Meet Cupcake

and aren't we cute?

no, that's not dirt on her nose -- it's "sugar" from the cupcake!

this bear was completed for a challenge over at Mohair Divas, and I'm pretty pleased with how she looks.

Cupcake is 13 inches tall. She is made of white mohair that has a dark gray backing. Fully jointed, she has glass eyes and is stuffed with polyfil.

Her footpads, nose and inside of her mouth are made of a very nice upholstery velour and I used needlefelting to give her the chubby cheeks and the fat tummy (one of the cool things about needlefelting is I could even give her a belly button).

Her "cupcake" is also needlefelted then put into a foil fluted candy paper so it looks like a cupcake with sparkly sugar on top -- I used very fine iridescent glitter for the sugar on top of the cupcake and on the bear's face.

What do you think?

mystery orange knitting

two more pieces complete

2 more pieces to go

interesting and odd

part 1 of the unidentified Christmas project is done too

crawling along!

work in process

Finally remembered to take a picture of this project.

The color is pretty washed out, but then it's hard to take a photo of shiny things that are pastel and white

On the far left is the tube that is half of the "chain" --- this was created using a technique that makes a fat, flexible tube --- there are 300 3mm silver beads in there along with 20 3mm pearls, some size 11 seed beads and a lot of size 15 seed beads.

Next to the tube is the blister pearl, and next to it the shaped sheet of beads I did in right angle weave to back the blister pearl.

Next step is to weave the netting bezel around the edges.


Fabrics for the Unidentified Christmas Project.

mmmmm, lovely marble-y, shimmer-y goodness!



progress continues on the odd orange knitting too



yup, we're moving right along

more of the "knitting on faith" project

here's the next picture of this peculiar object

actually there are three pieces here --- one big one and two idential little ones (at the bottom right edge, stacked on top of each other)

notice that these are now "off the sticks"

I'm moving on to the next instruction that begins with the blue yarn again

Very interesting


Meantime, work continues on the new Diva necklace. I have half of the "chain" done, and am now on the third try at "framing" a really big (and extremely nice) slice of shell that has a good sized blister pearl on it.

I decided last night that trying to use the ordinary netting frame around it just would not work --- it's too big, so now I'm building a right angle weave backing that I will create a net from that will go around the edges -- almost as if it were glued down to a backing and I could just stitch around it, but I can't do with this piece because it is curved and would not lie flat for that treatment.

So far this has been a challenging piece, but not outside the vision, so I'm still happy with it.

I'll try to remember to take a picture or two of the "in process" steps.

time to roll

U. C. P.

The UCO (unidentified Christmas project) has begun.

Drawings are being made.

Scanning and printing is being done.

I like this part of a project as much as I like the finished product. (Sometimes I'm not so crazy about the parts in between!)

Meantime, quilting has actually begun on the angel panel, I'm still knitting along on the strange orange object, and the beading on the Diva necklace is moving, although slowly, in the right direction.

pictures of something soon, my pretties!

ready to go quilting

Yup, I finished putting the panels together

The idea was to make these look like stained glass windows in a stone wall, and I'm pretty pleased with the effect

Today I will be putting the backing/batting/top sandwich together so I can start in on the quilting.

The quilting in the "glass panels" will be right along each appliqued piece to accent the shapes and in the gray panels will loosely follow the variations in color to make it look more like stone.

Considering I just guessed on how much fabric to buy for the back (it's that same gray) and the stripping, I did pretty well --- I have enough left to do the loops for the hanging and a small piece for the stash

Yesterday the last of Christmas got put away (well, ok, except for the candles, which don't go to the garage storage, and still need to be carried down to the basement), so it's onward to projects!!

FO, and why knitting involves faith

I finished this up last night.

This is a troop hat -- I will be sending it off to the Denver Library for the "Knitting for Our Troops" marathon --- helping to add to their goal of getting 5280 hats by the end of January 24.

Want more information? Use this link

I'm knitting along on a Christmas project -- yes, already!!

and let me tell you, this is a pattern that makes me wonder how the designer ever came up with it

it also reminds me that knitting to a pattern is a huge leap of faith -- a trust that who ever the designer was, they knew the right path and they have your best interest at heart.

I can usually understand how a pattern for a piece of clothing works (in fact, I usually understand those well enough to "tweek" them to my liking), but this one is a real mystery.

Updates to follow!

A bracelet completed

I've been fiddling with this thing for months, and I'm happy to report it is FINALLY off my work table!!

The stones in this were originally part of the now defunct "let the river run" project, but the form of the bracelet itself is a whole new thing -- formed on the same kind of materials that I use when I'm making a bracelet with a metal cuff inside -- only without the cuff.

It has a magnetic clasp, another first for any piece I've done

Then there is the whole "texture" of this piece. Instead of stitching the beads in patterns on their sides, each bead is standing upright with another small bead at the top, so they all stand up away from the cuff at different heights -- sort of like a Psychedelic Porcupine -- LOVE this technique, and I'll be using it again!!

The edges of this bracelet are not "regular", but sort of curve and flow, and there are openings between the other stones -- a kind of "negative space" that also adds to the "irregularness"

This is definately an "out of the box" style for my work, and I really like it

So, who knows what I'll work on next -- there are some more of the stones from the river project just hanging around -- and there is beach glass to play with -- oh, and tomorrow the box of goodies I ordered should arrive so I can start on the piece I designed on New Year's Eve --

ahhhhhh, so many ideas --- so little time in the day

One more angel and a shopping trip

I finished the embroidery on the last angel panel last night

It was fun doing the hair of each angel a different color and style -- this is Raphael, and I did the embroidery with a rayon floss which has a lovely sheen to it, but is a real pain to work with as it wants to turn every which way and tie itself in knots!

The next plan for the three panels is to do some additional highlighting and shading with the fabric markers to give a little more depth to the faces, then I'll be ready to actually put the whole thing together so I can start quilting



Work progresses on the UCP -- the DH is working on the first of the drawings which will then be scanned and blown up to create full size patterns --- we're finally getting this process down to something familiar so that the drawing/pattern stage moves along much quicker.

I spent quite a bit of time working on a bracelet yesterday. I had started this one a while back but when I got to the clasp stage I was stalled because the usual methods didn't work. As usual, putting something aside and working on something else gives my brain a chance to come up with alternate ideas. We found some magnetic clasps in the bargin bin at the local craft store and I decided to try one of those (I've never worked with them before), and it's going to be great on this piece. Hopefully I finish this one today.

The shopping trip yesterday included purchasing the bright orange and blue yarn for the Christmas knitting project, and last night I started in on it --- the snoot has been knit of bright blue and I have just started into the first of the orange yarn --- pictures of the project "on the sticks" to follow soon

We've started taking down our Christmas decorations -- a little each day for about a week makes this a lot less stressful than trying to do it all at once.

time to get busy!!

Beach Glass, Angels and Christmas Future

Completed project #3 for 2009

another piece of Rocky Mountain Beach Glass made up into a necklace

This piece began as a purple plate

breaking, tumbling and bead work later, it is ready for wearing

What I think is especially cool about this is the was the pattern in the plate is actually still visable in the glass, though not as deep and the color is muted

Nice

The embroidery on two of the three angels is complete

And I'm working on the third one



meantime, drawings for an UCP (unidentified Christmas project) are in the works -- it's nice to have one quilt to be quilting on and one to be piecing/appliquing on at the same time


This is also a Christmas 2009 project --- picture this cutie knit up in bright orange and royal blue

I found the pattern on a free pattern web site, and now I need to figure out how much yarn it takes and see if I have enough on hand or if I need to go shopping

It's kind of fun to do these 3 dimensional knittting projects along with the knitting of clothing and afgan squares --- keeps things interesting!



Today I will be spending some time working on a HUGE power point presentation that I'm actually getting paid for --- nice to know it's worth putting the time in on it.

into the fray

Playing with the Christmas present

As you may recall, I got the fleece of a Jacob Sheep for Christmas --

Actually, when the box arrived, not only was there the fleece I had discussed with the lady, as promised, but another entire fleece and a small bundle of prepared roving from a mix of other sheep as well. To say I was extremely pleased and surprised would be an understatement.

If you are ever in the market for fleece, I highly recommend Moose Mtn. Ranch!

I decided that this little guy just needed "something" -- I've not been really happy with him, and even though I had redone his feet back in September, and I like the look of the feet now, I still just didn't like the finished product.

As I mentioned, one of the things in the package with the fleece was a package of roving, a sort of soft, heather-y gray tone (a blend of several of the Moose Mtn Ranch's sheep)

The roving was the same color as the backing of the fabric I used to make this bear --- an idea was forming! After some discussion with the DH, getting his ideas too, he did a drawing for me and I was ready to begin.


A while later, after shaving all of the white mohair pile off his tummy and spending about an hour and a half with the felting needle, he has a whole new tummy look

While you can't really tell from this picture, he even has a belly button!

Now I'm thinking about doing some other things to spruce up his face (I hate the look of that seam right above his right eye) and maybe create some other accessories to go with him

Considering the fact that I had for several years resisted the whole idea of needle felting, I'm learning to like it --- probably because I'm discovering I can actually do it (I guess I just wasn't sure I could).

Meantime, yesterday I spent some time working on a piece of Rocky Mountain Beach Glass jewelry (one of the pieces of purple glass being made into a necklace) and some time doing embroidery on one of the angel panels.

Pretty much a low stress, laid back day all around.

Today we're back to what mascarades as normal here --- laundry, mending, projects --- life in the "fast lane" no doubt!

What are you doing New Year's?

I don't do resolutions

My experience is that I don't keep them very well, and who needs the extra guilt?

I do start, complete and return to projects however!

These Christmas socks were made by my daughter and I last year for her house

This year she asked me if I could embroider their names on them

So yesterday, after the Rose Parade, I set up my machine and did the embroidery

The original plan was to do it right on the sock cuff, but even the smallest embroidery hoop for the machine was too wide to work, so I embroidered the names on some of the fabric left over from the sock lining (reason #2,954 of why you never throw away fabric pieces), then attached those embroidered strips to the cuff of the socks

It's probably acually better than the original plan since it's hard to work lettering over a patterned fabric and be able to read it

So, project #1 for 2009, all complete

Yesterday morning this was a t-shirt

A while back, when my daughter went off to finish college and live away from home she had several t-shirts that had been acquired at performances of things like Phantom of the Opera and Beauty and the Beast -- cool shirts but she didn't want to ruin them by wearing them (beside that, they were size XL, and she wears a smaller size). So, I made them into throw pillows for her.

When we were up visiting over Christmas, she asked me to make one of her husband's t-shirts into a pillow too.

A quick trip to the closest fabric store and about an hour's work later, the t-shirt is a pillow!

I'm thinking this might be a service I could add to my Etsy store too.

Ok, project #2 for 2009 complete!

If you've been with me a while, you may remember these .

I had gotten them all pieced/appliqued then put them away to make the big "get those Christmas projects done" push in the fall

Yesterday I pulled them out and looked them over

and decided that I want to do some embellishment with embroidery before I put the panel together to do the quilting

So hopefully today I'll get to work on them a bit after we run some errands

I guess if I have a resolution it's that I want to finish a lot of projects this year -- in fact, I think I'll start a list so that at the end of 2009 I can review and see how I did

How about you? What are you doing in the New Year?

the big "Reveal"

Now that Christmas is over and (most of) the gifts have been put into the hands of their intended receivers, I thought I'd show a few pictures of the finished items.

The parrot quilt was a BIG hit.

My quilts all go with a guarantee that covers them only if they are actually USED! I don't make them to be folded up and put away!! (otherwise what excuse would I have to make another one later??)

I was pleased to see this beauty be put to use right away.

and I did get advance permission to borrow it back in August so I can enter it in the State Fair.








Just before we went off to our daughter's I finished the vest for her friend's little girl

It's a little hard to see, but the yoke of this has kitties knit into it, complete with little tails on the back

cute!






















and then there were the new doggie toys

these 3 designs were actually whipped up in the last couple of days before we headed off (and the "princess" has already been in her best "destructor" mode on them)

Future toys for the terrier will be made of very sturdy denim --- it doesn't stop her, but it does slow her down!!

Aren't they cute

don't be fooled, this was one of the peaceful moments when my dog (the big black lab) and my daughter's newest dog (wheat colored cairn terrier, aka "the Terrier-izer") were asleep








see this lovely lady?

yes, Ewe!

one of my presents for Christmas was the fleece of this beautiful Jacob Sheep -- her name is Dot -- and the box should arrive today

The plan is to use the many colors to do needle felting on teddy bears and other ideas

I'm looking forward to a lot of "play time" in the new year







there is actually some work going on, believe it or not

this is the second batch of beach glass

I've already started working up some jewelry from the purple pieces, and have some other pieces waiting from the yellow and the white

The glass that looks white here went into the tumbler red -- alas, the color was all in a "paint" on the outside which of course the tumbler took right off

I have found some genuine, through and through red glass, however, and it will be in the next batch

a while back I had started on this knitting project then set it aside because I had knitting that needed to be finished for Christmas

since we got back I've been working on this a bit, and just finished this last block last night



Yesterday we did the inventory of the jewelry and this morning I ran the necessary reports to do the taxes for 2008

I really hate tax season, but I've found that by spacing out the work it's less painful.

This is also the time of the year when I fiddle with the web site, apply to shows and design new pieces of jewelry and bears

Yup, it's good to be getting back in the flow of actually working --- maybe the forced time off was a good thing

onward and upward

Happy New Year!

and to all a good night

I know, it's been a long, L O N G, time since I last posted

I have been recovering from a seriously injured right arm, which basically means I have been doing nothing more than is absolutely required (I'm so right handed I can barely feed myself with my left, something that I'm thinking I should work on changing)

I'm enjoying time with the DH, my daughter and her hubby, 3 dogs (and a yard with no fence, so multiple daily walks are giving us free reign to enjoy some Christmas goodies!) and a bird at my daughter's new home. Yesterday the DH and my daughter did major baking projects (bar cookies and sticky buns) then my daughter and I made a pan of lasagna for dinner -- something Italian for Christmas Eve is pretty traditional for us. That was the first major cooking (anything other than heating in the microwave) that I've done for about 3 weeks -- so I am recovering

Lots of ideas are percolating for new projects in 2009 --- I'm just not rushing into anything right now

Merry Christmas to all of you!!!!

I've lost a day or two here

I'm slowly recovering

the arm still aches, but this morning I could actually get dressed without screaming, so we're improving

this of course has put a kink in my Christmas mojo -- like a major kink -- as in I still haven't gotten the cards mailed, and there are half a dozen projects in the works that are not yet finished

ouch

so, I need to do things in small steps (or crawling)

today I hope to get a little bit of knitting done -- we'll see

a few more things

the last of the making for the giving tree

cute little sweater vest has bear fronts and bear backs on the yoke

Now we can wrap up the presents and take them over to the store where we picked up the tag



play apron for another child

this one has embroidery and button accents on the front (I'm having a lot of fun with the sewing machine!)









Picked up this cute item at Pier One for a dollar

image a cute little polar bear wearing this

you get the idea!






I'm not feeling all that great this morning, so I'm planning to lay low today --

OUCH!

I can report that the bird quilt is complete!! Pictures will be posted later (just in case the person I made it for should visit here)

I finished another sewing project yesterday too, but I know the person that is for reads this, so there will be no pictures of it here either

In all of the many projects I've worked on in the last week or so, I've managed to develope an extremely sore right shoulder and upper arm -- even typing is a bit painful right now, so I'll be taking a couple of days to GO S L O W and try to let it heal itself

today I'm having lunch with a friend (that I haven't seen in over 10 years!!), and we have a few more house decorations we want to put up, and this morning I've already let my fingers do the shopping for some Christmas presents on line, but I'm not pushing anything else

fear not, I shall return!!

and another one bites the dust

a project off the sticks!!

This is the Christmas sock I did for the new grand dog

I've only been working on this in little bits and pieces over the past month or so (started it right after they got the new dog)

I also finished the quilting on the log cabin quilt I've been working on for my sister --- YIPEE!!

Still working on lots of other "for Christmas" projects too

so there is still sewing and knitting and paper crafts to work on a plenty!

(and of course this is where my mind starts "going to the punch bowl" and thinking about new bead designs and other goodies I want to start on but just can't right now!)

My daughter asked me for one of the bear ornaments I had made to give to a friend, so I'll be shipping that off to her shortly, but digging those out made me consider the idea of listing some of them on Etsy, so I'm hoping to get that done sometime today.

time to get rollin'

I think I can, I think I can

Ta Da!

Just before the delivery man brings me the new printer cartridges so I can start making the note cards, I FINALLY finished the last of the planned drawings for the quilt series.

For whatever reason, I just could not get this one done until last night ---

Now I can move on to other projects!!

Hurrah

ooooooh -- GOODIES!

This folks, is better than getting the biggest new box of crayons that is made

This is my new bead order, freshly dumped out of the box, still all in it's plastic wrappers, just waiting for me to do who knows what with them!!

Of course before I get to do that, I must do the "business" stuff with them -- checking the order, recording the inventory, etc., etc., but just knowing they are there, just waiting for me to turn them into wonderful things is enough to make me impatient with the pace of finishing current things that must be done first

This is the first order that has included so many different colors and styles of beads --- and the first one that includes all of the beads for a piece I've been designing for quite some time -- it's sort of like custom ordering that box of crayons for only coloring sunsets

Yesterday, we had planned to decorate the tree, but we ended up going to 2 different Christmas boutiques instead -- one in a home in our neighborhood and one at the local high school -- the high school trip confirmed for me that I had made the right choice in NOT participating --- there were several jewelry booths and most of them had big "Everything 50% to 75% Off" signs on them

I can not understand folks that do that unless they are going out of business --- as far as I'm concerned, the jewelry is worth the same as it was at the beginning of the show season -- there's still the same amount of materials and work in it -- I just don't get it!!

So, today to the tree trimming, then some sewing, and Christmas cards to sign --- the usual December stuff

time to dash away!!

orders filled, more snow flakes and a quilt

see, the order that I got on Etsy yesterday is all ready to be shipped off

I have to say you could have knocked me over with a feather when I got this order, since it is the first one in over a year on Etsy, but I guess I finally posted something someone wanted!

Anyway, this will be off in the mail today






Since I had the machine up and running, I decided to do a few more of the snowflakes.




I really like the way the glittering looks on the blue one, and I think it will be even more awesome on the white

It takes nearly as long to do all the trimming as it does the machine to do the stitching!







So, just to not be simply twiddling my thumbs, I worked on this quilt drawing

I have 5 of these done now, and have one more started, so hopefully when the new printer cartridges arrive on Monday I'll be ready to start printing off the note cards

Yeah!!


Yesterday we put up the family room tree -- that is we rearranged the furniture, put the tree together (unlike the living room tree, this one has to be put up branch by branch) and put the lights on

Today we'll do ornaments

I'm doing the blind stitching on the top side of the quilt binding -- this has got to be the part that seems to take F O R E V E R!!! (maybe it's just because I'm really wanting it to be finished!!)

So, it's off to make merry -- and then get some other projects done

something that is dead

this would be my phone

somehow it got wet

water + electronic anything = getting to play taps as you toss whatever it is into the trash

fortunately, we try to always have a backup plan -- in this case an older model of a cell phone that I could just activate

the tech guy says it may actually come back on after it dries out and if it does he can transfer all of my contacts

I can get an upgrade in January anyway, so I'm thinking I'll just wait until then to get a new phone










These lovelies are Christmas aprons that I will be listing on Etsy this week (there are actually going to be 4 available for sale as I have 2 of the ones with the roses and poinsettias)

I made these back in the late 1970s for a boutique, then put them away. When I was cleaning out some stuff last week, I found them.

They are very nice fabric, so I thought I'd give it a try.


Last night I finished the quilting on the bird quilt. Today I hope to get the sewing machine set up to do the binding and also to whip up a couple of pairs of sweat pants to go with the sweater I'm knitting for the Giving Tree gift.

time to get to it!

it's Christmas Count Down

The many, many projects are progressing

Finally completed the body of the knitting on this project, so this evening I will be stitching up the shoulder seams and starting on the ribbed bands around the arms and the neck

Moving right along!


This is the vest I started over the weekend for a little girl who is our daughter's friend's child

I'm almost to the point where it gets split for the arms, and this pattern has the cutest little animal faces (and backsides) that are knit into them in the yoke

I will be putting this aside for a few days, however to do some knitting for something else

The local grocery store has a giving tree this year

We've been dropping extra cans or packages in the food drop since those appeared in the stores, but yesterday was the first time I had noticed the tree

This is the tag we pulled

It specifically requests clothing for a size 3T/4T girl

So, there will be a bit of stitching and knitting in the next week or so for this project

Those of you that know me really well know about the Christmas t-shirts

I used to have a pretty good size collection of these as I would try to wear a different one every Friday to work during the holiday season (what could be better on casual Friday than jeans and a t-shirt with a jacket?)

Anyway, I haven't bought myself a new one for about 8 years -- but when we were in Walmart yesterday, this was on the $5 rack, and I fell in love with it

What it says in smaller letters under the "World Tour" is this: "One Million Cities, One Night Only, 12-24-08"

This will be my Christmas Day attire this year!!

Ok, time to stop babbling and get busy with all those projects!!

not dead yet

although I have to admit I still have some very sore muscles!!

I had forgotten just how much hard work moving is

On Saturday morning my daughter and her husband appeared at our house with a big pick up truck and a 2 horse trailer in tow

Having had advanced notice, I had called a couple of friends for help, and within an hour all of the furniture that was to go with them was all loaded into the truck, the trailer and the back of our van.

After a lunch break we headed out in a fine dusting of snow over Monument Pass and on to their new house

Let me tell you, their house is very nice. A sensible cafe au lait colored carpet, hardwood in the kitchen, dining area and entry hall and very nice textured vinyl in the baths and laundry room -- even an in kitchen pantry closet -- mmmmmmm!!!

At that end we unloaded all of the goodies we had loaded at our end, plus the washer and dryer and spent the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday setting things up and putting things away.

The washer and dryer were a special challenge as we had to install a new cord on the dryer before it could be used as the plug would not fit the new outlet, and it was decided that new water supply hoses were a good idea for the washer.

And there were lights and ceiling fans to be installed in the bedroom ceilings and beds to be put together -- giving a whole new meaning to the phrase "make the bed"!

Yesterday morning they went back to work (to rest, as my daughter said) and we came home -- and had to shovel the driveway, the sidewalks and the back patio of about 4 inches of heavy wet snow --- seems we were in the right window to get things out!!

While I was gone I did get quite a bit of knitting done on a sweater vest I'm making for one of my daughter's friends kids -- little sweaters go a lot quicker

So today it's back to what resembles normal -- laundry to do, more Christmas projects to work on -- maybe some pictures tomorrow!!