Spring break

the Children came to visit from chicago for spring break,
I had a good time taking them to a few places around town.
snoqualmie falls was our first stop.

we took in alice in wonderland at crossroads theater and a little mall crawling for the girls. it was interesting, I got caught up more in the visuals and not so much the story. It's tim burton after all and He excells in visuals but realy he only makes movies, to show everyone how clever he is.

the bremmerton shipyards and Ferryboat ride into seattle.
I wish we had more time to visit the naval museum as well as the battleship but alas we had to get back .It was lovely to see the DS engaged in something he loves and exploring battleships is a true love. I know this by the deep inhalation the minute he was aboard the old vessel, it smelled of deasl fuel, steel and musty leather,as far as I could tell but to him it was a freindly pat on the shoulder and brotherly punch in the arm.
I forgot the camera so there are no pics for this day. pooh!


then seattle and the space needle and the amusement park at the bottom.


To my wonderful Lovely BF, who had instant family for a week and survived,
mostly!)

and who could resist a visit to the troll-under-the-bridge?
Yes folks that's a real VW bug under the trolls hand!
and in true boy fashion, my DS wondered "Wouldn't it be cool if someone was stuck in there?"
to which I asked "you got anyone in mind?"
"Uh, no. I just wondered."he replied, and he got thoughtful. maybe his imagination just supplied the answer.


I had a wonderful busy week with the kiddies all to myself,
and now they are gone home and it's lonely here.

SRE purse is done!

I was given a challenge this last class by Moe the lady who runs our SRE class to complete my purse for the next class.

I surprised myself by making the deadline by more than two weeks!

there was another consideration as my kiddies are coming to visit this week and I didn't want to be distracted by an incomplete project while they were here. I want to focus on them and take them to see fun Seattle stuff,while they are in town.

as you can see I finally decided where to put the bird,I thank you all for your suggestions and encouragement.

I took some advice from Gerry's blog Olderose to break up the straight lines, I didn't brake them up so much as tone them down with some beads so they weren't so screaming white.


I think it all balanced out fairly well. my eye is drawn bird first thing but it's not stuck there like it was on the blue. then travel around the to the rest of the block because there is a lot more to see!

HELP!

Ok ladies, I need your help here.

I embroidered this bird on muslin intending to put it in the nice open blue cloudy sky.
but when I got to that point it just didn't look right being too close to the butterfly.

Now where do I put it?


I have narrowed it down to three places,

so far my runners up are the smaller brocade patch and the wisteria grove.

so,
what do you think?

It's a loong way back up!

the first bike ride of the season is always the most optimistic.
you are certain that it's a beautiful day and will remain so for the whole of your trip.
you are positive that you will get to where you are going and therefor get back home in a reasonable amount of time.
and you have no doubts that you will make it there and back again in one piece.
getting the bicycle off the hook it lives on and out of the garage was no problem.
getting on the bicycle and riding the 2 1/2 miles down the hill from my humble abode was no problem, barring some windburn and freezing cold fingers.
getting my little bit of chores done was also no problem.
then the reality of the 2 1/2 mile hump back up the hill at a 45*angle sets in.
*Sigh*
it took me 15 minutes to get down the hill and almost the better part of 90 minutes getting back up it.
I vow to make that time shorter! I even took the long "easy" way go around the human habitrail (other wise known as the housing development ghetto) instead of the 60* angle from 39th ave to 45th ave straight up.
I'm not sure that was an improvement.
Oh well, I got out of the house, I got some exercise, and I got some frozen shelled edamame, good for handful-at-a-time snakin, yum!

g'Ma's hankies

I finished my mothers birthday present, a pillow made from my grandmothers hankies.
all 3 of them, though the lions share were g'ma Lorie's , hence the big yellow "L"














I sent it off to Chicago and she loves it!

so it's now safe to show everyone.

Unfortunately, in my infinite wisdom, (NOT!) didn't take a picture of the whole thing done and ready to go.
that's what I get for leaving things to the last minute!

had a hard time coming up with things to fill this out, these hankies were my gran's but the present was for my Mom, who's images do I do?
I decided that G'Ma's hankies were enough of a reminder so I used mom's favorite things to cover the corners that were left, some of those hankies were busy!












there are reminders of pets past, we had 42 bunnies at one time in a 3rd floor Chicago apartment! I bought a little bunny, then I bought another bunnie, don't one and one make two??


I had to put MR.Chuckles on there, he was Mom's horse back when Chicago had stables on clark and fullerton he is also a reminder of the Chicago Armoury Polo Club, mom was a groom and trainer and I was a gole tender and hot walker

When she was younger she used to race bikes on short track and I remember waiting for the herd to fly by so I could run to the center and watch her from the grassy spot in the middle.
when I was really little I rode in the bike seat on the back and we would do errands and such,
later we would ride on the lakefront

She gets to travel now, with her husband. they have been all over the place Europe, Malaysia, China Russia, India and so on. Her favorite place is Pariss though, she has photo albums full of odd little corners of Paris. someday I think she wants to retire there if she can convince poppabear to go!
Then I would have an excuse to go to Paris, explore and fill my own photo album!

update on the SRE class

Ok so here is even more of an update on the SRE class
I'm not terribly pleased with the wisteria as it looks like grapes but it's not awful so i'll leave it.
for some reason the actual grapes won't load so I'll do that later.

I have made a wreath that I was going to use for strawberries but though better of it and now don't quite know what to do with. flowers of some sort I suppose!


the butterfly is finished and I'm working on the strawberries now

SRE class

Here is how my SRE class is going.

so far I'm quite pleased!

I'm using a combination of RJR and Gloriana silk ribbon.

the RJR is wonderful for good solid colors and gloriana has wonderful vibrant variegation's in it for blending and realism!

pay it forward

Have you all heard of the "Pay It Forward" phenomena that has made it's weaving way through blogland? Well, I am not the recipient of it from any blog but I want to play. I am going to start the Pay It Forward myself well...because....I do what I want, and I wanna play!

Here are the rules...

* I will make a little handmade something for the first 3 people (and maybe more...again MY rules I make them up) who comment on this post who would like to play along.

* I have a year (365 days) to complete my mission and send off the goodies! That should be enough time.

* There is no telling what those things might be, or when they will show up in the post, it's a mystery.

Details, or the fine print;

Since this is ‘Pay It Forward’. You, my dears, must do as I have done and post a similar blog entry yourself, hence Paying the bloggy goodness Forward and keeping the meme, and the fun, going. Remember you are only obligated to make out to 3 people!

Would you like to join in? Of course you do. You have an entire year to make whatever you want, it can be something small or tall or short and stout, even something round. And you will receive something made by me! Ooh, the possibilities!

Now, go on and do it!

(text swiped from Princess of all things(and them some!)
whom I shamelessly plug here http://princessandthebeads.blogspot.com/

my Christmas stocking

I finished my DBF's stocking before christmas and as you can see, I am making progress on my stocking too



I will probably mess with it some more next year but for now I am satisfied with it








the Key is a play on my maiden name of Noelke
Noel-key, get it;)

the cryllic letters stand for my name in Russian

and the two Birds are "nesting'
the erring is one that my mother made for me, the other one broke and I used the bugle beads in the DBF's stocking as organ pipes.

the asiatic scene is one that used to be a pendant and the buttons were some that I found at my gramothers

Queen of the yard!

let me tell you why I am ""queen of the yard". yesterday I conquered the chainsaw!
Pishaw and small potatoes you say!
well, hey, I'm a big city Girl, i've never realy been close to a chainsaw, let alone ever have to use one!

last sept I was horrified when the DBF took out his chainsaw and proceeded to carry it up a tree to cut down branches, not just by the noise it made (damned things are really loud!) but by the prospect of sewing back severed limbs should he fall or misjudge a cut..
I did what any other sensible City dweller would do, I did the "girlie thing" and went inside to bake bread so I wouldn't have to watch the possible carnage.
after all, what do I know from Chainsaws?

though the DBF did point out that, trying to make it out here in the wilds of the great northwest with him, three stray cats and twenty million trees on our 3/4s of an acre I'd have to learn to use one, one of these days.

well, yesterday morning I had a dream (no really!) that I was cutting down the big dead tree by the front door, with the chainsaw in my own lilly white hands!
so upon waking having a good strong cup of coffee, kissing my DBF off to work and putting my "Big girl panties" on. I decided to go have a talk with the chainsaw a see what the fuss was all about.
Turns out he's just another tool, who likes to be oiled and gassed up from time to time like all the other ones hanging around various parts of the garage.

So I gassed him up and we had a good time cutting down that dead tree in the frond yard, I now have my sights on the rampant rhodi jungle by the northeast side of the front yard.
look out here I come!

but maybe after a couple of days and a nice cup of ginger tea, it seems the flesh is weak and muscle soreness is a bitch!

new sketchbook entries

something I haven't done a lot of lately is share my sketchbook idea's with you all.

here are some of the recent projects you may recognize,
the cinderella quilt the DBF's christmas stocking
the witchi-poo hat


and some newish ones

like my christmas stocking which I know you've seen before

and the beauty and the beast quilt furthering my attempt to
CQ all my favorite fairy tails,

and the SRE class quilt which may or mat not be made into a purse, i haven't decided just what to do with that yet.

and then there are tthe hankies, my mothers birthday is in march and I decided it was about time to do something for her again and I have grandma Lories hankies hanging about doing nothing so...

Idea rampage

I need to slow down the project mayhem!

I have a lot of things going at once and am in need of pile management!

Again!


see that pile on the couch? that is the extent of my overflow of imagination.
I can't seem to slow it down the ideas keep coming and I am a slave to all of them.
and its growing!

a pot of tea first, I think, then what to show you next?

Merry Christmas!

I want to wish every one out there in bloggerland a very merry Christmas and a Happy new year,Wish me luck,
this Holiday season I am flying into Chicago tomorrow, christmas day, to see my kiddies and Just to remind everyone it could be worse! this is Niagara falls in 1911, frozen completely over!

I hope the new year brings you every joy.