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A Heart a Day: 1

Heart Felt Wishes to you all! I love hearts, I love the shape, I love to decorate the house at Valentine’s Day, and I have a lot of hearts… so I decided to post A Heart a Day for the entire month of February.

These past few years have been hard for all of us, I am thinking that spreading the love is a good thing, and doesn’t take much more than caring about our fellow human beings. Be kind, and tell the people that you love that they are loved every day of their lives.

Happiest of heartfelt wishes for a wondrous day! ~Christen

Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Pink Warrior

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My kid is a Pink Warrior because she has walked for me and people like me who have seen the dark side of cancer, and come back with the help of loved ones. This is a picture of Gwen, when she was around 5. We are so very proud of her, can you tell?

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Angel of My Heart is a collage wall hanging that I made incorporating the cards that she and my husband had given me over the years. Both of them were there for me during those dark days of chemo. It was through their love that I had the strength to keep going.

In honor of all of the women, men, and children who have been affected by cancer, my heart goes out to you.

Stay safe, take care of your health, love those who love you! Enjoy ~Christen

And the Winner Is….

Stunning Stitches for Crazy Quilts by Kathy Seaman Shaw

And the winner is Patricia Salada! Thank you all for entering your name and comments on my stop of the blog tour!

Remember that the blog tour is still running from July 8th until July 16th. If you did not win on my post then I encourage you to enter into the contest on the remaining sites.

The details are that each day, a different blog or internet site will feature Stunning Stitches for Crazy Quilts and post about that person’s perspective on the book—PLUS each stop will have a drawing and one lucky person will win an electronic copy of the book.

I would suggest that you visit everyone, including the posts that have already run, you never know what you may learn from this talented group of stitchers!

Happy Stitching ~Christen

Stunning Stitches For Crazy Quilts Blog Tour

Stunning Stitches for Crazy Quilts by Kathy Seaman Shaw

I have the honor and the pleasure of introducing this wonderful new book to you. And the bonus is that you have a chance to win an ebook of this title at the end of the blog tour. So keep reading and peruse to the end of the post for the details!

Kathy approaches her material with a knowledge that goes beyond just the basics. Her writing style is such that the reader feels as if they are a student sitting in front of her in class. Her instructions, her tips, and her organizational skills will give anyone reading this book the confidence to not only easily duplicate the embroidery stitches and the designs, but to then be proud of the work that they have stitched.

The book offers a set of “Stitch Templates” for the reader to make, that will help both a novice and an experienced stitcher with the positioning and spacing for 36 basic stitches. The book also includes easy to follow instructions with drawn illustrations for these stitches.

There is a 14 page gallery section in the middle of the book with a 112 examples of embroidered seams using perle cotton, silk embroidery ribbon, buttons, sequins and beads. Each one of the designs is interesting, unique and beautiful. Then there is a section of 480 illustrated seams, with the stitches listed in the order that they are to be stitched. Priceless for anyone who needs a bit of a boost to their imagination!

Here are four examples of the blanket stitch and the many ways that you can decorate on and around the base of the stitch.

Here are four examples of the chevron stitch, and the many ways that you can decorate on and around the base of the stitch.

Here are four examples of the feather stitch, and the many ways that you can decorate on and around the base of the stitch.

The blog tour will run from July 8th until July 16th. Each day, a different blog or internet site will feature Stunning Stitches for Crazy Quilts and post about that person’s perspective on the book—PLUS each stop will have a drawing and one lucky person will win an electronic copy of the book.

You will need to leave a comment after the post, and then the winner will be emailed with information on how to claim their ebook prize, so be sure to include your email in your comment if you will be replying anonymously. You can enter once a day at each site… so if you don’t win today, then you have five more chances!

I would suggest that you visit everyone, including the posts that have already run, you never know what you may learn from this talented group of stitchers!

Good luck to you and Happy Stitching ~Christen

Newsies

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Newsies

This piece started with a lovely stamp of a cherubic child’s face. I stamped the face several times on an article in the LA Times on health care, (fitting). I then cut and glued the faces onto a heavy stock paper, then this to cardboard. I painted the papers with acrylic paints, and matte Mod Podge. I added in the text and doodles with ink pens.

Monday’s Child is fair of face.
Tuesday’s Child is full of grace.
Wednesday’s Child is full of woe.
Thursday’s Child has far to go.
Friday’s Child is loving and giving.
Saturday’s Child has to work for its living.
Sunday’s Child is fair and wise and good and gay.
(I paraphrased the last line so that it would fit onto the paper!)

Have fun with what you do, make it count! Enjoy ~Christen

We Love to Laugh

We Love to Laugh

We Love to Laugh

I used the song from Mary Poppins, “I love to Laugh” that her Uncle Albert sang as he rose up to the ceiling like a balloon. So I thought this would be a great way to introduce a Zetti-ish entry. The faces are stamped onto newsprint and copied onto paper. I drew the hats, legs and border images with an ink pen and used color pencil to add in the color.

Enjoy! LOL! ~Christen

Junky Funky Flowers

Junky Funky Flowers

Junky Funky Flowers by Kevin and Christen Brown

I have been collecting pieces of this and that on “our walks” for years, and my husband dutifully will put these treasures in the pockets of his shorts until we get home, no matter how dirty or messy they may be. What a good guy!

He even carried the wood and metal umbrella that we now use in the garden, adorned with ribbons, to ward off the birds. He did draw the line with the crumpled rumpled bumper that I found, we had to come back with the truck for that.

It will take a trip around the neighborhood to collect enough bottle caps for one flower. My husband crimped the edges of each bottle cap, then poked a hole in the center with a nail and a hammer. I attached them with artistic wire and size 6 seed beads. Each one is backed with cardboard.

bottle cap flowers

bottle cap flowers

I stuck three vines of vintage glass leaves into the pot, that had belonged to Kevin’s grandmother. A few fuzzy bees also were included to fly around the flowers because they were kinda cute.

The tall vine is made from vintage stamen painted yellow and red. These are attached to a florist wire with millinery leaves along with vintage mercury beads left over from a Christmas garland. The shorter curved vines also have gold mercury glass beads, vintage nubby flowers and millinery leaves.

paper covered pot

paper covered pot

The flower pot was an old tin can that held stewed tomato’s. I bent it at the edges to form the sides, and for the first few days I left it this way. I had originally glued the hanger, which is a top from a soda pop can (also found on a walk), to the back of the tin can.

Kevin the Holder of Precious Junk

Kevin the Holder of Precious Junk

But alas, disaster struck when the glue didn’t stick and the whole thing fell off the nail on the wall!

So…. I decided to finish the pot with an old paper wrapper leftover from a raw sugar package. This I folded, trimmed and glued to form the correct shape. The hanger is now securely glued to the back of the pot with additional bits of paper and cardboard for stability.

Whew, all is right with the world, it is now much more secure and it looks better with the brown paper!

Happy treasure hunting, enjoy what you do and the time that you have to do it! Enjoy! ~Christen