Block 9... only partially done :0(

Well, I've been trying for several days to finish this block so I could show it to you; however, such is life that I present it to you only partially done.

There are a couple of pretty nice seams on this block. This one is the lock stitch, brought to my attention by Elizabeth at Quieter Moments. On this seam the threads used are #12 perle cotton for the straight stitches (that you'll have to embiggen to see) and a varigated Watercolours 3-ply pima cotton from Caron. It's lovely stuff!!

I think the varigations really worked well across this seam.

Here is another closeup for you... this is simply buttonhole with lazy daisy stitches in between, but I like the way it turned out.

The fabric is not flat along the seam, unfortunately, but at least its even enough it will look OK in the end. I used the perle cotton again for the buttonhole stitches, and then 4 strand silk floss for the lazy daisy stitches. It's simple but rather effective.

Other news:
Our air conditioning has been down and out... right through the recent record high temps here in Phoenix of 110°F/43°C. Wowzers! Heat and I don't get along very well... it got up to 88°F/31°C in the house and even with the fans blowing, I hardly slept. Blech! Anyway, it's fixed now so we are much more comfortable and sleep is once again my friend.

At least it was until yesterday when I had to go get new glasses. OMG! The prices are so high I almost had a heart attack. It's been several years since I bought glasses (I put it off as long as possible!) and needless to say, I was rather surprised when I started looking at frames. Gah... not nice at all. But, I finally managed to find a frame for my regular glasses, a frame for my computer glasses, and a frame for sunglasses. Up till now I either didn't get sunglasses or got the kind of glasses with magnets that hold the sunglasses on so they don't have to be prescription. But this time I wanted something a bit more stylish so I bit the bullet and ordered prescription sunglasses, too. Then I promptly went home and imploded. I think I need to find a cheaper way of getting my glasses. There are lots of places on the interwebs that sell glasses, but I'm rather leary of them. Have any of you had any experiences with online eyeglass sellers??

And now one last thing... I have found the inspiration for my next quilt. It probably won't be a crazy quilt, but it will be very colorful!!


Isn't it gawgeous? It's Cotton Candy Handspun from the magical spinning fingers of
Dave of Cabin Cove. It's 38 yards of hand spun merino wool and I love it! I'll use it as embellishment on a quilt of some kind... I'll have to wait for the muse to speak to me about it.

Later, Ladies!

Block 8 and a Travel Bag for Embroidery

Hey Ladies!

Surprise... I actually finished another block this weekend! I treated myself and stitched for quite a few hours, happily finishing off Block 8.

This one went pretty fast, the seams just kind of fell together. Here's a closeup for you of two of the better treatments.

This is the last dark block on the left side, so now I'm moving on into the light, moonlit sky blocks... cool!

I also put together a travel bag that will hold everything I need to work on the sky blocks for this quilt, at least the embroidery part. I picked it up at TJ Maxx the other day, it just struck me as the perfect bag for carrying supplies.

Here it is closed up - not the greatest picture, but you get the idea:


Then it opens up to this - the booklet lays perfectly on the top:


And here it is completely opened up, with plenty of room in the bottom for folded CQ blocks:


See that booklet laying there? I have had that booklet, in one iteration or another, since the sixties. Here are the three of them:


Upper left is the 1964 edition, upper right is the 1975 version, and bottom is the 1979 version, bought just a few years ago when I couldn't find the other ones. The funny thing is, they all have exactly the same stitches in them (I checked)! They have a good, rounded set of stitches, with both the basics and enough more advanced stitches to keep things interesting. I like them because they are thin and flexible, fitting almost anywhere. The most recent one is easiest on these aging eyes, so that's the one I'll carry with me, just in case the aging memory needs help. ;0)

Later, Ladies!

Hello World!

I wish to introduce any remaining readers to the newest edition to the clan... Miss Chloe Ann, born May 2nd and weighing in at 7lbs 1oz and 20 3/4" long.

Her little eyes are soooo slanty; however, she does come by it naturally... see?

They are very happy, albeit very tired. It looks like Chloe will be a blonde, too and I don't think there is any way she can escape being "blessed" with massively curly hair. Both Ma and Pa have wondrous curls, she's gonna be a doll!

Mom was here for two weeks and, other than forgetting that I was related to her the first day she was here, she did OK. I stayed home on Monday and Tuesday, to help her get acclimated to a different house, but I was very nervous when I left her alone to go to work on Wednesday. She managed to feed herself, though, so that is always a plus. I think she spent a lot of time out on the patio. It is beautiful in the spring, with the sun coming down through the leaves, the doves cooing and the breezes tickling the wind chimes. On her last day here, she even said it had been a very nice two weeks, something she has never said to me before. I truly didn't know what to say I was so surprised. It was nice to hear it though. I think quite a bit of her bitterness has slipped away from her, along with her short term memory, so there is a silver lining there.

I have been doing some stitching, but not much. I have finished Block 18 now, but here it is with a couple of seams to go:

and here is my favorite seam on this block. It's a raised chain stitch done in #12 perle cotton.

I really like this stitch variation; however, next time, I'll run one side or the other down the seam instead of straddling it. It will make for a cleaner line I think, as well as showing off the stitch a bit better.

The next block on the right is the top corner block, so I have switched back over to the other side and am working on Block 8 (I think). My plan is to get all the blocks that have any black fabric on them done before we leave for Colorado in June. Hopefully I'll be able to work on the sky blocks while we are up there, as they are going to be super simple seams in only a couple of colors and some metallics. They should go quickly because I'm not going to try and make each seam unique. I'll probably just use various stem, straight, chain and feather stitches on them. I am so looking forward to finishing them up so I can move on to the next phase. Nat has promised that the center panel of a most voluptuous Titania will be ready for me when we get to Colorado. I can't wait!

I think that's all for now. This coming weekend is a "drag all the junk to the alley for pickup" weekend so I don't know if I'll have anything to show you or not... at least in the way of stitching. I may have a clean concrete slab though... WOOHOO!

Later, Ladies!!

Hello again!!

Hello, ladies. Long time no post... life gets rather busy for me around this time of year, apparently... one of these days I'll remember that.

Anyhoodles...

There has been a little (a very little) stitching going on... I have proof!

Block 19 for your viewing pleasure:

As I'm going up the right hand side of the quilt, I'm blending the seams a bit more. My favorite seam on this block is feathered chain stitch with extra chain stitches added.

The perle cotton looks blue but in person it shows as a steel grey. I likes it!!

In case you've forgotton just what this quilt is going to look like (if I ever get it done!), here is a mock-up of the plan:

and here's an explanation of the quilt.

Want to see what else has been happening? We had the Modern Phoenix Home Tour on April 5th and 6th this year. The first day was seminars and vendors galore, while the second day was the actual home tour. Glenn and I volunteered to take tickets and give out maps, so we only saw a few houses. Actually, we were more interested in the outside of the houses, since we want to do some front yard landscaping this year. Well, at least get it planned. It will soon be too hot to really work outside, at least for Glenn and I, old fogies that we are.

Here are a couple of photos, the whole set can be seen on my Flickr account, if you are into modern/contemporary/desert landscaping.

I love this little courtyard... I want to have a place like this in front of our house... it seems so welcoming to me!
I love this purple wall at the same house. So cool...

And I love this little set up in the back yard. We've been talking about putting a firepit out in our back yard, and this really fits the bill.

Here's a walkway/patio treatment that really caught my eye. There are lights hidden down in the gravel that shine upward at night. Oh, yeah!


Hokay... that's enough pictures for today. I have some more saved up, but don't want to post too many at one time.

Mom arrives next week for a two week visit. It will probably be her last visit with us, since even the short, non-stop flight from Denver to Phoenix is worrisome for us. She has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and her short term memory is practically non-existent. I've seen it coming for a few years now (we watched my father-in-law's struggle with it ten years ago), as she turned more toward the past and became even more socially tactless and forgetful. Of course she doesn't really believe it, but the rest of us can see it happening.

Well, didn't mean to end on a downer note. So, here's something to make you smile. Java, my Boston Terrier/Pit Bull cross, likes to roll around on the carpet in our bedroom when she is happy. Well, several days ago I had sorted clothes for washing, putting them in appropriate piles on the bedroom floor. Glenn and I were in the livingroom talking, and I saw Java walk from the hall into the kitchen and she had something around her neck. She sauntered around the corner from the kitchen and I couldn't believe my eyes.

You're not gonna believe this...


This is what we saw...





ROFLMAO!!!!! SNORK!!

Here she is doing a happy dance 'cause she's the center of attention... silly dog!



There... now you're smiling!!

Stitching and Furniture

Alert the media... stitching has been seen about Ms Marty's palace! No really... see?

Isn't it cool? It looks just like the last 7 blocks, doesn't it? Hee!

Anyhoo... this is my fave seam treatment on this block...

It's a detached raised chain stitch (I think) with lazy daisies alongside. The detached raised chain stitch in white #3 perle cotton was too stark, so I added the lazy daisies in a smaller, grey perle cotton and that really toned it down. It's neat the way the addition of another color changes how a seam looks, isn't it?

Since Rian asked if the model home furniture (from an earlier post) was small, I went back and took a few pictures. This armoire is enormous... it must be 9ft at least!


a beautiful dining table that could probably seat 10 in a pinch...


plus sectionals...


Lots of colors, too... green is popular for the modern styles...


We also have yellow...


and purple...


and this is my favorite piece (that I won't be buying)...

a "french lounge chair." Gorgeous!

So, if you're ever in Phoenix, do check out Furniture Affair ... it's a very eclectic bunch of furniture and it's great fun wandering around!

Hmm... that kinda sounded like a commercial... sorry!

Allie's Gift

I received a most welcome gift in the mail on Saturday. Allie had asked me for my snail mail addy last week so I was all atwitter with anticipation. The package was nice and squishy and when I opened it there was a lovely surprise inside. (click on the picture to embiggen - go to all sizes)

Isn't it beautiful? It belonged to her grandmother who was a world traveler in the 50's. This looks like it might have come from Egypt since it has depictions of the Egyptian god Horus. At first I thought his name was Osiris but after Googling (I love Google!) it I realized he is Horus. We think it was part of a jacket since there is a pocket on it. Whatever it was, it is beautiful and it's from Allie and that's all that matters!! Here's some closeups... each depiction of Horus is done in slightly different ways... they used a varigated thread to great effect!




I'll have to see if I can figure out a translation of the hieroglyphics, too. Thank you soooooo much, Miss Allie... I think I have the perfect place to showcase it!

***************************************

I don't have any stitching to show off today; however, I do have a before and after shot in the "what we did Sunday" file. Glenn is determined to reclaim the house from the cat's claw vines that have begun taking it over! This is a before shot of the east side of the house (with ancient air conditioner) from when we first moved in. The vines had doubled in size from this photo!


and here it is now...

As you can see, we still have to attack the other side of the wall in the front of the house. There was a big mat of roots, leaves and dirt between the A/C unit and the house... it was nasty!! Some of those vines were as big as my wrist! I'm quite sure I'll be spending the rest of the summer using Roundup on a regular basis on them as they grow back. We think they may be the cause of the small cracks in the walls of the house. Lovely!

Anyhoo... it's a start on the landscaping that needs to be done. The next big step is getting rid of this olive stump...

and it's partner in crime, a mulberry tree that was butchered by the previous owners. We have an arborist coming to take a look at them and the other trees in our yard next week. WooHoo!!

Hopefully I'll actually have some embroidery to show next time... this IS a crazy quilting blog after all!

Whoops!

Sorry about the unexpected hiatus... I have been, once again, sick with the flu from hell and am only now feeling back to normal. Three days of feeling terrible, followed by a week of slowing waking up. I will be SO glad when this winter is over! I have never been so sick so many times... either Glenn or I have been sick since Thanksgiving and I am soooo over it. Blech.

'Nuff said about that.

I have no new pictures to show of any stitching. I haven't even touched it all week. I have a terrible time being creative when I'm sick... my mind kinda shuts down and it's all I can do to keep up with normal things. I am missing it now though, so am determined to get back in the groove. I hope to have some progress to show you soon.

I was feeling good enough this past weekend to do some furniture shopping, though. There is a store here call Furniture Affair that stocks all the model home furniture that the builders don't need anymore. They have a very eclectic mix of furnishings so it has taken awhile to find the sofa set we wanted. After six weeks of haunting them waiting for the perfect set, it finally appeared! I stopped by on a whim on Friday on the way home and found my sofa set... this one in a dark brown fabric.

I needed to make sure Glenn liked it, too so we were there as soon as the doors opened on Saturday morning. We bought the sofa and chair set, as well as a rug to go with them. They delivered it on Saturday night and we had some fun fixing everything up. It's made by Rowe Furniture and is very comfortable. It's been awhile since we had new furniture and it looks so nice! It's like we are grown-up or something!! ;0)

Hokay, that's all I got today. Blogging will improve from here on out... I'm determined to get back in the swing of things!

Have a good week and see you in a couple of days!

Another Cold and Further Progress

Goodness but it's been a sick winter for us... both of us had bad colds again last week and pretty much hibernated all weekend. We watched some Cadfael DVDs and a couple of movies and pretty much vegged all weekend. Of course, I did manage to get some work done on Block 7:

(click to embiggen)
This one got done quickly! ;0)

I thought I'd also show you a pic of the entire bottom row of blocks.

I think I've done a pretty good job of getting a good flow through the blocks. The only thing that is a little jarring is that center portion of the center block... don't know what I was thinking but I'll fix it with a few well placed buttons! ;0) My next block is the one up above the bottom row on the right hand side. It's pretty much all black, too, so I'll keep the same flow going through the black blocks.

I've been thinking about the sky blocks, and I think I'm going to do them with really simple seam treatments, but using lots of silver and pearl metallic threads to represent the moonbeams. Probably mostly feather stitching with a few others thrown in for good measure. I want the sky to not really grab your eye, but just kinda be there with some sparkles in it to represent stars that are noticed after a few minutes. I'll probably also include some pale swarovski crystals as well as some vintage crystals from necklaces. I can't wait to get started on the embellishing!!! Gah!!! LOL!

Thanks for the comments on the office area... it's working so well and feels so good when I walk into the livingroom. Susan, we didn't take out any of the arch, the office picture is just taken a little bit closer to the end of the room. There was about 5' of room between the window wall and the arch so the desks kind of protrude a bit past the arch; however, since we have a big chair (mine) there it isn't a problem. Next is purchasing a couch, loveseat and chair (or something similar) for the livingroom. My chair is about 8 years old and has taken a beating and our couch is a second hand couch... it's a Dunbar so it's good; however, it sits too low for us and our knees are starting to complain! Time to upgrade on all counts!

Ta for now!!

Midsummer, TIF and Settling In

Evening ladies... hope all is well in your world. My world has been rather busy, with not much going on in the way of stitching; however, I have done this:

This is a variation on Elizabeth's Eskimo edging stitch. I really like this stitch and decided to play around with it on Block 7. Here it is in situ:

The gray #8 perle cotton is the eskimo edging stitch and the white #12 perle cotton is just plain old straight stitch. I really like how it turned out and am tickled that it worked!

On the Take It Further Challenge front, I have reluctantly decided to bow out of the challenge in order to get some work done on my Midsummer CQ. Since I work full time, I just don't have copious amounts of spare time to devote to creative pursuits, hence the decision. I was really bummed about it this weekend, but have since realized it's for the best. When I told Glenn I thought I had bitten off more than I could chew in doing both the Midsummer CQ and the challenge, he said with a smile, "You always do." It's so true... I always try to do too much and then end up not doing either one well enough. Gosh, do ya' think I might be actually learning some things about myself? ;0) Anyway, I'll be watching everyone else and storing away ideas, concepts and techniques for future use, never fear! I will be finishing the luna moth, though... I just needed to get back to the Midsummer CQ after I made my decision; I think I needed to make sure I made the right choice!

Here's a peek at the office area after our trip to Ikea this weekend. We picked up some bookshelves to finish it off. We still didn't have room for all the books so I did some judicious and ruthless culling of my garden books (I had lots) and managed to fit everything in. There are still some minor touches, such as artwork or quilts on the wall and painting (maybe) later this spring, but it's coming together quite well, I think.

Here's the left side:

moving around to the right:

and then to the end of the room.

As a reminder, here's what it looked like when we bought it:

It works much better for us this way, me likey!

Thanks for all your comments on the last post... it's nice to know I'm not boring! ;0) See ya' in a few!

Another busy weekend has passed but I did manage to get some stitching done. When I first started the embroidery on the luna moth (from January's TIF Challenge), I decided to use variegated thread for the veins in the wings. I'm not sure if that was the right decision. I think a single, soft green strand of floss would have given it a more delicate feel; however, it is looking better since I added the purple trim.

The purple trim is done with 3 strands of silk floss laid very close together. Rather labor intensive, I must say... I'm going to try and get the other wing in the same shape before this weekend. It's really starting to look like a luna moth!

I have been fascinated by luna moths since I was a kid. When I was young, I read "Girl of the Limberlost" by Gene Stratton Porter, in which luna moths are featured, and it just built from there. When we lived in Louisiana, I found two (at two different times) amongst the pine trees on Fort Polk. The second one had just come out of its chrysalis and I spent quite some time on a morning in June holding it while its wings expanded. It was very cool. Love 'em!

That's all for now. I think I need to up my creative time so I get more done. These posts are getting shorter and shorter and more and more boring. Hope to be back soon!

Reading, Yard Work and TIF Challenge

There hasn't been alot of stitching going on around here, I'm afraid. I have been sucked down into Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series... again. I just love these books and for some reason I needed to read them right now! I'm on the fifth one, it's only the second time I've read it, so I'm discovering a few things I missed in my haste to find out what happened... ;0)

Anyhoo... that's one reason the stitching hasn't been happening like it should.

Another reason is the hours and hours we spent this past weekend turning this:

(Click to embiggen!)

into this:


Whew! That pile of brush has been sitting out there for way too long! Those white posts you see are the remnants of a picket fence that used to run along the edge of that concrete slab. We took the fence out but haven't yet filled in the holes where the fence posts were, so Glenn just dropped the fence posts back into the holes so I absent-mindedly don't stumble into them. It happens all the time and he has gotten very good at making sure I'm aware of holes and dips in the ground! Filling those holes is on this weekend's agenda as the gardening centers are loading up with bags of soil we can use to level things out.

We also turned this:


into this:


Still have to get the grass out, but that will come. We're going to train the bougainvillea (those sticks along the wall) to grow horizontally along the wall and they should bloom well that way. This week is bulk trash pickup for our area of Phoenix and we needed to get it out and placed along the alley in nice neat piles, ready to be wisked away. There's still junk over there (including a strange built-in entertainment center that was in our bedroom when we moved in!) but it will have to wait till the next pick up. We're out of room... see? ;0)



I've been thinking about the February Take It Further Challenge, "What am I old enough to remember?" Hmmmm... my earliest memory is the clacking of Uncle Hans' false teeth as he ate dinner with us... I was maybe two or three. Not a very good subject for a quilt though, is it? ;0) I was a loner (still am) and spent most of my time buried in books or riding ponies but I did come up with a few memories.

- I remember the white shapes of winter trees covered in hoar frost. Their ghostly branches nearly met over top of the car as we drove from Hartstown, Pennesylvania to Youngstown, Ohio for Christmas. I was little so as I looked up out of the car window all I saw was those branches... they are etched into my mind even now.

- I remember the winter we spent in an old Colorado farmhouse with no heat except the wood stove in the kitchen. We would jump out of bed and go flying downstairs and huddle around the wood stove to stay warm. Brrrrr!

- I remember not being allowed to wear pants to school... girls were only allowed to wear dresses and it was sooooo cold in the winter!

- I remember the day John F. Kennedy was shot, Nov 22nd, 1963... I was in Mr. Kenagy's 6th grade class at Big Thompson school just outside of Loveland, Colorado. I can remember his face as he rushed in the door to let everyone know.

- I remember a cross country drive with my family where it seemed every other song played by the radio stations along the way was "That's Life" by Frank Sinatra. That song came out in 1966... we were probably making a flying trip to Ohio for Christmas.

- I remember my mother darning socks with a darning egg. She taught me how to do it and it was probably my first introduction to needlework.

- I remember learning to iron by ironing my fathers big white hankies.

- I remember watching Sky King, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, Maverick, Wagon Train, The Rifleman (I had such a crush on Johnny Crawford!) and many more. Westerns were king and we loved them!!

- I remember when we got our first color TV. Such excitement!!!!! ;0)

There are several ideas for quilts in there, aren't there? Ghostly branches, Frank Sinatra and early TV westerns... quite an eclectic group! But I like the colors Sharon chose also.... decisions, decisions!!!

I should have progress on the Luna Moth and a decision about February's piece in a few days... see yaz!!