A new fairy tail

I have started a new fairy tail block to go with the two that are more or less finished, i have two or three that i started about two years ago on the trip to Boston, but they are in Chicago with the rest of my belongings.

I know when the Ideas start coming, they come in groups and you never know how long a quilting toot will last so it's a good idea to get them started, even if you don't finish them right away.




this other block is the start to an SRE class I'm taking at Gathering Fabrics quilt store.
I wanted lots of big open spots for the ribbon work.

I was trying for colorways I don't normally use but who am I kidding, I am Mrs. every color all the time!

if anyone in the woodinville /bothell area is interested, the class meets every 2nd tuesday of the month and is $25.00 a class.

here's the web site for the store,

http://www.gatheringfabric.com/

Witchi-poo hat

I have decided to join the throngs at UWb's annual Halloween, spooky organ music recital.
I am going as a Witch (go figure)so this will cap my maribu witches hat.
I got the idea for it from a pattern I saw in gathering fabric, a quilt store in woodenville.


As you can see I don't follow patterns very well, which is why I love CQ,

NO RULES, ROCKS!

I could leave it like it is and be the bell of the ball(so to speak) but that just wouldn't be me!
I have so much more planned for this you will not recognize it!
I will post more later ladies, I am on a roll !)

Christmas stocking

As most of my things are still in Chi town, I have been working on things that I brought with me but that only lasts for so long!

A new friend Kathy has been kidnapping me and taking me sight seeing around washington to various quilting stores and the inspiration has been rife with possibilities!

A piece of fabric here and a piece of lace there and my new stash is piling up!

My DBF isn't helping either, he keeps taking me to places where i must have this or that, fueling my addiction, naughty boy! this is why I love him;)

I started a Christmas stocking for him since he doesn't have one!


I made the wreath of some wonderful variegated fuzzy floss I received in a Christmas jumble bag, the roses are made of gold laddered ribbon



this corner is going to be an organ once I can figure out how to make it look like one!as you can see, the pipes are already down I just need to figure out the keyboard part.






the robin turned out quite well i think. I took two different colors of floss to get the mottled effect.
I used the same laddered ribbon for the gold leaves he is sitting on.

the swirly was made from gold cord and couched down.

I loved the bullion tree in NZ joe's Christmas block so much I made one of my own. the trunk is brown organdy ribbon spot tacked.

the spider will eventually get his legs and the web is made from gold DMC thread.

one minute to midnight

I have more progress!

I added the ribbon because the circles were not working for me and it brings the moon into the picture instead of being a main focal point. I addaed the mice along the side because who else is going to pull the coach?

I filled in the horse and coach and added a glass slipper for the purists out there who will insist that cindarella have one. the rooster was just a fun find. we have a wonderfull bead shop in bothell called "garden of beadin" at the country village not only is it fun to walk around but there is also a sane quilt shop there.

I added several clock faces all chiming midnight and finished the last seam in the fan and filled in a few other spots that were bugging me. I'm still not sure I'm done.

when I put the two blocks together so far It makes me want to do more work on the kateschi block

That Girl in seattle

something I alluded to last post and will update yall more in the coming months.
my life has been busy for the last month or so and I have made many changes to my life and the lives of my family. one of those changes is to divorce my DH of almost 20 years. the other was to move 2000 miles cross country to the Seattle area of Washington. change is never viewed favorably by everyone and sudden change even less. needless to say at the moment no one is happy with me but myself and as selfish as this sounds (and is) I am happy for the first time in years! that all being said I have also gotten back to work sewing!
woo-hoo! I has started to make inroads on one of the fairy-tail blocks, and since I moved without taking any of my stuff with me, this and the Blue Hawaii RR blocks are what I will be working on, until I can get back to Chicago, to get the rest of my stuff!

Oh my goodness folksies!

what a summer its been so far and its not over yet!

I will tell you all in dribbs and drabbs I suppose, I haven't quite processed life-as-I-now-know-it as of yet so please bear with me!)

I have done a little to improve the pineapples and palms CQ but lack of creativity CQ

wise seems to be the order of the summer.



I just can't seem to get motervated!

and I'm not sure I like my solution to the storybook CQ block problem, which was upside down panels that just didn't look right. that one is still a work in progress.

anywhoo,
life-as-i-know-it will eventually calm down enough so I can detail things again. till then you will have to be satisfied with slow Cq progress!
sorry!
I will explain some other time, I am just overwhelmed at the moment.

Mommabear

New work on Pineapples and Palmtrees

I've started some new work on my old CYOT project I finally sewed the silly thing together and am prepping it for seam treatments down the new seams.
I'm going to pull the whole thing together
(I hope!) by cross pollinating the seam treatments from all 4 pieces and maybe adding some themes here and there where its looking a little bare.

Otherwise, I discovered these wonderful boxes to put my beads in. each compartment opens individually of the others so you don't mix beads, theyare compact and come in different sizes. lovely!

My wet garden

After two straight weeks of rain we finally got a day of sun and wind yesterday and back to rain and cold today!

my garden is doing well in spite of the cold.

tanukie needs a wash

and Mary seems to be loosing her nose,Hmm.

*sigh*

On the fun side I have a robin nesting in my front awning!

She's made herself comfortable and as no one uses the front door she was quite undisturbed until Sunday.

Grandma's Hankies

These are pics of my Grandmothers Hankies.
these belonged to her and her sisters when every lady carried one in her pocket.

all are hand embroidered by one of them,

Gran ended up with them because she was the youngest and the last to go.

Louise, Kathy, Rose, Kay & Grama Lorraine,

were as close as five sisters

who had to wear each others hand-me-downs & sleep in the same bed could get, the only time Gran remembers getting anything new was at her birthday, when she would get four new hankies, one from each of her sisters.

I've left all the pics at high res so you all can see the wonderful details.

The hand stitching puts my machine to shame!

Finally an update! I've finished the left side of one panel and am at a loss for the right side I like how thw red makes the picture stand out.

I also like the way the green enhances the flowers

now i just need to do the same for the peacock!

I made a minor adjustment to the other side of removing the jeweld dragonfly and substituting this one found after a serch through my stash for something else that I couldn't find!

this side was lopsided and not looking quite right, I think the lace dragonfly brings balance and more focus to that side of the piece.

I think I'll go make Banana muffins now.

new buds

Now you people get to see how slow I am !

I've added beading down the left side with cast off stitched leaves,

a dragonfly and bead butterflies for the bullion stitch flowers.

Inspiration is still coming slowly and I get distracted by all the usual things from kids to work.

there hasn't been much on TV (which is when I do most of my stitching) the last few weeks,

tho I did spy a show with "legs". the Beast with Patrick Swayze.

not only is it intriguing, the back drop of Chicago is wonderful to see!

I recognized so many places I've been!

Exciting for that alone. not to mention glimpses of PS delectable acting, I think its' the best he's done yet!

some reworking of last years christmas stocking

I didn't like where I originaly put some of the details so I renovated.

I put in an older picture of the stocking so you could see just where i changed some of the embellishments. since its my stocking I can work on it over a few years instead of all right now, really takes the pressure off!

There is a little progress on the purse