Ta Da!

A quick post to let you know the pillow is done... I'll do the edge beading while we're driving north. It came out pretty good, I think. Unfortunately, the place where I had to leave it open to add the filling kinda looks scrunched compared to the rest. I think once it is beaded this area should blend in OK though.

I wasn't able to come up with a novel way of attaching the rings, but I think this will work. (Click for bigger picture as always.)

Here are a few details:

J is for Josh, the groom.


B is for Beth, the bride.


Together as one!!!

Here they are dressed Old West style on a visit to Tombstone, Arizona this spring:

They both have super curly hair... their kids are gonna hate them for that! LOL!

We leave in the morning for the drive to Colorado... hopefully I will be able to blog from my son's computer but I'm not sure. Wedding pictures as soon as I can!

Falling Behind

Getting this pillow done by the weekend is going to be almost impossible but I'm gonna try. I have spent too much time looking at it and trying to figure out what I want to do next and what it was about it that was bothering me. I figured out the bothering part... it was the big button. ::sigh:: It stood up too high from the surface of the pillow and, since I'm not doing a bead and button trail anymore (another change) it didn't work by itself.

So now we have another button that really isn't a button. It is a broken Mother of Pearl pin I found at a flea market:

I've been hanging on to this beauty for quite awhile also. Here it is in context, along with the reason there won't be a bead and button trail...

I like the idea of "sentiments" on handwork that is being used for a special occasion, don't you?

Here is the fan with it's beading completed, along with the date of the wedding.


And, lastly, here is another reason I haven't gotten anymore stitching done:

Too many hours have been spent researching, looking, finding, talking and finally buying this lovely vehicle... a 2004 Toyota Sienna.

I like it.

Day 25, Etc.

My rendition of Day 25 is just like Sharon's... except for the colors... and I used pearl buttons... and the sections are separated... well... at least the stitches are the same!!

I was auditioning a wide lace to put along this seam; however, I wanted the French seam of the linen napkin to be visible. I was looking thru Sharon's 100 Details and this seam treatment just jumped out at me. I was able to bracket the French seam with the two parts of the seam treatment. The Japanese pearl buttons are from the Fifties.

This is a button that will be featured along this seam. I have had this button at least 15 years. I guess I was saving it for something extra special! I think it will work well as the pivot point of a button and bead trail.


This is a fan that started life as a crocheted doily. It was my grandmother's but was pretty badly stained. I decided that having parts of it be seen and loved was better than leaving it to languish in a drawer. But I'm sure there are lots more beads in it's future!


And this is an overview of the progress on the entire block... almost done with the seams!


I'm hoping to finally get in the workroom this weekend... I have lots of things I want to make once it's up and running!!

Seam Treatment Progress

I finally took some time and sat down today to work diligently on the seam treatments on the Ringbearer's Pillow. I had one nearly completed so I just added beads to finish it up.

This doesn't really follow any of Sharon's 100 Details in 100 Days but it does incorporate two of her favorite stitches, the straight stitch and the lazy daisy stitch (edited to say that those aren't straight stitches---ahem---those are buttonhole stitches worked on top of each other. What can I say... it was a long weekend and I was tired!). It was really an easy seam treatment and an exercise in seeing how well the tan thread dulled down the bright yellow.

This is a takeoff of Sharon's Day 79, backstitching thru the lace and finishing it up with lazy daisy stitches.

Working with lace along a seam is great fun... so much can be done in so many ways! As I look at it now; however, I think I may need to add something along the lower edge. It looks a bit naked!

This seam treatment uses Annie Whitsed's idea of using the leftover long bits of thread from the other seam treatments to make French knots along a seam. This is a nice fat group of knots...

I had to restrain myself from doing more "thread doodling" along this seam. That's one reason I think Sharon's Joggles class on Personal Library of Stitchs is going to be so fun and challenging... lots of room to play!

Moving in and getting settled still continues. Some of my boxes of "stuff" have been packed up since 1999, when we moved from Louisiana to Colorado! We've decided that every box will be unpacked and decisions made about the contents. I've already unpacked several sets of dishes of varying sizes, taken digital pictures to be saved to CD, and repacked them so they can be stored for our boys. As much as I love the old family china (Mason's Pink Vista and Mason's Oak) and the set I fell in love with in an antiques store (Wedgwood Ferrara), I don't have room to display it or even store it. So... it's packed up awaiting the day when the kids have a desire for it and room to put it.

All for now... I think I'm back to where I can safely say I'll be stitching a bit every night and I'll be able to post more often. Talk to you later!!

Still all Topsy Turvy

Just checking in to let you know I haven't disappeared!

Things are still all topsy turvy at the house, but we're getting there. We still don't have an internet connection but the cable folks are coming tomorrow so hopefully everything will get set up and we'll once again be part of the blogosphere. I can't believe how dependent I have become on the internet! I'm a research kind of person and the internet feeds my need to know something about anything... I've been lost without it. It will be so good to have it up and running again.

I've been working a bit on getting my workroom together... no pictures yet but soon. I had to buy another bookshelf to hold all my cookbooks, gardening books and textile craft books. Both shelves are now full of books with a few left over. No place to put fabric... GACK! Oh, well... some way to store everything will appear.

No more progress on the CQ but I have to get it going since we are now in September and the wedding is the 30th.

More updates with pictures soon!