Appleton Dance

Artist and poet Gwen Frostic (1906-2001) lived and worked in Benzonia, Michigan, not far from the great lake. She said: A tree each year, at the end of all the twigs, will form new buds. The limbs will grow a little longer and the tips of the branches will remain forever young. The same way with you. With each day, you reach a little further, each day you learn something new, the tops of your mind will remain forever young -- no matter how many years you count on your birthday. Quoted from The Life & Wisdom of Gwen Frostic  by  Pulitzer Prize winning journalist  Sheryl James (Sleeping Bear Press, 1999) I stopped by her studio on April 1. Her shop is closed. But her spirit haunts the site. And the branches remain forever young. Info: http://www.oldhouseonline.com/mushroom-houses-of-charlevoix/ http://www.gwenfrostic.com

A good friend saw a magazine story about a jewelry designer who displayed her raw materials on a huge board so that she could see at a glance what was available for her creativity. My friend decided that she could do the same with her costume jewelry collection so that she could easily choose appropriate accessories as she dressed for work or play. She made this jewelry board and mounted it in her clothes closet. Here is how she described her process: I used a 24x36" oak framed bulletin board from Staples, under $30 cut a remnant from 'Warm and Natural' quilt batting to cover the front inside the frame and tacked it down in a few spots around edge with a staple gun ( http://www.warmcompany.com/ wnpage.html ) cut a rectangle from leftover black satin that was about 6 inches bigger than the board.  Covered the batting with the fabric and stapled the fabric to the backside of the board. (Satin may not hold up to multiple pinholes; directions I've seen onli...

Alisa and I made this cute variation on Martha Stewart's felt shopping tote featured on page 42 of the January 2010 issue. You can download a full-sized PDF file template of Martha's felt bag from her website. Alisa and I made a couple of the totes out of gray, wool felt. The full sized bag is 16 inches wide and 27.5 inches high including the long handles. Alisa pinned on one of her felt corsages that we made at Christmas time and it looked really cute. For the Valentine's tote, I reduced the pattern size to 12 inches wide by 18.5 inches including the handles. The pattern piece is shaped like a square bib with long straps that you stitch together to make the tote handles. After cutting out two pattern pieces, stay stitch 1/4-inch from the curved edges of all four handles, using a decorative stitch if desired. If you want to applique a decoration on your bag, cut out your decorative felt pieces and stitch onto the front of one side of your bag. Then pin the two bag piece...

Alisa and I took a class in making cotton chenille scarves from Cindy Jones at Lake Street Mercantile in South Lyon, Michigan on Sunday. We each bought our own Olfa Chenille Cutter  and a yard-and-a-half of cotton fabric. We cut five-inch-wide bias strips about 40-inches long, stacked them, and sewed 3/8-inch channels down the length. You really need a walking foot for this job. We made our scarf double-sided by stacking seven layers of bias strips with a slightly longer piece in the middle position to act as a foundation for both sides. Then we used the chenille cutter to slice three layers open in all the channels on both sides of the foundation, leaving the center layer to hold the scarf together. Once the scarf is washed and fluffed dry in a dryer, the bias frays and creates the distinctive chenille nap. Cindy showed us a cute baby blanket that was chenilled on one side only. The stitched channels create a quilt effect the un-napped side. Lots of interesting patter...

I got this wonderful holiday message from my friend, Virginia in Iowa:  Thank you for the Gorgeous felt Corsage !  I think it will Rejuvenate my Aura! - Which, by the way, desperately Needed rejuvenation.  I look forward to the opportunity to dress up and wear it.  You are Way too sweet! And the Pepper Streak * sounds Yummy.  I think I have fixed a similar dish - don't remember what we called it, but it was tasty. Thanks for the reminder. Funny thing about crock-pots.  There was a chili cook-off at church toward the end of October. I was not going to take chili  - just corn sticks. But about noon, I decided to make a batch. My chili is nothing to brag about, but I felt obligated to participate. I made it on the stove, but transferred it to the crock-pot to take to church and to keep it hot through the evening. Went early to plug in the pot and get it good and hot again. There were no outlets at the serving table, so a neighbor took it into t...

I saw these cute felt pins in a holiday catalog and wanted to try to make some. The ones in the catalog were all different. Some were layers of felt cut in the shape of petals, some were loops of felt that looked like crysanthemums, some were rolls of felt that looked like rosebuds. Some were a little of each. I made this poinsettia as a trial effort, but it seems to me that you could while away a winter afternoon cutting shapes, embellishing and building flowers to your heart's content. For ideas to spark your creativity, search for "felt flower pins" on Etsy . Equipment: Needle Scissors Materials: Standard copy paper for pattern cutting Heavy felt squares or yardage, as desired (For poinsettia buy dark green, burgundy, and bright red.) Variety of large (1-1/4 inch diameter), fancy buttons or large beads for flower center Beads and sequins (if desired) Large safety pins or stick pin with safety cap (clutch), or jewelry finding pin back available from jewelry fi...

I posted a story on our local LivingstonTALK.com website about a new enthusiasm -- Contract Bridge. Check it out at  Get in the Game: Contract Bridge .