International Quilt Market/Spring
Portland, OR
Booth #2518
May 16-18, 2008

Leaving today for our trip to Portland to meet new wholesale customers and say
yahoo to those already hooked on Artgirlz!

Brewer Quilting and Sewing Supplies is also carrying Artgirlz Products and will in Booth #401.

For those of you going to Market, we will be doing:
School House Presentation
Thursday May 15 • 3:35-4:05
Room B112
Make and Take At the Brewer Quilting and Sewing Supplies
Booth #401
Friday 5-6
Sat 12-1

Please come by and say hello!!

Belinda-Crazy Art Girl did a great job making a mini quilt like the one that was featured in the Cloth Paper Scissors Newsletter. She does wonderful work and lots of great mixed media ideas on her blogs. Check them out!!!

Also wanted to mention "The Big Book of Needle Felting" by Kay Kaduce, Judy Jacobs and Rona Horn. There are lots of Artgirlz goodies sprinkled around the book and some great ideas!!

So much has been unfolding around here since the last post...this is going to be a quick photo essay...between these photos, we work!

Midge and Allison: April in Paris! Five of Six Hundred
They had a wonderful time, beautiful weather, good food, museums, and a lot of walking. Lots of great chocolate, olive oil and balsamic vinegar around here..Thanks girlzz!!





May Day at Dawn, Narragansett, RI
"Ladies of the Rolling Pin" welcoming the Day!


Cathy Hill, our friend, yoga teacher, serious earth mother!!


Sue's Surprise Birthday Pedicure Extravaganza!




The Chicken Coop Arrives with George, Cathy and Dan!!
Sue's Actual Birthday Day!



Setting Up the New Veggie Garden
Set Up: Each One of Us Cooks one Night a Week! What a Great Plan!!



Lots of Rain for the Flowers!

Hopefully the girlz are winging their way back to the good old US. Things are quiet here this morning and that usually means a higher level of concentration for me...usually...

While we were in Chicago at the Quilt Festival, we were lucky to spend a wee amount of time with two amazing talented sisters, Deb Silva and Judy Coates Perez. I believe we all met in Chicago a year or two ago. They both do extremely beautiful work that is well worth checking out!

Deb went home with one of our new Big Bags and sent me this photo the other night. I love seeing what comes out of someone else's head, heart and hands! She did mention that she raided Judy's felt stash...but that's what it's all about! Thanks Deb for your inspiring work...thanks to both of you!

It is raining! I am so happy for the garden!!

Greetings from Artgirlz World Headquarters! The girlz...Midge and Allison have been in Paris for a week and will be back on the scene, in some spaced out shape no doubt, tomorrow evening. Sue and I have been holding down the fort. I managed to call in the payroll, answer the phone, did a bit of stitching, photography and direction writing, and even made a few decisions by myself. We look forward to the safe return of the bosses of everything!!


I was caught passed out in the garden last weekend, but this weekend Sue and I had a very busy time frolicking around the estate! It was the first A++++ Day this spring. We wanted to plant eight little lettuce plants and ended up sifting mulch, moving shrubs, rebuilding a small stone garden edge, moving just about everything in the area, and finally plopped in the lettuce...it took most of the day, but I'm sure that we will have a few wonderful salads! We continued to ADD around the garden today...put the bunnies in their play pen, checking the pond for a leak, trimming and transplanting trees, cleaning leaves, edging, moving shrubs, digging up weeds, checking the bees for babies and found them (yea!!)...I actually pick up my own piles and deposited in the compost pile...

This week will bring a flurry of activity as we prepare for our trip to Portland OR for Quilt Market, getting orders out, learning about my social networking tasks, and most importantly Sue's Birthday next weekend! Hopefully the girlz won't take too long to get back on the planet...they sent and email today and said they've had it with butter, sugar, excellent chocolate and coffee...

Oh, I just remembered that we have a very nice profile this month in Cloth Paper Scissors! We are very grateful for the time, energy and support they have given us over the last couple of years. If you are not familiar with the magazine, this would be a great time to pick it up! You will not be disappointed!!!

FAMILY FUN!
So much has been happening, that I can hardly keep up with it! Let's see, wanted to mention that we had a surprise party for Midge's 60th birthday a couple of weeks ago...Beth, her daughter, flew in from LA and 4 long time friends drove up from NY, and we managed to find a Wii to top it all off...friends and family and meatballs!!

Then it was off to St. Augustine for Sue and Me for an Emergency Vacation...see below...




QUILT FESTIVAL

Then Allison and I went to Chicago for the International Quilt Festival. Our two hour plane ride turned into 7 hours...the good news being that we arrived and didn't have to catch another plane from O'hare...the next day, American started it's cancellation thing!

We had the greatest class! Everyone brought a piece of clothing to embellish and everyone did an amazing job!! Al and I both felt very gratified and energized from the experience! This is Gigi the Amazing..."I don't sew" she said. Well, she brought a denim jacket on which she had painted colorful rectangles...We were lucky enough to have Bernina machines with the Bernina Stitch Regulators and it took her about 3 minutes to get the hang of it and at a very high speed, 7 bobbins and 4 needles later, she had transformed her jacket and a pair of overalls!!


It was a joy watching Jeanne move from the world of straight lines to making up her own thing and loving it!
Everyone in the class was successful! It was fun to see them on the show floor with their goodies. Thanks so much!

Also a huge thanks to Barb the Bernina "Ambassador". She spent the day, helping people change bobbins, needles, explaining the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) and generally making the whole day go smoothly!

Things went well on the show floor...seemed a bit slower than last year, but considering the state of the world, it wasn't a surprise! We still loved seeing friendly faces from the last couple of years, new fans and our buddies selling their goods!



THE RUNWAY...
I was having a lovely discussion with one of those women when my sis called down the aisle and gave me a big wave..."They need you at Make it University!"
Little did I know that I had been recruited to the ever popular "Runway Challenge" organized and pulled off by the clever Pokey Bolton...editor of Cloth, Paper, Scissors and Quilting Arts!
My initial response was to pummel my sister after the show, but it turned out to be a fun filled hour of slapping paper, doilies, paint, record covers, matte medium, fake flowers, records, together, parading around for prizes and fame!

The President on the Last Morning of the Show!

Now, Midge and Al are off to Paris....Bon Voyage!
Sue and I have the house and garden! Checking on the new bees, cleaning out the pond, raking leaves, watching plants burst out of the ground...Yea for everyone!!!

Sue and I had an emergency vacation in Florida for a couple of dayz last week. I just couldn't take it any more! We had 3 sunny, warm, beautiful dayz and had a glorious ride on the most beautiful beach in St. Augustine! A couple of cloudy, wet dayz of cruising around shopping and eating...

Now it is serious crunch time...Al and I leave in about 3 hours for Chicago for the International Quilt Festival. We set up tomorrow, teach all day Thursday and haul in the cash Thursday night through Sunday. We also have a couple of make and take thrown in there in the Make it U section of the show! The info is on Pokey's Blog. We will have our pewter charms, Artgirlz Rubber Stamps and our wool felt beads, cone, kits, bags and more...like the rockin' bag pictured above, needle felted by our little hands!!! It will be a wild week no doubt!! If you are there, please stop by to visit!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TO MIDGE
THE ROCK MOVING
NUMBER CRUNCHING GENIUS
HERE AT ARTGIRLZ NATION!!!!

It is very quiet at Artgirlz Nation at 7:22am...nice...
I can hardly describe the amount of time that Sue and I spent trying to figure out where to go on a vacation for 5 dayz...finally. We started looking in Mexico, onto Florida, Honduras, Providence, Austin, Florida, back to Honduras, Maryland, Northampton, I was out of my mind...finally, back to St. Augustine, Florida...that is where we are headed this afternoon and I can't wait. I think that I hit the wall as they say...That leaves my sis and Midge and crew to finish up Chicago Prep...Thanks girlzzz...it's better this way!

So will give a report on my return...or on the road if we get it together!

Today the Sun will cross directly over the Earth's equator...the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere - autumnal equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. Literal translation..."Equal Night". Yea!!!! Spring is here! It has been raining for a couple of dayz and seems like it will be the same today....The good news for us is that we aren't under water. My sympathies are with those whose lives are soggy and ruined. The photo above was taken two years ago today!

I learned that today is also the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Sign! I don't know how long this link to the BBC will have the story. We had our Peace Sign retooled after I realize it was the Mercedes symbol. We have lots of them if you want to spread the word!!

Continuing on my social networking task, I managed to spice up our MySpace space, got some photos up on Flickr (waiting for my pro package to kick in), and sold one bag of wool eggs on Etsy. We are planning on putting Artgirlz one of a kind items in that space...

Okay, gotta go and have some chow and get to work!!! Happy Equinox!!

We got the samples of the "Courage" charm yesterday! The charm is about 1" x .5". We designed it for "Beads Of Courage" and all of their good work...check it out! We've had a couple of other folks ask about charms like this for other projects, so we hope that we'll be able to send lots of them out into the world!!!

Working on our Artgirlz MySpace space
and haven't made too much progress on the decorating side of the space...
although we do have 5 friends now, well actually 4 plus Tom the generic MySpace friend to all...and just signed up for Flickr but we have nothing to look at quite yet...maybe today I'll get something up!!!
Any smart social networking geniuses in RI reading this?????
I need one!
Have a great day!

Just how "Killer Bunny" got her name, is somewhat of a mystery, but the day she was born, she seemed to want to eliminate an innocent witch that was just standing by. She was very cooperative the day we had the photo shoot for this post. For safety purposes, she is living in a plastic bag...I think she will want out soon to carry out the bunny jobs of spring!! Speaking of which, here are some close ups of some wool felt eggs that we embellished. A bag of eggs would be perfect for the Easter Baskets of all of your arty crafty friends and relatives!!!

On another Subject....
Artgirlz class at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago...

April 10th 9 - 5 with 2 hours for lunch
Class #212 $98


Take a new look at “Wearables” and join us in adding fun and flair to a piece of clothing. We will use sewing machines to create fabric images, messages and designs with thread. Additional words and images can be added with rubber stamps, stencils, acrylic paints, permanent pens…You bring the piece of clothing and we will conspire to make it wonderful!

Just bring a piece of clothing to alter…
Fabric Scraps
Scissors
Thread

We were busy inside all day writing directions for projects, shipping product, making samples, wondering about politics in our country, checking lists and happily crossing off a few things...Then, Sue called me outside this afternoon to check out the things that are exploding out of the ground! The clematis has green starting to sprout, daffie bulbs, and sedums emerging...the fish were cruising... it was in the high 50's!!!


I have been very inspired by Kathy Murillo's wide ranging presence on the web...her blog, her new blog, her MySpace space...so yesterday I jumped right onto MySpace, signed up but can't quite figure out how to make it very Artgirly...so now that is up there on the list of things to learn! We have one friend...Tom the generic friend of all MySpacers...So thanks Kath, I'm going to get in touch when you're home from your cruise!!