finished, progress and new "toys"

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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