Denise Clason has been an artist and designer since she was 10 years old. She started her own sewing and alterations business at the age of 16 and later studied interior design and clothing and textiles in college.

Denise started publishing her designs in 1995. She now has eight quilting books. Denise has published and licensed numerous quilting, sewing and decorative painting designs in many magazines, including Create & Decorate, Crafts 'n Things, Bead Unique, Sewing Savvy.

Denise is the originator of the Stitchin' Up the Pieces fruit and quilt buttons, licensed by JHB International. These buttons are individual pieces that when grouped together create unique quilt blocks.  On this week's Inspired at Home Radio show, Denise shares her insights about how designers can get their designs published. Listen to Denise's interview!

Nettles have a slightly bad reputation because when you try and pick their leaves, they sting you! Most people aren’t aware of the great medicinal properties of this weedy looking herb. Listen to Candace's report!
-or- Read more about Nettles!>>GO

Last week, Green Doreen talked about people who litter with cigarette butts. So with that fresh on my mind, as I was driving home earlier this week, I was reminded that I live in an area that has a large litter problem. So many people here in our area on the Chesapeake Bay litter and don’t think twice about it! I have seen people throw their fast food lunch containers right out the window, teens drop litter as they walk by our store, beer bottles are tossed out car windows all the time and a big offender is people hauling trash to the dump (which is on my way to work) which results in trash blowing all over the road.  The roadsides are mowed here and when they mow they grind the litter into thousands of pieces of litter. Yikes! I can’t imagine why people would want to litter where they live or anywhere.  It is so bad for the environment, the wildlife and for all of us. Did you know that highway litter is composed of 59 percent paper, 16 percent bottles, 6 percent plastic and 13 percent miscellaneous?  The most often discarded items are fast food wrappers. The second most discarded items are bottles and cans.  The annual cost of roadside litter control is $115 million and climbing.  How about we all start educating everyone but especially the children and teens about the effects of littering.  There is one guy I see who goes out several times a week collecting trash on the road where his condo is. I tip my hat to him. When I had time to do more walking in my neighborhood, I always took a garbage bag with me and picked up any trash I saw. You too need to volunteer to clean up your neighborhood as well as your community. There are fines for littering in every community but they are hard to enforce.  Get whatever local group that you belong to, to start educating everyone about eliminating litter in your community. It's something that we can all do for our Mother Earth. >>Candace