Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Not My Punny Valentines

Wow, it's raining like crazy outside - an incredibly rare event here. But instead of a cleansing refreshing rain, we get mud. It's all that dirt, sand, and dust in the air and all over the trees. Plus there's a lot of dirt/sand in the roads and that turns into mud puddles. There are no drainage ditches so it all just sits there. It'll cause havoc with the commuters as well. My sweetie is gonna be an unhappy camper when he gets home - the drive is bad enough during good weather.

Remember I told you before about my fabulously creative friend Rachael Thomas? Well she has graciously agreed to letting me post pics of her Valentine crusties. First is "Honey Bee Mine" one of her early pieces, which she made while I was still living nearby so I actually got to see all of the beautiful embroidery in person. I so loved this Valentine I wanted to steal it from her husband, which is hardly an appropriate gesture for the holiday.

Next up is the Valentine Rachael made for her son this year. The alphabet beads at the top say "yo ho ho" and the stem-stitched embroidery says "AAARRR you my Valentine?" My favorite touch is the plastic skulls dangling from the bottom. Looks like french knots texturing the face.

And this is the gift for her daughter. "Do you 'carrot' all for me?" and the alphabet beads across the bottom say "I dig you." Look at that great expression on the carrot's face and I love all the tiny quilting stitches.

Thank you, Rach, for letting me share these.

Happy Valentine's Day one and all. I made a batch of Pecan Chocolate Chip Shortbread last night and at the rate I'm eating it there won't be any left by tomorrow. But it's yummy while it lasts.

Well now I know why I don't get to see the cool olympic sports - they're on past my bedtime. I stayed up until 11:00pm last night watching figure skating and even then I had to give in to sleep before the final four pairs skated. Drat. Probably why I hardly saw any gymnastics from Athens either.

Last night I quilted turquoise spiders into my Space 4 Rent block with the googly eyes. Decided that the eyes looked kinda nervous and since lots of people get nervous around spiders, why not throw them in there. I liked the idea of trying to do Jetson style pets - maybe a cat with a bubble over its head, but there just wasn't enough room in that particular space, so that might pop up later on.

Today, instead of working on any of my many current projects, or starting the new patriotic quilt that I actually auditioned fabric for, I got out an old Halloween beading project and started working on it. See, I thought I'd look and see if I needed to buy any beads for it, but kinda got sucked into working on it. Discovered I need orange sequins - mmm sparkly and yet so hideous at the same time. Anything goes for Halloween.

10 comments:

Laura said...

Love the valentines! Rachael is quite talented. Happy Valentines Day!

Quilts And Pieces said...

Tonya, for some reason I found your post most amusing and fun today (not that other days they aren't - it must just be I'm a bit more relaxed today than the last 4 weeks or so. I'm slowly catching up on work!)

Anyway I love this sentiment: I so loved this Valentine I wanted to steal it from her husband, which is hardly an appropriate gesture for the holiday.!!!!!!

And Rachel's valentines are sooo creative and wonderful! And so witty! They are just too cute. When are you going to come visit me so I can have you teach me all this stuff!!!!

And orange sequins and halloween - hmm how Tonya!

Oh and last but not least, the rain and mud do not sound fun at ALL!

Anonymous said...

these valentines are wonderful! Are they Artist Trading Card size? I plan to post mine one day. These are amazing I love the Carrot. Thanks for posting these.

Darcie said...

Happy Valentine's Day to you, Tonya! Sorry to hear about the messy rains and mud puddles. What a great reason to stay inside with your honey and maybe...order out...and watch a movie....

Thanks for sharing these Valentines of Rachael's. Works of art! What a great sense of humor she must have too.

Have we coaxed her into blogging yet?

Finn said...

Sounds like Cupid is going to be a muddy messenger today...bet he loooooves that...LOL

The valentine crusties are wonderful. She is one very talented needle artist, so creative and yet such fun! Glad to hear there is not going to be a "no spiders allowed" sign in your Space 4 Rent...*VBG*
You must be getting so excited about your upcoming vacation getaway..only a few days now..*S*

Kairle Oaks said...

Rachel's Valentine's are perfectly sappy for a day like today!!! Happy Valentine's Day!
Kairle

Anonymous said...

Yours is the first quilt blog I have read! But I just had to say hello. You see I am a 53 yr. old quilter living with my hubby and 4 cats in New Mexico. I have been quilting for 18 years (have taken lots of classes and been to the show in Houston 4 times) I recently joined a Crazy quilt Bee and have subscribed to Quilting Arts magazine. I am love the magazine and am loving the embroidery and embellishing I am starting to do on my crazy patches. Two of my movie favs are also Whle You Were Sleeping and Bringing Up Baby. I have been to Quilt Camp in the Pines in Flagstaff, AZ twice. The last time I was there, I had the pleasure of meeting Gwen Marston and seeing her lecture. It was really fun! I loved her wonderful, bright quilts. I love piecing and enjoy the challenge of getting things just right. So it is a stretch for me to loosen up and just wack at fabric for the crazy quilts. Anyway-I just thought we had too many similar things going on now to send a quick hello your way! Didn't know exactly how to to this, I don't have a blog or a webpage, so will sign off as Joyce in the USA!!

Lily Mulholland said...

Love the Valentine wishes by Rachel. Do love the carrot one too. V cute.

Did your muddy boy get home okay and bring you some love? Hope so otherwise he won't get any of that yummy pecan treat!

Cher said...

belated comment on these wonderful Valentine crusties by Rachel..I am so glad she allowed them to be shared..they are so fun and so creative! what an artist. thanks to both of you!

Holly said...

Rachel's clever crusties made me smile. That's a lot of work put into those! Beautiful.