2013 Finishes

As promised, I have lots of pics for tonight's post.

I made two more of those little cases.  One with ants inside and out, and one with flamingos on the outside and a pink batik in the middle.

 What they look like closed.

To go along with the Maxine case, I added a mug rug and a potholder to match.  The inside of the case is also shown here.  Typical Maxine!

 Protecting Peewee is finished!  I finished the quilting a few days ago, and added the sleeve and binding yesterday.  It's pretty low contrast for me usually, but I just love this piece.  The backing is the bird fabric in all its glory.

Here's a detail shot.  All the hand quilting was done with straight lines.  I did not quilt in the bird hexagons, but everything else got some.

And my parting shot for tonight.  I don't think there's a problem with Lynnie and Dickens getting along.

That's it for tonight.  I'm heading for the land of nod.

Blissful hugs,
Sharon

Part of What I Did Today

Today has been a rare day indeed.  No need to venture off the property!  So I have this on the design wall--

I think I will call it "For My Own Amusement".  I will probably shuffle this a time or two more before sewing.  This started with a pack of Moda Over the Rainbow batiks.  I didn't realize when I bought it that there were two of each fabric, so I didn't have as much variety as I would have liked.  But, having a rather extensive small stash of batiks, I had no trouble adding to the mix.  The additions have made this a much better piece.  I'll show more as I go along.

I also made two of these small zippered cases today.  The pattern is from Atkinson Designs (www.atkinsondesigns.com) and is free!  It's super easy.  Check out the rest of Terry's stuff while you are there.  Her patterns are very clear, and her zipper application is perfect for those who do not feel they can "do zippers"!  Thanks for the pattern, Terry!

That's it for tonight!

Blissful hugs,
Sharon

P.S.  I am listening to Come Home by Lisa Scottoline.

P.P.S.  Emily, I'm thinking of you!  

Simple Pleasures

This phoebe has been visiting my yard for a couple of years.  Today he decided to pose within camera range.  He has a very distinctive call, so he's easy to identify!  With a little luck, he and his family will be nesting just outside my sewing room window!  I'll keep you posted.

Thursday night one of my students presented me with a dozen red roses!  It brought back memories of my first dozen red roses--given to me by my then-fiance.  It was not unusual for him to bring me flowers every Friday night throughout our marriage--and usually a bouquet for my mom, too.  Thanks, Bobbi, for the roses and for the memories they brought back!

Last week was a time for other surprise gifts as well.  I love wool pincushions and my dear friend Carol brought me one!  The wooden base makes it easy to transport and the pins come in and out with just one hand.  Thanks, Carol!

The little glass basket was a gift on Easter Sunday from my friend Cheryl.  It is so delicate and pretty.  I just love it. 

I am so lucky to have such generous and thoughtful friends.  


Tomorrow I have an almost-finish (or closer to finished) piece as well as the start of the project using the 5" charm squares I got in Pennsylvania.  I've been busy doing some fun things.  Also hosted brunch on Easter Sunday with that luscious breakfast casserole I told you about before.  I also tried my hand at mini muffins--can we just say they were not very successful.  Luckily the regular sized ones came out perfectly.


Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are enjoying spring break if that pertains to you or are having a great week anyways if it doesn't.


Blissful hugs,
Sharon

Purchases and Gifts

Last Saturday I bought an unusual array of quilty things:  Two Moda Charm Packs, a piece of "book" fabric to finish a small wallhanging, a roll of 6 fat quarters in black, white and lime, tiny heart buttons, and a pattern to make tiny chickens (hens).  I'll show you progress on any and all of these projects as it happens!

Then, there was a padded envelope in my mailbox earlier this week!  My friend Yochi, from Israel, sent me this lovely cross stitch pillow cover!  She suggested using this as the center of a larger quilt.

Here's a close-up of the workmanship and the lovely keychain she also sent.  The keychain is from the Masada Museum, which is right above the Dead Sea.  Have I mentioned recently how lucky I am?  Thank you, Yochi!  I love both items.

Today was a bit of everything:  outside raking and trimming trees, inside finishing an applique block, and various other things.  Remember the gray/purple sweater that I showed you and then I ripped it out?  Well, I started it again, and last night, as I was almost once again up to separating for the sleeves, I found the same error again!  But I did discover what happened--there is a different colored marker at the beginning of the round.  On all the other markers you increase before and after the marker.  Well, my attention must have wandered because I increased both sides of the wrong marker.  So I think it will have to be ripped again.  I think I will move on to another project for a while.  Maybe I need to start with a new skein--maybe this one is jinxed!  Maybe the fourth time will be the charm!


Stay tuned!


Blissful hugs,
Sharon


P.S.  I am listening to Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah.

So Beautiful

Carol R. of Ithaca, NY, is a special friend indeed.  Each year she makes me something beautiful for Christmas--hardanger work, zippered pouches in multiple sizes, a baby alpaca scarf, napkins...the list goes on and on.

But this year!  Carol's work is meticulous and she pays attention to detail.

A detail.

And another detail.  3D buttons are the perfect finishing touch to this superb piece.

Just Carol's presence in my life is gift enough.  She's one special lady.  Thank you, my friend!

How is holiday prep progressing for you?  I am still teaching through the 20th and trying to get a few small things done in my "spare" time!

More tomorrow!

Hugs,
Sharon

P.S.  I am listening to Beyond Suspicion by James Grippando and reading Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm hoping that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Safe travels to and from wherever the holiday road leads you. I'm lucky to have family close by.

Thank you to everyone who has been commenting on the blog and to those who have been especially supportive over the last month. It has meant a great deal--and I am thankful.

I have managed to finish a hat for a friend--it was gifted about a week ago--and yesterday I noticed it already had a hole in it--compliments of the dog! I was smarter this time--much cheaper yarn (no wool) and a K2P2 ribbing all the way. Pretty fast to knit and I didn't even cringe--okay, I really was expecting something dastardly to befall the hat.

I am about 50 rows from finishing my neck down sweater. I was telling my mom that and she said, "So that makes you two, right?" I nearly fell down laughing--because it's still the first one! Oh, well.

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy every minute of this holiday weekend.

Hugs,

Sharon

believe

The reveal. Several months ago I showed you a stack of fabrics; then I revealed small details about what I was doing with it. Well, the quilt has been delivered and I can now show you what resulted.

This will be a surprise for several of you who thought it had something to do with shoes, as in someone wearing them. One of the previous posts had a detail of the "e", which sort of resembled the toe of a shoe. Even Rose thought it would be a witch wearing red shoes!

The lettering was transferred to the red fabric and then basted to the cream. Each letter was then appliqued using a cutaway technique. (The lettering is from A Quilter's Alphabet by Anita Shackelford, www.anitashackelford.com.) Here's a detail.



The lettering was outlined, then the background filled with a 1/2 inch grid. The borders have two gentle wavy lines. The witch fabric was the one I had to order and wait for!


And here is the label. Rose received the quilt on Friday, along with an assortment of believe-related items. She thought it was worth the wait. You can read her comments on the last post.

So that's the scoop for today. I did try to post this last night, but Blogger refused to accept my pictures. This morning it was no problem. Go figure.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Hugs,

Sharon

Monkey Business

Nothing beats a quick baby gift for just pure piecing joy. The baby in question was actually born in March, and I did have the top pieced before that. But...life intervened and it was just Tuesday when I finished and gifted this.

Made from flannels, Mountain Mist batting and tied with pearl cotton. Hard to see in the pics, but the "not monkey" fabric is a pale white and yellow stripe. I like to tie to the back so that the top is not as busy. You can see the ties at the top of the picture. Monkey fabric was the backing.

Here's Callie --aka "Inspector 12"--making sure I did a good job.

And, to complete the gift, the book Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. It's a fun book--even for adults!

So there you have it--another finish. I actually have two more finishes which I will share soon. And I am working on a little something for my best friend, who is soon to be a first-time grandma. I cut the top tonight and have about 1/3 of the blocks pieced and on the design wall with the alternate plain blocks. I think it will be really cute--okay, no bias there!

Spent most of the day working in the yard. Did some mowing, trim mowing, weeding and weedeating. Didn't get finished because it started to rain, and I bent the blade on my trim mower. Bummer...especially since I didn't hit anything hard that would have caused it. Dee dee dee dee!

That's all for this time. Are you remembering how special you all are?

Hugs,

Sharon

A Finish, A Gift, and a Visitor

If my math is correct, this is finish 3 for the year to date. Hand appliqued, machine pieced and hand quilted. I am quite pleased with it.

A detail of the applique and the quilting.

On Saturday, I went to a wonderful bridal shower for my best friend's daughter. So last week I spent spare evening moments knitting this dishcloth. It has hearts knitted in it--appropriate for a bridal shower, don't you think?

And a detail. Made of cotton yarn.

Earlier today I heard something just outside my sewing room window. When I went to look, here's what I found.

A female cardinal doing her best to get in! The picture is not the best because of the tint on the window. I think she was looking at herself on the other side, which acts as a mirror. She was there for quite a while, alternating between the window sill and the shringle bush near it.

I have spent the day appliqueing and weedeating. What a combination! But my new weedeater works great and is so much more advanced than my old one (let's just say it was into double digit years and the motor was smoking the last time I used it--and it is electric).

Tomorrow I am going to share a story with you--something personal that not many of you know. So stay tuned.

Hugs,

Sharon

P.S. If you are wondering why the spacing is so spastic on the posts, it is because I have given up trying to figure out how to edit html to get it right. WYSIWYG does not apply to editing this blog. I think others have given up as well--but it torques my cookies not to have it look better. Just sayin'.

Can It Be?

The trees are almost leafed out, the peepers are deafening and...

flowers are blooming. Daffodils and narcissi always seem so happy. (Maybe because they are not buried under mounds of snow anymore!)

Yesterday was spent picking up branches and twigs from the yard and cutting down the old hops vines. The new ones grew almost two feet in one day! Today was spent helping to paint my parents' house. From yellow to dark blue green. We completed a section that has a lot of cutting in and managed to get two coats on it.

In between these outside events, I have managed to complete almost all the quilting on the mystery gift! Of course, I still have a sleeve and binding to do, but it's ever nearer to completion. Here's a sample.

Hard to believe that four months of 2011 have already come and gone.

Hugs to everyone!

Sharon

What's in Your Wallet?

Okay, not really your wallet! Although there are some guild members near Rochester who know what to put in their wallet! Anyways, do you all have "to-go" bags? I actually have a couple for personal use and will show you my "industrial class size" one perhaps tomorrow.

My original one is housed in a Vera Bradley jewelry case. This one was a special gift from a friend. The fob was made by another friend and has a heart-in-hand design to denote "handwork" bag! When you unzip it...voila!

But...wait for it...it gets better!

This bag is deceptively small looking, but has a ton of storage! Look what was inside:

Five spools of 50 wt. cotton thread in neutral colors.

A small wool pincushion.

Small glass head pins for hand piecing. See the cute jar with the little cork? Little House pins--love them, have them in all six colors--and then they stopped making them. So covet them--but enjoy them from afar.

Pigma pens for marking seams on those hard to mark fabrics. WARNING: Never use a pigma pen on a light colored fabric--it will bleed through.

A .5 mechanical pencil--for marking those light fabrics.

A 6 inch C-Thru ruler to get the most accurate seam lines.

Thread Heaven.

Quilter's Quarter Marker ruler, for those times you need a dot at strange intersections. (Also excellent when binding unusual angles.)

Elan serrated scissors, with a fob to match the "to-go" bag one!

A Clover seam ripper--never leave home without a ripper!

John James Sharps size 11 needles.

Being an extra-lucky girl, I was gifted this fabulous bag recently. So I have made myself a second to-go bag. It includes the markers and rulers shown in the original bag, plus a used needle container, a small threader, snips instead of scissors, a pincushion made by another friend, and a turquoise bear talisman (also a gift). And another fob, also a gift--from the same friend who made me the others! Did I mention how lucky I am?

Here's the deal, dear blog readers: Once you have your to-go bag ready, you MAY NOT pilfer from it. You know how it is--your scissors are upstairs, across the room--anywhere but where you are sitting. You look around and spy your to-go bag--right next to you! You think "just this once I'll use these scissors and I'll put them right back." And what happens? The next time you pick up your to-go bag and get set to cut threads or some applique seams, while away from home (remember the to go part of this?), you have no scissors. That's right--they are right where you left them--next to your chair, AT HOME! So sad--yes, you will hear me saying "Tsk tsk! Didn't I tell you not to pilfer?"

And guess what? You can print out this blog and show it to whomever asks: This is your permission slip to purchase duplicate items to make your to-go bag! You need it--you want it--you're worth it!

And the best part? When you are rushing out the door, knowing you are going to have to wait for something to happen, you can grab a project, add thread to match and be out the door, ready to make good use of the wait time.

Hugs,

Sharon, the lucky girl with talented, generous friends

P.S. Thanks to those who have responded to the knitting blog. And entered the contest! If you aren't sure what this all means, go to the post dated February 21 and find out.

P.P.S. Elaine--you are the bomb! When you explained it that way, it made perfect sense. How hard would that have been for the designer to say? I took another look at the pattern--and, face red, realized that I had a post-it note marking my place on the neck increases. Flipping it up and down looking for an explanation did not reveal the numbers hidden under it--until your comments told me where to look. I can't thank you enough. I just love the sweater--and will now continue it.

Second Finish and a Surprise

The plan was to post this finish a few days ago--when I really did finish it. But Lynnie has had one full seizure and the precursor symptoms for the past two days. Lynnie trumps the blog. It was January 17, 2010, when she had the only other seizure. At the first symptom I shut off all the lights and anything that makes noise. Except for the first one this time, it has been working. Knock on wood. The vet said we may have to put her on anti-seizure meds if this continues.

Have I said lately how much I hate winter weather? Not so much the weather as trying to determine if classes should run based on a weather forecast. Trying to decide at 10 AM if we can all get home safely at 10 PM is tough. My psychic weather forecasting powers apparently have become dormant. Today, based on the dire predictions of at least five more inches of snow and the possibility of sleet, I postponed my evening class. Only to have, at least at my house, absolutely nothing. For those of you reading the blog and wondering about First Tuesday, it will be on Wednesday, February 9, still 6-9. (If you didn't understand that, don't worry--you probably live too far away to be affected.)

Okay, on to funner stuff! My second finish is All Points. Hand appliqued and set in 2008, basted in 2009. Hand quilted and bound in 2011. My original papercut design. And, no, the inner border points do not touch the binding. I wanted it that way so that the entire design floats. The spaces are, I assure you, very evenly away from the binding.

A detail of a corner. You can see a bit of the quilting design.

And the center. The backing is the same pink batik as the background. Hand quilted with 30 wt. Sulky variegated thread.

Is "unexpected surprise" an oxymoron? If not, it should be! Yesterday when I got home I found a package on my porch. When I opened it I found:

The Sara Gruen books are among my favorites and I was recently thinking about reading them again. I had been getting them from the library--now I don't have to! And quilting and knitting magazines to boot! Thank you, my friend, for your thoughtfulness. I miss you lots.

Janet asked about a marker for light fabrics: I use the Prismacolor Verithin pencil in #753 Metallic Silver. Used with a light hand and a sharp point, the marks are usually gone as you quilt over them. I've been using them since the 1980s! You can find them at some quilt shops or at art supply places. Just be sure they say Verithin on them. The other Prismacolor pencils have too much oil to come out easily (in my opinion).

That's all the news that's fit to print for now.

Hugs,
Sharon

P.S. I am listening to Lying with Strangers by James Grippando and just finished My Third Husband Will Be a Dog by Lisa Scottoline (non-fiction!). I'm reading a Monty Roberts horse book.

The Gift Box

Here's an idea that may put an end to the holiday stress--you know, when it is mid-December and you don't have any of your gifts done! I have a box that I've set aside to put gifts into as I either buy them or make them. Today I finished these beauties:

One large rice buddy, two hand warmer rice buddies and a pillowcase. All of flannel with--yep, you guessed it--ladybugs! I have a friend who loves them and does not read the blog, so I am safe in putting them up. I had to scramble in 2010 because a book I saw with ladybug quilts was not being published until April 2011! Hard to give in 2010. Unfortunately I didn't know about the delay until almost gift-giving time. Not so for 2011. I have sworn to be proactive so that I can enjoy the season more.

Somewhere I read that if you buy/make a holiday gift in the month of someone's birthday you will be ahead of the game. And this box idea would also work for birthdays. Would anyone like to join me on this quest?

I also have another box with knitted hats for both babies and adults. The adult hats go to people undergoing chemo/radiation as needed. Quick to make, but having an assortment for someone to choose from means a lot to them. I use leftover yarn to make a tassel with the yarn content and washing instructions on it. No guessing for me or the recipient.

So I am off to a good start on my Gift Box, with more ideas in mind.

Hugs to everyone from the snowy east,

Sharon

A Gift

As I was looking through some older photos today, I came across this gift I made in 2004--and had forgotten about. Thank goodness for photos!

While at an antique/collectibles shop one day, I came across this Barbara Fritchie sugar bowl (at least that's what I think it is). I snatched it up and brought it home. While I toyed briefly with the idea of keeping it, I knew just where it needed to live.

Did you know there is a Barbara Fritchie star? What better companion for this lovely piece.




A four-inch block with borders and a 1/8 inch binding. Machine pieced and hand quilted.

And made with the fabric line designed by the recipient: Anita Shackelford (http://www.anitashackelford.com/). It was fun to revisit this project--I hope Anita got as much pleasure from it as I did.

Still no word on the data. And you may have guessed that these pictures were saved other than on that flash drive!

Snowy here--about 6 inches total with gusty winds. If the winds die down tomorrow, it will be snowblowing time. Drifts about knee high are enough to warrant that rash act.

Hugs for now,
Sharon

P.S. Listening to Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs and reading A Deadly Yarn by Maggie Sefton.

Countdown

With just one day left in 2010 (the end of a decade), I've been trying to complete a few things.

Remember the blue snowflake batik behind the wristers a couple posts ago? Well, here's what I did with it. Three Black Spruce blocks from Judy Hopkins' 501 Rotary-cut Quilt Blocks. Nine inches finished, two inch sashing and two-and-a-half inch borders. Binding will be the same fabric as the borders. Nice long wallhanging and not too seasonal.


A detail shot of the blocks. Looks hard, but really isn't--shhhh, that's our secret!


I wanted to do a little something to put in a friend's holiday card. Raw edge ornaments are lots of fun and I don't feel bad if kids or animals (or naughty adults) give them a rough time. I papercut this pattern and then hand quilted it with Hobbs bleached cotton batting. I used Sulky Blendables in 12 wt. for the outside, and 40 wt. Mettler quilting thread for the detail work. Folk art fun!

Socks. I had one sock done months ago, and the second into the foot area. The yarn is Cascade Heirloom and the colors are much richer than they show in the pictures. I have one more pair that is one whole sock and the other is still on the ribbing--they will not be finished in 2010, but is by my chair to finish soon. I also started a hat as a gift (I wisely did not say which year it was going to be gifted!). And I have been doing some other hand quilting. And attempting to clean up my sewing rooms. I am going to have some new lighting put into my sewing rooms and am interested in hearing what you have and whether you like or dislike your choices. Remodeling is expensive enough when it is done once--having to re-do something because of an error in judgment is just ludicrous.

That's it for tonight. I will be sure to post tomorrow night to finish off the year. Hope everyone has enjoyed the holidays so far. And remember to designate a driver if you are going to be out and about Friday night.

Hugs,

Sharon