Finished projects

Two of my unfinished are now finished! I'm so pleased with the cushion. I used maroon moire for the back of the cushion and did a simple envelope flap for the opening.This is the four square pieces tea cosy except that I used one long piece the equivalent of the four squares, so there is only one join in the piece. Pretty simple to make and wouldn't take long. I spent easily as much time sewing on pink beads as I did the machine sewing, but I think it was worth it.

Another go at Chicken Scratch

I couldn't get anything to work on that multicoloured squared fabric I mentioned in the previous post, so I gave up on it. I worked on the 1/8" green gingham and this is how it turned out:

The weaving part in the daisies would have looked nice in yellow. The darker weaving is a sage green.

Charity Quilts and Going With the Flow

Forgive the lighting in the following photos, it wasn't the best as I was shooting these pics.

This is the first of 2 small wall hanging quilts where I used pieces cut from an old worn vintage quilt and some ticking I've had sitting around for ages. I'm participating next month in a group art show to raise money for our local Habitat for Humanity and I will be putting both of these pieces in, along with some older work. 100% of my proceeds from the show will be going to Habitat, so I hope they sell!


I machine quilted it in an all over wonky, honey-comb looking pattern. I needed to really quilt it pretty heavily as there were a lot of worn and thin areas to the old quilt fabrics and I wanted to make sure this piece was nice and stable.


This is the second one I did.


I quilted this one pretty much the same as the one before. I still need to wash the quilts to soften them up a bit, and bring out the quilted texture better.

And in totally other news... went down into the basement yesterday to do some laundry and found our water heater pouring it's contents onto the floor! Thank goodness Hubby was home. He drained it, and then dismantled it. That's when we saw the whole back side was never sealed up properly, it was actually split open (even though the leak was coming out of the front.) We figure 13 years ago when the builders installed it they used a second, knowing we would never be able to squeeze our heads behind it to see the defect. All's well that ends well, and by the end of the day Hubby had installed a brand new water heater. (That thing was a bear to carry down our steps, and now we have to carry the old one up! Yikes!)

Then...

This morning I went outside and found someone, (no idea who) had left, (or purposely turned on) the hose spigot. It was on full force spilling gallons upon gallons of precious water. What a waste.

So I am asking myself what is up with these water leaks? I am always looking for symbols and meaning in everything and I want to know what the message for me is. What's my lesson that I need to learn? Is it the pessimistic "When it rains it pours" (so get use to it, kiddo) or what I prefer to think, the helpful reminder "Go with the flow, baby!" ... It's actually been my mantra lately, and control freak that I am, I'm trying too, I really truly am! I keep imagining myself in a canoe letting go of the oars and just going with the flow... (something I think I heard on Oprah!) And if this was any kind of test, I passed with flying colors as I stayed calm the whole time I was mopping up water off the basement floor.
Now, I am hoping... no more water leaks!

Teeth Extractions, Orange Challenges, UFO days etc

Thankfully, the last parent evening at my kids' schools is over - 3 kids in 3 different schools makes for interesting times - now life can take on a resemblance of normalcy (:LOL - what's normal?) The next big challenge is to get my one son through his teeth extractions on Saturday - he needs 4 out - the baby molars and the adult teeth underneath them. He is having it done under General Anaesthetic. He will be off school for about 3 to 4 days. I'm told there is going to be a LOT of swelling afterwards.

Then..... it's time to get back to the quilting again. On Sunday there is special UFO sewing day. Yay - I can't wait. Being "forced" to quilt is such fun. I have also joined the Orange Project Challenge - need to photograph a pile of Orange fabrics and post them. I LOVE orange and all the values and hues around orange.

Added to all of the above fun, I am started to teach guitar lessons in the afternoons to kids. Life works in circles. It is amazing. I started my post school career as a music student, worked as a professional musician in a military band for a number of years, moved away from music, had kids, became a computer programmer both through necessity and interest in the subject. Now I seem to be moving back to music again. Need to prepare some guitar lessons for next week :LOL

Definitely a day to stay inside

It's been snowing all day long. The roads are too slippery to venture out, so, hey, I'm gonna sew all day!

I've got three projects on the go and one rolling around gently in my mind! I'm still on the tea cosy merry-go-round, finishing up the second and third ones from four squares. Not quite true, the navy blue one with the cherry blossom flowers is made from one long rectangle. This one is not a crazy quilted one, so there are no pieces to join. I have had a bit of fun with this. I've sewn pink beads to the little sprays of flowers on the fabric. It looks quite nice. I also found the nicest little bobble for the top to pick it up with. It's about 1" dia., metal, cloisonne bought in the $1 store!The green cq tea cosy just needs it's hem taken up and a knob on the top.

And the cushion cover I'm making for my sister is just waiting to be moved to the sewing machine to sew it all together.
The "percolating in my mind" project is wondering how to use this fabric in the chicken scratch project I'm taking part in. They are 3/8" squares.

Laugh

I made another small mixed-media quilt today. I put a charm on this one that says "LAUGH". There is a famous quote by E.E. Cummings that says "The Earth Laughs in Flowers". I like that. This is available in my Etsy shop.


Bob and I have been doing some remodeling in the house lately. We are redoing the main floor bathroom with new paint and flooring. I had placed some towels on top of the vanity at one point to protect it and today as I was working in the kitchen I glanced over and through the bathroom door I saw this cute scene:

Just up my owl-ley

Every once in a while, a group of us, usually 12, organize a block exchange. We pick some kind of "focus" fabric or a particular block. We each make 12 of the same block, one to keep for ourselves, and one for each other member of the group. You know, kind of like a cookie exchange. Then after we have had sufficient time to make the blocks, we meet for the "big reveal."

I have done several of these block exchanges, seven, I think. So much fun to participate in--fun with your friends, fun to see what everyone else chooses to do. But then comes the point of actually putting all the blocks together in a quilt. Over the years, this is the state of my block exchanges: one completed, one sandwiched together with the batting and backing and some actual hand quilting--which I intend to take out and start over, one that just needs the binding completed. And the others? Well, they occupy various parts of my house, sad little blocks huddling together and waiting for some kind of inspiration from their owner to put them together in a happy little group.

The theme one time was birds. You could do a bird or a birdhouse, it had to be paper pieced, which involves actually sewing your fabric to paper, so some of us learned a new technique. Ever paper pieced before? It has been known to cause some fairly foul, or in this case "fowl," language to be spoken. It can be really frustrating, although if done correctly (which turns out to be the hard part), you can make a block with teeny, tiny little pieces with great precision.

So....I made a scissor-tail flycatcher, mostly because it is the state bird of Oklahoma, where I lived for six or seven years, and the name is such fun to say. Someone made a hummingbird, we had a cardinal, a couple of bird houses. My friend, Maggie, made a robin red breast, I think mostly just so she could repeatedly say "breast." And another person made the cutest owl.

Enter fabricworm.com. As I was browsing their site the other day, currently one of my favorite online fabric sites, I came up with exactly what I needed. Really, how perfect is this?

I love the background color, which is really a lot darker and more yellowy-green and an exact match for one wall in my sewing room (although, after polling a couple of my friends, I stand alone in being blown away by its green perfection). And the scowly owl with the brown head (the bigger one toward the bottom right) just cracks me up.

So I'll use it for the border all the way around the quilt. Not sure exactly how I'm going to put the blocks together although I have a plan, and I'm pretty sure my birdies are all going to live happily ever after. Chirp, chirp.

New Work and a Reminder

Yesterday I completed a couple of small art quilts that would make great Valentine's Day gifts. They are both basically the same except for a few minor details. I've added them to my Etsy shop.




REMINDERS: My Mixed-Media Collage for the Fiber Artist online workshop is starting next Monday (Feb. 2). I'll be taking registrations for this class up through February 8. If you have been thinking about taking this class, check it out. You will find all the details here.

Also in February is my brand new workshop called Faces on Fabric. It starts on February 23. More information here.

Winter Quilt

I had planned to be a sewing whiz this weekend, completing all of my unfinished quilts. Great plan but I got side tracked a bit when I slightly threw my back out, (from lifting up Molasses)... she may be short in height, but she is long in body... and 45 pounds of wiggly Molasses may be good for my soul but not for my back. All I can say is thank goodness for heating pads, pain killers and Mo's sweet face!


I was determined to get something done though and did finish this quilt. It looks very nice against the bare robin's egg blue walls of our dining room, which need a little something, so I plan on hanging it there. I especially like the big F & M , (do you see it?) on one of the feedsack strips. Hubby and I got married in the F & M College chapel, so the quilt has a bit of personal symbolism in it, which makes me happy!


The colors in the quilt remind me of winter, so that's what I am calling it.


Here's the back side. You can better see the various quilting stitches I used all over the piece... zig-zags, wiggles and straight stitches. (Wiggles... now there's a very technical term!) xo

Hello again!

That nasty cold that I mentioned on the January 12th post turned into a nastier pneumonia and I spent a week in hospital. Of course the first few days I wasn't even thinking of sewing, but by Wednesday I was giving my daughter a list of threads and supplies to bring in. I worked on the second CQ block of the green tea cosy. Here's some photos. I wish the colours would show truer.

Palestrina stitch using Sassa Lynne #5 perle is one of my favourites on this piece.Some swirls and a row of up and down buttonhole stitch using DMC #5 variegated.
CED 18th to 25th January with a couple of "sick days" off.

A Gift

Someone I know recently did something very nice for me. So I thought I would give her a gift. A thank you gift. Here is what I made. I hope she likes it.


Here is my progress on my hand quilting. This quilt has nine blocks and I've completed the circular quilting in all nine of the center squares of each block. It's very difficult to see the quilting in the center square because of the floral design. The block shown here is the only one that has all the circles completed.

UFO Day and Memory Quilts

Today is the first UFO day and I am finishing the memory quilt for a friend who teaches David (my Aspergers lad) dog training. It started out as being a wall hanging but there are too many photos - I am just making up all the photos into blocks - log cabin blocks with a twist. and then the blocks into strips. Who knows how big it will end up :-) Having great fun and that's what counts.

The first 3 photos are the strips and blocks that I completed before today.

The next 2 photos are what I did today. It's slow but rewarding work. Because I am designing the quilt as I go, I need to make one block at a time and join it to the next block. Each strip has to be sewn, trimmed and ironed flat before I can move onto the next strip.

Note the cat on the last photo. This is my pregnant Lilac Burmese cat. She has taken to sleeping on our bed all the time. She might even choose to give birth to her kittens on our bed - could be interesting :LOL

I am having such fun I think I will sew some more :LOL

I REALLY need to build a design wall - taking photos flat on the bed standing on a chair does not make good photos......

New Studio Furniture

I consider myself very blessed that I have a husband who is willing to indulge my every need. Okay, maybe not EVERY one. But when I recently was thinking out loud about how I'd like to take that teeny, tiny cast-off kitchen table out of my studio and replace it with a lovely new cutting table with storage area....well I lucked out. We figured out dimensions, made a plan, bought supplies, and he and his brother got to work. Later I got to help with the varnishing.

We moved the cutting table into my room about a week ago...and I've been busy filling up the storage area with all the storage containers that had been stacked around the perimeter of my room. It's not totally done yet as we have doors to put on yet so that all the storage area will be enclosed. But now that I'm looking at it, I think I wouldn't have minded leaving it wide open....oh well, too late as the doors have already been varnished. Here is one side:


And here is the other side. I can actually fit in 32 (16 on each side) of those plastic storage containers that you see. But I don't have that many right now. Notice I said "right now". Tee hee!


Every morning we have a ritual in my house. Abby walks on me to wake me up. No need for an alarm clock in my house. She's pretty consistent with her timing too. Yep, right around 5:00 a.m. Ugh! I feed her and Zoey, make coffee, get the wood stove going, get coffee, sit down to the laptop on the couch to check emails and what's happening on the World Wide Web. Then, once I've settled in, Abby climbs onto my lap to have a snooze and sometimes check out the Web too. I happened to have my camera nearby this morning so I snapped this shot.


It can sometimes get challenging to balance the laptop on my legs and make room for Abby all at the same time. Can anyone guess whose web site I was viewing?

Cinderella

I promise, this is the last post I will do about the pre-inaugural gala eldest daughter attended. Unfortunately most of the picture they took of the gala, didn't turn out too hot. I don't wish to bore you with blurry pictures of people you don't know. However I do want to share the picture above, of my daughter getting ready for the festivities. Beautiful, isn't she? (And she's as lovely on the inside as she is on the outside.)


And here's proof that they indeed were invited, along with proof of their identity! (Can you imagine the security that had to surround such a gig!?!)

Well, that's it. Thanks for indulging the pround Mama in me!

I've decided to take a long weekend, so I will be back on Monday with a new post, hopefully stitch related!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Hearing voices

America's Got Talent! Yessiree. And we saw the 2007 talent winner, Terry Fator, on Monday night at Table Mountain Casino. Now I have to clue you in that Mark likes to watch shows like America's Got Talent and the audition portions of American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance mostly to see people who mistakenly think they really do have talent, and then are shocked to find out that the judges don't agree with them. I always watch those initial weeks of the show with him, but my favorite part is when the contenders are actually competing, and usually by then Mark has lost interest. Fairly normal people with some actual talent. Although now would probably be a good time to discuss why Sanjaya actually lasted so long a couple of seasons ago on American Idol.

But I digress. We were really pulling for Terry Fator two years ago, and had it not been for the fact that we always TIVO'd the show and watched it later in the week, we probably would have actually picked up our cells phones and voted for him. This guy is a combination of amazing ventriloquism (and that is a talent you don't see everyday....), vocal impressionism and comedic talent. And he did not disappoint. He had an amazing variety of (hmmm, do you really call them dummies?) "talent" that he brought along with him. And it's the weirdest thing when you are watching a really good ventriloquist. You have your eyes on the dummy, like it is really the one doing the talking and singing. Weird...

He is scheduled to headline at the Mirage in Las Vegas starting next month, so we'll probably never be able to afford to see him again. Thanks, Terry, for performing at Table Mountain--it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Living Vicariously Part 2 (and a Mo Update)

If you look in between the two woman in the forefront, and past the young man with the white tie, you can see the back of my daughter. She's in the strapless black dress, with the white sash and with her back to the camera. She found this picture on line from the Washingtonian.

The short story of what my daughter reported back to me about her Cinderella experience is:

- Hotel accommodations, not so luxurious... turned out she and her friends had to share a room with 5 other people.
- Got to have hair professionally done up in a fancy do. "Inhaled enough hairspray to kill a small rodent".
-Spent most of day blowing up inflatable guitars, and tying strings to hundreds of helium balloons.
- Lunch was 1 sandwich shared between 4 other people.
- They got kicked out of the room while trying to get dressed for the gala... it was taken over by an actress, (who shall remain nameless)
- Sat on floor outside of room, painting toenails, when Anderson Cooper passed by, (yes he looks as good in a suit in person as one would imagine.)
- Was given a free bottle of champagne by a passing bus boy.
- Dislikes champagne, but enjoyed the added oddness to the whole situation.
- Waited for gala to start. Stood in long lines. Finally got in.
- Was surrounded by nice and generous people. Everyone she met was incredibly kind.
- Saw great globs of wealth, and lots senators trying to dance to hip hop.
- Saw Bill Murray in a plaid bow tie.
- Had an artist do her caricature
- Crashed in the wee hours of the morning, sleeping huddled on the floor, just the floor, of a cramped hotel room. shared a thin blanket with her friend.
- Tuesday morning, decided along with her friends to leave D.C. before all of the roads were closed off, as they had no where to stay, nothing to eat and were afraid to get stuck in D.C. (Plus they were concerned with missing more classes of the brand new semester.)
- Passed lots of police, secrete service, and FBI cars all zooming by.
- Made it back to college in time to watch the inauguration on the T.V.
-Realized the last 8 years were finally over, and felt relief. (Amen to that.)
- Had an experience of a lifetime.
- Went to the last class of the day, an art class, where she got to meet her new professor, a british woman who used the word "flummoxed". This made eldest daughter very happy, for two things she dearly loves are words, and a good british accent!

All in all, my daughter said that if she had to sum up in a sentence what an inaugural gala is like, it would be an "Alcoholic Prom For Adults"!

I would have loved for her to have been able to stay for the actual ceremonies, but at the same time I was worried as to how they would ever get back home, with all of those people jamming the roads, (along with lack of any decent sleep). So when I finally heard that they were all back in Pennsylvania safe and sound, the mom in me was very relieved!

As for me... I teared up plenty watching the events unfold on T.V.
What an amazing time in our nation's history.

PS. Molasses my dog, is still hanging in there, bless her soul. She has been having some various problems though and we had to take her in to the vets today for some antibiotics, as she has some skin infections due to her suppressed immune system. He is utterly amazed that she is still here with us. I am so grateful. She still enjoys eating, and playing with her toys and loves going outside and walking around the yard. I haven't been able to sew this week, as I am spending time with her. We have always been close the two of us, but the time we have spent together over the last couple of months has brought us closer then anything I can adequately explain. She is my hero. I will try to get back to the sewing hopefully today, or sometime this week, as I'd love to have something new or finished to show on my blog here... but if Mo needs me to just hang out with her, well I know you all understand.
xo Victoria

Thrift Shop Hopping

Today I had to run a couple of errands and while doing that I decided to stop by a couple of local thrift shops. I enjoy browsing through thrift shops occasionally because you just never know what treasures you may find. The two shops I stopped by today are actually located about three doors apart on the same block, so park once and shop twice. Cool, more thriftiness.

Here are the treasures I found. I must have been in a lacy mood today because just look at all the lovely lacy fabrics and trims I found. I seem to have a love affair with sheer, lacy, and decorative fabrics lately and these will be great additions to my stash.


I received a lovely surprise in my mail box today. I found a complimentary copy of the latest issue of Altered Couture.


If you flip through you'll find the t-shirts I decorated. I did the two shirts on the right-hand page and also the shirt on the lower left-hand page.


Recently I was looking through my box of UFOs and came across a small quilt that I had pieced about five years ago. The quilt top was completely pieced and the backing fabric I had purchased for it was there as well. So I decided I'd try and finish it. I pieced the backing fabric so it would fit and made my quilt sandwich. I originally thought I'd machine quilt it, but after a couple of attempts at that, and not liking the results, I decided to hand quilt it. I am usually looking for something to occupy my hands in the evenings anyway, so this would be perfect. Here's a sneak peek. I'll show more of the quilt as I go.

Excitement, Hope, Gratitude and Living Vicariously

Today's the day folks!
We finally get to shed the old and embrace the new.
I am full of emotion at this most historic day.
It's been a long time coming.

I have also had the added pleasure of getting to enjoy some of the pre-inaugural celebration thrill ride, by living vicariously through my eldest daughter. She and a group of her best college buds got to attend the Illinois State pre-inaugural ball in Washington, D.C. last night!

They all happen to be good friends with the daughter of the gentleman who was in charge of organizing the bash. This connection got them all a gig helping to set up yesterday for the evening gala, which was held at the luxurious Renaissance hotel. In return for their work afterwards, they all got to put on their fanciest black tie attire and be guests at the ball! They even got to spend the night as guests!

We spent yesterday eagerly awaiting each text message received on youngest daughters phone, (I admit that the art of texting alludes me, and my phone is so old I don't think you can text on it!) After about 12 pm they got fewer and far between, and by 1 pm, well I imagine she was so caught up in the whirl wind of excitement that she was too busy floating on cloud nine to remember even how to text! Who can blame her!?! So I don't know much at this point except that she was staying on the same floor as Anderson Cooper. He passed by her in the hall! She has promised me photos of the nights festivities, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed they turn out.

She wasn't sure if they would be able to stay for the actual ceremony today, I hope that they can. What a thing to experience!

I am so thrilled that my daughter got to be a part of this. It was her first time eligible to vote, and she worked tirelessly helping to register others. Obama becoming President of the United States is bigger and more full of hope and promise, then anything else I have ever witnessed in my life. I hope that each of us will be inspired to help him on this most difficult path, doing what we are able to, in order to help restore America to her full potential, and to once again be a beacon of light, and hopefully a true messenger of peace and goodwill, in this worlld.

UPDATE: She and her friends were up for 22 hours. Both Michelle and Barack Obama were at the gala, as well as Oprah and Stevie Wonder, but alas they didn't run into them in person. They did get to see Bill Murray though, and they think Maya Angelou. People were taking their pictures as they went into the party, thinking my daughter and her friends were famous, (little did they know!) All in all it was a surreal and extremely glamourous evening, one that she and her friends will always remember and treasure!

Saluki Platform

My DB Saluki loves standing on high furniture and sleeping on the back of the couch. My husband caught her on the table with all the computers on. :LOL It's not a brilliant photo - was taken with a cell phone camera.

Shout it from the rooftops

I had no idea when I read Jessica's blog post that it would start so much introspection on my part. My original intention when I started this blog was to help in marketing Around the Block Designs. Read much about that yet? Yeah, I didn't think so.

I'm warning you right now that I've been pondering this for the last couple of days. If you aren't interested, then just move on. Or scroll down to the bottom and think about the questions there, because I'd love to hear someone else's thoughts on the process.

Turns out that trying to write about things that Mark and I create, even for the greater good of expanding our business, is a really hard thing for me to do. But why? Why is it so hard to write about the fused glass that Mark creates or the quilts that I create? Some people have no problem saying, "Hey, look what I'm working on. Isn't it GREAT?" I've donated three quilts to MCC for their fundraising quilt auction and each time they have been hung facing the auction audience. For me, that has always been the ultimate honor, my equivalent to performing at Carnegie Hall. Why? Because of all the quilts donated each year, only four are hung facing the crowd.

The down side? It causes all those voices in my head to start talking at once: Why mine? What about THIS quilt makes it good enough? And how to respond to people saying, "I really like your quilt"? I usually end up saying, "Well, you know, Mark's cousin, Ione, did an amazing job of machine quilting. THAT'S the reason it's so good." True enough--she is an artist with that sewing machine. It just feels so awkward, just wrong, to acknowledge out loud that, hey, I made this quilt, I LOVE it, thanks for noticing it and thanks for liking it too.

And Around the Block Designs? Mark's work has been published in three magazines, he has been commissioned to make recognition plaques given to world-class quilters and appreciation plaques given to corporate sponsors with really big names--Bernina sewing machines and Gammill. And yet, other than very close friends and family, we haven't really told anyone.

So what is it that makes some people comfortable telling the world about their accomplishments, whether the world agrees with them or not? And others, like me, jump up and down, but only on the inside? Is there a recording that plays in my head, something I got growing up perhaps, that tells me that public attention is bad, like a character flaw, that pride goeth before the fall?

Well, I want to be like you, Jessie. So, resolved for 2009, shout it from the rooftops. You'll be seeing what we're working on, what we've completed, what we hope people will want to purchase. And when things don't turn out the way we thought they would, that's okay too--it's part of the process, and you'll be the first to see--the good, the bad, and the ugly. Because in the words of Scott Adams of Dilbert fame: Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

So what about you? Are you comfortable tooting your own horn? Or do you hide your light under a bushel?