A hobby of mine? This was another HARD one. I have LOTS of interests! My problem is not lack of hobbies, my problem is lack of TIME to pursue them!
I love to do so many things! Honestly, I simply do NOT understand "boredom". How can anyone ever be bored in this wonderful world full of so many interesting and fun things to learn and do???!
OK... so before I get off on a tangent about that, back to the post at hand!
My main passion is probably quilt-making. And if you click here, you can see my earlier blog post about my quilts.
I love making quilts because:
(# 1) I love quilts. I just DO. I always have. I love wrapping up in them, I love sleeping under them, I love the look and the feel of quilts and ...
(# 2) Quilting uses fabric and I am a fabric junkie. I have what we quilter's affectionately refer to as "a stash". A very big stash. This means yards and yards of fabric, in a rainbow of colors and myriads of patterns... just waiting to be used. I love looking at, touching, and buying beautiful fabric. To me, quilting is like painting with fabric.
Here are a few quilts I have made that are not pictured in the other post:
This next quilt is one of my favorites... I made it for my nephew, Alex. I told him there was love in every stitch, and there was!
I am working on a new one right now, for our queen size guest bed.
Bentley likes sleeping on the pieces!
Yes, I'll definitely have to de-furr it before I can sew it together... but that's OK!
OK, so time to move on to Hobby #2. I also love (decorative) painting... and here are some things I have painted:
I like to paint fruit. This is a wooden top to a neat tin-punch basket:
More fruit. What you can't really see in the photo is the light metallic "shimmer" on the fruit. That was a fun technique.
An old shoe shine kit, cleaned up and "fancified"!
I also LOVE folk art. This was a fun project. It's actually just a cardboard box; I painted and faux-finished the bottom of the box to look like aged leather.
Another fun project. "Apple Orchard" on a wooden Bentwood box..
I'll paint on anything... even old crocks!
Painting little cottages is fun... and I went through a "birdhouse" phase! ;o)
A couple of stools I painted:
The top:
The top of the second stool:
This sign is pretty long, almost 3 feet.
Another sign I made. (My life's motto in 3 words!)
One of my favorite pieces... a sailboat with a painted canvas sail and flag. I also faux-finished the bottom of the boat (it was just a plain block of wood.)
Crackled herbs and seeds sign, hanging in our guest bedroom:
Another favorite. Looks like it's painted on old vintage wormwood, right? Wrong! Just a well-distressed and "antiqued" new piece of pine! ;o)
A yellow rose. I am actually pretty proud of the "water droplets" -- I think they look nicely realistic.
Well, I could go on and on showing you stuff I have painted.... but I think you get the idea, right?!
I also like to make jewelry... fun, beaded costume jewelry. I have a huge collection of beads in all shapes and sizes. (I like to collect beads, too!) Some earrings I have made: (I love dangly, french hook earrings... always have!)
My favorite bracelets to make are simple stretchy bracelets made with beads and silver accents. I wear three of these bracelets together A LOT. Soooooo cute - and match almost everything!
I also like to "stamp" and scrapbook. I have boxes of rubber stamps and inks and other supplies. I make cards and memory books. I can also use scraps of fabrics and beads in some of my projects. As you can see, all of my hobbies have started overlapping!!!
Some cards (with matching envelopes) I have made:
Cards are fun, QUICK 'N' EASY projects! And so much fun to send.
(The card at the very top of this post is another one I made.)
Here's a sampling of some scrapbooking I have done.
One for Boo... (Yes, my cat has a scrapbook. Oh, quit laughing, it's not THAT funny!!!!) ;o)
A few pages from it:
A vacation scrapbook I made from a cruise my husband and I were on a couple of years ago:
A few pages from it:
Here's one that hangs in our downstairs guest bedroom:
I have also done stained glass, ceramics and pottery, VERY fun.
I love home decorating, and scouring flea markets and garage sales for fun finds that I can repair, strip and refinish, or re-paint, or otherwise make functional and beautiful.
Here's a darling small dresser that I found at a flea market for $2.00. A couple of coats of red paint, and some stenciled stars, then an all-over *distressing* , and voila' !
I like to cross-country ski.
I like to roller blade. (Sorry, no pictures of that!!!)
I like to travel. (Is that a "hobby"?) (There will more info on that in a future post... so please stay tuned!)
I also like to read. Mostly murder mysteries and whodunnits, but I'll read almost anything.
Sooo--- as you can see, there is NO shortage of things I love to do. I just need more time to be able to them!
