The good thing about time spent in the car

is that I get knitting and quilt pieces done!




We went to Denver yesterday for our monthly Costco run (two weeks late!) and I finished this afghan square.

I've now done two squares with this texture pattern, so the next one will be something different.




And I got three more arcs of the quilt finished too!





I must say that the freezer paper approach has worked much better than the original "draw around each piece" method.

While I was cooking dinner last night I got four more arcs ready to sew by ironing the pattern templates to the back of a new batch of fabrics. It will be interesting to see just how many times I can reuse those before they don't stick well enough to get through the construction of an arc.

Last night I started in on the new beaded piece, and its looking good.

Today we've got to get an oil change and make a couple of other shopping stops on the way back. I want to be sure we have enough "fluff" to fill all the new animals we're working on, and since we're supposed to get about 8 inches more snow Friday/Saturday, we may need to be able to keep busy for a couple of days before we can venture out again. The street in front of our house is turning into a large sheet of ice because the storm drain is still plugged up with ice, and there's no where for the melt off to go.

pin complete, the final swiffer research and more!

Well, I sat up until 10:30 last night working on this, and its now done!

This one measures 2 3/4 inches point to point on the "long" points and 2 1/2 inches point to point on the "short" points. That's not as much difference in length and I originally thought there would be, but it looks great I think.

It also tells me what changes I need to make on the next piece that I use this basic design idea for.

The next bead piece, however, will be one of the new designs for a smaller version of my collar necklaces.

Meantime, I'm also working on the designs for beading another egg -- a big one this time with an Easter Lilly on the front -- and of course I have to order beads for this one, and I want to have it done by March 31 for a show I'm doing that day (nothing like creating my own stress!)



The research is complete. These are the two swiffer covers after they have both been used and laundered.

And the findings of my research are:

1. Each pattern works equally well to pick up dirt, dog hair, pieces of Christmas ribbon, tracked in ice melt pellets, etc, etc

2. The lengthwise pattern (the one on the left) after use and laundering changed shape enough that I will have to adjust the ends to be able to use it again.

3. The widthwise pattern (the one on the right) changed very little in the process and is ready to go right back into service

So, my semi-scientific conclusion is that all future ones will be knit in the widthwise pattern. I may at some juncture try out using something other than cotton yarn, but not right away. I liked being able to throw these in the wash with the towels.

One other note on these. If you are a penny pincher like me and your "swiffer" is not a real swiffer (ie: some other brand), you will have to measure the pad of yours and adjust the size you knit accordingly.



The snow is slowly beginning to melt. We can actually see the top of the fence again!

When we were out yesterday, the streets were still very messy, a lot of snow piled up along the sides which in some places is blocking off storm drains and making for a hugh lake effect across the road. That of course causes splash back and since it was COLD last night, I'm sure there will be icy spots again. In fact, there will probably be ice on the roads for a while, as we're to get more snow on Friday...{sigh}

Today we're going to try to get to our closest Costco -- something we've needed to do since the week before Christmas

New things in a new year.....

I finished beading this sunburst pin last night, so today I can work on getting the backing done.

This piece went so fast that it seems like I must have worked on it in my sleep or something. I can say that I think the idea I was testing is going to work just fine on the next piece I use it on.





Back in the fall, we went to gem show, and one of the items we purchased was a tumbler with 2 jars. The idea here was for the DH to be able to polish up the silver pieces he's been making by tumbling them with steel shot (a process that works really well, BTW)

Anyway, he decided to see what would happen if he actually did some rocks in the other jar, and this picture is just a few of the ones that came out of the project.

I pulled these out of the group for possibly using in the Let The River Run piece because they are similar in thickness (except for the really little ones) to the other pieces I'm working with for that. I'm going to try to do some work on that piece between the other small projects that I'm doing.

Along with the beading, I've managed to get a lot of the machine work done on the new animals we're working on. So here's the status of those projects:

small dog -- ready for closing and finishing
mouse -- DH is working on (he's hand stitching this one)
small wolf -- cut out
flamingo -- some stitching complete
open mouth bear -- machine stitching complete, hand work in process
black sheep -- some stitching complete
white sheep -- ready for turning and jointing
open mouth polar bear -- machine stitching complete, hand work in process
toucan -- laid out

So, progress being made there! Most of these are still in the "work I have to do to get to the fun part" stage, which is why I don't work on them straight through.

Today I'm doing laundry -- from the looks of it, about twice as much as usual for a week -- oh well. And this week will begin the mandatory work on taxes at least half an hour every day (this sort of self discipline is the only way I can get them done!)

Best go shift another load from the washer to the dryer and start sorting tax stuff...

Welcome 2007!

Because our wonderful daughter gave us tickets to the Philharmonic, we did something quite unusual for New Year's Eve --- we went out --- and stayed awake to see in the new year!

We had no idea where the seats would be, and while my daughter didn't either, she must have picked them with inspiration because they were the ultimate brass player's parents "geek seats". Located on the mezzanine level (1 level above the stage) we were right above the cellos and the brass section. So close that I could look over the little railing and READ the music on the stand of the cello below me!

Now you who don't know me well won't get why this was so exciting.....I never got to play in the band. I had rheumatic fever and developed a heart murmur back in the days that they told you not to do anything strenous, so I wasn't allowed gym class (oh well) or band (oh NO!). So it was indeed a special treat for me to have a "bird's eye" view of all the inner workings of that magic world that all of our children got to be a part of.

And what a program it was! Titled "100 Years of Music America Loves Best", they began with Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma, followed next with songs by Dorsey and then the Glenn Miller American Patrol.

Next up was the featured vocalist (good, but I always think my daughter is better, and in this case, she is!) who sang two pieces, one of which was Arlen's Over the Rainbow (ok, another odd coincidence as this song ALWAYS reminds me of my daughter!) The vocalist also did All that Jazz from Chicago, and 2 other Kander/Ebb pieces in the second act.

Its clear that the conductor is at heart a brass player, as he featured a trumpet player that truly rivals Doc Severinson at hitting those HIGH! notes (and he holds them longer). He also had arranged a medly of Beatles songs (Yesterday, Hey Jude, Penny Lane) that allowed the trumpet player to show off his skills with the Bb trumpet, the piccolo trumpet and the flugal horn.

There were pieces with a jazz quartet that included a jazz flute (not often heard), an wonderful selection from Webber's Phantom of the Opera (here they tread on thin ice---box 5 was NOT kept empty), and an awesome performance by Lawrence Leighton Smith (the Music Director for the Philharmonic) of Gershwin's Concerto in F.

And of course there was traditional song for mignight --- done at midnight New York time --- complete with balloons and confetti dropping from a net in the ceiling.

It was truly worth the travel over still icy roads to get to this ----


This morning I took this picture of our neighbor's dog. Now if this looks a bit odd to you, it should. The dog is standing on a snow drift that is level with a 6 foot fence!

Our dog watched these proceedings, barked at the goings on, and timidly made an attempt at the drift in our back yard, but I called her back into the house -- call me the big chicken, but I'm afraid she'd either fall through the crust and we'd have to dig her out or she'd get hurt on the pickets at the top of the fence.

A TV station in Denver (CW2 for you in our area) runs a digital picture contest, so I sent this photo in. We'll see if they use it.

Today will be a pretty lazy day, working on bead pieces (I'm about half way through the sunburst brooch) stitching some animals and maybe doing a little work on changing some things on our website.

I'm sure tomorrow will start us in to the day to day commotion again, for today, may you all have PEACE!

Bracelet complete!

Yup, its done -- and before the new year!

I'm pleased with the way this one came out. The edging is a big improvement over past one I think.

And so its on to the next piece! I started doing the beading on a sunburst shape with a piece of tigereye in the center. Not sure yet if it will be a necklace or a brooch, but I'm thinking it will be a brooch. On this one I'm testing an idea that I hope to use on another cross piece I have in mind.....always learning!



Yesterday afternoon, the dog and the DH went out onto the patio and cleared off the snow that the wind hadn't taken care of.

The dog loves this activity. She grabs mouthfuls of snow and runs around the patio like she's foaming at the mouth.

(Maybe one of these days I'll actually READ the manual for my camera -- as opposed to just looking up what I need at the moment -- and figure out how to take video clips with it to put out here ---- or not)






This is the working drawing for the quilt design.

The center will be a monogram, and the rings around the outside are double wedding ring patterns.

You'll note the ticker above. This is what makes up the ticker:
96 arcs x 11 pieces each (1056 total)
192 squares or triangles for arc ends
96 "football" centers
96 circle centers
1 monogram block

1441 total


Last night I put together another arc using the new freezer paper method.....MUCH faster! And so here it is.....only 93 more arcs to go (and we'll let the ticker do the other math!)

Time to get moving.....

ok, I'm really tired of the snow already......

the storming goes on.....not so much that it continues to snow (although it has done some of that too) but the wind just howls and blows the stuff around.


So, here are today's early morning snow pictures (there's really no sunrise in this weather, just the dark gray going to lighter gray)

To the right, our front yard. Someone (we don't know who) came in the middle of the day yesterday and shovelled out our driveway for us, but as you can see, we'll have to do it again when the wind stops.



To the left here, the back yard of the house next to us....their fence has disappeared under that 6 foot drift of snow



And this one is our back yard, where our little windmill is nearly buried in snow, but is still spinning madly into the north wind.

Part of what is creating this lovely drifting is the open field behind us. Yesterday afternoon I could watch the wind picking up the snow in the field and swirl it up into the air over the top edge of the fence for it to be deposited on our side of the fence in that drift.



And this is the other corner of the front yard. There is about 2 foot of snow piled up under that little aspen tree (and over the sidewalk beyond it).

As I said, I'm really tired of the snow already, so can we please just STOP?!

The weather man says its the first time in recorded weather history that we have had two storms like this back to back....so why did I need to witness this history?




I am, however, working on projects!

These are the first 2 arcs of the 96 for the outside edge of the quilt for my daughter (that means there are only 94 arcs to go ----- wheeeee!) (okay, for those who don't know, that's a paraphrase of a lyric from Ragtime --- now go listen to that awesome soundtrack!)

These two were done in the old traditional way (draw the pattern on the back of the fabric, cut out and stitch) which took a long time to accomplish. Yesterday, I decided I would try a new approach, so I created a sheet of paper with 2 complete sets of the finished size pieces drawn on the page with a little space between them. Then I copied that page onto 2 precut sheets of freezer paper (isn't technology wonderful!).

After printing on the freezer paper, I cut out all the little templates -- enough for 4 arcs. Then I ironed all of the little templates (oh JOY!, I got to use my new iron, it was wonderful, no sputtering, no "its cold, its hot" phases) to the fabrics and now I have a little packet of fabrics all ready to go for the next sewing session.



I also finished all of the field beading for the bracelet. Last night I started putting it all together, but its not quite done, so no finished picture yet. I'm using the double bead edging I had discovered on the last pin I did, and it looks amazing, almost like a piece of metal braid had been attached to the edge.

Today I will finish it and start on another new piece.

Well, time's a wastin', so I'm off to have some breakfast and get back to the projects!

Here You Come Again......

yes, I can hear Dolly singing, and that's how I feel about this all over again!
It snowed most of yesterday and then the wind blew a lot last night, so "Here you come again!" {sigh}

I woke up yesterday morning feeling kind of "icky", so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked to.

This is the time of the year that I start in on the tax mess.....we have now done our studio inventory, which included pulling some pieces of inventory that we'd been schleping about for more than a year, and setting it aside to be taken apart. Yesterday I managed to get all the rest of that done, so today there will be adjusting of spread sheets and printing of reports. Then its on to recording the expenses for the month of December and getting other paperwork organized....the first tax form arrived yesterday....my daughter's federal tax form.....BLEAH!

We're trying to make the transistion from using just spreadsheets to using a real "accounting" program, and I can tell you its painful....mostly because someone else's "canned" program doesn't really meld well with the way we keep track of raw materials and finished pieces......{sigh} This truly is the part of being self employed that I hate the most, but just can't justify having someone else do it, especially since I spent so many years doing it for corporate.....NUTS!

Here is my exercise in self-discipline......must work on the paperwork first then I can play --- ie: work on the new projects.

Last night I worked on the bracelet some more.....the bead work looks great, and I may be able to get it finished by the time the weekend is over.

Also worked on pinning new critters for stitching.

And 2 of the 96 arcs of the wedding rings are done and ready for the squares at the ends (pictures of those soon)....

So, its off to the tax stuff.......

Getting ready for the storm.......

We still have hugh piles of snow in our yard and our street still hasn't seen a plow from last week's hugh storm, and now we're being told to brace ourselves for another one.

Yesterday we spent a couple of hours over at the local hospital so DH could have the xrays taken that his doctor ordered before he sees the lung specialist on Jan 11, but after that we went to the grocery store to pick up what we'll need for a few days. I can tell you the grocery stores have not yet recovered from the last storm either.....there was NO milk in the case, and much of the produce area had been picked clean too.....a sad situation indeed, this next storm could really create a lot of problems.

Once we returned home from that excursion, I spent some time working on the new tigereye bracelet, and its looking pretty good. I have finished the butterfly shape and I'm now working out from there to the ends and edges. The new light I'm working under certainly makes the work easier!!


As I was watching the Kennedy Center Awards last night (SO AWEWOME!!!!!), I started stitching the new little doggie pattern we've been working on.

I also finished another afghan square to send off to Squares4Survivors. I'll probably get it into the mail tomorrow morning. This picture is what the latest one looks like.

Today we'll be making a quick trip to the fabric store so I can start working on the required 96 arcs for the wedding ring portion of the quilt for my daughter. I set up a piece of card stock with 1 inch squares of all of the blue prints I have on hand to take along with me to match colors too. I notice that I'm real short on light colored prints, so that is what I'm looking for. I also need to get a pale yellow to use for the squares at the end of each arc.

After the fabric store, we'll fill the gas tank in the car as we don't like it to get much below half full in a storm situation.

And I just remembered this morning that when we did our jewelry inventory, we pulled some pieces to be scrapped and I need to get them torn apart and returned to the raw materials inventory for the year end books, so I'll be spending some time there today too.

And so we're off!

New Bears!

And aren't they just adorable?

The two bigger ones are the new ones. The little yellow one is one of the standard issue Shreddies that I've made dozens of.

During the show season, a lady bought one of the small size ones then she came back at another show and asked if I ever made bigger ones. So, here you are, from left to right: Shreddie, Shreddie II, and Shreddie III

Today I emailed her a picture of them, and I'm hoping that she will email me back and tell me she wants them both. If not, they'll go into the standard inventory for our next bear show (which is in April).

Meantime, we do have a number of other critters in process. Over the weekend, we either laid out (which entails drawing the pattern pieces on the back of the fabric for the cutting) or cut out the following:

small dog (new pattern)
mouse (DH's new pattern)
small wolf (new pattern)
flamingo (modified pattern)
open mouth bear (modified pattern)
black sheep
white sheep
open mouth polar bear (new pattern)

I still need to get another toucan done, but since that is the most complex because of the many colors and types of fur, I saved it for last, and haven't gotten there yet.

Yesterday afternoon I worked on the narrow tiger eye cuff bracelet. After doing those two pieces with the size 15 beads, this one seemed to fly in the size 11s! I have 2/3 of the butterfly pattern in the center finished. I'm thinking I'll be trying the 2 bead edging on this one when I attach the back, especially because I have to "sandwich" the brass cuff between the beading layer and the leather backing.

Meantime today, its also those mundane things to do: put away the good china from Christmas dinner, do laundry, run out for a bag of melt because another storm is on its way.....time to get to it

Working until the last minute.....but not on Christmas!

Nope, yesterday we baked and made candy, but I wasn't frantically working to finish a present for anyone.....quite an unusual occurance for me.....I keep feeling like I'm not doing something....

Anyway, I was able to finish this lovely little pin. This is the second of the series made with the smaller beads and the center is a very nice piece of rose quartz. This piece measures 1 1/2 inches square. The back is covered with a soft rose colored upholstry velour.

I tried out a new technique on the edge of this one. Usually I edge with just one bead, but on this one I strung 2 at a time and I really like the finish better.

If I get a chance, I will begin on a bracelet today, but first I have to put ears and noses on 2 bears that need to be "whole" for Christmas (just my own goal)


This was this morning's sunrise. Lovely pinky, salmony against the bluish gray of the clouds and all reflected in the snow below
May each of you have a Merry Christmas, and take time in all of the chaos of presents and food and people to remember the reason for the season.

Done before Christmas!

the quilt is finished.....I finished stitching the binding about 9 last night, and I'm happy to say it looks pretty good.


In one of these pictures you can see the checkered flags quilted into the green area.

I tried to get a picture of the "ghost" cars quilted between the pieced ones on the highway, but it doesn't show up well here.

I'll be taking some more pictures later, but I just had to put these out and brag!






Today we will be baking and cleaning, having done all of our running around yesterday (HURRAH!)

Its time to Vote!

If you were reading this blog back in May, you may remember that we created this piece to enter in a contest.

Well, I got the announcement yesterday afternoon that the voting for the winner is now open. There are 8 other entries in the finalists.

Here is the link to use for voting:

http://www.kranbearys.com/ACE/vote.htm

There are no restrictions on who can vote, or how often, so consider this a shameless plug for you to all "stuff the ballot box" for us! (I'll be voting daily!)

Much of yesterday was spent "digging out" of the snow. At some places on our property we had only 1/4 of a inch of snow, and other places still sport a 7 foot drift......the wind truly worked its magic!

This morning I have some sore muscles, but nothing major, and we managed to get the job done without anyone falling down, which is a good thing!

I did get some work done on the new pin I'm beading. Right now it is about half finished.

Some work was done on the quilt binding too, but its not done yet.

Today we will venture out around noon to get dog food and the necessary groceries and tomorrow we will have to go out to the drug store for my meds......we had planned for a trip to the northern part of the state to take some furniture to our daughter yesterday, but that will have to wait until the roads are a lot better....this morning they are saying it has been taking 2 1/2 hours to go from where we live to Denver, which is usually a trip of just under an hour......

Time to get to it...........

SNOW!!

We live in the area that is surviving the great Blizzard of '06!

It began snowing here yesterday morning and it has just kept snowing ever since. The snow, however is not the worst part of this. The bad part is the wind. We've had reported gusts of 65 mph. At one point yesterday afternoon, we couldn't even see the back fence from the house, and there was one gust early this morning that was so strong it woke my husband .

Being a "dedicated blogger", however, I fetched out the camera and ventured about the house to take pictures (all from the inside of the house of course, I'm not going out in 5 degree - that's with the wind chill - weather).
This picture is right outside the door from the garage that leads to the shed where I store display pieces, and other stuff for shows. The snow has drifted half way up the door right in front of it, but you can see on the far right of the picture that the stone walk way between the shed and the fence looks like its been swept clean.

This picture is in the same little "court yard" between the fence, the garage and the storage shed. Now this is a drift deep enough to loose a large dog in!
In the front yard, the van doesn't even look it needs much cleaning off, but notice on the left side the line of snow almost even with the van's bumper.....that's a snow drift about 2 feet deep.

This is our back yard. Just to the left of center there is a windmill that is about as tall as I am, and its up on the second step up of about a foot. The snow has just drifted up and around it about half way up the windmill.
This shot is my neighbor's back yard.....they've got a drift from the center of the yard to the top of the back fence.....WOW!

Fortunately, all this doesn't keep me from getting some things done inside!

Yesterday I started a new little pin using a square cab of rose quartz, and its coming along nicely.

The quilting on dad's quilt is done. I got all of the names put in on the green area, and quilted the outlines of "ghost" vehicles on the roadways. I got the binding pinned on, and today I should be able to get it all stitched. So this afternoon, I will probably be doing a "photo shoot" of it.

I have also begun designing a new quilt. This one is for my daughter, and she probably won't get it until next Christmas, but I've decided that in this case, its better to get her "yeah, I like it" early one since it will be (I hope) an "heirloom" piece. I sorted out the fabrics I have on hand yesterday, and I've been playing with tracing paper and colored pencils......pictures of this project to follow too!

Guess its time to get moving!

Ta Da!

Yes folks, its done!

I can see things that I want to improve on when I do the next one, but its not bad for the first try.

I ended up using a red upholstry velour on the back because the red leather I had was just not the right color, but hey, it works just as well and gives the back a nice finish.

So now its onward to create another one.

The quilting is almost done!! Today I will be making the binding pieces and hopefully getting the binding stitched on to the edge so I can finish this up in the next couple of days.

And so, I have begun the design phase of the next quilt....this should be fun!

Time to get moving, we have a winter storm moving in and I want to run to the drug store to pick up meds for DH just in case we're snowed in for a couple of days.

good things in small packages

this idea was one that just couldn't wait until all the other projects were done!

While it may look like a big piece in the picture, it only measures 1 1/4 inches across. The center is a lampglass heart bead that is red with a gold irridesant wash and the beads around it are all size 15s (which are considerably smaller than the size 11s I usually work with).

The piece is all stitched and will be mounted on a red leather backing with a pin finding.

The idea for this was a sort of collision between the idea that we will be doing a show in Des Moines, Iowa, just shortly before Valentine's Day and its good to have some less expensive pieces when going into an area we've never been in before.

Now that I have taken this little break to create this new idea, I can go back to finishing the quilt! Actually, I'm now quilting in the border section (which looks like a checkered flag), and then I can put together the binding (which I think is going to be the left over pieces of the brick work I built for the race track.

Time to get busy!

beauty in the morning.....

One thing about being up early is you get to see the beautiful colors in the sky as the sun comes up. I'm starting to think of sunrise as my favorite time of day

.....followed by that sweet time in the evening when the dishes are being washed in the dishwasher and I can settle into my recliner to work on a project uninterrupted (at least until I fall asleep with my thimble on and the project in hand)

these are the pictures I took between 6:30 and 6:45 this morning......beautiful pinks and blues and that amazing first picture of almost purples as the sky was just beginning to lighten.

My mother called last night to ask me to send up an extra prayer for my sister. She has had a migraine since Sunday night. The doctor gave her vicadin, which knocked her out of course, but as I know from cruel experience, you have to wake up, and sometimes, the pain meds have had no lasting effect and the headache goes on. These things are such a frustrating mystery, and unfortunately, what worked to do away with mine didn't work for hers.

So, my dear readers, as you are enjoying these pictures, please send up a prayer to your higher power.....and I'm grateful for you doing so

more new things.....

Like I said, I never start just one new project, partly because the prep work on these is better done in batches.

So, these are the other two bracelets. The top one is a piece of jasper and I just followed along with the pattern in the stone for the design lines.

The bottom one is a very nice piece of deep blue lapis. There will be 6 mm lapis beads stitched on where the little circles are, and after that, other lapis and glass bead patterns around them.
This is another of the new smaller necklaces. These pieces are also lapis, and I thought I'd try an asymetrical pattern for this one.

And this is another piece of tigereye (a really nice piece). I haven't decided yet if this will be a necklace or a pin. This is also a test of technique. If I like the way this one comes out, I'll use this new technique idea on the cross that I'm designing.

I'm off this morning to meet with my accounting client. Then we have some around the house chores to do this afternoon.

Quilting is moving right along, have half of the green field complete!