when my daughter was a little girl, every mother in the congregation was given a violet on Mother's Day during the Sunday service
my daughter sent me this photo to my cell phone with a text message that said "Happy Mother's Day"
it's my new cell phone wallpaper
now I'm sharing it with all of you
to all of you who are mothers or have ever cared for a child -- Happy Mother's Day!
the "chain" pieces are all stitched
I finished that part yesterday afternoon
they still need to be attached to the mermaid piece and I need to create the loop and toggle, but I'm pleased with the progress
I'm hoping that the charms that I have ordered arrive today so I can start on the fringing
the applique work on the dragon flies is done
my attempt to create stitched and turned wings out of that iridescent fabric was a total failure, but I do have some ideas to try to create a second set of wings for the biggest one
I need to do some research on how to use some materials that I've had for a while and see if that works
yesterday afternoon I started doing the quilting of the peacock piece -- I had some concerns about the part of the tree branch that extends beyond the edge of the piece, but inserting an extra piece of stiff pelon between the batting and the backing combined with the quilting stitching did the trick --- this is pretty exciting as this is the first piece bigger than 12" by 12" that I'm actually machine quilting -- looking forward to getting back to it
off today to Denver for a Regional SAQA meeting --- and perhaps to do an errand in the same area (depending on how long the meeting goes)
time to get moving
Last night was my local quilt guild meeting
we had a guest speaker that talked about the Modern Quilt movement and had some of her work to show us
these two quilts are pretty typical of the genre -- strong colors, clean graphics -- and they are usable objects, intended to be put on beds or laps or couches
it was interesting to hear her talk and to see her work
of course a guild meeting means a trip to the "put and take" table, and I brought home these pieces to put with some other fabrics to make up a couple more charity quilt tops
I worked on the mermaid piece yesterday, but since I'm only working on creating the chain, I don't have any pictures yet
also got the basting of the peacock done so I can start doing the quilting -- which I hope to get to today after the errands are done
I did this piece of the crocheted Christmas project on Wednesday -- sort of like making tiny little baby booties!
this is a fun project, and so far I'm still just trusting in the pattern writer that all of these disparate parts will all come together
today I need to run some errands and get ready for a meeting tomorrow, but I hope to get to the sewing machine to do some stitching on that quilt!
when I ordered the mermaids, I got ten of them
a good thing
yesterday morning I sent the picture of the first version to my customer, and she felt that it was too dark for what she had in mind
okay then, let's try this one
which she has already given me the "thumbs up" on
so today I'll start on the "chain" parts
that first one will get finished and listed, but this one gets done first!
I have finished the swatching for the Christmas sweater project, and since I could not get the needles I need in a local shop, I have ordered them and they are on the way (I did the swatching on a pair of straight needles, but I need a long circular to do the actual project)
so while I'm waiting, I started on another Christmas project that is crocheted
I know, it's odd looking, but I'm trusting to the designer that it will all work out in the end
this is a picture of my daughter and her Aunt Lori on my daughter's second birthday
on June 1 my daughter will be doing a 5K run for ovarian cancer awareness in Lori's honor
if you can spare a dollar or two, would you consider supporting my daughter?
the link to her page is here
thanks so much -- it means a lot to all of us
the quilt show came down on Sunday afternoon, which meant that I had quilts that had to go back to their makers
yesterday I spent most of the morning sorting, packaging and getting this group all ready to go
there are quilts there, and a donation I'm making to a charity auction, a box of afghan squares that are going to Close Knit Hugs, and a stack of letters to the donors of last year's charity auction
all merrily on their way this morning!
after all that packing work, I worked on this
this is a special order for a customer, and it's coming along nicely
just need to add the fringe and it will be ready to go --- just a day or so to finish it
the dragon fly piece is moving along -- two stitched and one to go
cool!
time to get at it
the quilt show is all done -- yesterday afternoon we took all the quilts down
today I'll be packing up the ones that need to be mailed back to the artists
and there is paper work to be done too
just because I was actually working at this quilt show does not mean that I didn't have time to shop!
the top row of folded fabrics are the ones I picked up from one of my favorite vendors
the bottom row of rolled fabric are some pieces that the DH picked up from another vendor while I was working
cool stuff!! new fabric beckoning as a "reward" for getting the paper work done!!
making those trips to Denver over the weekend did result in my finishing a couple of afghan squares
better get to that paper work!!
ta da!
this is the fabric I picked out to use on the back of the peacock piece -- it is one of the coordinates for this year, but when I was picking fabric for the front of the piece it just didn't fit my design scheme, so I didn't really "see" it
it is perfect for the back -- and the facing -- and the sleeve
I hope to get to work on this piece on Monday
the bead order arrived yesterday!
so the purple/green/orange bracelet has been set aside so I can finish this piece for my customer
the bezel around the mermaid is done, one of the strips of right angle weave "chain" is ready to be "zipped" and I've started on the second strip
not bad for just one afternoon's work
probably not much will get done today -- I'm off to work my shift at the quilt show -- which should be fun -- more hob nobbing with the wizards!!
