Approaching Midnight

I have figured out how to use the new camera!

( a round of applause please!)

So I think an update on one of the blocks I have been working on is long overdue.

the picnic table is a lovely place to work. Some of the pictures are sideways but the new camera works a treat! closeups of this are spectacular! this is the prince's castle.

Here is Cinderella's fan, no one goes to a ball with out a fan to flirt behind!

the orange circle will be a clock face eventually

in some of the original stories (before it got disneyfied) there were three balls with a different outfit for each night, the second of which had gold shoes.

her horse and carriage was free handed, I haven't decided weather I will fill it in yet or not. It all depends on how ambitious I get!

the driver will, however, get a head when the blocks are joined together, for anyone who is worried!) the upside down bird patch still needs to be addressed. maybe I'll cover it with more flowers and call it good.

the patch under the castle still needs a little work, I'm planning on placing clock faces around the block and maybe i can find a glass slipper charm some where.

the weather in Seattle has been unseasonably warm and sunny so I have been taking advantage of it by riding my bike. we're at the top of a hill so we will see how well I do getting back up it! my last time out I only had to push it up the last three blocks or so. those are a work out pushing as they are trying to pedal since it's at a 60* angle! Wish me luck!

More quilt rescue

This time it's my youngest DD's quilt.
It's my 1st quilt ever!

I originally made this one for my son before he was born.
it's held up well considering I made it almost 20 years ago! but as you can see it's in pretty bad shape.

best part is she got to pick out all the fabric I used to fix it
and I got it done in 2 weeks as opposed to the tortuous
3-4 patches when I had time.
I think the only remaining original fabric in it is the
original backing that is now the foundation.
it has almost no batting in it but what is left of the older
patches seems to work just as well.

and now it looks almost brand new!
in fact my DD#2 was saying she will have to love it in all over again because its so stiff

(I will update with pictures in a few days)

I'm going to Hawaii!

Yep ! I am! My wonderful lovely dear BF has gotten us 2 tickets to Hawaii for two Whole weeks!!! I couldn't be more excited! and We will be there (almost) through my BD, so Happy Birthday to me!)

I have to figure out what to bring to keep me company on the plane ride out. something small and compact with out too many parts.
lets see, would it be too prosaic to take the hawaii CQ?
should I start something new?
what do I have in my stash that needs work, aside from everything?

OOh and I have to clean! eek!
I hate coming home to a dirty house!
I soo excited or did I say that already?

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!