Keeping Out of Trouble

Mostly, anyway.

Yesterday started out kinda cloudy, so I had no motivation at all for anything, pretty much. Today almost started the same way, but the sun came out around 10 and it warmed up a bit, so I felt much more enthused about doing stuff. I went outside and ripped up grass, to make way for new gardens to be planted. Every year I do this, and the lawn gets smaller and smaller and smaller. I do realize I have to leave some lawn--where else would the kids play? I only figure I have SO MUCH of it that really, we can spare quite a bit of it to be torn up and replaced with pretty flowers. That's logical, no? So today I spent quite a few hours tearing up the grass and throwing it over the stone wall into the "compost" pile. It's very satisfying work.

I have been stitching some again, too, but I have to say my progress is slow. I did stitch the Chocolate Covered Cherries piece in the last post. It was a freebie by Casey Buonaugurio (that last name is a toughie). It was quick. I did it as a break from the piece I've been working on for so long, Papillion Creations Floralie, which now looks like this:

It's a bit of progress from here, but not as much as I would like, really. It is going so slowly. It's been a little discouraging.

Did I show you these?

Aren't they cute? The Cricket Collection has been making some really cute charts lately, I think. I got these with my birthday certificate from ABC Stitch Therapy. My birthday was last year, but I've been hanging onto the certificate for a long time, looking for something to use it on. I think it must be the fact that they're so "springy" that I like. I think they're so cute!

I haven't yet had to explain my missing tooth, but I've decided to tell people I've lost it kickboxing. I think it'll be an easier sell than the Pridefighting, because I'm not entirely sure what that is. I'm clear on kickboxing, though.

Have a great day!!

That Other Hobby

As my husband would say "Which one is that??"

Ok, yeah, I have a few hobbies. Just a few. Not like a million or anything.

Here I mean cross-stitching. I haven't posted anything about it in a long time, though I have been working on a piece pretty constantly for the last month. I have to admit I was in a bit of a stitching slump at the end of the year last year, only working on small pieces with little commitment. But then the bug bit me again last month, and I picked up a piece I haven't worked on since maybe last summer. Maybe some of you are/have stitched it? It's called Floralie by Papillion Creations. This is mine so far:

This is a piece that feels like I'm either not making any progress on it at all, and then I step back and discover I actually have, or that I feel like I'm making lots of progress on it, and then I step back and discover I actually haven't. It's never one where I feel like "Oh, I'm making good progress", and I'm actually making good progress. It's odd that way.

I think the reason for the slow and not so slow progress is the fact that I'm working it in linen thread on linen fabric. Has anyone else tried this? This is a first for me. Usually I like either DMC (or some other cotton)on linen or silk on linen. Both are strong and smooth and even and I know what the tension is to get the right stitch. For this piece, though, I wanted it to look old, and though the hand-dyed cottons are nice, they are usually pretty vibrant and shiny. So I first thought about linen threads, and DMC. Their threads are nice, but the color pallet is limited in their linens, and I wasn't loving their greens, though I liked the blues. Then I discovered Olde Willow Threads, and they have lots of beautiful hand-dyed colors. I picked a blue, a green and a brown, and ordered some of each.

As it turns out, the blue was too light for the linen, and just got lost. So I still needed to use the DMC blue, which was fine, because I liked it. But I still liked the Olde Willow blue too, so I decided to use primarily the DMC blue, and to "throw in" the Olde Willow blue randomly here and there. That, coupled with the hand dyed green that changes color from light to dark, gave it a nice aged look.

Then there was a hinky in the works. I only ordered a little bit of the green and blue from Olde Willow. I was going to be ok with the amount of blue, but not the green. So I ordered more. Guess what?? They changed their color. The old green is a sagey-mossy green. The new green is a greeny-blue. Ugh. It's my own fault though, I didn't expect them to change the color that drastically. But since the whole thing is all different shades because of the hand-dyes, I just went through and picked out some of the "old" green sections and re-stitched them with the new green so they will blend.

That's taken a bit of time. Add to that the fact that linen rubbing on linen causes the linen (thread) to break, and I wind up working with very short lengths at a time, and not being able to use the tension I normally would. But it's coming along. I am sticking with it and I'm hoping to make a lot more progress and either finish it, or at least do a lot more before I put it away again. Really, I'm hoping to finish. When I make more progress, I'll definitely show you!

Show and Tell

Ok, I had a few minutes and the camera was charged, so I thought I'd share with you pictures of what I've been up to. Are you ready??? On your mark... get set... GO!!

First, I made two little "holders" for the tools I use next to my sewing machine. One tool is a small pair of embroidery scissors I use as thread snips, and the other is a seam ripper. They are small, and were a pain to pick up from off the table, and if I put them in a container I'd have to feel around for them. Honestly, I don't like to search for my tools, I like to reach and get them and use them when I need to. So, I was, for a while, sticking them into the tops of old, empty thread spools. This works really well, but it's not particularly attractive. So I dressed the spools up a bit. Now they are cute little bits of frou! I used some pieces of felt, little bits of trims and lace, and a couple rhinestones (just because that pink one seemed to need them). The tools are upright and easy to grasp and right within reach whenever I need them. So, if you have little tools that you use, dressing up an empty thread spool will do the trick. Just be sure you make the hole in the top again, if you cover it. Also, I would suggest putting a piece of cardboard under whatever the spool sits on, just for extra stability. These work really well!!

I also pressed that blue silk cross stitch piece I had finished while I was sick back in December.

Oooooh, flat!!

And I finished a second silk piece, this one with a pinkish silk on Dirty linen. The silk is also that Soie de Paris. So pretty!!

I made an apron for Christmas. It's a Butterick pattern, and I really like it. I finished it on the 23rd--right under the "deadline".

Sorry that it's not a picture ON a person. I put it on for my daughter to take a picture of, but she kept taking a picture of my feet--or half the apron--or the picture was completely crooked. Oh well. She's still learning.

I made a pincushion for my ginormous glass head pins that I use only occasionally but still need a pincushion for. I was keeping them in a drawer in a container, but when I did need them, I had to fish for them, and that's a pain (Did I mention I like to have my tools close at hand all the time?? I may have...).


I like it because it looks like an ottoman, and because it's flat, pulling the pins out and putting them back in is a piece of cake. I can do it without looking, because it doesn't roll away or move like the tomato pin cushions sometimes do. Also, it's large enough to accomodate the pins without being too crowded. Plus, it's got cute stacked buttons in the middle. How can you go wrong??

I also finished and then hung the little shelf I've had for over my cutting table. It took me...um... a while (ahem) to get around to it, but it's done (yeay) and now my space is clear. I put my pens and pencils, marking tools, and cutting tools on it. Before that, they were all over the table and always in the way. I used old cache pots to put the things in. The white one is mine, and the green ones were found in the house.

Found? Yep, found. Back when we moved into this house, we found a bunch of things "hidden" in the attic and the basement that I think were left by the original owners (which is interesting, since we are the third owners of this house. What were the people we bought the house from doing?? Not looking in the attic and basement, I guess). They left 4 hubcaps for an Oldsmobile (very helpful if I owned one), a bunch of 70's curtain rods (ugh), and these odd 70's flower pots that were "hidden" in the basement on top of the wall. Being as though I am a staunch recycler/reuser, I couldn't throw them out. I thought about it, because they are SO 70's, but I just couldn't do it. So I thought I'd use them in my studio instead. They've come in very handy, and don't look as 70's as they did (well, mostly--that polka dot one is still screaming 70's retro chic to me). Then when the top of the shelf was full, I thought the pegs looked naked, so I made this little crazy quilted little heart (which I really like)to hang on one of them.

Whew! I think that catches us up a bit. Thanks so much for looking, everyone! Have the greatest day!

Sorta Famous!

I know, two posts in as many days. I couldn't help myself, though. Let me tell you why...

Back in August, a new fabric designer named Mark Lipinski put out an APB for embroiderers/embellishers. Seems he had designed a fabric line that was meant to be embellished, and he wanted to put out some samples at quilt market that were done to show others what the fabric could look like when it had been worked on by someone. When I heard about it, I thought "I can do that", so I emailed him that I could embroider and would be happy to help, but I got no response. I let it go for a few days, and then I figured, "no, I'm going to be persistent with this", so I emailed him again, and attached a couple of sample pictures of my work just to help convince him. He called the next day. I got the fabric, and started to work on it right away. It was a pretty big project, just because of what I could SEE in the fabric to do. Every time I finished one part, I saw something else I could do in another part, and so on. Long story short, 70 intensive hours later, it was done.

I sent it back to the designer, figuring that was that and probably I'd never hear about it again. Pretty much I never did hear again. However, in the yahoo group the designer has, he posted that a magazine called "The Quilter" was interested in photographing the fabric line, and possibly a few of the embellished pieces that were done. There were a lot of embellished pieces. I was by no means the only one to do one. I filed the info in the back of my head with a "maybe mine'll get chosen" sort of thought, and that was that. I just found out two weeks ago that the January issue was the one where the fabric was featured. I ordered the magazine to see if I was in it, and guess what??? Yeah, I bet you've already guessed, but I'm going to say it anyway. I MADE THE MAGAZINE!!

Of course, my name is nowhere in it. But it's my piece, folks! Here's the article:

And this is the close up of the pieces. Mine's the one in the middle:

Isn't that a kicker? One of the funniest parts of all this, is not that they used it, because that just amazes me, but that I actually did two pieces, and the one they used is the one with less embellishment. The other one was beaded and embroidered up to the teeth. Too funny. This is what both the pieces look like for real:





This would be the over the top one

And the more "Plain Jane" of the two.

And so there you go. I'm kind of famous. Woohoo!

Hello again!

How was every one's Thanksgiving and weekend? I hope all was good with everyone!

As promised, I am back, and I brought pictures! Thanksgiving was very nice here, and my daughter's birthday was a big success. I really think she had a good time. I think my son enjoyed it too, because though he didn't get to open the presents, he did get to hand them to my daughter to open, and that seemed to make him happy. So, a good time was had all around. She had asked for two things for her birthday: roller skates and My Little Pony. She has loved My Little Pony for 3 years now. I think she has 80 some-odd of them, though I haven't counted. All I know is that they are all in a BIG plastic tubby, which is pretty much full. Plus, of course, she has all the accessories. (Well, maybe not ALL the accessories, but quite a lot.) Unfortunately, though, Ponies have pretty much run their course in the US and are pretty hard to find anymore. So I think that it will be a fairly pony-less Christmas and definitely this was the last Pony birthday. I am surprised it lasted as long as it did, though. She started to love them when she was 3 and still loves them at 6. It's not often a little kid will stick with something that long. I know my kids are quick to grow in and out of "phases". This one stuck. Ah, Ponies, you are too good. Thank you for the three Pony birthdays in a row and all the pony "stuff" I trip over in her room. Thank you for all the mind-numbing Pony movies with shrieky pony singers and the nearly mind-numbing Pony books I've read over and over and over. We love you, Ponies. You are good clean fun for a child with a fabulous imagination.

As for the roller skates, I don't know why she wanted them, except that Curious George had them on one of the shows (yes, we are PBS kids here) and she thought they looked cool. I guess they must have made more of an impression than I thought. So she got roller skates and a helmet and knee and elbow pads (thanks Mema and Papa) and spent quite a while outside with Daddy and me skating and falling down. She loved it. It was great. And today was nice and mild, so it was a great day for skating. Maybe she'll get another couple days that are just as nice before Winter settles in completely. I've got my fingers crossed!

On the other front, I finished a present for the daughter of a friend of mine. She is 11, and I was worried what I made would not be "cool enough". Kids can be so hard to impress, especially at that age. However, I learned from my friend that her daughter is very into sewing right now, so I thought maybe I'd be safe. Turns out she loves it. It's --yeah--another kitty. This one is a patchwork kitty made of Amy Butler fabrics. It was a charm pack I had bought last year to see if any of it would work in my family room--none of it did. So I made it into a table runner top and left it at that. I pulled it back out and decided I really didn't want another table runner, and thought that this might be the best way to use the fabrics. I think she's adorable. She was plenty "busy" with all the fabrics alone, but I "blinged" her up a bit, because with kids that age, more is more and less is not enough. And actually, I think she's just right. And it was kind of hard to give her away. But I did. Brave woman, I am. :)

I also finished a present for my daughter, which I gave to her yesterday. She was less than impressed. The Ponies were really the thing she was looking for. I am not upset, though. She's only 6, and I know one day she will appreciate it. Plus, I really like the way it turned out. You might remember it from when I finished it, back in October. Man, that's been sitting around a while. Oops. Well, now it is done and in her hands. It's another thing I can cross off my list.

And one more picture for you--the apron. I am VERY happy with it. I have to see if I can reproduce it, so that's going to be a bit tricky ('cause I didn't write anything down), but I think it came out great.

It takes not too much fabric, and is fairly easy to sew. The double ruffle is cute, I think. I used the leftover ruffle to make the flower. In the back, I left a long tail because I like a big bow made out of a lot of fabric. It really looks like a dress bottom to me, which is what I like about it. I had made a pocket for it, but it kind of interrupted the "flow" of the front, so I took it off. It's always a learning process. The other thing I learned about this is that I need a dressmaker dummy. I ran back and forth from my studio to my bedroom mirror 10,000 times playing with those pleats up top. I had to change the number of them I don't even know how many times, and the direction of them nearly as many times again. What a pain. If I had a dummy, I could have just worked on it then and there. Of course, how to justify that purchase when I don't really make clothing is tricky...... hmmm...... I dunno. Maybe I could just say I want to make aprons, and this will make it easier? I DO really like aprons. Yeah, we'll see if that goes over with my husband. Maybe. :)

Oh, and you may have noticed I've removed the little "doll" from the side of my blog. I'm trying to add a picture of ME there. Not that I can't figure it out, but I'm trying to find a picture that makes me look nice and not either A) annoyed or B) insane and still has my hair looking pretty good (difficult to do with curls) and me having makeup on. Seems silly, right? But being a stay at home mom, I'm all about the "putting my hair in a pony tail and no makeup because who cares it's me and two kids in a house" kind of thing. And then when I get dressed up, it's for a party, and generally, I'm manning the camera. It's just not working out right now. I will get it, though.

Until next time, everyone take care. Have a great night!

Frosty Pumpkins and Chilly Plants

So the "frost is on the pumpkin", as they say, and quite literally here in upstate, NY. Last night it got down to the 30's, I understand. It's about time, we've had the oddest summerlike weather lately. I'm thrilled that when I now go outside it smells like Fall instead of Spring. Again, it's about time. Of course, it means that turning on the heat isn't too far behind, a fact I don't relish because of the ridiculous oil prices, but it is going to happen anyway. Time to bundle up and hunker down. I love this time of year.

I was so busy this weekend! My cold seems to have gone away (mostly), so I was feeling so much better yesterday. I still have a bit of a cough, but the other unpleasantries of being sick seem to have subsided for now. Saturday I camped out in my studio and did not come out until dinner. It is so nice to have a day like that now and again. I worked on my son's costume and finished it. He wants to be a telephone (I may have mentioned that before). So I made one up for him. He will be a purple (his choice) cell phone, made of felt, fleece, and puff paint. No pattern, no complicated instructions, just me and a sewing machine and my imagination. Exactly my speed. I'm very happy with how it came out and he LOVES the costume. So it's win-win. I will take a picture soon. My camera seems to have run out of batteries, and I don't know how to charge it, but when I do, I'll post one for you.

As for my daughter's infamous fairy costume, I did pass it along to my mother, who determined that the reason I couldn't figure out how the sleeves go onto the bodice was because I had sewn them upside down. No surprise there. She "un"stitched them for me, joined them correctly, and finished the costume likety-split (I did say she could sew circles around me in the clothing area, right??). It came out very cute. My daughter looks like a little flower. She is very excited about wearing it, and of course the irony of all of this is that now that the costume is done (and correctly), it's too cold to wear it, so she'll be wearing that turtleneck after all. Ah, the best laid plans.....

Sunday I spent the day cleaning the house. I do like cleaning the house, as strange as that may seem, because I like to take care of it. However, with me, my husband, and two kids, it gets cluttered up fast, and I don't get much chance to declutter. So Sunday I decluttered. Massively. The first floor of the house is now nice and tidy and dusted and whatnot. It is good. Right now we are clutter free and I am happy. I give it until Thursday until it's cluttered again.

I did manage to get a bunch of stitching done as well. The little Christmas trees are from the 2007 Just Cross Stitch Ornament mag. I made it twice because it was so quick and cute and why not? I'm going to finish them this week. They still need a couple of beads, and then I need to mount them onto their forms. No big deal. Little things like that are fun.

The little fairy on the right is a freebie from CyberStitchers. I made it for my daughter for her upcoming birthday. I'm going to finish it into an ornament type-thing, for her to hang in her room. It's really cute, and since she's learning to read, it's perfect for her. I hope she will like it.

I also got the winter edition of the Hancock's of Paducah catalog. I like that shop, it's not my favorite, but the catalog is so big, it's equivalent to getting the Big Toy Book from Toy's R'Us. For me, the catalog is really hit or miss. Either I don't like ANYTHING in it, or I like TOO MUCH in it. This time I liked quite a lot. Just a few examples of things I saw that I said "hmmmm" about (and can't line up nicely on this post). Could I be MORE random? Probably.

Thank you all again for your comments! I appreciate your taking the time to stop by!!

Accomplishments and New Starts

Yesterday I finished the quilting on my Halloween quilt! Yeay! I am so happy, because Halloween is just around the corner, and I really wanted to be able to use it this year. I am about to go and put the binding on, and hopefully I will be able to post pictures tomorrow of the finished product. I am very happy with how it came out. It took quite a while to quilt, but it was worth it. On to the next project....

...which is a blue and white quilt that I've had planned for some time. Here you can see the fabrics I am going to use in it. The quilt design itself is another original. I like the colors, because I like blue, and I think I'm going to really like the quilt when it's put together. It's hard to say, though, because right now all I have are a bunch of fabrics and a computer drawing of a quilt. It's definitely no replacement for having the real thing. The computer can only give a general idea of the quilt, not really the true feel for it. Sometimes I can really see the quilt in my head and I get so excited about it, and other times I really can't see it, and I feel like I'll have to "wait and see" what it will really look like. This time is one of the latter. I am hoping it will turn out better in real life than I am imagining.

What you see above are the fabrics for the main block on the left, and then two fabrics to add into the border on the right. This is a better pic of the block fabrics:

The white is a tone on tone, not a solid. It doesn't show in the picture, though. I've actually been gathering these fabrics for years. In fact, when I pulled them off of my "to make" shelf in my studio, I realized I've had two of the fabrics for 3 years. The others were added later, found in different shops and at different shows. I love the hunt, that's for sure.

Last night, I also finished the green dress of the center fairy in Three for Tea, which I am making for my daughter. That was a very happy moment, I can tell you. This was a big accomplishment because that was probably the largest part of the piece. And I have to say, that dress was confusing. I don't really understand what all the billowing it's doing is actually doing. It doesn't make sense to me. And I guess because although I could follow the symbols without a problem, I couldn't really say, "Oh, this part is the waist, this part is the bodice", because I had no real idea some of the time. So that made it go more slowly for me. I am glad to be done. The other fairies' dresses are much more clear cut. Hopefully I will make much faster progress now, and then I'll share a picture!

Thank you for reading my blog today. Have a great day!