Esmerldas Studio

too scary for a little kid?

2012-02-17T10:46:00.006-07:00

I've been working on this knitted dinosaur for a while

last night I got the legs all attached

the DH has proclaimed it inappropriate for a baby

hmmmmm

guess I'm looking for a "cute-sy" dinosaur pattern today ---- maybe this one is destined to be given to Mr Cute

despite feeling pretty lousy yesterday (and spending a lot of time snoozing in my recliner), I did finish the beading on the first side panel for the bracelet

and here's a picture of how this will go together with the center "eye" panel and the beaded hinge

today I hope to get started on the other side panel (which is also an ankh)

the quilting on the four seasons piece is almost complete -- I hope to find something appropriate for the "frame" in my stash box today -- if I don't have something there I'll have to make a trip to my local fabric store to find something that will work

time to get busy!

still working on Egypt

2012-02-16T08:28:00.003-07:00

this is one of the two side panels for the bracelet

the beading went really quickly on this -- should have this panel done with just one more beading session

woke up this morning feeling under the weather -- I'll be progressing slowly today

progress on projects -- and in the house

2012-02-15T09:31:00.006-07:00

at Christmas time my parents gave us a check that we had decided we would use to replace our aging TV -- and a couple of weeks ago, we found a suitable replacement at a sale price (they put these things on sale just before the Super Bowl) --

the new TV was light enough that I can easily lift it and carry it around -- but the old one's case was much bigger and heavier, and I couldn't manage it alone -- and for now the DH is operating with just one "wing" while his shoulder heals

last night friends came and helped move the old TV out to the garage (it's sitting on a trunk clear out by the door where I can have the local Goodwill folks come and pick it up) -- so now we have the new TV all set up -- it's great to be able to read the lettering on the screen during the newscast!

the center panel for the bracelet I'm working on got finished yesterday afternoon

I coated the back of it with Fray Check, so it's ready for the backing

but I have two side panels to embroider first, and I'll be working on those starting today

I'm pretty pleased with how this looks

I've finished knitting 2 of the 4 legs and feet for the dinosaur toy

cute!

the toes are a little tricky -- 2 stitch Icord --- while trying to keep the other stitches for the other toes from slipping off the ends of the needles --- ACK!

the second one was easier though, so I'm guessing the next two will be easier still -- I hope

my daughter sent me this picture of Mr Cute playing in the snow

he doesn't look real thrilled with it

just wait until he figures out how to make snow balls!

he's wearing the hat I made him

nice!

if the weather cooperates this weekend, they may come for a one day visit with grandma and grandpa --- we're doing a "NO snow" dance

time to get to work!

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T07:45:00.006-07:00

I made cards for a select few folks this year -- and for the first time ever I actually got them sent off to Loveland, Colorado where they put a special stamp on the outside of the envelope along with a special hand cancelling of the stamp (a tradition they've been doing since 1947 -- see more here)

this was one of them

my daughter also did handmade cards that she sent out from Mr Cute

actually this tradition of making valentines by hand began back when my daughter was about 10, and our friend in San Jose, CA, started it when we spent a Saturday afternoon doing this as a mother/daughter activity and we've continued doing this, both together and apart, ever since

yesterday, while I was searching for something else, I found this piece of mixed media art that I did a while ago

I'll be adding him to the Etsy store soon

yesterday I got the envelope telling me it's time to renew my domain name -- which reminds me that I need to do something about revising the website (in my own defense, I was thinking about doing that this time last year then we had some major computer issues and I just never got back to doing it)

guess it's time to think about it again

here's looking at you

2012-02-13T08:48:00.006-07:00

more work on the beading

this is moving along nicely

the dinosaur's body and tail are all done

now it's on to the legs (which include icord toes which should be interesting)

after the laundry

and a trip to the grocery store

bracelets and dinos and quilting (Oh My!)

2012-02-12T11:03:00.008-07:00

since the Eye of Horus necklace is complete, I'm starting on the bracelet I designed to go with it

the glass "eye" has been attached and the beginning of the bead embroidery started

the plan is to create 3 bead embroidered panels -- the center one with the eye and the other 2 with embroidered ankhs

and I wanted to connect these with a hinge at each side, but I didn't want to use any metal pieces -- so those pieces of bead work in the other picture are the hinge loops (gold) and the hinge pins (blue)
more knitting happening on the dinosaur toy

I've finished the neck and the body and now I'm working the continuous decreasing rows that create the tail

after that the legs are knit separately and attached

oh yes, the quilting of the accompanying quilt is coming along nicely too

finished quilting the autumn panel of the four seasons piece

and both end strips are quilted too, so all that is left is the stripping at the top and the bottom

and the binding

I think I will have this finished this week

and having that piece finished is a good thing because the first cut has been made for the Hoffman challenge piece

let the stitching begin!!

my daughter took this picture of Mr Cute in his high chair with paper and crayons

we're encouraging that artistic spirit!

another piece complete

2012-02-10T09:23:00.003-07:00

the necklace is finished

TA DA!!

of course there will be bigger photo shoot as soon as we have a day that there is actually sunshine!

I'm really pleased with how this came out -- it was worth the wait to finish it with the right materials

and now I'm going to start on a bracelet that will be a coordinated piece

oh...cool...

and work continues on the dinosaur toy

it definitely looks more dinosaur like now that the head has been stuffed (and yes, it is still on the sticks, and stands up on it's own quite nicely)

feels good to see progress being made here too

finished, progress and new stuff

2012-02-09T08:55:00.006-07:00

last night I finally finished the scarf I've been knitting for the DH

the yarn for this piece is a soft alpaca blend, and the pattern is just something I came up with based on a stitch repeat -- it's basically ribbing worked diagonally

it has a nice texture which gives it some "zip"

and I'm pleased with how this came out

having this finished means that there will be more work done on the dinosaur toy, as it will be the knitting project that moves into the scarf's time slot

progress being made on the necklace part that goes with the Egyptian medallion

I had done some of those center beads this time last year, and now I need to make up a few more of them to create a necklace that is long enough

and I'm struggling with that -- layers of reflective gold seed beads built one on top of another -- my eyes are having a hard time seeing that even with my magnifiers, so it's moving along slowly --

hopefully I get the last four of those done today

the last two pieces of malachite that I had ordered have arrived

these pieces with the others that I have should make up into some really nice items

and then there is this project

I started this one last year too, started working around this great piece of picture jasper and had tentatively named this piece "desert dreams", but at that time I couldn't find a bird to put into the design where I wanted it that was a price I could afford

this stamped brass bird came from a shop on Etsy and it was very reasonable

so this piece is back into the "work on it" line

yesterday I finished all of the taxes, so I can use the time that was being spent on that to work on other (more fun) things -- YIPPEE!!

time to get to it

another finished object

2012-02-08T09:13:00.003-07:00

the front and the back of the fourth hot pad made for my daughter's kitchen

I love this pattern because it lets me use up little bits and pieces of cotton yarn from other projects

looks like there will be a "squishy" in the near future to be sent to her house (I have an outfit for Mr Cute to send along too)

I'm making progress on other projects too -- the necklace on the Egyptian piece is moving right along, the quilting of the autumn panel of the four seasons piece is almost done and I'm nearly finished with the scarf I'm knitting for the DH

this morning it is cold and gray -- BLEAH! I'll be happy to work on something bright and colorful in the studio today!

did I do that?

2012-02-06T09:17:00.003-07:00

it's one of those moments when a piece actually comes out even better than I imaged it

now I'm hoping the "chain" part will work equally well

laundry today -- and some house projects -- then back to the projects!!

on the fringes

2012-02-05T09:52:00.005-07:00

that is I'm working on the fringes

as always, the fringing takes nearly as long as the bead embroidery does

the plan is for the fringe to run all the way across the bottom edge of the piece -- creating a sort of beaded curtain behind the figure

after I get that done I'll start attaching the necklace

moving right along

and the quilting of the center panel is moving right along

onward!

enraging the weather gods

2012-02-04T09:43:00.005-07:00

about now I should be scurrying around the house doing last minute tidying so that Mr Cute could visit

the weather gods have declared otherwise

just too much snow and ice between our house and his for safe traveling, so the planned visit will have to wait for another weekend

RATS

my daughter sent me this picture of him yesterday as they were having their snow day

he's wearing one of the pair of flannel pants I made him for Christmas

sooooooo Cute!!

I'll just have to console myself with working on more projects

like this one maybe

this is the top of the head and the mouth of the knitted dinosaur toy I'm making to go along with the dinosaur quilt

it's coming right along

progress being made on other things too -- working on beads for the Egyptian piece, and all of the pieces I order beads for have been kitted up so I can start on a new project as soon as the current piece is done

I'm working around the "frame" of the center dinosaur on that quilt, and have almost finished the sky of the fall panel on the four seasons piece -- chugging along

and I'm working on taxes --- all of the sales tax reports are done and out of here -- YIPPEE!! now it's on to multiple schedule C forms

time to go make breakfast

project work continues

2012-02-03T09:07:00.004-07:00

this morning I was awakened by the sound of my cell phone telling me I had a text message

my daughter was telling me that she is having a "snow day"

and so are we -- we have between 6 and 8 inches on the ground now, and it's still snowing

good day to spend more time working on the bead project

the medallion is finished now, so it's time to do backing and fringing and of course building of more of those beads to make up the necklace part

notice that the bead on the right side is a bit smaller than the one on the left -- I need to do a few more of these and then step down again -- and possibly again from that -- we'll see how that all goes

the beads that I ordered last weekend arrived late yesterday afternoon, so I'll be adding them to the inventory list and setting up the kits for the new pieces I'm working on -- good snow day projects

and of course the quilting projects continue -- I'm actually working on the quilting of the dinosaur quilt -- the center block is nearly finished

and the sky portions of the fall panel in the seasons project is moving right along too

yup, we'll just settle in and work on projects until this big winter snow storm gets done!

the eyes have it

2012-02-01T09:22:00.004-07:00

heh, right

this is looking pretty good

I'm getting very close to having the bead embroidery finished on this piece

which means it will be back to creating more of those beads

fixed, changed, completed

2012-01-31T09:56:00.006-07:00

a busy day all around

here we have the panel that I picked out and re-quilted

on the left side the old way

on the right side the new way

and here are the three panels that are all finished

I'm really happy that I decided to pick out that middle panel and change it

I'm much happier with it now

I went to the local quilting store yesterday

of course the fabric that I had in my stash is no longer available

the nice clerk let me pull out practically every bolt of fabric that they had in the color family I was looking for

after a lot of playing around with different things (and even briefly considering using something in the green family), this fabric is what I settled on

so now I can start working on the real thing

just as soon as I get a couple of other things finished

I was able to get the thread I needed to do the quilting on the dinosaur quilt, so the quilting on that has begun

work on the Egyptian piece continues

this is looking pretty good

these 3 pieces of malachite arrived yesterday

I'm working on a design for another bracelet and maybe a necklace too, and I got these for very reasonable prices

I finished the second front panel for the sweater

now it's on to the sleeves (which I'm going to change because after all this I'm really not interested in knitting them in endless rows of plain single color

there are plenty of color charts to use instead

new projects

2012-01-30T08:51:00.007-07:00

once I got to sit down and do some beading, this came together pretty quickly

the "eye ball" is a glass piece that I got in a trade with another artist from Springfield, MO, a few years ago, and have just now figured out how to use it

(actually there were two of those, so I'll be making a second piece on this theme at some point)

I have 10 of these already put together to be part of the necklace for this, but I'll need to make some smaller ones, so there is a lot to do on this necklace beside just the "eye"

started on the dinosaur toy that will go along with the dinosaur quilt

this is the top of the head

interesting pattern

I do like the green/brown colorway, however -- and this yarn does make interesting patterns as you knit

neat

and I've nearly finished re-quilting the spring panel in the four seasons piece -- almost back to where I was when I decided to tip toe through the lily pads with the frogs and "rip it" out --- yippee!

somehow in the last 12 hours I've done something that my back did not like (I was fine when I went to sleep!) so my planned activities for the day (laundry, a trip to the local fabric store, picking up some groceries) will be slower and more painful than usual --- GRRRRR! one more of those reasons I want to be nearer to my daughter so I could actual get some help when I need it

morning glory

2012-01-29T09:05:00.006-07:00

what a glorious sunrise this morning!

(and it is so amazing what the new camera captures!)

just had to share

the quilt top for the baby quilt is finished

it came out really well

and I already have the backing (bought it on sale a couple of weeks ago), so probably this afternoon I'll put the sandwich together and get it ready to quilt

which I won't start until I can go to the local quilt store and get some thread that will go with this fabric (the front, that is) -- I went through my "stash" and I just don't have anything that works -- I'll be looking for a purple/green/brown blendable

I'm real pleased with how this top came out

and the verdict is

terra cotta

so when I make that trip for the thread, I'll be looking for a piece of fabric that will work since the only piece I have is part of a fat quarter, which is just not enough to do what I need

this is already feeling like one of those "did I do that" moments

I hope it still feels like that when I get it finished

last night I started working on a piece of jewelry -- that I had actually done some work on about a year ago and then set aside because I needed "parts" to be able to finish it -- pictures soon, I promise

onward!

no more blind dinosaurs!

2012-01-28T09:29:00.004-07:00

the center block is complete

today there will be trimming and the stitching of the quilt top

and maybe even the pinning of the "sandwich" so the quilting can begin

sooooo cool!

time spent with the colored pencils yesterday

this was the result of the fiddling

I think this is what I'm going to do -- although I'm still thinking about a sort of orange-y terra cotta color behind them

my plan for the next step is to take some photo copies of the actual fabric and do a cut and paste sample with paper

this project has been a whole new approach to creating a quilt -- a much more "painterly" approach -- sketching, changing, more sketching

I'm hoping this refining at the front end will mean fewer problems as the piece goes together

the final package arrived!

there are two of these great vintage glass pieces -- each one is about an inch tall

my plan is to use these to create a bracelet for a challenge on using filigree

as I was going through the boxes of beads I found that some of the vintage beads that my mother had given me are exactly the same color as this, so I'll be using them in this project along with some other ones

now that this is here I'll be finishing up that bead order from Fire Mountain

and I really need to spend some time writing the bills for February, and working on the taxes (BLEAH!)

better get busy

2 steps forward, 1 step back

2012-01-27T09:33:00.006-07:00

last night I finished the quilting of the summer panel

and now I'm in the process of taking out the quilting in the spring panel

the problem here is that after I did the winter panel and the summer panel by creating a swirly pattern that accented the clouds in the sky portion of the picture, the quilting in the spring panel, which doesn't do that just looks -- well, wrong

so I'm very carefully picking out the quilting in the sky portion and will re-quilt it using that same cloud accenting swirly pattern

yes, it will add some time to the project, but it will improve it and even more important, I will be happier with the piece -- otherwise my eye would always be drawn to that panel and I'd be unhappy with it

I've been working on the drawings for the Hoffman piece

I like the colors of the vases (and those will be some of the Hoffman coordinate fabrics), and the roses in the purpley-pink and the pinky-purple will be cut right out of the challenge fabric

but I'm still struggling with the background

do I want 3 different colors there?

or would a dark wall with a light colored table cloth be better?

and then there is the question of "where is the light"?

and where should the shadows be?

I'll be spending some time looking at images of classic still life paintings to work on learning more to do this

meantime, the framing of the center dinosaur is going really well -- I hope to have that finished today

and I spent a lot of time yesterday afternoon playing with beads -- and determined that I will be making a small order to Fire Mountain Gems for some wider clasps and some beads that will go with those spring/leaf green and chartreuse cameos as well as that carved floral piece -- both of which are colors that I haven't worked with before so I just don't have anything in the stash that works

I'm still waiting for one more order to arrive, so I'll probably wait to make that bead order until I can see if I need anything to go with it

lots of fun stuff happening in the studio!

drawing revisions

2012-01-26T09:00:00.004-07:00

just a small tweek -- now the 3 vases are at 3 different levels so it sort of flows

now it's on to doing something so it doesn't look like these vases are just floating in air

which is why I've printed out a sheet of these that I can play with

oh yeah, and I moved the flowers in the vase on the left a little closer to the rim of the vase

I think I'm going to move the two taller vases so they are a bit closer together too -- perhaps touching there behind the front one

then there will be the discussion of what colors these are all going to be

yesterday afternoon I finished putting the face on the dinosaur and started working on the framing around him -- hopefully this afternoon I'll get that finished

I want to spend some time putting together some "kits" for the new jewelry pieces so I can figure out if I need to order anything (other than the clasp I know I'll need for the cameo bracelet) and so I can just get started working on something!

got to go pick up a prescription and an ink cartridge for my printer first

valentines and dinosaurs

2012-01-25T09:38:00.006-07:00

just a "sneak peek"

I've been working on Valentines

which of course involves glitter (soooooo much glitter)

got them all finished yesterday afternoon -- all ready to be addressed and mailed!

it's a blind dinosaur

yesterday I got the other two legs and the head stitched on, so now I have only the eyes and the frame

which means that by the end of the week I should be stitching the blocks together and moving this to the "ready to be quilted" stage

whoot!

so cute

and I've located some yarn in my stash to knit the dinosaur toy -- it's a variegated green --- PERFECT!

more work being done on the design for the Hoffman challenge

and here is where I've used one of the features on my new camera to do some of the work for me

I free form cut the three vases out of plain paper, and the roses were traced directly off of the challenge fabric

laid it all out on a big sheet of paper on the table and did some other drawing -- like adding the stems on the roses -- then took pictures of it with the new camera in "sketch" mode

I'll be printing out a sheet of this so I can do some additional sketching to work out background details

once I finish doing that I'll be able to print a full size pattern too

I do love being able to use my technology to help with my art!

another of the packages of goodies I had ordered arrived yesterday

I plan to make these little green cameos (they're about an inch tall) into a bracelet -- four separate links strung together with beads

I'll probably have to order a clasp for this, so I'll be perusing the Fire Mountain catalog

this morning we're heading off to Costco for our monthly run -- time to get moving!

finished, progress and new "toys"

2012-01-24T09:02:00.008-07:00

finished this up last night

the third of the hot pads I've been making for my daughter by working on them while I'm talking on the phone

cool

this ball of yarn is almost gone now, so I need to go to the stash and pull out some more cotton

and the first front of the sweater I'm knitting is finished too

I started the other front last night

moving right along

oh look, it's a headless dinosaur!

this is the center block of the baby quilt, and it's moving right along

needs legs and a head

I found the fabric I'm using for the dinosaur in my stash and I really like the way it looks for this

cute!

I've been working on some ideas for some new pieces of jewelry, so the other day I made some purchases on Etsy for some pieces to use in them

the Egyptian charm is for a piece I've been working on that has lapis blue glass beads with gold beads --- I plan to use this charm at the center of the piece

the mermaid is for a piece I've been planning that will also use a slice of a chambered nautilus

the ivory colored carved block was something that I saw in the Etsy store when I found the other two pieces and it just shouted "take me too" -- I'm thinking about a bracelet for this piece

nothing like new materials to kick up the creative juices!!

Experimenting and more dog watching

2012-01-23T09:33:00.003-07:00

you may recall that I said I had an idea about the fronds for the redwood tree

I ironed a fusible interfacing to the back of the fabric then just cut out the shape and stitched it down to the background with one row of stitching down the center

the interfacing makes the fabric stiffer so it has more shape and the edges don't fray as much as just raw fabric does

I think this technique is a winner

now I can't wait to get the baby quilt done so I can get back to this one! (goal #1 for 2012 -- get those trees finished!!)

the nurse dog is keeping the pillow and the blanket warm for the DH

she is the strangest dog -- her predecessor hated to have anything thrown over her head -- this one will let you bury her in blankets or pillows and just lays there

(she also lets Mr Cute crawl all over her without fussing about it)

it's Monday -- laundry to do -- and a lot of project balls in the air to keep juggling

time to get to it!

finished!

2012-01-22T10:20:00.004-07:00

the bracelet is complete

now I have almost a whole month before the deadline for the competition I'll be entering this in -- hmmm, that's almost as frustrating as working right up to the last minute!

never mind, I have other things to work on

like this quilt, for instance

finished the last corner block, so now it's on to the bigger center block

I'll be pulling out all the fabrics and getting that started this afternoon

and I think I finally have a usable idea for this year's Hoffman challenge

last night I drew this little sketch on a piece of scrap paper

so now I'll start working on some more full size drawings to see if this is something I can actually do

we'll see

the big black dog that lives here has been on "nurse duty" since I brought the DH home from the hospital

she keeps a close eye on what he's up to

last night she decided under the end of his recliner with part of his blanket over her head was a good place to "watch" him from

uh, right

time to go get breakfast together

another finished panel and some gratuitous cuteness

2012-01-21T10:21:00.006-07:00

finally!

the sky in the winter panel took what seemed like forever to get quilted -- mostly because there were all those little areas that had me taking two or three stitches then turning the panel over and over again

I'm pleased with the way it looks, and having two of the four panels quilted gives me an idea how the finished piece will look

I did just a little bit of work in the summer panel last night -- I think that panel will go a bit quicker than the winter one did -- we'll see

I did get the rest of the dinosaur except for his eyes appliqued yesterday, so hopefully today that corner block will be completed

and I started doing the beading around the bracelet to finish it too

last night my daughter emailed me this picture she took with her phone when they were at dinner somewhere with Mr Cute

mmmmmm, I love getting these pictures of him doing those normal things of every day living that I'm not right there for

and he's just so cute!

13 months old now, walking every where -- and look at that blond hair! (it's actually sort of strawberry blond) such a beautiful child

yesterday the DH had his first appointment with his doctor after his surgery -- he's doing very well -- they gave him one exercise he's supposed to do 3 times a day and he goes back in four weeks -- the beginning of rehabbing!

progress report

2012-01-20T08:09:00.004-07:00

got all of the beading done on the face of the bracelet yesterday afternoon -- then coated the back of it with fray check so the threads will stay put

today I'll need to go through the box of leather and upholstery fabrics to find a lining so I can start on the finishing work

a couple of days ago I ordered some new cabochons to start on a new design -- I'm hoping those arrive soon
progress being made on the dinosaur quilt blocks

this is the final corner block, so I've also spent some time drawing up the patterns for the big center block

and it's about time to head to the yarn stash box and find something to make the knit dinosaur toy that will go along with the quilt

this morning the DH has his first doctor's appointment following his surgery

time to get moving

slog, slog, slog

2012-01-18T09:40:00.004-07:00

2/3 of the beading is finished

I'll be cruising through the bead box to select the colors for the 3 section today sometime

and the 4th corner dinosaur block is taking shape

last night while I was in that fugue state between awake and asleep I had an idea about doing redwood leaves (yup, that project is still in the works!) -- I'll be trying that out on some scrap fabric first

time to get to the grocery store

slogging along

2012-01-17T09:01:00.004-07:00

beading progressing on the bracelet -- for a while I was afraid I wouldn't have enough to the gold bugles to finish the section, but not that I've done this much of it I'm pretty sure there will be

I'm pleased with how this is going

and over the weekend I had an idea for another bracelet, but it will require the purchasing of some materials, so that one will wait a while

meantime I'm still working on the quilting of the winter panel of the four seasons panel and the applique of the fourth corner of the dinosaur quilt and working on the knitting projects too, just not enough of anything to take a picture of

accomplished getting the laundry done yesterday -- a small step toward normal again!

new camera tricks

2012-01-16T09:55:00.008-07:00

this little guy was on the front lawn this morning when I went out to get the paper

he just sat there and looked at me while I walked out to the end of the driveway, picked up the paper and walked back to the house

so I decided to grab the new camera and see what I could get

ok, I'm even more impressed with the camera after this --- so cool!

over the weekend I sold a charm bracelet from my Etsy store

the purchaser told me it was a gift for her daughter, so yesterday afternoon I adjusted it to the right length for her

and I'm happy to do it

(I'd almost forgotten I'd made these, and I still like them -- hope her daughter does!)

progress being made on the beaded bracelet

looking good

today we're going to try to get back into something that resembles the usual routine -- laundry!

(oh yes, I got that phone call from the doctor's office this morning that it was ok for the DH to get back on his medications -- I'm still annoyed and thinking seriously about making a formal complaint about the way that whole issue was handled)

another finished object

2012-01-15T08:54:00.007-07:00

this was the second hot pad I started on Wednesday while the DH was in surgery

since then every time I've been on the phone to talk with my daughter or my sister or my mother I've picked up this project and worked on it some more

yesterday afternoon I was able to do that final diagonal seam and it's all finished

I'm planning to start another one to be worked on the same way

(never a wasted moment!)

the center section of the bracelet is finished -- and I actually started on the section to the right too (see that little row of gold?)

looking good

and the third dinosaur block is finished

the little stegosaurus is so cute!

so today I can get the last corner block started

this project is moving right along

meantime I'm still struggling with the design for this year's Hoffman challenge -- it just hasn't "jelled" yet

the UPS man brought this on Friday

I had forgotten how cool this piece actually was since I haven't seen it for about 8 months!

it was entered in a competition, but didn't "make the cut", but it did hang in the store for several months since I was willing to sell it

as soon as I can take some new pictures of it that show the color and detail better I'll be putting it out on the second Etsy store

the pieces for the back of the sweater are finished

so now it's on to the front pieces

for someone that usually converts a sweater pattern so the whole body can be knit in one piece, this has been really weird to knit

but I do love all the patterns and textures

and yes, after I had this picture on the screen, I can spot an error in the way I knit one of the strips

never mind -- I'm leaving it!

working and grumbling

2012-01-14T09:29:00.004-07:00

another dinosaur block almost completed!

this one is pretty cute too -- love the little stegosaurus

you can see by the pins around the edge that I'm working on attaching the "frame" to this block right now

and the progress being made on the scarf I'm knitting for the DH ---

this is almost 14 inches long now, so it's moving right along

looking at it in the photo, the pattern sort of makes me think of ribbing that runs on the diagonal -- pretty interesting

yesterday was a challenge

the home health nurse was supposed to come and do a blood draw so the doctor could determine if it is okay for the DH to go back onto one of his diabetic medications

the nurse called and said she would be here at 1 pm -- she finally showed up at 2:30 pm -- and then she couldn't do the blood draw and wanted to send someone else out that would be here "right away" -- at 4:15 she called and said it would be quite a while before she could be here --

I ended up taking him back over to the lab at the hospital, getting there just before 5 -- just in time to get someone to do the draw before we would have had to go through emergency

so much for getting him back on his medications for the weekend -- I am definitely unhappy with the way this was handled

new things, old things

2012-01-13T09:52:00.006-07:00

yesterday afternoon I got back to this

it took me a bit of fiddling with the seed beads to figure out how to arrange them around those bugle beads

nice progress

a while back (ok, over a year ago!) I spent some time playing with needle felting

at that time I did several birds and combined them with wood bird houses that had been painted or antiqued and felted flowers added too

when we stopped doing craft shows, most of this stuff just got packed up into plastic tubs and put away

recently I have started going through things and I found this piece

so, I put him in my Etsy shop -- not the one where I put all my bead work, but the OTHER one

and since I've decided to start putting my fiber work and mixed media pieces out there in that shop, you'll see a new link over there on the right side of the blog, so if you want to go check out what's out there you can use the link

on Wednesday the DH had his surgery -- originally scheduled for 1 pm, because of issues with the scheduling ahead of him, he finally got into surgery at about 2:30 pm

it made for a very long day by the time he had 2 hours of surgery, then 2 hours in the recovery room before they put him in a room for the night

lots of time for me to work on portable projects

like making this entire hot pad for my daughter (she told me when we were at her house at Christmas that some of the ones I had made her a few years ago had begun to wear out), and start on another one

when you sit in the waiting area of the surgical center of a hospital and you are paying attention you see both ends of the spectrum of what happens there

during those 4 hours there were 6 babies born (the hospital plays Brahm's Lullaby on the intercom for each one) and a family was told that their loved one didn't make it through whatever the surgery was (I'm thinking that has to be the part of the job that doctors must most hate)

the DH came home yesterday afternoon -- the Bionic Man -- he has a new shoulder joint made of metal and plastic -- now begins the long slog toward healing and rehab --

keep those prayers coming please!

progress on the beadwork

2012-01-11T07:50:00.002-07:00

I didn't get as much time in the studio yesterday as I usually do, but I did spend some time working on this

a while back my mother gave me a lot of beads that she had been holding on for for at least 20 years, and I've been trying to put them into projects when it seems appropriate

since this is a tribute to Gee's Bend quilts, this seems like the right place to use some of these

these green beads, for instance, are bugle beads, but they are much smaller in diameter than a normal bugle bead that is available for sale now -- and they are slightly irregular in length as well

usually when I'm doing bead embroidery, I try to make sure that all of the beads run the same direction, but in keeping with the traditions of Gee's Bend, I'm using a slightly different approach for this piece -- some of the beads run one way, some the other, and there are a couple of round seed beads thrown in there too where I needed to fill the space

the more I work on this the more I like it

more finished things

2012-01-10T09:06:00.008-07:00

yesterday morning the DH had to go have pre-op tests done

I went along to keep track of the paperwork, write the check and serve as axillary memory for all those questions they always ask

while I was waiting I finished an afghan square -- the first for 2012

after some sorting through the beads I started working on that new bracelet

last year I had done a piece that was titled Tribute to Gee's Bend and it sold pretty quickly out of my Etsy store

I'm hoping this one will do likewise

progress is being made on the third block of the dinosaur quilt

the beginning of the stegosaurus

I think this one is going to be cute too

while I was in the store yesterday I picked up the quilt batting that I will use in this quilt (they were on sale for 50% off) and found a cute dinosaur print fabric that I will use for the back of the quilt (another deal -- it was the end of the bolt so I got it for 50% off too)

nice

finished knitting the last cup cozy

this one is for me -- I plan to use it around my sport bottle that I take when I go to guild meetings or other places where I want to have my own water

the skein of sock yarn was just enough to make the four of these

and another trip through the button box yielded additional "one of a kind" buttons to do the decorating with

now its back to working on the scarf and the sweater

time to get moving -- lots to do before the DH has surgery tomorrow

block number 2 complete

2012-01-08T08:43:00.001-07:00

yesterday afternoon I finished up the flying dinosaur block

cute!

today I hope to get set up to work on the next one

I've also been working on the quilting of the winter panel in the four seasons piece -- the tree and the snow quilting are finished and now I'm working on the sky

been thinking about a new beaded piece as well, just haven't really figured out what exactly I'm doing with it yet

so many projects!

it's a bird, it's a plane

2012-01-07T09:10:00.003-07:00

it's a blind dinosaur?!

heh, well yes, it is

this block is ready for the face and the framing

psychedelic pterodactyl!!!

in the past few years I've made several baby quilts -- each of them different and all of them fun -- this one is no exception

yesterday afternoon we spent time in the doctor's office -- the DH is having shoulder replacement surgery on Wednesday, so he had to sign all of the paperwork, get fitted for the sling, etc. -- and Monday he goes to have all of the blood work, etc. at the hospital -- it's going to be a busy week (and we'd appreciate your prayers for his swift recovery)

today's plans include a trip to the store for groceries and some house cleaning before I get back to the projects -- time to get with it

Ready for spinning

2012-01-06T08:46:00.003-07:00

as I mentioned yesterday, our local fiber arts shop (Table Rock Llamas) has drum carders that they rent out by the hour (the whole session cost me only $10 -- a real bargain!)

I went yesterday morning and spent 2 hours cranking (and I expected my arm to be a bit sore, but it isn't - a pleasant surprise)

this fleece was from a Jacob sheep -- I got it a couple of years ago and had used part of it to do needle felting -- but there was still so much of it that it just seemed like a good idea to go ahead and spin some of it into yarn

in two hours I was able to card about half of the first fleece (when we paid for this fleece the lady we talked to tossed in a second fleece for free!), so I'll be setting up future carding sessions later

I tried to sort the light from the dark when I did the carding -- my plan is to spin them separately then run one light strand and one dark strand together when I ply them for a sort of tweedy yarn

work continues on the baby dinosaur quilt

good progress being made on this block -- both wings all stitched down, so now it's on to the arms and legs

yesterday I got an ad flyer from one of the local fabric stores that has quilt bats on sale for 50% off, so I'll be picking up one for this quilt in the next couple of days

nice timing!

first finished project of 2012

2012-01-05T09:14:00.004-07:00

ta da!

finished up the apron for my daughter yesterday afternoon

this is a customized apron -- sort of like Chinese food -- one from column A, 2 from column B (but no, there is no egg roll!)

the original pattern called for a small pocket in front, but I put in one that runs all the way across the front panel of the apron (yes, it's really there, even though it's hard to tell in the picture)

and the original also called for two buttons in back at the waist, but she wanted ties instead, so that's what I did

today I'll be putting together a "squishy" to sent this off to her

and the first corner block of the baby quilt is now finished

I really like the way the "framing" with the leaf batik fabric worked -- it's so much better than the first attempt where I was appliqueing directly onto that batik

so now it's on to the next corner on this project

this morning I'm heading off to the local fiber store to use the drum carder for a couple of hours -- I pulled out the box of fleece yesterday and admired the lovely colors that are all in one fleece of a Jacob sheep --- this should make some lovely yarn

time to get moving!

faceless three horn

2012-01-04T09:24:00.003-07:00

this little dinosaur is all ready for his face

I'm much happier with the way this is going now

which is more than I can say about one of the knitting projects I've been working on -- let us say that perhaps the 3rd time will be the charm

time to get working on things

full steam ahead

2012-01-03T08:57:00.003-07:00

after some thought and some further stash searching, I came up with a new idea to use on the dinosaur issue

yesterday I began again on the project

so far I'm liking the way this is going together

while I was in the "sewing room" I also got the apron for my daughter cut out and the beginning of the sewing done -- looking good

the first half back of the sweater is off the sticks

now I have to make the other side to match (ah, that's always the tricky part!)

I'm starting to think about the organizing that has to happen so I can file taxes (back in the days when we got a refund this felt like a more worth while exercise because there was a "reward" for doing it -- now days it's just another necessary piece of paperwork) BLEAH!

back to projects

2012-01-02T09:15:00.005-07:00

yesterday afternoon I finished quilting the spring panel

I'm pretty pleased with the way my idea of heavily quilting the sky and only outline quilting the tree created the look I wanted -- like the tree and it's leaves are popping up off the surface

so now I'm working on quilting the stripping to the left of the panel (I did the stripping to the right first), then it will be on to the winter panel

my searching through the stash for a solution to the dinosaur quilt issue was not very successful -- I'm still thinking about what I'll be doing about that

this morning I'll be heading over to the library to take down the art that has been hanging there for the past month, then on to run an errand or two while I'm out -- hoping to get some work done on projects this afternoon

It's a new dawn...

2012-01-01T09:35:00.005-07:00

it's a new day

it's a new year!

(with apologies to Nina Simone -- lyric paraphrased from "Feeling Good")

actually, I took this picture last week while we were still at our daughter's house (as I've said before, she has this awesome panoramic view from her back deck)

love the pinks and lavenders in this one

(and yes, taken with the new camera!)

last night for the first time in a long time, we actually were awake (just barely) at midnight to "welcome" the new year

yesterday I spent some time working on projects

this was one of them -- the beginning of the baby quilt I'm working on

but not

while I love the look of this batik with the idea of the dinosaurs, the pattern is just too "busy" to use as the background to applique on

today I'll be going through the stash boxes again to find a less patterned fabric for those areas

progress is being made on the sweater I'm knitting for myself

it's an interesting pattern that is making more sense as I just work along and follow the pattern

looking good

and I'm finally working on the actual scarf for the DH

after fiddling with a lot of other patterns, in the end what I'm knitting is something that I just made up to fit the criteria he had for the piece

ok, I'm good with that

today I hope to get the apron started for my daughter -- we'll see

a final finished project

2011-12-31T08:34:00.005-07:00

just in time to get this entered in the challenge before the deadline today

this bracelet is one of the cuff style pieces that I have made several of

this one is titled "Ice Flow"

if you'd like to see more pictures of it, you can use the link there on the right hand side of my blog to go to my Etsy page where it is listed

one of the fun things that I did yesterday was to use both of my cameras to take pictures of the bracelet -- I'm trying to learn all the ins and outs of the new one -- the one thing that I noticed right off when I started pulling the raw photos into my software was that I needed to do less "tweeking" of the color with the new camera to get the photo to actually look like the object

cool, very cool
here is another picture of Mr. Cute from the series of photos I took on Christmas day

one of the presents that his grandpa and I got for him was a little tent with a "tunnel" that can be attached to it

while the tent couldn't be set up while the Christmas tree was up, the tunnel got opened up right away

he had a grand time taking his little cars through it, and before the day was over, the smallest dog in the household had been through it, as had Mr Cute's mama (I'll not be showing those photos, but they are priceless!)

it's hard to believe that here we are at the end of another year -- celebrate safely!

Happy New Year!!

what Santa brought and new projects

2011-12-30T09:48:00.007-07:00

Mr Cute and his grandpa are having a serious discussion here about what might be under the Christmas tree for them to investigate

this was taken Christmas morning right after breakfast and just before we started tearing into the packages

this was the "big" present for me this year --

the camera I had been using was two years old and I had taken almost 5500 photos with it

it still worked well, but this beauty has more mega pixels and some very cool built in settings -- including the one that lets you take a picture and it looks like a pencil drawing (yup, that's a PHOTO of my laptop computer) --- I can see lots of quilting design uses for that feature

of course this means I'll be spending some time learning how to use all of this new technology

my sister gave me a copy of a book I had wanted for a couple of years -- Lyric Kinard's Art+Quilt

she wrapped it in fabric so it didn't rattle in the box

24 fat quarters of amazing fabric to be exact

OH WOW!

I've already been thinking about new things to create with this stuff

one of the things my daughter asked me to do for her is to make her an apron that she can wear to do messy projects

since I had made myself one of these a while back, I already owned the pattern

she picked this fabric

so I'll be cutting into this stuff soon -- maybe even this afternoon

and let the 2012 Christmas projects begin!

when we were in the fabric store looking for apron fabric, they had marked this fabric down

and it's flannel

it's been through the washer already and it's stashed away to be made into pjs a little later in the year

time to get busy

the post Christmas "Reveal"

2011-12-29T09:07:00.004-07:00

during the year as I worked on Christmas presents, I couldn't always put them out here on my blog -- part of my family actually reads this thing pretty regularly!

now that all those presents have been given to the intended recipients, I can talk about them here

this is the first lace shawl I ever knit (and at this point the only one, but I'm not ruling out doing another one at some point!)

it went to my sister -- who was totally surprised by it

I'm glad she liked it

for ten years now I've been knitting my daughter a sweater every year for Christmas

this one was this year's

this yarn was wonderful to work with

the pattern made me nuts because I had to make major changes to the sleeves and the hood because the pattern as written called for both of those to be way too short

she's already been wearing this -- I'm pleased that she liked it

behold the winged monkey

my daughter from time to time threatens to call out her winged monkeys at work

now she actually has one

this is the same pattern I used for the soft toy I made for Mr Cute earlier in the year, knit with finer yarn and smaller needles

and instead of stuffing the arms and legs I put a fat chenille stick in them so he's also poseable

this was a fun project

and then there is the pillow

when my daughter was in high school, she was part of the annual Pops concerts -- which were staged like a full scale Broadway review

her senior year one of the segments was Jekyll and Hyde
they all had t shirts that they wore for that segment

I made the t shirt into a pillow for her

we got home yesterday afternoon, and I've been busy putting things away and doing laundry and trying to get back into the routine

tomorrow I'll try to show you some of the pictures from Christmas and tell you about what Santa brought me

this morning I need to get over and get some groceries!

Merry Christmas and a new old tradition

2011-12-25T05:00:00.007-07:00

for a very long time there have been gingerbread cookies on our Christmas tree every year

these came to us as a gift from a very dear friend in California and served as decor on the tree until Christmas day after which they were fair game for whomever wanted to have a sweet snack

over the years our friend has made thousands of these cookies -- all lovingly mixed, cut, baked and decorated and enclosed in plastic bags with ribbons and ornament hooks all ready to hang on the tree

there were some years when my daughter was very young that there was also an assortment of gingerbread animals on the tree

this year my friend has given up the baking of the mega batches of gingerbread

at 82 her hands are no longer strong enough to do all of the decorating

instead, she made felt gingerbread boys for all of us that have over the years been part of the great gingerbread boy ornament list

she used the same cookie cutter to make the pattern they are cut from, and each one is decorated with the same pattern she used every year, right down to the names

and they're wrapped in plastic baggies and have the ornament hooks attached

I feel privileged to have a "forever" gingerbread boy with my name from her -- and she made one for each of, including Mr. Cute

perhaps next year I'll try making some cookies from the recipe just for us to eat

these kind of traditions are part of what creates the fiber that binds families together --

may you be blessed with joy in your own family's traditions

Merry Christmas!

new quilt design and working on my sweater

2011-12-24T13:58:00.006-07:00

as I mentioned a couple of days ago, I needed to design a new baby quilt for a little boy

so Thursday afternoon I spent some time with pencil and paper and worked on some simple line drawings

this little dinosaur will be the center block of the piece

I'm working on drawings of four more for smaller corner blocks

and I'm wondering if I'll be able to find a fabric for the back that has dinosaurs on it -- have to start looking

this should be a fun quilt to do and it shouldn't take too long to do

I've been knitting on pieces for the sweater I'm making for myself

I have knit two of these circles that go on the sides -- two more of those to go -- the second one I knit up in one evening

since it is Christmas Eve my daughter and I got up early and made a very quick trip to the grocery store to pick up last minute items that we will need for tomorrow's celebration

since we returned we have made an angel food cake and a batch of fudge (having decided that the one batch that was made yesterday wasn't enough) -- we still have a pumpkin pie to bake and then put together the sweet rolls for tomorrow morning's breakfast -- we're on a roll

looking forward to a visit from Santa

Santa's workshop project complete

2011-12-22T09:14:00.005-07:00

looking very good!

yesterday afternoon I finished the cushion for the back of the chair and tied it on

I'm real pleased with how this came out -- it hardly looks like the same chair

amazing with a good scrubbing and some new fabric can do for a used piece of furniture

ready for the sleigh!

this project is complete too

this is a very long "belt" type item that was requested by my sister for my nephew to go with the robe I made him a while back

fortunately I had on hand plenty of the scrap fabric from that project to do this for him

hope it does what he needs

and I finished the edge of the bracelet

so now this just needs to wait for a day with a bit more sunshine so I can do the official "photo shoot" to get pictures to enter it in the challenge

this was a fun project and didn't take near as long as I thought it would, so I'm happy to say I have 10 days to get those photos taken and the entry done on line

yippee!!

since I was whipping through those projects so well I thought it would be fun to go ahead and start on the sweater I'm making for myself

and here is the beginning

I know, it doesn't look much like the usual approach to making a sweater, but I have learned to trust the professional pattern writers, so I'm willing to play along here

and yesterday I learned that I have another baby quilt that I need to make -- my step daughter's oldest girl will have her third child (a boy) sometime the end of March or the beginning of April -- wow!

more from Santa's workshop

2011-12-21T09:57:00.006-07:00

last week I stripped all the upholstery off this little rocking chair and did the gluing repair it needed done to the arms

yesterday afternoon, when I finally felt well enough to do something that required some strength, I re-upholstered the seat

heavy duty green corduroy -- and I used the technique I learned when I upholstered the footstool earlier in the year

to today I hope to get the cushion for the back of the chair stitched up

feeling pretty good about how this little project is coming out

I've probably mentioned from time to time that I know how to do a lot of "lost" home arts

the knitting and crocheting and quilting have all made a popular come back over the years, and there are a few people who know about tatting (another thing that my grandmother taught me how to do)

but darning?

as in darning a sock -- and actually having a "darning egg" to do it with

over the weekend my daughter asked if I could repair this sock for her -- I did the repair yesterday (after I ran the socks through the washer and the dryer) -- glad to put this old skill to work again

ta da!

the beading on this project is done and I painted the back of it with fray check last night

today I should be able to start on putting the whole piece together (just as soon as I figure out what I'm using on the back of it!)

and since the cup cozies are all finished and I usually have at least two knitting projects on the sticks, I decided it was time to start something new

and unusual

I'm actually working on a sweater for myself

all of the yarn is coming out of my stash

and since it is a multi-color patterned knit, running out of a color will not be a deal breaker

this is the "main" color -- a lovely rusty brown, and I made gauge first thing out of the box -- wow!

tonight I can start the first piece of the project -- hopefully

and another shot of the birthday boy

let me tell you, this kid knows what to do with cake

and he has a really smart mommy

the free round "smash cake" that came along with the quarter sheet cake she ordered for his party was a full thickness 6 inch cake

she sliced about an inch off the top of it and only gave him that part

plenty for some great photos and for him to enjoy it -- not enough to make him sick

yummy (and yes, a full bath followed!)

today I was supposed to go to the local yarn shop and use the drum carder on the box of fleece -- or at least part of it -- but this morning the DH woke up with a worse version of the stomach issue I had on Sunday

I'll be making a quick trip to the grocery to pick up ginger ale, then back home again -- and calling to reschedule that carding trip

time to get to it

home again

2011-12-20T09:16:00.006-07:00

last weekend we went to visit with our daughter and to be there for the first birthday of Mr Cute

here he is with his daddy

they are examining one of the toys that he got at his very well attended birthday party

lots of "grandmas" in attendance and you know how great grandmas are at spoiling little boys

my daughter and I had planned to do some projects on Sunday, but unfortunately I woke up on Sunday morning feeling like I had swallowed a ball of fire and spent most of the day huddled up in a quilt sipping flat soda --- BLEAH!

we came home yesterday -- getting safely home before a snow storm dumped 6 inches of snow on our area

between more napping in my chair, I did manage to finish the cup cozies I had been working on -- the knitting was completed over the weekend, but I had forgotten to take a small enough needle to be able to sew on the buttons

(ok, DUH!)

I'm pleased with these, and I hope the intended recipients like them too

a little bit of work done on the bracelet yesterday

if things go well I should get the bead work done this week

time to go through the box of leather and upholstery velvet and see what I have to use on the back of this

last week I frogged the scarf I had been knitting and started again

I like the way the revised scarf is looking

the old yarn and the new yarn as knit up are a perfect match

today I'm doing the usual Monday laundry and hoping to get some work done on the rocking chair and a couple of other projects -- we'll see how that all goes -- depends on when I run out of energy and need to nap again

another new project for Christmas

2011-12-16T08:27:00.004-07:00

this is what happens when I get the shopping and wrapping finished early

I find a whole new way to create a deadline for myself

a while ago my daughter had asked if the rocking chair she had as a child was still hanging around (seriously child, does your mother EVER throw anything away?)

so I told her yes, it was still here, and yes, it could come to her house for Mr Cute

yesterday I decided that I would clean it up a bit before putting it in the car to take to him

except the more I tried to clean the more issues I found and before long I was pulling out the needle nose pliers and a screw driver and the tubs of fabric to see if I had a fabric that I could use to recover it

once I got all of the cover off the chair, I decided to go ahead and re-glue the arms since they were a little wobbly --

ok, this won't be going to Mr Cute for this weekend's festivities, but it will go next weekend -- I can do the re-upholstery job on Tuesday, and I found a really sturdy deep green corduroy fabric to use on it
work continues on the bracelet

moving right along

and there was knitting last night -- two rows on the newly cast on scarf (the equivalent of 1200 stitches!!) it sounds more extreme when you knit the rows sideways, but actually it would be about the same number of stitches if it was knit the other way -- there would just be more rows!

time to go pack the car

beginning again and continued work

2011-12-15T09:34:00.008-07:00

a couple of weeks ago I started knitting on this scarf

it's knit from side to side, so there were 250 stitches there, and it's worked in linen stitch which really makes each row feel more like 500 stitches

I got it this far and discovered that I didn't have enough of the white yarn to finish it

yesterday I made the trip to my favorite local yarn shop to see if I could find another skein of mostly alpaca white sock yarn

success! so last night I rolled that new skein into a ball, and I frogged the entire scarf -- the new one (which I cast on last night) will be longer -- as in 300 stitches -- and all white -- I will be alternating the two balls of yarn across the scarf just in case there is some minor difference in how the two slightly different yarns work up -- and the tan that I was using as an accent in the original will be used in another project (which I'm already thinking about)

while I was in there I made an appointment for next Wednesday morning to go an use their drum carder to card up a bunch of the Jacob's Sheep fleece that I have in a box -- I'm sort of stock piling some projects for after Christmas when I won't be able to be out and about quite so much

on the way back we made a stop in our local Bed Bath & Beyond -- my meat thermometer went belly up a while back, and with the coming roasting of prime rib for Christmas being just around the corner, I needed to replace it

in the past few weeks I had received multiple flyers with coupons on them from this store, and because I wasn't sure if I would need them for any Christmas shopping, I had clipped them and put them in my purse just in case

once we had picked up what we were going to buy, I pulled one of the coupons for our use then walked around the store looking for other shoppers -- asking each one "do you have a coupon?" until I found hands to put all of the extra ones into, wishing each one a Merry Christmas in the exchange

I'll tell ya, that was FUN!!
more work got done on the ice bracelet yesterday afternoon

the beading on it is about half finished now, and I'm really liking the way it's coming out

the top and bottom strips are now stitched to this

the "mat" around the pictures all in place

today I hope to get it all sandwiched together so I can start doing the quilting

my plan is to use a narrow dark binding on this that will look like the "frame"

and the second one of these is ready for the finishing

one more to do

a year ago today we were wildly throwing things in a bag and heading out the door to be with our daughter as our little grandson was born

and here is the little man now

no longer a baby -- a toddler for sure -- and Mr Cute has definitely claimed our hearts

Happy Birthday to the Mr Cute and a big pat on the back to my daughter and her hubbie for the great job they are doing with him

Enjoy the day kids!

garage workshop inside, part deux

2011-12-14T09:13:00.006-07:00

the DH is closing in on that project where he is restoring a vintage wood wagon

the wheels are next in order of needing a paint job, so they came in to be scrubbed

I get to do the masking so no paint will get on the tires

before he did the scrubbing, however, I got to play doctor

he had been working on a new wood working project (he's building some more furniture -- very cool stuff)

here in the photo are the tweezers I used to remove that "splinter" from his thumb

I could not believe how long that thing is!

OUCH!!

we're at a very odd place here

the shopping is all done

the wrapping is finished

the package that had to go to California has already been received there

yesterday I finished the cards (sooooo much glitter!) and they are waiting for the post man to pick up this morning

uh, this is just too weird

fortunately, I have lots of other projects to work on!

like this one, for instance

which is coming along nicely -- sometimes I start these cuff bracelets in the center and work both ways from there, but this one (aside from the random big beads) I'm working from one end to the other

and it's moving right along

and this project is going well too

almost finished with number two -- just one more to do after this

today's excursion will include a trip to the local yarn shop to hopefully get yarn for the project I put on hold last week pending getting additional yarn for it

and a stop off at the grocery store on the way back

onward!

works in progress

2011-12-13T09:27:00.009-07:00

every morning before I start writing a new post here, I look at any comments that have been made on the post from the day before

this morning it was a good thing I didn't have my mouth full of anything liquid -- Alison's comment had me -- go take a look if you want a great laugh! -- and thank you Alison, that was awesome

one of the groups that I belong to on Etsy is a group of bead embroiderers (click here to take a look at their page)

right now there is a Winter Wonderland challenge going on there

I didn't really intend to do anything for this one, too much else going on, etc, etc, except that a couple of ideas just popped into my head over the weekend, so I guess I'm doing this after all

started stitching on this yesterday

I think I can get it finished by Dec 31, even with Christmas and birthday parties between now and then

worked on this piece again last night

all of the vertical stripping has been installed, so today it's on to the horizontal strips that go all across the top and the bottom

since the actual quilting is getting close, I'm thinking about how I'm going to do that -- probably pretty heavy quilting in the sky sections so the trees pop up from the surface --

and progress being made on the next knitting project

these are small "quickie" projects, and they're going really well

yesterday the last of the Christmas presents that were on order arrived and I got them into paper -- hoping to get everything else finished today -- oh yes, and the glittering of the Christmas cards is moving right along too -- looking good, looking good

wherein the garage workshop steps indoors

2011-12-12T09:38:00.005-07:00

the bad thing about the DH having his wood workshop in an unheated garage is that this time of year it's not much fun for him to work on things

and some projects, that require a temperature over 40 degrees to work properly, either have to be put off until warmer weather or they have to come into the house

so here we have a project that needed to be glued sitting on the padded vinyl mat that protects the dining room table from damage

it did mean that the heavy books were nearby to hold the pieces being glued in good contact (and yes, there is a piece of parchment paper between the gluing pieces and those books!)

he did this gluing on Saturday, and today the project is back out in the garage workshop for the next step -- drilling and screwing the next piece of the project

yup, the wagon restoration is coming right along
and the knitting of this one is complete -- finished last night

I got a chuckle out of the pattern instructions -- they say that the bound off edge would be a lot looser than the cast on edge and gave advice about stitching the ends together -- sorry, not so in my case -- those edges were a perfect match

I cast on another one right away and did a few rows -- today I need to go through the box of button oddments and see what I can find to finish up this project

the work on the Four Seasons quilt piece has resumed -- I hope to have that all ready for the quilting by the time we head off to Mr Cute's birthday party because it would be a nice small handwork project to carry along (there are always afghan squares, but variety is a good thing)

need to get those Christmas cards into the envelopes

pleasant success all around

2011-12-11T08:18:00.006-07:00

being that we don't have day jobs to go to, most of the time we choose to do any kind of shopping that we do in the middle of the week

but yesterday the DH wanted to get out and finish his Christmas shopping, so we went off to the shopping center and split up

mission accomplished -- he found what he was looking for -- and I took care of odds and ends of things
for one thing, I had begun to have serious doubts that I could pull off getting this item finished

so I actually purchased a sleeper for Mr Cute that is a Christmas themed print

but then, emboldened by having one I know will fit so close at hand, I took the plunge and made this pair too

ta da!!

these are just a tiny bit longer than the store bought ones in the body while the arms and legs are just about the same -- that should work!

and as I was putting the ribbing pieces on the sleeves and around the neck I had some time recalling pleasant memories when a great seamstress, Cleone Parker taught me how to apply this pesky rolling ribbed knit stuff to things -- and sending up a little "thank you" that I still remembered how

and since the sewing machine was out, I got that center seam with all the spikes stitched -- in fact, I double stitched it just to be sure everything is going to stay right where I want it to be

then it was back to the hand work, and by the end of the evening I had Steggy all finished -- the pattern is not very clear on the instructions of how to attach the legs, so that took some fiddling -- in the end I put the legs on so it looks like he's walking -- front and back foot far apart on one side and close together on the other

the pattern also talks about using pompoms and buttons for the eyes, but I'm making something here for a child that still puts things right in his mouth, so that was not happening -- I used little circles of the blue fabric instead -- done yo yo style and stitched down in the right places

cool!

and now that he's done, I'm even more sure I did the right thing by reducing the pattern by half

since I had the table cleaned off and the cutting mat out to cut out the sleeper, I just went ahead and cut the stripping so I can get back to working on the Four Seasons piece

then there is the current project on the sticks -- I do love the colors this yarn lays down as you work through the variations

and now that I've done this pattern for a while, it just speeds right along

looking really good

I'm pretty sure I'll have no problem creating 2 or 3 of these by Christmas

so today I hope to get my Christmas cards ready to go into the mail -- we'll see

after being the social butterfly

2011-12-10T09:00:00.003-07:00

wow, I got a good reminder yesterday of why I want to stay in both of the quilt groups I'm a member of -- we had a great time at the luncheon, good food, great conversation and by the end of the gathering we had decided on a theme for next year's projects, selected a new group "president", changed our meeting day (to one I might actually get to go to a lot more often) and figured out who is "teaching" or "sharing a technique" in 6 of the 12 months -- now THAT is a great meeting

we also did show and tell (many things in photos because the actual items had already been gifted to someone) and talked about finding a local charity to donate pieces to

even being gone for 5 hours didn't deter me from finishing one of the super secret Christmas projects that's been being worked on! Yippee!!

and I put something new on the sticks after that -- I really love this yarn -- it's a sock yarn that has a great caramel/cinnamon/coffee colorway and will be quite appropriate for the project I'm knitting it into

after finishing the last project, where I was knitting on size 1 needles, these size 4s feel positively gigantic! it didn't take long to get this much done on this, however

today I hope to get that dinosaur stitched up so I can finish it and get on to the blanket sleeper and the cutting of the "mat" for the trees project

glory in the morning

2011-12-09T08:42:00.005-07:00

here in the mountains we get what is called a "wave cloud" off of the mountains from time to time

when we were at our daughter's at Thanksgiving we had one of those mornings when the clouds and the sun coming up all came together to create an amazing blaze of color

I grabbed the camera and started snapping photos -- I have a file of this kind of pictures that I keep to use for future inspiration in making art quilts
Mr. Cute was up too

he came over to the door and stood looking up at me as if he was asking "what are you doing grandma?"

couldn't resist snapping this picture of him bathed in the fiery light of an awesome sunrise

I love this picture!

last night was the Christmas party of the evening quilt group that I belong to

at each place on the tables was one of these cool coasters -- of course, being that everyone at the table is a "stitcher", we right away set to "reverse engineering" them

ok, I can whip up some of these in no time if someone wants some (and yes, other fabrics beside Christmas prints will work too!)

and in keeping with the wearing of my "social butterfly" wings, today is the Christmas luncheon for my other local quilt group, so I'll be heading off (spinach orange salad in hand) to join the ladies for a purely social meeting -- no projects, just good food, show and tell and talking about what we plan to do next year -- it should be fun

guess I need to get something done before it's time to leave!

dino doings

2011-12-08T09:00:00.003-07:00

well, even though I had really good intentions (and we know about those and the whole road to you know where) I didn't get the body of the dinosaur stitched yesterday -- seems there is gift wrapping going on and the table was unavailable for setting up the sewing machine

I did, however, get three of the legs all stitched, which means I have one more of those and the four tail spikes left to hand stitch, so the stuffing and finishing should progress nicely once I do get the body stitched

tonight is the guild Christmas party -- dinner provided by the guild, deserts provided by attendees, so I will be figuring out something today

time to get to it

onward with the pointy parts

2011-12-07T09:12:00.004-07:00

and yesterday I managed to get the rest of the required 20 pointy parts stitched and pinned

and yes, Alison had it right, this will be a dinosaur toy for Mr Cute when it's finished

the original pattern was twice this size -- just too big in my opinion -- so I ran the whole thing through the technology process and shrunk it by 50%

much more reasonable

I did the pointy pieces by hand, but today I'll set up the sewing machine to stitch these two halves together

as I mentioned earlier in the week, it's been COLD here

it finally got to the dog

last night she decided she needed the DH to be her foot warmer

heh, right -- like he needed 80 pounds of labrador on his lap -- cute though

today's activities will include a run to the store for some supplies for a craft project and a gallon of milk, a stop at the post office to mail a package -- then back home to wrap presents, work on projects and further writing on the Christmas letter

onward!!

what is it?

2011-12-06T07:48:00.004-07:00

for one, it's a really bad picture

for another, it's the beginning of a new project I started yesterday for Christmas

(yes, I know, I haven't got much time to get this done!)

trust me here, it will be cute

a finished object

2011-12-05T09:29:00.004-07:00

Ta Da!

after all the trials and tribulations of putting this piece together, I finally finished it last night

I still need to do the official photo session so I can enter it in the competition I made it for, but I was so happy to have it finished that I wanted to share it here

don't know what I'll work on next, I need to go through the box of recently acquired goodies and see what "speaks" to me

meantime I'm doing some sketching of an idea for the ongoing Africa quilt piece as well as trying to figure out if I have something I can use to "mat" the trees or if I'll have to make a trip to the fabric store

much as I dislike the cold, there are somethings about living in a climate that produces this look that are very exciting

Friday morning we woke to fog along with the cold

a bit later in the morning, the fog lifted and we had a beautify blue sky -- and totally frosted trees

awesome

more Christmas projects

2011-12-04T08:41:00.003-07:00

one of the things that my daughter wanted to do was give a personal gift from Mr Cute to some people on her gift list --- so I volunteered to help with the project

while we were there at Thanksgiving, she selected some photos and emailed them to me and we discussed what sort of thing she wanted to do with them

this week I did some design work for her and emailed the designs to her

yesterday it was a go -- one sweat shirt and two t-shirts all done!

this is one of the pictures I caught of Mr Cute last weekend while the tree was being decorated

he's very seriously regarding this wood trumpet ornament

so adorable

humming along

2011-12-03T09:43:00.005-07:00

we finished decorating the second tree that we'll have up this year

this is a small tree (originally it was one that we bought for our daughter to have in her room)

over the years we've acquired ornaments that are very Eastern European in flavor -- hand painted matryoshka dolls, icon style angels, pysanky eggs -- enough that we put those on this little tree

we call it the Russian tree -- not quite accurate, but it does identify the box labels!

it looks pretty good

yesterday afternoon I finally got the quilts hung in the Ruth Holley Branch of the Pikes Peak Library District

it will hang there until January 2

pretty amazing to me

these are now ready to be put together

I've decided to put them all together in one piece, but I'm going to do it so it looks like four individual prints in a single frame

looks like I'll be prowling through the fabric bins to find the appropriate fabric for the "mat" -- and hoping I have something that will work

the sewing machine was humming yesterday afternoon!

did the stitching of all 3 of these pj pants

just one more sewing project that needs to be finished before Christmas (at least that's all I know about right now!)

this morning it is cold and snowing -- makes me really happy that we did the needed shopping right after we finished hanging the art, so we can just hang out here and stay warm

the kitchen is being warmed by the cooking of more of the pumpkins -- 2 are in the oven now and there are 2 more to cook after that -- and it smells good too

work to do on other projects -- time to get there

no forest -- just trees

2011-12-02T09:26:00.003-07:00

I got this little baby all decorated yesterday

this year this is our family room tree -- it is on a little table with the snow village on the other end of it

this little tree is decorated with an assortment of Christmas treasures --

the star on top is the last survivor of a set of stars and wreaths that were my grandmother's

the little Santa figure in the middle branch was made by the DH when he was a child

there are ceramic ornaments that were made by a friend of mine and an assortment of the Hallmark miniatures that I've collected over the years

I've been putting more leaves on the fall tree

just a few more to go and this panel will be all finished -- then I'll have to make some decisions about what next

the beading around the necklace is going well -- still need to do the insides of the openings

yesterday I cut out some more items that now are ready to go to the sewing machine

and the knitting is progressing

it's busy, busy!

this afternoon I'll be off to finally hang my art work in the branch library

got to get to it!

a comedy of errors

2011-12-01T09:19:00.005-07:00

yesterday was quite a comedy of errors

I had made arrangements to move my art work from one facility to another -- the plan was to take it down in one location at noon and put it up in the second facility at 3 -- this had all been arranged (or so I thought) by phone conversation and email

the take down went well -- we arrived at the appointed time, had a nice conversation with the ladies that work in that branch and took down the quilts

the hanging at 3 -- eh, not so much -- seems the coordinator had told me the room was reserved for me, but it never got on the schedule and someone else was in there -- and it was all scheduled out until 9 last night according to the folks that were actually there

this morning its snowing and cold and the temperature high for the day has already happened -- it will only get colder as the day goes on -- we knew this was coming which was why I wanted to do both parts of that yesterday

I'm waiting now to hear from the coordinator so we can try this again -- but it won't be today

the whole running around taking art down and trying to put it up again cut into the studio time

but I did get the yellow leaves onto the fall tree -- and a couple of them under the tree too

the two knitting projects that are on the sticks are also progressing nicely

moving slowly toward Christmas!

from one year to another we put up one tree or nearly a dozen or somewhere in between

this year we'll have two

and this

these little ephemera houses are one of my first clear Christmas memories -- they were my grandmother's and she would put them on the top corner of the piano every year

a couple of years ago my mother passed them on to me

this year they are on a little table in the family room where I will also be setting up the feather tree with all it's tiny ornaments

the newspaper that we get every day has asked for readers to submit photos of an ornament that means something special to them -- I'm thinking about sending them these

today will be a stay in the house day -- I'll be working on Christmas projects and those other things that I have deadlines for

time to have breakfast and get busy

returning to projects

2011-11-30T09:11:00.004-07:00

actually there are a whole lot of Christmas projects going on here, but nothing is at the stage where a picture is appropriate yet

I did spend some time with this yesterday -- having found some soft upholstery velour for the backing, I got the bead work cut out of the backing and the velour cut and I've started doing the beaded edging that holds the pieces together

I was surprised at how well this part went, and I'm feeling pretty sure I'll be able to get it finished by the deadline

the beads I'm using around the edge are the same style as the beads I used for the field, but I've chosen a silvery gray color for those and I plan to use them for the "chain" that will finish this piece

the leaves on the fall panel have been started

these are one of the green fabrics I used for the summer panel, but here I've used the back side of the fabric out

I'll be using some yellows, oranges and browns for more leaves both on the tree and on the ground below it

the two knitting projects I'm working on are moving along --

and over the weekend I got a lot of work done on my Christmas cards too

closing in on those projects!

no, we didn't send the little boy to doggie jail

someone neglected to latch the crate after letting the little dog out and Mr Cute put himself in there and pulled the door closed after himself

cute, very cute!

today we're going to do a couple of errands including a trip to the grocery store -- the weatherman is forecasting several days of frigid temperatures, and we would like to be in a position to just stay put during that

we're baaaaack!

2011-11-29T09:56:00.005-07:00

over the weekend we were off to our daughter's house to share Thanksgiving dinner, some Christmas shopping and just generally enjoying one another

on Saturday afternoon, our son in law brought up the Christmas tree and the containers of ornaments

here we have Mr Cute crawling over the top of one of the containers

in the background is the tree

and that railing between him and the tree? heh, that was created by the DH in about half an hour on Tuesday afternoon

it is made up of the open railing sides of what was once my daughter's crib -- it had those now banned sliding sides, and we just couldn't toss the good wood -- and the DH trimmed it and hinged it and put some little "wing" supports on the bottom side to stabilize it

no climbing the Christmas tree this year little man!
while we were there I whipped up these

the yarn was left from the hat I had knit for him earlier

oh look, a matched set!

today we have errands to run and projects to work on

time to get to it!

finished projects all around

2011-11-23T08:14:00.004-07:00

direct from the garage workshop

the DH did the final coat of wax on this yesterday afternoon

it came out really nice!

so today when we pack the car I'll be wrapping it in a blanket and putting it in the back seat of the van held down with seat belts!

his next project is to finish refurbishing the wagon -- he's been working on it, but has had to create some additional wood pieces that he hadn't originally planned for

it is moving right along, and he should have no problem finishing it for Christmas

and I found buttons for Mr. Cute's first Christmas hoodie -- FINALLY!!

got this all finished last night -- yippee!!

so now it's on with the current secret Christmas project -- and I'm going to start on the mittens for Mr Cute as soon as I can measure his little hands

time to get rolling

beading is finished!

2011-11-22T09:09:00.004-07:00

last night I put in the last bead on the face of this

WOW -- I can't believe I got here this fast (see, if I really need to get a piece done in a hurry I can)

I even spread the fray check on the back of it last night too, so hopefully today I'll get the backing cut and get started on putting it all together

one of the things I'm going to have to do is to create the "chain" that will attach to the ends and create the clasp at the back

I'm really please with the way this looks -- now hopefully the finishing work will go as well

I know, you're thinking "what are you doing with that?"

well, I'm using it to create a pattern for a quilt design that I'm working on

sometimes there is a real challenge to making a 2 dimensional surface look like a 3 dimensional object, so I'm working on that

today's plan includes unpacking the Christmas decorations that I'm going to put up and doing some organizing and getting ready for the cooking of the Thanksgiving dinner -- including a trip to the grocery store

time to get to it

butchering and other projects

2011-11-21T10:57:00.007-07:00

yesterday was the day

the biggest pumpkin that we grew (which weighed 10 pounds and 8 ounces) was deemed the one to be made into this Thanksgiving's pumpkin pies

by the end of the day it had been reduced to these two little baggies of pulp

need to do one of your own? instructions for how we did it are here

pumpkin butchering has long waiting periods between steps, so I got a lot of work done on the beading project too

all of the beading on the right hand side is complete

and I've started working on the left side now

looking good!

and this hat is done -- and it's actually the size I need it to be!!

WHOOT!

the knitting of hats is now done -- as far as I know

I started another knitting project last night, but I won't be showing you any pictures of it until after Christmas -- that's just how it goes this time of year

time to get to that laundry!

more patched flannel

2011-11-20T09:19:00.005-07:00

there was a bigger variety of pieces in the pink/purple flannel stash

but they were also smaller pieces

so the constructing of yardage from them took considerably more stitching to create

yesterday afternoon I finished making the finished object from this "made up" fabric

it feels pretty good to have been able to create these two items and spending very little for materials (I did have to buy some elastic)

these fabrics are the ones that just arrived for the next Keepsake Quilting challenge

the theme this time is celebration

and even before I saw the fabrics, I had been thinking about the theme and had created the pencil drawing (ok, it was a doodle on a piece of paper that is the size of a post it note!)

I will have to get the fabric that will be the back drop for this design, but I think this will be fun to work on

after I finish a couple of other things

the bead work is moving right along

on this side of the piece I have almost finished the bead "fill", which means the next time I sit down to work on this I should be able to finish this side and move to the other side

I'm feeling much better now about actually being able to get this done in time to enter it in the challenge

and I'm very pleased with the way it looks

because I don't do a lot of detailed drawings before I do a piece (that post it note doodle for the quilt is about as complex as it gets usually), its always a great feeling when the piece actually resembles what I see in my head!

last night I finished the straight knit rows on this project

so when I pick it up again I will be doing the decrease rows that form the shaping at the top of the head

nice, very nice

yesterday afternoon we took advantage of the nice weather to do some clean up work in the back yard -- we had a lot of wind the last couple of weeks, so the leaves are pretty much all off of the trees -- a good time to rake them all up and haul them up behind the garden fencing -- where they will keep the weed growth down and they will become part of the compost that will get turned into the soil in the spring

today we will be "butchering" a pumpkin so there will be prepared puree for Thursday's pies -- because my daughter has pumpkins of her own that need to be prepared too, I'll be taking photos as we move through how we do this to be posted over at Hattie's Kitchen -- and I'll post a link here when I get that post up

time to get busy

orphan yarns and persimmons

2011-11-19T09:43:00.005-07:00

yesterday I was back in one of my favorite little yarn stores

the original plan was for us to go to the alpaca holiday festival, but somehow we got that all confused (yes, it is this weekend, but the flyer I saw said Nov 18 & 19, but it is actually on Saturday and Sunday -- the 19th and 20th -- go figure!)

anyway the yarn store had a basket full of "Orphan yarn" -- I'm hoping there is enough of that great black and white to make a hat for my Etsy store -- and the rainbow yarn will make very attractive mittens!

on the way back from that excursion, we stopped off at our local Sunflower market to pick up the pre-ordered capon that will be Thanksgiving dinner

and found these too

right now they are very firm -- sort of like an unripe plum

I've put them in an aluminum tray on the counter where for the next week or 10 days they will slowly ripen to the point that I can cut an "X" in the top and squeeze the pulp out like toothpaste to make us one of the winter treats that we had every year in California -- persimmon bars! yummy!!

I'll have to make sure some of them go into the freezer to be taken to my daughter

just a little sneak peek at the blue flannel yardage I
"created" from the scrap pile in my stash

I will not reveal what I've now finished creating out of this until after Christmas, but I thought it would be fun to show off the fabric

(and for those of you who do dressmaking, no, I did not use my serger to put the pieces together -- I stitched the pieces together and flat felled the seams to reinforce them)

it's been fun playing with these fabrics and remembering who I made the original items for

and Mammy would be proud of this "re purposing"

work continues on the bead piece

here is a close up of one of the side portions of the piece that shows the little "x" marks that are areas that I plan to leave as cut out areas -- when the piece is finished those will be open areas, giving the piece a sort of lace like look

I hope

it is going very well now that I've finally figured out where I'm heading!

the hat is growing

last night I finished the ribbing and started into the crown of the hat which is just row after row of knitting around

the DH said he could tell when I reached that point -- the knitting shifted into "auto pilot"

since this is the 8th of these hats I've made in 2 years, uh, yeah, it's definitely auto pilot!

today I hope to finish the other "patchwork flannel" project and do some rearranging in the family room as well as working on a couple of new drawings for two new quilt projects -- things are hoppin'!

about that deadline

2011-11-18T08:46:00.005-07:00

as you may recall, I started this piece originally because I want to enter it in a challenge for one of the beading groups I belong to

then I got side tracked because I was having an issue with the bigger glass pieces popping off the backing -- which has now been solved

but now I'm much closer to the entry deadline than I'm comfortable with -- the deadline to get it finished and entered is Dec 9, and while that is 3 weeks away, there will be some days over the Thanksgiving holiday that I won't be able to work on it (tiny seed beads and very small children -- ie Mr Cute -- are not a good combination!)

so last night I spent more time working on this than I have been (actually used up my quilting time too) -- and I'll be doing this for the next few days to try to get this close to finished before it must be put aside for a few days

the sewing machine is whirring again -- I actually have at least 5 more sewing machine projects to finish before Christmas, so I need to keep doing a little every day there -- the creation of flannel yardage is complete now, and the items cut out, so good progress is being made there

progress on the second green hat

looking very good -- and this one appears to be much better in the size department

today we're making a little trip up the way to visit the Llamas Holiday Boutique -- and yes, the llamas will actually be on site -- very cool! then to the store to pick up the pre-ordered capon for next Thursday's dinner

time to get to it

the end of canning season

2011-11-17T09:28:00.004-07:00

here we are a week before Thanksgiving and I can say that the gardening and canning season is now officially over

yesterday we put up tomato sauce out of the very last of the tomatoes that we gleaned off the plants before the frost came

there will be some very good pasta sauce out of these jars!

we still have 5 pumpkins, a small Hubbard squash and some butternut squash just hanging out until we decide to use them

this is the time of the year when I'm really happy we did all that work all summer

three of the four panels are all finished

this project is definitely giving me that "did I do that?" feeling

today I hope to start on the fall panel

I didn't have to rip out the hat after all

it fit the DH perfectly, so he'll be getting a hat and here is the beginning of the next one -- made the smaller size so it will fit the son in law

by the time I get all of these finished I'll be able to knit these in my sleep

today we have errands to run, then it's back to work on those Christmas projects!

progress - and finished (or not)

2011-11-16T08:40:00.002-07:00

well, at least this piece is now going well

the fill work is slowly creeping up around the butterflies and before long I'll be working my way up the sides -- at which point it will seem to go really quickly!

looking good!

the leaves on the summer tree panel are going well -- I hope to have those finished either tonight or tomorrow

and my studio time yesterday I was creating flannel yardage -- over the 10 years we've been in this house I've made a lot of things out of flannel, and I always save the pieces that are bigger than 6 inches square (the stash of flannel from before this house got donated before we moved here) -- anyway, I've been putting pieces together and now I have enough put together to make another pair of pj pants -- which I hope to get finished in the next couple of days -- YEAH!

and then there is this

it looks like a finished object

but it's really not

because it's too big for the intended recipient

which means I'll probably be frogging the whole thing and starting over -- either fewer stitches or smaller needles -- or both

bummer!

today we're going to turn the last of the garden tomatoes into tomato sauce -- yummy -- messy -- but yummy

time to get to it!

we interrupt the project reports

2011-11-15T07:43:00.004-07:00

for this Mr Cute photo

my daughter sent me this last week -- he is 11 months old today, and already he looks very much like a little boy, not a baby

here he is in his long sleeved shirt and his blue jeans playing on the floor --

what a cutie!!

can you believe that next Thursday is Thanksgiving?!

I have a lot of work to get done ---

must.work.faster!

slogging continues

2011-11-14T08:29:00.005-07:00

spent some time working on the three projects that are in the works right now

the beading on this is moving right along now, and there has been no repeat of the problem of the pieces popping off the background

apparently the glue does have a "shelf life" and the old tube had exceeded it

you'll notice that there are still a lot of pins in the leaves toward the bottom of the tree

I got a little carried away with the cut and pin process and just didn't get all of them stitched down

this is looking really good

and the ribbing is finished!

which means that the hat is rolling right along

time to get to that laundry!

a new department in the store

2011-11-13T09:22:00.006-07:00

I've been listing my bead work on my Etsy store for quite a while now

this week I've started listing some of the very cool silver work that the DH creates

this piece, for example, is a hand formed fine silver (.999 silver) open work heart with a small yellow sapphire (natural stone) set in it

really neat, one of a kind piece, and because it was made a while back when the price of the raw materials were a lot less expensive, the price is nice too

we're hoping some of these pieces will be Christmas presents for someone somewhere

remember this?

seems the solution for my problem was just to use a new tube of glue

I've now removed the "bezels" around the flower and the big glass leaves and have gone back to filling the background

and I'm much happier with the way this looks now

now I just need to move it along to get it finished by the deadline for the challenge that I originally started it for

and then of course it will go in the store

tree leaf-ing continues

this is really good activity to do while watching musical specials on PBS

which is what I was doing last night

cut, pin, stitch, repeat

there will be at least twice as many leaves as this when I'm finished -- maybe even more

slogging along

seems the slog along is an ongoing thing

I've got about a third of the ribbing done on this project

and it is also a good thing to work on while listening to music

k, p, p, repeat

and we go around in circles ('til we're very, very dizzy!)

looking good though

summer tree and new stuff on the sticks

2011-11-12T10:11:00.005-07:00

since I had finished the spring panel, last night I started working on the summer one

I'm using the same technique to do the leaves, but there will be a lot more leaves and they are darker green on this panel

looking good

I finished another Christmas project yesterday that also can not be revealed until after it has been given to its designated recipient -- check back here after Christmas!

and a new Christmas project on the sticks!

a hat for my son in law

I wanted to use the same yarn I used for the sweater I just finished for his son, but there just wasn't enough left over to do that

this green will have to do

the last couple of days I've spent a lot of hours taking photos and tweeking photos to load up a lot of new stuff on the Etsy store -- glad to have that part done, now it's on to the loading parts

time to get to it

thinking about spring

2011-11-11T09:00:00.003-07:00

the panel is ready to be quilted!

I really like the way this one came out

now it's on to the summer panel

I did some other sewing yesterday, but I can't show you that item until after Christmas

we worked in the front yard yesterday -- trying to get the heavy layer of leaves up off the lawn so the grass will survive the winter -- many, many trips with the garden cart full of leaves hauled from the front yard to the garden area (where the layer of leaves killing weeds is a good thing), then running the lawn mower one last time before winter -- this morning my legs and my back are telling me I did too much

maybe today I'll take it easy

FINALLY off the sticks

2011-11-10T10:21:00.005-07:00

finished knitting the hood last night

whoot! whoot!

still have to stitch up the under arm seams and the top of the hood

and weave in all the ends

and do the loops and buttons

but having this off the sticks means I can put something else on (and yes, I know, I could have more than one thing on sticks at a time, but I find this approach works better for me -- just sayin' that finishing stuff is important in the grand scheme of things here)

and this is done

I stitched the last of the binding yesterday afternoon

ta da!

which means one more thing crossed of the Christmas To Do list -- a very good thing

and I can take it for show and tell at tonight's quilt guild meeting too

the tree has begun to flower!

I decided to use the Copic marker to draw the little flowers in pink on the white fabric before I cut them out

this had the unexpected benefit of acting almost like a sealer on the fabric, so the edges didn't fray when I cut them out

and I like the pink beads in the center of each of the flowers too

lots more to stitch down, looking very good

progress -- our most important product

a little Christmas stitching

2011-11-09T08:35:00.005-07:00

time at the sewing machine well spent yesterday

got these pj pants finished in record time -- despite having to piece the bottom 6 inches of the legs because the flannel shrunk so much

I'm really glad I had washed the fabric before I made the pants!

more sewing projects will continue today after the errands are done

the binding on the lap quilt is about 2/3 complete --- should be done today --- YIPPEE!!

and all of the leaves have been stitched onto the spring panel, so today I'll be starting to put on the flowers

in the process of getting the leaves done, I made a change in the plan to the flowers -- I had originally planned to use a little yellow bead in the center of each one, but as I've stitched and thought about what the spring trees look like, I've decided that a pale pink one is a better idea

this ability to change direction in mid-stream is one of the up sides to doing so much of this as hand work

my daughter sent me a text this morning with the needed information so I can finish up the hood on the sweater I'm knitting -- just at the right time -- if things go well, this evening I'll be binding that off and stitching the sweater together --- hmmm, this means I need to do something about finding some buttons!

time to get to it

projects current and future

2011-11-08T09:20:00.004-07:00

the stitching of the spring leaves is moving right along

probably after today's leaf stitching I'll be ready to move on to putting on the flowers

the quilting on the lap quilt for my dad is all complete and the binding is being worked on

this one should definitely be finished in time for the quilt guild meeting on Thursday

paid a visit to my local quilt shop yesterday

and came home with the materials to start working on the 2012 Hoffman challenge

the challenge fabric is the floral there on the left

the fabric on the right and the ones at the bottom are some of the many coordinate fabrics

there are also 2 hanks of silk embroidery thread in the same purple/pink/green colorway as well as two spools of thread for doing quilting and applique work -- also in that same colorway

let the fiddling begin!

work on Christmas sewing is progressing too, and the hood of the Christmas hoodie is moving right along -- I'm just trying to figure out if its actually long enough

breakfast is calling!!

the seasons are flying by

2011-11-07T08:21:00.006-07:00

I finished the snow on the winter panel

the stark contrast of the white against the dark "bark" of the tree looks pretty neat

this panel is now ready to be quilted, and when the quilting is finished I'll be attaching a single enameled leaf charm

so I've moved on to the spring panel -- cutting the little leaves and attaching them by stitching a line down the center like the vein in a leaf

once all the leaves are attached I'll be going back and adding flowers

this is moving along nicely

meantime, in the studio yesterday I did some quilting on the lap quilt -- the quilting is almost finished -- yippee!! then I can do the binding -- and I might be able to get that done by Thursday's quilt guild meeting

I have always enjoyed coloring, so having an excuse to pull out the big tin of colored pencils and color the sheet of little mice was great

I decided to make each little mouse slightly different, so there is a white mouse, a gray mouse, a brunette mouse and a red headed mouse

once I finished coloring, I scanned this sheet and tweaked with the graphics software and printed out enough sheets to do my cards -- now it's on to the cutting of the ovals around these -- real progress toward the cards

the local quilt store called and told me that the Hoffman Challenge 2012 fabric has arrived -- this is very exciting because I've already been fiddling with some ideas for the project -- I hope to get there this morning to get a piece of the fabric so I can start figuring out the scale of what I have in mind

laundry is calling -- time to get to it

something to roar about

2011-11-06T06:57:00.005-07:00

heh, just because you haven't seen anything from the Africa series for a while doesn't mean I'm not working on it

it's really hard for me to believe this is the same stamp that I used for the first lion which was declared a failure

this one is awesome

and the painting of the foliage around him went well too

right now I'm working on design ideas on how to incorporate all of the animal pieces into one cohesive presentation -- this part goes slowly, and is something that actually gets worked on quite a lot in those fugue moments between sleeping and waking

yesterday was pretty productive, even though I have no other pictures to show you --

the snow on the branches in the winter panel is almost completed -- I still have one other thing to do to that panel after that then it will be complete (and speaking of that fugue moment, this morning's was all about how to do the spring panel of this series!)

actual machine quilting took place yesterday as well -- and once again I was really happy that I got the quilter's gloves when I took the class back in August -- having them makes the moving around of the quilt so much easier

adorable isn't it?! I really like the designs that come from House Mouse.

I picked up this rubber stamp on a sale and I've been fiddling with Christmas card design ideas for a month or so

today I hope to have time to drag out the tin of colored pencils and add some color to this (and yes, there will be glitter!)

it's not too early to be doing this -- it takes time to make about 60 cards!

time to get moving

it's beginning to look like Christmas

2011-11-05T08:20:00.003-06:00

a couple of years ago, my daughter asked me if I would do the script embroidery on the decorator Christmas socks she had made for her house -- and I was happy to do it for her

now that Mr Cute is here, there needs to be one more sock to add to the decor!

this is one of those times when I'm happy that I have a "stash" -- ie: I don't throw things away

may I present the completed third sock -- and yes, that is from the same fabric -- which is now generally unavailable -- all possible because I had kept the left overs from the first project

yup, the 3rd generation "pack rat" saves the day

yesterday afternoon, once the delivery men had brought my new refrigerator and hauled away the old one, we decided to go to visit a very neat place called Table Rock Llamas -- a relatively local shop that carries wonderful yarns, spinning and weaving equipment and supplies and they teach classes in all of those things as well hosting dye workshops -- I was looking for a skein of alpaca yarn to put with one I had already to work on another knitting project

I found what I was looking for and a whole lot more -- they host a lot of very affordable classes, one of which I will be taking soon as a refresher in spinning -- even more exciting is that they have drum carders that you can rent time on, so I will be taking the two Jacob Sheep fleece that I have in a box and getting them all carded up so they can more easily be spun or felted or whatever I decide to do with them --- yippee!!

today I'm hoping to get some more sewing projects cut out and ready for stitching

and then there is the preliminary work on the Christmas cards to do too

lots to do!!

a first time event

2011-11-04T08:50:00.005-06:00

yesterday we made the trip to the Fountain library for the hanging

it went really well -- the whole hanging system worked equally well with the quilts that had the hanger rings and the ones that had sleeves with rods and wires

when these pieces are all rolled on their pool noodles and bagged up at home they don't look like much -- hanging all of them side by side gives me a better sense of just how much I have accomplished in the past 2 years --

at the last minute I decided not to take the Archangels piece because I was having problems getting a rod or slat to put in the sleeve that was actually sturdy enough to support it's weight -- which is probably a good thing -- I don't think there would have been room for it

I'll be admiring this picture for a while

the third charity quilt is complete

this was made out of scraps left over from the other two quilts

nice

so now the sewing machine will be taken off the table so I can cut out some more things and pin the quilt that needs to be quilted

slogging right along through those Christmas projects now

the leaves are all finished now too

sweet!

I'll be putting together a box to ship off either today or tomorrow

I hear that Mr Cute is in need of a new pair of mittens -- I'll be making those out of the yarn left from the hat I just made him -- and this year's mittens will actually have thumbs!

time to get moving -- the delivery man called -- the new 'fridge is on its way

a quilty good time!

2011-11-03T08:39:00.009-06:00

the sewing machine has been humming

these two quilt tops for charity are all finished

I'm using the scraps from these two to make a third quilt top -- also for charity -- hopefully I'll be able to show that one to you tomorrow

the quilt top for my dad is all finished

as soon as the current round of stitching is finished (sometime either today or tomorrow) I'll be able to get this all put together in its "sandwich" to do the quilting

my plan is to machine quilt this using the newly gained skills from the class I took back in August

this will be the first one I've tried, and I'm a little nervous about it, but I think I can handle something very basic

the branches of all four trees are attached!

after I took this picture last night, I started putting snow on the branches of the winter tree -- right now I can look out my windows and see that, so I'm just going with the current model

things are still rolling off the knitting needles

I still need to do the leaves for these, but I'm really pleased with how they came out

the leaves shouldn't take too long, so I'll be back to the Christmas hoodie this evening -- I need to get that finished -- there are still at least 3 knitting projects in the cue after that -- always something coming next!

time to get rollin'

finished! and Mr. Cute rules

2011-11-02T08:59:00.006-06:00

its done!

the knitting of this was fun and easy and the result is awesome

now that this is finished, I'm working on another small knitting project with this yarn that will go in the same box when I get the package all put together

my daughter sent me this picture of Mr Cute as the Winged Monkey for Halloween

heh, he's the cutest winged monkey ever!!

just look at that smile

and his daddy is pretty cute too

the DH had one complaint -- there were no pictures of the winged monkey with his mommy (who we hear was pretty gussied up for Halloween too)

the repair man (the same one that so efficiently repaired my dryer a couple of weeks ago) came yesterday to take a look at the refrigerator -- the verdict is that it is terminal and has to be replaced -- while I will like having a new one (and it should be much more energy efficient) I really didn't plan to do that this year -- oh well

Treats and Tricks

2011-10-31T09:45:00.007-06:00

TREAT: the sleeper for Mr Cute is complete

I'll be sending this off this week so his mom can let me know how it fits before I cut out another one (which I've already got the fabric for)

despite the fact that it's been quite a while since I was sewing clothing for a small child, it didn't take me long to remember that sometimes the order the pattern instructions tell you to do things in is not the most effective way

I remembered my shortcuts!

TREAT: next step of the quilt for my dad

these stripes are pretty intense, so working on this a little at a time is a good thing!

next step is strips down the side of the stripe stuff

TREAT: step two of the first two charity quilts is done

so now these are ready for the borders to be applied

TREAT: the third panel of the Four Seasons project now has branches on the tree

looking good!

now on to the winter panel

TREAT: the yellow hat is rolling right along

I really like the texture this pattern creates

I might use the idea for another project

this item should be done in a couple of days

TRICK: tried putting bezels around the tri-leaf piece in the center of this piece

it just covers up too much of the leaves

so this piece is on hold until I can figure out how to do something different on that

and given that this was something that was for a challenge that has a deadline, if I don't figure this out pretty quickly, it will probably be torn apart so I can use the pieces for something else

TRICK: it's been quite a month for things to break at our house -- the dryer (which has now been repaired); the van (which has also now been repaired) -- and on Saturday the refrigerator started sounding like the motor on the African Queen -- the repair man will be here tomorrow afternoon to let me know if it's worth repairing or if I'll be out trying to figure out how to afford replacing it

the Wicked Witch (and all her winged monkeys) here at Esmerldas Studio wishes you a Happy and Safe Halloween -- don't eat too much candy, and stay out of the street!!

frozen in time

2011-10-30T09:14:00.006-06:00

the last rose of summer

the snow on Wednesday froze it

this morning I decided to take some photos of it -- maybe I'll use them for something artful in the future

I have several CDs with this kind of pictures burned on them for future inspiration -- it's where a lot of the images I use in quilts come from

work time in the studio yesterday was pretty productive

here's the beginning of the lap quilt for my dad

next step here is to press these pieces and set them together with more of the stripe fabric

and here are two of the three charity quilts after the first step of the stitching process

these get pressed and re cut

because I'm making the third charity quilt out of the scraps from these two I can't start it until these two are finished

perhaps in a couple of days

in addition to those quilting projects, the blanket sleeper is nearly complete! I hope to get it finished today

I started this project last night -- another hat

I'm using a different pattern this time, the whole point of this one is the color and the style, not for warmth, so it will be a bit different from the last hat

looking good

today I have to make one last trip to the TriLakes Art Center to pick up the art work that has been on display there

then hopefully some studio time

ah, that's better!

2011-10-29T08:35:00.004-06:00

today's installment includes pictures!

the beading on the current collar continues

this is moving along nicely, the background surface being slowly covered with beads and in the area where the background is complete the vine work looks even better than it does elsewhere

today's work on it will probably include working bezels around that little 3 leaf grouping in the center

spent quite a bit of time in the studio at the cutting board

after Thursday's time with paper and pencil I knew what to cut for this project

I found the all of the fabric for this project in my stash when I did the wash and sort a couple of months ago, and I'm making my dad a lap quilt out of them

(he already has one lap quilt from me, but having one to wash and one to wear is a good thing I think)

this one is ready for the sewing machine

while I had the cutting board and the rotary cutter out I decided I might as well cut up the fabric for the charity quilts too

I never did get one done for October since I was hip deep in auction alligators earlier in the month

and I know how crazy the sewing projects can get between now and Christmas, so I went ahead and cut three -- one for each of the last months of the year

all ready for the sewing machine here too

after a trip to the fabric store, the blanket sleeper for Mr. Cute is also ready to go to the sewing machine

I still have 5 more projects to cut out, but I'm going to do some sewing before I do more cutting -- I'm out of trays to keep the projects in!

ta da!

the watch cap for Mr Cute is all finished!

I'll be putting this in an envelope and sending it off -- another "squishy" from grandma

today I'll be starting on the knitting of another project that has hopped in front of the Christmas sweater -- but its another quick project, so we'll be back to that cabled hood soon

time to get busy!!

what, no pictures?

2011-10-28T09:25:00.002-06:00

seems the last couple of weeks I've been alternating days having lots of pictures and having none

sorry folks -- sometimes it just works out that way

yesterday, being the day after pay day, I spent time doing my least favorite thing in the world -- working on the budget -- today I'll be writing all the checks for the bills -- a necessary evil

I did work on some projects -- including spending a lot of time with paper and pencil trying to come up with a workable design for something I'm making for my dad for Christmas -- pictures of that soon

and cut out a blanket sleeper for Mr. Cute -- can't do the sewing on this until I get some ribbing fabric for the neck and cuffs (duh! I forgot about this requirement when I bought the fabric!!)

yup, there's lots happening, just nothing to show you today

progress on all fronts

2011-10-27T09:18:00.006-06:00

yesterday my morning began with my daughter calling me to let me know she and Mr Cute were having a snow day -- since she lives at the north end of the state, they got hit with the snow long before we did and the school district she works for called off school --

at my end of the state, however, we were able to make our monthly run to Costco before the heavy snow set in
I spent the afternoon working on projects

the detailing on the lion is complete -- at least the detailing that I'll be doing with the markers

so now it's on to the beading and other stitching on him and the other panels that have already been stamped and painted

I really need to get a handle on just how many more animals I'm going to put in this piece -- which means I need to figure out what the "big picture" looks like --- heh, right --- this is the hard part because so much of my work is a "happening" as I go along ---

the fill work on this piece is coming along nicely

it takes lots of time to do this part, but so far I've not hit the "are we done yet" feeling in the slogging along

yesterday the DH asked me if I was sure I had enough beads to do all of the fill on this since I didn't order any new things to do this

I'm pretty sure I do

uh, I hope I do

think positive and bead faster!

half of the trees have branches!

similar, but not identical

looking very good

so now it's on to the third panel

the hat for Mr Cute is progressing

this pattern calls for 20 rows of ribbing then a straight knit row and 7 more rows of ribbing

last night I finished the 20th row of rib

looking very nice and moving along nicely

meantime I have a new pair of "secret" projects to work on --

I know, I know, don't I have enough projects already?

well, apparently not, because these two just must be done -- I'll show them to you eventually!

Passages

2011-10-26T09:07:00.007-06:00

yesterday afternoon I took this picture of the passage way that runs between the neighbor's fence and our storage shed just outside the garage door

during the summer the DH built the gate so we can keep the dog in the yard when we have the big front gate open

yup, yesterday it was fall

this morning everything is covered with snow

winter arrived over night -- but it probably won't last long -- back into the 60s is forecast in a couple of days

rescue work on the great ape piece continues

added some more to the foliage around him

now its ready for some thread and bead embellishment

and since I had the paints out I decided I might as well stamp the other animal that I hadn't done yet even though the stamp has been done for a long time (I actually used this stamp for my Christmas cards last year)

this is one that gets lots of additions with the markers after the first stamping

perhaps today

the package with the stamp cutting materials arrived yesterday

3 big sheets of nice material for the cutting of lots more stamps

now I can work on some drawings for the rhino - and maybe a hornbill

cool, very cool!

after the big leaves were all surrounded with beads the stitching of the background has been begun

just a little bit along the bottom edge

filling the background will take a while

and the next panel in the Four challenge has one and a half tree limb stitched down

a lot of work got done in the studio while I was waiting for the mechanic to call and tell me the van's work was done

yesterday afternoon as I was talking to my daughter she told me that Mr Cute is in need of a new hat

this picture, taken in March, shows him wearing the first hat I knit for him

he's grown a lot in seven months

fortunately, the pattern has several sizes -- last night I started a new one

these don't take a lot of time to knit, so I should be able to get it done pretty quickly

nothing to show for it

2011-10-25T09:57:00.003-06:00

I have nothing to show you this morning

not that I did nothing yesterday, but 5 loads of laundry is unremarkable aside from the speed with which the drying happened -- guess the dryer had been slowly dying for a while -- after last week's repair, it's much better, thank you

this morning I took the van over to the mechanic to have the work done on it -- that will be a big ouch to the bank account, but less of one than if we don't have the work done now

we also worked out in the yard some yesterday, rolling up all the hoses and putting them in the shed

work on the descriptions for the quilts continues -- today I'll be printing them on card stock so I can laminate them -- that way I can use them for both showings

time to get to that

harvest time

2011-10-24T08:58:00.005-06:00

its been mostly very warm for fall this year, but we could tell by the way all of the soft garden plants had turned brown and wrinkly that it was time to clean out the garden and get ready for winter (which we're supposed to get a taste of on Wednesday -- 4 inches of snow forecast)

because we actually planned to do this, we had watered the area so it was easier to dig

it was a pretty good harvest -- almost 3 pounds each of potatoes and onions (which we had planted this year) and carrots (which were the "volunteer" veggie of the summer)

all of the foliage and vines from everything have been cleaned up, the tomato baskets stacked and put in the shed, the green bean trellis taken down and the whole area raked

we're ready for the snow -- it looks really bare out there

and after this little snow storm, we're going to finish repairing the back fence

beading has begun on this piece

the little "vine" running all over the surface of the piece is stitched with matte finish size 13 seed beads that I've had in my stash of beads for about 10 years --

now its on to the surrounding of the leaves

the tree on the first panel is all stitched

and I'm very pleased with the way it looks

three more trees to do!

the big project for this week is to get the signs for my quilts made -- next week I'll be hanging my first solo show and I need to have those signs ready

time to get to it

small successes

2011-10-22T09:14:00.006-06:00

the first two parts of the stitching on this project were easy enough that I could do all four panels in one sitting

heh, we won't be doing that again now that we're into the real details of the project!

cutting the shape, clipping the curves and hand stitching on this branch was the only accomplishment on this yesterday -- and you'll notice the pins on the bottom edge of the branch where it's not all stitched down yet

but I really like the way this looks -- I think this is going to be really awesome

just because I hate to throw anything away that can be rescued, I decided to try to save the panel that I had tried to stamp the Great Ape on

since there was damage to the stamp the bottom part of the stamping just did not look good

my solution?

just cut that part off and make this panel more of a square -- about the same size and shape as the elephant is

after that I used the sea sponge to put some "foliage" around and even over the animal

I think this is going to work, and I'm pretty happy with that

after taking a "walk" through all of my beads that were leaf shapes and flower shapes and animal shapes I'm all ready to start the beading on this collar style necklace

the "vine-y" looking line will be stitched with tiny size 15 seed beads, then the "field" will get filled with some slightly bigger beads that have a sort of pearlized finish

this is a departure from the pieces I've done recently, so I think it will be a fun challenge

yesterday the new skein of yarn arrived for the Christmas sweater, and while it is not the same dye lot that the others were, a test swatch of knitting alternate rows with the two yarns indicated that there won't be any color demarcation line -- yippee -- so last night I picked up the stitches and started on the hood

this morning I should be getting ready to go do a second demonstration session, but I woke up with an intestinal tract issue (about 5:30 am), so I'm sipping tea to settle my tummy -- bummer -- guess it will be a lot more low key day than I though it would be

the only progress to show you

2011-10-21T10:18:00.006-06:00

the tree trunks have sprung up from the ground on all four of the panels

I have to say that right now the winter panel is my favorite, but that may change as it goes on

the next framing of the purple glass is also moving along -- when I get it finished I'll take a picture

yesterday I went to my local store to get some more material to cut stamps for the Africa series, only to discover they no longer carry the large size mats that I need -- I was not pleased -- this morning I found what I needed on line at a much cheaper price -- ok, its a good thing/bad thing -- saving money is always good -- but I have to wait for the product to arrive -- guess I'll be working on something else for a few days

like trees

or another piece of jewelery