Monday, October 31, 2005

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Halloween Horoscope for Taurus

For you, halloween is about looking your best - even if it costs a fortune.
You don't mind a little sweet stuff either, as long as it's high quality chocolate.

Costume suggestions: An elegant princess / prince. Or a high class vampire.

Signature Halloween candy: Truffles


WELL.....there you have it. How appropriate is Chocolate? For me? VERY! Usually only buy little miniature chocolate candy bars for the trick or treaters because we generally don't have too many. Of course if there are leftovers, they should be something you like, right?

This year I bought S'mores, 3 Musketeers and Crunch w/caramel! My but I've had trouble staying away from that bowl. The diet has gone South (hips?) but tonight it should be all over. New folks have moved in next door so we know at least their sweet little 3 year old will be visiting!

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Stash Sunday


Stash Sunday
Originally uploaded by lasassone.
Beads Anyone?
This is the shelf in a cupboard where most of my beads live. There's also a drawer full of tubes and small ziplocks of beads but they aren't sorted yet. The towers are mostly sorted into colors, so some towers are taller than others. I counted 56 towers, but I could have missed a couple!
If you are smart enough to buy these towers always from the same place, the little individual jars can always be screwed together.
Unfortunately everytime I find a good source for them, the place discontinues them. I used to buy them always in the fishing department at Rite-Aid drug stores, but that source dried up. Then Wal-mart started carrying 4 sizes in their fishing department. I didn't get enough towers fast enough and now that department manager says they have a new supplier who doesn't offer this item to them.
Going Crazy; wanna come along? I'll drive!

RMCQ Banner Block #1


RMCQ Banner Block #1
Originally uploaded by lasassone.
Yea! I've finished something else! This is the first of two blocks I am making for the new banner that the Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilters are making.
As usual I've over committed myself again. Need to get the 2nd block done, the Aussie Swap into the mail, still have my New Orleans block to finish and then there's the jeans bag purse!
Yikes! It's not like I can stitch 24/7; I still have to cook, do laundry and take care of my half of the chores around here!
Do others do this to themselves or am I alone in this nightmare?

Finally Finished!


Redwork Sham
Originally uploaded by lasassone.
Well, among other things I've been working on these days was the second sham in a set of Good Morning/Good Night designs for pillow shams. The pillow shams were pre-made and came with our down comforter. They were white and I dyed them a cream color. The dye I used was actually tan, but, even though the shams and comforter cover are 100% cotton, the dye took very light.
I finished the "Good Morning" one in 2004 for a class sample and started stitching the Good Night one after I returned from teaching in Omaha at the CrazyQuilt Retreat. My dh doesn't feel so neglected now that he has a decorative sham for his side of the bed.
I used DMC's floche thread for stitching both shams. Floche is a size 16 pearl cotton and I really like the old fashioned Redwork look it gives to the stitching. These designs are from Lace Tales based in TX. Their website is www.lacetales.com and they have some wonderful patterns, most of which are iron-on I think.
It feels SO GOOD to have finished something!

Monday, October 24, 2005

Who knew?

You Are A Lily

You are a nurturer and all around natural therapist.
People see you as their rock. And they are able to depend on you.
You are a soothing influence. You can make people feel better with a few words.
Your caring has more of an impact than even you realize.

Who knew all this? Not me, but when I saw this test I had to take it. Certainly based on the most basic of questions, but it gave me a little boost on this very UNproductive Monday!

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Eureka! Stash Sunday


Eureka
Originally uploaded by lasassone.
Look what I found at my friend's garage sale yesterday! Another friend of hers had given this with some other things to sell. It was just $2 for the whole gallon ziplock bag! A whole bag full of motif flowers, pansies and lengths of trim. Yes, they ARE a little bright, but this week I plan on seeing what I can do with tea dying or some overwash of ozcraft dyes. SOMEone put a whole lot of work into all these trims & motifs; they are well made. My stash is happy to provide a home for such lovelies!

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Ok, I confess!


Izzy Arrived!
Originally uploaded by lasassone.
I confess - this is who has occupied some of my time lately. I'm a happy new Doll Mum! This is my newly arrived Gunhilde doll who has been named Izzy after my youngest granddaughter Isabelle. Izzy is a little over 9.5" (24 cm) tall and came dressed in this cute outfit because she is the "Summer" doll in Gotz Doll's 2005 line. She is #27 out of an issue of 555. You can't really see well enough in the photo but she has the daintiest hands, hazel glass eyes and don't you just love her little shoes! She is holding her dainty crocheted hat because once taken off, we can't seem to get it back on! I can't wait to make her some more clothes. Our nights are getting chiling and I think she is telling me she needs something warmer for Fall.

I'm still here!


Banner Block
Originally uploaded by lasassone.
No, I didn't run away or disappear! I finally found my stitching groove and started laying down the stitches on the first Banner block. I'm almost done with the basics. The colors are not showing up correctly in this photo. the patch on the far right is dark green and that line of chained feather stitch, a new stitch to me, is in bright chartreuse. It was looking kind of plain until I went back over it and added a straight stitch of gold metallic ribbon floss to each chain stitch. I still have a couple seams to deal with and then the fun begins: patch motifs & beads!

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

First Embroidery


First Embroidery
Originally uploaded by lasassone.
Ok, here's my first embroidery piece I mentioned in my earlier post. This guest towel hasn't been used very many times since I did it at age 10. It's a tad sloppy to say the least. I am glad I have kept it.

Looking at it closely it appears that I seemed to have mastered a pretty tiny stem stitch early on. I seemed only to run into problems when I was going around corners and when lines were close together. The sign post, which I think I did last, is pretty great!

It appears that I started out maybe using 3 strands of floss instead of the standard 2. I remember struggling with those lazy daisy stitches.

But ...argh!... those french knots are sloppy. But they're still there. Having been done with 3 strands also, they are VERY dimensional!

I've since moved on to do colonial knots instead on french knots on things as they stay tighter and don't start waving in the breeze over time.

Mum would be proud I think.

Mum


Mum
Originally uploaded by lasassone.
Well, I've had a couple of really UNproductive days here. Sunday I was overtaken with a feeling of absolute directionlessness.....is that a word? It is surely a feeling and it continued into yesterday!

Late yesterday I realized why I might be drifting. My husband's doctor called with some test results that necessitated a visit to the calendar to note the date of his next test. It dawned on me that Sunday would have been my Mum's 99th birthday!

This morning I decided that I had to do SOMEthing to get out of this funk, so here's a picture of Mum from whom I learned the basics of embroidery. So I guess she ultimately gets the credit for starting me on this crazy path.

I learned embroidery at about age 10. I don't recall the exact moment, but I still own the first piece I did. It's truly awful and humbles me when I look at it. I guess that's why I have kept it all these years.

I continued though the years as Mum did by decorating the basic essentials of household life - pillowcases, guest towels, dresser scarves and once a baby pillowcase for my only niece who was born when I was about 13 years old.

Mum quilted when I was much younger when we lived in Minnesota. I remember her making Sunbonnet Sue quilts and I even have her pattern and one block which I found at the bottom of her sewing basket when she died.

By the time we moved to California in the 1950's when I was 10, her treadle machine was gone and she never quilted again. She kept on embroidering even into her later years. I think though only my eldest daughter was fortunate enough to receive "Nana's" special Christmas gift of a set of pillowcases with her unique and fancy crocheted edgings that she made up herself.

Mum never embroidered anything that was pure decoration like pictures for the wall or clothing.....unless you count all those dresser scarves. Everything was useful and I'm sure this direction came from her upbringing. My grandmother, who died before I was born, was an avid traditional quilter. In fact I have two of her quilts that Mum had kept folded in a closet since the 1930's.

When Mum got to know my mother-in-law, Dodi Tuggle, she appeared to admire her crazy quilt work, but never seemed very interested in it. (I'll post more about Dodi some other day.) Perhaps it was daunting to see all the different stitches when she had never done anything beyond outline stitch, lazy daisies and buttonhole stitch around those Sunbonnet Sues!

I think Mum would be surprised at where my embroidery skills have taken me. AND, if she was here today, she'd tell me to pull myself up by my bootstraps (!), get on with it and take care of business.

And so I am.............

Friday, October 07, 2005

RMCQ Banner Block #2


RMCQ Banner Block #2
Originally uploaded by lasassone.
Yesterday I was in a piecing frenzy here I guess. I pieced the New Orleans block and also pieced two blocks for the Rocky Mountain CQ Group's banner project. You can see the other one I pieced by clicking on the picture here and then my Flicker album will let you see the other one.
I got all 3 blocks appliqued down last night while I indulged in a little mindless tv viewing (Yea, Survivor!)so now it's onto the fun part!
The good outweighed the bad yesterday with the arrival of the wool block and my piecing progress. The bad was an annoying attempt by someone to hijack my ebay id. After spending about an hour late last night, I got it all resolved, but WHAT A PAIN!
Sometimes I wonder how much longer I will do eBay. 'Tis not the wonderous fun it once was, for sure!

Thursday, October 06, 2005

My Baby is Home!


Fulled Wool Block
Originally uploaded by lasassone.
Today I received a wonderful surprise in the mail! Inside a well-wrapped & fabric-padded pizza box I found the fulled wool block that I embellished back in 2002 for Cindy Thury Smith for an article she did for American Quilter magazine. It was on page 52 in the Winter 2003 issue, in case you're a subscriber and want to see the article.
Some time ago she mentioned that she would be returning it to me and I'd forgotten all about it. I still love it; it makes me smile. I plan to have it framed and put a label on the back with it's story.

Pieced New Orleans Block


Pieced New Orleans Block
Originally uploaded by lasassone.
Last evening my husband even got involved when I started pulling outo fabrics for this block. We visited New Orleans back in March and had such a wonderful time. It was only one day, but we left saying we wanted to come back and stay longer. I hope we get the chance one day.
This morning, when I started piecing, I managed to mis-read the guidelines and first made an 8 inch block - duh! This aging is SO much fun. But I was able to adjust things and spread it out onto a 10" foundation - don't look TOO close!
Now onto the fun part - the Embellishing!

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Photo of the Day P.S.

The other day I heard from David Chin of Photo & Essay of the Day that his site was up and running again. Back in May or so, David kind of fell off the internet and I was really missing his insightful website. I emailed him a couple times and I guess I wasn't the only one because he has the site going again and I am SO glad! I visited daily and really missed it when it seemed frozen in time.
If you have never seen his website, give it a try. If you wondered where it went and why it hadn't been updated in so long, now you know........It's back!
Sometimes life gets in the way of our mindful pursuits & fun!

Spring RR Finale - October 5, 2005


Four Pass Combo
Originally uploaded by lasassone.
This morning I finished working on the last block of a "spring" rr that I did with a group of Colorado Crazy Quilters. The last block was Lissa's and I've posted a couple seam treatment pictures. Soon I hear that MY block will come home; can't WAIT!
It's always interesting to work on the last block in a round robin. Sometimes there's not much room left to work and other times you feel it's your duty to fill the block up and finish it. I usually approach it as if it was my block and therefore try to make it seem finished unless it's an extremely large piece.
More and more I notice my seams of choice seem to be the cretan stitch combos. Just LOVE cretan stitch - there is SO much you can do with it!
And now it's on to my New Orleans block!

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

It's My Bag challenge piece


It's My Bag challenge piece
Originally uploaded by lasassone.
Now that I've figured out the Flicker process, I'm here to tell you today about the piece I made for the "It's My Bag" challenge that is just winding down and was run by Willa Fuller from the Quiltropolic CQ list. It's a pillow cover and was really fun to work on. The owner of the bag I got was Linda S from FL. I "think" if you click on the picture, you can also see some closeups that I added to my flicker album. I'm not totally sure that will work, but it seems it should!
Today's all about working on and finishing up a rr block that is going home to it's owner hopefully this afternoon.
Hopefully I'll have pictures of my work on that tomorrow!