Wednesday, July 25, 2012

What I have been doing

Hello there

Well here it is Wednesday again and I haven't had any time to work on my tree skirt this week.  I am getting ready to go to the 67th Flaherty picnic (I haven't attended them all of course :) ). It is held on Long Island in New York.  This year I am particularly interested in seeing a cousin who has had a bad year.  Last year he gave me a big bag of his ties so I made him a quilt out of them.

I hope he likes it.  I had trouble selecting the sashing fabric and Greg, my husband, thought this fabric looked very much like a tie.  I wasn't sure at first but I think it works.

This is the same picnic where last year I made three quilts for my cousins who had sent me their mother's collection of handkerchiefs when she passed away.  I was thrilled to have them.  I made a blue, pink, and yellow quilt and the hankies were shaped like birds.  Here is a picture of the quilts with my cousins.  That is a picture of my aunt, their mother, in the center of the quilts.  I should say that the sashing on these quilts were real feedsacks.  I just love feedsacks and only use them for something special.  It took me years before I would let myself cut into a feedsack.


I have also be working on some gifts for my nephew's new baby who should be born any day now.  They specifically wanted bright colors for the baby no pastel.  I don't know if they are dog or cat people so I made this quilt with dogs on one side and cats on the other.  I haven't finished the binding yet but that will be purple.  Here is a picture of the quilt without the binding.


I have to admit I am not much of a photographer and the colors look a little washed out here.  Here is another picture below showing the dogs on one side and the cats on the other.  I also made the baby a cat and a dog blankie.  Can you tell they are little cats on the left side of the quilt?

Here is a picture of all that I made for the new baby.


I am not sure if I will have time to work on my tree skirt before next week so it might not be until the week after I will post anything about that.

Tomorrow is going to be really hot here again, we are getting a break in the weather today. 
I hope you are all doing well with whatever kind of weather you are having.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Late for Wednesday

Hello there

Well I am a little late for WISP Wednesday since today is Thursday but that is just a technicality.  I didn't get to work on much but I added some words for block number 6. 

I was worried that I had too many motifs for this one and it wasn't in keeping with the others.  So I decided to add these words and then focus the rest of the block on more bells and holly.  We will see how this works.


I know I changed the words a bit but I thought that would be okay.  I am working on the little hat to the right.

Again it has been so hot here lately.  However, we are not as bad as other parts of the US who are suffering such a drought.  Then other places are having flooding.  What a crazy weather world.

Well I think I will pop back into the AC and work on this hat some more.  Here is a picture of the entire block so far.



Thanks.

Friday, July 13, 2012

WISP Wednesday

Hello there

I have decided that I will work on Block 6 next.  Here is what it looks like today. 


I have previously added several of my own motifs to this block, perhaps too many.  I will have to figure out how to make it more like the other blocks yet keep its individuality.  Hopefully I will figure this out by next Wednesday and have some real progress to show you.

Thanks for checking in.

Maureen

Monday, July 9, 2012

Block #4

Hello there

I would like to take you on a little tour of Block #4.  I have done a lot of work on this before joining this WIP challenge.


This is where I have used several motifs and lessons from the Adventure.  First off, there is a beautiful piece of lace that seems to fit in the space at the top beautifully.  I wish I could tell you more about this lace because it really is beautiful.  I have embellished it with purple seed beads and crystals.  It really sparkles - which we all love or we wouldn't be doing this!

At the bottom right is a motif I made in Betty Pillsbury's class.  It is painting on velvet.  It was sooo easy to do and a lot of fun.  I think it looks great.  If you ever get  a chance to take a class from Betty, you should jump at the opportunity.  She is great.  This was actually supposed to be a fan, but I like it like this. 

In the middle there are two beaded snowflakes which when I put them on the block could not be seen very well.  I put them on red yo-yo's and I think they are much easier to see.  Betweeen these snowflakes, there is another snowflake that is tatted. Someone did a very fine job on this tatting.   I put that on a silver yo-yo thinking that would help show it off but I am not sure that does it much justice.  All three of these snowflakes were part of the Motif Swap at the Adventure.  Unfortunately, I don't know who made them.  They did have the names of the makers, but somehow the name and the snowflake got separated.  They are very nicely made and hopefully who ever made them will see them and acknowledge them. 

At the bottom again and in the middle is a lovely crochet. light purple motif which was also part of the swap (I think).  The beaded star on top of it was made for me a few years ago by my friend Randee.   All of these lovely snowflakes and stars made me think of the "Star of wonder, star of light" quote and inspired that strand of stars to the left.  I like to have words on my work.

I just want to point out again a use for sequin waste which I mentioned the other day.  You can see this at the bottom by the Betty Pillsbury motif.  I just wanted to try using this interesting product again, so I cut a piece and sewed it on with some buillon and lazy daisy stitches.  It wasn't until I took the picture that I realized it kind of looks like a Christmas tree.  Sometimes I am clever by default.

I don't know what more I will be doing with this block until I finish all the other ones and I see what they look like sewn together.  I want them to kind of look like they belong to each other but I also want them to be able to stand alone.  How is that for a challenge?

Well I hope you enjoyed the tour of Block #4.

Maureen

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

4th of July

July 4th - Happy Birthday USA

Well it has been dreadfully hot here in Maryland the last few days and also we are recovering from a really bad storm we had last weekend.  So I have taken the opportunity to stitch.  Fortunately we have had power (1000's of people in this area don't have any power in this dreadful heat and have had to go to cooling stations).  I have been able to stay in my  air conditioned sewing room with my grand-dog and stitch.  This is my progress for this week.


I continued along with the theme of the 12 days of Christmas and I added "Five Golden Rings".  Then a drum for the drummers drumming and a Lady dancing.  I am having fun with this theme but I think that will be all.  I also spiffed up some of the seams but I have more to do and I also want to add something down in the left and right corners.

Here is a close up of the Golden rings and a little more detail on the seams. 


Well those of you in this country, have a wonderful 4th.  I hope everyone else has a wonderful day.

Thanks!