the sign

It's a sign for my DDH's office door at work.  some days he needs to get stuff done and people won't leave him alone to do it so I made him this sign....

yes, you read that right, it says "GO AWAY"  in the nicest terms possible....

a new toy

this past weekend, I went to the Puyallup sew expo with my girls and did some serious damage.

some vendors were gone, but most of my favorites were still there and one I thought was gone forever was back!

I didn't go over my budget (yes! she has some discipline!) though i
it's amazing how small my bags are!


along the way I ran across this little dazzler......

I got the info but didn't buy it there. I didn't want this to be my impulse purchase I regretted till I tossed it or gave it to someone who would love it more.

I went home and did my research,
my husband did research and got a friend roped into helping us do research.

then I went and bought it monday. Hubby approved!
 *rubbing hands together with glee* oooH boy! am I gonna have fun with this baby!

you can scan in what you want to cut even fussy shapes! you can keep it on the machine or a USB. It has like 700 shapes on board, you can use, already AND you can design your own!  woopee!

and since I had all the expo paperwork I got it all + a few extras at 20% off  *rubbing hands together in avarice* hehehehehe!

BJP-march

not spectacular yet, but nice.















march is an uninspiring month for me.

month in a holding pattern  

the down month between seasons,
before the garden starts,







before the sun comes back,
to play hide and seek in the NW.
before, between, waiting...


waiting for the cat to get off my bead tray so I can  finish......

monk work update

so far, so good.

the words look awesome, if I do say so myself.  

I need more gold trebizond

other than that I'm plugging away.

Monk work-update

 I have transferred the banner to the bottom of the piece and rehung it on the frame.

as you can see I have to work on it upside-down from now on.

I have so far finished the upper half or the the banner . I filled in the Hosanna on the one side and the LEX on the other

 the beads i think I explained before are from a rosary given by grandmother.
don't they look pretty ?

I was contemplating doing some stitching in-between but decided it needed "Mystery"

Thearica's CQ supplies Spring fling challenge

 I have decided to enter into Crazy Quilting Supplies, Spring Fling Crazy Quilt Challenge! 

as you can see lots of yummy goodies come along with the fabric.

I have my block done and ready to embellish.

I'm sure going to have some fun with this one

Wedding belt

Isn't that a lovely shot?








  My Photographer, Vicki Simpson, took some simply stunning pictures of the belt to my wedding dress





 Chicago sunlight streaming through the windows at my mothers house.


we had glorious 50* weather December 28,


 very unexpected since every  weatherman in the country had been freaking out, about what was coming our way for weeks, up to that point.

here's DH's vest

I offered to embroider and embellish it more but his eye's widened in panic and had trouble answering me


so I left it in an "unfinished" state.

I know he prefers it that way I was JUST teasing him
I know what he likes!
besides, can't have him prettier than me, now can we??

just one more shot in all that gilded fairyland sun

and there we are Married!

would you believe 2 days later it was -10 and snowing like the dickens!

that's Chicago weather for you, a kiss on both cheeks and then a slap in the face!

we got out on what we found out later was the last of 10 planes for the night! whew!

Poetry and Verse RR

Does any one remember this RR??

 I finally finished my block for it

took me a while to design something for this that blended a little of what everyone else had done before me.

there was a lot to choose from and I'm still not done.

I chose to add a peacock an eagle and a cardinal, along with a few more birds here and there

I echoed the tree branch idea from Barb, Kristen and Sandy's blocks

the roses from Kristen's and the loopies from Sandy's and the starshine from Barb's block

I love all the seam treatments on Janet's block, especially that wonderful sun!

The tree on Debbie's block is divine as are the bunny and bird and all those cast on pansies! still there is a lot of work to do on this project, I was thinking I would make it a window treatment for my bedroom, since it's outside that window, I watch the birds at the bird feeder.

Skellie update

 many more beads have ended up on this piece than I originally intended.







I was originally inspired by a dream and Janet Brandt's wonderful embroidered fairy tale creations.

skellie seems to have decided that was not quite enough for him(?)her(?) even that is a little mystery,

 though I am sure one better versed in anatomy will be able to tell me, just by looking at the pelvic circle, whether it is female or male.



I need to add some fabric and or a border to it before i go much further or it will be impossible to mount properly.

as you can see the bottom is already shredding.

monk work update

Started work on the Maltese in gold work, that surrounds the shield also the rosary that encircles the whole thing.

the beads for the rosary come from an actual rosary my Grandmother, (Uncle carls mom) sent me when I was 14, it was blessed by pope paul and was her attempt at "saving" my soul from a godless existence.

I kept it because it was a gift from her and she cared enough to think I was worth saving.  Poor old thing has been through a lot, the cross not granny, Jesus fell off his cross, he now resides in a candle as decoration.
the cross itself is long gone, due to and unfortunate Madonna costume incident, at a club one night, in my misspent youth.
The chain broke so I re-purposed it as a scissor fob, but it is too heavy for the task and kept dragging my scissors to the floor.
Honestly I think Uncle will get more pleasure from it, knowing it was a gift from his mother.
I still keep a 10 bead strand on my scissors with the medallion of pope paul. It reminds me of granny who, in spite of my "godless" existence, loved me anyway

I don't mean to offend anyone out there who reads my blog but I really don't believe in religion as a valid way to live my life.
 I find it to be based in badly rewritten stolen myths, from other older cultures because that was the only way they could convert the masses.

I have never truly believed and even when I thought I was doing the best thing for my children by sending them to a Lutheran school, I let them decide whether or not it was what they wanted to believe or not. I am proud to announce they all chose science as a better answer.

 I have much more to say on this but will leave it at that as to not offend those who do believe. Just because I don't, doesn't mean I believe you shouldn't.
I will fight to the death for your right to believe anything you like, as long as it doesn't harm anyone.

As for offending people, well I find I offend people weather or not I agree with them. At some point you realize you can't please everyone and either learn to live with it or tie yourself in knots trying.
I deal with enough knots in my work...

L&P DYB Pam's block so far

 I have added some pearls a hedgehog and a dragonfly, I think it needs more critters.

 I will be adding something, somewhere but at the moment I know not what.

as I said this is what I have, so far.

Happy Imbolic!

She has prepared the sleeping earth
 to bring forth her bounty
 in the time of summer
which even here
 has its first beginnings in darkness


Bridged's blessing be upon you!

monk from uncle update

I have finally finished with all that blue!

here is the detail on the gold work outlining the water at the bottom, I think I will not outline the lily with gold as well. it stands out well all on its own merits.

 while i love how it turned out, split stitching the whole thing was a trial

I'm still not sure I like how the satin stitch came out on the cross run at the top I may have to pull some of that and do it differently.

If anyone has any suggestions there I would appreciate it!

 

although the crosses themselves came out nice, the Franciscan, the notre dame and the "law" cross

I also found some excellent braid to outline the whole blazon with.

once I put that on the whole thing started looking more "official"

BJP- february spirit doll

 This spirit doll I have named Dance me,


after a song called dance me to the end of love by Leonard Cohen.

 Kate Gibson sings this very soulful version.

January has been busy, happy and traumatic.



In as much as I don't like rushing things, I can't wait for it to be OVER.




so here's to February may it be calmer.

Pearls and lace update

Since I didn't work on this block until the absolute last minute I "threw" on a lot of lace, gimp,and other stuff to fill in space.

but I have always wanted to try doing a beaded bug

so here is my attempt
and truth be told I rather like the critter






 he sits at a rather crowded crossroads



though something needed to go there

to send the eye around mine kept getting stuck at Donna's, rather lovely, SRE


 the big ol' purple flower is there to do the same thing, move your eye around.

I still have some beading and finishing of the two seams I started 4 weeks ago



I feel rather guilty just getting to this now  but well I was a little distracted last month  ;)