Yesterday my husband, Tom and I were coming home from Detroit. We had attended a Red Wings game on Tuesday night, then did a little shopping on Wednesday and made our way home. We travel on US 24 and were outside of Maumee Ohio. We decided to get a little lunch and stopped at The Shoppes at Fallen Timbers. We ate at Red Robin and then Tom said lets go to the bookstore. Music to my ears!! I don’t go to bookstores too often anymore. I usually buy used books either online or at Hyde Brothers books in Fort Wayne. It is a wonderful used bookstore and they are very picky about the books they buy from people. They don’t buy books they already have, because I have sold to them before. I had an overabundance of books and they bought a few and then I sold at a garage sale, then what we had left I took to Salvation Army.

I cannot get out of a bookstore without purchasing something and usually it is more than one. If you go to a bookstore can you not buy anything? My husband has much more willpower than I do, he did it, but not me. I bought two books and then the magazine/book “What Women Create”. The image on the front looked like someone I follow on instagram. There are three people that are my inspiration in handstitching. Ann Smith or Persimmon’s Studio is one of them. The other two are Sharon Blackman textiles and House Wren Studios.

It was so enjoyable reading about her process of refurbishing old clothing in different ways. She finds leaves and prints them naturally on the old clothing. She stitches over holes in other pieces and it is fabulous.

These birds made with different fabrics just make me happy and inspired. It looks so fun to me.

Another artist that what in “What Women Create” was my friend Carrie Schmitt. This picture shows the front of her car that she painted and it is so great!

Here she is with the second half of the unique car. It is very recognizable.She started painting when she found out she had an allergy to heat. She was bedridden for awhile and found that painting helped her through her days and rought time. She has since turned it into a full-time business.

I started following Carrie many years ago and took the opportunity to fly to Oregon when she was putting on a workshop. Not being a person who loves to fly it was a big step but she was one person that influenced me enough to get into a plane. I have a set of these wings and need to paint them on put them on a wall.

Recently she purchased a home on the Pacific Coast and this is her dining room. There is a lot of light pink and flowers and she just worked so hard to get it finished. I love it, and she was doing workshops with overnight rooms. On her outdoor patio you can sit and watch the Pacific Ocean. It is so gorgeous. I also found out that Carrie is from Cincinnati and attended a workshop there, it was only a drive of 2 1/2 hours.

The other half of the dining room and kitchen bar where it looks like you can get coffee and muffins or biscuits. She named the special place House of Miracles or HOM. It took a few miracles for her dream to come true. She is meeting area friends who plunge often in the Pacific Ocean which may be helping her heat allergy. She also has friends she has met through her flower painting club of which I am a member. It is very active with many fun and unique activities. You don’t need experience with painting, just the willpower to try it. Click on this for her instagram and this for her facebook page and this for her website. She is a very sweet person who I feel really lucky to become aquainted with.