All You Need is Love

And boy do I feel that love. I got home last night and found this. It is the collage from my partner - Cindy - in the Winter Wishes swap. I immediately propped it up on a branch of the Christmas tree. It looks fabulous there. I love this - and the colors are perfect for me. I would love to collect enough of these 4x4 sized artworks to do an entire tree - would that not be fun? Right now I would have to do ATC and these to even look decent.

Then this package was there - complete with challenging little note from one of my favorite ladies. Miss MaryAnn writes - a little Christmas gift for you. Bet you can't wait to open it. or some comment like that. She knows me way too well. So ..........

You know I opened it. And look what I got. Beautiful cards. I love these too. The colors are so me. And MaryAnn knows I love paisley - these are perfect. I hope to one day meet her and give her a huge hug for all of the goodness she has had delivered into my life.
Now for the project that has haunted me - the baby quilt. IT'S FINISHED - at 12:30 am. I put it into the washer and dozed until it stopped - then at 1:15 this morning into the dryer it went. This was a fun quilt to work on. Unstructured and organic in its nature. I adore the mixed fabrics and the free form quilting. My favorite - the lollypop tree. I really does remind of one of those old fashioned "all day" suckers. This goes immediately to its new home tonight. Confession - I am not 100% happy with the backing. This fabric had just a little too much stretch for my liking and it rolled a little in the wash and dry process. I am sure Baby Charlie won't be too critical though. A second confession - I do not prewash my fabric - sharp intake of breath from true quilters out there. I know - prewashing allows for shrinkage before you start - but I like the puckering that occurs in the wash and dry process and since I like that look, I try to do that with all of my quilts.

We were talking about something at the last shower. Signatures. As an artist - do I want my look to be immediately identified as mine? Oh yes. Molly has been doing a project on Picasso and he had clearly identified periods in his work. How do you find you signature? I found mine by starting the ATC Indulgence project - which will be all complete by the New Year. (If you haven't received yours yet - you will I promise.) I could see a style and flow to my work start to appear. I found myself returning over and over to needle and thread for details and embellishments. So I know which media I like AND I can see that I am always going to fall into a certain style and balance. I will continue to try techniques and will join swaps and challenges to improve my skills and all facets of my work. I also have gained the signature for handcrafted gifts - I like that description so much better than homemade - it seems to give more validity to my work. And I like having that signature.

Today is a good day. Finishing the quilt has taken a weight off my shoulders. Now I can focus on the quick and easy stuff I want do finish for the kids I give to. My girls will be decorating the tree tonight while I am at the baby shower. I know this sounds a little odd not to do this as a family, but they love doing this and they will get to reveal it as a gift of sorts to me. That is so much fun for them - and I want them to always remember that we encouraged them to have fun.

I hope you all have a beautiful day.