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!!

We had a lovely break in our day today with a visit from Cate Coulacos Prato, Features Editor
at Cloth Paper Scissors. I actually changed out of my usual sweat pants and into a pair of jeans for the occasion. The rest stayed the same. Cate led us through a list of questions about our fascinating life and growing business and is planning on turning it into an article for the magazine. Needless to say we are honored and very grateful. We had a lot of laughs and I feel quite sure that we could have spent a couple of dayz sharing information and stories.

If you're not aware of the magazine, you should check it out. Cloth Paper Scissors and Quilting Arts are both inspiring and exciting collections of work...Highly recommended for anyone interested in texture, color, fiber, and new techniques...

Check out the Editor's Blog.
Patricia Bolton, Editor in Chief, posts lots of information about their adventures, their new tv program, and opportunities for creative types to share their work!

Stay cool. Off for some chow!

Midge and I went to NewB Camp this weekend at Johnson & Wales University. The event offered platforms for geeks to share new media information with non or medium geeks!
It was very over whelming and exciting for both of us! I learned about options that are out there in cyberland for meeting and greeting other folks and most importantly for us, spreading the Artgirlz Word!! These are some of the networks waiting to be explored:

Google Documents
Twitter
Flickr
qik
zonetag
WordPress
Ning
ChinSwing
Thinkature
del.icio.us
boingboing
Second Life
blip tv

Well, now I am going to stop working and take a break until tomorrow...just wanted to share some info and organize it up a bit!

Greetings from Snowy Rhode Island! Here we are working in the yard on our fist day (Monday) back from our various trips to the West Coast! With piles of boxes, suitcases, emails, orders all over the place, raking leaves and cleaning up piles in the yard was about the only thing we could manage! Now it is looking like a winter wonderland!


Sue and I headed for Tucson at the beginning of the month to do a show at the Manning House.
We squirmed around our lovely hotel room at the Best Western as we suffered through a stressful football game watching the Giants grab the Superbowl win. The skies were very wet over Tucson on Monday, set up day. After a few problems with rain under and over our product in a tent, we moved all of our stuff the morning that the show opened into dry territory. It was our first trip to this bead and gem extravaganza, so with nothing to compare it too, it seemed rather slow. We did however meet some new best friends and found some great new wholesale customers!

We loved it when Joelee Furrier (Bella Quilts, Tucson) and Kathy Smith were jumping with excitement as they ordered goodies for the store!! What a joy to meet these other two light beams Juliana Marquis and Thad tripping through Tucson spreading smiles! They were ready to help prepare an Artgirlz On the Road Vehicle with painting and welding skills... we were also offered an invite for fun in Wenatchee, WA!!!


And Super Mom Renee Palting supplied her daughter Edyth with our Big Beads, felting needles and roving and within a day or two they were back with friend Kylie Faber and Edyth's Amazing Needle Felted Necklace! Nice work I say!

Speaking of Inspiring, I met Jean Baruch, RN, BSN and President of Beads of Courage, Inc.
Check out the website and the programs that have been set up for children with cancer. It is a very cool program for kids going through treatment, their sibs, families and kids in the community. I am happy to say that we are designing and producing a "Courage" charm for them. They need donations of beads and findings, so if you have any contacts in that area, let them know!





It was off to LA and CHA very early on the Monday after the Tucson show closed. Midge picked us up with coffee and breakfast for our trip from LAX to the Anaheim Convention Center! We missed a day of the show, and it took us a while to land. Had fun meeting new people, seeing old buddies and spreading the word about Artgirlz!

Here is Linda Jones from 2 Scrappy Sisters, Kansas City, KS....I had just gifted her with this needle felted bag! We were both very happy with the exchange and I hope she is enjoying it!! As you can see, my scrappy sis is giving me the two fingers behind your head sign!!

and then there was Alexandra Underhill and her book "Alternation: Transform. Embellish. Customize." We didn't get to meet her co-author Shannon Okey, but Alexandra joined about 15 or so women for a fairly spontaneous, high energy dinner after the show. Women just kept showing up...we would just squeeze down, add tables...It was an amazing group with lots of talent, vision, energy and brains!! What's better than that!


...and then there is Candy Cooper, Margot Potter and Tracy Bautista...Tracy has a new line of goodies with Duncan...can't find it on their website...and Kathy Cano Murillo the Crafty Chica, also now with Duncan, has an amazing line of glitter, shrines, saints, among other very cool things that aren't in my brain anymore (sorry Kath)!! Nice work girlzzzz! Keep up the good work!

I've got to go and do something else...I've been at this task for a long time....below is a project we did for the Ranger Booth in Anaheim...we were assigned the yellow colors and the canvas and could go for it! Used our new Inchies!!

It's still snowing!

Well, Sue and I have our suit cases packed and have done just about everything we can do before our departure to Tucson...we don't have any Patriots gear, but other than that we are ready to go...The felt is officially on its way!
We are all excited to uncover the adventures that are ahead of us...we have opportunities flying all over the place and look forward to seeing old buddies and meeting new best friends on our trips to Tucson and Anaheim!!

How about this Bizzy Bee!

Cheers from the Troops here at Artgirlz Nation! Will be back soon!

I had someone write and ask what we would be doing for our altered clothing classes at: International Quilt Festival/Chicago
April 11-13, 2008
Rosemont, Illinois and International Quilt Festival/Long Beach
July 25-27 , 2008
Long Beach, California
so I told her that I would post some photo's. The pic above was taken last summer and the polka dot dress was purchased at a thrift store in Portland. I added a new border at the bottom, new straps and machine appliqued the words, and flowers.It is simply a matter of pulling images from fabric and reassembling it.

We are asking folks to bring a jacket or pair of pants to work on. The jacket would be easier without a lining. We will undo the seams of the pants...hopefully ahead of time.

On the right is a detail of Al's pants. This shows some use of a bleach pen for the words. She then outlined the words with embroidery thread. The collage of flowers and leaves were made up from our fabric stash. They are all machine appliqued while the seam was out of the pant leg.

The section below was also done with a bleach pen and after it was thoroughly rinsed and dried, it was embroidered with floss.








Here are a couple of more samples...









These goodies were featured in the Fall issue of Make it Mine Magazine...."Make It Mine is a craft magazine that shows you how to spice up your stuff--clothes, accessories and home--with fun, quick and easy projects." Check it out! In our class, we will be using fabric collage, paints, rubber stamps, and stitching to make something truly yours!!!

Here is a lovely love wall hanging by our Lovely Linda! She has incorporated Artgirlz Felt Hearts, pewter charms, mini wool beads, and our rubber stamps on shrink plastic!!! Nice job as usual...She has also mixed and sewed paper and fabric together..add yarns, beads, twigs and how can a girl go wrong!

We were very lucky to have received a surprise package from Nancy Smith....Great American Quilt Factory in Denver...in addition to yummy holiday sweets, we received two "slap bracelet" pin cushions...Useful and very cool! A great way to use our 3.5cm Big Beads! Thanks Nancy, we appreciate your support very much!!

New products coming very soon!!
Looking forward to a haircut!!!

Well, it is a humble beginning, but here is our first Artgirlz video...Sue, Rosie and Tracy practicing in front of our Mac Movie Maker in my fancy new computer...

I wanted to report that we found the lost email...referred to in the last message...and have sent it off to David!!!

Still busy with some great new samples to post!

Will try in the morning...we have some great samples of our new Big Bags with colorful needle felting!!

ATTENTION PERSON LOOKING FOR DAVID FROM COLLEGE IN NM...

This is a very important message we are putting out into the world. Someone sent us an email about David F...being an old friend from college and we can't find the message...too much cleaning out of the emails and we feel very badly so we are hoping that you come back to check and we can continue that hook up. We are so sorry, because we know how you feel!!

So other than that very frustrating event, it has been another Day Here at Artgirlz Nation with our Patriots going to the Super Bowl and the catalog just about done...I am going to try to put a little video into this message. I have "PhotoBooth" on my fancy new Mac and you can make movies right at your desk. Not much of what I do at my desk would be very interesting...
?&$#?...it was a bust...keep getting an error message...oh well...

oh, the image above is from our new inchie stamps that will be here very soon!

Off to make dinner for the girlzzzzzzz...

Greetings from Artgirlz World Headquarters...we are trying to get UPC codes onto packaging but our software doesn't seem to want to do anything but labels...so let's do a blog posting I thought...

Getting ready for two overlapping shows...catalogs etc. I probably said that last time and it will probably be the case until we go out of the door. We have some new kits and products that are so freakin cute!! They will be posted as soon as we take care of all of the details.

This is another lovely creature that was put together by Artgirl Linda Willis! She always comes to work with a bag of new creations that never fail to thrill and amaze us! We are hoping that she continues to come to work!!!! She is constructed from one of our cones and a 3.5 cm bead for her head. The nose is a mini bead sewn onto her face. This concept could go in many many directions!!!

Can't wait for football this weekend!!!

Good Morning and Happy New Year! It was 6 degrees when I headed to my computer this morning. That is about 70 degrees lower than my personal comfort zone!! At least we won't be getting 10 feet of snow this weekend like some spots in California!!

The holidaze blew by and included a 60th birthday! We had a lot of laughs with Gabe's (Al's grandson) Wii...Who would have imagined that we were so out of shape that the four of us had very sore arm muscles after a 48 hour trip into computer tennis, bowling, golf and boxing!! I spent a lot of time going thru boxes of old pictures and stuff...got rid of many, many things...what a relief! Still lots of piles sitting around waiting for a place to live.

We are busy as usual, trying to catch up on over due projects. One of them is for Bernina, so we have been working with our loaner machine and we are loving the stitch regulator! Allison made beautiful pieced faces that will sit in the middle of the little quilt. The stitch regulator is an amazing piece of engineering! You can do free motion quilting...getting even stitches at any speed without using a presser foot....As I worked on the machine, I felt like I was building new brain connections!! That is always good!

Working on finalizing new products, dealing with the rise in metal costs, making lists of things we need for next months bead show in Tuscon and CHA in Anaheim, figuring out web issues, catalogs, cards, blogs, etc....

These wonderful Snow People were created by Linda Willis. We were very lucky to meet Linda in New Hampshire last summer and were thrilled to find out she lives in our neighborhood...basically. She gets what we do and love and want to share with the world and comes to work with new projects that she's just whipped up!! We are very grateful to have her working on our team. You will be seeing more of her work!!

Am hoping to post more often, meet deadlines for everyone, do yoga, take my vitamins, stay calm and open!!! Hoping all of you reach some of the goals on your lists!!!