Melanie Testa

Breast Cancer Awareness?

Today begins Breast Cancer Awareness month.

This is a small work, I am stitching on currently. I am learning needle turn. I am not very good yet, but I bit off a large portion and am getting better at it, as a result. I am moving into our tiny apartment, looking for space solutions that fit our favorite activities and furniture. Now it has come down to specifics. I love space organization, so you might hear the glee in my voice as I type these words.

Anyway. Breast cancer awareness.

You may know that there is a challenge out there, in the ethers…

A Quilting Arts Readers Challenge, to be exact.

I am going to begin a discussion on Going Flat. Much of my discussion will revolve around creating breast pockets and embroidering these small feminine works, as you see above. I hope you will join me, in discussion within the comments section of each post (check back, OK?)

OR join me in a Gather your Sew-plies, Sew a-Long!

Or both.

Please help me get back in the swing of blogging and investing in my virtual community, you!

Edited with BlogPad Pro

Let the Sew-along begin.

Above you see a quilt sandwich, a scissor pocket and two tabs which will hold the strap in place. We will be making a quilt sandwich that is big enough to cut all of these pieces, in addition to a thimble pocket.

The pattern in Quilting Arts Holiday magazine states to cut your quilt sandwich to 6″ wide. I have made many of these purses, some that start with a quilted sandwich, some that don’t. I find that the batting in the quilted Gather your Sewplies!! purses takes up a bit of ‘room’. You may want to use flannel rather than batting for this reason-or choose to forgo batting altogether.

If you choose to use batting, I would suggest adding a half inch to the width of the pattern.

This week, your task is to piece, batt, back, baste and machine quilt a quiltlet utilizing the information I have presented in this post.

Here you see the start of my mini quilt. I have not added batting yet. The striped rose pattern peeking out will be the backing of this mini quilt. I have placed a rose print at what will become the center front of the purse and have used a pink floral print at the bottom of the quiltlet, this will become the flap that will securely close the purse.

SEW!

I made the executive decision to forego batting in this version of the purse. What you see here is the purse body, where I brought some of the 1940’s vintage stripe to the front of the quilt sandwich. This sandwich consists of the backing, the top and several rows of machine stitching using free rayon embroidery thread. To the right are two tabs to hold the strapping, which is also pictured. The additional piece of vine fabric will be used for a zipper pocket.

This week your task is to make a quilt sandwich, a top, batting and a back, or follow my lead an create some made cloth. Next week, we will make the spaghetti straps, place the tabs, fold the pattern properly and sew it closed. Stay tuned.

A reminder: Here is a link to the magazine, if you don’t have a copy already. I will reference the magazine article throughout this sew-along, though I cannot post the pattern or send you a copy. You must purchase the magazine in order to sew-along with us.

Here are links to previous blog posts related to the sew-along:

The announcement

The tools you may need

Please excuse my camera and color issues. I have been away from blogging for so long that I need to catch up with myself and the technology.

Gather your Sew-plies!! sew-along.

I am so happy that there has been interest shown in having a Gather your Sew-plies!! sew-along. I love making and using these little purses. I find them to be incredibly useful.

To tell you the back story, if you own a copy of Inspired to Quilt you will find a pattern for a sewing holster. For years, I used a sewing holster, which is a finished strip of quilted fabric with pockets that could be draped around the neck. The sewing holster worked, but presented problems. If the objects stored in the pockets were not balanced, the holster would pull heavily to one side. When getting up and down, I would need to hold the holster in place. You get the idea. A few years back, I decided to work on the pattern and see if I could correct the imbalances.

The Gather your Sew-plies purse was born. At first, this purse had several pieces, the main pouch, a scissor pocket, a thimble pocket, a flap closure, a strap tab and strap. When I started thinking about making a pattern for Quilting Arts Gifts, I decided to simplify the purse as much as possible. The Quilting Arts Holiday version of the pattern works almost like the plastic sandwich bags that have a flip top closure. This turns out to be quite sturdy manner to close the bag, leaving no open areas where your trusty sewing thimble might otherwise escape. I removed the thimble pocket entirely, though during the sew-along, I will go through the steps you need to create one.

One of the things I like about the old pattern with the flap closure was the fact that I began covering earth magnets with cloth in order to securely close the flap closure. That is a dandy method of closure and I will talk about that during the sew-along as well.

I have come to think of my varied collection of Gather your Sew-plies purses as an art collection! I hope one day to have 30 of these bags, because it is nice to make one, but when you make 30, it definitely becomes Art. Or at least a showing of obsessive compulsive glee. I don’t know which.

So, let’s get started. First, you will need a copy of the magazine, please use this link if you intend to purchase a copy. Using that link will help Quilting Arts track how many copies are sold through my web site. I do not make money from this. As the pattern is copyrighted, I cannot post or email a copy of the pattern to you. I can expand upon what has been published in the magazine, which is what I intend to do during the sew-along.

Beside the magazine itself, you may need a 3/8th inch 3/8″ release clasp buckle, I have come to love these buckles, they pleasingly clip and pop open. I bought many of them, because I apparently need at least 30 of these purses. But. I must say, finding a notion or solution to finishing your purse without this buckle will be a worthy adventure. I am sure we can find some interesting ways to enable you not to purchase the release clasps, if you do not want to purchase them.

Another notion you will need is a Loop Turner . That link shows the loop turner that I use. I am not ‘married’ to this loop turner and if you know of another turner that might work better than this one, I would like to know about it. The thing that holds me back from unequivocal love is the fact that we will need upwards of 70″ of spaghetti strapping to make the straps for this purse. 70″ of bias tubing does not fit on this loop turner, so I make my loops in two pieces and join them after turning them. So post a comment if you have a better tool for the task.

Beside the above items, I bet you have all of the necessary fabrics and notions to make the purse. Because some of you may need to purchase a few items, I think we might start this along in a few weeks time. I am working on the posts related to the -along right now. I will let you know just how I plan to present the info quite soon. I am thinking several posts over the course of a week might do it, though weekly posts might be nice too. Your thoughts?

Leave some comments and help me get back into the swing of blogging! Please?

Gather your Sew-plies, Quilting Arts Holiday edition.

I am happy to have published in the Quilting Arts Holiday gifts issue, which showcases my Gather your Sew-plies purse.

This sewing purse is the Bee Knees, if you ask me. These purses were designed with movement in mind. The bag itself embraces a reverse pack pack styling, so, it sits at the front of your body, safe and secure, as you move around your sewing studio.

The pattern in Quilting Arts Holiday has directions for a scissor pocket, though you need not stop there! As you can see, I have also included a tiny pocket to hold my thimble.

Sometimes the purses themselves become a canvas on which to stitch and embroider.

And sometimes I include fancy bits of fabric in the lining. I have also been known to clip rounded bits of plastic from milk bottles and juice containers to tuck into the scissor pocket-which protects the fabric from being punctured by my embroidery scissors.

See? You can even swing while ready to sew.

All in all, I can’t live without these little functional bits of beauty. So far, I have made about 15 of these purses, each has thread, embroidery floss, some Thread Heaven (An Amazon link, I LOVE Thread Heaven as a thread ‘conditioner’), and the pattern has evolved over time. Sometimes I make them with flaps as you see in the above photos, sometimes I make them with a fold of fabric that flips over and closes the purse (this is the pattern that Quilting Arts Holiday has published). I also like to thread string through the bias straps, which strengthens them.

I would love to have a Gather your Sew-plies sew along if you are interested!?? Please post a comment below and tell me know if you would like to do this. You will need to purchase the magazine to access the pattern, but I have many additional ideas and notions that will make this quite the fun sew-along.

Check out these other posts on the blog hop too!

Friday, September 12, Vivika Hansen DeNegre, http://quiltingdaily.com/

Saturday, September 13, Lyric Kinard, http://lyrickinard.com/blog/

Sunday, September 14, Claude Larson, http://randomactsofpiece.blogspot.com/

Monday, September 15, Linda McLaughlin, http://notesfromstudiob.blogspot.com/

and Kathy Kerstetter, http://artndl.blogspot.com

Tuesday, September 16, Lori Miller, http://lorimillerdesigns.wordpress.com/

Wednesday, September 17, Melanie Testa, https://melanietesta.com/blog/,

and Liz Kettle, http://www.textileevolution.com/index.php/our-journey

Thursday, September 18, Susan Brubaker Knapp, http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/

Friday, September 19, Lisa Chin, http://somethingcleveraboutnothing.blogspot.com/

Saturday, September 20, Sarah Ann Smith, http://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog

Sunday, September 21, Catherine Redford, http://catherineredford.com/

big sigh of relief.

Let me tell you, it feels good to be printing for no one but myself. It feels good not to be working under a deadline. It feels good to take a break in the middle of the day and feel no guilt what-so-ever. It feels good to leave the house. It feels good to write a blog post. I have been busy. I miss the commeraderie and interaction that blogging provides. I miss saying, ‘Hey, this is what I am up to.’

Big deep sigh.

I am happy to say, I have a few articles available through our favorite quilting magazines-I will be posting about two others later in the week.

This quilt was featured in Gen Q magazine. I love this quilt, as I dyed, surface designed and printed every piece of fabric within it. This quilt taught me to cut into and use my own hand printed cloth (again-this seems to be a lesson that I need to relearn periodically).

In my ideal world, I would not have a stash of fabric, though I do. I continue to whittle it down, as was my intention when I made this quilt. But, I do not like the concept of stashing, I would much rather know what I have on hand and use it before hand printing and storing, additional goods. For many years, I printed cloth, in loose repeat, using a plethora of techniques and tools, all of this cloth has been stored in the cabinets you see behind my workbench and in some other boxes not photographed for this post.

Rather than use the cloth, I immersed myself in learning other techniques, and I moved the cloth from one house or apartment to another. I would take the cloth out, now and again, and sift through it, wondering what I might do with it. I don’t know where the disconnect lay. Perhaps I felt, that because I designed the tools to print with, printed the cloth, washed and admired it, it was ‘too good to be cut into’. But if this is the theory, then that says that I am unsure I can print more cloth that will satisfy me as much.

And I know this is not the case.

So, I have begun whittling down my stash of hand printed cloth, making quilts with it, and then printing more cloth. This is purposeful. This suits my intentions and space needs much better!

I hope you like the quilt too.

American Patchwork & Quilting ((Podcast))

I am really happy to say that Pat Sloan and American Patchwork & Quilting did an interview of me to discuss Meadowlark and some upcoming projects. I would love for you to listen to this podcast as you are able. You can subscribe by itunes (search American Patchwork & Quilting) if you weren’t able to listen to it live, and please check out Pat’s post on her personal blog here.

This was a 12 minute interview and boy do 12 minutes go by quickly. Because of this, I have decided to upload and answer some of the other questions that Pat might have asked me if there was time to do so.

Pat Sloan wanted to ask: Your fabric line Meadowlark is very painterly and is your signature style.. I love it! How did you develop the fabric line? (explain your motivation with the Audubon list of birds in Decline)

My line is named after the Eastern Meadowlark found within the bird print in the line. I have always been enamored of birds and when I found the Audubon list of Common Birds in Decline, I knew I needed to add my voice to those seeking to help save the birds and bring light to how to manage the habitat that supports them. The Eastern Meadowlark needs prairie grassland to lay eggs and nest. Smart management of both public and privately owned grass fields can really help. Mowing these fields in late August will allow Meadowlarks the time they need to help their babies jump the coop.

Pat Sloan wanted to ask: Did you have to narrow down the colors, or did that happen naturally?

After I shopped my portfolio at Market and was taken on by Windham fabrics, the folks at Windham chose the designs they wanted and asked if I might tighten up my printing and color choices. I thought about this for a while and decided the only way to proceed was to print a whole new group. I chose a new palette, mixed my dyes and printed a tighter, cleaner, more cohesive group of prints. At that point I thought I was finished. I met with the folks at Windham again and was asked to please print some tone on tone or semi-solids. And again, I went home, and printed more cloth.

As you can tell, I went through a bit of a learning curve with this whole process. I trust my next line will be much easier to create, print, and submit to Windham because of this.

Pat Sloan wanted to ask: What is your favorite project you’ve made (or seen made) with your fabric so far?

Well, while you can see images of the projects on the Windham website (I can’t link directly for technical reasons), I love the quilt called Lark Star, designed and made by Stephanie Forsyth. I am happier still to be able to say, this quilt is being written up for an upcoming McCall’s Quilting. But this really isn’t a fair question. Many of my friends and sample makers made awesome work and several of them have been taken on for editorial placement in out favorite quilting magazines, Generation Q, Modern Patchwork, McCall’s Quilting and Fons and Porters Easy Quilt, and Quilting Arts too.

I feel blessed.

Pat Sloan wanted to ask: I’d love to know what style quilts you drawn to?

The pretty ones!

I love modern quilting, which is so clean and crisp, but the textile designer in me balks at too much solid, unpatterned cloth. Because I like designing and printing patterns, when I begin to make my own quilts, I want to use lots and lots of patterned cloth.

Recently an editor at a favorite magazine said that my quilts are contemporary. As a result, I have been researching what this means and how my quilts might fit into this category. I feel like the doors are wide open for me at the moment. I considered myself an art quilter for so long that now that my sites have swung back to my more traditional roots, the quilt world has become my oyster!

I hope you enjoy the podcast and my additions to the content. Please let me know what you think in the comments.

General rambling, + winner announcement.

It has been a rough ride these last few weeks. A roller coaster, really. It is taking focus and drive to stay above the ‘frustrated fray’. Luckily, there is a new hand made ice cream store, open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and they have Muscavado Brown Sugar Caramel ice cream.

I mean, that makes everything better.

I have been studiously working to make this a viable creative space. I know the photos is blurry, pardon me on that. My thoughts and feelings for this creative space are somewhat blurry as well. It really is time for me to rent a studio away from home but monetarily, I cannot yet afford to. This space, is in my kitchen. I have very mixed feelings about this. On the other hand, I am very grateful to have a space to make things in. I can’t complain too much. But this is a mixed bag.

I had very similar feelings when we first arrived in Brooklyn and lived on Nelson street. And, I thought that apartment was so small. This new apartment is tiny, comparatively. I remember feeling angry that I did not have a ‘studio’, but rather, an area to create in. I remember feeling resentful that I could no longer, feasibly make large pieces of art. But then, I remember too, breaking large imagery into smaller pieces and creating large work in a different manner. So, I have hope. I hope my elastic-side-view-make-it-work-self steps in and makes good soon.

I want to feel comfortable in my making area.

David and I have been going out and doing new things recently. This week our good friend left town and offered us his apartment. So yesterday, we went into the city, had a great walk in the park, fantastic pizza, bought a bottle of wine and a pint of…ice cream, and enjoyed that while watching TV. We do not have TV, we rent shows, we watch series, but do not have paid TV.

TV is interesting, I like to watch it when I am away from home. But I always feel relieved that I don’t pay for it or have access too it on a regular basis. We watched baseball and food channel. I love Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and there was a marathon showing! But watching TV means watching mainstream ideals in action, as we were flipping through the channels, I heard sexist remarks, racism, was immersed in consumer and mainstream culture. I much rather live without that. TV is fun in short bursts, but for me, not much else. Renting movies and shows works much better, if you ask me.

We are working together to settle into life in a new apartment. It has not been easy. My normally positive attitude has taken a few hits these last few weeks, and David has been hit hard too. We are still piled high in boxes and I suppose this will continue for a while longer. We will need to indulge in ice cream and long walks more often. And we will need gentle reminders that we are not mad at or constrained by one another so much as, ill at ease in our new surroundings.

Who won, you ask?

Patty S!!

Patty, please respond to your email and I will make sure to get your mailing address to Lynn and Lisa, who are organizing the give away.

Lynn K and her new line of stencils, a Blog Hop!

I am really happy to be a part of Lynn Krawczyk’s Blog Hop announcing her upcoming line of stencils called ‘Marked’ by Artistcellar. While I wish I could have found my own set of Lynn’s stencils to play around and make some samples for you, moving and time constraints have gotten the better of me.

What I can tell you is this, I have long admired Lynn and have both been able to support, mentor and be mentored by Lynn. You may also remember that I reviewed a copy of Lynn’s book, here. The fact that Lynn was able to get a line of stencils with her name on it does not surprise me. Lynn knows how to print and layer cloth effectively and having a line of stencils is an extension of her commitment to printing cloth as well as her love and exuberance in being a surface design artist.

When I want to Quilt Market this last May, Lynn and I met up several times, she made an appearance in this video, I am happy to say I was able to get a signed copy of Lynn’s book, Intentional Printing, as she was doing an author signing in the Interweave booth, but I am happier still that Lynn stopped by my Windham booth where I had set up a studio to print and entice folks to get to know me and how I went about designing Meadowlark.

Lynn and I spent time talking and Lynn printed with dye using my tools, while I printed with dye using her stencils. As you may know, Lynn’s preferred media is paint, so having her in my booth, using the media I know and love was a special treat for me. More than anything else, I love having friends use my tools. I can only imagine what it might be like for Lynn to be releasing a line of stencils, and wondering how you might use them…

The participants in this blog hop are listed by order of date posted and one lucky commenter on each post in the hop will win a set of Lynn’s stencils, so please post comments on every post possible! I will choose a winner from my blog hopping post one week from today on July 6.

June 28th – Lisa Cousineau – www.artistcellar.com/wp

June 29th – Melanie Testa – https://melanietesta.com/blog/

June 30th – Lisa Chin – somethingcleveraboutnothing.blogspot.com

July 1st – Jen Osborn – http://identityseven.typepad.com/themessynest/

July 2nd – Belinda Spiwak http://alteredbelly.blogspot.com

July 3rd – Kristin LaFlamme – http://kristinlaflamme.com/musings

July 4th – Ingrid Dijkers – http://ingriddijkers.blogspot.com/

July 5th – Guadalupe Cabal – http://guadasartplace.blogspot.com/

July 6th – Lynn Krawczyk – http://smudgedtextilesstudio.com/blog/

Winners announced.

Before I announce the winners from the Meadowlark Blog Hop Winners off my own web site, I would like to talk about moving. Please pardon me while I prattle on.

David and I moved to Brooklyn 5.5 years ago, renting an apartment not far from where I live now. Many things happened during this time. Soon after arriving our beautiful cat Monk passed away. Within a year, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and signed a contract to write Dreaming from the Journal Page. Three years after that, Arrow passed away, feline keeper of my heart that he was. So, as you can imagine, these events were pretty major for both David and I. That apartment served us quite well, contained our tears, growth, love, friendships and supported my efforts to move myself forward creatively to create a portfolio, get a fabric line and sssshh… (write another book). 🙂 But I can’t talk about that yet. 🙂

I did not allow the amount of space in that apartment to hold me back creatively. I made a rule that I would be tidy. I would not gripe about needing to put things away and take them out each time I wanted to create. I made it work. The above photo is a testament to making it work, all that dirt that left a ‘resis’t of dirt and shows a smear of dye was left after taking down a punched tin switch plate that we put up. It was the plate that turned the bathroom light on. I washed all my dye items in the bathtub over the last 5+ years… (I bet some of you might think this a bit gross and I apologize if that is the case)

And now we have moved into an apartment that is a bit smaller. Crazy, I know. I am setting up shop here and I must say, this set up is even less conducive to my preferred medium of Procion MX dye. Of all the studios I have ever had, this is the least among them. If I could afford to, this would be a great time to rent studio space. But alas, I cannot. So it is again time to have a talk with myself about having a good attitude and making this ‘studio’ work for me.

I often hear comments from students and blog readers that they cannot work with dye because they do not have space. I chuckle inside when I hear this type comment, I try not to comment about it because I know I am car-cra. I bet I will end up loving this space too, as I have every other creative space I have been able to conjure. I am not feeling it yet, but I am willing. I do remember the first sewing machine I got, the corner I was able to take up, the first bathtub I washed dye out in, the first studio I was able to create, and all the different types of creative space I have been able to maintain.

Really, all I really care about is being able to make things, so not having space, taking up too much space in our home, is just a side effect of honoring the artist within me. I am grateful that I have a good man, I am grateful that my art comes first, I am grateful for all the hours in all the spaces I have called a studio. Without them, I would not be where I am today and this is pretty darned good, if you ask me.

I will post pictures once all of our boxes are cleared. As you can imagine, my inner OCD neat freak is in panic mode right now, but I keep soothing that part of me, and telling myself it will all come together soon.. And in the meantime? I will keep on making things. No matter what.

Now for the winners of Fat Stacks of the Meadowlark line! There were three posts on my blog, so three people will win Fat Stacks of fabric and one will win a copy of Dreaming from the Journal Page. I am also going to give away two more books randomly off the other blog hop posts (please be a little patient as I try to find the books I am giving away. I know I saw that box recently). Thank you for hopping, commenting, and following along.

The winner off my blog post, Meadowlark Blog Hop Giveaway is TX Creatrix. Please check your gmail account and send me you snail mail address, ASAP.

The winner of Jacqui’s post, ‘Jacqui Holmes Calhoun on Meadowlark’, is Jane Howie. Please check your email and tell me where to ship your fabric.

The winner of Helen’s post, Confessions of an Alleged Quilter is Diane Miller, I have sent an email off, please check you inbox and send me your snail mail addy.

A randomly chosen commenter, named Andy won a copy of Dreaming from the Journal Page and a charm pack of Meadowlark. Please check your email and send me a snail mail address.

Two more book winners will be announced just as soon as I figure out which blog posts among the hop had the most comments.

Congratulations to all for being such a support and for leaving great comments about the line and my sample teams efforts to show it off!

Confessions of an alleged quilter

(Helen is a quest contributor to the Meadowlark Blog Hop giveaway. The art piece that Helen made using trapunto features one of the 6 Common Birds in Decline seen in the Meadowlark bird print, the Greater Scaup. She will tell you about the making of the quilt below. I can tell you, Helen is a treasure, I am quite happy to get to know her and to call her a friend.)

Sometimes you just have to say yes. When Melanie Testa put out a call for help getting projects sewn for her Meadowlark launch for Windham Fabrics I instinctively said I would help. Well, that was my first reaction. My second was “What am I thinking? Why did I say yes? Now have to show up, meet new people, talk to them, be creative…oh my, what have I gotten myself into???”

The day arrived. I had mixed emotions approaching City Quilter, arriving at the same time as Melanie. We introduced ourselves and I was relieved to discover that she was as sweet and approachable in person as she is online and in her books. I met the others in this crew of talented quilters and was excited to see the work that had been done the previous week as well as projects that individuals had designed and sewn. It was intimidating. But I was there and I was going to help. All I had to do was help sew blocks together and then rows for the gorgeous string quilt as well as assist sewing the beautiful bird quilt together. It was fun and a relief to get lost in sewing and chatting and doing. Not worrying about work or life or anything – just putting one stitch after another. Nirvana.

The day ended too quickly. I volunteered to bind the string quilt and make a sleeve. There were scraps of fabric left and I asked Melanie if she needed any small wall hangings. She did. Again, I said yes. I would make a wall hanging. I pulled some fabric, said goodbye, and was on my way. And then realized that I had committed to completing these projects in just about three weeks. Here’s the thing. I am an “alleged quilter”. I start projects. Some of them get completed; most get almost completed. It took me two years to put the binding on a quilt my sister made. I began my first quilt in 1981 when I was working summer stock and my cat Maggie was born. I finished it in 1998, the year Maggie died. And lately, I hadn’t even been sewing. I was drawing and painting and playing around paper. Well, ok then. Oh, hell. Why not? I said yes. Now I had to do it.

I work better if I don’t think too much so I took a bird square and centered it on a muslin backing. Then I cut 2-1/2” strips of the other fabrics and started building out from the bird. Once the muslin was completely covered machine stitched around all the elements in the bird patch, then I embellished the fabric around the center square with orange, purple, and aqua rayon thread to help marry the birds to the surrounding fabric. This, of course led to the center not laying flat because, well, all of the stitching caused distortion. The fix? Trapunto. I’d never tried this padded and raised quilt design before but thought it was worth a shot. Why not cut the muslin and stuff all the elements in the bird square? It might take care of the distortion and would make the birds really pop. So I did. And it worked. And I was excited. I didn’t have enough scraps to make a border so I stitched it like a pillow cover. And then pressed like crazy and added a sleeve. Lastly, I made the pieced binding as well as the sleeve for the string quilt. In less than three weeks. All because I said yes.

Melly’s Meadowlark fabric is a joy to work with. The design, the color, the feel and quality of the fabric – everything about this line is exceptional. And I got to play a small part in the launch. I also met and worked with one of my design icons and other really talented women. All because I said yes. I can’t wait to do it again. Thanks Melly for letting me be a part of this adventure!

Please let me know what you think. Just leave a comment for a chance to win a Fat Stack of 10” squares of all 26 fabrics in the Meadowlark line. Melly’s also giving away 3 copies of her wonderful book “Dreaming From the Journal Page”. If you missed any of the other posts in this hop just head over to the links below. And don’t forget to leave your comments there, too.

Melly – June 2
Vivien Zepf – June 2
Chrissie D – June 3
Sue Bleiweiss – June 4
Leslie Tucker Jenison June 5
Jamie Fingal – June 6
Lyric Kinard – June 7
Jen Eskridge – June 8
Jacqui Holmes Calhoun – June 8 <——-Jacqui will be guest posting on Melly’s blog!
Stephanie Forsyth – June 9
Victoria Findlay Wolfe – June 10
Teri Lucas – June 11
Scott Hansen June 12
Helen Eckard – June 12 <——-Helen will be guest posting on Melly’s blog!