New Leash on Life

If you remember from these posts, earlier this year I started a program called Creature Comforts to make pet beds using quilters scraps that would benefit the Forsyth Humane Society and its related programs. Last Tuesday my sons and one of their friends went with me to the New Leash on Life graduation ceremony in Winston-Salem. New Leash on Life, or NLOL, is a program where qualified inmates in the NC prison system are paired with dogs who need training. Working with volunteer professional trainers, the inmate trainers work intensely for 8 weeks teaching the dogs basic training, agility, housebreaking, and socialization skills. At the end of the training period they celebrate their achievements with a graduation ceremony and the dogs who have found forever homes are presented to their new owners. A few days later a new class of dogs comes in and the training begins again. This local chapter is sponsored by FHS, and there are about 20 other NLOL programs throughout NC.

There is a great video about the program here.

At this session's ceremony I was honored to present  NLOL with 5 large pet beds for their ongoing use! It was so inspiring to see the work that goes into training these dogs...I asked one of the trainers how long each day they spend with the dogs and would you believe the answer? 8 - 10 hours a day! And let me say, these dogs are smart and well behaved...the perfect fit for a new forever home.

I love this program and how it fits so well with the mission of Creature Comforts. Everything - dogs, inmates, and yes, even fabric scraps  - finds new purpose. Like I said in my presentation, I truly believe that everything - and everyone - has a purpose. Nothing is just for throw away.




photo courtesy of S. Belcher

Here we are unloading the pet beds! I'm so excited to be making this delivery!

Program coordinators and a trainer greet the new owner of one of the dogs :)

The trainers showing off the dogs' new skills...they were really good!

Gifts for some of the program coordinators, made by an inmate. These were carved out of soap and are really neat. I wish I could show the face of the trainer who was presenting them...he had the biggest smile!

A lot of work from a lot of people went into making these first 5 beds. Even my oldest pitched in helping chop up scraps for the filler! Knowing that there will be that much less stuff in the landfill and that what would have been thrown out has now been put to a good use makes it all worthwhile. It may be a small thing, but just think what would happen if more people did something, even if it's just small?

The next production focus will be beds for use at the FHS adoption center. Stay tuned! :)

Back to It...The Rush is ON!

I can't believe June is almost here! It's going to be a busy month...I hit the ground running June 1 with the installation of the Cosmic Cow Society group exhibit at the Yadkin Cultural Arts Center , opening reception June 3, 5-7:30 PM. Also opening June 3 is the faculty exhibit at Sawtooth from 5-7PM. Pass the clone please! :)

From there it's full steam ahead with shipping work to Sacred Threads and then making final preparations for teaching Summer Art Honors at Sawtooth and 3 kids/teen camps at Sew Original. I can't wait!! I love being around all those creative young minds! I may be the teacher, but I always learn from them as well. Be on the watch for lots of photo postings!

Throw in there some Elementary School graduation celebrations (how did my baby grow up so fast?!?), and other end-of-school-year festivities, and before I know it, it will be July!

Bring it!! It's going to be a fun summer!!

(image from http://www.freedigitalphotos.net )

Time Out for Some Family Fun

The recently promised photos of the Ornamental Fiesta class will be forthcoming...I would have finished two in class had I not driven to Asheville without Bernie's power cord! DOH!! Hard to do the sewing part without that, huh? Oy. I was able to borrow someone's machine to do part of it, but I still need to satin stitch the edges, stitch down the metal, and do the embossing. I will say though, that it was a really fun class and I can't wait to show them off!! If you ever get a chance to take a class from Judy Perez, don't miss it...she is a great teacher :)

Meanwhile, this past Friday was my husband's birthday...and not just any ordinary one, it was the big 5-0! He was in Minnesota all week on a business trip and flew home on his actual birthday. I started to have the crowd at the baggage pick up area sing to him, but he's not one for calling attention to himself and I figured he might just jump on the conveyor belt and ride right out of the building. So, I refrained. :) We did, however, stop at Bibb's, one of his favorite BBQ restaurants, for dinner on the way home.

The real celebration came Saturday night. We hosted our "Grub Club" and extended the guest list with his parents, brother, sister, niece and two surprise guests - his college buddy and wife - whom we hadn't seen in about 11 years! He had no idea they were coming! He came home from our youngest's baseball game and there they were. It was great! It was a night of Italian feasting with homemade raviolis, pasta Alfredo with chicken and sausage, salad straight from my garden, fresh NC strawberries, and more. Good food, good friends, good conversation all night, and kids running all over the place!

Coach Jim prepares to blow out all those candles...

On Sunday we spent the day at the Winston-Salem Dash game...it was hot but fun, and they won! Go Dash!

Even the sky was showing love...see the heart? :)

It was a great birthday weekend!

What the ????

Blogger seems to be doing wacky things with my photos...all of a sudden they are showing up as little empty boxes! You can click on them and pull up the image but you don't see anything in the post. Any ideas what's going on??? HELP!!

Fun with Ink!

I've been having the most fun!! My guild - Forsyth Piecers and Quilters - booked a Tsukineko Ink workshop with the brilliantly talented Judy Perez, held this past Saturday. I've been wanting to learn what to do with these inks for a while now, and have been looking for an opportunity to have Judy here for a class ever since we met a couple of years ago when she was in Winston-Salem on a personal trip. When I saw Asheville on her calendar I jumped at the chance to book a class in Winston-Salem, only 2 hours east of Asheville.

It was 6 hours of bliss!  :)

In this class Judy teaches two different methods for working with the inks, and she provides images to work from so you don't have to get bogged down in trying to think up something. It was a relaxed, really fun day! Look what we did!.....

Judy (right) giving tips to Joanna White

OK, we didn't do these...Judy did! Aren't they amazing?

This is my first test piece...learning to get the feel of it using the Fantastixs

My second pieces, done mostly with the Fantastix. I call them "Alien Fruits"  I was in a playful color mood :)

This is Fred, my seahorse. I love him madly! He is what I created in the afternoon using paintbrushes in the second technique Judy taught. Be on the watch for Fred to turn up in a future art quilt...

Asheville is hosting Judy's Ornamental Fiesta class and I'll be heading up there for that this week, so tune  in later for more pictures!

What Can I Say...

...it's baseball season! Which means between eldest son being on the school team and a travel team, and youngest being in Little League, not much else is getting done around here! We have games pretty much everyday at one place or another. I  do love it and I know these days will all too soon fly by and I'll wonder where they went.

I have been doing some major cleaning and reorganizing in the studio (I know, I know...again?? Will it ever end? LOL). The nature of my interiors business has changed and evolved over the last few years. Where before it was necessary to have a big library of samples, now everything is available on line. I can pick specific items per project and have just those samples sent to me as needed. I just don't need all that stuff taking up space to do what I do in that part of my life.

So, I've been purging and rearranging, making use of that shelf space for fibers classes supplies, and dyeing supplies, and beads... the net result being that everything is about to finally have a place and my worksurfaces won't have to be a catch-all anymore! It's a miracle!! With past clean up efforts I've gotten it to a workable point and then jumped into a project and messed it all up again before I really got it all the way clean, This time I'm pushing myself to GET IT DONE...all the way. I might even be able to take and post some pictures soon. :)

Hannes, the Amazing

What a wonderful surprise this morning to read this post by Hannes. He is truly handsome...and he has a big heart too. Thanks Hannes!

:)