Creativity...with a little help from my friends...

There is a lot to be said for on-line friends...and their willingness to see you attain your goals...and to encourage creativity.

My friend, Dave, who is one of the most talented people I know...a quilter, knitter, yarn dyer, and spinner among other things...recently gifted me with two beautiful hanks of his hand dyed yarn...experimental yarn...he called it...I call it gorgeous! And, it gives me a chance to work with a lighter weight yarn than I have been using and create some wonderful socks for myself out of the blue and maybe a hat or mittens out of the other. I am patiently finishing up a couple of other projects then I will begin working with this wonderful yarn.

Sandie, who lives in Australia creates the most beautiful items using ribbons, embroidery, and crazy quilting techniques. She has encouraged me more than once to try my hand at some of this type of work. When I mentioned that I was looking for some different red-work patterns and also some nudes to frame for my bathroom walls, she sent me a CD chock full of wonderful images. Of course, we shared a laugh when I told her Australian customs had opened the package - bet they had a fun time when they saw a cd labeled "Nudes for Sara"... Lucky for us those Australians are a lot more broadminded...

Pat is so creative! We met on line when we both did some postcards for Fiberart For A Cause whose proceeds go to The American Cancer Society. She was working with some threads and yarns that add glitter and glam to the postcards. She mentioned that these threads could be ironed on...I had never heard or seen such treads and when I asked about where to find them she linked me up to the website and sent me a few that she no longer needed so that I could play with them. And, they have proven to be very interesting and fun!

Another postcard person, Lynn, decided to share fabrics she no longer needed with other postcard artists...or in my case, wanna-be artists...and I was amazed to see beautiful fabrics that I had never worked with arrive in my mailbox. I had always used "100% cotton" for all my quilts...so I didn't have any silks, satins, brocades, or other fancy type fabrics that are now acceptable in making fabric postcards...and crazy quilting.

Other friends, way too numerous to mention by name - but, they know who they are, have shared techniques and offered suggestions
on how to do certain things. Others have directed me to websites that have taught me new concepts...others have issued challenges or some type of an "along" and hooked me so that I might learn something new or gain confidence in a technique or skill.

I only hope that by some remote chance I have encouraged someone else to try something different or to see something in a different light...after all...what are friends for!