My Yellow Room

My Yellow Room
Originally uploaded by lasassone

After my post yesterday a friend emailed me to say she was surprised that the walls in my studio were apparently still Big Bird Yellow. Well, yes they are, but not for long I fear.

This picture was taken as I was re-loading the room after the re-paint a few years ago. Obviously I hadn't finished unloading the closet yet, so don't look too closely.

I've since found that this color could also be considered Lego Yellow as I saw a sewing room the same color posted on Ami Simms website. The owner of that yellow room had taken a yellow Lego block to the paint store for the color mix! I'll have to find some Legos before I go painting my new digs!

I've enjoyed this happy bright color immensely and hate to bid farewell to it. Although, based on the shocked look on the face of our potential realtor when she entered my yellow room of good intentions, I think it's best to do a repaint before we list the house for sale. I hope when we finally get settled somewhere else I have not only a little larger space to call my own, but one just as cheerful and inspiring. I secretly have my fingers crossed for a basement! Shhhhh, don't tell G!

I took the other picture that follows this dialog this evening. I feel fortunate that our potential realtor feels that it is okay for me to leave this room set up as a sewing room. However, you can see, there's not much left in the room - at least not much left by MY standards. My piecing buddy from yesterday's post is almost unseen in the picture but it's on the right just under that orange light shade.

The lighting is also different in tonight's picture - so much so that the walls look almost dirty. They are NOT dirty folks - just think of it as candlelight, okay? The walls, for a few more hours at least are bright and vibrant YELLOW! I will sure miss this room................

STILL my favorite color! YELLOW! It's the new NEUTRAL!

Goodbye Yellow Room!

Goodbye Yellow Room!
Originally uploaded by lasassone

My Piecing Buddy

My sorter for CQ Piecing
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Someone this morning asked me how I store the bits of fancy fabrics I use in my crazyquilt blocks. When I first began I just had all my scraps in my color boxes which quickly became too full for their lids to be put back on. And everytime I opened a box, I would make a big mess all over my ironing board or my work table.

As my fancy fabric stash grew I switched to the largest stackable individual drawers that I could find at Wal-mart. I like them because they are self contained. By that I mean, there's a back on them and each drawer is independent. Nothing can escape out the back! I set up one for each color. They are in storage now, so I can't show you, but I think I have 24 of them. 4 stacks of 6 I think. Anyway, they filled the closet in my studio/sewing room and not all are color drawers - some hold other things like projects, etc.

When switching from the boxes with lids to the wonderful drawers I kept finding I had a lot of little pieces and they would get lost in the bottom of the drawers when I went digging through. A friend told me how she was using a closet shoe holder to sort her small pieces of fancies, so I got one of the folding cardboard ones that you have to put together. As soon as I saw this unit in the Target ad though, I was in love! No Assembly Required! AND....since there's a backing on this whole unit, nothing creeps out the back!

Someone already has said it looks too neat, but that's because lately I haven't had much time to fondle my fancies. These are the only fancies in the house at the moment, so occasionally I empty a color cubby, press and stack them back in neatly. So Sue Me! I love to fondle the fancies!

The pieced block you see hanging there is one of many nekkid 8" blocks I'm piecing to donate to the Omaha Crazy Quilt Society Auction in July. All the pieces are coming from my teaching "share box". I and one other gal have done 6 or 7 blocks and the volume of scraps in that bag hasn't diminished much, let me tell you!

Contrary to popular opinion (?) one doesn't need much fabric on hand to do crazy quilt piecing!

Piece on!

Fly Away ClaireBear!

Miss B Before
Originally uploaded by lasassone

The day Brianna was born 18 years ago I took a bear I had bought for her with me to the hospital. It was there throughout my Lamaze coaching during her Mum's labor & delivery and when B was less than an hour old "ClaireBear" took up residence in her basinet in the hospital. A few days later the bear came home with Brianna to our house. She (the bear) has been living at our house every since B's folks moved their little family up to a mountain top in Northern California.

Since Brianna was about to be launched into the Real World last Friday night, ClaireBear and I both thought perhaps B might be needing someone to hug from time to time. Perhaps it was time for the bear to move on. So, I made a tag to hang around her neck with this picture on one side and some words of "bear wisdom" on the other. I wish I'd kept a picture of it, but I made it with my Publisher program on cardstock and, in my haste, I didn't save the file and I didn't even take a picture of her before I wrapped her up. And, too late I realized that somewhere over the last 18 years the picture had some ink transferred onto it - probably from the back of another picture. Luckily it didn't show very much on the tag I made.

I learned two things at Brianna's graduation. The first was how emotional these occasions can be and I thought a great deal about my own parents and how they must have felt at MY high school and college graduations. Secondly I learned that all B's friends now call her Bree. Even her Dad said he just can't get used to that.

She'll always be Miss B to us!

Look Out World!

Look Out World!
Originally uploaded by lasassone

It's a done deal! Tassel turned, diploma in hand and ready for the real world!

What an awesome school she went to. Only 10 in her graduating class and they each had to say something. Some said little, some said a lot and some stepped out of their comfort zone and showed a side of themselves that surprised their friends.

It was a lovely but emotional evening. We were glad to be there.

Miss B and her Mum

Miss B, Miss B & her Mum
Originally uploaded by lasassone.

I'm full of nostalgia today. I couldn't help going through my box of pictures - they are already out on the table here waiting to be packed!

On left is our Miss B at almost 7 mos. This is one of my favorite pictures of her. In the center is her Christmas picture when she was almost 3. At right is her Mum's nursery school picture that was taken at age 3. I always knew that B looked mostly like her Mum, but this really shows it!

Isn't it funny when you look at old black & white pictures? You all will just see black & white. When I look at this picture I see her in the green cordoroy jumper and pale green blouse that I made for her for St. Patrick's Day.

Ah well........back to stitching and packing!

Miss B is Graduating!

Graduation Pillow Design
Originally uploaded by lasassone.

We are all excited here because this Friday, May 25, 2007, our first grandchild, Brianna, is graduating from high school. She recently turned 18 just after she returned from a wonderful trip to France, England and Scotland with some of her classmates. It just seems so unreal that she is 18 and about to be launched into the big world. It sure makes G and I feel old. It seems like just yesterday she came home from the hospital.

When she was born to our eldest daughter, I was still in "baby mode" G says and with our daughter going back to work, Miss B, as we call her, was here at our house everyday ALL day. She was like our 4th daughter and we have always felt extremely connected to her. I even quit my computer operator/programmer job in order to stay home with her while her Mum worked. Since her folks moved up North to the top of a mountain we have seen her less and less, sadly.

This embroidery design came from a magazine called "Cross Stitch for All Seasons 2002". It's not cross stitch - go figure! I kept a copy and passed on the magazine to a friend last year.

I plan to do the design for all the 6 other grands as they make this Rite of Passage. I thought I might frame it, but decided on a pillow instead for the first one. Miss B may be leaving home soon, so she probably will make good use of the pillow. The blue fabric will be the sides and back of the pillow and I'm thinking, if I have time, that I might embroidery something on the sides. They look so plain, but it was the best I could do. They told me at Jo-Ann Fabrics that they never got any graduation themed fabrics this year. I planned poorly for this because I have some in my stash - but, alas.....my stash is all in storage in preparation for our move.

Of course, I had to wait to do the embroidery until their graduation gown color was determined. And, down the road a piece, I'll have to adapt the design for a boy graduate since of the 7 grands we have 2 are boys. The boys are only 6 and 4-1/2 right now though, so I have a while to come up with the male adaptation!

Stitch on!

An Early Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day 2007 Flowers
Originally uploaded by lasassone.

I wish all my American Blog Buddies an EARLY Happy Mother's Day this coming Sunday. I'll be rather busy tomorrow with our local garden club's annual plant sale.

Today I received this wonderful bouquet of roses from daughter #2 and it came with a nummy box of Godiva chocolates too! But my dh laughed when I was even more enthralled with the ribbon flower that topped the chocolat box. It's quite lovely and it's a pin you can wear as well. The way it's made is so unique and yet simple; I may have to try one and show you all later.

I think we'll be spending Mother's Day moving more boxes and excess furniture over to our storage unit in preparation for some painting that we must get done this coming week. Our friend will most likely help G with the painting, but don't think I'll be able to make a clean getaway - I think I'm going to have to lend a hand to steaming off some wallpaper. Not my favorite chore.

I'd rather be embroidering, doncha know?

Stitch on!

SO I Settled!

2006 BOM December
Originally uploaded by lasassone.

I have finally put the finishing touches on my December BOM for the Redworkstitchers yahoo group from 2006. I kept thinking I would find a size of bead between a seed bead and these that I used, but I finally gave up and used these.

After we move and I get all my "stuff" out of storage I will deal with all the monthly embroideries I've done. I thought at first that I was going to make a wallhanging, but I've scrapped that idea. I'm going to do an appropriate fabric frame around each one and make them into little quiltletsl that I can hang in our entryway in our new home.

I just hope it's not too long before I HAVE my stuffs back! Meanwhile it's back to packing during the day and stitching & embellishing in the evenings!

Stitch on!

Roomie Block for Omaha Auction Quilt

Roomie Block
Originally uploaded by lasassone.

This is the block I made for a wallhanging that will be donated to the auction at the CQ Society's retreat in Omaha, Nebraska this June. One of our roomies, Kate Hollifield, pieced and sent the blocks to each of us and we were to embellish with jewel tone stitching.

I haven't been stitching anything recently as we're packing and storing our belongings in preparation for the sale of our home, so this was a nice diversion and caused me to realize how much I miss stitching!

I love layering stitches, as you might be able to tell! LOL! I used a lot of silk pearl threads, ribbon floss and beads on this block. The heart necklace idea is one I used a couple times before. Once I used it on a block for a friend that was a Gone With The Wind themed block and the other time I stitched a locket was on the wool block I did for Cindy for her fulled wool article in the AQS Publication. For this one I used a simple heart charm with an open center and I filled it with SRE knots & gold beads.

Because it's kind of my signature, I always like to do a ring motif of some sort on any cq block I work on. I strive to make each one slightly or greatly different. This one is built around a very small glass ring.

I did the button cluster to create some dimension to the all-black block. The pink button is a vintage mop button that I removed from its mint button card. The pink & purple fabric covered button is from my late Mum's favorite blouse.

As usual, you can click on each picture and see more details as the pictures appear in my Flickr photos.

Stitch On!

Roomie block Close Up #1

Roomie block Close Up #1
Originally uploaded by lasassone.

Roomie Block Close Up #2

Roomie Block Close Up #2
Originally uploaded by lasassone.

Roomie block Close Up #3

Roomie block Close Up #3
Originally uploaded by lasassone.

Roomie Block Center Close Up

Roomie Block Center Close Up
Originally uploaded by lasassone.

Roomie Block Button Cluster

Roomie Block Button Cluster
Originally uploaded by lasassone.