Pins, pins, pins

Off on another odyssey of beading

I use stiff felt for both the base and the back 

with some thin card board in the middle for extra hold

and stability for the pinback

Sometimes i have a plan for these ladies

but most of the time I let the beads dictate the pattern

I try to organize my bead soup into base colors 

when I have enough I make a doll

and plan ahead for more

 I like to make a bunch of them all at once 

stopping every few to cut out two forms and the middle 

then mark and cut for the pin and glue that in is a pain

I want to be able to slap them together and go on to the next one

Especially when I have some creative juice flowing

And there is a different part of my brain that is good 

at the manufacturing nit-picky administrivia bit of being a creative

That tends to interfere with my free flow of ideas part

I don't like getting those bits cross-wired

It throws off my Groove

I get a lot done when I'm in my groove

The Baltimore Album Quilt

I also finally put this together, thAt only took 27 years....0.0!

This was my third applique quilt.

I made a Noah's ark quilt from a kit, for my son, 3 years before which, I have no Idea what happened to,

and a Sunbonnet Sue quilt, that I drafted the Sue's myself, while on a family driving trip in 1994.

I started this whilst pregnant with my second child.

And it's not done. I wasn't expecting it to be so tiny! It measures in at only 36" x 48"

I think it needs 2 more rows or maybe a top and bottom row..........I don't know.

9 of the blocks were sewn between 1995 and 1997, the last three, blocks the baskets were sewn in 2000 And the Ship which I also drafted a year later. All the blocks come from one of Ellie Sankowicz Baltimore album quilt books.

The corners

Very slowly this project has been getting done

When last I posted on it cardinal corner was done

 except or the embroidery I planned to incorporate

A little decoration on the house

Some vanes for the the leaves

and eyes for the birds

nothing to fancy

Just a little extra

And here are the bottom 2 corners 

Done and dusted

                                                    The orange peels go in the middle

Then the other two corners

And the whole thing together, Finally

Now all that needs figuring out is to border or not?

It's been a long dry summer

 It's been a long dry summer, 

full of dire portends for the future and 

small signs that "crazy"season may be on the wain

One can only hope.

Meanwhile there are things that need to be done

That all seem to be stuck somewhere in the middle

We started to cut down a few of our "inconvenient" trees this year back in may.

Intending to get them down and dusted by the end of June

Which didn't happen

What did happen was we discovered the poplars on the north side of the property are dead, 

getting punky and need to be torn down 

before they fall down.

Note to self; More plants may be satisfying for a while

and gorgeous 

but they do need to be watered every day

Sometimes twice a day when the weather doesn't cooperate,

Which it hasn't

So we galloped off to get us some estimates

Easy-Peasy right?

no 

You see the poplars are close to 80' tall

3 of the tree guys wouldn't even give us an estimate

the other 3 were varying degrees of almost $10,000 per tree.

because they would have to rent the equipment.

I'm sorry, what, what now?

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

This in turn triggered the insurance company to decide they wouldn't renew our insurance based on a fuzzy satellite view google maps pictures, 

so now (mid July) they want us to do their job with aerial photos to prove to them our house isn't a fire hazard    -.-

Throw in moss remediation on both roofs, ugh. 

and ick,   there is now dust and moss crap everywhere, 

Making sewing outside is impossible. So much for my happy spot this year

I sublimated my rage at the wood pile ^

It now stretches the length of the house and

Is about shoulder height

Since the insurance was being a prat we decided 

in addition to the front trees 

We would get down all the dead branches in the cedars along the western fence.

there are 25 of them so it took a minute.

The wood pile grew to a second wall along the driveway

which isn't finished yet

< this used to be a nice little cedar privacy wall,

40+ years ago.

It also started out on the neighbors property....

Guess who's problem it is now.....-.-

Anywho, we finally got the insurance company to renew,

 We have found a tree guy who already owns a ladder truck for the poplars so it doesn't cost the world to remove, yay!

Both my yards are still full of 

tree limbs and brush but that will be removed soon too. Also, yay! 

My inner German was beginning to despair of it ever getting tidy again.

On the good news front we have plenty of wood for us and the kids to run the fire place for the foreseeable future, if they would only come get some of it.

And my mulch pile is about to get epic.

CQJP 2023 side done- how it sometimes goes

Sometimes when working on a long term project somewhere near the end I loose it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         What do you loose Flora?  you may ask                                                                                                                                                                                Sometimes it's the desire to continue the project.                                                                                                                                                                     Sometimes it's the energy or the brain capacity to think about the project.                                                                                                                              Some times Life gets in the way and it's difficult to fine the thread of the project.                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Sometimes it's the creative spark that sent me on the journey in the first place.           

But aren't those the same things?   Nope.  They are not, Each roadblock comes from a different spot.

Most of it is internal but every once in a while something outside your control takes you away.

All in all I find it difficult to re engage my head if I'm just not feeling it.                                                                                                                                                                                                 For me the only way to get back to a project is to set it aside for a time and let it marinate in your lizard brain for a while.                                                                                                                    And then all of a sudden, POOF!  It's done!

Cardinal corner applique finished.

so here are mr. and mrs. Cardinal Keeping look out on their holly tree.

Those leaves took a bit of doing!

But I must say I am much better at turning nice tight corners now.

I need to do a bit more and I may need to add some embroidery to it but over all i'm pleased with it.

This was a BOM from a few years ago, I got it from an online quilt store, i can't remember just which one right now.

Time to start the next corner

Will it be the bunny corner or the bluebird?


 

CQJP 2023 5th side

Here is the 5th side to the Lampbox so far                                                                                                                           I have chain stitched the vines and

 have started the trumpet flowers in pink floche   

These leaves are done in raised buttonhole stitch

I added 3 rows of stem stitch to this upper part of the vine in maroon                                                                                                                                       to start balancing the colors of the block                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

This little flower at the bottom is made up of all the colors in the block in straight pistil stitch, Pad stitch and cast on stitch

The dragonfly is just hanging on but I like it there                     so will leave it for now as a place holder

                        

 

Cardinal corner

 The cardinal corner already in progress,

those holly leaves really improve your point turning skills! 

I have done a little more than half of them here

And because I'm me it looks too plain 

so I may add some embroidery for more pizzazz

Easy in my vocabulary only applies to housework!