happy new year!

Happy Solstice!

Happy Holidays!

christmas stocking fr Lydia

in the beginning

 I started with Lydia's favorite color green

added jingles

it jingles!

 lots of sparkly and a turtle

there had to be a turtle

Add caption

Voila!


a stocking for Lydi!

with gingerbread and snowflakes

a poinsettia

 daisies and a key
(of knowledge, to my heart, part of the family crest)

more snowflakes and

Mele Kalikimaka!

all hung by the chimney with care!

taking advice

 
Especially Gerry's advice, when Cqing is always a good idea.

the more input you get the better your own ideas are in the end!

just think of what the golden age of reason would have been if there had been no salon's for the intellectuals to talk, argue and share idea's?

Think of what Art would have looked like if not for the coffee houses and bars in paris and elsewhere!

nice but not stunningly beautiful.-not that I am comparing my little things to any of this mind you I'm just ruminating.

anyway, I took Gerry's advice and added a fan to the yawningly empty brown patch and a nest with birds above it.

I give you the side-by side comparison

sewing and coughing don't mix!

looks like a cqshop barfed on it!

Ok, so, walking pnumonia isn't fun, especially over a holliday!
I have been trying to plug along through a stuffy nose, shaky hands and coughing myself insideout.
my friends sewing and coughing don't mix!

ort's jar

half the time you loose your place and the other half you loose the needle, it's just badness.
I'll live, that prognosis is good, though I'm still coughing, it doesn't make me want to take a nap anymore!)

I got my FFT RR#16  block back and is it lovely!
I'm just going to add a thing or two and it will be perfecto!
I also worked on the changes Gerry suggested for the blue/brown block
(Isn't she the greatest!)

I added a fan to the yawning empty brown space and added a birds nest with two glass lampwork beads, I got in my monthly embellishments package from Eveningstar designs.

those are great if you need a random stash boost!
Carolyne sends out a selection of ribbons, lace, beads, silk ribbon, buttons, charms, silkies and all sorts of fun stuff!


it's totally random and a lovely little surprise in your mailbox once a month!

I get nothing for promoting BTW.
I just love her cqclubs and she is a lovely person to have gotten to know over the years.

we put up the tree this weekend and it looks fabulous like it does every year! it does need one more string of lights though, i ran out of them at the top of the tree so when they blink the whole top goes dark!
I started a stocking for my DD she requested I make her a new one this year, in apple greens with a turtle on it! so far so good!

Happy Turkey day!

go get stuffed!)

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

BJP-Or mind can hide

yipes! I can't belive it's almost turkey day!
and it's been a LOOng time since I updated (or did anything with) my BJP stuff *bad Flora*
didn't we just start this year?

anyway this is my november contribution called
 "Or a mind can Hide"



as you can see her thoughts are spilling out all over the place!

 I liked the contrast of the sky blue and the crystal clear being like thoughts
sometimes we are lost in thought

or we lose our train of thought




very seldom do you have a clear thought with a good idea attached to it




and some Ideas are brighter than others

but we are always thinking

all day long or thoughts are cascading over one another in a constant flow

Sharon Boggins encrusted crazyquilt class progress

Not sure I'm done with this one yet.
 I have spent a lot of time lurking in this class and not participating mostly because i have been dealing with a "brain cloud" issue.



rife with muzzy thinking or just flat out can't manage to rub two good thoughts together and didn't want to inflict my incoherencies on any one else I didn't have to!


I was ,however, paying enough attention to follow along and I have to say these are a talented group of ladies!








I'm not very good at photo-as-you-go, as anyone who has read my blog will attest to! It's a failing.

I get into my "Zone" and the piece is done before I realize I haven't taken any pictures of it!


I did finally post pictures of what I have been working on as i lurked in the shadows. I would love a little advice on what to do with that bare brown corner.

I was thinking of putting a bird in a nest there to complimenting the bird button on the other side but i don't know!



 here's the whole thing so far I don't know that corner needs something!
Gerry Help!

FFT#16-update

I finally sent Kathy's block back to her.
being the last person to play on a block has as many challenges as being the first!




I felt the need to "bring the room together" on this one.



all the ladies did a wonderful job on their little corner of the block but it was all so linear I felt the need to blur the lines.
I added a BIG yellow spiderweb to contrast the little bits of yellow that were scattered here and there and the spider echos the wonderful magenta of the top right corner patch,






I also extended the trailing leaves from Barbara's (R?) down into the pansy patch at the bottom and 

last but not least I added a pink and purple dragonfly to the top right, to hide that hard end of the lace and draw the eye down into the center of the block





I hope you like the result.

basic CQ flip and fold tutorial

mark your foundation with a 1/4" seam

 Ok, someone form the nubi side asked if I could do a tut on how I do basic cq flip and fold.

add fabrics around your focal point

this is in response to wanting to know how I did my witchy-poo hats.
I know the piece I'm showing you all "how to" is not a witchy-poo hat but I do them all pretty much the same way, so here it goes!

pin down and sew

start with your muslin base (calico for you oversea's)
you need at least 2" to overhang outside your fabric square
(or whatever shape your sewing) for the hoop, if you use one,
then mark the outside line, this is the line where your fabric stops.
then make a line to mark a 1/4"-1/2" seam allowance.
(which ever is more comfortable for you)

trim your edges

this is the seam you DO NOT under any circumstances put any beading, buttons, metal embellishments, etc.
you can embellish and bead up to this line but no farther.

if you go beyond this line with the hard embellishments, you can't turn the seams or sew through them on sewing machine, without doing damage to yourself, the machine or the cq piece your working on and sometimes all 3!

flip and iron

I have already made this mistake, a few times, no need for you to suffer!

I like to mark these lines with a sharpie as the odds that your going to see them through the fabric are very small, unless your working with a lot of shears, in which case you should have a layer of misty fuse or another comparable stabilizer beneath that for endurance.

do it again!

now that you have marked your foundation its time to sew down the fabrics.
you will want to start somewhere in the middle (not like I did, at an end)
to better work your way around the piece.

start with an off cut focal fabric, fabric picture not a silkie.they are to delicate. I like odd shaped pentagon, the 5 sides give you more diversity in patches.

don't forget to trim your edges

I start with one of the longer edges, so you don't end up with teensy weensy bits. place your next fabric, wrong side up.

pin at at least 2 points and sew down. when using slippery fabric like silk or velvet pin more!

flip the fabric over and iron your seams.
I like to use a little spray starch on
the back for stabilization with slippery or thin fabrics.

ironing each patch is key

you also want to trim any bits that overhang or slop over.
rinse and repeat until your whole block is filled up!

I have used a dark thread so hopefully you can see it in the pics
here is the back of my piece, so  you can see how the seams look this way

finished block all trimmed up with it's corners pinned

(almost no one shows you the back of their work)

when your done filling in the block you want to do 3 things

sew the zig-zag and 1/4" seam allowance from the back

1) make sure all your corners are held down with pins
2) sew around your outside edge with a zig-zag stitch, trim the excess fabric
    (this is why you need to use a sharpie to mark your edges)
3) then sew a 1/4" to 1/2" seam allowance with the longest straight stitch your machine will do.

finished seam work and edging

completed block

     

now the fun stuff begins! time to figure out which way is up and what you want to put on your block!

I hope this is helpful.

for you newbies out there welcome to our the wonderful crazy world!)