Happy Birthday Max!

This is the most recent picture I have of my brother. It's me, our niece Alyssa, and Max. It was taken last summer in July. Today he turns 18. It's so incredible, because I still remember the night he was born. Hopefully, he will be allowed to call me today. I find it amazing that the only person he will get to talk to at all today will be me, his mean sister. :D He gets out of jail on November 1st, and we all have the hope that he will never have to go back and that something has really changed this time.

Ah well, on to something I've actually made.....



This is the class sample for my hand embroidery class that I'm teaching in October. I'm using 6 stitches - split, satin, back, stem, chain, and french knots. Obviously, I'm not quite done, but I'm running around with tons of school work. I've got variegated floss in her hair and for the pearl in her hand. It's the Sublime Stitching Mermaid Pattern. It's gonna be part of a pillow with the Mermaid fabric from the Mendocino line by Heather Ross for Free Spirit.




Isn't he the cutest? I didn't actually make him - I picked him up at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival last year. He's about 1 1/2" - 2" tall and I think made from silk. I want to make a copy of him though! I saw him in a booth with all sorts of imported stuff from Japan - Kristal and I had a ball in that booth! I think this is the place:
http://maedaimporting.com/

Alrighty, I have to go to work. :(

it's the end of the world as we know it

I'm in the mood to make all my titles song lyrics. We'll see how long that lasts.
I've actually made some stuff, mostly just working on a class sample. However, no pictures. These last couple of weeks have been crazy/awful. My sister left for UVA, my great aunt died, I started school with an English teacher who thinks that hers is the only class I have(meanwhile I'm taking college math, a foreign language, AND history), I'm having crazy dreams about people including the end of the world, and yesterday Evan left for school, leaving my boyfriend in shambles. We all miss somebody. Enough depressing thoughts, I whipped out some coolo pictures from Philadelphia when we went a couple of weeks ago.


The Gallery train station in Philadelphia. The whole thing looks like this, it's so cool. My Uncle actually helped to do the lighting in here.


Independence hall. We didn't actually go in, but I've been there before. It's one of those cool historical places.


Queen Anne's Lace. It grows wildly across the street from my grandmother's house. It reminds me of good times.


Some weirdo flower growing in her garden - I love the different patterns it creates.


Phlox in my other grandmother's garden. I thought it was so gorgeous!


My grandfather's upside-down tomato plant. He absolutely loves this planter my cousin got for him a couple of years ago.


Sign for Obama in the Obama south Philadelphia headquarters. I don't know if anyone else saw his speech the other night - it was pretty awesome. Maybe not one of his best, but still wonderful.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi.

Even if you don't vote my way please make sure and VOTE.


Time for me to go do yoga and get ready for work.........

I love you, is that okay?

Art, or not.....

Baby boy!

Here's some pictures of my nephew, who has me totally enthralled...


Alyssa was helping to take this picture:


Here he is with his Grammy and his quilt:


Grampa, Alyssa, and Adam!

ATCs and stuff

I made some really cute ATCs for the swap we have at work. I took a FQ of the apple print from Farmer's Market by Sandi Henderson. They are all hand embroidered and made at the last minute of course. Here's some pictures:




The second one is the most true to color.
I've also been working on a quilt to hang in the shop. I designed the pattern so we could kit it up. It's made from Drawing Room by Anna Maria Horner. Here's half of it.

Baby blankets!

These actually turned out pretty well. They're cute, and easy. I'm hoping that some day soon we can post a tutorial on the shop website. Until then, it's pretty similar to the one on Purl Patchwork's blog.



Okay, so I just realized how awful the picture is. Oh well. They're about 28" square. There's actually two there, they both have a brown and pink Minkee fabric on the back, and two different Michael Miller prints on the front.

Yeah, yeah

I'm working on the updating thing. I need to take pictures of the cute baby blankets I made the other day. For now, here are two quiz-y things:

You Are a Chocolate Shake

You are a total hedonist. You are drawn to pleasure. You are an expressive, over the top person. You're naturally dramatic. You're the type of person who always chooses quality over quantity. Life's too short to not have optimal experiences. You're proud of being picky.

What Flavor Shake Are You?

Brendan says that is totally me. Yeah, well. Off to play World of Warcraft.

Do you notice anything different?

Look at my new awesome redesign!!! Yay! I love it. Now if I can just figure out how to turn those corners black.....hmmmm.

I saw this on Kristal's blog, and couldn't resist!!! While you're at it, check out all the other cool gadgets from the website that does the mosaic maker.


1. Phoebe Gardner & Francis G. Clowe, 2. I ate 6, 3. Hermitage High too far / 高過庵, 4. double and supernumerary rainbows, 5. Daniel Craig's looking at me, and I don't think he's happy, 6. Positano, 7. Oia - Santorini, 8. vanilla bake shop cupcakes, 9. one.dress.finished, 10. Best things in life are free, 11. Ci sei dentro, 12. Sunset dancer

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker).

1. What is your first name? Phoebe. All I got were strippers and animals, so I cheated and used the first letter of my last name. At least I got some gravestones!
2. What is your favorite food? Mexican. You should search for this. The first page is amazing!
3. What high school did you go to? Hermitage High School. For 5 months. Then I was home schooled. That's what I found for "Hermitage High." Nothing to do with the school. :)
4. What is your favorite color? Green!!!!!!!!! Nothing to do with green, but I saw and it made me think of my sister. We saw a rainbow just like that a couple of weeks ago, but one of the rainbows went from horizon to horizon.
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Daniel Craig. At least right now.
6. Favorite drink? Water.
7. Dream vacation? Santorini, Greece.
8. Favorite dessert? Mom's chocolate cake.
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Fabric designer. Honest to god, that was the first picture.
10. What do you love most in life? Life itself.
11. One Word to describe you: Loud
12. Your flickr name: dncergrl. I searched for dancer girl.