April 15th ended the 2010 tax season which means that I finally have a little more time on my hands again. As many of you know this was my first foray out of the family business in about 17 years. I learned a lot. I loved the clients who came to H&R Block and mini tax geek that I am, I loved the actual job. The inter-office dynamics, now that was another thing entirely! I generally try to keep my blog positive in nature so I've decided not to dwell to much on the subject of my co-workers but I will caution those of you who were negative, life-sucking, energy draining, leeches (you know who you are) - Clean up your act or you are certain to be sucked into the Vortex of Hell! Whew! Feels good to get that out of my system....


Now on to more positive things. The Art Nest is busy learning and creating again. I am currently taking a small course in drawing to increase my illustration skills. This is somewhat of a leap for me since I have to conquer that internal voice that tries to convince me that I can't illustrate. So far I am doing well and I hope to post some of my illustrations soon. In the meantime I have taken out my machine and created a new dish/tea towel from the retro Japanese series I have for sale in my Etsy shop.

Isn't she just delightful! I found her happy little expression so uplifting...

Check out all the designs in this series at www.theartnest.etsy.com.

Seasons of Change

September has arrived and Summer seems to be drawing to a close. The kids have headed back to school which allows me to finish up a few projects that were on hold and begin new projects.

I finally stitched out the woodland deer towels for my newly painted downstairs bathroom. I love them! I actually like them better stitched on the chocolate brown waffle weave towels than I do on the solid white background. Anyway I think they look totally sweet....

I sewed up some cool cool fabric coasters from a tutorial I got from www.makeitfromscratch.blogspot.com/2009/03/drink-coasters-from-scrap-fabric.html. I liked them so much I am planning to make some in different designs for my etsy shop as well.




And, check out the cool necklace and earrings I made during a beading class I took with my friend Nancy...

I hope to delve a little further into jewelry making in the future but I thought this was a good start.

More Cowboy Kitty!

The last few weeks have been so busy! Spring is in full swing and the gardens are growing like mad. Miss Emma has returned (again...) and so far, so good! I have managed to make those really cool kitchen towels I referred to earlier. The softies are still under construction and I am beginning on some "Days of the Week" kitchen towels with a sweet vintage flair to them. I'll be posting them shortly. In the meantime here are the remainder of the vintage 1940's pattern "Cowboy Kitty" kitchen towels. They look great in my kitchen and if you are looking for a set you can find them in my Etsy shop at http://www.theartnest.etsy.com/. Enjoy!

Cowboy Kitty with his Lasso of Mischief...

Pondering his next act of mischief...

And lastly, singing the tales of his mischief!!

Cowboy Kitty Rides Again!

I've kept busy in the Nest making those uber-cool kitchen tea towels I referred to earlier. I really love the vintage patterns on these. They are call "Cowboy Kitty" and are from the 1940's. The patterns themselves are stitched in redwork, but I then colored them in using fabric paint markers to ensure the colors didn't run when washed. I have more from the same retro pattern set in the works and hope to share them soon.

Look at Cowboy Kitty's sly sideways glance! It looks like trouble just rode in on his stick-horse...

Cowboy Kitty is totally sweet on Cowgirl Kitty! Look out!

I'm keeping a set of these to dress up my kitchen for sure. But if you want a set too, you can get them at http://www.theartnest.etsy.com/. I'll post more from this vintage pattern set in future blogs.

She's Back.....

Ms. Emma is back! That's right Ms. Emma my sewing/embroidery machine is finally back. She seems to be rested and in good shape after taking her mental health holiday. So I am currently working on kitchen towels. I have plans of making softies in the near future as well, so check back to see what kind of cuteness is hatching out of the Nest....



Aren't these cute? I made a set of the blue ones for a friend of mine who has recently moved into a new home. The tea towel embroidered in red will be added to my Etsy store.

Padding the Nest

I'm in an all-out war with Mother Nature this month. It happens every March. It's finally Spring, but the cold weather just won't let go... Last year I won the fight, but Mother Nature is a sneaky creature. She totally took away most of the lovely temperate Spring weather and launched us right into Summer. I'm ever so sure I heard her giggle about that on several occasions... So while I quietly wage my war with the great lady, I am all about padding the nest. Today I got my sewing machine back from servicing and will be stitching up some uber-cute tea towels. Look for them in future posts and on my Etsy site http://www.theartnest.etsy.com/. Meanwhile my response to Mother Nature's chilly blast is to make a big pot of chili and home-made cornbread. Didn't the cornbread turn out so nice? Once you've eaten home-made cornbread you'll never look at those boxed versions again. So to get you started I've included the recipe. Enjoy!!

Click on recipe to enlarge for easier reading.