The Creative World of the Crazy Haberdasher

Buttons are a great passion of mine if that is not clear bye now LOL

The images on this quilt were made of buttons on my computer.

These images were made bye placing the buttons face down on the scanner bed and arranging then with old scissors and needle cases.

I have had lots of questions about weather the buttons have been sewed on or how did I put them on I am happy to report they were hours of hand sewing to make this border.

Disclaimer: ( no buttons were hurt destroyed or altered in any way in the making of this quilt)

This quilt was a work of love for the lady that made a great difference in my life my Great grandma, she was truly the matriarch of our family and she was great to show me how to sew small finger puppets and how to bake and definitely clean house witch I have forgotten.LOL






The picture is of her graduation in 1915 from Connersville High school IN she would be holding her diploma in her left hand and as you can see I own the very diploma so i had to take it to a copy shop because it was to big to put on my scanner to reduce it and then i could copy it on to fabric.

The small motifs around the edges are just out of my head. I can it doodling with thread. hope you enjoy.

Alright does anyone else see fabric made out of this for your next quilt? The tree tops are so cool from the top side. I hope to make fabric out of the photos and make a wonderful in-flight quilt.
Note: the leaves are fresher at the top of the tree I do know this because our pilot got close enough to grab some. What joy for all of us two year olds in that balloon. LOL

This is so cool. The balloon casts a shadow on the ground as you are in flight from the sun as you drift along. It's just a shadow dream.

Well here we are four Crazy Fools really glad to be on the ground and make a toast to another great adventure. Smiles all around.

This was in the hanger back at the airport It sure makes more sense after the flight. LOL

Pat was nice enough to do this for Kevin's and my birthdays. THANKS Pat for a great time had by all. (Unforgettable) that is what this was.

Check this off the list. Yes, I'm just saying someone just turned 51 but don't let him know I told you.

This week for Kevin's birthday his brother Pat, our dear friend Colleen, and myself took a hot air balloon ride. You must add this to your bucket list if its not already on it. Great fun had by all. We arrived at the Bloomington, IN airport to meet with our pilot and to be picked up and to travel to the site to inflate the balloon. Oh--you get to help. Then you all get into the basket and the ground crew assist you off the ground slowly and as any young girl would do you SCREAM your fool head off. Just kidding. You really sit in the bottom of the basket and cry quietly to yourself because you are a grown ass man. Sorry I digress. LOL Really you just ask when the in-flight service starts because you need a drink. All kidding aside it is the most peaceful ride you will have when the burners are off, when they are on they make it so you can't hear for a bit. The pilot was able to sit it on the side of the hill in a persons front yard with no problems at all. You then one at a time get out and hold the basket on the ground and file out onto the ground and you, as any adult would do, get down and kiss the ground. LOL you look at all your friends and say CHECK I can now check that off my bucket list.

A note to share about what has been happening. there have been many quilt guilds and private shop owners asking for talks, book signings and classes. This info is coming soon. I am working on getting it all put together to send out. Thanks for your patience. Chat soon, Brian

Well Ladies and Gentlemen here is the piece that we created in my first retreat I had nine wonderful students That just blow me away with there skills and there enthusiasm and a drive like I have never seen the likes of.
I am bursting with pride for this being my first retreat. Everything went as planned and I know I had more fun with the student then they had with me.
The energy in the room was so much fun to keep up with and yet I had to lay down in the middle of the day Saturday. I could not stay awake any longer After 30 min I was back at it again.
The students work was truly something to be proud of.
We also had a few extra people with us--my Mom and my Aunt Dee. My Mom and Aunt Dee worked on some embroidery pieces as well. And what fun we all had sharing stories and trading tales, and a nice glass of wine did not take away from all the fun. LOL
Just a quick thanks to all nine of you , you know who you are, for what will go down as a great retreat to get my feet wet. You have made me look forward to so many more. Brian

On Sunday we came down to find that Jody had pulled an all-nighter! Talk about one dedicated stitcher!


It was kind of a lazy morning. Some stitched, some explored the campus, some cleaned up the work space and the group picture.


About 11:30 I told the students I had a surprise a gift that I made the students a small basket with stork scissors, a Key to the cherished life we all live and some soap that was to clean life up because it gets messy then we headed over for brunch--which was definitely the best meal of the weekend.


After brunch we all hugged, professed our undying love for one another and hit the road.




The Graduating Class

Everyone finished up by about 10 and then we sat around and chit-chatted and told stories--some of them might have even been true. We snacked on snacks, drank some drinks and played some board games. About 1-ish the last of the diehards headed off to bed. Reveille was scheduled for 9 Saturday morning.

We're blogging live from the retreat. 9 students are busy with the first steps of their crazy quilts.

You'll be seeing posts from me, Aunt Dee and my partner, Kevin. We'll try to convey the feel of the weekend.

First thanks goes to the fantastic conference staff here at St. Mary's. Not enough good things can be said about Julie White. We started working with her back in March. Mom, Kevin and I made a visit in April. We fell in love with the campus and saw that the facilities would be great for a retreat. Julie was so responsive and accommodating--we just knew that we'd have a great experience. And a few hours into it, we certainly haven't been disappointed.

We met Julie Worthington, the first Julie's co-worker today and she's been wonderfully funny and helpful too.
If you're looking for a quiet, beautiful, reasonably priced retreat facility be sure to give the Julies a call.


More to come soon. . .
Brian
Reposted from Retreat blog on 9/15/11

Hey everyone, I want to introduce you to a very special friend. She is the person responsible for all the practically all the quilting in my last book and is helping me currently on the new book. Very sadly she has moved away from Indianapolis where we both lived, to a new location in Atlanta, Georgia. She has a wonderful home which I am helping here design from Indy and soon will be traveling to help here there. She is a one of a kind sweetheart.
I MISS YOU MELISSA SEE YOU SOON.
This is a photo taken the day before she left for her new life in Georgia. It was a happy day, I gave here her copy of the book before everyone else at the book launch party because she left town before all the festivities happened. Sadly she was not able to attend and hear all the great comments. Also, she missed the cry fest.