Logos. logos, logos...

I thought I'd give you an update on the progress of my Etsy shop Poladora...

You've probably already seen this in a post below but I am so proud of it, I wanted to show it to you again! Due to the wonderful contributions of both a dear friend and the extreme talent of the head designer (and owner), Kim Arden at Graphic Alchemy, we were able to achieve the look and feel of what I envisioned for Poladora. Partial to swirls and dots, the flourish was a big hit with me!

Within the Poladora Boutique lives three little shops. One is "SISSY", which I've explained a little about already in a previous post. Here' is the logo for SISSY:

A little more "fun", SISSY stands for Sensory and Immune System Stimulating Yarns. Mostly soft and cuddly things for newborns through childhood, SISSY takes care of the cuddle needs of adults too! Every SISSY comes with the notion that "I'm a SISSY so you don't have to be!" And remember, no two SISSYs are alike...

The Glass Ceiling is all about the torch! Lampworks, that it. Anything that originates from the torch (jewelry, marbles, beads, paper weights, terrarium toys and animals, pens, wine stoppers, letter openers, etc., etc.), will probably end up in the Glass Ceiling shop.

A little more classy, the Boutique will hold just about everything else. You never know what I might come up with! "Expect the Unexpected..."

A Little Sneak Peek...

Here's just a little peek at a couple of coordinates that I am using for my daughter's project. They are also from the Dolce line. Stay tuned as I get farther into this project! (So far, so good - I haven't heard from the daughter who will benefit from this - means she's not been to my site lately...ha!)

There's Nothing More Satisfying...

...than working on a project for someone you love!

Don't get me wrong - I love to create things for other people to enjoy. It's just that, when you know you're working on something for someone you love (such as one of my daughters in this case), there's a different kind of satisfaction in knowing you'll be able to see your item used by someone you know or see on a regular basis. Of course, this is assuming that they like it enough to wear and/or use the item after you give it to them! (What I like is not always what my daughters like...)

What I'm showing you here is just a piece of the work so I don't completely ruin the surprise for my daughter (in case she's lurking around my blog). But I will show you more after her birthday!

This is a lovely print from the designer collection known as "Dolce". I have chosen this and a couple of coordinate fabrics for the project.

Stay tuned and you'll get to see the job when it's done...

I hope you're having a wonderful summer!

Let's Talk "Touchie - Feelie" ...

...in other words - let's talk about texture! 


Texture is everything. It's what makes a hand-made item scream out to someone "Touch me!" When someone has the desire to touch your work, you're half-way home. If they have a pleasant experience when they do touch the item, it's sold.


I enjoy creating designs that force me to think about what kind of "experience" the piece can offer. Sure, sometimes it's just visual. But when you can get the visual down, and then be able to add dimension, softness, or stimulation of other senses such as touch, you've truly created an interesting piece indeed.

The piece I've used to illustrate some interesting "texture" is a throw pillow that will soon be offered on my Etsy site Poladora when the shop opens. It will be part of a series called "dark chocolate Mocha Meringue". It was born out of a beautiful fabric of large flowers of gray and brown on a deep chocolate background. (I have some very beautiful coordinates for Mocha Meringue that will also appear in the shop.)


The main body and back of the pillow is hand crocheted in a bulky weight chenille chocolate brown that is very soft to the touch. I used this to balance out the "stiffness" of the method I used to create a three-dimensional look on the side banner of fabric that is applied to the left hand one-third of the front of the pillow.

The effect seen was achieved by hand quilting the entire flower (including every petal, leaf, and stem), to Warm and Natural cotton batting. (I machine quilted the stripes - I was tired!)

I further enhanced the three-dimensional look of the flowers by hand stitching some additional "shading" underneath some of the petals.

I used a new product on the back of the fabric to create the "pucker" that allows the flowers to "jump off" of the pillow.

And, of course, it would not be my work if I did not try to further embellish the pillow in some way - thus, the beading! The beads are hand applied and are precision-made and galvanized with an infusion of real gold.


A bit much, you say? Then you don't know me very well yet.


Until next time...

On a Sad Note...Alzheimer's

I know that blogs are supposed to be upbeat mostly but sometimes there are just things that need to be said.

Alzheimer's Disease is a terrible thing. I have watched two of my most beloved family members suffer through the progression of this horrible illness now and it is just so unfair.

My Grandmother, Paulina, for which my "Poladora" Etsy Boutique is named, as well as this blog, suffered from it and is long passed now - but she's with me in spirit all of the time. She's one of my guardian angels.

Currently, my favorite Aunt Yvonne (my Grandmother's daughter), is suffering from it. Sometimes she knows me and sometimes she doesn't. But I don't care about that as much as I care that she's happy and well cared for. Well, she's both.

My Uncle Otis is a God-send. He's wonderful. I couldn't wish for Yvonne to have anyone more loving by her side at this most difficult time than him. And, I love him for it. But, I also grieve for his own personal pain.

Unfortunately, my aunt just failed a memory test that would have gotten her into a drug trial that offered hope. She only missed by a few points! But, she was having a bad day. And that's how it goes with Alzheimer's - you have good days, and you have bad days. It's only the luck of the draw that helps or hurts on the day the test is scheduled. How unfair!

Well, due to some lingering effects from anesthesia from minor surgery, my Aunt Yvonne may have an opportunity to retake the test in early July. In the meantime, and since you cannot influence the test results in any way, I am planning to simply talk to her more. I'll just keep normal, casual conversation going with her to keep her memory stimulated. If you can think of anything else I can do specifically while talking with her, (within the rules), I'd love to hear it.

Thanks for listening...

Oh No!, Not the Chickens!...

...Yes, Susan, I have to talk about chickens. I can't help myself!

You see, I am actually a poultry health expert. And, I just thought it might be interesting for you to find out how I got involved in this very strange subject.

First, let me give you some background. I'm 56 (see - really not that old!), have five grown children, three sons-in-law, and six beautiful grandchildren (and still counting). I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and until a year ago, served as Chairman and CEO of an international specialty chemical company.

About sixteen years ago, I was reunited with my childhood sweetheart. This was a dream come true - well, almost. Only one problem. My "sweetie" was living in the woods of Wisconsin and had vowed never to return to Illinois. Of course I was living in - you guessed it - Illinois. To cut to the chase - love prevailed and Mike agreed to move back to Illinois so we could marry. One catch - I had to move to the country. So we bought a little farm (now for sale so we can get back to Wisconsin), with all of the trappings of country living - you know, barn, silos, and coops. (If you're hearing the theme song from "Green Acres", you get it.

One day, Mike decided there was still too much country girl in me. (Not fair - I do love Farm and Fleet!) Since he raised "banties" years ago (these are tiny chickens - very cute), and had all the "stuff", he thought it would be a great idea for me to experience hatching my own little bantie eggs in a table top incubator (yes, in the house). Now he's thinking that two to three little banties running around the back yard and providing us fresh eggs for breakfast would be cute. Well, as usual with everything else I do, I jumped in with both feet and went CHICKEN CRAZY!

Long story short  (I know, too late), I soon discovered that chickens get sick, need to be vaccinated and treated, and, they do die. Two problems - one is that most people I know who have chickens love them as much as their dogs and cats. The other is that there's no such thing as a "Chicken Vet". Well, there's Poultry Research Veterinarians, etc., but that's another story.

I lost a few birds and was heart sick. Tears abounded. I tried everywhere with no luck. Then I became friends with one of those PR Vets, and he pointed me in all of the right directions. Soon, I had every veterinary text book that could be had for poultry health and research, and combined that learning with standard texts on traditional veterinary care for dogs and cats (it also helped that I had a horse and vetted her too). Soon, the Vet friends I had were beginning to call me when they had a client with a sick chicken, turkey, duck, whatever - if it was "poultry" - I got the call.

Eventually, I had a following as "KJ Theodore" of Shagbark Bantams. I had a five year waiting list for my bloodline of Belgian d'Uccles, Call Ducks, and the Malaysian Serama (world's smallest chicken), and I wrote monthly poultry health articles for the Poultry Press - the "Fancier" newspaper. (A "fancier" is someone who raises fancy poultry for showing - yes showing - just like dog shows!)

Well, all that ended when I became Chairman and CEO of my company (it's that pesky little "full-time and loyalty" clause). I gave most of it up. I didn't even look at my Shagbark site for about 6 years (and it still gets 4,500 hits a month from all over the world, and, I still get daily poultry health email questions from all over the world as well). Well, I'm back!

Even though I'm pouring myself into my new boutique on Etsy, Poladora, I am going to go back to writing occasional new articles for the Poultry Press and for my Shagbark site. My son is going to help me give Shagbark a new look and provide even more resources for poultry enthusiasts all over the world, and we'll keep the "backbone" strong so the site rarely, if ever, goes down. This is my contribution to the Fancy. I will forever be grateful to my followers for their support and the motivation I needed to learn so much about such a wonderful little creature. And here I thought all chickens were the same...

Embellishment...

...is the spice of life...

Even something as simple as an English paper pieced hexagon cluster can be embellished with hand stitching and glass beads. It gives your work a more three-dimensional look than even quilting does. I took this cluster of hexagons and hand-quilted them to a piece of Warm and Natural batting. Then, I hand-stitched the quilted cluster to a base of (double) terry cloth to create a hot pad for a kitchen counter. (I used my new Simplicity bias tape maker for the polka-dot edge - yipee!)

This is a close up of some of the hand detail. The hot pad will be going to the daughter who taught me English Paper Piecing (after all, these are her colors and her fabric!)...

Things that sit around my house are often embellished in one form or another... look out Teddy!