CQ Mag Online New Issue

CQMagOnline`s second quarterly issue of 2012 has just gone live.  You can read it here.  Naturally I am excited because I have two articles in it plus an ad.  :-)

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Right now I am overwhelmed with family stuff, yardwork, my Etsy shop (do stop by; so much new stuff!!) and CQI moderator obligations.   And, honestly, I don`t know how much to share on this blog.

I didn`t get a picture of the finished owls I made for a private commission. I could kick myself. I was too busy photographing lace while the owls just sat until this evening when their new mom came to pick them up, LOL.

We are helping with our neighborhood garden again this year. In addition, our group has acquired another entire lot in the neighborhood that increases our garden area by a factor of 4. The legalities were just worked out, so we are getting busy this week (if our backs and the weather cooperate) to whack weeds, till, remove rocks, hook up water, etc etc, in hopes of planting in two weeks.

So that is it for now.

Missing in Action

Sorry I haven’t posted lately.  I have been busy with CQI responsibilities, spring garden work, Etsy and a private commission (among other things).

Here’s a peek at what I have worked on this week:

I am doing 8 in all.  And I think they are so dang cute!!!  Will show and tell more later this week.  Tomorrow I plant raspberries bushes and onions, shop for seeds and maybe do a little housework before descending into my studio for some sewing.  :-)

Hope you are having a wonderful spring!

Hugs,

Happy Easter

Regardless of how you celebrate (or don`t celebrate) Easter, I hope your weekend is a happy one. And for those who might enjoy them, here are some vintage images for you.

This one would have been fun to caption   ;-)

Hugs,

Caught up!

First of all, may I tell you how much I hate the Barred Chain Stitch? Or the Alternating Barred Chain Stitch? Or the Twisted Chain Stitch?  They are all “TWISTED” and they all should be “BARRED”. IMHO.  That was the Week #12 stitch for TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday) 2 weeks ago.  Last week was a catch up week, which I did.  :-)

There is something about this ol’ brain that just could not grok that stitch.  But I did it! badly  And in the process, I finished up my March CQ Journal Project Block.

The Barred Twisted Alternating Evil Stitches are in hot pink in the middle.  I worked from the two outer rows (awful) to the two inner rows (tolerable).  The other TAST stitch in this block are the woven wheels in the upper right.

The hot pink silk ribbon was part of a gift from Lorraine of Creative Daily.  She dyed it herself, along with some threads.  I won a drawing on her blog, and she included so much yumminess in the package. I will show you a picture of all of it tomorrow, but I couldn`t wait to dig into the threads and ribbons. And they are absolutely delightful to work with!

Here is a picture of the three blocks for January, February and March:

After the three blocks are sewn together, that large black area from the right of #2 to the left of #3 will have some motif that spans them to help disguise the seam.  I am leaning toward a silk ribbon floral arrangement.

And here is the needlepoint picture with the three blocks in situ.  Everything is just pinned at this point.  In April, I will work on Block #4 in the upper right. Too much green, so it will be covered somehow.

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Hey, have any of you heard about the (second annual) Sewing Summit?  It will be held right here in Salt Lake City in October of this year.  Registrations open on Tuesday morning, and I am there!  Check out the Sewing Summit here.  And that reminds me that I haven`t shown you pictures of my new sewing machine yet, like I said I would.  Soon, though.

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Hugs,

Catching up on TAST

I am still doing my TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday) and CQJP blocks, but am running a bit behind. (haha - the first time I typed that in, I typed biG behind. No comment).

Here is my Running Stitch (Week 10) example.  Not exactly exciting, but colorful.  :-)  I had never done this one before, and would like to do more of it (if only to practice, LOL).

And these are my woven wheels (Week 11).  This was also new to me, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them.  I will be using them a lot in the future.

These have been stitched on my March CQJP block, over a patch that had machine embroidered (ugly) flowers and leaves.  I just situated the three woven wheels, one done in two colors, over the flowers on the fabric.  And then just added some lazy daisy flowers to round it out.

Back to work on my block; I just realized today is April 1 (so far, no pranks have been played on me or by me), and I need to finish a couple things on it.  Yikes!!

Hope you had a nice weekend.

Hugs,