another afghan square for that growing box
meantime, there is other knitting being planned
the pattern for the annual Christmas sweater has been selected, and we have now moved into the yarn selection phase of that project
it's been pointed out by the DH that the sweater I knit him a few years ago is starting to look a bit shabby, so I've also selected a pattern and some yarn for that project -- nice -- a couple of new projects for the rotation coming up
then there is this
I've almost finished the beading!
just a little bit there along the left hand edge and at the very top to do
today I need to go dig through my stash of leather and upholstery velours to select whatever will become the backing for this little lovely
and I've started working on the design of another piece which is for a competition that ends the first part of March --- we'll be shifting color palettes -- to some greens
today I need to do laundry and run an errand then back to the projects!
for a number of years the DH has been making our breakfast sausage
running the fresh pork through the meat grinder attachment of my Kitchen Aid mixer, adding the spicing, packing it up for the freezer
trouble was we didn't have any way to do "links", because that required another special attachment
for Christmas our daughter got it for us
cool!
we made the trip on Friday to a local meat processing shop (a place where you can take your deer to be cut and wrapped after the hunt) and got some sausage casing
and here are some of the somewhat bumpy sausages from yesterday's making
we learned that this is for us a two person operation -- one of us has to load the meat through the top of the stuffer while the other one handles the casing end -- ok, we can do this
it was a very tasty breakfast!
a bit more work on the bead project
this is coming right along
earlier in the day I did quite a bit of work on the next pieces for the Visioning Project
and some quilting on the baby quilt -- I was thinking about doing this on the machine, but in the end decided I didn't want to risk damaging it with some machine work error, so I'm doing it by hand --- I really need to use the Visioning Project as a place to do some practicing on that
things are moving along
once the washing and drying of the fabric was done, it didn't take me long to put this top together
I like it even better than the pink one
I have a nice little stash of tops to take to the next meeting
one side of the beading project is done!
the other side has less to be filled in because I have already done the two rows of edging around all the open spaces, so the finishing of the rest of that side should go pretty quickly
yesterday's visit with the surgeon that did the shoulder replacement surgery on the DH went well --- he will need to go back in a year for a "check up" to make sure that the replaced parts are staying properly in place, but he is doing really well -- yippee!!
I think I have finally recovered fully from the bouts of bronchitis --- this morning, for the first time since Thanksgiving I woke up with a design idea for a quilt forming in my head --- it feels good
I actually worked on several projects yesterday, but this is the only one that I took a picture of
(time spent doing laundry and shredding an entire year's worth of financial documents just doesn't photograph that well!)
I've almost finished with the dark beads around each shape -- just the two clock faces at the left need one more ring each before I'll be moving on to the rest of the field
slowly, slowly
I have almost finished the center block for the baby quilt, so I need to find something for the back of that piece -- last week I was in one of the local fabric stores, but I didn't find anything that I thought was suitable -- I'll be checking out the other fabric store this week sometime
onward
this is our security system/art critic/foot warmer
when I go to the studio to work, she comes along to lay in the sun and keep me company
I'm getting ready to turn her routine upside down
in the next month or so I'm going to be moving my studio out of the living room --- and I think she won't be pleased
it's finished
and listed in my Etsy store
and entered in the contest
wooo hooo!
now it's on to other projects
I'm getting pretty good at juggling a lot of projects all at once
doing it with quilt projects and knitting projects is a lot easier than with bead projects, however because I only have one work tray that I can do bead projects in
so the big bead embroidery piece with the watch parts has been temporarily set aside so I can work on this project that has a sooner deadline
I've not done any pure bead weaving techniques for quite a while other than creating "chains" for various bead embroidered medallions that I've turned into necklaces
this piece will be a bracelet, and is entirely worked in peyote stitch
it took me several attempts to get the first 3 or 4 rows worked, but after that it has just flowed along
the deadline for the challenge on this piece is the first week in February --- I'm pretty sure it will done a lot sooner than that
I'm also closing in on having another animal block for that baby quilt finished
moving along!
the original storm door on our house has not been doing a good job for a while
despite repeated reapplications of weather stripping, it still leaked enough cold air that the hallway at the front door was a lot colder than it should have been
and the screen part had long since given up the ghost compounded by the parts being no longer available to repair it
at Christmas time my sister, brother-in-law and nephew gave us a very cool present --- gift cards to our local hardware store
last week we went and picked out our new storm door
this morning it was delivered, installed and the old one carted away --- whoo hooo!
there is a lot more glass in the new one, so the dog won't be tempted to jump up and put her feet on the top panel where the screen is, which should extend the life of the screen a lot!
now I need to get a quart of exterior paint that matches the paint on the door and the trim so I can take care of the rest of the job!
last night I attended the monthly meeting of my local quilt guild
the plan for programs this year is quite different than we've had for a while, and we started off the year with a brief (and very entertaining) lesson on basic color theory
and a challenge
each of us was given a package of 40 pieces of fabric --- all solids
we are to create something using at least 21 of those pieces and have it ready to show at our November meeting
cool
I already have a design in mind!
(yeah, yeah, I know, do I really need another project in the works? eh, maybe not, but since the design came to me so easily, I may be able to use it for some other purpose as well, so I'm going to go with it!)
onward!!
you may remember this piece of jewelry I did a while back
I entered it in a competition, and everyone gets a chance to vote!
you can use this LINK to go and look at all of the entries in the competition and vote for your favorite
Enjoy!
just in case you thought I'd forgotten about this baby quilt project --- not so much!
when I started doing the sewing on the blocks, the fabric I had selected for the grass on all of them was a pretty big piece and it didn't fit in the work box very well, so I decided to do the grass on all of the blocks at the very beginning
which means work was being done, but nothing to really photograph and say "see" about
now that all of that is finished, I've started again working on the individual animals
this is the second finished corner block --- two more of these little ones to do still, but it should go much quicker now 
here's block number 2 for 2013 --- moving right along
heading off this morning to hang a quilt show --- this should be fun!
January is traditionally the time people make resolutions.
Over the years I've made a conscious decision not to do that -- having decided I was much too good at "self guilting" and I didn't need to come up with new excuses to do that.
The past three years I've been part of a couple of different email lists made up of art quilters (there actually is some overlap between these two groups).
One of the recurring themes on these lists this time of year is the selection of a word for the year that will serve to guide and encourage the individual through their personal art endeavors for the coming year.
Let me note here that the membership of both of these lists seems to be closer in age to mine than to my daughter's. (Which really doesn't surprise me as I watch my daughter juggle career, motherhood and home responsibilities, I feel like I'm looking through the looking glass back almost 30 years to when I was doing the same things.)
I was especially touched by an email written by a member who is more my daughter's age as she is struggling to find just a moment or two between the diaper changes and cooking and laundry and hundred other unending tasks to create.
I was equally touched by the calm reassurance of an older member who had been there and done that and who sought to reassure this young mother that she is already creating and that she should hold onto that spark --- the demands of a young family change and time will come.
This whole exchange confirmed for me why it is that so many women are what I call "serial achievers".
For many of us the pathway is similar:
When we are in our 20s we are getting our education, finding a career, meeting our spouses.
When we are in our 30s we are raising children, juggling home and career, wondering if we'll ever find a moment to do anything creative (or feeling guilty when we take a moment here and there for ourselves)
By the time we hit our 50s our children are off to college or homes of their own and we find the time we looked for to begin a whole new adventure.
For some of us that is enough to scare us away from that creative spark -- we've spent too much time putting it of to "tomorrow", or "next year", or after the next ____ (insert important personal event here).
The question that we should ask ourselves then is: "what am I waiting for"?
So I have decided that this year I will choose a word for myself as guidance for the next year.
And that word is BRAVE.
When I am tempted to put off something because it is scary or because that is easier than doing it, I need to be BRAVE.
At this point in my life it's time to stop putting off to another day. I've retired from that corporate career; the children are adults; now is the time to do those things I've been waiting to do
Time to be BRAVE
while I'm slowly recovering from the bug, I have been working on some other things
this set of wool mittens and hat, for instance
finished up last night
I have to say that I'm having some fun with the knitting of these --- complex stripe patterns are not as stressful when the "deadline" for having them finished is 9 months away
I did work on the beading and some quilt work yesterday too --- slowly getting stronger
today we need to do a little shopping --- hopefully I feel well enough after that to do a little work in the studio
seems that the "return" of the bug that I had the first part of December was even worse than the original
on Saturday morning I was fine, by Monday morning I was calling the doctor's office only to find that they were not available until yesterday
late yesterday afternoon I got a new medication, and while most doctors try to limit the amount of time you take an antibiotic, this time she wants to really kill this thing, so I have a two week regimen
I'm looking forward to getting back to being able to sleep at night instead of sitting up and coughing!
I have done a little bit of work at odd times between the snoozing in the chair
this piece, for instance, is starting to take shape -- after building all those bezels, the watch pieces have now been attached to the backing and I'm working on the bead embroidery
the open circles of beads will have some other pieces suspended in the centers after the piece is all finished
current working title for this piece is "Five Minutes to Midnight"
afghan squares are also something I can do in a semi-aware state
here's the first one of 2013!
today I hope to work on projects a bit more
but I need to not overdo -- the medication will take a little time to really kill those bugs
another afghan square for that growing box 
then there is this 
