Critter BOM

 So here we finish Madame la Herssone from

last years Block of the month from Sue Spargo

I had her background and environs finished 

but not the knotty problem of her Prickles

Not wanting her to be boring, I decided to cover her with little drizzles, instead of the occasional drizzles as laid out in the instructions

A close-up reveals she is made of very densely packed drizzle stitch, you must admire them, they took for F%*king ever!

3 different kinds of thread and some brassy colored tinsel type thread, like krenik but not them.

Because again, YBboring? And I had a little left for a little project,  it wanted using up. So I paired it with a dark brown DMC size 8 twist

and randomly drizzled away

Then there was the med brown/purple/grey Finca size 8 twist 

and last but not least the brown variegated that came in the BOM 

The blocks are about 6" square so she's not a big 

Hedggie but still that was a lot of drizzling

Good thing I had this car trip to see the eclipse

so I could finish her coat on the way when I wasn't driving.

Here she is Madame la Herssone!

I might give her butterfly another pair of wings though

The eclipse was wonderful BTW.

Critter bom

Madame La Herssone isn't quite finished yet

I decided her prickly's should be a close drizzle stitch 

so.....she's going to be a while

I also want to give her butterfly another set of wings

My additions to the piece beyond the pattern are 

more spots on the mushroom cap

bullion stitch for the gills

and a woven ring with cast-on frills for the stem

Critter bom

Miss Birdie was made during my trip to my moms last April

I can't make up my mind weather she looks like 

a redbellied woodpecker or a house finch

and looks pretty much like the pattern 

only with more feathers in the wings

I had 2 weeks at my mom's

I got bored 

 

Critter bom

Ribbet has no other pictures and neither do the next 3-4

I do like his green hide and blue belly

He also is as drawn out

I will try to do better but it's been a year so......

not everything is finished

I got side-tracked with the seasons applique quilt

I was sewing on these in the evening, during family time 

but that comes and goes, depending on what we are watching at the time

Critter bom

Next up is the Squirrel from last years Block of the month from Sue Spargo

He looks pretty much Like the pattern

I wussed out on this one but then I think I was tired

AAAANd hes done

I should have made his til fluffy at least....

I still may, it depends on what is left over 

from all the other  blocks
 

Critter Bom

 I got a Block of the month last year from Sue Spargo

It was a fun one!

Now if you have ever taken a class or gotten a BOM from her 

you know she doesn't like it if you share anything anywhere 

until the BOM is over,   

And since it's a year later, 

I'm going to start sharing!

< First up is Monsieur le Trash panda!

Now if you ask me, he looks NOTHing like the Raccoon pattern I was given, 

The raccoon pattern I was given looks nothing like a raccoon!

so I honestly fee like this one is all mine.

Go ahead fight me. I dare you.

I also decided that a bunch of the patterns look not like I think they should, 

So I will be "Fixing" them too.

Felting #2

 So I made a BIG Mistake over the holiday.   

Huge!  

I cleaned.👀😜

Yep, House is all sparkly clean, spick and span. I can't find ANYTHING. Ugh! 

I take comfort in knowing neither can my husband

And he helped

felting

There's Something about Felt






the way it feels when you work it




soft to the touch and inviting




 the way it looks in piles colorful bits of warm and fuzzy


or when you've finished sewing it down finally neat in its encompassing stitches


hmmm, I thing crow needs a wing to go with that worm









 a little lumpy but always warm and inviting





one is never afraid to sleep under, sit on or otherwise use a felt quilt



its home





and homey things


things that make you feel warm and fuzzy





things that make you think of the future and  family and what lays ahead

the throes

I have a bad case of the throes,

as every quilter realizes at some point in their quilting career

there are way more Ideas in their heads than they can ever make in reality

and when you are a quilter like me

who is well and truly bitten,

you have more than one hobby horse to ride

this makes for a messy table

or two............


I am always in the throes of an idea

I've various stages of done laying about the house.

I try to keep them contained but they keep crawling out across various tables in the house

tossing themselves around

at least that's what I tell myself

You know they just got out again, like recalcitrant puppies refusing to stay in their basket


here's another one!

and you have to lay it all out so you can see all the colors and how they will interact with each other!

next thing you know there are parts all over the room

It just exploded! honest!

I need to stop buying fabric, is what I need to do.

Ha!




that last pile ended up looking like this so the process is messy

but look at all the pretty colors!

the bird book

 A long, long time ago, I joined two separate round robbins with Crazy Quilting International

one round robbin was to CQ your favorite poem

one of mine is "When Women were birds" by
Terry Tempest Williams

“Once upon a time,
when women were birds, t
here was the simple understanding
that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk
was to heal the world through joy.
The birds still remember
what we have forgotten,
that the world is meant to be celebrated.”
 
 When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice


I was quite pleased when these blocks came back, though only two had the phrases sewn in that went with their pieces.

I always meant to sew the rest but never got around to that part as so many other things were pressing then.

what were they? I cant remember. I just remember something else needed to be done and I put the blocks aside.


 The other round robbin  theme was Women in gardens(?) I think.

And that one came back to me exquisitely sewn too!

and then life so it got put with the others and sat sad and neglected at the bottom of the ufo box

I took them out earlier this year
thinking to make them into a wall hanging

but that wasn't good enough either
so they sat on the desk in the "waiting" pile.

then I got them out to show someone and they got all mixed up together and well,

 they looked good together
so I thought "Aha! a book!"

and here it is.

the bird book

CQJP Paris #5 bistro

 so trying to publish from my phone is a disaster as you have probably noticed from the lack of pictures or text since october. sorry about that when stuff doesn't work around here it really goes to the dogs.

This block represents all the wonderful little bistros that litter Paris like candy wrappers behind a careless child.











some do pastries,
            some are cafe' only
                            some only open for the evening
                                                               and some do it all
         



my favorite was a dinky little hole in the wall with one table
and an indolent cat who would beg the cream off your cappuccino in a demanding 3 pack a day meow











the waiter/owner would bring you your order and leave you to your devices to gossip with friends and neighbors inside at the bar





 and his wifes bread was to die for
 brown and crunchy crust soft fleshy inside
fresh from the oven

you could smell it down the block and around the corner

it would call to me in the morning, a sirens song of aroma drifting through my hotel window

CQJP Paris walking the dog

So this is sumething you will see in Paris alOt

a very chique lady walking her dog.

Parisians love their dogs, they take them everywhere










and like their children, these dogs are very well behaved.

You see them everywhere, under tables in cafes,

outside groceries guarding bikes,

or walking thir people through the markets or down the street.

this lady is dressed for work

walking her dog through the champs elise

on her way to her office job, not all though many,

who allow their people to bring their dogs to work.

CQJP 2017 Paris block #3

 this block cellebrates all the open parks in the city and the art neuvo influence that you will see scattered everywhere

first up is the moth, in a vine you will see them in the dusk after the street lights go on banging their heads against the glass

then the duck, she was supposed to be a swan but oh well shes a pretty enough duckriding the waves of a pond

the phrase is from one of my favoriet Edith Piaf songs and is the title as well" Je ne regrette rien" I do not regret anything.

 the little pump in a cistern is a common sight as well usually behind large houses or in country

I did a fair amount of sewing on the flowers in the middle portion mostly because we took a 2 day train trip to see family in CHicago and 2 days on a train is the perfect place for sewing

squares for watering the gardens, horses and the other family animals

 and look what decided to flower this Year! The irises are huge and have may blooms on each stalk. I suppose this is what happens when they hybernate for 8 years!

to be fair i had them in a different location and only mooverd them 2 years ago to where they are now but they didnt bloom last year either.

I also found this fellow sleeping on my allium drumstic this morning.
he must have been caught out when the sun whent down over the trees, it gets cold quite fast around here after dusk.

more is in bloom in the garden and ill have pictures of those too soon.

2017 CQJP 2 Rue Glycene

The story of this panel starts with a picture taken during a meandering walk,

in which I decided to wander the streets, looking for nothing in particular.

After passing the rather disreputable looking door,

 As the door was deeply set into the wall and ajar I entered this unexpected fairyland,

Located down a little covered corridor which opens onto one of Paris' many pocket streets.


In which there is a little courtyard

containing 3 or 4 homes with balconies

overlooking this glorious little fountain tinkling merrily in the sunlight.

Each entrance with their own potted garden and ancient wisteria vine

covering entrance and balcony, in purple and pink splendor.