Day 24: DECORATIONS:)

What is your favorite decoration?

I am a creature of habit in many ways and 

if it ain't broke, why fix it:)

Here is my sweet Angel from the very first tree that Jim and I had together as a married couple in 1988.  I am just as stunned as you that she is still in one piece and lights up!  Ten military moves (2 of those overseas) and she didn't get demolished. Hopefully she lasts forever because I haven't ever seen another I like as much as her:)

Six years after our first Christmas I am working at Michaels and surrounded by inspiration.  I had always wanted one of those beautiful white and red department store trees but on a Very Limited budget wasn't sure how to make that happen.  One year these were the ornaments on sale ($2.99 each in 1994) and I knew I could replicate them.  Cheap beaded garland, poinsettia flower picks, gold cording, and a glue gun produced enough ornaments for a whole tree;)  Pretty sure all of these cost half what it would have cost to buy them done. I have owned these for 24 years and they are still lovely. 

Poke some sprigs of larger flowers and berries in and this tree goes up very quickly:)  The small ball ornament is one of 5 left from our original set of ornaments from that first Christmas too.  

I will put them on until there are none left. It wouldn't be the same without them!

It also wouldn't feel decorated here without some lovely red and green quilts to adorn the entryway.

And a puppy too!

This lovely Christmas arrangement is courtesy 

of my niece from her office party.

Isn't is lovely!!

Pop over to see who else is blogging...

http://muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/the-2018-31-day-blog-writing-challenge/

Off the Wall Friday

Here we are again at another week gone by....I missed last week's Off the Wall and will make up for it today:)

 

If you go to this post, you will see the before pictures of the above earrings.  Although they didn't quite keep the shape I was hoping for, they are pretty cool if I do say so myself!!

Now time to figure out some new stuff????  I am still struggling to figure out what to do and how it may look when done.  Have I told you how much I really like my fabric!  The above photo is of a couple of small dishes...the top one being floral and the next one being abstract (NOT my strong suit!).  The bottom bits will melt into blobs like button candy....mmmmm candy:)

This photo shows the before of a small dish and some more earrings.  I am really excited about these!

 

What else have I been up to?  Well my Tropical Flags block came out in Volume 6 of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks.  It will be out on shelves next week.  So the blog hop was this week and today I get to pick winners and tell them the good news....So Fun!!

Now we are back to quilting, where I belong:)))

A few weeks back I showed the Cathedral Windows for the Pittsburgh Steelers pillows for my younger daughter.  This is the Gerber Daisy quilt for my older daughter.  She is a math nut and opted for a more contemporary geometric background.  Her favorite flowers are Gerber Daisies though so this will go beautifully in her living room.

Lastly we have the Rose quilt.  One of our talented guild members demonstrated a method of quilt as you go for hand quilting.  I don't know why it has taken me so long to attempt this, but I finally did.  I altered her method for my machine quilting since I didn't want to have to go back and add all the strips to cover my seams on the back of the quilt.  I can definately see the benefit of this but I needed to think the borders through a bit more since I really didn't want the red inner border to go all the way to the edge that way.  This piece is very small, maybe 22" square so a larger quilt would definately be more challenging but worth the effort.

Now if I have wet your appetite for more show and tell, make sure you pop over to Off the Wall Friday and follow the links at the bottom of the post:)
Have a great weekend!

I love birthdays!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME:)

Somehow I can't truly believe people that say they don't like celebrating their birthdays...What? A whole day devoted to you by people who love you-what's not to like??

 

My husband's gift to me this year was a trip on the Seminole Gulf Railroad Murder Mystery Train.  We boarded the Gin Lizzy for a 3 hour Prohibition Murder Dinner. What a fun night!  You board the train and enjoy a 5 course dinner while being entertained between courses by the Shady Ladies and Irish criminals.  Guess the murderer and win a prize at the end of the night.

 

Gorgeous Roses from my daughter, Lauren! She also sent me the DVD of South Pacific-the original version. I have been wanting to update my musical collection and she is very willing to help out!

My other baby girl, Devin, sent me an antique butter mold...How cool is that?! The etching is great! This is a beautiful piece full of inspiration for me:)

Mom worked her magic with yarn and knitted this beautiful shawl/ scarf for me.  I hope when you click on the photo, you can see the fantastic beadwork she added as well.  Now I just need the weather to cool a bit here!!!

Two very lovely friends sent me these goodies above.  Susan sent me yardage of fantastic orange batiks!  Oh what to do with them???? There were other fun things in the package as well, including homemade Snickerdoodle cookies (really for my husband:) and this little notebook that actually contained many sizes of sticky notes...She knows me so so well:))) 

Kathy sent me some of my favorite pumpkin cookies that only come out this time of year along with some of her artwork.

Lastly, I treated myself to a class to learn a double reverse applique technique by Ellen Lindner.  I took the class with a local friend, Rhonda, whose birthday is this week...so much more fun to take a class with someone.
I was able to actually get the top done in class (plus I stayed a bit longer:)  Not sure what I will do with it but the technique works and Ellen is a wonderful instructor.

Next time your birthday comes around, embrace it!  It is YOUR day!!

Back into a Gallery

 

I have to say, it feels good to be getting back to exhibiting my artwork.  I have a few pieces at a local Art Council space in Tarpon Springs, FL. Plus......

When I lived in NC, you may remember that I belonged to an art quilt group named Artrageous.  I left my challenge piece with them since there was some talk of us having a group exhibit at a local gallery in Greenville, NC.  Sure enough, here it is.

 

We are on exhibit at the Emerge Gallery in Greenville, NC.  This piece looks so much better on a white backgroud since you can really see the shape of my personal piece and the colors really pop for all the others.

For a better look at all the pieces, you can go to this previous post.
http://nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com/2011/03/artrageous-challenge-reveal.html

Of course, this isn't our first exhibit....Here is my Fractured Flower from the 2008 challenge.  It was very interesting to see what happened and although I didn't think it would work, it really does.

Our Fractured series was exhibited at the Inkstone Gallery in Greenville in 2009 and you can read more about these at the link below.

http://nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com/2009/02/fractured-flowers.html
I am very proud of this group and wish them all the best going forward!

Texture Tuesday

While at the Mancuso Mid-Atlantic show this year, I attended a workshop with Esterita Austin. I chose her all day class on working with sheers called Sheers to You! which is fun since the quilt show's theme this year was Cheers! :)
In the first photo you can see the wine glass that I created only using sheer fabrics. I wasn't sure what to expect and the class might take some getting used to if you are a very structured person. I can go either way and really enjoyed that I took a 'technique' based class versus a 'project' based class. If you enjoy playing, then this is the class for you. Esterita was very generous with her supplies and once the basic instructions were given, we spent the day just playing. There was a pattern to follow if that appealed to you or you could just go your own direction. I used the basic outline for the glass and then in the afternoon became much braver.

These two photos show what I created in the afternoon with a mixture of paint and sheers. The rose turned out lovely and I already have a design planned using my rose along with the 2 wine goblets. I am very excited to get started...does anyone have an extra 3-5 hours they can donate to me? HA:)

One look at Esterita's website will show you how very imaginative and talented she is. If you ever have an opportunity to attend one of her classes, do so.

Thank you, Esterita for opening my mind to a new direction.

The added bonus to this class was that I was able to take it with my mother and a friend from my Artrageous group....Hello Katherine. It was so much more fun sharing the experience along with seeing all the creativity in the class. Everyone's work looked so different and that is one of the best reasons to take a class...it really opens your mind to all the possibilities of color and composition.

Threadscapes

"Last Autumn"

©2009 by Robin Koehler

Once upon a military- life time, I was afforded the opportunity to own my very own home. We had been nomads for 15 years and wanted to see what all this 'ownership' was about. Starting in NJ with 11 homes to look at, found on the internet, we headed west to St. Louis to house hunt. By the time we arrived, there were 6 houses left...definately a seller's market. We headed out to see the remaining 6: NO, no, eh, no, NO, I love it!! My husband was not as impressed but time was running short and with not too many other prospects, we put in a bid.

In 2003 we moved to Illinois into our very first home and I had a room all to myself for the very first time...no more dining room table. Everytime I was in that room it was like Christmas to me. My imagination really started to soar and skills became sharpened while learning about fabric companies and new techniques. After dreams in other states of starting my own greeting card company or mural design company ("Off The Wall", of which I still have the box of business cards for), I started NESTLINGS by Robin. I grew in leaps and bounds and loved every minute of it even though I had no idea of what I was doing.

The ownership lasted 4 years until we moved again but the dream of NESTLINGS lives on. As with anything, it has grown and changed and now includes art as well as quilt patterns. My art includes inspiration from that beautiful home I was once so fortunate to drive up to everyday and call mine.

Above is a Threadscape of the gorgeous sugar maple that adorned our front yard. Below is a Threadscape of the Mother's Day gift of a rose trellis and rose bush I was given one year by my family. These two lovelies have since sold and moved on to grace another's home but the memories warm my heart constantly. I will always be thankful for the opportunity to have had my own place to decorate and do as I wish along with rising up to my dreams with the love and support of my wonderful family.

"Mother's Roses"

©2009 by Robin Koehler