The Lamp Shade Box

 The inside of the box is all sewn together first

As you can see all the sides inside and out are stretched over a form and whip stitched in place to make the front taught.

Then all the insides of the box are whip stitched together end to end including the bottom.

Now you can either sew the outside panels on or glue them or Because I'm very a combination of both.

I will explain,

I begin by putting e-6000 in the center of the panel

working my way out to almost the edges

because big globs of glue slopping out the edges are ugly

 will then pin the panel all around the outside edges to keep the panel where I want it and give it 24 hours to dry

I then whip stitch the top edge all around for stability except the edge where I want the hinge for the top, if I want a top.

Here is where other design decisions come into play. 

certain things happen to it in the making, 

the edges are not as perfect as one could hope,

even if you measured twice, there will be spots that don't align, One learns to roll with it.

This is especially true with a design of your own making, sometimes even a kit, 

Somewhere along the line I lost the original card panels to my box and had to re-cut them, 

so there is a bit of gaposis, it's not a perfect fit all around

Do not disrepair!

This is what lace and piping are made for!

Is it perfect yet?

No.

I gave up on perfection a long time ago, Perfection is the joy killer.

But that squidgey polyester piping is....not it.

I found some twisted wrapped piping that looks much better

So off with the meh and on with the better!

And maybe some beads?

I don't know yet but it is closer to done!

A few someones have asked what a lamp box is.

The convoluted answer is; to me it looks like an art deco lampshade without the fringe, so unless you have a better name for it that....

Lamp Shade Box it is.

 

Pins, pins, pins

Off on another odyssey of beading

I use stiff felt for both the base and the back 

with some thin card board in the middle for extra hold

and stability for the pinback

Sometimes i have a plan for these ladies

but most of the time I let the beads dictate the pattern

I try to organize my bead soup into base colors 

when I have enough I make a doll

and plan ahead for more

 I like to make a bunch of them all at once 

stopping every few to cut out two forms and the middle 

then mark and cut for the pin and glue that in is a pain

I want to be able to slap them together and go on to the next one

Especially when I have some creative juice flowing

And there is a different part of my brain that is good 

at the manufacturing nit-picky administrivia bit of being a creative

That tends to interfere with my free flow of ideas part

I don't like getting those bits cross-wired

It throws off my Groove

I get a lot done when I'm in my groove

The Baltimore Album Quilt

I also finally put this together, thAt only took 27 years....0.0!

This was my third applique quilt.

I made a Noah's ark quilt from a kit, for my son, 3 years before which, I have no Idea what happened to,

and a Sunbonnet Sue quilt, that I drafted the Sue's myself, while on a family driving trip in 1994.

I started this whilst pregnant with my second child.

And it's not done. I wasn't expecting it to be so tiny! It measures in at only 36" x 48"

I think it needs 2 more rows or maybe a top and bottom row..........I don't know.

9 of the blocks were sewn between 1995 and 1997, the last three, blocks the baskets were sewn in 2000 And the Ship which I also drafted a year later. All the blocks come from one of Ellie Sankowicz Baltimore album quilt books.

The corners

Very slowly this project has been getting done

When last I posted on it cardinal corner was done

 except or the embroidery I planned to incorporate

A little decoration on the house

Some vanes for the the leaves

and eyes for the birds

nothing to fancy

Just a little extra

And here are the bottom 2 corners 

Done and dusted

                                                    The orange peels go in the middle

Then the other two corners

And the whole thing together, Finally

Now all that needs figuring out is to border or not?

It's been a long dry summer

 It's been a long dry summer, 

full of dire portends for the future and 

small signs that "crazy"season may be on the wain

One can only hope.

Meanwhile there are things that need to be done

That all seem to be stuck somewhere in the middle

We started to cut down a few of our "inconvenient" trees this year back in may.

Intending to get them down and dusted by the end of June

Which didn't happen

What did happen was we discovered the poplars on the north side of the property are dead, 

getting punky and need to be torn down 

before they fall down.

Note to self; More plants may be satisfying for a while

and gorgeous 

but they do need to be watered every day

Sometimes twice a day when the weather doesn't cooperate,

Which it hasn't

So we galloped off to get us some estimates

Easy-Peasy right?

no 

You see the poplars are close to 80' tall

3 of the tree guys wouldn't even give us an estimate

the other 3 were varying degrees of almost $10,000 per tree.

because they would have to rent the equipment.

I'm sorry, what, what now?

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

This in turn triggered the insurance company to decide they wouldn't renew our insurance based on a fuzzy satellite view google maps pictures, 

so now (mid July) they want us to do their job with aerial photos to prove to them our house isn't a fire hazard    -.-

Throw in moss remediation on both roofs, ugh. 

and ick,   there is now dust and moss crap everywhere, 

Making sewing outside is impossible. So much for my happy spot this year

I sublimated my rage at the wood pile ^

It now stretches the length of the house and

Is about shoulder height

Since the insurance was being a prat we decided 

in addition to the front trees 

We would get down all the dead branches in the cedars along the western fence.

there are 25 of them so it took a minute.

The wood pile grew to a second wall along the driveway

which isn't finished yet

< this used to be a nice little cedar privacy wall,

40+ years ago.

It also started out on the neighbors property....

Guess who's problem it is now.....-.-

Anywho, we finally got the insurance company to renew,

 We have found a tree guy who already owns a ladder truck for the poplars so it doesn't cost the world to remove, yay!

Both my yards are still full of 

tree limbs and brush but that will be removed soon too. Also, yay! 

My inner German was beginning to despair of it ever getting tidy again.

On the good news front we have plenty of wood for us and the kids to run the fire place for the foreseeable future, if they would only come get some of it.

And my mulch pile is about to get epic.