Empty

empty

too much empty these days
shrunken paychecks and retirement accounts
jobs evaporated
store closing signs
offices for lease
neighborhood blocks with flecked with for sale signs
foreclosed houses with shaggy lawns and broken gutters

it leaves your soul feeling black and empty and fearful

but the only hope is in emptiness
an empty tomb carved out of impossible stone
reminds that by removing self power and plans
emptying hearts of all but trust
opens life again to
Easter power

Have a blessed Easter!

Blue Willow Easter Eggs

I blame my friend Sheri for being preoccupied all this afternoon with making these Easter eggs. She showed me this Easter project in Martha Stewart and said it looked something I would like to make. And actually I had all the "ingredients" for the project at home - eggs, paper napkins, and mod podge! It's a rare project that doesn't cost me extra $, so of course I had to try it before Easter arrived. I had some blue willow style napkins that I thought would work nicely and would coordinate with my obsession with blue and white.


First, get out a scissors and your bifocals - you will need them! Cut small designs out of the paper napkins. Since the background of the eggs is white and the background of my napkins were white, I didn't need to cut very close to the edge, I left a bit of a white border. The napkin will separate into layers - all you will use is the top layer.


Use a little Mod Podge to attach the napkin designs to the eggs. (The eggs had the insides blown out through little holes in the top and bottom, and were washed, and dried.) I tried attaching the napkins several ways - I think it was easiest to put the Mod Podge on the egg first and then attach the napkin pieces. A bit fussy but very simple!


After the pieces dry, give the entire egg another coat of modge to seal the edges down.

I can't believe how awesome these eggs look - you'd never know they were made out of paper napkins. And they photographed perfectly - here's a few more shots posted at Flickr.

Crazy Quilt Teddy Bear

For my final post on Craxy Quilt Week, here is a sweet teddy bear that I crazy quilted. The pattern is from the book Bullion Stitch Embroidery: From Roses to Wildflowers (Milner Craft Series)
- however I changed the design to a use crazy quilt patches and did my own embroidery designs. After making sections of crazy quilt out of fabric, I drew the pattern pieces on them with pencil. Then I added the embroidery stitches onto the pieces before cutting them out and sewing them together.

The bear is fully jointed in the arms, legs, and head.

Close up of the foot - pretty stitches and felt foot pads .

I hope that you enjoyed this peak at my crazy quilting!

Crazy Quilt in Ivory

Here's some more crazy quilting - all in shades of ivory with vintage pearl buttons:

Crazy Quit in Pink and Blue

I first started crazy quilting many years ago when a parent brought in some examples of work that she had been doing. I immediately fell in love with the colors and the textures, so I bought a book and started playing. I already had tons of fabric scraps to use and knew many embroidery stitches. I loved the silky look of the perle cotton thread.


My first project was a pink and blue vest. It had bits of all kinds of fabrics that I had worn through the years. I used to wear it with a blue chambray skirt and it truly was a cute and clever style. (I do wish that this type of floral fabric wasn't considered so frumpy now!)

Aren't these vintage flowery white buttons pretty??

Crazy Quilt in Black and Pink

I used to do a lot of crazy quilting. I enjoyed mixing fabrics and thread and stitches and buttons and silk ribbons and beads. It certainly took a long time to complete a project, but the end results are so rich in texture! I made this Christmas Tree Crazy Quilt several years ago. I also made several crazy quilt vests - alas, not very fashionable anymore, but still pretty.

So this week I've declared it to be crazy quilt week at Clever Karen. I'm going to share a few close ups from some of my projects. Today we'll take a close look at my favorite vest which used a variety of black and pink fabrics.

Multigrain Pasta with Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Oven roasted tomatoes are wonderful to use in pasta. I recently made a batch (see directions here). I used quite a bit of olive oil so the oil would be infused with the tomato flavor that could be tossed with some pasta. I also added some onions into the pan so they would caramelize.



Here is the multigrain pasta that I used from Trader Joe's. And it may be one of those products that Trader Joe's no longer carries (boohoo) but any whole grain pasta would work.

After roasting the tomatoes, I tossed them (and the oil) with the pasta. Then I added some grilled chicken, olives, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, and some dried Italian Seasoning. Also a bit of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Really, anything that you have on hand works fine! I topped with a bit more olive oil and had a wonderful pasta for lunch.