the sea life is flowing along

the quilting is complete

I spent about an hour on the phone with a friend from California, sitting on the patio, stitching as we talked

(it's our version of a quilting bee)

then another hour before dinner

so today I will be cutting the binding and do the machine stitching of that so I can finish up the handwork over the weekend

WHOO HOO!!
this cartoon was in yesterday's Denver Post

I haven't seen any sheep attached to any of the sweater's I've knit, but who knows?

(this is the same comic strip that features the well loved "zebas" that are much spoken of here)

ok, time to get to it -- laundry to finish, lawns to mow

hats and maps (no bats or cats)

today's title just sounded like Dr Seuss to me, so I had to put in the bats and cats thing for the sound of it -- {grin!}

not long ago I made the DH a new bucket hat

except it didn't quite fit him right -- it was a little too small around and it was too deep -- sort of like wearing a mushroom on top of your head (go ahead, just imagine that)

all of that because I was making up the pattern as I went along because even the biggest size hat in the pattern envelope I had (and had successfully used for other hats) was too small for him

ok, here is version two -- bigger around -- shorter, less like a mushroom -- except -- yup, you guessed it -- this one was a bit too big

ARRRRGGGHHHH!!

I'm trying to fix that as I write this -- it's been in a hot load with the towels and is now going around in the dryer -- something I ordinarily would never do to one of his hats for fear it might shrink -- this time I WANT it to (anyone want to place a bet on rather or not it will?)
when we were working on the drawings for the baby animal quilt, I had a black and white version of this that had the drawings on it

here I have substituted a scan of the yellow fabric I plan to use, and I've pasted in the two blocks that are complete

doesn't look like much yet, but it's kind of fun to use the technology to create the "fantasy" of work accomplished

I've been working on a third block -- a rabbit -- cute, very cute


and there has been the on going quilting on both the commissioned piece (all of the shells are done, I'm now working on the corner appliqued blocks) -- and the Wild About Flowers (one more fence board to finish, then on to the flowers!)
and there has been knitting

of afghan squares (number 2 for the current box here)


and I've done about 3 inches of ribbing on the "cape into coat" project


yesterday we spent some time putting down weed stop cloth and sand in an area behind our garage where we plan to put down stepping stones (and hopefully not have to fight the weeds any more!)

we had planned to go after the stones and do that part today, but its a better plan not to lift 50 pound objects two days in a row at our ages

perhaps tomorrow -- but more likely sometime next week

today there is a bush in the front yard that needs trimming back as it reaches out and grabs you every time you go out the front door!!

and the aforementioned laundry

time to get to it

going to the zoo?

the zoo is the theme for the summer bead competition in my beading group

since zebras have been much in evidence here, the whole zebra patterning seemed appropriate to use when creating a piece to enter in that competition

I finished this yesterday -- not without some considerable mumblings when the thread broke as I was almost finished with the very last little bit -- requiring some picking out and reworking

I think it looks pretty neat

this one has a brass cuff inside and black leather on the back (think of it as a sandwich with the brass as the meat) -- because the beading layer and the leather layer are all stitched together around the edges with more beads, there is never any metal to touch the wearer -- which is important to those with metal allergies

I think the next beading project will be one that I want to do for a Christmas gift -- a 3 dimensional lion -- this will be another "challenge", and I'm going to try to take good notes as I go along -- and pictures!

and one more thing...

lest there be fewer projects in the works

this is a wool cape

I've had this since September of 1982

it is wonderfully warm -- and it has just one problem

in this area having the sides of a winter cover up open is not a good plan

for quite a while I've been thinking about turning it into a coat by stitching up the sides and adding some knitted "leg of mutton" sleeves, thereby turning it from cape to coat

then my daughter asked me the other day if she could borrow it for the winter season since by the time it's really cold weather, her winter coat won't fit around her and the expected little one

hmmm, seems now is the time to get this project done!

I cast on the stitches last night

progress reports to follow!!

turtle blocks and duckie feet

the second block of the quilt I'm making for my daughter's baby is complete

so cute the little smiling turtle

and I was able to get the bright yellow fabric I was looking for to set this top together, so I have no excuse for not steaming full speed ahead on this project

except that at some point I'll have to buy some more charcoal gray embroidery floss

and these are done too!

not the best of all possible pictures of them -- probably should have stuffed them with tissue paper to get a better shot

but they are cute with the little orange bills and the knit on duck tails

when I was in the store I picked up some other fabrics too --

for example this beige toned rose print

I have an idea of another wall hanging, so I'm sort of watching for these beige-y fabrics -- something that will go with a sepia toned photograph

materials for another project were purchased too, but that one is another Christmas project, so you'll just have to wait to see that one for a while!

stashing and planting

our Walmart is doing what I knew it would -- there will no longer be fabric available

which of course means there was a 50% mark down on what they had in the store

by the time I got there (since I only go in there about every other month), there wasn't a whole lot left, but I did pick up a yard of each of these

the one with the ferns I have a specific plan for -- the other two I just liked the look of

(and no, I don't want to hear the lecture about how Walmart fabrics are not as high quality, blah, blah, blah -- I know that, they also aren't $9.00 plus a yard, which means I have a lot more opportunity to fiddle with ideas at a price I can afford before I buy the expensive stuff!)

you may recall my saying that the squirrels dug up and ate a lot of the corn we planted (along with almost all of my green beans)

we replanted the green beans late last week, but I hadn't yet figured out what I was going to do in the gaps of the corn rows

this was our solution

while these seeds were a bit "pricey-er" than I usually want to spend on seeds, they are in this cool biodegradable fiber tape that keeps them all properly spaced (yippee!) and I'm hoping will deter the squirrels!

so now I'm done planting garden -- I think

we're already getting a lot of blooms and little fruit on the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and tomatillo

yum!

one more afghan square complete

and there is a box full going off to Close Knit Hugs today


yesterday morning I attended a meeting of the local group of ladies that do applique

some of our members are "snow birds", so I hadn't yet met them (since I'm a "newbie")

one of the snow birds was there yesterday and brought some quilts she had finished over the winter, including one that she entered in a competition in Houston and won a red ribbon with

we had a lovely chat, and I picked up some great pointers from her about doing machine quilting -- she has a Viking Designer I just like mine, so it was good to hear how she does what she does -- and I really liked her quilts!

since I've been working on trying to get the commissioned baby quilt done, I had it with me at the meeting and got a lot of questions about the pattern -- and some encouragement to turn this original design into a pattern

I'm thinking about it

this morning we need to do a little shopping (including a bit of Quilt Store Shop Hop) and then we'll probably hole up with the little swampy cooler running -- we're supposed to be very hot today -- hopefully more projects get done!!

Unfinished or In Transition?

when I attended my quilt guild meeting earlier in the month, there was a discussion about unfinished objects --

specifically, at our birthday party next month, we have been asked to bring an unfinished object to play "pirate" with as part of the festivities

I asked what we were to do if we didn't have any unfinished objects and created quite a stir

perhaps its a semantic issue

when I said that I didn't mean I didn't have any projects that are not complete -- just that I have several projects in process all at once, some of which are being worked on more urgently than others

take these two items for instance

these are a design idea that has been bounced around a lot

the very first idea was to do these as part of a landscape that was small enough to wear as a necklace

it then morphed into individual panels that are a combination of fabrics and beads that I was thinking about putting into wood frames

but now I'm wondering if they could be part of a quilted landscape (there are sketches for at least 2 more buildings, possibly more)

I don't know

but I do know I'm not ready to let go of this design yet, so it's not an unfinished object (as in, "I've given up on this one") but more an "Object in Process" -- OIP? or perhaps an "Object in Transition" -- OIT?

I know, it doesn't have the pizazz of "UFO", but it is a lot more descriptive of what's really happening

inching along

the very first block of the baby quilt I'm making for my daughter's baby

the inch worm is actually block number 4A on the "quilt map" for this project, but it was on top of the pile, so it got done first

started work on the turtle, which is block number 1, last night
that pattern I bought a few weeks ago is getting a real work out

my daughter wanted a pair of pj pants that she could wear now and continue to wear through the summer

my solution was a pair of pants that are over sized now with a draw string to keep them up and they will "expand" as needed

couldn't resist using the fabric that says "Cabbage Patch Kids" for them -- and there is enough of the fabric left to make a footed sleeper for the baby (I think)

one quarter of the Wild About Flowers quilt has been quilted -- whoo hooo -- there are some down sides to making a multi layered piece then trying to hand quilt through it, which is why this one is taking a while to get quilted

the seahorse on the commissioned baby quilt has been quilted -- moving right along

the Christmas sweater is all complete except the zipper, which I hope to get this week so I can mark that as a finished project before July 1

today the DH has a doctor's appointment then well do our monthly Costco run, so less studio time, but these are necessary things too!

time to get movin'

actual finished objects!

the last two pair of scrubs are now complete for the DH

he should be good for the summer now with four older pair that he can use to do work in the garden or the garage and three brand new pair that he can wear out of the house and not feel like a slob

I especially like the zebra pair, but then I'm rather partial to zebras



see?

here is another one

heh, yeah, well I finally finished the bead work on this project yesterday -- so now I can do the "sandwich" that makes up the bracelet -- beaded piece on the outside, leather on the back side and a brass cuff sandwiched in between
and the quilt top for the commissioned baby quilt is complete!!

today I will press it and and backing fabric and get it pinned for the quilting


so to celebrate having this one this far, I started stitching on the first block of the baby animal quilt I'm making for my daughter's baby

cool!! (yes, yes, there will be pictures!!)


today's plan includes the usual laundry, a quick trip to the store for milk then on to the projects

triple treat holiday

we're celebrating three holidays at our house today

we have Father's Day

and it's our wedding anniversary

and the big black dog that lives here is five years old today -- or at least this is the day we celebrate her birthday -- since she's a rescued dog, we're not certain of the exact date of her birth, but we were told when we adopted her in August of 2005 that she was 8 weeks old, so we decided this was a good day

here is the most recent picture of her -- I took it the day before yesterday while we were working in the garden and she was on squirrel guard duty

she's getting a little silver around the muzzle -- it shows on black dogs sooner
and we added to her guard duty yesterday

the DH spaded up the rest of the garden area and I planted two packages of wax beans

this morning the squirrels were all over the area -- until the guard went out and barked at them

GOOD DOG!!

I really had in mind that we would get to eat the beans -- not the squirrels!


my plan yesterday was to take it easy since the muscle spasms in my shoulder had returned

even so, I did actually finish some projects!

this is the final center block for the commissioned baby quilt --

I thought it would be done earlier in the week, but when I started to put together the original body part, I just didn't like the look of the block

we spread it out on the table and did some redrafting of the pattern, and we like this version much better

so now the applique blocks are ready to be stitched together, which I hope to get to either today or tomorrow


and the last of the crocheting is done on the Christmas afghan -- who knew that would take so long!!

then it took me about an hour to weave in and clip all of the connecting threads too

the finished size is 48 by 77 -- not exactly standard, but its a good size to curl up under on a chilly night

when I do the washing tomorrow it will go into a load then it will be ready to be entered in the state fair

and in December it will go off to it's intended owner

that means that a new knitting project will be taking it's place in the daily work rotation -- I started a pair of booties when I was last at my daughter's, so they'll probably fill that spot for a little while anyway

and another afghan square is complete too

in fact, this is the last one I needed to fill the latest box, so I'll be getting it ready to go sometime this week


time to go have some breakfast!

if at first you don't succeed

plant, plant again

green beans have never failed me before

this year, however, after my efforts on my knees planting many, many bean seeds -- a whole TWO of them came up

pfffftttt!!

I have to admit, however that we had a long spell of unseasonably cool weather right after that planting, so it's possible there just wasn't enough warmth for the seeds to sprout

so, yesterday afternoon, the DH went out and spaded up half of the area (by hand!) and I replanted with these

I put them close together and didn't plant very deep, and I'm hoping this batch comes up

today he's planning to spade up the other half of the area and I'll put in wax beans there

then we'll be back on squirrel and crow patrol, trying to give the seeds a chance to germinate

I did the final bind off on the Christmas Sweater last night, so now its on to sewing in the sleeves and installing a zipper -- whooo hoooo!

and I'm working on the last row of the border of the Christmas afghan -- also very cool

yesterday the mail man brought the post card from the Hoffman Challenge folks letting me know that they had received my entry -- yippee!

and I'm almost done with that center block for the commissioned baby quilt -- just doing the embroidery of the seahorse's eye and mouth then I'll be stitching all the blocks together

the International Fiber Collaborative is sponsoring a very cool project to wrap a replica of a Saturn V rocket -- you can read more about it by using this link --after thinking about it for several days, I've come up with an idea for a panel (24 inches square) to submit and this morning I reserved my spot, and we'll start working on drawings and ideas --- I'm seriously thinking this is the place to do fusing and machine quilting since this is an outdoor venue -- kind of awesome to be part of a 32,000 square foot endeavor!

well, time's a wastin' -- yards to mow, beans to plant -- into the fray!!

gardens, quilts and unexpected gifts

we're growing some different plants this year than we've ever had before

the one there in the metal tomato cage is a tomatillo -- we had never even cooked with these things until the last couple of years when our son-in-law introduced us to them

he had grown some in his garden last year, so we decided to try it this year -- if all those blooms set we'll have lots of them!

the plants along the fence are potatoes -- the fun thing about potatoes is that you don't have to go to the garden shop to get the plants -- nope -- just pick out the potatoes in your 'fridge that are starting to sprout a bit, cut them into chunks with an eye in each chunk and plant them

they took a while to come up, but they're looking great -- and the leaves are really pretty

so far our garden looks great -- we had about 5 days of cool damp weather that really gave the little seeds a jump start, and now we are supposed to have several days of 90s which should really send them on their way

now we're doing the "NO HAIL!" chant on a daily basis
the quilting of the flower piece continues

it's not really clear in the picture, but there in the center is the first of the stems of the sunflower

moving along but slowly!


yesterday morning I had a doctor's appointment -- just the usual get the prescriptions for the blood pressure meds and review the tests from the health fair sort of thing -- oh yeah, and take a look at the sore foot (which she says is probably a stress fracture and if I had insurance we'd be talking x-rays and possibly a soft cast, but since I don't we'll just be dealing with it)

while I was sitting in the waiting room I was working on afghan squares -- I always take along some kind of handwork when I'm going to have to wait anywhere -- there was another couple in the waiting room that asked me what I was working on and I explained about Close Knit Hugs and the good work we try to do in disaster areas -- after they left, the young man who had been working on his Ipad asked me if he could give me some money to buy yarn to make more squares and handed me $5 -- seems his grandmother used to knit and he had fond memories of going to the store with her to pick out yarn for afghans (one of which he still has) and he thought it was something she would approve of

wow! it's amazing what can happen when you do knitting in public!

taking the flying leap

remember Cabaret?

there's a song in there with a lyric:
"It's got to happen, happen sometime
Maybe this time I'll win"

which is what was running through my head as I handed the postal clerk this box yesterday morning

inside is my entry for the 2010 Hoffman Challenge

the last time I entered a piece of art work in a national competition, it made the first cut into the finals, but didn't win

maybe this time (reminding myself to pay attention to the quote at the bottom of my email signature -- "trust your instincts, close your eyes and leap!")

I went to the store yesterday to get the quilt batting for the commissioned baby quilt -- since I'm nearly done with the applique work on it, it's time to think about that sandwich and I didn't have a bat in the house (except me, of course)

this bundle of bright colored fabrics just seemed to jump right off the rack into my basket too

got to love the swirly bright colors (yeah, like I needed to add to the stuff to go into the laundry!)

as promised, a picture of the back of the Wild About Flowers quilt that shows the quilting so far

fencing running in parallel lines up and down and across

big sunflower leaf there in the center

its moving right along!

some of the areas in the leaf were a bit more difficult -- when you have five or six layers of appliqued fabric then the bat and the backing it can get hard to keep the stitches small and even

I know there are a lot of quilters that turn over the whole project to someone with a power machine at this point in things, but I've always had this issue with -- it's my work, I should finish it -- and I kind of enjoy the whole process of doing a piece from beginning to end


finished another afghan square last night

and worked 2 rows of k2, p2 ribbing over 320 stitches around the front of the Christmas Sweater

and I'm now in row 4 of 6 around the afghan

whooo hoooo!


so, today there will be mowing and shopping then back to the sewing machine for a while before the quilting begins again

onward!

W.I.P.

the hard thing about the way I work on projects, is that I can work steadily along for days, or even weeks and have nothing really to show in pictures -- especially because for the most part I only take pictures at important "milestones" in a project or when one is finished

and yet I'm busy

yesterday, for instance

I cut out the other two pair of scrubs for the DH -- and if the red with the black print didn't make me crazy sewing on it, the green with the black "crackle" or the zebra print should! I've even started sewing on these -- since both of them will be stitched with black thread, I figured "manufacturing style" is in order -- so the patch pockets (3 per pair of pants) have been prepared for being attached

and while I had the iron turned on to do the pocket prep, I went ahead and ironed the fabrics from last week's acquisitions -- after I'd done 5 loads of laundry!

the quilting on the flowers piece has begun -- since I'm doing the quilting to give texture to each section of the quilt, I'm using thread that basically matches the fabric on the top of the quilt -- and because the back of the quilt is an off white fabric, the back of the quilt looks like a thread painting in all the appropriate colors -- this is one of those serendipitous things -- unplanned but really cool (and I'll take a picture soon!)

the commissioned baby quilt is progressing well -- I'm about 1/3 finished with the big center block, which means that probably by Friday I'll be doing the machine stitching of those blocks and I'll be ready to put that sandwich together for more quilting

and having two quilts in the quilting stage at once is a new thing -- it also means that the work on the blocks for my expected grandchild will begin -- yeah!

knitting projects are moving along too --

after stitching the top of the hood together on the Christmas sweater, I spent an entire hour picking up the 300+ stitches around the front for the band -- wow!

and I started border row number 3 of 6 on the Christmas afghan -- each of those rows takes over an hour to crochet -- partly because I'm not as fast at crocheting as I am knitting, and because the afghan is BIG, and because pushing the whole crocheting motion makes my wrist hurt (that's why I don't do much of it any more) {did you know that after you type the word "crochet" that many times, it starts to look wrong? or it did to me!}

after several days of cool, gray, cloudy, rainy weather, it looks like today we will have sunshine and be back in the 70's -- yippee!

maybe I can get the front lawn mowed!!

progress, finished object and announcements

the "mat" border is on, and yesterday afternoon I did the backing, batting, top sandwich, so today the quilting will begin

it's looking good, and I've decided to use the quilting to add depth and texture to each element, so the only area that I will need to figure out a "pattern" for is the sky -- maybe something that looks like clouds

this is pretty exciting!



the first of the three pair of scrubs for the DH are complete

don't you just love that RED!

I've added a cargo pocket on the left leg just below the standard side pockets on these because that keeps him from sitting on his wallet when he's driving

while I was making these he kept saying "are you sure they are long enough?" -- and then when he put them on I had to hem them up and extra 2 inches -- heh, yeah

he looks pretty happy with them
or maybe that grin is for the same reason I'm walking around with one

and why there has been a marked interest in making another baby quilt here

don't I look like a "gramma" to you?

I think I do, and now that my daughter is safely through the first trimester and has announced it on her Facebook page, I can babble on about how happy we are for her

December will be a VERY busy month -- Christmas and a new baby in our family

sooooooo exciting!

can I count them again?

I had already marked these as finished projects

but when the quilt guild asked me to do a demo of using beads, I didn't have enough time to whip up any new finished pieces to bead on, so I pulled out these two pieces to work on

I didn't do a whole lot to the leaves -- just a few beads that look like water droplets added in strategic places on leaf tips

looking at this one again also reminded me that I really would like to create a pattern for this one to possibly sell on my Etsy store, so I'm back to "fiddling" with it in my head


then there is the fish

originally there were only big pearls as "bubbles" for him, but during the demo I added a whole string of smaller pearls as secondary "bubbles"

and I added a few shiny green "pebbles" in the clam shell bed at the bottom of it too

okay, this is now REALLY finished


work on other pieces continues --

3 of the 4 sides of the picture "matting" have been sewn onto the flowers quilt

the tail of the seahorse block is progressing nicely

the pockets have been stitched onto the first pair of scrubs for the DH

decrease rows on the hood of the Christmas sweater will be done tonight then I'll have only the front bands left to knit

row number 2 of the crochet edging on the Christmas afghan has been started

yeah, I'm working, just don't have anything to show for it right now

soon (and very soon!)

World Wide Knit in Public

not that I've ever needed a set time period to do this in!

as far back as I can remember I always took along something to work on when I was going somewhere that I might have to sit and wait

the rest of the world has finally caught up with me!

ok, this is the "official" week -- beginning today (June 12) and running through Father's Day (June 20) --- {which is also my anniversary and my dog's birthday -- weird!}

go on out there with your pointy sticks and knit something --- even if its only an afghan square for charity (Close Knit Hugs would be glad to have those!)

won't you join me??

scissors case, fish block and guild meetings

when I was at my daughter's house over the weekend, she asked me if I could put a "flap" on the case I made for her scrap booking scissors

seems the original design was not secure enough to keep them from slipping out of the case when they were in her bag

I finished up this little job yesterday afternoon

(this entire case is made up of fat quarters, which is pretty neat!)

it's all ready to go back into service

the fourth corner block for the commissioned baby quilt is finished

(nothing like a good movie on TV to keep those hand stitches rolling!)

the fishy was completed to the sounds of Judy Garland in Summer Stock -- a movie that has particular importance to me because my daughter used the famous tuxedo jacket costume for a high school musical review performance (I got to re-make the used tux jacket for the purpose), and it just has happy memories associated with it

today I'll be doing the pattern drawings and starting on the big center block -- the sea horse

it's definitely looking like I'll be working on the quilting of this piece by the 4th of July

last night was guild meeting where we were having "demo night"

four different special demonstrations, and I did one on using beads as embellishment on quilted objects

the time was broken into 15 minute segments, so I got to do my little "spiel" 4 times -- with slight variations depending on what the group wanted to know about

it went pretty well -- in fact, I had several of the group ask if I would consider doing a Saturday workshop on some of my techniques

WOW -- now that was a mind bender
at guild meetings we have a "put and take" table -- items are brought in and "put" on the table by members who have no further use for them

then those items are "take"n by members that can put them to use

I picked up the three fabrics on the right side in this picture -- the small sort of beige-y one I want for using in some art quilts, but the other two I plan to use with some other fabrics that were recently given to me to make another charity quilt -- or two

the fabrics on the left side were in the door prize I won last night -- some of those might end up in charity quilts too -- we'll see
this is the quilt our guild is raffling off this year

it is 90 inches by 100 inches

the picture does not do it justice -- it's truly aMAZEing (heh, yeah, and that's what it's called too!)

anyway, the money we raise with this helps fund programs, allowing members to have hands on seminars with nationally know quilt folks at a price our members can afford -- something I hope to take advantage of in August

so, if you'd like to have a raffle ticket for this cool quilt, just drop me an email and we'll work it out

last weekend I ripped a page out of a newspaper I was reading for this picture

the entire idea of this "arch" intrigues me

now that I have the scanned file of it I'll be filing it under "possible future design ideas" -- along with that fig leaf


yesterday's heat and wind was not good for us getting the back yard mowed, so perhaps today -- or not -- we'll see

meantime, there are projects to work on!

new projects and old projects

during the summer the DH wears scrubs because they are much cooler than jeans or most anything else

not just any ordinary scrubs however -- nope, custom made by me scrubs

and about a week or so ago I bought that red fabric to make him a new pair (since the last pairs were made about 2 years ago and they do wear out quicker than jeans)

then I couldn't find the pattern I used to make them

over the weekend, I decided not to make myself any crazier and just bought a new pattern (now the old one will probably show up) and I found a couple more fabrics that will make good scrubs for him too -- after all, it's just about as easy to make three pair as it is to make one pair!

the green and zebra fabrics are in the dryer as I write this (along with all the other goodies I got on my mini-vacation), so I should be able to get to this soon

I put that fig leaf in the scanner and got this awesome picture

like with most things that inspire me to make new pieces of art, the shape and color of this is really neat --

still not sure exactly what I will create, but I'm realizing that botanicals are a real source of ideas for me

perhaps there will be more cutting of rubber stamps, but I'm thinking more about trying a resist technique -- trying to find a source for soy wax to try out something I just read about




and because I spent a bit of time in the car I got two more afghan squares complete


today we need to mow the back yard, then I will start collecting the things I need to take with me this evening to quilt guild -- I'm doing a demo on adding beads to a quilt

time to get to it