happy new year

Most likely what I'll be doing for the evening

thank you all, for your kind words and continued support, they mean a lot to me

CQJP December

 So here is December, just under the wire


she's all in blue, again


this month no featured stitch but a lot of bugs


from the fly in the lower lefthand corner


to mrs Spider in the upper right

to the green beaded bug in the upper left

and our whole picture ready for the usual northwest winter

kinda drab

                  kinda rainy

                                     kinda cold

OH!        Happy Holidays to everyone too

November CQJP

 Here she is naked as a jay-bird

now you see this little dragonfly?

not a big motif right?

I want to show you how she changed the whole look of this block but I'll get to that later

here's where designing gets fun or frustrating depending on which side of the dime your on.

to counterbalance this big crochet flower I had to do a little fiddling which turned into a lot of fiddling


the white ferns are one part then came more fern and green SRE roses and white trim.

I knew I wanted fans on this block so here is the beaded one

 and here is the embroidered one, with more ferns, in green this time

and a nice bit of button floozy going on there as a seam treatment




and here's the fun part, I told you I'd get to it!

this block looks ok

but there's this big empty spot my eye keeps catching on up at the top

and with the block being so busy everywhere else

it draws your eye to it and doesn't let it go

Taa-Daa!

and this is where the dragonfly comes in to save the day

as you can see it's not a big motif

but it's just enough of a bridge to keep your eye moving around the block and not just stopping

right there

I might even put something small and brown, in that bit of blazing white, under the beaded fan as it's beginning to bother me now........

October CQJP/BJP done

 Little did I know at the beginning of this month

that this block,
covered in Holbein stitch this month,
would be perfectly placed for my daughters wedding.

there she is with my lovely dear darling  husband.
 this months BJP is the wired dragonfly on the left,

not much to look at but I was a bit busy this month


the other one I mad from what is left of a pair of cloisonne earrings that I lost the rest of the dangle to and a blue dyed pearl

a little more folded ribbon and many more beads

to finish off the many corners
holbein stitch creates









 a little more beading and some ribbonwork to round out the last little empty spots and there you go

CQJP for september

 This month is chainstitch and it's smaller cousin lazy Daisy

  I like before and after pictures don't you?

 Before everything else is thrown on and it's just the main stitches


and after embellishments, embroidery, beads and other stuff is thrown at it

 She's very blue this month

  again

The green barely shows up in some places                  
I like that vase motif I have used it before.



 What is your opinion on using motifs/seams over again?
               I try not to do it too much. partly because I get boared with the same old thing over and over and partly because I like a challenge. I think I've mentioned this brfore using the same thing, seems like cheating.

  Now I know some of you don't like spiders, so fair warning but I couldn't resist

We in the great northwest are in the middle of hella spider time. sometime between end of august and whenever first frost decides to decend, we get spiders everywhere, bushes, trees porches.

Some days it feels like they are trying to catch me.

Isn't she sweet?

where did the summer go?

Benny RIP 11th may 2015

Until this weekend our weather has been inordinately nice.

 I am not used to all this sun

Wait, what?Is she complaining about nice weather?
                                      Yes I am.

So it just takes 6 years for you to become attuned to your new environment to the point that you're complaining about the weather like a native. Huh.

That I lived my first 45 years in Chicago, this makes me a little giggly.

Now, I know I haven't bogged anything since June, this is due to many things.
The death of my cat Benny, a visit from my dd#2 for a month, in which we did a lot of sight seeing and the moving in of my son to figure out his life post army.

my little helper

 Phew!
I was prepared for the daughter and son invasions but Benny's death threw me.
he developed an inoperable cancerous tumor, poor baby! he wouldn't eat and dropped 2lbs in a week. so we had to make the difficult decision to put him down.

Anyway it has been a little difficult to get back on my hobby horse with all the hoo-ha.

I did finally finish Julys cqjp/bjp and have been teaching a class every second Tuesday on embroidery and cq, which bless me has kept me more or less on an even keel.

I love my ladies!They make me giggle. Last class we all ended up singing campfire songs, now given that I am the youngest in the group and was able to keep up, this also makes me happy.

 anyway, the July CQJP/BJP is fly stitch and lots of blue

which goes with the weather we have been having.

Lots of beautiful blue skies

I did a folded 13mm silk ribbon  tacked with little blue teardrops
(my wish for rain)

I'm rather pleased with how the upper right seam treatment came out.

BJP July

 and the little brown bug in the lower right hand corner is for my BJP portion.


here is the whole thing finished

my sweet boy Benny

a little beading

so I went to this 2 day beading class with Robin Atkins through LaConner quilt museum last month and I just finished the piece i started after the class.

First let me tell you that Robin is an outstanding teacher!
she taught me so much during those two days and not just about beading but about teaching and how to be more in tune with your work process.

also how to work through a designing or creative slump, you bead through it.
just pick a spot and do something. a row fill in, something to get you into the frame of mind then it comes to you, bam,  just like that!

If you ever get the chance it is well worth it to take one of her classes. they are intensive and demanding but very well worth it!

anyway about the pouch...


I went on a trip to India last November and have been processing the experience ever since

I still cannot tell you exactly how I feel about the trip

other than it was equal parts beautiful, terrifying (the traffic) aggravating and filthy.

I'm glad I went but I’m not sure I would repeat the experience

 though I have placed it in the, I maybe persuaded, category from the, absolutely not! no.

and i used to be such an adventuresome creature

I wonder what happened?