I'm Back with Day 36

Hello, everyone! Still alive and kicking, but just barely. The surgery went well; I'm still a bit sore but there was no cancer so I'm happy. The closing on the house was a nightmare and we had to make two trips to downtown Phoenix because they didn't know there were two sets of loan papers to fill out. (???!??) After two trips there was still one piece of paper that we needed to sign and they sent a courier out to our apartment with that. Of course the courier "got busy" so we didn't get the paper in time for the sale to be recorded that day which meant we didn't get the keys until the next day. In Arizona you can't get the keys until the loan has funded and the sale has been recorded at the Clerk's office. Anyway, long story short, we are the proud owners of a 1950 red brick ranch with seventy-gazillion boxes still full and sitting everywhere! The best part is that I now have a room to use as a studio or workroom or whatever I end up calling it... I can hardly move in it right now but it's all mine! WOOHOO!

And, I finished my interpretation of the Day 36 detail:

It's a pima cotton and perle cotton mixture with glass and pearl beads. I love using rick rack so this one is a definite keeper.

Yesterday I signed up for Sharon Boggon's class Personal Library of Stitches at Joggles.com. I just loved her Encrusted Crazy Quilting class last spring (which she is offering again) and am really looking forward to this one as well. It's gonna be alot of fun!!

Well, I'm blogging at work (!) so I better sign off. Just wanted you all to know that I survived and am back to stitching!

Talk to you soon!

Day 46 of 100 Details in 100 Days

I'm still getting a bit of stitching done here and there. This is my version of Sharon Boggon's day 46 seam treatment:

I wanted the eye to move outward from the seam rather than stop so I didn't add the small straight stitches at the top of the straight stitches between the half buttonhole wheels. The half buttonhole wheels are stitched in varigated #8 perle cotton, the straight stitches are 2 strands of silk soie d' alger thread and the rest is various beads, all applied over heirloom lace.

My surgery went well on Thursday... still a bit sore today and feeling the effects of the general anesthesia. I have asthma so general anesthesia affects my lungs a bit more that usual, but I'm getting over it.

Moving preparation and packing boxes continues, although the past few days not much has been packed. This weekend will be mainly cleaning out closets and getting rid of clothes I don't wear anymore. We have our final walk thru Monday evening and then sign our lives away on Tuesday. We should get the keys on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning (we have to wait until the money is wired to the sellers bank). We'll spend Wednesday cleaning and measuring to figure out where furniture will be placed and just enjoying our new digs. The movers come on Thursday and by Friday we should be all moved in and be surrounded by mountains of boxes. I can't wait!!!!

Of course then we'll have to clean the apartment but it's pretty small so it shouldn't take too long. I sure will be glad to see the last of this place... because we are right by the pool it's been like living with a party in our backyard every day and night. It will be good to have our own place again. :0)

Ringbearer's Pillow Top Pieced

Every time I type "ringbearer" I think of Lord of the Rings... Sad, isn't it?? LOL!!!

Anyway, I have the pillow top pieced. It's 10" wide and made out of linen napkins passed down thru my family... both the bride and the groom are chefs and I thought it was appropriate to use the linen napkins for this.

These are small, very simple napkins and we have several sets of linen tablecloths with matching napkins to pass down to everyone, never fear! I've also added heirloom lace to the seams and have begun seam treatments to highlight them.

Here's a closeup of the center heart:

The center fabric is a damask napkin and if you look closely on the largest size (click to make bigger... although I'm sure you all know that) you'll see that I centered the heart on the corner pattern from the napkin. It took awhile to figure out how I could highlight the different weaves in the damask with the heart but I got there!

The wedding will be held in a park in Fort Collins, Colorado and the leaves will have begun to turn to wonderful golden hues so those are some of the colors I'll be using for seam treatments. The wedding gown is ivory with emerald green ribbon across the top of the bodice and laced down the back so I'm also featuring emerald green throughout. The embellishments will be various beads in golds, yellows and greens with pearls and crystals strewn about. My son reminded me to leave room for the rings! Hee!

I'm going to try and come up with a novel way to attach the rings in the center of the heart... it needs to be simple though, so nervous fingers can get the rings off!

All for now!

I'm Still Here!

Unfortunately, no stitching has been done lately. I'm in the middle of piecing a ringbearer's pillow for my son Josh's wedding at the end of September, though... does that count? ;0) I decided I needed to get it pieced in case the move jumbled things up so badly I couldn't find anything. Always a possibility with me!!

Also, I found out I have to have surgery on Aug 17th so that is putting a major crimp in our moving plans. We've decided to try and get everything packed this weekend so I don't have to do anything major next weekend. The surgery is relatively minor but involves general anesthesia and will put me out of commission for a couple of days, another reason to get the pillow top pieced... I'll be all cosy in my recliner and can stitch happily away!

I hope to post a picture of the pieced pillow top this weekend, though. Stay tuned!!

Stitchin' Day 12

Just one treatment today, but it's a goodie!

This seam treatment took me approximately a week to finish since I was concentrating on house stuff but it was worth the wait.

The heavier lines are done in 7 strand silk and the thinner lines are #8 perle cotton. Instead of oyster stitches I used a second pearl bead and instead of braid to lace them with I used 6 strands of a Gutermann metallic.

I likes it!

New House

It amazes me how much time looking for, contracting for, inspecting and thinking about a new houses takes... there doesn't seem to be enough room for anything else in my poor brain! So... here are a few pictures of our soon-to-be new home (keep your fingers crossed)!

Front (please excuse the trash can):

It was built in 1950 and is just over 1600 square feet in size. Three bedrooms, 2 baths, living room, dining room and kitchen. It has a cement block wall all around the back yard for privacy and keeping the dogs from barking at everything that moves!

Here is the front room:


The "music room:"

with built-in bookshelves:

This is adjoining the front room and it's where we'll be setting up Glenn's guitars and the stereo system. The window seat is wonderful... it has storage all under it... yay!! That door goes to the laundry room... it's inside which is unusual for houses built during this period in Phoenix. Since it doesn't freeze, the washer and dryer were usually in the garage.

The dining room from the front room looking out to the backyard:

The tall bearded man is my sweetie... inn't he cute! The fellow next to him is our realtor, Shawn.

Here is the kitchen... this picture is from the real estate listing:

It doesn't have as much counter space as I would like, but it will do until I can convince Glenn that a small kitchen re-do is in order! ;0)

Of course we have boxes sitting all over the place and our cat, Miss Priss, as all cats do, loves boxes... I think she is ready to move!!


All for now... stitching should return shortly (I hope!)... it will be soooooo nice to have this all behind us and be settled in!