Pillow Talk-Or, How I Spent My Christmas Vacation

So, the holidays are over....I love them...I do...but, I know we are (for the most part) ready to move on....
I spent a great deal of the season making pillows...My friend, Sonia, has opened a wonderful, new gallery (she's a talented artist), Stinger Studios, in Georgetown, Texas, and invited me to place my hand-painted glass, photos, etc. (Etc. is my middle name) there before Christmas...I did manage to do that, along with one holiday-oriented pillow. The rest shown here finally made it to the Grand Opening of her gallery last night. (You couldn't move, there were so many people there..very exciting!)

I have discovered the wonders of printing images from my computer onto fabric sheets, and then, making pillows - six of them in a few weeks time...exhausting, but truly fun to learn new techniques in not only using my 6-color, wonderful printer, but utilizing the tons of fabrics I have saved over the years, along with all the beads, trims, jewelry, geegaws, Etc...

I found the sheets at Michaels, and I am sure they can be purchased on-line, as well.

I placed these pillows in Stinger Studio's windows just hours before the opening (after my husband rescued me, as when I went to deliver them, I realized I'd locked myself out of my car)...Some of my glass is shown here, as well.

The botanical pillow was an image, that I had scanned years ago, just because I loved it so much....The silk front was leftover from a window treatment, and I got all that wonderful, gold gimp from Hobby Lobby for a great price!

The dragonfly was another treasure, that I've had for years-and-years...The velvet was part of my stash, and I "embossed" it in one corner by using a rubber stamp, and a steam iron...when I recover from all this, I will do a tutorial for you. I also learned a wonderful "trick" with regarding to sewing velvet, which loves to "crawl"...again, another time, another tutorial...as they say, "desperation is the mother of invention - along with tips from the Internet"...

This is my mother-in-law's favorite....she spent three weeks with us (she's 89, and amazing), and we had fun, shopping in Austin for just the right silk backing (I don't have all the right silks, but didn't have to buy any front velvet or silk)...

This is actually the BACK of my "Angel Pillow"...I inadvertently got ink on my finished pillow (GAHHHHH!!), so, I used iron-on tape to make a pocket; and I tucked in (between sheets of vellum) an Angelology...which tells which angels are the rulers of certain Zodiac signs, Etc. (there's the Etc. again)....I just had to attach the feather wings...so, viola, a two-sided pillow...

The angel image if from the "Graphics Fairy" (thankyou, Graphics Fairy", and the velvet is the remains of a wonderful, Eileen Fisher top (I love her), which finally died...it is like butter....

My "Midievil Illumination" pillow has a wonderful, old brooch, which I dug out of my treasure trove....

Again, I must thank "The Graphics Fairy" for this image of "A Visit From Santa"...the check is leftover from my duvet cover I made, and the mother-of-pearl buttons once belonged to my mother-in-law, who gave me a huge collection of her buttons...thanks, Mama Eula...

.Now, I am digging out my studio...there are piles of velvet, silks, all kinds of fabrics and trims, of which I have to make sense...but, first, a nap..

Wouldn't it be Lovely??

If we could turn on our televisions, and the nightly news wasn't about disasters, murders, wars, greed, loss, illness, suffering (yes, they do try to throw in a "warm and fuzzy" towards the end.
If we could get behind the wheel of our vehicles, and go out onto the roads without some horrible person (usually with a cigarette in one hand and a cell phone in the other), wasn't trying to kill us..producing "road rage"..

If the world wasn't in such turmoil, the economy so horrible, that people are losing their homes and their life savings?

Well, that's my prayer(s) for all ya'll this coming year...That we can cling to one another, and share what we have...that we won't judge one another, force our political views down one another's throats, or turn our backs on those who don't agree...
That the hungry will have food, the cold, warmth, the lonely, companionship, the sick, health....Please, Lord...give us a New Year to start anew.....................

Happy, and Blessed New Year to All

The Eye of the Beholder

Lately, I have been experiencing "White Christmas Envy"....there's a wonderful blog, http://www.a-cottage-in-the-woods.blogspot.com (most bloggers just put HERE), and you click on it, and viola', there's the blog...Ya'll may have noticed by now that I am "Computer Impaired", and it's not getting any better...But, I digress...
Zuzu (name envy), lives in Colorado, in a tiny cabin in the woods, and writes, photographs, creates, and does everything with grace and skill...I don't envy her, for that would be way too much envy going on in me, and that's not healthy...I will settle for "White Christmas Envy"....

I did, however, look out the other morning onto my "big back yard" in Texas, just as the sun was beginning to break into the fog....(my cats had me up since three am), and I was struck by the beauty of it all....No, no snow, no crystals, no frost patterns on the glass...just trees, dried grasses, rocks (I don't know of anyone who has "rock envy"), and the serene beauty of nature...It truly all is in the eye of the beholder, isn't it?

So, I grabbed my camera, and chased the sweet light.....

We had a wonderful rain today - so badly needed - the deer were soaked, but it wasn't too cold, and the birds were having a great time...the feeder was full, and they were singing their praises....

So, tonight, we are a small family, sharing a quiet Christmas Eve, and counting our blessings....