I miss weekends like this! I'm in my flat this weekend--no commitments, no plans, and, don't let me jinx this, but focus and ambition. I've gotten a lot done today already--picked up things I needed this morning, home by 10 with lunch, window plastic, and a new mattress pad in tow and the oil changed in my Jeep (a task that was LONG overdue). So far, I've done a bunch of laundry, switched the bedroom over from its beach-themed spring and summer decor to its fall/winter black and copper leaf themed items. And I was able to get the plastic on the windows in the process. It was nice to see my bedroom decorated with things I made: the headboard I made using copper tubing, the quilt I made that inspired said headboard, wall art made to match, the tablecloth I turned into something resembling a canopy... There's much more of "me" in this decor than in the spring/summer stuff.

Before I share the plans for tomorrow, I want to share my friend's links.

Aileen's Musings
Aileen is offering Vintage freebie images for you to download and use in your art. Get started on those digi holiday cards using some of them.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Stitch a Simple Hanukah Menorah Motif for a card or ornament. Suitable for knitting or crochet projects too.

About Family Crafts
Do you play with clay? If so, please take a moment and share your favorite stories, projects, recipes, techniques, and more.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Mix up altered books, glitter, and teenagers, shake well, and voila! You have a fun day of art combined with writing.

Cathie Filian
Cathie has lots of Thanksgiving recipes, crafts and family activities posted. Plus tips for a smooth Thanksgiving!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Over at Craftside you can enter to win a Mixed-Media Doll by Linda O'Brien, Co-author of Who's Your Dada?, download a free intricate leaf paper cutting pattern, get a fun how-to on making a paper cupcake and a pretty pair of fall leaf earrings.

The Artful Crafter
Check out Eileen’s latest craft finds: lots of free stuff and free advice – well that’s usually free, isn’t it? LOL.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi has finished a second Garden Quilt and is offering her tutorial!

The Crochet Dude
Drew kicks off the holiday season with a crochet pattern event!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Sweater Surgery attacks t-shirts and cuts them up into some cute gathered tops with the help of Generation-T Beyond Fashion

The Impatient Crafter
In this week's teen crafts blog for iLoveToCreate Madge makes a stunning mixed media necklace. You might just want to sport this one yourself!

As for Sunday, I'm hoping to get through the stuff in the dining room and living room. When I set up the quilting machine almost a year ago, I had to clear so much out of the sewing room, and I've got a bunch of papers from in there--patterns from the web, ideas torn from magazines, projects I want to make, etc.--that need to be sorted through, organized, and put into binders for easy accessibility. I figure I can watch old movies while I'm doing it, so that's my reward.

Then, when everything's together, I'll be able to make the projects in the containers in the dining room. Woo Hoo!

I worked on a project today that I don't think I can share with you yet. A friend of mine has a line of jewelry components and she asked me if I could play with them and create something for a book she's working on to accompany the component line. I was honored and more than happy to be involved in the project. And she sent me a big box of stuff to play with.

So that's what I did today. And it took more effort than I anticipated. I found it was much more difficult to design a piece that I hope pleases someone else than it is for me to create a piece for myself or to give as a gift. Plus, I had to consider the practicality of the design from the shoppers perspective. So I find myself thinking about all of the jewelry designers out there who struggle with this every day. Will someone buy my piece? Does it please me or will it please the public or at least someone else out there?

Plus, it's possible that I felt additional pressure since this felt more like a challenge--here are the pieces I want you to work with, what can you create with them?--and that's a different method of designing than I'm used to. But it's good to break out of your box and try something new once in a while. Figuring out the coolest, most appealing piece of jewelry I could make out of these very cool components was my goal and I'm pleased with my results, though there were many false starts to get to the final pieces. Hopefully I'll be able to share photos soon enough. I should have saved some of the photos of the false starts and let you all vote as well!

I spent much of Saturday and Sunday watching my Godson play basketball in two tournaments. I did it while fighting off a nasty cold again--seems like the same thing that got me in January. But I was able to make quite a bit of progress on the afghan while watching the games. Since it doesn't look any different than it looked before, there's no sense in sharing another photo, but it's now 44" long, so only another 16"-22" to go, depending on the pattern repeat. Would love to finish it this weekend, but it might not be possible. We'll see.

For a little background, a few weeks back, I spent a blissful afternoon at the Mitchell Park Domes and there was so much to see (and it was cozy warm, which was SO welcome on a snowy March day). The flowers and plants were all lovely, and there were so many colors to tantilize a color junkie like me, but I was really taken with the orchids ... the stark contrast that they provided in the lush green environment was pure eye candy. So when I saw this orchid print on a vivid crimson background at The Sewing Basket, I knew I had to buy it as a reminder of that marvelous afternoon. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, and it's the only yardage that I bought that doesn't have a plan formulated for its use, but I just had to have it. (Note: I don't have plans for the fat quarters that you'll see later this week, but c'mon, they're just stash-builders!)

... would describe my weekend. I did get to gaze at the beautiful and vibrant stained glass windows at the Basilica of Holy Hill. If you ever get the chance to see them, the colors are wonderful. If you do a google search in images of "Holy Hill, Wisconsin" stained glass or go to this flickr page and do a search for Holy Hill, you'll see what I mean.

I did get a few rows done on the afghan over the past week, so that's good. And my Mom did come visit the site, so she knows that it's coming along and is very excited about that.

I did get the house tidied up, but I regret that I didn't actually get through many of the things that still need to be gone through, just got the place picked up. And with three busy upcoming weekends, I regret that I won't make a lot more progress for a while. But that's okay--I'll have my evenings to work on some things.

Today I spent a great deal of time in meetings, but I did get a little time on the show floor. And I got to catch up with some more old friends. Michael Jolly and I (right) worked together more than a decade ago in Birmingham, and we got to catch up on our lives and our business ventures. He works at Plaid as their creative director and I can't imagine a better title for him because he's amazing in the creativity department. Cathie Filian took the picture for us even--she's such a creative gal and fabulously friendly to boot!!

I also got to see all the lines that Blue Moon Beads has out right now. In addition to what you see on their web page, I got to preview their new line, called Noir. I didn't think to take a picture of the line, but I'll try to swing by there tomorrow and get a picture. It's a great line--as their press sheet says: edgy, dark, sultry, moody, mysterious, extravagent. Except it won't be extravagent in price, which makes it even better.