So little time!

So much to do before the winter solstice!

 

I have been working on projects, for a beginner embroidery class,so if anyone in the seattle area that wants to learn a little easy-peasy embroidery come on down (over, up?) to gathering fabrics in Woodinville.

Also finishing up embroidery on other stuff as well as gifts and what not for people.

 

As well as getting my grinchy on.

gardens and flowers et fini!

  my block for the gardens and flowers rr is done!



I finished it while on a trip to India and be for you ooh and ahh, we were there for my DDH's job and not in the garden spot of bangalore but a suburb. More about that at a later date.


My block needed to blend well with the other blocks I got back from the ladies in our group, which were stunning by the way!

So I wanted to do them justice.

I "borrowed" the climbing grapes from Elizabeth

And the cast on flowers from Renée.


Almost everyone had some sort of climbing rose and a spider.

I loved the birdbath in Elizabeth's block set and used that on mine.

Then added bee's around Persephone and beads around the lace at the bottom left.

Now all that's left is to put it together.

heritage rejigger

 wouldn't you know it, I remember to start taking pictures halfway through a project?

 I decided that he way I had this project in one solid piece separated by lace was NOT going to work.
so I pulled it apart and started to fool around with it.

there was too much color in it, to leave it the way it was. to confusing to the eye as there was no place to " rest" and too much to take in at once.

so I auditioned a bunch of colors for the background.

black seemed to work best and as the only black velvet I could find, had some stretch to it, I used a muslin backing on or it would have distorted the moment I hung it on a wall! 

this is my "orts bag"  I had to experiment with the cuts so the first 1/2 yard or so was sacrificed to the sewing gods.

once I got the positioning right, it was easy.

making it square

 though that top middle one kept mis behaving. I kept either, cutting it wrong or sewing the bevel the wrong way in.
I ended up pulling thread on it at least a half dozen times!
 so how many of you use your tile floor to square up a big piece?

I sure comes in handy when I can't do it by ruler alone!

 Taa-Daa!

Isn't it lovely!  Now, there is a place for your eye to rest.  Also each block has it's own showcase and by skewing the blocks, you give it some movement as it's not all static squares on top of squares.

just for giggles here I am trying to get the best picture.

when inspiration takes you, you sew in your nightie too don't you?

last harvest and a walk around

 last harvest of the season was great!

a crap load of tomatoes and tomatillos

a zucchini (huge!) and even some broccoli!

yum, yum, yum!

now for a walk around before it rains again




we have been having a week of really weired weather for around here

blazing sunny while raining

and it's not being made any better by the fact we live under a convergence zone! aside from the unpredictability of it..ie rain, sun, rain, sun, rain..ugh you get the picture.

it has also been blazing sunny out while raining buckets! welcome to washington!




 these are the tomatillos left out
maybe they will ripen
maybe not
they look pretty today!

I like this view of the house

it's from the back of the yard

wind chimes and bouncers

make for a  cheerful front door

  mr. wind decorated for the season







the stones are climbing

faerie pool

 I don't often look at the front yard from this angle

theres a lot of it

My other favorite tree.

she puts out the loveliest pink blossoms in the spring

the view from across the stree

no wonder people have a hard time finding us!



you can barely make out the roof unless you know it's there!

the maple nextdoor is about to go poof! 




the last gasp of dahlias

leaves in the bird bath 

and more bowing up the drive

 looking in

 is different than looking out

Ciggi box tutorial

For this project you will need
1. A Cigar box (I found a bunch at value village)
2. A Cq piece big enough to cover the top of the ciggi
       box  + at least 1 inch (tell you why later)
3. pair of scissors an exacto blade and a rotary
     cutter and mat.  you will need them.
4. pencil
5. Smoother or other flat not sharp thing you can use
    to  smooth down the glue under the paper
6. Long flat blade ruler
7. Glue - I use Aileens tacky glue
8. roll of washi tape at least .5 inches wide for a
    regular roll ( 2 if you are using a smaller roll)
9. 4 pages of scrapbooking paper 2 for the inside 2
    for the outside
    I recommend the thicker type (so you don't break
    through it like I did!)

he back should look like this

Start with your box and your artwork. prepare your art work by cutting a piece of cardboard to fit the top of the cigar box and stretch your piece over that.
sew a running stitch from one end to the other until the piece fits firmly over all sides. you can pad it if you feel the work needs the extra lift or if there are wobbly bits on the front that aren't laying flat.
I recommend doing the corners first and then the middle over that

it should peel right off

be careful of the hinges!

 now for the box, remove the edge paper from the top edge on the sides of the box only.
Use an exacto knife if necessary.
since you will be adding more layers to the box over time this will help the box from sticking or not shutting all the way.

It should look like this

DO NOT take any of the hinge paper off!

your fingernail should fit in between the lid and the side wall

like this!

 Next with your exacto blade score all the outsides of the box.

Scoring your box

use a straight up and down also criss-cross scores to get maximum glue hold.

this is so the glue has a grip on the shiny paper that most cigar boxes are covered with

now measure the inside of your box, make the square a scoshe bigger than you need to cover any wobble in your measurements

Add caption

cut the sides bigger than you need to wrap around not only the bottom but the sides as well

place the paper for the sides upside down,

in the box,
crimp the corners
cut them and
cut the ends at an angle

 so when you overlap the ends they don't pooch up



now pooge glue all over the backside
getting the corners and the edges


fit the glued up paper into the sides, smoothing down as you go.
wipe any oozing glue with a paper towel

 you will notice that a small amount of paper
hangs over the front edge of the box. you need to trim that with an exacto knife.

repeat on the other side
measure and cut for the front and back of the inside of the box with NO overlap on the sides, only the bottom.

don't forget the corners

now glue and smooth the bottom down

I rubbed too hard

Be careful not to use too much elbow grease

if you are  using a thinner paper or you might go through it while smoothing it down
or rubbing too hard while trying to get stray glue off the wall (like I did!)


 the inside of the box is done!

measure and cut for the top
at this point you want to place a ribbon folded in half for ease of opening the box later cut it half the width of the top of the box glue it firmly down and then place the top paper and glue that down over it. ( I forgot to do that here so it will have to go under the art work, oops!)

measure out your washi tape and smooth that down over the hinge.
making sure to get coverage on both sides of the paper

for the inside corners I like to crimp the tape down the middle first, this gives you a good head start on keeping it straight smooth down

cut the ends even

you don't have to use washi tape on the inside if you got your corners nice.

get those corners

I use it if my corners are a little wobbly or for added visual interest






Now go for the rest of the inside

 a little washi tape covers a multitude of sins!

Ta-Da!

thats one smudge I can cover at least!

now do the outside much the same way you did the inside

I added a pocket

I forgot to put a ribbon Under the Inside middle of the box for ease of opening the box later. (a lot of that going around bad Flora, BAD!)

if you want this extra step, cut enough ribbon to extend to the bottom of the box, so it doesn't pull out, and glue it in before you place that piece of paper.

the bottom

Washi all around

when you do the out side remember to overlap the bottom much like you did on the inside by about an inch.




you can washi the top before placing the top piece of art work on as that will go over everything

get the top positioned and glue it down good!

I use cloths pins to hold it down till the glue dries.
Rubber bands work well too.
  that's it for this tut.

if there are any unclear or confusing instructions or if you think I have missed something important please let me know!
have fun!