Busy,busy,busy

Well, my H&R Block work and census work seem done for now, the garden is planted and I have just a few more things to do and then I can get back to some stitching.
I did finish embroidering the sayings on the sashing of daughter's quilt. That took ALL winter. Soon, I hope to put the borders on and get it into the frame!
The current project involves finishing the "new" sewing room. I had moved all the sewing paraphernalia into an empty bedroom and set up sewing stations for g-daughter and I. About 2 weeks later, daughter broke up with her boyfriend and moved home. End of sewing room.
Last month she moved out again so hubby and I put down laminate flooring and he put a new halogen track light in and now the room is great! But...now we have to do g-daughter's room. So...all of her stuff is in the "sewing room" and all the sewing stuff is still stuffed in corners of the loft. If it ever stops raining, I'll start painting. Then one day of flooring and trimming, one day of moving her stuff into her room and my stuff into the sewing room....and then....Hooray!

Been a while

Well, I haven't posted in a LONG time now. I have still be stitching some, but not a lot. I've been canning, freezing, working, canning, freezing, helping g-daughter, helping Mom, canning, freezing, canning, freezing. I've been feeling like a squirrel, laying up nuts for the winter. But, except for a little bit of pumpkin, I think I'm done. I canned a total of 147 quarts of fruits, juices, jams, etc. Some of those were in pints but the total made 147 quarts. I also filled the freezer and did quite a bit of dehydrating vegetables and fruit leathers.
I have been doing some sewing though. Mainly, I've only had time for it while I'm at work. Thank goodness I have the kind of job where I can sew. I'm in a RR called My Favorite Things. I'm enjoying it but I think I'll let it be my last one for a while. This makes my third one this year and I think I need a bit of a break. I told myself that before this one but who can resist "My Favorite Things"? LOL Of course, I couldn't decide on just one Favorite Thing so I made mine the whole world. It's a landscape and the others in the RR are adding some beautiful things. There's a gorgeous tree and lots of flowers and birds. I can't wait to get it back! Meanwhile, I've done bits on three blocks and will get some pictures posted when I get a chance.
I'm also trying to get some ornaments done for a swap. Those are to be done by Saturday. I have 4 started (I started them in July, I think!) but am still embellishing. When that's done, I still have to assemble them.
I've also started a small piece of CQ for a gift. I'm still piecing that one because I KNOW I have this lovely bit of fabric and I can't put my hand on it. It's actually Christmas ribbon from a few years ago but it was gorgeous....snowy white with silver and blue pine cones....exactly what I need for this project. In the midst of all this other stuff, I'm working on cleaning out the closet where the Christmas stuff is stored so I might find some there. I have been known to reuse ribbon for years :) Actually, I'd reuse scotch tape if I could!
Another sewing project that I'm working on is a quilt for my g-daughter. It's a pineapple log cabin, paper pieced and should be really cute. I found some fabric that is all-over little girls. I cut the girls out and each block has a little girl in the center. There are 5 or 6 different girls.
And... I'm still embroidering quotes on the queen size CQ for my daughter.
And....oh yeah! I went to a seminar a couple weeks ago and want to put some of that new info into action... LANDSCAPES!
I need to shut this computer off now and go sew!

A finished project

This was a practice piece for me. I first wanted to play with piecing "fan blades" on the sewing machine. I've always admired fan shaped quilt blocks and wanted to do something in CQ. I started with lots of pie shaped pieces and wound up making a sort of spiral. After I started embellishing I decided to try to make it Encrusted. With encrusted CQ you embellish so heavily that it's hard to even find the original fabric. I also tried to make the treatments on each seam different. I played with this piece for about 2 months. It just kept saying it wanted more. Then one day it finally said, "Enough". LOL Then I had to study it for a while longer to decide what to do with it. It was originally a 12inch square but I decided to stick with the fan idea and give it that general shape. I stitched this lovely lace in the seam when I put the backing on. It's a nice wide lace with a peach colored strip running through and I thought the peach color would set the other colors off nicely. It might have....if I had put the right side out! Then I remembered this pearl belt that I had bought at a yard sale. It was only 25cents and I commented when I bought it that it was going to be a shame to cut it up because the beading was so beautifully done. Well, it just fit! Plus, I didn't have to cut it up. I think it looks better than the peach colored side of the lace did anyway...so we'll just say I planned it this way all along!

Now...what to do with it. I was going to hang it on a wall but I couldn't decide where. My house is literally barn shaped inside and out. It's a great "open concept" space. The only walls downstairs are the ones closing off the master bedroom and the bathroom. While I do like the open feeling of the space, when I go to hang something on the wall it's hard to find a spot. Nearly all of the walls are the outside ones and they have some huge windows and doors. Really, I'm not complaining. I love my house. I just can't hang stuff on the walls! LOL My mom loves this piece so I may give it to her. I thought she might want to hang it on her apartment door. Lots of the residents in her senior complex have wreaths and banners on their doors. She said she'd love to show it off that way but she's afraid someone might steal it and I guess that's a valid concern. So, I'm still thinking.

Chose Blogs to Award Briliante Weblog

Well, at left you can see the choices I made to award the Brilliante Weblog. As a recipient, you must pass it on to 7 favorites blogs and notify them. I had a really hard time narrowing it down to 7 favorites. I would have, of course, chosen Rengin's even if she weren't the one that awarded it to me. I also considered Gerry, whom we know from all her activity on Yahoo. She's a Wonderful stitcher and always has terrific stuff on her blog. I knew though, that she was really busy lately so I struck her from my list right away. Then I find that one of my choices (Diane's Decorating Diary) just received the award yesterday...from Gerry! LOL Oh well, great minds really do think alike!

While I'm posting, I want to put up a picture of a bracelet I made for a good friend. She wears a lot of Turquoise and Aqua and I hope she likes it!

Brilliant Weblog Award

Rengin, a MARVELOUS stitcher from Turkey has awarded me the Brilliant Weblog Award. Coming from a needleworker of her caliber I feel very honored! Thank you so much, Rengin!

My Favorite Things RR

I am in a new CQ RR through a Yahoo group. This one is My Favorite Things. The dilemma was....I like Everything. Flowers, animals, music, food, etc. One minute one thing is top of the list and the next minute something else is. I finally settled on Everything. I've always admired landscape quilts and I Love the out of doors so that's my favorite thing. Everything in the world! My block is about 15x17 and is all satins. I think they're mostly polyester but they're pretty...and shiny. I like shiny. I made them more or less like a landscape. There is sort of the idea of a sunrise (or sunset) and maybe mountains in the distance and foothills in the foreground. I'm planning a wallhanging when it comes home!

Wendy's Purple Color Study RR block

This is my most recent RR block for the Groovy Grapes. Wendy had asked that we try to make peacocks and she had already put a lovely peacock in the center and one of the others in the group had made a beautiful beaded peacock feather. I was wondering what sort of a peacock I could add. I had my 6 year old g-daughter with me and was looking through the buttons and beads at Joann's. She said she'd found a peacock and she handed me a package with this heart bead in it. I told her the color was right (hard to see in this picture but it is an iridiscent purple) but that it wasn't a peacock but a heart. She shrugged and said "Looks like a peacock to me." Then I studied it some more and decided that it looked like a peacock to me too. I added bugle and seed beads around it for feathers and did a woven picot for the body. IF...IF...IF...you're already thinking "peacock" you can kind of see it. I also did the seams below and to the left of the peacock. They are sort of "peacocky" looking also. I can't remember for sure but I think the bottom one straight stitch (or maybe backstitch) wheels, surrounded with chain stitch and then bead accents. The one on the left was bullion stitch feathers with bead accents and then fly stitch feet. It was a beautiful block and fun to work on. Sure hope Wendy can see that peacock!