new stuff in the works

I've got a bunch of new stuff in the works!
lots of projects to finish up  and new ones to start.

but first I have to finish the wedding present I'm making for my oldest friend.
she is getting married in Malibu on the 27th and I just started on it, I have to finish it first!
I've had the Idea for it for a few months now, but with all the other things and the girls and life and whatnot, it's been hard to get started on it.






I will post pics of this piece after we get back from the wedding.
but the other stuff you can see now!






I have little witchy-poo hats for the serenity shop and hawaii themed boxes





a wedding themed box, and a few other bits and bobs.


lets see if I can get these ready before halloween in time to gear up for the christmas season!

FFT 16 RR

Barbara r's square done!
i hope she likes it
I asked Barb W if she didn't mind if I took out her water and re did it,
as I couldn't find the same colorto extend what she did.
I added a tree and butterflies to frame the couple


and mirrored the flower bed along the bottom.

Birthday boy's navy box

here is the finished block before making it into a box.

I'm quite pleased with how this one came out.

I got nice and fancy detailed with out getting too "girlie"
the goldwork is done with cheep christmas braid and elastic chord.
be careful using the elastic stuff because it real easy to pull to hard when going through the fabric and puckering your work. it's best to pull out a little extra and couch it as you go around, pulling in the exess when you have gotten to the end. that way your not working with a wadded, puckering piece that wont stay flat. the styalized fish was a bonus find at my local bead shop in country villiage.

I love how the lacy bits make the waves look "foamy" I added some clear opalescent beads to add to the "choppy wave" feeling.


why is it so hard to add a little extra to these braids? it seems like every time I do I end up staring at it for a day trying to decide what to put there to make it "go". since I didn't want to get to fancy with it, I stared at it a lot!


my favorite spot on this piece is the "ships wheel" detailing across the top just enough bling to satisfy my need to layer stuff but not enough for my son to wig out!

and heres the finished piece what do you think?
appropriately manly for a 20 year old?

should I do a tut on making a top into a box?
let me know by leaving a comment.

going commando

in a manner of speaking.

Adam on the leni at his dad's

That's me in the window

My DBF has taken the camera with him to Hilo to visit his dad, who is seriously ill.
so I am without picture taking abillity for a week.
so y'all will just have to wait for pictures of my new stuff.
I'm almost done with the navy and the sun box top so those will be coming soon.
and I have started some small hawaii themed pieces and I was thinking of doing some small table top versions of my witchy-poo hat for the Sunshine serenity shop at countryvilliage here in bothell.
there are about 4-5 I'm still not sure what they will be yet.
but I'm bee buzzy! and if it keeps raining here I'll be productive too!)

Agaust BJP

This one is called Whatever a sun has sung

I used stiff stuff for the first time instead of felt and woo, woo!

does it work nice!





I still need to put the back and the bells on (so it sings)

But it is done




I wanted lots of movement on this piece to represent solar flares and the constant movement of the sun
but also how the sun "sings" to us here on earth.
it warms us and keeps our planet in the perfect orbit for life to exist

 So here is my work on Barbara Warner's Hanki CQ for the FFT #16

I only did two heavily embellished seam treatments because I didn't want to overwhelm the delicacy of the overall piece

this is the top corner

 and the lower corner by the belly of the bird

 and the left corner

 the bird is an embroidered motif done in DMC cottons and sparkle threads on felt I followed Gerry K's tutorial here.

this is a closeup of the beadwork at the tail







and here is the whole piece together
I tried to balance the colors with white, yellow and blue being the main colors using the red, pink and green as accents only.



this is my first RR in CQI how'd I do?

Grey challenge is done!

naked block

 well that was a challenge!

finished block

keeping to one colorway is hard for me.
I generally like to go all over the place with my colors
and this was a learning experience too!
I tried Gerry K's advice that button clusters need to go somewhere,
and tried my hand at spiderweb roses
-note to self, 4mm ribbon not good for web roses
unless they are tiny!

We had a wonderful time at the Kirkland fireworks!

the teddy bear was rambunctious

jumping around and scaring people

Mara couldn't stop wiggling and giggling which made everyone else giggle and laugh!

it was all she could do to catch hinm

it's almost worth the time and aggravation of escaping kirkland in the inevitable traffic jam afterwards!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July holiday to all of you out there in bloggerland!

I have survived the first week with my girls (there are 7more with the littlest)

let me tell you what the 4th means to me,
I declared my independence from my ex-husband on this day.
after 20 years in a bad marriage forever making it a very special day to me.

and now my family is further splintered but to the good this time.
my son is embarking on his own life in the world and leaving home for the military.

my eldest daughter after the worst year of her young life full of horrible clashes with her father and his rather dictatorial controlling ways has decided to move in with me in Seattle and finish out H.S. here. Yea!!
It leaves my youngest at home alone with her father but she gets along with him better than anyone else in the family does being his baby girl.
I don't anticipate the clash of personality with her that there was with #1 DD. #1 DD is and always has been an opinionated, loud, curious, wonderfully interesting, funny, handful!
and dad is, well think Hosni Mubarak without the country and you have an idea of how living with the ex was.
some people work well within that system some do not.

anyway this all makes the 4th a special day to me,
so go enjoy the fireworks!

grey challenge

 this is how the grey study started off looking.
I soon decided that that shiny piece was too shiny and must be muted!
just putting something over it didn't seem to work
so I took that seam out and re-worked it a little.

 this is what it looked like after I fixed it and added a little bit of trim.
the dark lace toned down that shiny piece nicely.

for me the challenge has been to keep it all in just one colorway and not let it spill out into all the others. though I did turn up an amazing array of greys in my stash!I really didn't have to buy anything!

t a good start I worked on this while Pat, Donna  and I had our first ever Crossroads CQ meeting.


we meet in front of the Jo-anne fabrics.
Wednesdays at 3:00pm.
everyone who can come is invited.
the more the merrier!

 I like how this seam treatment turned out.
the ribbon is couched to keep it from curling up on the edges
but otherwise its threaded through that cheepie plastic silver trim.

 I found a few greys in my stash!
do you think I have enough to finish?
Ok, so I cheated, I bought some beads and the grey silk ribbon,
but I had the rest!

i will also finish the mourning heart for Hideko since it is in the same colors anyway.

some of what I've been up to

here is some of what I've been up to lately.





i got inspired to make up a whole bunch of new base






pieces for boxes and small wall hangings.







got the fft #16 RR pieced, marked , packaged
and sent out Tuesday, too!








I also re-worked the grey study.
I didn't like the shiny, shiny at the top of the piece so I made it smaller and worked in a piece of dark grey lace to cover most of it.
now the shiny is muted and not the only thing that catches your eye.




I made up a mourning heart for Hideko





and a Navy piece for my son who is taking his ASFAB
(don'cha love military acronyms?)



I've started augusts BJP but I can't seem to get motivated to do much on it.
It will probably languish until the last minute.
the monthly journal aspect is starting to loose a
little steam with me but I want to finish it.
the BJP stretches me in an unfamiliar way and I like that!

big hawaii

Finally finished this wall hanging, it's only been like 3 years!





boy do I know how to procrastinate or what?





some of you may recognize this from a CQ for newbies RR



way back in 2008 this is how the block came back to me.
this is what they looked like before I really got to work on them
And this is what they look like now

I have added a lot of details from each of the blocks taking elements from the other pieces and adding a few more of my own to blend the four parts into a cohesive whole.

I think I did an ok job what do you all think?