pmj1959

March 26, 2011 I am FINALLY feeling like my old self and will be working furiously to get caught up. I apologize to those of you owed swaps. Shingles took a lot out of me... getting to work was the best I could do most days and on really bad ones I couldn't do that either. Please continue to be patient...your swaps are coming.

Hi, my name is Polly. I'm so excited to be apart of this community - I LOVE real mail and making all kinds of things - so this seems to be an ideal way to combine both things. I have raised 4 children - well almost! My daughter is 26, and I have boys 23, 18, and 15. Plus there are 3 big dogs in the household - a mutt, Logan, a lab/bullmastiff mix - Jett, and our princess, a full blooded Bullmastiff, Keeva. Oh yes - there is one brave kitty, Merlin! My husband and I met where we work and have been married since 2004. Pretty full wouldn't you agree? Then we had a miracle happen about 3 years ago - my daughter, that I had put up for adoption when I was 19, found me! What a joyous addition to our family that has been! So we added a daughter, son-in-law and 3 grandchildren (girl and twin boys) to our all ready big and busy household! We live in a small town in Illinois about 20 minutes from St. Louis, Missouri. We are fortunate to live on 3 acres that stayed intact when subdivisions rose up around us. Space and easy access to a city - the best of both worlds!

I really like all kinds of music except rap, hard head-banger rock, and really twangy country. When I'm in my studio I listen to Classical music a lot, expecially Mozart and Beethoven, when I'm creating. When I'm in the car there is nothing I like better than to turn the radio to my favorite station that plays songs I know all the words to and sing away! Dixie Chicks, Train, Wailin' Jennys, Indigo Girls, Beatles, Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry, and Illinois are some of my favorites. I also really like Celtic and "New Age" and "World" music.

I've been an avid reader since I was about 8. On a rainy or snowy day give me a snuggly quilt, a cup of hot chocolate, and a good book and I'm set! I adore mysteries, but also really like a well told story. Not much into romances at all. Some of my favorite authors are Stephen King, SARK, Joanne Harris, Carl Hiaasen, Harlan Coben, Anne Lamott, Diane Mott Davidson, and Alice Hoffman. Some of my all time favorite books: A Little Big Life: Chocolat; Practical Magic; Bag of Bones; Artist's Way; and Gone with the Wind. Children's books with great illustrations are also favorites - some of the best: Wizard of Oz, Charlotte's Web, The Velveteen Rabbit, The Wolf Story, Winnie the Pooh (Milne's), Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, The Polar Express, The Secret Garden, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, Inkheart, The Hunger Games, Nancy Drew - all of them, Harry Potter, Little Women, Little Men, and Jo's Boys. Favorite illustrators: Helen Oxenbury, Patricia Polacco, Michael Hague, Maurice Sendak, Tomie de Paola, Beatrix Potter, and Eric Carle. Love fairy tales - especially the "fractured variety", but traditional are great too - especially with illustrations that leave you breathless. Favorites include: The Snow Queen, Rumplestiltskin, The Ugly Duckling, Snow White and Rose Red, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, and The Steadfast Tin Soldier. And while not books - I'm a magazine junkie! I'm crazy about Quilting Arts, Sommerset Studio's publications, and Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazines especially.

Ahh movies! Favorite actors: Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Diane Lane, Richard Gere, Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts, John Cusak, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Ashley Judd, Ann Hathaway, Susan Sarandon, Tom Hanks, Hilary Swank , Gerard Butler, Meg Ryan, Edward Norton. Movies I will watch again and again and again: Must Love Dogs; Sleepless in Seattle; You've Got Mail; Big; P.S. I Love You; Shall We Dance; Stepmom; Under the Tuscan Sun; The Runaway Bride; Pretty Woman; Dirty Dancing; Sommersby; Officer and a Gentleman; The Shining; Primal Fear; What Lies Beneath; Presumed Innocent; The Pelican Brief ;The Preacher’s Wife; Deja Vu; Notting Hill, Benny and Joon.

I have been sewing since I was big enough to hold a needle - Barbie clothes and clothes for my troll dolls were first. Then I began making my own clothes and clothes for my kids. I started quilting in my early 20's and have now branched into mixed-media. Love making Postcards - both fabric and paper. It's a toss up whether I like playing with fabric or paper better! This has been a great place to spread my wings and to stretch my creativity. Time in my studio is what keeps my life balanced.

I also LOVE to write... journals, letters, stories. I've just discovered art journals and I'm so obsessed with this now! Anything you would like to send me that can be used in journaling... I'm all about it!

Love Project Runway and LA Ink. Newer shows I like - Big Bang Theory, the Good Wife, Parenthood, Sister Wives. All time favorite show is CBS Sunday Morning. Still a big fan of Survivor and American Idol.

ephemera

Vintage Pooh and Tigger

Buttons of all kinds - but esp shell, bakelite, white ones

Funky brooches, pins, and bracelets

Gardens - although I'm terrible at it

Lying in the Hammock

Travel

Weight Watcher's recipes - esp ones for the crockpot

Etsy

Jamaica

Listening to rain as I fall asleep

Mexican food

Vintage clothes and jewelry

"junking" - finding unusual things in out of the way places and figuring out a new way to use them

chocolate - esp dark chocolate

sour candies like gummy worms, sweet tarts, sour cherry balls

Fabrics with texture

vintage textiles

black & white photography

Word games - esp Scrabble

www.paperbackswap.com

www.postcrossing.com

Collecting quotes - esp inspirational and ones about creativity

Paper dolls

Mary Englebreit

Zits and Family Circus cartoons

velvet rick rack and milner's flowers (esp the miniature ones)

Fun socks

windchimes - the musical ones, not the bamboo kind

pedicures and massages

Peas

Cleaning house

Royal Blue

chocolate candy with candied fruit in it

Skittles

Football, golf, tennis