Reasons to Look Ahead Before Starting to Blog

The past few weeks have been so busy in my normally quiet, sedate life that I haven't had one single minute of stitching time.

First, I spent a week here in Wakefield, Massachusetts taking a class:


A labor of love followed, updating a map of Phoenix with all the Mid-Century Modern neighborhoods for a day of ModernPhoenix seminars and home tours:



Then, I spent too many hours filling out forms from everyone's favorite place:


Next, the actual home tours in a beautiful Phoenix neighborhood called Paradise Gardens:





Then, finally, signing a contract to sell this house in Colorado (blurry photo courtesy of Google Earth):



I am so glad my life will get back to it's normal self soon. And so very glad I will actually have time to do some piecing and stitching this weekend!

As soon as I put away the piles o' papers, etc. that have accumulated... sigh...

A Wedding "Block" begins

I've been super busy with work and other regular life happenings, but was able to spend some time this weekend working thru designs for a wedding block. At first it was the large block with a center heart to hold names and dates but that was too... something. Then it morphed into a fan with the names and dates in a heart at the bottom of the fan... nope, not quite right. But I really liked the heart idea so I started playing around with that. After several different arrangements, this is what I have come up with.



Each of the hearts will be an encrusted CQ heart, with the largest heart having names and the date in it, and then one of the smaller hearts having their picture in it. I'm hoping one of the pictures from the wedding will be suitable; however, if not, I'll just use the picture from the last post. Of course, all this may change in the final version, but it is a start!

I was also able to get some of the linens washed and ironed last night. I want to just jump in and start piecing but I know I'll really regret it if I don't wash everything first, so I'm trying to be patient... sigh... it's soooooo hard! I'll wash more up tonight and then hopefully spend some time piecing this weekend.

All for now!

A Marriage Occurs

Well, the Wild Child and his Sweetie tied the knot on April 13th, their daughter's 1st birthday. They've been planning on getting married sometime this fall but the Wild Child wanted it over and done with so they stood up before a Justice of the Peace, with their best friends, in Boulder, Colorado and became ONE.

We didn't find out about it until the night before, but at least he wasn't able to keep it a complete secret! Needless to say, the Wild Child likes doing things on the spur of the moment. I'm a bit upset that we weren't given enough notice so at least one of us could be there; however, I always knew, deep down in my heart, that he would do it this way, so it really wasn't a surprise. Still not very happy about it, but such is life. We just keep on keepin' on!

I have been reliably informed that lots of pictures were taken and a CD containing said pictures should appear in my mailbox soon. I'll share those when I get them; however, until then, here is a picture of the Wild Child and his Sweetie, shortly after they met about 2 years ago.

My Family Linens

Well, after much digging thru boxes last night I finally found my stash of family linens. They have been boxed up since we moved from Colorado 18 months ago and I was afraid they were going to be buried so far back in the pile I wouldn't be able to find them!

I guess I should explain a bit here. I was transferred rather unexpectedly from Colorado to Phoenix and had family living in our house in Colorado so couldn't sell the house up there so we couldn't buy a house down here sooo... well, long story short, we're living in a very small apartment till our house sells and everything that is not absolutely essential is still boxed up. But I found the linens!!

This beautiful little doily has petitpoint roses stitched with silk in the center medallion, then the net doily is darned, I believe. It is 5" or 13cm across. I'm still learning the correct terms so please bear with me! This has been my favorite since childhood, the roses are so exquisite... I just love them! This one will be used in a CQ block for me!!












This is a larger doily that is 8" or 20cm across. It is also a net doily but is not really darned. I love the roses in this one.

There are more pictures of some I have scanned on my flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marty52/

I don't want to post too many here since I'm not too sure of myself yet!

Research: Monogrammed antique linens

In preparation for making some wedding crazy quilt blocks for my sons, I've been doing some internet research. I came upon this wonderful sight that has some absolutely fabulous monogrammed linens. Now, I probably wouldn't spend what they want me to pay; however, the eye candy is something else and has given me alllll kinds of ideas for monograms on the wedding blocks.

Take a look at "Em's Heart Antique Linens" http://www.emsheart.com/. Truly incredible works of art from women of the past. She also has some great tips on caring for antique linens.

My Joggles class block is finished.

Finished finally, originally uploaded by Marty52.

This is the finished block for the Joggles class I just finished under Sharon Boggon at http://inaminuteago.com/blog/index.php. The class was for Encrusted Crazy Quilting. I've been a reader of Sharon's blog for nearly a year and I've learned so much from her. Do check out her blog, you won't be sorry!