This heart is dedicated to my grandparents. Grandma and Grandpa met on a ship coming to the U.S. from Scandinavia. Grandma was coming from Norway accompanied by her sister, who was trying to mend a broken heart after a broken engagement. Grandpa was coming from Denmark to America, like many others at that time, seeking opportunity in the land of the free. They fell in love and were married within the year. "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" was written in 1910 (the year they were married) and was their favorite song. I can still remember my grandma singing it to me.
I bought this shoe organizer from Target almost a year ago for another use. Since then I found something else I liked better and the shoe organizer found it's place on a shelf in the garage. Until this weekend when I dusted off the box and finally put it together. I decided it would be great for organizing my fabrics. It's still a work in progress because I have many more fabrics to fold and put into the cubicles. I cut a piece of chipboard from a cereal box slightly smaller than the dimensions of the openings and I'm using it as a folding template - you know, like the way they fold T-Shirts at the GAP. It makes everything have a tidy, crisp appearance.
All the cold medication was making Ruth giddy and silly! Here she is with Penney, who taught me that turning your tension knob ever so slightly can make the difference between a smooth running sewing machine and a chugga-chugga sounding sewing machine. 
Penney also was my partner in crime when it came to any technique that involves heat and a burning candle!
Oh what fun we had at ArtFiberFest...Oh, I'm so sorry to bore you by repeating that comment over and over again. But it truly was the best! I highly recommend that you try to attend an Art Retreat, even if it is right in your home town (right Tammy and Linda?) because it is so inspiring and you leave with so much excitement and renewed energy. 
Roxanne taught workshops on all three days and the one I took was called Art Studio Journal. In a way these journals reminded me of those cloth books we had as toddlers with all the interactive features. However, this one was for grown up artists with pockets and places to hold art supplies to carry along with you. 
Pockets, pockets, and MORE pockets. I think we were secretly trying to see who could create the most pockets inside our books. The page above features removable tags to hold fibers and a palette of watercolor crayons along with a paintbrush so you'll ever be without paint.
I had a bear of a time with my little Janome sewing machine in this class. As everyone else's machines were purring along quietly, mine was chug-a-chug-chugging the whole time in between the bobbin thread jamming up and my muttering choice words of frustration. I hope I didn't annoy too many of my classmates! Thank goodness for Reenie, who sat next to me and used her magic touch to get the machine moving again.....for a while anyway!
I used one of my needle-felted flowers on this page and made a note pad of paper back at the dorm to fit inside one of the pockets. There's even a place to slip in a pencil on the left side!
