Blocks - Crazy, Sane and Mental

Well, the mental block is nothing new. If I want to focus on something, I have to write it down. Yesterday, I made up a list of things I wanted to get done and by golly, I did get most of them done. But sometimes I am unrealistic. In addition to cleaning 2 bathrooms, changing the catbox, cleaning the kitchen and mopping its floor, preparing and mailing my Etsy orders, doing 4 loads of laundry, doing a blog post (that I forgot to send until today), and writing long overdue letters (emails), I thought I could quilt the in-process baby quilt, cut out another one, and dye the last of the seaweed lace. Yeah, only if I went without sleep. So, Monday’s goals will probably spread out over the entire week. And maybe I should go with the flow instead of writing daily goals?

So I said a post or two back that I would share the work that the ladies in our recent Lace & Pearls Round Robin (for Crazy Quilting International) did on my blocks. Previously, I shared the work I did on their blocks, but this is the lusciousness that I got back.

Barbara W. always does amazing flowers!

This is Gayle’s lovely work. Wish I’d given her a bigger piece of lace - my bad.

Connie K did this gorgeous work.

Andrea did the lower right area and Connie finished up this block for her.

Liz R used the lace to make a peacock! Isn’t it amazing?

And this is the block that awaits my stitching.  

A few of my female relatives and I have started a Sunday Sewing Session. My cousins Carrie and Kim (who went to Arizona with us and are really my hubby`s nieces even though they are roughly my age), along with Carrie`s grown daughter Jenny (who has two kids that stay at home with their daddy) get together in my studio from 10am-ish to 2 or 3-ish on Sunday to sew.  Having a regular few hours to stitch has enabled me to get a lot done. I`ve been helping Carrie with our local quilt shop`s Block of the Month (BOM) blocks (which are red and black and white and I have no pictures of because I give them back to her).  And she has been helping me organize my stash of quilting fabric.

It`s not finished yet, but it is sure looking better. Thanks, Carrie! I love you!  :-)

Last year in January I started an online BOM and only got the very first one done. That’s because February’s block was awful - paper pieced center block with 8 sections, and I could not get it. I finally got smart and made the center plain. I figure the quilt police won`t show up and arrest me or anything, LOL.  That block is on the left, below.  The right block is the same line of fabric (Notting Hill by Joel Dewberry) plus some birdie fabric. That pattern is the one we have for March for our local BOM. I don’t like how those 2 strips came together to make that big oval in the lower left, but I am still undecided about fixing it.  What do you think?

So now I have 3 blocks done for this quilt, which will eventually be for me. But it is a long-term project to work on here and there.

Finally, I have another CQ block to finish by the end of June for a friend. I can`t really talk about it, but this is it`s start:

I am still in the idea-gathering stage. I`ve been researching and reading and pinning pictures on a private Pinterest board, collecting online pix, sketching ideas in a sketchbook, etc.  I have given myself another week (until the end of the month) for this phase before I gather all my possible supplies and begin piecing the block.  And then everything will probably change, or at least morph as I go along. It’s always a fluid process, isn’t it?  

Now can you see why I finally cut yesterday’s post short and published the first half this morning?  This second half was way long, and together - sheesh. I need to blog more often.  

By the way, I will have one more post either today or tomorrow. Subject: Lace Seaweed. It is all dyed up and just needs to be packaged and listed in my Etsy shop. That’s what I am doing this afternoon.  Oh, and for those of you who commented (or wrote to me) saying that 11 yards of seaweed lace isn`t very much, I neglected to mention that it is 13” wide. It really IS a lot. I’ve been dreaming seaweed. . .

Hugs,

Lace and Pearls RR Finish

Yesterday I finished Andrea’s  block in our Lace & Pearls round robin. She had pieced these blocks in browns and creams, and previous stitchers had added touches of oranges and reds. so, I happily followed suit because I love orange. Andrea lives in India, and included a lovely paisley fabric which I picked up on and added a lace paisley to the other laces on the block.

In all, I added 5 pieces of lace, two of them vintage.  As is my custom, I decided NOT to add a spider to the spiderweb lace.  :-)

I hope I didn’t overdo the embellishment of the lovely lace motif, above. It is intended to be one of the focal points of the block.

These are now on their way back home to Andrea in India. I know she will enjoy them!!

And as I was photographing the block, Alfalfa (Alfie) just HAD to try to get my attention. Here he is, trying to be cute in this basket of scraps.  He was moving around in it, chasing his tail, and this is the ONLY picture out of about a dozen where he wasn’t a blur of movement.

Hey Mom! Look! I fit in your Easter Basket!!

And I have another finish to show you.  I had wanted to do this last year, but the dress was too big for DGD London.  It was given to me by a former co-worker at Wheeler Farm.  The empire waistline was lined in pink roses that had fallen apart and been stepped on or something. Very dirty - black - and where a couple had come off, the glue had discolored the pink satin fabric.

I have a lot of luscious pink duchess satin in almost the same color.  In fact, I gave some of it to Susie Wolfe, who used it in her pink Christmas Tree Skirt that graced the front cover of Crazy Quilt Gatherings Magazine (Winter 2013).  That reminds me. I need to list it in my Etsy shop.  :-)

So anyway, I made a large central satin rose and a pair of leaves. Then I added pink polka dot grosgrain ribbon into this lovely white beading lace (also in my Etsy Shop, in the clearance section) to cover up the line of glue stains.  I think it turned out darling!  What do you think?

Today, I have to clean up my studio a bit after these two finishes. Then I’ll finish binding a quilt. I am still waiting for the BSR foot (Bernina Stitch Regulator) to be replaced for my new sewing machine. The foot is computerized and decided to die after only my second time using it, which was in the middle of quilting a baby quilt. The dealer said they have never seen a BSR go bad before, but they checked it out and sure enough, even their machines would not recognize it. It is confirmed: I have bad sewing machine karma.  The replacement foot was not in stock (which rather ticks me off), so I am binding the quilt before I finish the little bit of quilting that’s left.

Onward and upward!

Hugs,

Another Lace & Pearls Block

Oh what fun it is to stitch!  It seems I have been so busy with other things that I forgot how much I enjoy sitting in my new stitching room and just embroidering and beading! The last  four weeks I took Saturday Bernina Owners classes for my new sewing machine, and then the rest of the weekend seemed to be catch-up.  This morning I got to spend my morning adding the finishing touches to Connie’s beautiful Lace and Pearls block.

My work on Connie’s lovely hankie Lace and Pearls Block 

The beading (above) of the tiny white flowers took a lot of time, but I enjoyed every minute. And I think it added to the whole feminine look to the block.  I also added some pearls and stitching along the outside of the hankie to define it better and give it a more finished look.

One of my favorite charms has always been this Victorian hand. I attached it with a “pearl bracelet” and “pearl ring” (tiny white beads). As well (and this is something I always point out), I stitched over the ring at the very right of the charm, using white thread to match the background fabric. This helps it blend into the background and “disappear”.   And see - the hand is holding a hankie!  :-)

This is how the blocks look so far together. They were stitched by:  Upper Left Purple, Elizabeth R; Upper Right, me; Lower Left Roses, Gayle S; and Lower Right Blue, Barbara W. Connie I bet you are soooo excited about these!  If not, I can always keep them!  (wink)

So, one of the two remaining blocks will go to Andrea in India to finish and the other 5 (the four finished blocks and one remaining unfinished) will return home to Connie.

We are also doing a Hankie/Linens Challenge on CQI (Crazy Quilting International) this year. I think I will upload this picture to the Challenge Album, too.  And watch for some interesting information on making crazy quilts with hankies (I’m doing an article) coming out in the next issue of Pat Winter’s Crazy Quilt Gatherings, due later this month on MagCloud.  Also, my friend Gerry is constructing a CQ piece of hankies and linens; you can check out her process on either (or both) of her blogs: Olderrose or Block Talk With Gerry

I hope you are all thawing out in the eastern US, and that my friends down in the southern hemisphere are not roasting away.  We are all due for some reasonable weather (she said as she looked out the window and saw it snowing. . . )

Hugs,

Lace, Pearls and a Magazine

For all you Crazy Quilters or embroiderers or art quilters out there, the new issue of Crazy Quilt Gatherings from Pat Winter is now available at Mag Cloud here.   I’ve ordered mine and  am excited to get it because my friend Susie Wolfe is featured. Her lovely Christmas Tree skirt, which she started almost two years ago (and I mentioned in the post about our visit to her home here) is on the cover.  It looks like the feature is a few pages long and has lots of pictures.  Believe me, Susie’s stitching is beyond beautiful.  It is meticulous and creative and a real inspiration. An eye candy overload, I promise!!  This issue is worth the cover price for Susie’s stitching alone!!

And I have been doing some stitching myself.  This time it was for Elizabeth, my friend in Kansas. We are participating in the Lace & Pearls round robin at Crazy Quilting International.   For some reason, her blocks really spoke to me, blue notwithstanding!

There were two stitchers previous to me who had each completed their own 6” block for Elizabeth.  One of them, Gayle, had used a piece of vintage beaded lace that she had purchased from me at the CQI Retreat in September.  To coordinate with her block, and since I had more of that lace, I also used it. It is the lace in the upper right corner. Barbara, who had done the other block for Liz, had made blue flowers out of Mokuba ribbon, so I did the same (although I reversed the light and dark) to further coordinate the blocks with one another.  Finally, Liz had given us the Irish crocheted lace to each include on the blocks, and I used that in the upper left.

The light brown gathered ribbon in the upper left was raided from a thrift store find and given to me by my friend Bev. The other laces are all vintage. This was so much fun for me to do. I am just loving the Lace and Pearls theme!!

My Weight Watchers weigh-in was this morning, and I maintained my current weight - no loss or gain. But that is just fine, as I have lost 16 pounds even to date.  I had my Thanksgiving day all planned out nutritionally, and now we have been invited to Cousin Carrie`s.  Some of the family is Jewish, so we will be celebrating not only Thanksgiving, but Hanukkah, which some are calling Thanksgivukkah.  (Does that mean that Adam Sandler needs to write another Thanksgiving song?)

Hugs,

Bumblebees, CQ and Treasure

When I get really busy, I tend to hyper-focus and forget about other things.  When I was a book-aholic (and had better eyes), I could read for hours on end and forget dinner, bedtime, etc.  I do that now with stitching and being on the computer; working on my Etsy shop, playing games, reading blogs or surfing Pinterest.  And CQI (Crazy Quilting International) takes a good chunk of my time (and heart). So, that is my excuse - and I`m sticking to it - for not blogging even when I have lots to share.  :-)

I am still doing catch-up posts in addition to sharing current projects and happenings.  So, jumping back to last August, here are some pictures from granddaughter London`s 4th birthday party.

She wanted a bumblebee theme, and we even had a cute bumblebee costume that she wore, with antennas, but that came off rather quickly because it was “too itchy”. I think it was a former dance costume (courtesy of the thrift store) that was meant to have a blouse under it.  So the bumblebee morphed into a princess.

London, Age 4

Bumblebee cake made by Grammy (me)

Eating fruit before the cake was cut

Grandpa Bruce and I gave her a great art station (desk and chair behind London in picture below) that I found at Costco. It is made of durable plastic and has room to store her markers, paint, etc.  Her daddy (my son Shane) is an artist and London definitely has artsy genes. Last year we gave her an easel/white board combo, so now she and Daddy have their art spaces set up together in their apartment.

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I  am still waiting for DH to download all the cruise wedding pictures (from June - my son Ryan and DIL Kim) from his spare hard drive (that he calls “Spock”) onto my hard drive. He was supposed to do that on his last days off as one of his “honey-do’s”, but he forgot. Ahem. Well, at least I got the legs to the kitchen table tightened up.  :-)

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Let`s move on to some stitching-related things.

I have finished my work on two blocks in our Lace and Pearls round robin at Crazy Quilting International.  These are 6” blocks.

The first block belongs to Gayle.  I really enjoyed working on this and did most of the work at our CQI Retreat in September.  The gray thing on the left is a Margaret Rose, one that Sharon Boggon teaches in her workshops.  Elizabeth Rudder refreshed our memories (with permission from Sharon) on how to do those.  They are time consuming but fun (and my example is rather lacking).

The block below belongs to Barbara W.  She asked us to add touches of black.  Her six blocks in this round robin will go into a wall hanging featuring a vintage silkie of a spider`s silk wedding dress shop.  It is so cute!

And over on CQI, we have started a program that runs through the end of the year - featuring the Etsy shops of CQI members twice weekly.  We do this in the form of Treasuries, curated collection of items.  One is a “supplies” treasury (think threads, ribbons, needles, lace, buttons, fabrics, beads, charms, etc) for needleworkers of all types. The other is a “gift” or finished product treasury.

If you fancy a browse, here are some of the Treasuries that we have posted so far:

Crazy Needlewoman’s Necessities

Sewing Southpaw’s Favorite Treasures

A Crazy Quilt Journey Red and Green Christmas Sewing Treasures:

Crazy Crafty Christmas Gifts

LES Designs Inspiration

That ought to keep you busy and out of trouble!  hehehe

Hugs,