......