This and That

Aren’t these cool?  Wooden boxes.  I am thinking that I will probably redo the pictures and use the boxes for embroidery floss.  I found them for a buck each! Now that is cheap!  Do I go back and get more? 

I heard of this:

And I found this:

…in my stash.  I hadn’t realized that I am drawn to orange .  The fabric in the baggie is for a kit…already to go!  Pat Sloan is hosting a virtual quilting retreat on February 20th and there will be an orange challenge! I’m in!  I will be putting the logo on my sidebar pronto!  So many neat ideas! Creative Everyday!

My first efforts at what the Australians are doing a lot of…stitcheries…I am making a series of postcards…

I like the “A” more than the “K.”  Can you make out what the cold wind is doing to the kite?

Tweaking Twelve…

Here are the twelve Birds in the air blocks for the UGRR swap.  They are far from being ready to send out …  I have to tweak every one of them.  For some reason there is not one that is the correct size of 12 inches.  I’ve followed the pattern to a “T”, I’ve undone each block at least once if not more.  I don’t understand why the blocks don’t come out the right size.  Am I too picky?  These are to be sent to other people so for sure I want them to be done well.  The due date is way off though.  My next block is the Crossroads one and the pattern that I have for it is paper-pieced.  I’ll try one and see if I like it.

So, the above is what I worked on all day.  I finally stopped and did some dishes at around 10:00 this evening….the husband and son fended for themselves for their meals.

I’m now gearing myself for my upcoming workweek.  I sure would love to win the lottery; yes I did buy a ticket.  I should check it.

Always the same story…

…busy, busy, busy.   But the good news is that I am still on track with sewing and being creative!  I just haven’t had the time to be patient with my verrrrry slow computer! …

Today was a quilting day.  My guild had a “free quilting” day today; where whoever wants to get together with their machines and projects do so.  I made these…”Birds in the Air” blocks.  I am doing an Underground Railroad Quilt with some women from the Canadian Quilter’s Guild (Internet Yahoo Group).  There are 12 of us participating in the UGRR  swap.  We each have 2 kinds of blocks and must make 12 of each.  We send them to the person in charge and we get 24 different blocks at the end…to do with as we please.  The UGRR is how message were passed to help slaves escape.  I found this pattern for the “Birds in the Air” block at Quilter’s Cache.  I’m particpating in the swap because I want to practice making basic quilt blocks and believe me, making 12 of these is a lesson in perseverance; working on the accuracy is very hard.  I still have to tweak a few of these blocks but I am getting better as I go.  I have the material cut and ready for the next six or seven.  My 2nd block is the  Crossroads block. I am staying with basic colours as per guidelines; using what I have on hand.

I was spoiled today.  My husband cleaned the house; washed floors etc and was making supper and pies when I got home after a WHOLE day of quilting! ….

Well, off to have a bath…Tired.

I hope to be back sooner than I have been!

Picture time!

I know…pretty lame BUT I am learning a few of the basic techniques  of painting!  Like how to shade a background and how to transfer the pattern.  That has always been a mystery to me; transferring a pattern to the medium.  I chose this pattern because I figured that I could practice a few of the smaller items by transferring on cheaper wood products that I have found at the good ole Dollarama .  I’m learning but I really don’t see myself getting TOTALLYinto painting.  I like fabric waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much and the needle and thread.  I would just like to complement my sewing with paint sometimes without being gaudy.

Here is an update on my calendar quilt:

Today’s strip, the last one is a piece I found rummaging deeeeeeep down in my scraps; from a painting smock I made for my nieces…since I painted today.  Nothing in my stash YELLED Barach Obama … I have quite a bit of snowman fabrics and since the weather was cold, hence the picture of the brown fabric with snowmen (the snowmen look cold).  One thing about this quilt is that I sew everyday ….and I am into my sewing stuff.

And look what I received today:

I ordered these pattern books from Barb at Theodora Cleave.  She has an online store and designs these awesome stitcheries.  She included this card too which is a stitchery design but she has painted it!  That is they type of painting that I want to do.  So, looks like I will be bringing my own patterns to my painting course for my 2nd project…staying with the sewing theme. Oh! The stuffed apple was found in my cleaning and organizing spree .

Well, it is late…time to head to bed….work, work, work tomorrow morning!

Gone but not forgotten…

I am still here and still as creative and busy as ever. I have my painting class tonight and will post a picture soon….that is if what I paint is worth posting!

Here is a neat give-away from Collage Diva.  The give-away is for the book “The Vision Board – The Secret to an Extraordinary Life”

I think that even if I don’t win the book it will eventually find its way to my bookshelf.

Well, off to paint and I promise to be back later to post some visuals!

Organizing and finding…

I keep coming across this embroidery sampler that I did in a Round Robin, back in 1997.  It is unfinished and it keeps getting put back into a drawer …The round robin was a bad experience because one of the women didn’t send on people’s samplers and I got the blame.  I did my samplers and sent them on to the next person.  My sampler came back to me unfinished and with some disprespect sewn in ( I took it out)…that is probably why this piece stays in a drawer …..but in the end it is beautiful.  Most of the women were very generous and did the stitching with good intents so it is kept.  What to do with it?

It is still VERY cold in this part of the world and instead of cleaning house because there seems to be no sense in doing it when the family is underfoot, I am organizing my cross stitch supplies and kits and cataloguing my magazines….I am finding treasures and am thinking that I might be able to do a give-away.  We shall see.

Off to organize.

Oh…..this will be going into my sidebar:

Calendar Quilt Progress Report

So here is 2 weeks plus a days worth of my strips and I have continued journalling the days and each strip has a reason, even if it is to match.  It is fun.  My last update stopped at the cross stitching SAL.

Day 11:  Still Cross Stitch SAL and I have this beautiful cross stitch fatquarter…cut into it .

Day 12:  I had my quilt guild meeting and it is always so inspiriring.

Day 13: My 1st ever painting course (on wood and hope to transfer skills to quilting)

Day 14: My brother’s birthday and he loves planes.  It is also his daughter’s 2nd birthday so I have written a note to find a #2 charm for embellishment.

Day 15: Today…This is day 2 of a deep freeze: -45 celcius, hence the penguin and the ice floats!

I love journalling and since this will be a personal quilt, it just stands to reason that my day to life will be documented!

Well, I am off to do some more stitching….cross stitching that is.  I am almost up to the backstitch! Yay!

Later

Still here but…

…still being creative everyday!  I had my quilting guild meeting on Monday and I signed up for two workshops.  One is for a pididdly pincushion but it looked simple and fun and not too time-consuming. The other is for this:

It is some sort of Japanese techinique made simpler.  I’ll find out all about it at my workshop.  It is not until February 7th so I have time to find a print for the border.  I am seeing books for the border so off I go a-hunting for some book print material …a nice wall hanging for my house which is full, full, full of books!

On Tuesday night I starte a painting class.  I CANNOT paint and all I want to do is be comfortable with paints and a paintbrush so I am taking painting lessons for painting on wood; a skill that I would like to transfer to painting on material.  The teacher is really patient and once I have something worthwhile to show, I will show it .

Off to sew my strip to my calendar quilt; still going well!

Not to newsy, but work, work, work sort of saps my time!

Cat-Captured Cross stitch

Pyewacket does not leave me or my stitching alone!  I had wait a bit before I gathered up the will to move Pye …he is definitely my cat, I don’t think that he wanted me to stitch though…

I also stitched this up today:

The top strip where it says the Stitch-A-Long…I sewed it to my calendar quilt for today’s strip.  I made it very basic and will probably go back and add an image, but for the SAL, I want to get quite a bit done on this piece.  It is coming along!   And speaking of which, off to stitch.

Later…enjoy your week-end!