Round Robin Work - I Love Paris, Spring 2013

One of the things I want to do on my blog is get caught up sharing some of the Round Robin work I have done this year.  Last winter and spring I was in two round robins with the Crazy Quilting International (Yahoo) group.  They were “I Love Paris” and “Victorian Ladies”.  This post is about the “I Love Paris” RR - work done on my block as well as work I did for the other ladies.

The “I Love Paris” Round Robin was a traditional RR.  We each sent out a 12” square (30cm) block and it was returned to us fully embellished after the other participants (in this case, there were 5 of us) had a chance to stitch.

My naked “I Love Paris” block

Finished Block.  Work by Wilma Van W., Kathy S, Theresa F., Darlene

Didn’t they do a lovely job?  They treated the lavender curved pieces as an “avenue”. That fantastic Eiffel Tower was stitched by Wilma and the bistro set by Kathy.  I love the whole thing!

As far as my stitching on others’ blocks, I showed what I did for Darlene here and for Wilma here.

This was my work for Kathy Shaw. It’s a girl sitting on a wall (see her bike leaning against the wall?), gazing out over the city to the Eiffel Tower (rather crude, but it is supposed to be in the distance).

I also did the seam treatments on either side of the gray patch. It was a particularly fun motif to stitch.  :-)

On Theresa`s block, I was the last stitcher, so I had free rein to “fill in the blanks” and tie everything together.

Wilma had stitched the sitting lady, but I added the pearl bow (button) at the waist to hide marks (stitching guides) that wouldn’t come out.  At the very top I added the flower and leaf, then the pink vine that meandered over the top 25% and the black trim - to break it up and guide the eye.  The lovely decoration of the Eiffel silkie was done by Kathy Shaw. I added  the scallop lace seam treatment to the right and the pink trim and black lines over the black lace (which was very visually heavy) on the bottom right. I also beaded that little flower.

Finally, I added the pink pleated ribbon and its decorations, along with some vintage millinery and painted lace “flowers” for the lovely lady to sit amongst.

Next time I'll show my work in the Victorian Ladies RR, as well as the beautiful blocks that returned home to me with stitching from the other participants.  I was so thrilled!

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This morning, I decided it was time to lay in a supply of food in the freezer.  So, over 2-3 hours I prepared lots of things for dinners, divided them up, labeled them and froze them. There was one little accident with a container of chili that we won`t talk about, but suffice it to say that my kitchen rugs are now in the washing machine.  :-)    The results of this morning’s efforts:  4 meals of split pea and ham soup; 4 meals of meatloaf; 3 meals of chili (would have been 4, LOL), and 4 meals of pancakes. We like “Breakfast for Dinner” occasionally, so if I have the pancakes or waffles done ahead of time, then I can just do scrambled eggs/omelets and add some fruit for a nice dinner.

I still plan to make Carmel Apple Salad this evening to go with our split pea soup and muffin dinner.  Next weekend I am planning to do lentil soup, lasagna, beef enchiladas and bran muffins.  Cooking in batches is great, especially when I have had a busy day working at home (my Etsy shop).  Then all I have to do is zap dinner in the microwave.

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And speaking of my Etsy, the busy Holiday season has started.  If Christmas is too far off for you to think of yet (I do have all my Christmas motifs listed), then check out all the leaves, pumpkins and other goodies I have added.  

Well,  Alfie and Darla are asleep at my feet here under my desk.  I think I will take advantage of that (they are soooo curious about everything, so when they finally conk out, I can do things that would be hard if they were awake. Like little kids!).  Off to dye some more lace.

Until next time,

Hugs,

Lauren Visits

Yikes! It has been almost a month since I posted!  Is anyone still out there?!?  LOL   I have actually been thinking about you all as I bustle about my summer.  It has been a busy one and a hot one, and from my blog reading, I can tell it has been the same for many of you.

I have taken pictures here and there, so I hope to get caught up a bit with blogging this week.  And I still need to take pictures of my CQ Journal Project blocks and to-date progress, and promise to do that this week.

Last week I had my granddaughter Lauren here to spend the day with me last week before school started. She’s 8 and going into 3rd grade.  Actually, my son Ryan and her mom Kim are getting married next June, but have been together for over 5 years and we have known and loved Lauren and her brother Easton since they were little.

The plan was to have sewing lesson #2.  The first one was about a month ago, when we made her a tote bag (visible in blue in the background of the second picture, below). She learns quickly and did 90% of the sewing. I only did enough to show her, plus I attached the handles.  No good pictures of that.

Anyway, our plan went awry as soon as Lauren saw the gold Victorian pincushion that my friend Gerry K had made for me some time ago.  Lauren fell in love with it and wanted to know if she could make one like it.

Well, luckily, I have been saving candlestick bases for just that, so, she selected her favorite (the biggest and heaviest one!) and we got to work.   There were plenty of crafty lessons along the way, but the only sewing was making the red velvet square into a round yo-yo; so I taught her about gathering stitches, yo-yos, and stuffing things.

We also had fun glueing the components together, and it was quite a challenge since both of my tubes of E6000 were dried up. We ended up using the silicone that I used to glue together my recent garden ornaments.

Another lesson was a color one. As a typical young girl, she loves anything flashy and bright. She wanted red, pink, purple, silver, gold, jewels, flowers, strawberries, butterflies, etc. on it.  So first we selected the color red, based on what I had in the way of trims that matched fancy fabrics she liked.

After that, I had her bring out everything she thought was a possibility, and once the stuffed yo-yo and trims were glued to the base, we began auditioning things.  To her credit, Lauren realized quickly that some things did not look good and others would have to be saved for another project later. It did not all have to go onto this one.

One thing she really liked was the dangly things, so even I made concessions to let her design and put on as many as she liked; a key, jewels, a tiny locket, fancy pins, vintage jewelry, etc.  I had previously made the organdy rose, and she wanted to add the gold vintage leaf brooch to it.

Lauren also fell in love with rhinestones (that’s my girl!!) and so to satisfy her Deep Need for More Bling, we included a vintage rhinestone clip-on earring on the back side.   It turned out really cute and she wants to come back as soon as she can to make another one!!

Here is a picture of some of garden produce, taken about a month ago. Our corn is gone now, so we are picking it from the Community Garden we participate in (that is also where the peppers and onions come from).

Over the last couple weeks I have made a lot of strawberry-rhubarb compote, frozen green beans, peppers, and tomatoes. And then there is the jam: strawberry was early summer, but jumbleberry peach was this past weekend (peach, red and black raspberries and strawberries).   Later this week I will freeze more peaches and make some peach jam.   And the tomatoes, peppers and squash (zucchini and yellow crookneck) keep coming.  We are eating soooooo healthily!

Talk to you soon!

Hammer Time!

No, “Hammer Time” has absolutely nothing to do with my post today.  It just popped into my mind when I was about to write “Apron Time”.  It was a flashback to the ’80’s and the MC Hammer videos my kids used to watch on MTV.

And I used to sew my son Shane his “Hammer Pants” - remember those wide-legged genie-in-a-bottle-type pants??
He thought he was sooooo cool.  He was, like, ten years old....
Where were the Fashion Police when we needed them???

But I digress......  I had the most wonderful surprise in the mail the other day and I wanted to share it with you.

Many years ago (like ten or so),  I used to travel for my job with relative regularity (once or twice a year) back to our division’s HQ in Morristown, NJ.   Once I asked on the Quiltropolis CQ list if anybody lived out in NJ and could recommend some shopping.  Marilyn L answered, and we ended up meeting.  We had dinner and went shopping that first time, and had alot of fun.  Then we kept in regular touch, gifting each other with treasures from our yard- and thrift-saleing.  Marilyn even brought me back some incredibly beautiful hankies from Italy one year.   Another time when I was back East, Marilyn invited me to stay over one night.  I got to meet her dear hubby Jimmy and her mom.  I marveled at her lovely home and hospitality.  We always had fun!  A couple years ago, Jimmy’s job took them to Rhode Island.  For now they’re sort of biding their time for a handful of years until retirement, when they can return to their New Jersey home.

And over the last two or three years, we’ve corresponded very little, which is primarily my fault.  However, Marilyn does pop in to my blog now and then to say hello, so I know she’s out there!  Imagine my surprise when a package arrived from Marilyn, filled with.... VINTAGE APRONS.  

Apparently she SCORED at an estate sale, and though of me.  They’re lovely, as you can see.  And I got off my ample posterior, tried her email, and wrote a thank you note.  Now we’re back to corresponding again!  I didn’t realize that the email I’d saved for her was her actual, live, current one!

So aren’t these GREAT???   Lots of plaids, checks, vintage florals, rick rack.  Yum!!  

And the best news is that Marilyn will be attending the Crazy Quilting Adventure in Connecticut next April like me, so we’ll get to see each other again!    Thank you, Marilyn, for all the pretties!!

Such a wealth of ideas these aprons are!  The one below is one I found last week at a thrift store for $1.00.  Usually I never see ANY vintage aprons.  But this thrift store was off my beaten path (mental note:  beat a new path, Cathy),  and I was glad I stopped!

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I really don’t enjoy cooking too much.  I used to, but now I’d rather be stitching, sewing, reading, gardening, having a root canal, doing Sudoku, or whatever.   But somehow, some sort of nesting instinct has kicked in over the last week or two.  Must have something to do with the fact that we’ve got apricots and squash coming out our ears!!!  :-)

The yellow crooknecks and zucchini above (2 of each) were cooked up in 2 Tblsp.  balsamic vinegar and 1 Tblsp. butter.   Cathy doesn’t like balsamic vinegar.  Ha!  I LOVED the way this turned out.  Garnished it with a touch of salt and lots of fresh ground pepper.  We ate the whole thing!   Now I plan to experiment instead with olive oil,  adding onions and red peppers, garlic and ground pepper.....

And one of my many batches of apricot jam.  The tiny jars were left over from my lemon curd-making days.  These will make nice little neighbor gifties during the Holidays.    I bought a pressure cooker and am waiting now for green beans (not from MY garden; THAT’S a disaster this year) and whatever else strikes my fancy at the Farmers Market.

Well, now that I’ve gotten myself hungry, I think I’d better run and get something healthy to snack on before dinner.  I have a peach just calling my name.......