A Place for my stuff or where I sew

 OOps! sorry, Sorry I'm late to the party but i got all sidetracked with "stuff"

I'm going to start this tour of "where I create with" my favorite sewing spots.

this is my swing chair under the lanai by what we use as the front door it's just covered enough to keep the rain off
and in Seattle it rains A LOT!

here is my other spot for it, on the back deck looking out onto the backyard.

this is the cool west side of the house surrounded by trees.

in august when it gets warm around here this is the coolest spot in the house to sit.

it's also nice when it gets cooler when we take the top off the table and it turns into a firepit!

this is my favorite room in the house.
cozy and open at the same time with lots of natural light.
this is the room where my sewing machine and fabric live, yes that is an organ, I play the violin, recorder, and guitar, my fiance plays the organ I don't know what to do with it!)
that chair in front of the fireplace is the BEST chair to cozy in, when its cold out!

here is another view


the Beauty fan I made of real condor and parrot feathers that were naturally shed.
I got them when I worked in Lincolnparks childrens Zoo, in the 80's it was one of my summer jobs in H.S.

the drawers hold all my  implements of craftage.

the window is the best feature of the room it looks out onto the backyard and the willow tree that picture of the gypsy in the corner is my grand uncle Olaff who ran for president against Taft and with my Grandfather worked on the Eastland, ran a speakeasy in the 20's, were hobos, and all sorts of other things too long and various for this post.

look at all the wonderful light coming in the window!

I have prisms hanging all over the window so when the sun does decide to shine(we are in Seattle after all!) I get rainbows everywhere!

the corner is where all the color lives! 
fabric waiting to become, partly and finished projects, bits and bobs displayed with reckless abandon!

also more drawers within easy reach when I am in the "throws" of creativity.
and I like boxes, tins and baskets to hold things so this corner tends to be a jumble

the picture is of Scott Joplin, my grandfather drew him with chalk pastels as part of his favorite composers, Bach hangs over the organ on the opposite wall.
I made the ermine "grouch" bag from pelts I traded two beaded bracelets and and a pin for at a Pow-Wow in Chicago when I was 9.

 the cover for the fireplace is what I have so far for my "fairy tales" CQ can you tell which ones I have so far?   

Here is my corner of the computer room, my fiance and I share this room and often work in it together

 I'm working on my last "fools Gold block" 
all my beads, threads, ribbons, buttons and little things that are so important for CQing.

 I have braided most of my threads and hung them on those little hoops you get at the staples for folders. I find it more handy than almost any other way of storing my thread they are mostly the same length and to remove just the right amount you just pull.

my other project that I haven't named yet but is rapidly turning into "my heritage" blocks.

they are hanging on the file cabinet and a speaker that lives on the desk

under my desk is almost as interesting, its where the lace, trims, silk ribbon and my most used books live.

I want you to notice the tin filled with cut straws. they hold my small quantity beads. you know the colors you only have this many of and it's too small to put in a container and too many to just ditch.

you can close the ends by pinching them with needle nose pliers and a  lighter. then you can make them as big or small as you need them AND if you swipe them from the costco food mart their free!  HA!

 this is and old cd tower that I have appropriated to display my purses and boxes in the living room.

my couch is another good spot to sew in the colder winter months. it sits to the right of the wood stove and right in front of the TV so I can watch and sew or sew and watch, depending on how committed i am to finish something!





 I'll leave you at my absolute favorite spot anywhere to sew. it's under the willow tree in the backyard with a fresh cuppa!


Happy sewing!

the new project and BJP update

so I decided to combine junes BJP project with the one I'm working on now I made two of these and they are to be the wings of a blue bird in the german style.
German being one (of 7) of the nationalities swimming around in my blood stream.

Its so strange, so many people like to define themselves by a nationality in this country and I never could understand it.

you get asked all the time (in Chicago at least) "so what are you?" and I have never had an adequate answer for that.

We never really celebrated anything specific, it was sort of jumbled into or pulled from whatever was interesting at the time.

besides that I'd have to say if I was anything I am a midwest bohemian with pagan leanings. that's about as specific as I can get.

so anyway, all confusion aside, I am celebrating one of my heritages with this piece.


and really the colors were all inspired by one of the monthly embellishment packages from "Flights of Fancy" so I think it's safe to say we can blame her for all this introspection!  :)


I still have some beading to do and I need to find the other orange flower for around the portrait but it's mostly done.

very german countryside don't you think?

BJP-April and may

 we've been having a very soggy, boggy chilly spring!

but stuff is growing and I wanted to celebrate that in the april BJP,
so I thought a growing seedling would do the trick just fine.

and the follow up being the lilly of the valley for the may BJP.

now I just have to figure out what to do for june before it's over!

new project

I don't have a name for this one yet  and I'm one short of a full deck, but we knew that about me already didn't we?

 one of the flights of fancy CQ embellishments packages was the inspiration for all this.

if you need stash, that is a great place to drool!

I did a little bit of everything to this block and I'm still trying to decide if it's too busy or not busy enough!

that probably means I got it just right and I should stop now.

so here's what i have so far.
this lovely lady is done and I am trying to decide if the dragonfly makes it look to busy, right there on the red patch or should I move it to the yellow patch below it or take it off all together?

what do you think?
assistance is requested
it's driving me crazy.

Fools Gold #1-Gerry's block

Being the third person in this rotation I tried to incorporate as much of the seamwork from everyone else's blocks so there is some continuity



Maire and Barbara used blue and red to some degree on their blocks so I did also, and since neither of them used red as a focal color, i  took it and ran!




And in true Jacobean fashion i added a bunch of bugs.

Dragonfly is first, I found these wonderful blue "Milk glass" colored beads at my local bead shop. don't they remind you of hobnail glass?

I embroidered the leaves first using two different kinds of floss.
The lighter green is wrapped with a gold filament and sparkles a little.
I used the same silk floss for the red flower as I used in barb's strawberries and embroidered it over padded gold lame.
I then couched down a flat gold tape for the main stem and thin gold band for the outlines and leaf stems

Mr. Snail was made with bullion's of cotton floss from wildflowers and silk wool from Glorianna.

the ladybug is made with trebizond silk  on felt then tacked on as an applique so she has a little more definition.

I should have done this with the flower but i embroidered it directly onto the block and as a result it looks a little lumpy.

FG#1 Maire's block

 they are telling me I have exceeded my quota of storage space I have never before done this and have no idea what they are talking about!
does this mean I can no longer post pictures unless I purchase more space or do I have to do something to open up more space?
they are not specific or clear on this matte other than purchasing more space, I don't understand!
 there is something screwy going on with the picture storage I can only seem to upload one picture. so here is Maires block completed.