Amazing Class-Donna Downey

       I wanted to share my amazing class I took last week with Donna Downey mixed media artist and international teacher.

       This is what we made...it's pan pastel on canvas board.  I took the class with my youngest
 daughter.  My oldest daughter is the studio manager for Donna and set me up for the class. 
 I have to say Donna and her husband Bill are the most fun and friendly people!!

Me, Donna and M, who is really that tall.....6 foot!!  

My canvas looks more like the original and M did her own artistic thing....I like hers better of course!!!  

Here is Donna's  bio....and her blog is great too.  She does Inspiration Wednesday video every week and 
they are amazing...you have to check it out.  

Donna Downey is a bestselling author, instructor and all-around creative force as a mixed-media artist. In 2000, she got into scrapbooking as an extension of her paper product and photography addiction. This was only the beginning. From working as a popular columnist for Simple Scrapbooks magazine, to traveling the world inspiring women to push the boundaries of their own creativity, to developing her first mixed-media scrapbooking line with Prima in the Spring of ‘09, Donna is consistently on the leading edge of taking creative risks the push the creative envelope and empowering others to do the same with their art.

As a mixed-media artist, Donna is a born experimenter, blending and transforming both traditional and unexpected items into meaningful pieces of self expression. A former elementary school teacher, she has synthesized her first love of teaching with her passion for craft and brings this to women via workshops at scrapbook stores and events, writing books, and through her popular blog and website.

Donna lives in North Carolina with her husband, and is a mother of three exceptionally blonde children, a chihuahua and one blonde dog.

"All things material can be creatively transformed into a personal piece of artistic interpretation. That creativity is not a measure of skill, but a passion. That art comes from within and is a visual extension of ones self. That everyone is perfect just the way they create. That art cannot be defined, but rather is defining."

Now back to my long weekend and sewing projects....Happy Weekend, K

A Little Organization Needed-found more UFO's

     So I decided I needed to organize my craft room after seeing some posts on sewing rooms and some Pinterest browsing.    The one thing I love about my craft room is I put all my favorite things in there to display that most people put away and only bring the out at the specific holiday time.

       I keep. my snowman collection on a shelving section along with their Santa friends.  I pin up my sewing maching stitch sampler so I can look at it when I need a fancy stitch.  I post up drawings from my kids when they were little.  My Halloween quilts....you get the idea.  So it looks a bit cluttered, but I worked so hard on some of theses and to box them up all year is not appealing to me.




      Now I really spend most of my time sewing downstairs at the kitchen table so I don't spend a ton of time in there so I don't get tired of seeing my snowmen.  The other space hog is my inspiration quilting frame and Viking machine.  I will have to admit that I did not use it at all this last year.  (I was assigned an extra assignment to cover for a coworker that was going to be on leave for 6 weeks that turned into over a year and just never had enough time/energy to start a project).

      I also have a twin bed for when my daughter comes to stay.  She only comes once or twice a year and I can not figure out a way to hide that bed anywhere else in the house.    I would love some ideas on this one.  I might move the quilting cram forward so I can stand the bed behind it sideways.  Then I can add some table space.

     That was rather long winded to get to my UFO  list.....so in my cleaning I found my snowman quilt that needs to be quilted and have all the buttons sewn on.  I think over 100 buttons.

The makings of a valentine wall hanging that is a very cute panel with a pieced border.

A felt pillow to be hand sewn, along with a felt table topper.

A painted plate that just needs the vines and final details painted and varnished.  Didn't find the pattern that goes with it yet.

2 lap quilts that need batting and backings.

Many punch needle projects that need framing.  Need some ideas...Pinterest??

     I intend to get these going in the year 2013 and will start with loading one on the quilt frame this week after inventory.   I have to go take a nap now to prep myself for 3 overnighters of inventory bliss.  I make it sound like hell but I do love the process but getting 100 plus people to get it counted right is sometimes quite a chore, times that by 2 and you know what my next 3 nights will be like.  Did I mention I do like inventory?  

Happy counting, I mean sewing, K