I thought about what the first post of the restart should be and I wanted it to be filled with colorful, fun things that I’ve created in the last year. Unfortunately, there’s something that I need to write about and just get out of my system. (I promise there’s creativity here, stay with me.)

Last October, my friend Ray passed away. It was a very sudden and shocking death, the emotional equivalent to getting the wind knocked out of you. I think the news sucked all of the air out of my home. I’ve never experienced a death like this, all of my previous experiences involved old people whose time had come before the passing had happened. Death was expected before the death ever happened, emotional preparations were made early, acceptance came easy.

It took me two days to really cry about the whole thing, I was on auto-pilot and finally hit my breaking point while ordering flowers for his funeral. The representative asked me what I wanted to put on the card for the flowers, I said what my heart told me to and then I had a three hour long, stomach wrenching cry. I will never forget how patient and gentle the representative was to me, I needed her at that moment.

Grief still comes in the most unexpected of times. It will wash over me and create a sadness that I didn’t know was possible. There are times when I still can’t believe that it’s true. There are times when the cold, harsh reality of death permeates my brain, it whispers in my ear “All that you know is temporary.” Death is scary and feels unnatural to me, of course the irony is that death is one of the most natural things we’ll experience.

Let me tell you a little bit about my friend Ray. He was super-saturated with color, he was a former drag queen and he had a singing voice that was deep and rich. He was a prolific song writer, his songs had meaning and his lyrics were touching. He was tall, he had big, blue eyes and one of his front teeth jutted out just so (he hated it, I always found it quirky and endearing). He loved his partner Andrew so much and they were an amazing couple. They were natural together.

He was kind and his kindness was effortless. He wrote me the most touching email I’ve ever received in my life when I really needed it. He told me he loved me because I had “the ability to be funny and bitchy but able to turn it off when things got real”. He stole my beer out of the fridge every time he came over, I would very much like to see him rooting around in my refrigerator and popping open a Bud Light. I would like that very, very much.

Creative people seem to thrive on sadness and depression, we create things to express the things we can’t say in words, maybe it’s easier for us that way. I decided to make a quilt for my home for Ray, a reminder of his presence, a hope that his spirit comes to visit us once in a while in some obscure and gentle way.

Ray liked owls, owls were to be involved.

In regards the construction of the quilt, it’s a very simplistic design. The fabric squares were too pretty to cut up and I wanted the pops of color against the natural linen.

I chose the backing because the flowers are drawn in a similar style to some of the flower patterns. I liked the happiness that it brought and the slightly retro feeling. I also used 100% cotton batting which gives the quilt it’s crinkly, old feeling after I washed it.

Ray, thank you for being in my life. I miss you.

I wanted something gender neutral and modern in color and design. I’m really into gray lately so the gray background was a great coice.

Look at the texture, like elephant skin!

A few months back, I was at one of my local thrift stores and came across a kitschy, vintage tablecloth. It was soft enough for use as a quilt top.

It was a super easy quilt as there was no piecing except to the black polka dot border.

Here’s one of my favorite parts, the mermaid!

Another fun part, the couple in Carson City breaking up!

I’ve been on a quilting kick as of late and wanted to share two projects. The first one is a dog bed (which sounds like a totally weird thing to quilt, but I can always find one of me pets resting on a quilt in my home).

I was feeling the need to quilt but didn’t want a big project, this satisfied my need quite nicely.

I used the same technique from this quilt, where I cut squares, sewed them together and then “crazy cut” them. I like the technique a lot and think it produces a sort of stained glass effect. I used a tiny navy dot as the border and sides and stuffed the whole thing with my husband’s old t-shirts.

The dogs and cats went nuts over it, maybe it was the smell of their Daddy!

Half-Assed Action Shot:

The second quilt is a fabulous one. I wanted to create something out of cheap materials that didn’t look cheap, I decided on vintage sheets from thrift stores. Pillow cases (which are $.50 to a $1) yield an amazing amount of fabric!

It’s compromised of 5.5 inch squares, nothing fancy for the top. The back is just one really pretty sheet with a simple floral pattern.

Close up of the squares:

Now, here’s the amazing thing about this quilt, the fabric cost me a total of $8. In quilting world, that’s amazing as fabric costs between $7-9 a yard and you need at least 3 yards for a back.

The other thing I really like about this is that sheets from the 50′s-60′s are a cotton/polyester blend. The polyester makes the fabric much more durable and keeps the material cool. It’s a perfect summer quilt!

I’ve heard some talk about these marshmallows and finally set aside some time today to make a batch. Marshmallows seem to be one of those things that people don’t think they can make. I used Martha Stewart’s Marshmallow recipe and as long as you follow the instructions (and trust the 13 minutes the batter needs in the mixer) yours will come out perfect too!

Instead of using the traditional vanilla extract, I used blackberry candy flavoring. I have three other flavors that I can’t wait to try out; strawberry, champagne and tangerine.

I’ll be honest, my first batch didn’t turn out well at all. In fact, I think I ended up making taffy instead of marshmallows and the batter was so dense and sticky. It was a mess.

Thankfully, I tried again and ended up with these beauties.

They have a very light purple tinge to them as I was trying to tint them a blackberry hue. I love how they’re cut into perfect cubes.

I promptly bagged them up so I wouldn’t eat them all!

Then I went crazy and made a good thing better. Chocolate dipped!

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Oh Lord, yes.

and Frankie. (Can you see his snaggle tooth? Hee, hee)

Like tons of cute matryoshka’s!

And some fun pendants!

Some kanzashi…

And some pretty little straight pins!

(you can click on the pictures to be taken to the sections of the store.)

Like these. These are called Dunny’s and I’m throughly in love with the designs.

Or these Dunny’s that are a little more “tough”.

This is called a Sonny Angel, I turned him to the side because he’s sporting a tiny weiner.  I might totally dork out and create a tiny dress so he can be a little more appropriate.

This is a Kimmi Doll, in the style of a Asian Kokeshi doll.

I bought these at Epcot years ago, my husband (who was my boyfriend at the time) took me there for my birthday. That was the day I knew he was “the one”.

One of the items I picked up that day was a small plywood box with a removable plastic cover that slides out. It was exactly what I’ve been looking for to display the countless little knick knacks that I’ve collected over the years. I painted the box white and then cut small pieces of paper for the back of each partition.

I didn’t start this project with any sort of plan in mind, I just started glueing and placing items that felt right.

Here’s the first box the upper left hand corner.

The focal point of this one is the vintage “Little People” person. I got the doll in one of my whimsy swaps that I participated in over on Craftster. My swap partner had told me that when she was a little girl, she was sick and bedridden quit often,  her “Little People”  were toys that were very special to her. The circles in the background were from a big jar of vintage whimsies that I bought from Naughty Secretary Club on her Etsy. I also like the couple under the big mushroom.

Here is the lower left hand corner box, which might be my favorite.

Like I said, I went into this with no plans. The birds in this part kept coming in. There’s a total of four, the larger pink one was a cupcake pick that I just snapped the stick off. On the back wall is a vintage Japanese bird pin. This part ended up with a “sweet” feel.

This is the first of the two larger areas, they seemed to take the longest! On  the very right side against the “wall”, is a huge rhinestone button that was my Mother-in-Law’s from her dress shop. I like the blue princess phone on the left wall too.

The teacup needed something in it to add some height, the rubber pig was perfect.

Do you see the ninja?

One of my favorite parts of making the whole box was getting the skull with glitter into a vintage measuring spoon. To the right is a tiny bottle filled with loose silver glitter.

Can you see what the Eskimo’s sign is saying? I also like the flying pig!

And here’s the last one, the lower right hand corner.

That’s a vintage spool that I wrapped with some embroidery thread. The tiny timer is also vintage and actually works.

Finally, I took some pictures of the angles so you could get a better idea of the little touches on the inside sides.

Whew! This was a huge post!

I loved making this and it took me a few weeks to reach the point where I was happy with everything.

I have a favorite box, what’s yours?

A few years back, when my Shih-tzu Rosie was just a puppy she was a trouble maker.

(Rosie on the left, Frankie on the right. We walked them to the Snow Cone stand where they shared a Doggie t-bone flavored snow cone.)

I was also a totally irresponsible person and left a threaded embroidery needle on the couch without thinking. DUMB! Rosie ate the needle and it thankfully passed through her whole digestive system where it got stuck at the (ahem) very end. I cannot tell you the guilt that I felt but I was also so thankful that she ended up not needing surgery. After a doggie emergency room visit, $600 and a week of antibiotics just to make sure she was as good as new. Do not be as foolish as I was, we were very lucky.

After that incident, I made a needle book so I would keep my needles all in one place. I am very, very good about taking a needle out and then putting it back the second I am done. The thought of hurting my baby girl again sickens me.

Here is the needle book I made a few years back.

I used cheap acrylic felt and a daisy t-shirt iron on. The felt melted a little bit when I applied the daisy.

It was never very pretty and it didn’t wear very well. It totally did serve it’s purpose though.

Last week, I broke out my secret stash of vintage sheets that I bought months ago and started piecing bits together to make this, my new needle book.

I made the cover just like I would a mini quilt. I pieced the strips together, sandwiched the layers, quilted and bound the edges. Easy and a great beginners quilting project.

Here’s the inside:

I used felt again but used an 80% wool/20% acrylic blend for the “pages”. I like to used darker color felt because it’s easier to see the needles in the pages. The closure is a basic purse closure that I got at Joann’s.

I bound the needle book together with the grommets. This was my first time using grommets, they are a total bitch to work with. Seriously, my fingers were sore after the whole thing and punching holes into the book was scary. What if I made a mistake and ruined it? Thankfully I didn’t and the grommets were well worth that hassle as they do a great job of holding everything together.

To finish the look of the book, I made another Kanzashi and decorated it with a vintage button purchased from my favorite, local antique store.

Cute and functional, LOVE IT!

(I would like to take a moment to explain that we’re still learning about our fancy new camera and cannot seem to master the white balance. It’s like looking at the world through rose colored glasses, right?)

A while back, I got my hands on an unfinished set of them and decided that instead of painting them I would use the second to smallest one and make a mold out of it using a basic putty mold medium (you can buy the mold maker putty anywhere, I picked mine up at Hobby Lobby).

At first I was thinking of using resin to fill the mold but I settled on using plaster-of-paris. I really like using plaster, it’s super cheap, it sets up really fast and all the dings can be smoothed out with a nail file.

Once I got a good stash of matryoshka’s, I settled down with my acrylic paints and just kept painting.

Each one is an inch and a half tall and sealed with Sculpy glaze so they each have a lacquered look.

Each gal sports a tiny, tiny jewel at their neckline. I found the super tiny jewels in the nail polish isle at Walgreen’s!

Everyone is different; different heights, hair colors, and outfit color combinations. I might drill a hole in one or two of them and glue a ring from the top so they can be worn on a necklace.

What else could I do with my tiny girls?