Caskets for Halloween

Just something fun to celebrate samhain


As usual I find my mojo just in time to miss the holiday itself .

 I didn't finish these in time to sell them for halloween


but I get to enjoy them this year so It's not a total wash






I love how this side turned out on this one.


 you see even ghosts are afraid of spiders!

 this one is all blacks and greys somber elegance with feathers.


I can't be serious about everything, what would be the fun in life otherwise??

 though this stitch combination did turn out smashing, if I do say so myself!

 this one is a little plain but I thought,

with the bright orange sequins,

 anything more would have tarted it up a bit too much.

and they all have this wonderfully lush red satin linings. it contrasts so well with the stark black of the interior you can almost hear the hinges creak!

this one is my favorite though.

the bright center orange rose hides a stark white skull in its center surrounded by more roses and pumpkins fresh from the patch.

a candy corn flower, a key to the afterlife and a brilliant green spider finish it off.


what could be more Halloweenie?

August BJP done

 now I'm only 2 months behind!

the last BJP was about stargazing

so this months BJP is about the sun.

I don't know if you realize just how unusual it is to have more than a whole week with out rain around here.

well we've had a record breaking 50+ days without rain and frankly it's beginning to freak people out around here!


they are not used to sunshine.

so it is in celebration of the suns continued presents that I have constructed my BJP

don't look a gift horse in the mouth, I say!
I have harvested enough tomatoes this season to make spaghetti sauce and for that I am profoundly happy, with this continuous, if misbehaving, orb!

July BJP-catching up

 I've finally gotten inspired for my July and august BJP pieces

I must say it took me long enough!

This piece represents all the hours we spend as a family in the back yard star gazing!

we will drag the papa-san chair from my daughters room and the hammock frame from off the porch and when my youngest visits we will drag out the air mattress too.

this year she was here for the Pleiades meteor shower and we spent a couple of hours counting shooting stars, satellites and bats! oh my!

though the colors are much darker that blue looks much less bluish in person!

Oh Boy! it's been a while since I posted last!


 I haven't abandoned the bloggersphere, I have just had other things to tend to.

you can see my desk is in it's usual state, a mess!

 My Garden has grown splendidly, hasn't it!




the view from my front porch is one of my favorites.


 lest you think i haven't been doing ANYTHING this summer rest assured





 the ORTs jar is being well used!



I may not be posting more than bits and bob's of my ongoing project as it has grown well beyond the original 4 panels into 9!

It's turning out rather better than i had imagined and I am even thinking of entering it in something, as I have just a vauge notion of the rules required in doing that i'm going to be circumspect in what i post about it for a while.

I have decided to dub it my heritage quilt and am working on the main blocks.

as I am a bit of a mutt I have a lot to work with!

I am also doing a bit of studying up on my, various and sundry nationalities, in hopes of getting a better handle on the ravening hordes, that make up my heritage.

As a result I am learning a great deal such as, scottish history is a disaster almost from start to finish, the Celts got farther than I thought and the vikings got everywhere!


we had a visit from my youngest, for a month, during the summer. which was lots of fun!
much here-ing and there-ing in and around seattle.

my son graduated army boot and was sent to fort hood instead of fort louis McCord.(BOO!)

my DD who lives with me was everywhere with friends who had a car for the summer.

I have detail pictures of Bayeux stitch that i have done for a part of the Norway block.
I was inspired by pierres papier sciseaux and her bayeux tapestry project. it's in french but she adds english translation for those who do not parle`.

as a matter of fact the only member of the family not busy was the cat, seen here lounging on the bed quilt started by my gramma and lately by my mom.  she barely moved for this picture and her only comment, was a rather peevish meow when the flash went off!

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?