Sarah Lawrence: Wild Women Stitched Art Brooches

This is who Sarah is in her own words:
"Sarah Lawrence is a well-established contemporary textile artist based in Newark, Nottinghamshire. She combines her innovative approach to felt-making with embroidery, beadwork and gilding to produce rich, textured pieces that are exhibited worldwide."
One look at her website and blog will bring inspiration to anyone interested in beading, felting and embellishing!!
Mix up Sarah's Ideas with Your Ideas, add Artgirlz faces, arms, legs, shoes, and hands and make up your own tribe of Wild Women!!!! Take a minute to look over other little doll samples on the Artgirlz website!
Now, if you need your Creativity Crown plopped on your head before you begin your Wild Women Collection, we have the pattern and directions that will guide you through a perfect project! One side could be the Creativity Queen and the flip side might be the Queen of the Organized Life!!! You will be happy!!!


Keep on Keepin on!

BERNINA 830
SUPER DUPER AMAZING
SEWING AND EMBROIDERY MACHINE

Al and I just came back from three days in Chicago with the Bernina Education staff and 75 Bernina's National Artisans!! Wow is all I have to say! The first night (after a candle light dinner due to no power in the hotel) we did 2 minute introductions of ourselves (we won Bernina Mugs because ours was under 60 seconds) and I have never been in a room where so many women had written so many book and produced so many videos, magazines, websites and produced so much beautiful work etc!! Very impressive!

We spent most of the time working on or learning about the new 830 machine which I have to say is unbelievable! First of all the sewing area is huge! The lights are very bright, the bobbin is big, the engine rocks, and for those of you that are machine embroiderers, it is the best! The good news is that we worked in teams as we dove into stitches, winding bobbins, auto threading, cutting, setting embroidery patterns, switching out feet...all brains working as quickly as possible, imprinting material that was flowing quickly and only scratching the surface...

We made new best friends, found inspiration everywhere, had a lot of laughs, shared information and came home exhausted!

Yesterday was spent napping, catching up on bad tv, napping and preparing mentally for this week. Al had the power to even start needle painting last night!!

Thanks to Bernina, the bright, focused and loving teaching staff, brilliant sr. management, and all of the folks that spent time putting the event together! We both felt very grateful to be a part of the team!! Oh, the machine is seen here in Artgirlz fantasy colors...

We were very excited to find five boxes at our door containing our little project booklets lovingly referred to as our Monographs! They were a collaborative project with Brewer Quilting and Sewing Supplies and we are very grateful and happy with the results!
Now they are available to you and yours. They include directions and great illustrations that will guide you through the projects. Then there is the option of taking them all in your own directions!!

We will be coming up with kits to go along with them very soon...stay tuned!

In the mean time, we have just put our big wool bags, roving and felting needles on sale!!!

Al and I are off to Chicago tomorrow morning to attend a Bernina Teachers Event! Sure to be a lot of laughs and learning. Always fun to see the most energetic and knowledgeable teaching crew. They taught me that one should change sewing machine needles more than once a decade!
On that note, I am sending out our newsletter, packing my suitcase, adding a bit of purple to my hair and having a bit of dinner!

My new favorite thing
I love to do here at Artgirlz south
is ride my new bike.

Midge and I try to take time each day for a ride.
Sometimes on the weekend it is a ride to the farmers market or the library.
But usually it is just a spin around our little neighborhood.
Like two little kids,
we pedal through the warm breezes
looking for new landscaping ideas,
checking out the sights on the river or
watching the young osprey trying to build a nest on a light pole.

Wow Florida is a place full of big birds.

I miss the small ones that we always have
at the feeders in Rhode Island.

Although up north we do have the visits from the turkey family,

here in Florida the big birds are everywhere.

Pelicans,
Osprey,
Great Blue Heron,
Egrets of all sorts,
Cranes,
Ibis,
and Vultures.

Yet it was still shocking when I found this
strange red bird slinking
around our yard.


Oh, on closer inspection I saw it was
the Artgirlz LOVE BIRD!!

Happy Valentines Day !

Don't you hate it when your sis calls from Florida and says "I called to tell you about my accident"? Turns out that she tripped (don't we all?) carrying two dishes and had one go into her right hand...good news she said that all of her fingers work, it didn't get an artery or tendon...

whew!! good news for the other half of this enterprise!!
take it easy sis! the bees are going crazy today...the temp is a balmy 56 degrees...
we will be off to a Bernina extravaganza next week...

WOW this is my first blog post.

Tracy has always done them before.
Late last fall Midge and I bought a house in Cocoa Beach, Florida
so the Artgirlz won't be creating in one spot but two.
This has been a big change for us and at times painful.
But we pick up our life tools,
try to use them well
and blast off on a new adventure.

We arrived in Florida in time to surprise Midge's family for Christmas.
We have spent the past 8 weeks updating our mid century modern pad.
Having brought only what would fit in our car,
we are managing with yard sale bargains
and borrowed beach chairs.
We have spent a lot of them time painting, painting and painting,
ripping up floors
and making way too many decisions in a short amount of time.

We have so much to learn and experience here in Florida

.

We need to relearn gardening,
because
house plants can live outside,
Veggies are planted in the fall and winter
and what the hell is that grass they have on their lawns.

And we can grow bananas here!


From flowers to fruit

We are also finding eating locally a bit challenging.


One of the nicest things about our move
is that Midge has the chance to be with her family.
Last weekend her Italian cousins
were visiting her brother Michael in near by Indialantic
and on Sunday we all gathered to cook.


As the kitchen filled with yummy smells,
Philomena patiently taught us how to make pasta
with a shake of the head or a nod
because she didn't speak English
and our Italian was nil.



We made made little pasta caps called Priest's Caps or Agnolotti.
The results were MAGNIFICO.


It was a heart warming time
hanging out with Maria, Philamena and Franko.

So now Tracy and I are learning how to telecommute.
I am trying to set up a studio in our house that is still in transition,


Midge keeps painting


and Maxine watches over us,
happy to be back in Florida after leaving when we lost Margaret.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEART!

While I am in the RED zone I wanted to share some info and links for Women's Heart Health!
Heart disease is the numero uno killer of women and we have to spread the word and encourage each other to take care of ourselves!! Here are some things to look out for:

There is a lot of information online for women looking for support, facts, ways to help each other. Here are just a few.

The National Coalition of Women with Heart Disease
American Heart Association
Go Red For Women
Heart Healthy Women
Sister to Sister

And some thoughts that might help our daily situations!

So, put on your red dress and your red walking shoes, take a walk, breathe in some fresh air and be grateful, and share the information!! Do you have your own heart stories?