Some Crazy Stuff

First up is my work on Wendy's Angel themed block. I hope the motif looks like an angel. I used organza ribbon for her skirt, gold metallic cord couched for her wings with some hairy type yard couched down in between the cord. I used perle #8 bullions for her hair and gold metallic effects DMC for the trumpet. I am not real happy with the trumpet and was ready to rip it all out and use the finer gold sulky...but it is what it is.

Next...my pink color study block arrived home. Jenni, Ruby and Nina did all the stitching on this lovely block.  And, I just finished my stitching on Jenni's pink block...

Someone before me left that dark pink rose all by itself on the block so I added more around it - a pink yoyo, more pink roses and some other flowers. Now it's not so lonesome.

Someone had added this feather stitch so I further embellished it with bullions. I also crocheted the butterfly and added a body of beads...

...again, someone before me left these bead flowers out in the middle of nowhere on this block so I added a bunch of feather stitch with variegated lazy daisy stitches and a few bullion roses on the seam. I know...the photo is dark.

This is Jenni's completed pink block ready to be sent home when I can get to the P.O. She dyed a tea towel with that teapot motif pink and added other fabric on it. I had a very hard time doing my stitching on this since there were so many buttons on it when it came my turn and my threads kept getting caught up in them. Oh, and I added the crocheted flowers in the upper right corner to balance the butterfly in the lower left.

And finally, these are all the color studies I've participated in so far. I always piece my naked blocks with a heart.

Favorite Things

The following are for my Hexie Rainbow Favorite Things Lap Quilt.

The color blue.  

More blue favorite things

All color favorites.

And more red favorites.

See Lily Quilts Hexalong in sidebar as well as Pigtales and Quilts How-Does-Your-Garden-Grow sew along.

Naked Again!

Winter Scenes for 6 inch CQ DYB RR.

More Winter Scenes for 6 inch CQ DYB RR (I should have made them all cookies...)

Roses  block for CQ RR. This is a larger sized block - 12 inches if I remember correctly.

Another Roses block for a different CQ RR.

If I would quit joining in RRs I might get some work done around here.

Four Hours Later...

...I had five coin purses.

I was thinking I needed to make something for my friend's birthday coming up on Sept. 11. She likes purple so I was digging through my purple bin of stash wondering what to do when I remembered I had some metal frames for coin purses. It took me about an hour to find the frames and the other three to make 5 coin purses. I figured it was just as easy to make one as to make two. Then when I found the 5 purse frames I decided it was just as easy to make five. The purple with roses will be for my friend, the 3 wildly colorful ones with butterflies will be stocking stuffers for my daughter and the girlfriends of my sons and the rose one is for me. Mine will go inside my Rosey Boho bag when I get it made someday.

How Does Your Garden Grow? With a Surprise!

Some of my Favorite Things - Red

I've been making 30s tulips for the "How Does Your Garden Grow" sew-along over on Pigtales and Quilts and thought I would never make a hexie like some of the ladies in the sew along.  Never. Never ever. I do love hexies and the sew-along ladies make some gorgeous ones but those little things were not for me. Then I found Lily Quilts and her Hexalong. She is making BIG hexies.She's making BIG hexies and mixing it up a bit with patterns within hexies.  And I can handle that. Because at the same time I had been thinking somewhere in the back of my mind about rainbows and some of my other favorite things and then it struck me...I'll make a BIG Hexie lapquilt for winter with all the colors of the rainbow depicting some of my favorite things. And, when I'm snugly bundled beneath it on some cold winter day, well, then...how does the song go?...then I won't feel so bad.

And, if the DGKs (I really hope that means Darling Grandkids even though mine are sometimes dorky, daring, delightful and darn right nerve - wracking so take your pick on the D word) are over we will even be able to play a little "I spy" with it.

And I wonder why nothing ever gets finished around here...

Mug Rug Swap

I recently participated in a mug rug swap. Actually, this was the first time I had ever heard of a mug rug but I see from the web that it seems to be all the rage. I exchanged with three ladies.  I made their rugs all the same. One side for the mug and the other side for the snack. I used up some scraps in the bargain.

Top was from Erica. She used fabric scraps from a quilt she had made. The lower one was made by Maggie. Don't you just love the spider web?

And this lovely floral bouquet one was made by Ruby.

I'm going to make a few more and keep them in a basket on the buffet. When the DGKs (I hope that means Darling Grand Kids although I wouldn't always call them darlings) come to visit they can pick their mug rug at snack time.

It's fun getting packages in the mail! The ladies also included some extra goodies as did I in their packages.

Did I Hear You Say I Was a Crotchety Old Lady?

Well, maybe...but I think you mean I'm a crocheting old lady! Or maybe you can call me a crotchety crocheting old lady. (I've always thought crotchety was a weird word). Anyway...I've crocheted a few more dishcloths for stocking stuffers this last week during my lunch hour and started on a shawl for me. Maybe I will get it done before fall. Or maybe it will be next fall. I'm in no hurry. It's just a way to keep my hands moving and flexible. And it's practice before I try to crochet a pair of socks.

Sew It Up!

This is my work on Carol's 6 inch block for a RR at CQI. I think a lot of the ladies in this RR are going to make sewing machine covers but  I think Carol is going to make a wall hanging for her sewing room.

That chain with bullion roses above the embroidered scissors is supposed to be a scissor fob. I don't have one but I stitched one. (Note to self: make one so you don't keep losing your scissors in the couch cushions). I found some trim in my stash that had tape measure markings that I used to cover up the tape measure I didn't like under it. Lucky I found that trim because I was going to try to figure out how to print or stitch a tape measure on some rayon tape. I also had little spools in my stash that I won in a contest. I wrapped it with some thread from my ort jar. I used silver sulky to make "pins" and a needle in the fabric. And, the safety pins are real...attached with gold sulky. Oh, to embroider the scissors I used one strand of DMC antique effects and one strand of plain old DMC in order to get a scissory looking metallic effect.

Then, with this RR, we all agreed to stitch jointly on one block so when all 6 blocks get back home to the owner they can just whip them all together into their project. Anyway, I embroidered a thimble in gold sulky, a spool of thread in DMC and a needle in silver sulky. And, yikes, the needle sure looks crooked in this extreme closeup. But, some of my needles are a little crooked so... I also added a few silk ribbon flowers with some button centers.

How Does Your Garden Grow? Mine Has Tulips!

Here are my four 30s reproduction tulip blocks for the week. If you are "growing" flowers then link up with Pigtales and Quilts.

Stitching Rainbows and Pansies

I just finished Misty's block for the "Anything Goes" RR. I picked this block because her silky had pansies on it and I just love pansies so I knew this was the one. I first surrounded her silky with various types of pansies - a crocheted one, silk ribbon ones and cast-on stitch ones. Then I surrounded it all with a rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue/indigo, violet. I rather enjoyed it all and will have to do something like this for myself now.

WIPs

I'm good at starting new things but not so good about getting them completed. Maybe I shouldn't tackle such large projects but I'm not really one that needs instant gratification. Anyway here's a few quilts that are works in process...

Floribunda - a pattern from Quiltville but I switched the yellow and flower fabric placement in my version.

I've decided on prairie points for a border on my "For the Birds" snowball and nine patch quilt. Prairie points are new to me so I'm proceeding cautiously. I also have a "For the Birds" crazy quilt version but if I don't stop joining RRs I'll never get around to finishing some of my crazy bird blocks.

I won some 8 inch bow tie blocks in a lottery plus I've been adding some of my own. This is just a few of them - black with brights. I've made a bunch with mushroom fabrics since my DD and her DH are avid mushroom hunters. I think this will be a quilt for them for Christmas. DD asked for something to throw over the couch which is getting raggedy looking. They have decided a new couch is not a necessity since the kids are still little and their funds are tight.

And I'm still turning some 3 inch 9 patches from a swap into Sister's Choice blocks with blue star points.

Oh...there's many more. These are just the most recently worked on. GKs are here this weekend so I probably won't get much done in the sewing world. And, I need to make tomato sauce with all the tomatoes recently harvested...

I'd end by saying "if only I was retired"... but I'm grateful I still have a job. My favorite local scrapbook shop has closed it's doors, my fav walk-in bookstore, Borders, is having a going out of business sale and the local friendly Toyota dealer we've bought all our cars from has been sold to some big conglomerate. And I've noticed the shelves and racks at my local thrift stores are looking rather bare.

Tone on Tone

I've finished my Tone on Tone block for Cheryl so my stitching for this RR is complete.

I've found it easiest to stitch neutral tone on tone blocks. The other colors are more of a challenge.

Asian Challenge Pillow Complete!

My Asian challenge block has now turned into a 14 inch pillow for my sister for Christmas. As you can see it doesn't go well with my couch or my decorating style so I'm not sad to give it up. My sister likes the Asian motifs and she appreciates handmade.

Here it is from a different view so maybe all the stitching will show up.

This was the sixth stitch of the challenge - lattice stitch. I had a difficult time being able to see the threads let alone weave them. I used perle #8 on the smaller flowers and used 3mm satin ribon for the larger red one with the orange french knot center. I see a stray thread in this picture that I didn't see when taking the pic so block that out with your mind since I don't know how to photoshop it out.

One of the extras we were supposed to add was a fan. This is mine out of silk ribbon.

And there you have it.. a Christmas present finished for my sister. Now back to the list...

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Thearica over at Pigtales and Quilts is hosting a "How Does Your Garden Grow" sew along. I'm making tulips in 30s reproduction fabrics and here are four for this week. I'm working toward a queen sized quilt for me. Some sew alongers are making hexie flowers which I MAY make someday. I have enough other hand sewing/embroidery projects to last me a lifetime.

How does my garden really grow? Well, I'm off to can tomatoes, more dill pickles and pickled beets. Who has time to stop and smell the flowers? (Wish I was retired, darn it. But I won't say that too loud. I have to work about 6 more years but they are starting layoffs at work. )

English Garden DYB

Connie's English Garden DYB (Do Your Block) RR.

I wasn't sure if the lady was picking apples or peaches but since the block contained peachy colors I decided it was peaches. Connie didn't want any large motifs or I would have embroidered a botanical pic of a peach. Anyway, I extended the tree out into the block with a strand of gold metallic and brown dmc. Then I added some lazy daisy leaves and a few french knot peaches. I also extended what I think are forget-me-nots along the bottom - again in variegated DMC. Then there are a variety of roses since I think every English garden has to have lots of roses.

In case you are wondering...this round robin took place over on CQI (Crazy Quilt International) Yahoo Group.  In the DYB RRs everyone sends around six 6 inch blocks. Each participant picks one to stitch on and then sends them around to the next person. At the end of 5 months (more or less) you receive back all of your embellished blocks. One is left for the owner to stitch on. It's a lot of fun and a great way to practice new stitches, see lovely work of others close up and make friends.

I was the last to stitch on Connie's blocks and after I get to the P.O. today they will be on their way home to her.

I Never Grow Tired of the 30s (Mood Lifting) Reproduction Fabrics

The latest Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks. I need to count how many I have now. I have them all tucked into the book.

Wild Rose and Square. (Trivia: wild roses are the Iowa state flower. I have them in my wooded area and they are difficult to eradicate after they become a thicket).

Practical Orchard. (Again, I don't know how some of these blocks get their name; however, I thought a block with orchard in its name needed some branchy looking fabric as well as some fruit. My own orchard has apples, pears, cherries, grapes, black raspberries and blackberries.)

Railroad. (As in some of my Irish ancestors worked on. I can kind of see the reason for the name of this block).

Prairie Queen. (A wildflower that I used to have growing on our "prairie" but it seems to have disappeared completely).

Wedding Ring. (Do you know mine is a black gold band? Roses and leaves. I really don't much care for diamonds. I'm a plain jane kind of girl.).

Color me happy.

Civil War Block Catch Up

Railroad Crossing

Next Door Neighbor

Petersen's Stars and Stripes

Lucious Lace Round Robin

My work on Lisa's "Lucious Lace" block.