It was a longer than expected "mental health" break...

Hey there, world – I am back! And I do promise to be better about this blogging thing.

After a longer than usual hiatus, I have been cajoled and convinced by my good friends to come back to my blog. So, I am hoping to be a bit more diligent about it this time, updating at least a few times a week with news of what The Paper Gypsy is creating.

I am going to start off giving you a bit of an update on what has happened since my last entry. I fried my brain and got crispy around the edges with rubber stamping. I eventually crashed and burned when I realized that it was no longer fun because it became something I HAD to do, not just something I WANTED to do. Most of my stamps and stamping supplies have been sold off, although I have kept a lot of my paper crafting supplies and embellishments.

So where is my time spent now? I have returned to quilting with a vengeance, and have completed 6 quilts. I continue to work on my projects once a week with my good buddies, Karen’s Kids, at Main Street Quilts in Martinez. Our fearless leader (Karen Matsumoto, AKA the Color Goddess) is one of the most innovative quilters around, with the greatest sense of putting just the right colors together. And one Tuesday morning every month I meet with my other good buddies – my mini-group from Diablo Valley Quilters. This is a very creative but small group (only 5 if us) that really enjoys each other’s creativity and company.

I have also been doing some more beading this year, because those silly beads sitting in the containers in the corner of my craft room still know my name and scream to me, asking me to come play. But the high point of the year is that I finally taught myself how to spin yarn on my drop spindle! THIS has been an 11 year process, and I finally ”got it” after watching Abby Franquemont on a couple of YouTube videos.

I look forward to sharing a variety of projects with you in the coming years, and hope that someone is inspired by a color combination or bit of serendipity found on this blog.

The photo at the top of this post is of one of my favorite quilts from this last year - The Floor of the Senate Chamber on Atlantis. (Think broken mosaic tile floor lying on the bottom of the ocean.) The finished quilt is 54" X 54" and was made as a wall quilt for my family room,  The design is a modification of Patricia Pepe's original Venetian Tiles pattern.  You can find the pattern and X-Block ruler used in making this quilt here.