Mondays are for Challenges! It's true, you know...Mondays are for challenges, whether it be just piling out of bed and facing the work week, tending to matters around the home, or sometimes, just getting out of the bed! However, my challenge this week was a fun, exciting and creative one. On the Fiber Art Traders group our list mom posed a challenge to us...we were to create and post a mailable fiber postcard...and the challenging part was to get it accomplished within a 2 hour time frame and posted to our group list. I totally amazed myself, and probably others also, as I created this card in just 32 minutes, from the time I read the instructions and theme till posting on the internet! Our theme for this challenge was "Time is of the Essence", the winner takes all of the cards submitted for the challenge. An amazing assortment of cards were feverishly assembled to follow that theme...and believe me, machines were a-humming during the construction of these gems! No, I did not win, but a member from The Netherlands did, and I say CONGRATULATIONS TO TONNY! She is fairly new to our group as I recall, and did a wonderful card depicting the time we lose as we get older and begin to become forgetful, and of course, wondering where the time went!My own card is entitled 'Timeless Beauty", and depicts an ocean sunset, with waves crashing on the rocks at the base of a fantastic lighthouse. The design was created by D. Morgan and is copyrighted. The artist allowed a fabric company to create yardage using her paintings of coastal scenes. Most of you know how much I love lighthouses, amongst other collectibles and this particular scene just grabbed me when I was looking through the fabrics I had pulled for this challenge. Thanks so much NJ for choosing to challenge our creative forces to the forefront. I never gave the amount of time that goes into creating a postcard much thought, and totally amazed myself by my ability to come up with a wonderful card.Over the weekend I also began a new quilt, a Block of the Month, commonly called BOM's by quilters. Each month a new design is sent to us and we are to prepare it for quilting at the year's end. I am about 3 months behind, what with other commitments, however did chance to read the monthly newsletter this month and discovered that there is a contest in the creation of these blocks. The title of the quilt is 'Blooms n Buttons, and Butterflies too'. I do not have the buttons that were suggested to be used, but did happen to pick up a few fancy buttons made of abalone shells and coated with irridescent colors that I have never seen in a real abalone shell over the past month. So I pulled out some gold colored ones and used in the center of the bloom, colorwise an appropriate place to attach them. As my embroidery machine is in the shop at the present time, again, twice in a week's time, I attempted to put my butterflies down with the 'old fashioned' way of doing embroidery! One is rather small, a black bodied, pink winged critter. The other done in yellows and gold with a russet colored body and antennae.Well that is it for today...at this point in the day at any rate. This afternoon I will be picking up my embroidery machine and we will see if it performs as advertised!Hugs, y'all!

It's true, you know...Mondays are for challenges, whether it be just piling out of bed and facing the work week, tending to matters around the home, or sometimes, just getting out of the bed! However, my challenge this week was a fun, exciting and creative one. On the Fiber Art Traders group our list mom posed a challenge to us...we were to create and post a mailable fiber postcard...and the challenging part was to get it accomplished within a 2 hour time frame and posted to our group list. I totally amazed myself, and probably others also, as I created this card in just 32 minutes, from the time I read the instructions and theme till posting on the internet! Our theme for this challenge was "Time is of the Essence", the winner takes all of the cards submitted for the challenge. An amazing assortment of cards were feverishly assembled to follow that theme...and believe me, machines were a-humming during the construction of these gems! No, I did not win, but a member from The Netherlands did, and I say CONGRATULATIONS TO TONNY! She is fairly new to our group as I recall, and did a wonderful card depicting the time we lose as we get older and begin to become forgetful, and of course, wondering where the time went!

My own card is entitled 'Timeless Beauty", and depicts an ocean sunset, with waves crashing on the rocks at the base of a fantastic lighthouse. The design was created by D. Morgan and is copyrighted. The artist allowed a fabric company to create yardage using her paintings of coastal scenes. Most of you know how much I love lighthouses, amongst other collectibles and this particular scene just grabbed me when I was looking through the fabrics I had pulled for this challenge. Thanks so much NJ for choosing to challenge our creative forces to the forefront. I never gave the amount of time that goes into creating a postcard much thought, and totally amazed myself by my ability to come up with a wonderful card.

Over the weekend I also began a new quilt, a Block of the Month, commonly called BOM's by quilters. Each month a new design is sent to us and we are to prepare it for quilting at the year's end. I am about 3 months behind, what with other commitments, however did chance to read the monthly newsletter this month and discovered that there is a contest in the creation of these blocks. The title of the quilt is 'Blooms n Buttons, and Butterflies too'. I do not have the buttons that were suggested to be used, but did happen to pick up a few fancy buttons made of abalone shells and coated with irridescent colors that I have never seen in a real abalone shell over the past month. So I pulled out some gold colored ones and used in the center of the bloom, colorwise an appropriate place to attach them. As my embroidery machine is in the shop at the present time, again, twice in a week's time, I attempted to put my butterflies down with the 'old fashioned' way of doing embroidery! One is rather small, a black bodied, pink winged critter. The other done in yellows and gold with a russet colored body and antennae.

Well that is it for today...at this point in the day at any rate. This afternoon I will be picking up my embroidery machine and we will see if it performs as advertised!

Hugs, y'all!