6 Picture Meme

I have been Tagged by Kerry for the 6 Picture Meme. So here is My Picture.





This is a photo of Me and My SIS Lyn while we were attending the Mt. Quilt Fest, in Pigeon Forge, Tn. Lyn came to visit me from Australia to help me celebrate my 50th Birthday in 2000. Well, Lyn is not really my sister by birth but we adopted each other as "Sisters" back in 1996. We met each other through the Southern Cross Quilters Online Quilting list and quickly became best friends. Lyn visited with me for 3 months and we celebrate our friendship each and everyday with chatter, laughing, and with all kinds of wonderful adventures. I have learned that..... whatever your life lacks, such as parents, "Sisters" or brothers, God will give you a substitute and it usually takes the form of a wonderful friend. I have always been extremely grateful for our "Friendship" and "Sisterhood"!!!

I always find been tagged a challenge so I will go through my list of "Very Inspiring Blogs" and randomly pick 6. Like my friend Heather, from "A Cherish Life" stated, I apologize if you normally don't participate in these kinds of things, please feel free not to oblige, however, if you do, I hope you have fun.

1. The first person I am tagging is, Wendy from Singapore, who creates the most lovely tatting pieces. Please have a look, I am sure you will enjoy her blog.

2. The second person is Susan from the UK, and her blog name is, Playing with Needles. Susan stitching is incredibly beautiful.

3. The third person is, Andrea from NZ, who is a CQ who creates very lovely purse and many other things.

4. The fourth person is, Deb from Alaska who creates lovely quilts.

5. The fifth person is, Denise from who creates beautiful beading pieces of art.

6. The sixth person is, Nancy from Texas who creates lovely tatting pieces.

7. I decided to add an extra person whose blog is rather new to me. Liz from Germany is a wonderful stitcher that I thought you all may enjoy too.

So to pass on the fun! Here are the rules:

Go to the 6th Folder, then pick the 6th picture in that folder.
Post that picture on your blog and the story that goes along with the picture.
Tag 6 other people that you know or don’t know to do the same thing and leave a comment on their blog or an e-mail letting them know you chose the them.

Hugs Judy

Cora's Crazy Patchwork CD Pincushion

Hello Everyone, I just finished another Crazy Quilt CD Pincushion that I have created for a friend and co-worker. Cora is our Computer Graphic Specialist at work and she has created and printed many things I have needed to do my job. I have always been very grateful.

I shared with Cora that I had started a blog and she has been following it for sometime. Cora always tells me how she admires my creative projects. Cora especially loved the Crazy Patchwork CD Pincushion that I made for My SIS for a Christmas Pressie this year. See Lisa's blog, called Ivory Blush Roses for this pincushion tutorial.

So after the Christmas hectic pace, I decided to create a Crazy Patchwork CD Pincushion for Cora. Cora's favorite colors are mainly shades of pink, and yellow and she love roses as much as I do. I hand dyed the pink dragonfly lace and the wee daisy with beads in the middle. I used some variegated metallic flosses to make the pincushion sparkle. Cora really liked the metallic threads. I stitched the initial "C" in one of the patches. I also added some flowers beads. The wee Heart on the right side of the dragonfly says, "Friendship Is Sewn One Stitch At A Time" which I believe is a lovely message.

I gave Cora's this gift yesterday at work. She was very surprised and the gift put a big smile on Cora's face. Cora told me it was too pretty to use as a pincushion but she will put a couple of fancy pins in it and set it in her home to admire. Just seeing someone Happy from receiving one of my creations makes me very Happy too.

I can not believe I forgot to attach my New Lovely Signature that Heather created for me. Now it is too late or I would have to start this posting all over again. very sad face.So for this posting I will just say,

Happy Stitching. Hugs Judy

A Gift of Friendship and Kindness

Good Day everyone,

This past week my new Friend Heather from SK Canada offered me a very precious and kind gift of her graphic art talents to create a new look for my blog. I had already changed it a bit when Heather made this very kind offer to do the "New Header".

Heather, asked me if I had any ideas on what I wanted to do with it. I decided to send Heather some photo of the Fairy Garden Doll I made a year ago. I also sent a photo of the first "Dragonfly" I stitched on my Crazy Quilt purse I made a couple of years ago and a photo collage of three Bobbin Lace Hearts which I bought at a Easter Market when I lived in Germany. Along with all these photos I sent another one of Oya's Lace I bought from a friend in Turkey. The Oya Lace is the border around the header. I told Heather that she could use any of the above photos or use her own ideas. I let it up to Heather which way to go.

As you can see the New Header for my CJ Stitching and Blooms blog is absolutely the most beautiful piece of art I have ever seen. I was so overwhelmed with how exquisitely it turned out I was truly humbled with Heather's kindness towards me. I never imagined how Heather could of taken a few photos and created this wee piece of art. It is truly stunning.

Not only did Heather create the New Header but she also came up with the new cluster of roses for along the sides and the perfect matching color for the borders. They all look so wonderful together.

I really loved Heather's signature on her new blog called, "The Cherished Life". Heather's blog is another work of art that I reckon you all should take a peek at. Heather was also very generous to create a new fancy signature for me too. Isn't it truly beautiful. I also learned some new computer skills from Heather this week which I am very grateful for.

When our Internet meeting started a few months ago I never dreamed it would turn into a "Cherish" Friendship. On my new header the small words say, "Friend's are The Flowers in Life's Garden" and to me "Friendship" is one of the Sweetest "Joys" of Life. Thanks Heather for everything and most of all for being "My Kindred Spirit Friend"!

Crazy Quilt Of My Dreans, Suggestions Needed

Hello everyone, I accidentally deleted the previous post like this one with all the lovely suggestions/comments attached to it. I feel very bad about this. After trying all day to retrieve the previous message, I decided to resend a similar one.

The above photo is a look at my Crazy Quilt Of My Dreams In Progress. I now have all the 6 triangles completed and I am now trying to decide what fabrics to use for the elongated pieces that go between all the triangles.

I have photos of three different colorways of fabrics I am thinking of using.
(1) Light Pinks
(2) Dark Pinks
(3) Burgundy fabrics.

The next foundation pieces that will go around the elongated pieces will all be in the same colors of creams, whites and pale pinks like the center. So the elongated section will essentially high light the star points.

Overall, it seemed that the darker pinks colorways seemed to be the colors most preferred by the ladies who took the time to give me their valued opinions. All were greatly appreciated.

I think I will piece together a elongate block with the dark pinks and see how it looks. More later. Happy Stitching

The Power of the Internet, "Kindred Spirits"

I would like to share with you all a story of how two ladies living in different countries became to know each through an article called "Reader's Stories, Year of the Country" in the Australian, Inspirations Magazine. I had recently started buying this magazine because it became available at our local JoAnn's store. I was reading issue number 59 The Pretty Issue, last August when I came upon the article Heather had submitted about her life in the "bush" of Northern Canada which is very unlike the "bush" of Australia.

The above photo is of the article that Heather wrote about her life in Northern Canada. I read it several times because I could relate to it in so many ways. Several days after I read this article, I just knew in my heart I needed to send Heather a message to tell her how much I enjoyed reading her website "Thistleworks Designs". Heather's website is truly very inspirational. I was not sure if I would hear back from Heather but I should of not doubted this because I received the most wonderful message back very quickly. Heathers article also brought back wonderful memories of my life living in Fairbanks and as a bush school nurse.

This photo is of me as a volunteer for the Yukon Quest with a local woman musher. The Yukon Quest is a 1000 mile dog sled race from Fairbanks Alaska to Whitehorse Yukon, Canada. My volunteer job was to go around to each musher in the race and assure that they had booties for all their dog's paws.

This photo is of my CPR class of ladies who also lived in the far "Northern Bush" of Alaska. Every week from September to May I flew out to 10 Athabascan's Indian Villages to take care of children. I remember a patient of mine saying to me before I left for Alaska that she thought flying out into the bush of Alaska would be like living on the "Edge" of life. I loved every minute of it.

During the Christmas holiday Heather sent me a copy of the Northroots Magazine in which she is the "Graphic Artist". In this issue she illustrated a couple of photos of life in Northern Canada.

Heather also wrote an article called, "An Icy Predicament"which told the story of Heather's involvement with the rescue of the injury Pelican on the lake where they live. I truly admired all the efforts everyone made in rescuing the injured Pelican. Heather is a qualified "Wildlife Rehabber" and cared for the Pelican until the Conversation Officer came to take it to a Veterinarian College in Saskatoon. I have always had a great admiration for wildlife so this story really touch my heart.

During the past 5 months Heather and I have gotten to know each other more and it seems we are always discovering more that we have in common with each other. I feel we have become "Kindred Spirits" in the true since of the word. During the Christmas holiday Heather decided to start a new blog, called

"The Cherished Life". I hope you all will have a look at Heather's new blog. She is a very creative person and I am sure you all will enjoy reading all her postings.

Hugs Judy

Christmas Fabric Post Cards

This holiday season I did not get much done in the creative department. But I did make two wool felted post cards to swap with good friends. Inge from Holland wool felted this lovely snowman post card for me. He is outlined with sparkling silver thread and had a very cute button nose. Inge did some stippling all over the card and then added some neat silver snow flakes in the sky. Thank you so much Inge. I will add this card to my fabric poster board in my sewing room along with all the others you have sent to me. I love them all.

I wool felted this post card for Inge and I called it "Poinsettia". I embellished it with all different kinds of embroidery flosses to make it sparkle.

This fabric post card was created by Heather my new friend from Northern Canada. Heather told me she first drew the picture with pencil and then re-created it with thread. The name of this post card is called, "Waiting For Christmas"! The detail of the embroidery stitches are very fine. Indeed the work of a professional artist. This is the first fabric post card that Heather has ever made. Thank you so much Heather for the lovely post card it will also go on the fabric poster board right next to Inge's PC. I love them both.

This wool felted post card, I made for Heather and I called it "Christmas Silver Bells". I used some silk ribbon embroidery to try and create pine cones. I also used several different kinds of embroidery flosses and beads on it to make it sparkle. I truly enjoyed creating these two wool felted post cards for the swap with Inge and Heather.

It is when two such "Kindred Spirits" discover one another..... that Friendship is born. And instantly they stand together in an immense solitude. I am so very fortunate to have "Kindred Spirits" in my life.

Hugs Judy

Crazy Quilt Of My Dreams Piecing Continues

During the holidays I was so busy that I took a break from blogging. I did miss chatting with all my blogging friends. But despite the hectic pace I found a wee bit of time to do some stitching because to me it is so relaxing and enjoyable. Last year I start, my first CQ which I am calling "The Crazy Quilt Of My Dreams". When finished it will be 40 inches by 40 inches. Last year I completed the above hexagon part. I am using all kinds of fancy and cotton fabrics.

This is the heart part that will go into the center of the hexagon. The photo is of Me and My Sweetie when he took me to Paducah in 2005 standing in front of their "Quilt City USA" Muriel. It is a truly lovely Muriel. Last Spring for some reason I became stumped on how to Crazy Piece the 6 points to the design. After trying a couple of times I decided to put it away for awhile.

Last September I signed up for a Crazy Quilt Class at our local quilt shop called "Quilted Memories". The class was setup to have one class a month for three months. The teacher went through the whole process of piecing, construction and embellishment. While in the class I crazy pieced 4 of the 6 points to "The CQ Of My Dreams". I put a center silkie in each one. I am now happy with the results of these 4 CQ points and I am hoping to finish the other 2 soon.

I am now very excited about staying focus on this CQ project. During this class I met 6 wonderful ladies and the teacher that was so encouraging and supportive with me while I was working on this project. They are now all my friends and we meet once a month so I will continue to have CQ friends for encouraging words when I get a bit overwhelmed with "The Crazy Quilt Of My Dreams".

This is a photo of the Hexagon, Center Heart, with 2 of the CQ Pieced Center Points added. I still have a long way to go but I feel now I have the confidence and enthusiasm to continue on until I get to the best part of embellishing it.

The photo is of two Crazy Patchwork CD Pincushion I have started. One is of 100% wool which I love working with too and I think I will create a Spring Flower scene on it. The other one is going to be more a rose summer theme pincushion.

I am happy to be back chatting with you all and I look forward to visiting your blogs too because I always learn so much from everyone creativity. Take care Hugs Judy