Getting to Crazy

My 3 Girlies! Today is a birthday!

2010-09-27T21:00:00.001-07:00

My 3 Girlies!
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Today is my #2 baby girl's birthday. She is 41 and that number really makes me feel old. She is on the right in this picture.

Of course, back on the 17th of this month my #1 baby girl had her 48th birthday. She's the one on the left in the picture. So, this feeling old thing is sort of familiar.

Baby Girl #3 is in the middle and she was 36 in January. My girls were all fairly close (but not in age) growing up. Unfortunately now for them they are separated by many miles. This picture was taken a while back when they all met up in San Antonio where #3 lives. They had a great sisters visit from all accounts. It's too bad they don't get to do that more often.

Today they were teasing me about Tasha (see yesterday's post) being my favorite now. Hardly a comparison. Although........I DID forget yesterday to mention that you can see more pictures of Tasha in my Flicker pictures if you are so inclined!

Between them they have 7 kiddos which we don't see too often. They range from age 21 down to a 6 yr old who is in 1st grade this year.

So, now you know a little more about me. I must say they all appreciate my embroidery and crazyquilting efforts even though sometimes it takes me a long time to get things completed.

The thing I've always been best at is having babies and procrastination!

Isn't she cute?

2010-09-26T20:50:00.001-07:00

My garden
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Oh,this picture is my way of distracting you from all the excuses I have on hand for not keeping up with this blog in a timely fashion.

I could say I have been SUPER busy with our new puppy, Tasha, who is about 4 mos. old in thisi photo. We got her on Memorial Day and truly is IT like having a new baby for the first few months! She has drastically changed our lives - for the better we think.

So, she was born on March 7th and her "official name" is Angel's Natasha Joy. She weighed less than 5 lbs when we brought her home. She rode, wrapped in her blankie in my arms most of the way home. She has a delightful personality and is very smart, as most corgis are.

She is now almost 7 mos. (October 7th) and truly the light of our lives. She keeps us hoping and makes sure we keep up with her routine. My daily routine surely has changed since the beginning of this year.

Last Holiday season I fell into a funk as the anniversary of my brother's passing away came and went. It took me a bit to haul myself up and out, but I never stopped with the fiberarts all through it. I knit a lot of things for charity this year - mostly baby hats for our county's hospital.

I also went back to my Take it Further blocks that sort of fell by the wayside when my brother was ill. I've finished Sept and October and only have a little left to do (the beading) on the November block. In the days to come I will blog about my work on them. Soon I will start the December one and maybe I'll have it finished by the New Year - just two years late....LOL

Scarf for Gabrielle

2010-03-15T16:42:00.001-07:00

Scarf for Gabrielle
Originally uploaded by lasassone

After Christmas I was all about yarn and knitting and crochet. In the cold evenings I really enjoy working with yarn but this year I really went overboard.
My youngest daughter's birthday is in early January and I made this scarf for her with a combination of 3 yarns/fibers. It ended up feeling like fur.
I forgot to take a picture before I mailed it to her and so she took this one for me. I think she doubled the scarf for the pictures. She also sent me another of her youngest (my youngest granddaughter) wearing the scarf. I will try to add that picture below.
The fibers I used were all different. One was a glittery yarn that almost looked like a crocheted chain. The 2nd one was a fun fur and the 3rd was an eyelash. I usually make scarves with only 15 stitches and 2 fibers. I yarn over on one row and then drop that on the next row. It makes for a nice loose feel. With 3 fibers this one turned out very much thicker and had a fur feel.
Here is my granddaughter who is almost 6 wearing the scarf.

2010-01-01T12:33:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEARS DAY TO ALL!

I have been a bad blogger, I know. And I have nothing but the usual excuses, which don't seem good enough. However, they did at the time.

May 2010 bring you all you wish for. Happiness, Health and Wealth as pictured in the above image courtesy of Dover Publications. May we all find one of those little bags of gold coins!

Granddaughter's Birthday Pillow done!

2009-12-14T17:00:00.001-08:00

Lauren's Pillow
Originally uploaded by lasassone

I did the embroidery for this pillow some time ago and when my #3 granddaughter was here this summer she saw it in my UFO pile. Her birthday is the day after Christmas and so finaly I have gotten it made up into a pillow for her bed.

She loves dogs and and I've always loved this vintage design. I used twist up Crayola crayons to color the design before I embroidered it all. I really like how it turned out and I hope she does too.

We're off now to our Garden Club Pot Luck Holiday Dinner. If you'd like to see what I made to take, check out my other blog - there's a link to Lulu's Girl on the side here.

Christmas Cracker Gifts

2009-12-05T12:53:00.001-08:00

XmasCrackers
Originally uploaded by lasassone

WARNING: If you are one of the Delta Crazy Tuesday Ladies, please stop reading this right now! You will spoil your Christmas Luncheon Surprise!

I believe I've mentioned before that I belong to a little stitching group that meets once a week. We split off from our large monthly group that is still very active. It started during one summer when someone was on vacation from her school job and wanted to devote a morning to stitching so she could use her time off efficiently and get something accomplished during her time off.

Along the way we picked up another member and we are now 5! This year is the first time we will have our own little Christmas luncheon/party. We are going to the local golf course restaurant and then back to one of the members homes for dessert.

We discussed doing a baggie swap for each member and I asked if I could be a little different and try something I read about on the CQI list. I didn't join in the CQI swap, but I thought this might be fun to do for this group since I'd only have to make 4 and not so many as I would for the large monthly group.

I'm assuming here that you know about the Christmas Cracker tradition. You can still buy pre-made ones at Costco World Market last time I looked. They are a lot smaller than my version and usually contain a bit of candy or a toy like Cracker Jack boxes do. When I was a small girl we had these on the table for Christmas dinner and they made a loud pop when you opened them! I think my Canadian Father might have grown up with them and that's why we had them.

For each of these special Crackers I cut a 7 inch length of a paper towel cardboard tube. Then I pieced an 8" block for each of my friends. I handpieced a simple block similar to what I did for the Take It Further Challenge that Sharon Boggen had last year. Just 5 pieces and the center piece of each block was chosen according to the interest of the person it is for.

Then I pulled embellishments appropriate for each block, put them in a 3" by 5" ziplock bag and stuffed it in the tube. After that I rolled the block around the tube and tucked the ends in.

Then I cut a piece of a faux crazyquilt Christmas print about 8" x 13" and just hemmed it with machine basting and applied lace to the short sies. That way, if they want, they can salvage the fabric to use for another project.

For the tags I printed off some gift card packets, put them together with double stick tape and inserted an angel faux cigarette silk that I printed for each of them.

I sure hope they like what I've done. A couple of the blocks may very well be a real color challenge for the new owner, but we're always talking about expanding our color horizons, so I hope they are not disappointed.

Come this Tuesday I'll surely find out! Stay Tuned!

XmasScarf#2

2009-12-05T12:25:00.001-08:00

XmasScarf#2
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Last night I finished this, the 2nd scarf I have knit for a Christmas present in the last month. This one is a tad longer than the first one and it's a little more frilly because of the fashionista granddaughter who will receive this. It was knit on size 8 needles and the yarn is Red Heart's Collage. I guess you call this a self-striping yarn, the color is called blue waves. It is not nearly "green-looking" as it looks in the pictures - it's more gold/yellow.

I've done this pattern before back in January for a black & grey scarf I made for one of my daughters. Once you get the hang of the pattern rows, it's quite easy. However, as usual I did my fair share of UNknitting because I get easily distracted.

My next knitting project will be some fingerless mittens or maybe I should call them handwarmers. At any rate, they look like they would be great for driving.

Also in the works is a Taggie for our new grandnephew, a set of redwork IKEA dishtowels, another pillow, some doll clothing, a wallhanging, some fuzzy fabric scarves and maybe a totebag or two. My deadline for most of these things is the 18th of December when SOME will have to be mailed.

Wish me luck!

A Great Blog and Super Give Away

2009-12-05T08:54:00.000-08:00

Cathy over at Crazy By Design is having a wonderful Holiday Give Away. You MUST go visit and check out her generous offerings! Go Here:

http://cathyscrazybydesign.blogspot.com/

Merry Christmas and stay tuned. I'm catching up on projects and will be back soon!

Skirt for Cheryl

2009-11-27T13:48:00.000-08:00

This is a bad picture of a gift I took up to my daughter's home for Thanksgiving yesterday. It actually looked way better than this picture. I just had the hem basted at the point I took the picture.

The evening before Thanksgiving I had finished this skirt that was a promised birthday gift for my eldest daughter. I had given her the pattern, fabric, thread and zipper in a gift box at her birthday celebration. I wanted her to approve of it before I went ahead and made a skirt for her. She had been complaining that she couldn't find a "pencil skirt" for work similar to what I appeared to be wearing in a lot of her old baby pictures. Back then we just called these "straight skirts" and even the skirts on most of my dresses were cut straight.

Do you know how LONG it's been since I made any clothing? It has been 15 years at least I think because that's when I stopped making clothes for my 2 eldest granddaughters who are now almost 19 and 21. While I can't recall what I had for lunch yesterday, it appears I haven't forgotten how to sew clothes. The hardest thing was remembering to use 5/8" seams and not 1/4 inch! I do have to admit to leaving the pattern pinned on the fabric for a day or so, just in case I would discover I had messed it up somehow.

The fabric is a polyblend from JoAnn Fabrics and it raveled something fierce, so I had to machine zigzag over all the seam allowance to make sure the skirt wouldn't ravel away! I liked the pattern (McCall's 3830) because there was no waistband to deal with, just a facing. And I put in a zipper! I'm so proud of myself.

However, I feel very dumb for not getting a picture taken of her in the skirt after we determined the hem was okay. Duh......

But she said she loved it and it looked cute on her!

I'm almost done with all my "promised projects". I just have one more pillow to put together and then I can get busy on Christmas gift things. The grands like to get gift cards, but this year I am trying to make them each some little thing to go along with the gift card.

Stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving to All

2009-11-25T22:25:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Greetings from our Family to Yours

One Pillow Finished

2009-11-23T17:14:00.001-08:00

Pillow4Shelby
Originally uploaded by lasassone

This is one of the pillows I think I mentioned that I was making. This one will go up North with us on Thanksgiving for my #2 granddaughter who graduated from high school last May. I didn't do this before her graduation, as I did for her sister, because I thought perhaps she would rather have the embroidery on a totebag instead of a pillow.

When offered the choice, she chose a pillow and it's taken me some time to get it finished.

I used this design for her older sister, my #1 grandchild, and I plan to do one for each of the remaining 5 grands as their graduations approach. I will try to use the appropriate school colors as I have with the first two. I have 3 years I think before I need to do another one.

So, now I'm off to work on a skirt I promised I'd make for our eldest daughter - where we are going for Turkey Day.

Time's a-wasting!

Guess what I found

2009-11-21T14:56:00.001-08:00

PaperwhitesNov20
Originally uploaded by lasassone

No, it's not the empty plastic shoe box that I've been looking for going on 2 hours now. I have it's lid here, but can't find the box! Perils of aging I suspect.

Walking around the yard though on this chilly day, I discovered that my paperwhite bulbs are blooming! I suspect in colder areas of the US, these don't bloom until early Spring, but here in California they are a late Fall treat.

SOME people pot these bulbs and give them as gifts at the Holidays and they are a nice fragrant surprise when they bloom in January. Someone gave me a pot of them years ago and I enjoyed them so much during gloomy winter days when the skies were gray for days on end.

Well, now I must get back to finding that box, sewing on my daughter's skirt and I also have two pillows to assemble.

Hope your weekend has gone well......

First Christmas Gift Finished!

2009-11-20T14:01:00.001-08:00

First Christmas Gift Finished
Originally uploaded by lasassone

I've been occupied during the recent days with catching up with some promised projects but they aren't things I can work on during the evening when we are watching television.

However, I CAN knit and so I returned to an unfinished pair of scarves I abandoned last February when I made a mistake that I couldn't figure out how to correct. I was knitting two scarves at once - different colors - same pattern on one set of long needles. A couple weeks ago I pulled them out of the hassock they were stored in and gave them another look.

I pulled one off the needles and pulled the knitting out until I was below the error I made. But then I couldn't figure out where in the pattern that row was. I lost patience and frog-stitched (ripped out) the whole 14" of scarf I had originally done.

I began it again and very shortly began making the same stupid mistakes. So - more frog-stitching and a little internet surfing and I found this reversible scarf pattern. I'm not saying I didn't have to do anymore reverse knitting, but I have managed to finish my first Christmas gift!

I'm taking a chance (pretty good) that my granddaughter's don't read my blog and won't see this scarf. However, I am NOT saying which grand it is for, but I love how it came out. It's not in the least bit frilly, which I think she will like. It is rather sporty and will be warm!

If you are interested in this pattern, you can find it at: http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/scarves/nancyswooleasescarf.htm

She used Wool Ease yarn for her scarf, but I used Red Heart Collage in color Crimson Maple. I added 3 Knit stitches on both edges to make a bit of a border and I slipped the first stitch of each row. I just kept repeating the easy reversible pattern until it was 50 inches long. It took about one and a half skeins.

If you decide to try it, have FUN! I sure did! It knit up really fast! Fast is good!

Bias Baby Blanket

2009-11-20T13:27:00.001-08:00

Bias Baby Blanket
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Earlier this year I knit this bias baby blanket which was REALLY fun to knit. I've just now gotten around to tucking in the ends of joined skeins. I had blocked it in the early summer and then set it away out of site when our children were visiting.

It has the neatest picot type edge built into the pattern, so there's no finishing except for tucking and blocking. I wasn't able to get it blocked into an exact square, but the gal whose blog I found the pattern on said " i hope you understand that this blanket was not intended to be square in shape, so if you are blocking it to maintain a square shape, it may naturally take on a more elongated diamond with use - i would encourage you to simply let the shape be what it wants to be, as baby blankets tend to be folded and wrapped all the time anyway.
Also, depending on the yarn/wool you chose to work with will impact the outcome of the finished piece."

So, I'm ok with it's slightly wonky shape. I think it would be nice to cover a baby in a carrier or carseat. Even maybe it would work nicely in a bassinet. She told me that one she gave to a friend's baby has been laundered many times and is still looking great.

If anyone is interested, the pattern can be found at JC's website which is here. When you get there, click on "Knitting patterns" and then scroll down to find the Bias Blanket knitting pattern. Oh, and I didn't use the yarn she recommended in the pattern. I used Caron's Simply Soft in color "Baby Bright Ombre". It's very soft.

If you give this pattern, I think you will find it..... Fun!

Vintage find

2009-11-09T18:50:00.001-08:00

Vintage find
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Last Friday 4 of us from our local CQ group went on a field trip. One place we stopped was a great antique cooperative shop with MANY wonderful things. I got a wonderful piece of vintage brocade and a yard of this great lace.

See those little spiderwebs in the center? I just LOVE this lace. I think maybe I will have a big problem actually using this lace. LOL....there were two hanks for sale and I think I might just have to go back and buy the other one if it's still there.

This lace really intrigues me and I'm sure it was machine made. I've crocheted some pretty complicated patterns in thread but something like this I would not begin to attempt!

So lucky I found it!

P.S......my newer camera would NOT take a fine detailed picture of this lace - I am really upset. I had to use my old Sony camera that takes floppy disks only! Doesn't it do a great job on closeups?

300th Post! Phew!

2009-11-08T15:59:00.001-08:00

Block 25-last!
Originally uploaded by lasassone

What better way to celebrate my 300th post to this blog than to post the last block in the Ruby McKim Farm Quilt design set?

I finished the owl and frog block on the evening of November 2nd as I was watching television. I have to say that I was a bit surprised at the design of the last block, but we must remember that these designs are from the 1930's (I think) and reflect farm life in that era. I loved doing the eyes of the from using buttonhole stitch!

I'll be setting this blockset aside until after the first of next year before I try to put my Farm Quilt together. However, I thought you might like to see the fabric that I will be using for the alternate blocks of my quilt.

I had the Farm Quilt design set for some time when, one day quite unexpectedly, I finally found the perfect fabric to use with the designs. I immediately used the fabric to match up with a DMC floss color (355). When I got home, I bundled the fabric, thread and designs together and put them in a 12" x 12" portfolio until such time as I felt the urge to start the embroidery.

Surprisingly, I found this fabric in the craft department of our local Wal-Mart. It is very nice quality with a nice tight weave. It is called "Pleasant Valley" designed for "Exclusively Quilters" from Classiccottons.com.

I will be re-visiting this quilt in January, but now it's time to get on with finishing up some promised projects for family. I've a pillow to finish for one grandchild that is long overdue. Then I promised my eldest daughter I would make her a pencil skirt. Then it will be on to projects I have planned for family Christmas gifts. And, right now I also continue to knit scarves!

I also have a make-do pincushion to get done before our local CQ stitcher's Christmas luncheon. I'm the one who posted the challenge to the group last January or February and I'll bet that I'm the last one to get done with my pincushion. My delay is in part to the fact that I knew what I wanted to use as my base, but I spent months looking for it. I finally gave up because I think I may have sold it in the 4 garage sales we had when we were planning the move that didn't happen. It was a pewter cream pitcher from my Mum's (Lulu-see my other blog) pitcher collection. I know I downsized that collection some back in 2007, but I cannot believe that I actually sold that pitcher which was a piece of passenger railroad serviceware.

So, I must get stitching - not to mention both the cat AND G are asking me what's for dinner!

Farm Quilt block #24-One More to Go!

2009-11-03T14:21:00.000-08:00

Farm Quilt block #24
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Here is the next to last block in the Ruby McKim Farm Quilt design set that I finished Sunday evening.

I'm still not sure what project I'll move on to doing in place of these blocks once they are all finished. However, I DO know that I won't be putting them together until after the first of 2010. I've got too many things going here. I'm playing catch up on a couple gifts that I promised and then I need to begin on Christmas gifts. I'm hoping to make a few tote bags for gifts this year and I want them to be unique to the individual, so I think I'll be doing some more embroidery quite soon!

Last week I began knitting a scarf for one of my granddaughters for Christmas and I am about 1/2 finished with it. I only work on it when I'm watching tv in what we call our "lounge" for lack of a better name. It's a new to me pattern with only 3 pattern rows that repeat. You'd think that would be simple enough, but I have to stop and count about every 6 rows in case I make a mistake. Good thing it's only 36 stitches wide! I've also had to pick up 2 dropped stitches so far. Knitting with older hands is challenging!

Our small Tuesday crazy quilt group had this weeks meeting at my house today and it was a good one as is usually the case. I need to do a bit more stitching and then beads on the parts of the heart shaped box that Beth will then construct for me. I love the colors in my bedroom (eggplant, teal & gold), and this box will be a welcome addition when it takes it's place on our bookcase headboard!

I've a plan now for the 2nd block I'm doing for Kate's Africa project, so I can begin stitching & embellishing those two blocks and get them off in the mail to Kate.

Back to Stitching!

Farm Quilt Block 23

2009-10-31T10:56:00.001-07:00

Farm Quilt Block 23
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Well, I guess this is sort of appropriate for Halloween posting. See the pumpkins behind the fence? And the haystacks?

Gosh, only two more blocks to go and I'll be done with this design set. I already started knitting Christmas gift scarves when I'm sitting in another area of the house. I'll need to find something else to work on while I watch tv with G.

Not that there's a shortage of projects here, believe me. The other day I found the red tablecloth that I used to put on our table for Christmas dinner. The last few years I used it I had everyone sign their names on it. I'd like to get those names embroidered so that, if we are here for Christmas this year, I can use it on the table.

And then there's more blocks that I have traced for my Life Quilt. And the Redwork Circus Quilt designs that I've had planned for years. there's about 10 other projects in 12" x 12" envelopes on my "to-do" shelf.

Stay Tuned; you never know what will strike my fancy next!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T09:01:00.001-07:00

Block 21 - Four More to Go!

2009-10-23T22:11:00.001-07:00

Block 21
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Finished on 10/21/09 - Little girls block. #21 in the 25 design Ruby McKim Farm Quilt set.

Blowing "dandelions" was a favorite activity of mine when I was a child. When the wind was right, the fluff would make a swirly cloud that danced away.

I had no clue as to the grief I caused local gardeners! LOL

Preview of block to come = the crow's nemesis!

New to me Sampler

2009-10-22T12:24:00.001-07:00

Sampler
Originally uploaded by lasassone

The other day at our Tuesday group meeting, a friend gave me this sampler from some things she no longer wanted. I don't do much cross stitching anymore, but I LOVE to find finished pieces even if they might need some repairs.

The next day I thoroughly looked this piece over and must tell you that was VERY well done by whoever stitched it. The edges are turned under about 1/4 inch and on one of them is printed "No 207 - Pure Linen Sampler Made in USA by Vogart."

The stitching is very nice and even the back is quite neat and tidy. The blue corner flowers and the bluebird are neatly satin stitched. There were some age-related stains on the lower half of the piece, but they are all gone now after a 10 minute soak in some warm water with Dawn dishwasher soap added. I rinsed it a couple times and dried it outside in the sunshine. No bleeding of the threads and it is looking almost new.

I'm not sure I will frame this piece or use it in the center of a quilted piece....time will tell. I need to find a couple other samplers that I know are somewhere here. At least one was done by my Canadian grandmother and was found by my dad when she passed away.

Back to downsizing!

I'm on a roll!

2009-10-21T16:43:00.001-07:00

Farm Quilt - Block #20
Originally uploaded by lasassone

This is block #20 in the Ruby McKim Farm Quilt design set. I finished it last evening - 10/20/09.

Only 5 more designs to go! I can't believe how speedy I've been with these blocks. Part of the credit belongs to my doctor and a new arthritis medication. My hands are SO much better. Not swollen and sore like they had been for quite some time.

Crazyquilt stitching and flat out embroidery has become SO much easier! And, after 7 weeks, I can't say that I notice any bad side effects either.

Well, today is G and my 42nd wedding anniversary and we are about to leave to go out to an early dinner. We can't believe it's been 42 years because, looking back, it just seems like yesterday. Loads of memories, 3 daughters and 7 grandkids.......imagine that!

Farm Quilt - Block #19

2009-10-21T16:37:00.001-07:00

Farm Quilt - Block #19
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Boy Fishing - finished 10/19/09. New camera - sorry for the date thing. I've turned it off now that I figured out HOW!

Farm Quilt-Block 18-Duck

2009-10-19T13:59:00.001-07:00

Farm Quilt-Block 18-Ducks
Originally uploaded by lasassone

finished 10/17/09.

Block #16 - Farm Quilt

2009-10-14T16:22:00.003-07:00

Block #16 - Farm Quilt
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Mr. turkey finished last evening 10/13/09 at 11 a.m.

Block #15 - Farm Quilt

2009-10-14T16:22:00.001-07:00

Block #15 - Farm Quilt
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Duck finished 10/13/09

Block #14 - Farm Quilt

2009-10-14T16:21:00.001-07:00

Block #14 - Farm Quilt
Originally uploaded by lasassone

finished 10/12/09

Block #1 for Kate's Africa Project

2009-10-14T15:39:00.001-07:00

Block #1 for Kate's Africa Project
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Since Kate H. extended the deadline for her Africa Project blocks, I pieced 2 blocks to embellish for her. I ran out of time with her old deadline, but the extension will allow me to send her 2 blocks instead of just one!

Below I have put a picture of the 2nd one I pieced. These are 6" blocks and I can't wait to get stitching on them!

Block #2 for Kate's Africa Project

2009-10-14T15:36:00.001-07:00

Block #2 for Kate's Africa Project
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Making Memories 2009 Block

2009-10-14T14:46:00.001-07:00

Making Memories 2009 Block
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Finally finished and in the mail!

This is the very first CQ block that I've done that doesn't include beading, patch motifs or a spider and web! Following the guidelines for this project was really hard.

I still don't feel like the block is done!

If you would like to see more, click on the picture and you will be taken to my Flickr site where you can see 4 closeups of the block.

Farm Quilt Block #12

2009-10-11T17:37:00.001-07:00

Farm Quilt Block #12
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Meow!

The 12th block of the Ruby McKim Farm Quilt set is a cat which I very quickly did Friday night while watching t.v. I just love that program "Numbers" on Friday evenings. It brings back the time in college when I was a real math geek.

Next up is the rooster and then a hen. Mr. Rooster is quite complicated with all this feathers. I worked on it yesterday during our Delta Crazy Stitcher's monthly meeting. I have it all done except now I must move to 1 strand of floss to do his face and feet.

Stitch On!

Block 11 & some seams

2009-10-08T13:25:00.001-07:00

Well, I finished block #11 last evening while watching tv. Here we have the farm dog - a collie I would guess. I managed to get 6 more designs transfered yesterday, so I have 5 left now, which should keep me busy for a few evenings.

This morning I put some finishing touches on the Making Memories crazy quilt block. Here below are 3 of the seams - just a little preview of the block whick I should be able to share tomorrow.

Two more Farm Quilt blocks done!

2009-10-07T13:25:00.001-07:00

Block #10 Farm Quilt
Originally uploaded by lasassone

This is block #10 of the Ruby McKim Farm Quilt that I finished last night. I need to get some more blocks traced.

I love the portability of Redwork embroidery and I've done almost all of these blocks while watching evening television with G. Must prep some more blocks this afternoon so that I'll be all set for tonight.

After that I have got to put the finishing touches on the Making Memories block. No beads are allowed this go-round and I am having a lot of trouble finishing this block since I don't consider a crazyquilt block or project is not truly finished until I bead it!

But finish it I WILL......

Finished Block #9 of the Farm Quilt

2009-10-07T13:18:00.001-07:00

Block #9 Farm Quilt
Originally uploaded by lasassone

More of Linda's CQ work

2009-10-06T11:57:00.000-07:00

Wedding Dress she Silk Ribbon Embroidered

Garden Cart

Back of Caged Bird Jacket

Caged Bird Jacket

Mrs. Muse Art Doll

Moment of Repose Wallhanging

My Dragon Had a Bad Hair Day Wallhanging

Birdhouse Blues Wallhanging

One of her donation blocks for the Omaha Auction Quilts

Memories of Linda Stimson

2009-10-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

Today while continuing to re-organize and try to eliminate some of the boxes still sitting around my fabric room and studio, I was able to consolidate everything in 1 portable drawers and one box into a better storage container. That left me with a portable drawer that I could use for something else.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to put in it; actually there were many choices I was considering. That is until I uncovered a box behind my cutting station in the fabric room that I had totally forgotten.

I met Linda Stimson first in Omaha at the Crazy Quilt Conference and we quickly found out that we lived quite near to each other. We followed that with another Omaha Conference and 2 local gatherings of crazyquilters held in the east bay area where we had tons of fun learning together and getting to know everyone. The group consisted of many crazyquilters from No. California and at least 2 who flew in from So. California as well. The attraction? Well, we all shared in the expense of flying Betty Pillsbury to the West Coast for 2 and a half days of valuable "Betty knowledge"! Those 2 weekends were some of the best times I have had since beginning my Crazy Journey. We would also meet up at various quilt shows around the Bay Area - sometimes accidently and sometimes on purpose.

For those wonderful weekend gatherings, Linda lived nearby and was able to go home for the night every time. She didn't have to sleep in my friend's motorhome (1st weekend) or arrange patio cushions on the living room floor under her sleeping bag like I did for the 2nd weekend!

At one of those 2 retreats I took the picture below of Linda and posted it to the web as "the mystery crazyquilter". I had a contest to see who could guess who it was. She and I got a kick out of the guesses!

I believe it was in 2003 when Linda was diagnosed with cancer and her friends thought for sure she could beat it. It was a long journey for her and she passed away on December 28, 2005. She spend 2005 doing things she loved. She even traveled to the Orient late in that last year. Before she left she sent our local CQ group a box of her stash. She had been dividing up her stash that last year and we were lucky to be included in her sharing. I remember volunteering to go to her place to pick it up, but she wanted to mail it because she was leaving on her trip the next day.

When the box arrived I was blown away at the size of it and the wonderfulness it contained! At the next meeting of our local group I took it to share with our members. Looking back I recall they didn't make much of a dent in the volume of goodies. I brought the box home and stuck it in my sewing room closet.

When we cleared out the house in order to try to sell it, that box went to storage along with all the rest of my fabrics. Never unpacked, it was stacked behind the cutting center that G built for me in the fabric storage room - formerly his den.

The above is a picture of what's in the box and now will move to the extra portable drawer. The box is full of amazing and gorgeous fabrics which I treasure and they bring back such wonderful memories of Linda. If you did not know Linda, you can see some of her work at this link:

http://www.vintagevogue.com/html/linda_stimson.html -

I'm so glad that Vintage Vogue hasn't removed those picture. I have many other pictures on my computer and will try to get them posted with notes perhaps. Meanwhile I'm lost in happy memories of wonderful times.

Donkey Block for Farm Quilt

2009-10-02T11:53:00.001-07:00

Donkey Block for Farm Quilt
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Call me crazy, but I am just loving all the new television programs and Redwork is one thing I can do while watching them. Working on a CQ block is hard. I need to be sitting at a table to handle a Crazy Quilt project.

I finished this mule last evening. It's the 8th block in the Ruby McKim Farm Quilt design set. In fact, I even started the next block which is the Piggies block.

I did the mule block all with 2 strands of floss, but for the little chick at the bottom right I only used 1 strand and did the back stitch instead of the outline stitch.

I've a long way to go on this project; there are 25 designs. A long time ago I found the fabric for alternate blocks and/or sashing and I've wanted to do this set ever since. It's a farm landscape print and the dmc thread color I'm using matches the print. It's color #355.

Well, now back to working on the block for the Breast Cancer Project! Oh, and I have to do the bills for the month too. Such Fun!

Sheep block of the McKim Farm Quilt

2009-09-30T16:53:00.001-07:00

Sheep block of the McKim Farm Quilt
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Well, I'm so slow these days, this block seemed like it took forever. today I decided to cut all the squares for the rest of the blocks and also all the backing squares. I now at least have the rest of the designs (18) sort of prepped.

Then I pulled out of the light box and traced off the next 3 blocks. Keeping ahead on the tracing should now be easier since I don't have to cut AND trace when I finish the last traced block.

Watching tv at night lately I have been going through the multitude of magazines I have here. I'm finding there's not much I need to copy, especially in the pile of Australian Embroidery ones because they are mostly about silk ribbon embroidery. I only do SRE every so often - it's not really my thing. Vintage looking layering seam stitching and spiders are "my thing".....

That said, my latest stitching is on a block for a breast cancer project being coordinated on the CrazyQuilt International list. I'm running a little late and the deadline is actually today, so I hope to show you all shortly what I did with the block that Leslie pieced for me to embellish. I've tried to contact someone to see if I can get a time extension, but haven't heard back. SO I'll just go merrily along my way and assume they will be able to use the block in some way.

For now I have to go see how to rescue a casserole I found in the freezer. On it I found a taped note that said "too dry; needs more moisture"........wish me luck!

Bull/Cow(?) block for Ruby McKim Farm Quilt

2009-09-12T14:14:00.001-07:00

Bull block for Ruby McKim Farm Quilt
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Is it a bull or a cow? Look at those horns? But it's got udders? Well, in the 25 blocks set of this Ruby McKim pattern, this is the only "cattle" design, so perhaps we will never know!

While we were at the beach last month I finished this, the 6th block for my Ruby McKim Farm Quilt. I think I'm beginning to like putting a 2nd piece of fabric behind the stitching, although in this picture, you can see that when you press the block well, the knots kind of show through.

I think I can live with that because at least the red thread doesn't show through the front as it would with just one layer of fabric. I'm still being careful of making jumps too far and hiding my thread tails. Old habits are hard to break.

I've had to take a small break from these Farm Quilt blocks so that I can embellish a block for the next Making Memories Breast Cancer Quilt Project. The last time I participated in one of their projects, 3 quilts were made from the donated blocks. I believe I heard too that those 3 quilts will be on display this year at the big Houston quilt show.

This time around the theme is Dragonflies & Butterflies and the all-white blocks are to be embellished with jewel tones. I chose Amber & Purple to use on mine. I'm actually finding it rather difficult to work in these colors on a white blocks, but I'm sure when I finish the block will be great. If there is one thing I've learned after 9+ years of crazyquilt stitching, it is to not to make judgements about a piece until it's finished. This also will be a tough one for me because I usually stitch on lots of beads after all the seam stitching is done and they don't want ANY beads on these blocks........I won't feel as if the block is done!

Next block in the Farm Quilt set is the Sheep, not the Piggies, as I first said...........stay tuned!

We will never forget!

2009-09-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

Surprise, Surprise. It's been a long summer during which stitching and blogging has been put on the back burner her at Hydrangea House. Please forgive. I won't bore you with the details, but we've been dealing with doctors & family and it's all been keeping me very busy

God Bless Redwork
Originally uploaded by lasassone

I can't believe it's been 8 years. Although G and I spent much of today moving furniture and going through drawers of "stuff", I was keenly aware of what the date was. It is hard to miss when you are someone like me who turns on Good Morning America first thing in the morning.

Every year I still think of Jane Beatty, daughter, wife and mother and Raymond Metz III, husband and super dad to his girlies. They are the two 911 victims that I made quilt blocks for in the 911 project. I came to know much about my adopted friends and I made a promise to NEVER forget them. This year because of the nature of what I was involved in today, was another year I haven't worn the shirt I made with their pictures on it. The shirt itself was brought back from NYC just after 911 by a student of my husband who was in NYC to receive a film award. He went to the World Trade Center site and brought both G and I a shirt that showed the towers pre-911. On the back I put Jane and Ray's picture.

I Found My Baby Dresses

2009-08-09T16:28:00.001-07:00

My Baby Dresses
Originally uploaded by lasassone

I found the baby dresses of mine from the 1940's that I mentioned earlier. When I was a little girl my baby dolls used to wear these too and my very favorite was the one in front with the ribbon trim. My Mum's friend Lena Larson even did that sweet crochet around the hem of that one just like she did on the neck edge. I imagine Mum had a good deal of fun dressing her long-awaited and only baby girl up in these dresses.

I know that I dressed me eldest daughter in these dresses but am not sure about the other 2 girls who were 7 and 12 years younger than she was - still are! LOL

Getting these out, pressing them and putting them with the ones I bought for $1 each at the flea market gave me an idea. I think I'm going to use them somehow as a valance on one of my windows. I went today and bought a brass curtain rod. All the windows in this house are the same size (strange I know), but I probably will put them in the fabric room window. It is the only window that doesn't get any direct sunlight. I may not leave them up forever, but I've enjoyed seeing them again so much and will enjoy looking at them everyday for a little while anyway.

And now back to stitching.....

2009-08-03T16:31:00.001-07:00

Wish my baby girl had warned me she was taking our picture with her phone as she and her family pulled out of the drive to leave for the Grand Canyon. I would have sucked in my tummy! LOL..... I just realized that you can see her in the rear view mirror!

It is SO quiet here today. Not that they were noisy-they were not at all, but having others in the house is so different for G and I. I have kept busy today so that I won't become weepy. Yesterday when we all went to the local flea market, a lady there donated an office-paper box full of fabric to our Blankie project. All but 2 pieces tested as cotton, so today I've been running little color loads and drying them on my rack outside. We're having a nice breezy day and it's just over 80 degrees, so it's very pleasant. See the fabrics fluttering in the breeze?

Also yesterday I bought 2 of the cutest little vintage baby shirts. They are both white with very dainty embroidery and the sweetest little mother of pearl buttons. They open up the front just right of the center so that you could open the shirt, lay the baby down on it and then button them into it. I venture to say they are from the 1940's. The reason I say that is they are very similar to a couple baby dresses of mine that my Mum saved. She once told me that the dresses were available in the dime store for stitchers to embroider and her friend Lena Larson gave them to me when I was born. If I can remember where those dresses are tucked away, I will post a picture of them. Meanwhile, here are the baby shirts I bought for $1 each!

I've no idea of why I fell in love with these baby shirts. They made me smile and my granddaughter, who is 5 and loves pretty things, liked them too. I'm sure that there are no more grandchildren in our future, so perhaps I will clean and add these to the great-grandchild hope chest!

I'll go look for those dresses!

Stitch On!

Not a whole lot of stitching going on here!

2009-08-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

Still here until Monday is our youngest daughter and her family shown above. They live in TX and are traveling by car. They started by driving to Disneyland and then came up here for the week. One of the nights they spent up north at our eldest daughter's place in the mountains. When they leave here Monday, they are headed to the Grand Canyon and then home after that.

In mid-July our #2 daughter and her family came by plane to California. The day this picture was taken we had driven with our eldest daughter(she is on far right) into San Francisco. We all went to Alcatraz and spent the whole day together. The following Monday her hubby had to return home to Georgia for work and she and the kiddos drove out to spend the week at our place and her sister's place in the mountains.

I feel like I've been running a B and B! Just joking. The girls have been very helpful and I haven't had to do much except bake and direct traffic in the bathroom. A good time was had by all and is still being had. I've still managed to be able to attend my Tuesday morning stitching group because they all have gone off on their own on every one of the Tuesdays. I'm not making much progress on anything though. The girls don't come to California that often and it's a shame they couldn't be here at the same time. However, it would not have been a good thing to have 9 people sharing a bathroom!

So, next week it will be back to normal which is extreme quiet and we'll be missing all of them.

Hang in there! I'll be back, as Arnold once said......

Last of the Hydrangeas for 2009

2009-07-19T13:10:00.001-07:00

Last of the Hydrangeas for 2009
Originally uploaded by lasassone

As we prepare for the first wave of grandkids tomorrow, I went outside and walked the yard early this morning. The latest heatwave has been very hard on all the hydrangea bushes andd this bouquet contains all the flowers that have survived. Even my "Endless Summer" bush is looking very bad!

We've had a good showing of hydrangeas this year, but it's always sad to have to deadhead the bushes. They make the yards and patios of Hydrangea House very cheerful every year for weeks and weeks. This year I didn't cut many bouquets as I love looking out from all the windows to see the wonderful varied colours.

I'm Back and look what I've been up to!

2009-07-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

I know, I know - I've been among the missing for way too long. I won't go into details, but I've been very busy with family, my dh's health and filling orders for my Stash Stretcher packets.

I opened up a store at etsy.com that is called "Etsy Bitsy Spider" but you have to look it up by my user name which is Lulianne. Long story about that name - but former neighbor's kiddos called me that when they were little.

This past Saturday our local CQ group, Delta Crazy Stitchers, meet at my home and we had a Play Day of sorts out on our patio. We used fabric paints to paint on silk and cotton fabrics and discovered the wonderfulness of adding kosher salt to the wet painted fabric. We used my French fabric paints on a lot of things like silk ribbon, lace pieces and trim.

On Sunday, since I hadn't really cleaned up the patio much, I spent the afternoon doing some dye work with my Ozcraft dyes. I love working with these dyes and found that I'm running low on some colors. I'm not sure where to find these anymore, so if anyone knows, please leave me a comment. I heard some time ago that that the Canadian source stopped carrying the Ozcraft dyes.

Okay, so now I'm going to load some pictures of my dyed goodies with some comments added.

Dye Play Day - our own Mini-Omaha!

2009-07-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

These are some medium sized motifs that I dyed using Ozcraft Dyes which are made in Australia and so SUPER easy to use. All of them except the heart and peacock were given a last wash of a thinned gold to mute the colors and make them look more vintage. I'm not in love with that largest motif ... I just couldn't get the color the way I wanted it.
Next these are some small motifs done with the Ozcraft dyes as well. All but the swan and the blue butterfly were given an antique "wash". What surprises me is how different the dragonflies all look. They were super fun to do. I looked on Etsy.com but could find very few hand dyed motifs for sale. I'm wondering if there would be a market for something like this....any thoughts?

Below are some lace pieces I did with the Ozcraft dyes. The top one turned out SO great! The center one is a piece of hand-crocheted pillow case edging that is vintage. I actually did the color work with the fabric paints on Saturday and I didn't like it much. On Sunday I gave it an Ozcraft antique wash treatment and it's better now. The bottom one is a delicate purchased trim I have had for years and I think the Ozcraft dyes & antique treatment made it even more awesome than it was when it was naked!

The 13mm ribbon below on the top left was painted with the French fabric paints and then sprinkled with the kosher salt while wet. I set it in the sun to dry and it is crazy wonderful! The 7 mm in the center top was treated the same, but with only one color. The top right skinny ribbon was dyed pink with the Ozcraft (I think) and then edged with a blue fabric dye felt tip pen. The trim on the bottom left was done with 2 colors of the fabric paint and the center ribbon was also. The hank of size 25 pearl cotton on the bottom right was colored by dropping various colors of fabric paint until the skein was totally wet with color. On Sunday I did an Ozcraft antique wash on it and it turned from just okay to totally awesome!

Below are some fabrics that we painted with the French Fabric Paints and also gave the kosher salt treatment. The fabric on the left is some PFD Elegance silk/cotton blend that came out last year under Judith Baker Montano's name. An internet friend of mine bought a whole bolt for dying and then sold me some yardage for me to dye or paint. The other two pieces of fabric are from a wedding dress that our group cannibalized recently for the wonderful motifs on it. I discovered by the burn test that it was quite possibly silk and I am happy to say it took the fabric paint quite wonderfully.

Last but not least, one of our members brought some discharge paste on Saturday and a few of us tried our hand at the new-to-us technique. The pieces below are all black Kona cotton. One of them showed some intriguing orange coming through, but mostly we saw a cream color coming through. I also tried the paste on some black velveteen, however it was a dismal failure. I found this discharge dying quite intriguing. I would like to get a jar of the paste and try some silk and other dark colors of Kona.

All in all it was a wonderful fun day we had on Saturday here. I can see how I could get totally wrapped up in this dyeing stuff. Perhaps in August, after my 2 daughters and their families have visited and gone, I will drag out all my stuff and do some more. I have an incredible amount of things and fabric to dye that I have collected over the years. In fact, there are a couple drawers full and a whole big blue storage tub!

I hope you belong to a group or have taken a class somewhere and had as much fun as we did on Saturday. I am blessed to have so many wonderful CQ friends in my life.

Wow! Look Where G and I Have Been!

2009-06-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

visited 45 states (90%

Someone posted this on their blog this morning and I was fascinated. I traveled a good deal when I was a child and after I married G we took our 3 girls on many trips during summer breaks from school. We had fun making up this map and were surprised that we've only missed 5 states in our travels. Montana is so big; it's hard to believe we missed it!

Nothing to do with stitching, but something to think about for sure!

Look At Me!

2009-05-28T19:35:00.001-07:00

Done Stripping!
Originally uploaded by lasassone

I'm done stripping! I feel so GOOD! In the process of choosing the fabrics for this quilt, I realized that I really learned a LOT last year in Sharon Boggin's Take it Further challenge. I remember the first few months were quite difficult, but as I went on making a crazyquilt block each month with her posted colors, I began to see colors differently and I guess it stuck!

I've made all the 2.5" strips of the 12 fabrics as per the 2nd week's instructio1ns for the quiltalong at Old Red Barn blog. I'm all caught up! There's still time for YOU to catch up too! Click on Old Red Barn above or hit on the link to the blog that is on the side of this blog.

Now I can go watch the Nat'l Spelling Bee while I sort my fancy strips by color in preparation for a couple million crazyquilt blocks!

Stitch On!

Old Red Barn Quiltalong fabrics

2009-05-28T12:44:00.001-07:00

Old Red Barn Quiltalong fabrics
Originally uploaded by lasassone

I'm trying to jerk myself out of the doldrums here and so I decided to participate in the Quiltalong being run by the owner of the "Old Red Barn" blog. We were to pick 12 fabrics . At first thought about using the many fabrics I have in the Judith Baker Montano Embellishment line, but since this quiltalong calls for 1/2 yards of all 12 fabrics and I only have 1/2 yards of the fabrics in JBM's line, I decided to go with something different because that would wipe out most of that line of fabrics that I love so much!

I'm trying for a romantic look here. We plan on remodeling our front room this summer and I'd like it to be a place where we could hang some paintings that G's Mum did over the years. There are a lot of flower paintings and roses which I love and miss seeing since they've been packed away.

Now I must cut a half yard of each of these into strips. Maybe getting that done today will make me feel as if I've accomplished something.

Stitch On!

Drum Roll Please!

2009-05-06T15:16:00.001-07:00

Drum Roll Please!
Originally uploaded by lasassone

I had to wait until G came home from playing golf today so that I could have him do the drawing! I placed all the entries in my grandmothers early 1900's blue transfer ware pot for him to draw. Gramma Towne used to use this pot on the back of her stove to collect bacon grease. I believe my Mum did too, but since we don't eat much bacon anymore, I simply keep it on my glass shelf where it looks pretty.

Drum Roll Please!!!!!!!!!!

Scroll down to find out the 3 winners of my drawing!

Ta Da! Congratulations!

2009-05-06T15:13:00.001-07:00

Ta Da!
Originally uploaded by lasassone

The winners are:
#1 RoseAnn B.
#2 Bobbie P.
#3 Thelma B.

If the above 3 want to email me at lasassone at aol dot com, that's fine. But I DO have all your emails and will be contacting you shortly!

Stitch On!

Guess Who is Having a Birthday!

2009-04-30T11:27:00.001-07:00

Stash Downsize Project
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Well, here you see what I've been up to lately. This is a folding banquet table that I'm working on in our dining room.I 've only got 3 more color drawers and the metallics to go. You can just see a glimpse of the yellow drawer on the left and the cream and green pile on the right. I had to stand on a high stool and put the camera on the ceiling to take this picture. Got it on the 4th try! LOL Seems like I've been sorting, pressing and cutting for months now, but it's only been about 3 weeks with MANY interruptions.

All this is because space in this tiny house is at a premium and I need the room. In order to make room in these drawers for my "reads-as" color cotton fabrics, I have decided to seriously downsize my fancy fabric stash again. Mind you these fabrics are the ones that I selfishly kept for myself when we were planning on moving to a larger place. So, there's a lot of wonderful things in there and many one-of-a-kind pieces.

Now for the surprise I promised. Today is my birthday (and AllieA's as well)! If you leave a comment on this post until May 5th, I will enter you in a drawing. Remember, you have to leave the comment on THIS message. And I must be able to click on your name and get a link to your email unless you include it in your comment. I'd also like you to tell me your favorite color and why it's your fav maybe. I'm curious!

#1 winner will get a hand picked just-for-you Stash Stretcher packet.
#2 winner will get a combo packet of 10 fabric cuts & embellishments.
#3 winner will get an embellishment package in his or favorite color.

I sell Stash Stretcher packets for $12.50 and that includes first class shipping. Postage for multiple orders varies.

Stash Stretcher packets contain 25 pieces of fancy fabrics cut approximately 6" x 10" because I and my students have found that rectangles work best for cq piecing. Less fabric is wasted and we NEVER want to waste fabric, right?

I also include a surprise in each packet. The surprise could be anything from a little ziplock of beads to trims to mother of pearl buttons.

So! Now I'm done workiing and I will spend the day relaxing, reading & stitching maybe. Perhaps I'll also eat light to prepare myself a bit in for the dinner out G has planned for this evening!

Stitch on!

Further Catching up - April Free BOM Design

2009-04-29T19:42:00.001-07:00

April Free BOM Design
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Well, it's the 29th of the month and although I've had this design ready for some time, I just now have time to get it up here on my badly neglected blog.

Been super busy with a lot of things. G's best friend had a stroke and has now been moved to a rehab factility that is a 30 minute drive away. His wife cannot drive, so there has been the necessity to get her there each day and pick her up as well.

Secondly I've been busy cutting up all my crazyquilt fancy fabrics in order to make up Stash Stretcher packets again. The packets will be the same as I sold before when were planning to move. Space is at a premium, but as long as we must stay longer I decided to majorly downsize my cq stash in order to make some shelf space to display my doll collection.

No sense even HAVING a doll collection if I can't see it, right?

So, my need for space will benefit others who may not have been collecting fancy fabrics for 13 years. Keep in mind these are the fabrics that I selfishly decided to keep for myself when I did the last downsize! There are some real goodies in there!

That said - IF you too like fabric, be sure to come back here tomorrow for a SURPRISE!

Now about the Easter Mouse design. I was just going to do a decorated egg or perhaps a bunny. I did this design because I have a close friend who loves mice and I thought perhaps she might be inspired to actually DO some embroidery if she had something to do that amused her. She has seen the design and says she really likes it!

Will you do it in colored embroidery? I think I will, but I also think perhaps that my mousie might just become the first in a 12 month series of embroidery designs.

Meanwhile, don't forget to come back tomorrow! It's going to be a SPECIAL DAY!

Stitch On!

P.S. I forgot to mention that you can click on the design to print it and it should be about 7" wide. Also you can go to:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14575046/April-BOM-Design and print it from there!

Catching up - March BOM Redwork Embroidery Design

2009-04-29T19:27:00.001-07:00

March BOM Redwork Embroidery Design
Originally uploaded by lasassone

This is my free BOM offering for the month of March - offered up late as I warned you all.

The box around this design was drawn 7" x 7" - just so you know it's original size. This flower (or weed, if you prefer) is the Contra Costa Wallflower. It is an endangered species of Spring wildflower that almost exclusively grows here in our county.

It appears always sometimes in March and has yellow blossoms. They compete in early spring with the wild mustard over our velvet green hills. That is to say the hills are green IF we've had enough rain. Weather people say we haven't actually HAD enough rain this year, but our hills did turn to green velvet while I was gone to AZ.

This is a design that will provide challenges for a beginner embroiderer for many reasons. One is the interesting angles of the leaf tips. Getting sharp angles/tips is always hard when you first begin. How do YOU handle it?

Do you make each tip a fly stitch? Do you go down at the tip and come back up a ways down the other side of the leaf?

Enjoy the design! Stitch On!

P.S. I forgot to mention that you can click on the design to open it, but you can also go to:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14460717/March-BOM-Free-Design and print it from there.

REGARDING MY BOM FOR MARCH

2009-03-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

Just a note aside for those who have been printing off my embroidery Block of the Month. There will be a delay in the March block. It will be posted in April along with the April block. I am going to be away from my computer until the end of the month and I've just been too busy to get the March design ready. I feel guilty but it couldn't be helped.

so sorry; you all keep stitching while I'm gone!

Easter Pillowcases

2009-03-15T13:22:00.001-07:00

Easter Pillowcases
Originally uploaded by lasassone

These are for our 3 grands in Atlanta. Yesterday I mailed off the ones for the 2 in TX. Pink for girls, blue for the boys. Figured I best get them mailed out so that they can use them for awhile. I've been told by one of my daughters that they loved the Halloween ones I made in 2007, so I decided to make Easter ones this time. Perhaps next I'll make Christmas ones for this Holiday season. I surely have enough Christmas fabric to do many many! Might have to buy yardage though for the body of the pillowcases. Have loads of prints for hem & trim though.

Stitch On!

Block 1-Ruby McKim Farm Quilt

2009-03-15T10:49:00.001-07:00

Block 1-Ruby McKim Farm Quilt
Originally uploaded by lasassone

For some time I have been trying to get to this design set. So with a trip ahead of me, I thought it might be a perfect time for a new Redwork project. I traced off the first 3 blocks and then finished this one this morning. So, I have two to take on my trip to work on in my spare moments.
***
I am using DMC color #355 which is a copper-red hue. The reason for the color is that I was spurred to do these blocks when I found the perfect fabric to use as alternate blocks in a quilt or wallhanging. I matched the thread to the major colors of the print which is an all over print that looks like Fall scenes of a farm and rolling hills. I plan to fussy cut scenes for the alternate blocks.
***
The embroidered blocks are approximately 7" square and I am using regular outline stitch for the major parts of the designs and backstitching for the small details such as the window panes. In the case of the attic window in this design, I even went down to just one strand of floss.
***
The next block I'm doing is the farmer on the old fashioned tractor.
***
Stay tuned & Stitch On!

2008 Take It Further Challenge - August Block

2009-03-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

I have finally gotten back to stitching on my Take it Further Color challenge blocks from last year. Because of many things I had gotten stalled on the August block but I finished it today!. I actually have all the rest of the months' blocks pieced and just need to do the embellishing on the last 4 months. The 12 blocks will then be put into a wall hanging which will hang somewhere in our home.
***
August was the month of the Olympics in China, so I have applied a copy of the olympic flag on the upper left patch.
***
On the lower left is a depiction of the Chinese character for "Harmony" which was the theme of the 2008 Olympics.
***
In the upper right, again because August is a summer month with much warmth here in Northern California, I applied a bright gold sun with a rhinestone center.
***
In the lower right corner, in addition to the badly embroidered name of the month, is a silver ring which I found at Michael's in the bead department. On it is incised the work "harmony" twice.
***
In the center I have again done a web and spider on the pansy print. This time I used a small round piece of jet for it's body.
***
All the stitches I used on this block are copies from my workbook of stitches I have observed on antique crazyquilts.
***
If you scroll down and click on the link to my flickr photos on the right of this blog, it will take you to my photostream and you can see 4 closeups I have posted there.
***
Now it's on to my September block!

Stitch On!

Stash Enhancement Road Trip

2009-03-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday 3 friends and I went on a journey into the Bay Area of No.California in search of Crazy Quilt Goodies. We made up our own little Shop Hop, but in the end only made it to 3 places. Place #4 in Berkeley was a bit of a dud because of a function in the nearby park. We circled a 2 square block area three times and were unable to find a parking place. So, we reluctantly gave up, headed towards home and stopped for dessert at Marie Callenders aka Marie Calories.......I had cheesecake!!!!

***

Our first stop was a quilt shop called Quilt Fans in Alameda, California which was a new place to all of us. It's a wonderfully friendly quilt shop with a high ceiling, tons of natural light and even has it's own resident cat called Bella. The first above is of a Fall-themed panel I purchased. Also you can see a peacock feather print and a coordinate for the panel. The panel has 4 small images which I plan to set at each corner of the larger panel and then in the center of the sides and middle I plan on doing a rectangle of crazyquilting. I plan this to be my next crazyquilt project after I finish up my Take It Further blocks from last year.

***

The other pictures shows the beads & spool of gold Nymo beading thread I got at our 2nd stop in Alameda called Bead Inspirations. It's a great little shop with a very VERY unique inventory that was also new to all of us. A tad pricey compared to other bead shops across the country that I've visited, but I saw things there that I have NEVER seen before. The beads I bought, 2 flowers, a starfish and 2 lady bugs, are all cloissone. The rings, squares and rectangle are hammered shiny brass and copper and I will be using them as bases for ring motifs. I'm actually glad we included the shop on our jaunt because we never made it to another beads shop we'd heard about in Berkeley. When we couldn't find a parking place at Lacis, I was majorly bummed and the general consensus was that we were getting tired, so we just packed it in and headed west over & through (tunnel) the hills towards home.

***

I purchased all the threads shown in that same picture (and also the 4 cards in the fabric picture) from Needle in a Haystack aka (for me) Thread Heaven! It's a hard shop to visit if you are unfamiliar with different threads or on a budget. For some reason they never mark prices on anything and I know for a fact that they lost some business on the 4 of us because of that. 2 of the group had never been there before and said at lunch afterwards that they would have bought more probably if things had been marked. Me? Well, you can see that I just go in there every time with my thread inventory and get a little of everything.

***

Yesterday I decided I would treat myself to 6 each of Rainbow Gallery's Elegance silk pearl, Rainbow Gallery's Splendor 12 ply silk floss and Caron's Wildflower cotton pearl. The 4 cards laying on the fabric are Kanagawa silk and were the last 4 in their $1 sale bin. They have decided to not carry the Kanagawa anymore and they have also discontinued the J. L. Walsh silk threads which are so wonderful and which have been my main & favorite embroidery threads for years. They won't even do special orders, but they have been kind enough to tell me of another place where I might get them.

***

The 2 skinny spools are Trebizond silk pearl. The color names on the spool are Cinnamon & Brown, but they look like gold to me. It's a thicker thread - more like a size 5 pearl. There's also 2 spools of black Anchor pearl cotton in size 8. I needed this because I have a UFO project tucked away because I ran out of that black pearl cotton. I can't find it locally at all.

I also got 3 hanks of Gloriana hand dyed 13 mm silk ribbon which is very nice. I have known the owner/dyer of Gloriana threads & ribbon since high school. Her stuff is very high quality. She used to work at Needle in a Haystack before she became "big time!"

***

We left at 9 a.m., put 107 miles on my van and got back about 5 p.m. stuffed with goodies from Marie Calories and each carrying our little bags of wonderfulness.

Off to pre-wash my fabrics and "file" my other goodies!

Finished Block for Dee's Memorial Quilt

2009-03-02T14:02:00.001-08:00

Block for Dee's Memorial Quilt
Originally uploaded by lasassone

I have finally finished my block for Dee's Memorial Quilt Project that Kate is coordinating. The block will be winging it's way to Illinois this afternoon. I you click on the picture, not only will it get larger, you will also be able to see the detail pictures I took of each of the 4 corners and the middle.

I wish I was going to be able to be in Omaha to see the project or projects that Kate will make from the donated blocks. I bet they will be great!

Now I must get busy and finish up my Take It Further blocks from last year. August is almost done and September through December's blocks are pieced and waiting for embellishment.

Stitch On!

Sneak Peek!

2009-02-28T19:00:00.001-08:00

Upper Right Corner-Dee's quilt block
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Well, despite the problems I'm been having with my hands I have managed to almost finish my block for the quilts being made to honor Dee from Holland that Kate is gathering. She will be making the many beautiful blocks she has gotten into at least a couple wall hangings I think. You can see the blocks sent to her at www.fairykate.eboard.com

As I struggled with my painful handsd I saw a note from someone else on the CQI list that is having the same problem with her hands. She has decided to divest herself of much of her stash in anticipation that she will have to eventually discontinue her cq work. I truly hope I am not ever faced with having to make that choice. Since becoming immersed in the art of Crazy Quilting, I have found the work so challenging, pleasurable and satisfying. My life would be incomplete without crazyquilting.

My Mum had the same problems with osteo-arthritis in her hands. Hers was aggravated in her 50's by an accident with a wringer washer and she eventually did less and less embroidery. When asked to make a set of pillowcases for someone like my daughter the first year she was married, she produced them, but she was no longer as prolific as she had been when she was younger. She gave away so many wonderfully embroidered gifts that I sometimes wonder when I see when others score beautiful things at thrift shops, etc. if some of them were done by her. I have the last pair of pillowcases she made for me and I have never used them. I also have many thread bare pillowcases with perfectly good embroidery work on them from her that I hope someday to make into a little wallhanging.

The picture shown here is just one corner of a block I have made for the memorial project for Dee of Holland that Kate Hollifield is coordinating. I hope to finish the block and get more pictures posted over the weekend as I plan to post this to Kate on Monday. If you click on the picture after Sunday, it should take you to my Flickr pictures where you can see more closeups.

Some good news here is that I am going to be a Great-Aunt in October. My brother's only granddaughter is expecting her first baby and now all of you who have been laughing at me for making all those baby things, can stop laughing! I'm ahead of the game now!

Stitch On!

Daughter's Scarf Done!

2009-02-14T17:16:00.001-08:00

Whoa! Two posts in one day from me! Don't faint now!

Today

Daughter's Scarf
Originally uploaded by lasassone

I finished this scarf for my eldest daughter, so I thought I'd take a picture of it and post it. I love how it turned out and hope she likes it. I had finished the actual knitting of a couple days ago, but this afternoon I blocked it a bit and now it's all ready to pop in the mail to her on Tuesday.

This pattern is called Feather and Fan and there are many free versions of it on the internet. I cannot seem to find the exact one I printed off, but there is a very similar one at this website. Look down on the left for a link to the free pattern.

I think this pattern is very feminine looking and looks especially pretty done in variegated yarn. I cast on 42 stitches with #8 needles and made it 50" long as my daughter requested. The yarn I used is called Red Heart Collage in a color called "Ice Storm." For a 50" scarf it took about one and a half of the skeins which are 3.5 ounces each. If you'd like more length, using two full skeins would give you a nice long scarf.

I'm waiting for the reaction she gets from her daughters, my 2 eldest granddaughters. If they like it perhaps I can make 2 more. If I did that, I'd use the long #8 needles and make both at the same time! The pattern is THAT easy!

Blocking a scarf was pretty easy. I'm still trying to figure out what configuration of tables I'm going to need to block the bias knit baby blanket I finished a couple weeks ago. I've always said procrastination is my middle name, but more and more I'm thinking that I am just plain lazy.

However, today I got so much accomplished that I'm pretty proud of myself. Besides blocking the scarf, I did a load of towels, added a patch over a rip in some golf pants for G, cleaned my stove front panel, cleaned both bathrooms and all the mirrors and glass shelving in the house. Then I unpacked my miniature chair collection and set it up for display before making a run to Costco aka "the $100 store."

Right now G has gone off to buy us a take-and-bake pizza for dinner and I'm going to prep some redwork squares or perhaps work on the block I'm making in honor of Dee for the Omaha Memorial quilt. I really need to get the block to Kate ASAP!

Stitch On!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

2009-02-14T08:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

My morning started by discovering that G had snuck off to the gym early and when I went into my studio I found that he had left 3 giftees and a card on the chair! One is a box of chocolates which I don't dare open right yet but it appears they come from See's! The 2nd thing is my own copy of Randy Pausch's book "The Last Lecture." I have already read this book, but it was a borrowed copy and I have wanted my own copy to keep. My youngest daughter and I agree that it's a book that should be read at least once a year. The 3rd thing, on the desk and not on the chair, was a red miniature rose! A few years ago I put a couple miniature roses in one of our gardens and so this deep beautiful red one, after I enjoy it inside for awhile, will join them!

***

I hope your Valentine's Day is great. If you don't HAVE a "valentine", treat yourself to something special today because you are special!

***

The image at the top of this post is of my class sample for a class I taught in Omaha in 2004. Called "Crazy for Redwork" the class combined my 2 loves and was a joy to teach.

***

The block's center originated in a basics of Redwork class at the yearly NQA annual conference/show when it was in Reno, Nevada in perhaps 2001. It sat in my UFO box until some of us in our local CQ group began thinking of doing monthly themed blocks. I pulled it out and used the class piece for the center of my February block. I think it's among my favorite pieces I have done over the years.

***

And I think it's totally appropriate for today's post!

Happy Birthday Mr. President!

2009-02-12T10:22:00.001-08:00

Abraham Lincoln
Originally uploaded by lasassone

On this 200th Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, it seems only appropriate to remember him by posting the redwork portrait I did a couple years ago. The iron on image block was a gift from an internet friend who loves all things Lincoln as I have since I was a child. I have collected books and newspaper memorabilia for many years.

I did this portrait all in outline stitch with the spooled Sulky cotton thread that is size 12. It's a lovely thread to use for hand embroidery, makes a fine line of stitching and comes in a wide range of colors. Quite easy to find on the internet and in shops, I have bought most of mine at Creations in Kerrville, Texas which is an awesome and very friendly quilt shop a morning's drive from my youngest daughter's home in San Antonio. When we drive there for a visit, we always spend out last night on the road in Kerrville - for 2 reasons.

One is so that I can visit Creations and the other reason is that I'm a "foodie" I guess. That is what my late brother called G and I. You see, in Kerrville there is a Culver's restaurant in the front of the local Super Wal-Mart, so G is happy - he loves to visit the Wal-Marts wherever we go. My stomach starts growling the minute I see the Culver's sign! I was introduced to Culver's in Minnesota by my good friend Mona.

I wish Culver's was closer to us; I'd give up In and Out Burger in a heart beat! Their ButterBurgers and frozen Custard are to die for!

Gosh! I must be hungry; it appears I must need breakfast!

Stitch On!

2009-02-10T18:53:00.000-08:00

Have you ever just had a string of mishaps and they never seem to end? I have finally managed to upload my February free BOM design to Flickr where, if you click on the image above, the click will take you to the design and you can print it off. OR, choose all sizes, pick large, right click on it and save to your desktop or file where you keep designs to later print off.

*** (I can't seem to make paragraph breaks so this is my solution for now!)

If you prefer to download a .pdf file, here is a link to one:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/12132392/February-Free-BOM-embroidery-design

***
Again this month I designed this stitchery to be 7" high and 7" wide, but you can print it off in your own software any size you like.

For a hint last month I asked you what kind of quilter I am and thus for February I am offering a crazyquilted heart design. There are many ways you can use this design. As far as stitching, if you know the stitches portrayed, by all means stitch away. If they are unfamiliar to you, just use straight stitches, stem stitching and lazy daisy stitches.

***

The little hearts on the top left seam are actually just fly stitches if you know how to do those. When I catch up with things around here, I will no doubt do this design two ways. One will be totally red stitching on white or cream and the other way I will do some crayon work and use colored embroidery floss. The chocolate truffle at the bottom I think would look neat colored brown with pink zigzagging around it to represent the paper cup and then white chain stitching for the icing squiggle.

***

Further embellishment of my design is up to you and I would love to see what others come up with. I think even adding charms in place of the words "love" and "be mine" might be fun. And how about perhaps sewing lace around the whole thing when it's done?

***

I had to include a chocolate truffle on this heart because on Valentine's Day I always think of my Mum, Lulu, who used to work in a candy factory dipping chocolates and knew what all those little squiggles on the chocolates meant. She always helped me avoid the pieces with nuts in them; I do NOT like nuts in my chocolate! As an aside, you can see many of Mum's recipes on my other blog; there is a link up top here.

***

Next month, March, might not be much of a surprise to anyone. St.Patrick's Day is in March and also the First Day of Spring!
***
What are the first flowers that bloom in YOUR Spring garden?
***
Stitch On!

Can Spring be far behind?

2009-02-09T10:44:00.000-08:00

Sunday we had rain showers and periods of sunshine so I took a very short walk around our gardens to check out how the plants have been faring with our recent cold temperatures. I was surprised to find a few signs of the garden waking up and getting ready for Spring.

Always the first to bloom, you can see in the 2nd picture that the snowdrop bulbs are up and waving their sweet blossoms in the wind. We were given a large clump of these by our next door neighbor almost 25 years ago when we first moved in. A couple years ago G divided up the clump and replanted these in the beds around our swimming pool. This year they are looking more well-established and the old clump, still there, even looks like it could be divided again!

Since the first year the Snowdrops have reminded me of the Lilies of the Valley that I remember as a child. Unfortunately I've tried to grow those here, but for some reason I cannot get them to grow.

The 1st picture is of the berries on a plant I think is called Heavenly Bamboo. This plant is at least 20 yrs old and this is the first time I recall ever seeing such pretty red berries on it. Nearby in the same area is a potted jade plant that is also blooming. I thought I took a picture of it's pretty pink blossom clusters, but I couldn't find it on my disk this morning and it's now raining again, so you'll just have to take my word on it. The jade usually blooms at Christmas time, but perhaps because it got left in the garden in it's pot instead of being brought in under the patio cover, it was too cold to bloom until now.

For those looking for my February BOM free redwork pattern, please be patient. I'm having a couple technical issues which I hopefully resolve later today and get it posted. For now I am off to my yoga class to rejuvenate!

LouAnne

Free Redwork BOM - January

2009-01-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

Some of you know that I planned a Redwork BOM series for 2009 and most likely have been wondering when I'd get to it, right? Well, here I am in the month of January just by the skin of my teeth!

First let me say that this will NOT be a year long snowman BOM! I had to get that out of the way because it seems there are a LOT of free snowman BOM's out there this year. Each design will be month-appropriate but each will be different designs. I'm hoping that I've done the scanning properly and by clicking on the picture you will be able to print off the design each month or save it to your desktop. I intend to test this myself right after I finish posting. I also intend sometime in the next few months to learn how to create .pdf images for my designs. I know some embroiderers or collectors of patterns prefer images to be .pdf images. Keep your fingers crossed I can figure it all out, okay?

UPDATE: this image works fine if you save it and then print in the Irfanview program and it may work in other image programs as well. However, when you click on the above picture and directly print it, it prints too large and cuts off the date and month name at the bottom.

I have figured out how to make this design a pdf file. However, I have not figured out how to imbed it so the link uploads right here. Click on this link and it will take you to the Scribd site where you can print this design out in the exact size I intended:

January Block

For saving designs what works for me on other BOM sites is to right click on the enlarged picture and then click "save as" and save it to my desk top. I actually have a folder called "To Print" on my desktop. Then later I open the image in a free program called Irfanview. There you can make the image any size you want. If you do not have Irfanview on your computer do a google search for it and download it. It doesn't take much disk space and is an incredibly useful program. I use it for all designs and, by the way, mostly print off my patterns in a size that will fit within a 7 square inch space. That way I can cut my fabric for embroidery 9" or 10" square and trim it up later to fit a project. Another plus of the program is that you can flip images, enhance them and also crop portions of designs when there's full pages and you only want to print one.

I must give some credit to my dh, aka G, who had to help me a smidge with this design. He's always there for me when I'm drawing up designs. His background in art has been very helpful in many ways for the last 41+ years!

I hope you like my goofy January snowman. He can be done in true redwork, bluework or even in colors. In a few days I will post my finished block for you all to see. To say I'm a little behind would be an understatement!

Next month's design will be something totally different. I'll give you one hint.......do you know what kind of quilter I am?

Get Stitchin!

I'm Back & Out of Hiding

2009-01-29T17:30:00.000-08:00

I'll bet most everyone has given up on me, but in case there's still a few readers of my two blogs who have hung in there, today I'm back trying to get with my normal routine. I've actually been back in California since Christmas, but the holidays, including New Year's sort of slid by me. Except for the non-verbal postings of Christmas and New Year's greetings, I'll admit I've been hiding, not just from you all, but from the world at large.

My only brother, Stewart Lisle Sterling, Jr, who was an voracious reader, went to read with the angels on December 21, 2008. In his last days he was surrounded by family (wife, 3 sons, a daughter, her husband and G and I. He, along with all of us, were given tremendous support by the amazing angels of Hospice. Although not an easy experience for any of us, we managed to have some valuable family time of re-connecting, sharing and love. Not to mention some awesome meals mostly cooked by one of my nephews who is a fireman and an awesome chef!

A few days ago on January 25th it would have been Stew's 79th birthday. He was 12 years older than me; yes, I will be 67 in April. Our 2 parents both lived to be older (84 and 91). That fact and the reality of his being gone so fast after the cancer diagnosis in October was a shock to all of us. He was "my rock" and not a day goes by still that I don't think of something to ask him or tell him. There's a huge hole in my heart and life. But in the past week I've been feeling him nudging me to get on with my life.

So! Here I am. This morning I finally searched down the pictures of my brother that I needed to find. I have to send an obituary to the newspaper in our home town in Minnesota and that will be my last sad task. I've been very bad at procrastinating over all this. I know he would understand, but also would scold me for it.

Below I have added some pictures that I found today. On the left is Stew at 2 in 1932. On the right is his graduation picture in 1948. The picture below was taken by G in October 2008 when we were visiting him and his wife.

I know he was proud of the fiber art work that I've been doing for some years now. In addition to the embroidered portrait of his 2 Chaussie cats I recently finished and sent to him, I also some time ago made a southwest style pillow/cushion for him and his wife as a gift. I know he showed it off some because after I got home I received a message from one of his friends and she told me how he showed her my fiber work when she and her husband visited recently. I have pictures of that pillow somewhere and I am going to try to find it and add it below. I may have to put it in a separate post; I'm a little out of practice with this blogging stuff!

Stitch on my friends!

Bring on 2009!

2008-12-31T22:32:00.000-08:00

My wish for you all is that 2009 will be filled with good health and happiness.

and

May you have many hours of quiet stitching time in the New Year!

Holiday Greetings!

2008-12-25T11:51:00.001-08:00

From Our House to Yours

Merry Christmas to All!

Comfort Quilt for my Brother

2008-12-10T21:28:00.001-08:00

Comfort Quilt for my Brother
Originally uploaded by lasassone

A quick post here to let you know that I'll be gone for awhile. We are headed in the morning to AZ to spend some time with my brother who has stage 4 lung cancer. He is my only sibling and our parents passed away in the early 1990's. He has 4 children who have all arrived ahead of us in AZ.

I originally started this quilt for him to be used for chemo treatments. However, the doctors have decided he is too weak for chemo and he is now home under Hospice care.

Would you believe I had enough cat prints in my stash to cut 59 different 6" blocks? I only used 45 unique ones in the quilt; one of the corner blocks is an accidental repeat! The back is fleece and if you click on the picture it will take you to my Flickr pictures where you also can see the label I made for the back. It has pictures of my brother's two exotic Chaussie cats named Bonnie & Clyde.

So, I don't know when I'll be back, but I will be back blogging soon. If I don't make it back before Christmas, I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas if you celebrate the holiday. And may all your stitches be snug!

Stitch On!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T11:22:00.001-08:00

November theme BOM
Originally uploaded by lasassone

For those in the USA I want to say Happy Thankgiving. This picture is sort of like me today. I'm cooking a full dinner including turkey, dressing (with italian sausage and mushrooms), riced potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes (with crushed pineappld brown sugar and marshmallows), green bean casserole. And there's pumpkin pie for dessert. I cheated this year and got the pie from Costco. Their pies are way bigger than any pans I have, so there will be lots of leftover pie.

Our eldest daughter is bring the rolls and driving in from the Sierra mountain foothills. It will just be the 3 of us and it will be a casual and leisurely afternoon dinner.

If you one of the readers of my recipe blog (link on the right) then your next visit will make you happy. I plan on having a photoshoot of our dinner and posting it tonight or in the morning to the recipe blog. And maybe some recipes too!

I've sort of lost my blogging groove the past couple months due to a lot of things, but I plan to be playing catch up very soon-maybe this weekend - so don't give up on me yet, okay? I've lots to show because the one thing that has kept me sane recently is my stitching, crocheting and knitting!

Bye for now!

Round Robin work on Laura's Block

2008-10-24T17:20:00.001-07:00

Laura's RR - dbl run cretan w/gold flower sequins
Originally uploaded by lasassone

This is the 2nd of the two blocks I worked on for our local group's recent round robin. I was last to work on this block also. This picture is on a double run of cretan stitching I did with a varigated pearl cotton thread. Embellishment was done with seed beads and gold flower sequins I recently purchased from Cartright's.

Laura will be turning this block into a pillow for the couch in her newly decorated "Old World" style family room. It's really going to be a lovely pillow!

Below are 2 more picture of the work I did on Laura's block. The first is a row of hearts and alternate designs I did in the center are of her block. The hearts are made of fly stitches. The 2nd is a seam with herringbone stitchinig decorated with straight, fly and detached chain stitches.

Round Robin work on Sandy's Block

2008-10-24T16:43:00.001-07:00

RR work-Spider on Sandy's
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Today I finished my work on two blocks in our local group's latest round robin. I was the last one to work on these two blocks. This post is about the first block which belongs to Sandy.

I did this spider and web on the back of Sandy's block which she will be making up into a small album cover. I don't usually use a bead when I embroider spiders, but I tried it with this one. Not sure I like it, but it's different from what I usually do and I was trying to make it unique.

Below I have added 3 more pictures of what I did on Sandy's block. The first is a row of a cretan/Chevron stitching embellished with beads and copper flower sequins. The 2nd picture is of a row of Wheatear stitch I did on what will be the front of Sany's album cover. the 3rd picture is a double run of cretan stitch done with the same varigated cotton pearl thread and embellished with beads.

Anniversary Flowers

2008-10-22T19:00:00.001-07:00

Anniversary Flowers
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Yesterday morning this is what I found waiting for me on the kitchen counter. What a guy! 41 years and still the sweetheart I knew him to be back when we were dating.

We actually celebrated with a dinner out at Olive Garden last Saturday night, so this was a good surprise. He actually bought the flowers the night before on his way home from his sub job and hid them in the garage!

I'm enjoying the flowers because Fall in our garden is rather drab. We have one tree that will change color later before Christmas. Mostly everything out there in the beds, both in front and back, just needs an incredible amount of trimming. I'm building up steam to get some of that done this weekend.

Meanwhile I'm stitching like crazy to catch up on the last couple round robin blocks from our local group's recent round robin. Then I have Leslie's Breast Cancer Wedding block to finish and get in the mail. I'm having trouble finding some heart motifs I KNOW I have here somewhere. Picture me going through drawers and boxes tossing stuff left and right!

LOL!

Stitch On!

Fall Block #1

2008-10-06T13:43:00.001-07:00

Fall Block #1
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Well, Fall is definitely in the air here in No. California. G has been trimming our neighbor's huge tree that hangs over the fence and shades our side patio in the summer. This time of the year it starts to lose it's leaves and it's a daily, almost hourly, chore to keep up with their disposal.

He was doing that this weekend while I took to my "bed and bath" with a 3 to 4 day flu bug, of which I was very glad to be rid of this morning! All the leaves made me remember and search out the four large autumn-themed blocks I pieced over a year ago. I got started on stitching the seams with "Golden Glow" YLI Pearl Crown Rayon thread. I love that color of the YLI Pearl because it has such a vintage look. On these blocks I think also that it blends well, but doesn't distract your eyes from the fun fabrics.

The fabrics I used to piece the four blocks were given to me a few years back when a decorator in a local town closed her business. I've plenty of fabric still to piece more blocks, but when I had the 4 done, I decided perhaps I would just make a 4 block wallhanging, so I started stitching the seams. About the same time I was in Wal-mart one day buying some DMC thread for another project and I found the leaf appliques in a bin drastically discounted. I knew they would match the blocks, so I bought them all! I have a lot more of those too!

The beads you see scattered on the block are some I had purchased to embellish the stitches. I have others, including a few colors of seed beads, but these beads were in the project envelope with the 4 blocks.

I thought this was a fitting project to show for an Autumn blog post. And I also wanted to let you all know that I'll not be posting again for a week or so. I'm going to Arizona to visit my brother. My niece from Alaska will be visiting him and I haven't seen her in years, so I look forward to catching up with her and her husband.

All of us plan on going to some community organized garage sale extravaganzas while we are there, so perhaps I'll have some wonderful things to show you when I get back mid-month.

Until then.......Stitch On!

And the Winner Is..........

2008-09-27T15:58:00.001-07:00

Random Stash Picture
Originally uploaded by lasassone

The winner of my 3 year Blogiversary is Wendy of the blog named Stich Duchess Crazy & Sane Quilting World. I have left a comment on her blog because that was the only way I found to contact her.

The picture here is just a samplying of what she could receive. I never posted a picture of what I was giving away because I decided that I wanted to personalize the prize for the winner. So I have asked Wendy to tell me some of her favorite things, colors, etc. As an aside, the crinkly looking fabric that the thread spool are on, is one that was shared by a member of our local crazyquilt group when they met here at my home this morning. And, yes, Wendy! I will share!

I want to thank you all for the many kind comments you made on this blog. Also you all probably had something to do with the increase in the number of hits on my recipe blog "Lulu's Girl". That was a nice surprise! I tried to visit some of your profiles and from there your blogs, but I was surprised at how many folks have their profiles blocked. I wasn't able to see very much although I had hoped to find some new blogs to read. This was just a surprising observation; I mean nothing negative. I would suppose there are many reasons why folks would want their profile and blog blocked from view.

This was fun! Can't wait until next year! Stitch On!

Happy Blogiversary to Me! A Drawing!

2008-09-20T18:37:00.001-07:00

Round Robin Pillow Block
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Today is the 3rd anniversary of this blog! Time flies when you're having fun. I cannot believe it's been 3 years! I still haven't perfected the art of blogging very often. Life just plain gets in the way sometimes.

In honor of this Blogiversary I will be having a drawing for a stash enhancement Squishie, a picture of which I will upload after this weekend is over. I'm a little under the weather at the moment, but will get the crazyquilt fabrics and other stuffs pulled and photographed at the beginning of the week. The Squishie will include fancy fabrics, trims, beads, faux silkies & such!

Soooooooooo...........Just make a comment on this post to be included in the drawing which I will do on September 27th. That's the day our local crazyquilt group meeting will be here at my home and I WAS going to have someone from the group do the draw. But I have learned how to use the random number generator site, so I'll be using that to do the "draw."

The temporary picture I have put up here on this post is of a round robin block I pieced & sent around some years back. I actually pieced two similar blocks the size of those travel pillow forms that JoAnn Fabrics carries. I did two round robins back to back, so YES, I have the finished blocks, but have yet to make them up into pillow covers. Just the tip of the iceberg of my UFO pile.

The great number of UFO's I have was brought home more than a little this past week when a friend of mine visited and I gave her the grand tour of my 2 room studio set up. She and I had gone fabric shopping recently in Reno when our husbands were playing in a golf tournament. We both bought many of the same fabrics and, unlike me, she had made something with some of hers and she ran out of one particular fabric. We traded some fabrics and both ended up happy.

She does mostly traditional quilting and has made the cutest baby quilt, a picture of which I wish I had taken! Duh....ANYway, she is really interested in learning to crazyquilt and also appreciates and does redwork-type embroidery. When I started to show her all the embroidery block sets I have made, I realized that I MUST make myself "buckle down" (as Mum used to say) and get these blocks made up into the quilts for which they were intended.

So, as soon as all this filing of Redwork/embroidery patterns is done, that is my plan! I would like to begin my 4th year of blogging by showing some actual progress on my well organized UFO pile!

Stitch On!

Nana's Kitchen FOUND!

2008-09-11T13:38:00.001-07:00

Nana's Kitchen FOUND!
Originally uploaded by lasassone

As I unpacked my stash over the past few months, everytime I opened another box I hoped I would find it. Recently we decided to bring home a few more boxes and a couple pieces of furniture. I decided to bring home all my boxes of dolls and their "things" as well. I planned to go through them and perhaps find a few things for G's garage sale on Saturday. Sort of a 2nd downsizing were my thoughts.

After dealing with almost all the boxes, I slit the tape on this one and opened it with a sigh. And then a scream! There was my "Nana's Kitchen" project along with the project's other fabrics! I had used the finished block and the other fabrics for the wallhanging I had planned as CUSHIONING for some of my more fragile dolls. And then I didn't say so on my very detailed inventory.....heck, it didn't even say "some fabrics" under that box number. So much for being organized!

After about 6 mos. of looking, I can't stop looking at this block and stack of fabrics. Needless to say, this project has moved up the list of my UFO's - near the top it is now! Color me SO Happy!

Stitch On!

Ruby Doll #2

2008-08-23T18:00:00.001-07:00

Ruby Doll #2
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Last night I finished this doll for the Sunday school teacher of my grandgirl (Izzie). I made Izzy's doll for her when she went to the hospital to have her tonsils out. She took it to Sunday school at least one time and the teacher sought out my daughter to find out where the doll came from.

My daughter and her family are moving to a new church home in September and my daughter subsequently asked me if I could make another Ruby doll so they could give her one.

This morning Ruby #2 began her journey via Priority to Texas.

I made this one with the same fabrics as I made the last doll, but I did a few things differently. For her cheeks I appliqued 2 of the dots from the fabric I used for her legs. I also made a pocket on the bottom of her "dress" that is supposed to look like an apron. You can see a corner of a little yellow card peeking out. The card says "Hi, my name is Ruby!"

I also made a little scarf for her neck this time and fastened it with a brown 1950's house dress button. If I had time, I would have sewn on a beaded choker since this doll was for an adult. However, as usual I was working down to the deadline. If you'd like to see what Ruby#2's back looks like, click on the photo and you can see the next photo in my Flickr photostream.

I'll be gone for a few days now as I accompany my dh, aka G, to Reno, Nevada where he will play in a golf tournament. Fabric /quilt shops, thrift shops and antique shops brace yourself. Here we women come led by "little Marge" with her new knee. I'm sure I"m in for some stash enhancement of some sort! Last year, remember, I found those WONderful vintage embroideries on velvet. Can't wait to see what this year brings.

I'll be taking some stitching with me. I've got a complicated image I'm stitching on a fairly naked block and I'm working on block #7 of my Redwork Life Quilt which is all about how much I loved starting school oh so many years ago!

Stitch On!

Life Quilt Block #6

2008-08-18T20:01:00.001-07:00

Life Quilt Block #6
Originally uploaded by lasassone

This is a seaplane very similar to the one that my Dad took me on for my very first airplane flight. It was 1950 or 1951 and we were traveling with my Dad on a business trip to far Northern Minnesota. I was 8 or 9 that summer. We had been to Lake Bemidji before to see the Paul Bunyon and Baby the Blue Ox statues and I loved that park. As I recall it was directly across the street from one of my Mum's favorite places to eat called Maid-Rite Hamburgers. I think that is the proper spelling. I've been told the place is still there today. They made very unusual hamburgers we had to eat with a spoon!

I don't know why, but this trip Dad decided I should have my first plane ride. Maybe we were a bit more flush economically or he had made a big sale that day. Mum stayed on the ground as she wasn't much for heights. What I remember about that short flight was how it seemed you could see forever and I was amazed at this new perspective I had been treated to. Before I knew it the flight was over and I remember begging to go again! It would be many years before I would ride in any airplane again and I have never been in such a small plane again.

After we moved to California one of my Dad's favorite things to do on Sundays was to take me to the airport where we would watch the planes take off and land for what seemed like hours. When I was in high school I was all prepared to start learning to fly and was about to start ground school when my Dad lost his job and my dream of learning to fly became a luxury my parents couldn't afford.

I am not very pleased with this embroidery and wonder if the ache of the osteoarthritis in my hands is affecting my stitching more these days. In person the block looks okay, but in the photo I think it looks very messy. I think I am going to go back and fill in the design streak on the pontoon in the foreground and also make the foreground strut solid as well. I may even fill in the design streak on the side of the plane.

I traced this from a drawing of a seaplane I found on the internet. I think it actually came from the Bemidji, Minnesota Chamber of Commerce site, which I thought was very appropriate. And I also was rather pleased to think that kids apparently can still get their first plane ride down at the lake by Paul & Babe!

I may be taking a bit of a break from the Life Quilt blocks for awhile. I have several crazyquilting obligations I need to concentrate, not to mention a couple sewing projects I must finish too. Our local stitching group's (Delta Crazy Stitchers) August meeting is coming up this Saturday and on Sunday G and I are leaving for Reno, Nevada where he is playing in a golf tournament. I'm not sure what kind of stitching I will take with me, but there's lots to choose from and I never travel without needle and threads. Everything except crocheting or knitting is up for grabs. Boy, I'll be glad when the coolness of Fall arrives so I can get back to working with yarn!

Stitch On!

Cats Flap!

2008-08-15T10:54:00.001-07:00

I am trying to play catch-up during this heatwave. It helps to concentrate on precise cutting and piecing and not think about how I will NEVER EVER complain about winter's cold again. It cannot come soon enough for me! Bring on Fall!

Cats Quiltlet/Flap
Originally uploaded by lasassone

A long while ago (maybe last year?) I promised to make this for my brother and today I finally finished it. Finished? Well, maybe not. I think I still need to run a line of quilting along the inner edge of the outer border to prevent sagging, but I took the finished photos already, so here you have it!

In my brother's motorhome there's an empty space in the cabinetry that used to house a television. His 2 cats use it now as a hidey hole and a place to store their toys. He had this piece of upholstery fabric hanging and when I saw that, I suggested that Bonnie & Clyde deserved something a tad more decorative and elegant. I don't think he thought I would embroider a portrait of his 2 Chaussie cats, but on our next visit this past January he saw me doing the embroidery. He has been very patient, but truth be told, he may have given up on ever receiving this.

But now, after the line of stitching is done, this will go in the mail to Arizona. It measures, by the way, approximately 12" by 16" and if you click on the picture you can see another picture of it that shows the backing which is a different fabric from the front.

My brother will be putting 2 eyelets in the top and it will hang, as the upholstery fabric did, on 2 cup hooks. Thus it will be a cat flap! However, down the road should they not have a need for it anymore, it could be easily displayed on a wall in their home as art!

Now it's on to completing the also-very-late Scotty pillow I promised my #3 granddaughter!

Stitch On!

My 3 Girlies! aka Lulu's GrandGirls

2008-08-11T15:54:00.001-07:00

My 3 Girlies!
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Today is a great day! I received pictures taken of our 3 daughters while they were together in TX last month. This is actually a picture I took of one of the pictures I got in the mail today. I seem to be the techy in the family. I never get many digital pix from any of them. Maybe they are just old-fashioned girls!

Left to right they are Cheryl (46), Gabrielle (34) and Nicole (39). they are gonna hate for me to have listed their ages like I used to do when they were little kiddos, right?

I was SO happy to see their smiling faces in my mailbox today! We miss them and their families so much!

tearing up here.......

August TIF Sneak Peek!

2008-08-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a sneek peak at what I've done so far on my August TIF block. At first I was stumped as to what I might put on this block, but then the Olympics began and I slapped my forehead...DUH! I found an Olympic flag on the web and also the little image of the Chinese character for Harmony. I'll be adding a flagpole for the flag and I still have to do the center spider and web too. The print in the middle this month has a bit of a gold web already in the print, so I'll be continuing that into the center. The silk ribbon I have laying there will be used to make a few (maybe 3) SRE sunflowers in that patch above the month's name of "August". Yes, I am going to do some SRE again. I have one of my books out that shows different flowers and I think I can handle a few small ones.

Stay tuned & Stitch On!

Take It Further Challenge July Block

2008-08-05T13:06:00.001-07:00

Take It Further Challenge July Block
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Only 4 days late, I finished my July block for Sharon's Take It Further Challenge last night. Again this month I have used cottons from my stash even though I now have access to my fancy fabric stash. Matching the colors Sharon posts each month to my DMC floss stash has become something I look forward to along with taking the 5 floss choices into my fabric room and pulling the fabrics from my quilting cotton stash.

I am not too sure how I ended up with the cottage garden print when I was pulling fabrics. I think I was looking for something that would make that lime green color fit in with the other colors. I do remember that I tried hard to find one of JBM's Ornamentation fabrics that would fit into this block, but I couldn't find one.

When I found the gold print that looks like stone, I know that I would continue the cottage's pathway down onto the stone so as to look like a patio. This suddenly seemed very appropriate as during the month of July we were involved in trying to mentally move ourselves back into Hydrangea House while physically cleaning up the yard and patios. Since we sold most of our patio furniture last year during our 4 pre-move garage sales, we even found ourselves cozying up the areas with a new table & chair set with an umbrella and a couple of Adirondack chairs with a small table for enjoying the cool summer & fall evenings when they happen.

I digress....back to the block. I used some outline stitch to continue the cottage walkway onto the patio and then to soften the line between the cottage fabric and the purple and green, I did some feather stitching with assorted colors of detached chain stitch additions.

I have never been very good at the buttonhole wheels, but I recently saw some on an old crazyquilt block that were made to look like fans, so I tried them on the seam between the lime and purple. See the handles are a double row of seed beads. Not sure I would do them that way again, but the way I put the beads on was a tad sloppy and that may be why I don't like them.

Up in that same corner is the summer sun again - we had that here in No. California the whole month despite some periods of smoke filtered sunshine from the fires. Then in honor of the 4th of July holiday, I did some fireworks in gold with the same thread I used for my spider web in the center. At lower right in the name of the month and a little flag for the 4th of July as well.

For the seam between the patio and the lime center patch I did a double run of cretan stitch with the two blue floss colors in July's challenge. The flowers are actually sequins shaped like flowers and anchored with blue seed beads. The rest of the seed beads on the cretan stitches are copper colored.

On the seam on lower right along the blue "fairy frost" fabric, I actually did a couple vintage seam combos from my book of stitches copied from vintage crazy quilts. The base stitches were done with this month's floss colors and then I added to the seams with additional silk pearl thread stitches and seed beads.

On the patio, the cat named Peanuts, who thinks he lives here, sits waiting for G to come work in the garden. He follows G around like a dog and sometimes is too much help like when G was digging holes to plant seeds in. After digging for a few feet, G turned around and Peanuts was covering over the holes as he followed along!

During the month I broke down and actually bought a new beautiful hydrangea bush, but, still holding out hope that we will be moving, I put it in a pot instead of into the ground. I stitched the flowers of my little potted hydrangea on my block's patio with blue and purple colonial knots. I did the leaves with two widths (4mm & 7mm) of green silk ribbon. You all KNOW how I love to do SRE, right? This is as good as it's gonna get!

Now I'm going to try to put in the 4 close up pictures below. Wish me luck......... It worked! Below are the close ups of the July block!

Lower Right corner:

Center:

Lower Left:

Upper Right Corner:

Stitch On!

Life Quilt Block #5 - My Trike

2008-07-31T14:47:00.001-07:00

Life Quilt Block #5 - My Trike
Originally uploaded by lasassone

I don't recall when I actually was given this trike except that it was sometime after we moved into town from the country where there were no sidewalks to ride on. It isn't my first memory of that time and I'm pretty sure the trike wasn't new when I got it. However, I thought it was very special because I was the only one on the block that had a trike with two steps on the back. I'm sure it wasn't the safest thing in the world but I used to carry 2 other kids on the back from one corner of our block to the other.

Those were the limits of our world in those days; you didn't cross any streets. You stayed on your block. There were only a couple girls my age on our block and when we all started kindergarden one went to a different school than I went to. The other girl was my very best friend Betty Jane Nelson and we went to Lincoln Elementary. I often wondered what happened to her. I lost touch with her when our school was remodeled or rebuilt and we all had to go to other schools for 3rd grade. I lost touch with everyone again in 1952 when my father got a job in California and we left Duluth, Minnesota. In high school I reconnected by mail with a couple girlfriends from Duluth right before graduation in 1960 but we quickly lost touch again as we all began our lives.

My brother was in high school when I was small enough to ride a trike and I was like an only child. I always wanted a little brother or sister so I was inclined to play at times with some of the younger children on the block. We played school a lot and other outside games, but I remember they really loved those "back of the trike" rides.

Tooting My Own Hown, but fun links too!

2008-07-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

As Jo has said today on her blog post today, this is a shameless promotion post! The new issue of the online CrazyQuilt magazine is up - and it's here!

There are several pictures of my CQ work in the Reader's Gallery and I wrote an article on stitching spiders and webs. There are many, MANY great articles in this issue as always AND some wonderful and inspiring pictures in the Reader's Gallery!

This is a great online source for inspiration and it's the only magazine, online OR in stores, that is exclusively for crazy quilters. Go now! Go visit Jo! Most importantly......Go here!

Stitch On! (SEE? I DO know how to put hyperlinks in my posts! LOL!)

Crazy Quilt Puzzle Finished & Framed!

2008-07-25T16:56:00.001-07:00

Crazy Quilt Puzzle
Originally uploaded by lasassone

I have had this wonderful puzzle depicting an antique crazyquilt done for some time. G just finished framing it for me and soon it will hang in my workroom where it will daily offer inspiration.

I purchased this puzzle at a store called Big Lots for only $4 and I ended up doing the entire thing myself. G, who loves puzzles, sat out on this one and never did even one piece despite a few fits of frustration on my part.

According to the box, this is a depiction of a crazy quilt from the Shelburne Museum and manufactured in 2003 by Ceaco, Inc. of Watertown, Massachusetts. Their website is http://www.ceaco.com. This type of puzzle is called "a double". The box contained 600 pieces, but 300 of those are small pieces that fit into the center of the other 300 pieces. Once you get the larger 300 pieces together, then you are faced with the challenge of finding the places for the tiny 300 centers.

The puzzle is 27" x 20" (69cm x 51 cm). I put it together on a piece of foam core board because I knew I wasn't going to take this puzzle apart and put it back in the box. When I had finished it, G put 2 coats of Matte Liquid Puzzle Saver on it. Then we started the hunt for a frame.

After going crazy looking, we discovered the only way was to purchase the frame in pairs of frame pieces. We found the sizes only available at our local Michael's Craft Store and yesterday G got it put together yesterday.

Isn't it great? Wanna see closeups? I will take a few tonight perhaps and post them on my Flickr site. So, come back here later and click on this picture. That will take you to my photostream where you can see the close ups.

I'd really like to see this quilt in person! If I ever get back to Vermont, I will make it a point. I visited Vermont in 1990, but we never got to the Shelburne area.

Stitch on!

Delta Crazy Stitcher's Latest Round Robin

2008-07-19T14:55:00.001-07:00

Fly Stitch Christmas Trees
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Our local stitcher's group is doing another round robin right now and the first block I received was actually Andrea's little tree skirt for the mini-tree she has on her desk at work for the holidays. She had pieced it and done a little work on it already.

This picture is of one seam I did. I used silk pearl thread and made the beginnings of what usually ends up as what I call "Fly Stitch Lace". However, this time I stopped after two rows. Then I turned each peak into a Christmas tree by adding a star on top. Lastly I used some back stitching to make trunks for the trees.

I don't know where I got those little stars, but I didn't have any gold ones which I would have preferred to use. Still I really like how this came out.

There are 3 other close up pictures of what I did on this little tree skirt on my Flickr site so if you click on this picture you will be taken to where you can see the other things I did.

I'm working on the next block in the rotation right now and it was pieced by our group's resident art quilter. I am finding it a liberating experience to work on this unusual piece. When I see the free spiritedness (is that a word?) of her work, it makes the crazyquilt work I usually do seem very structured in comparison!

Just wait till you see it!

Stitch On!

Standing Guard

2008-07-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

While taking my regular morning walk through the back gardens this morning, I was astounded to see how tall these sunflowers are getting. Every day they seem inches taller. Funny thing is that the package said they'd be getting about 5 feet tall. When G measured last, the tallest was 12 feet high. The flowers also don't look much like the picture that was on the seed packet.

Early this summer I read in our newspaper about the honey bee crisis and it was suggest that one thing gardeners could do would be to plant sunflowers. Next time we were at the home improvement store, I picked up a package. Every last seed germinated within a week of when I poked them into the dirt in a row behind G's zucchini garden.

All I expected was some lovely 5 foot tall yellow sunflowers that I could maybe cut and make flower arrangements. Above is a close up of what I got. Some are yellow, but most are red or dark rust-colored like this close up shows. Gorgeous is the word that comes to my mind when I begin my walk each morning.

Tone On Tone - Beige to Brown

2008-07-14T14:21:00.001-07:00

Tone On Tone - Beige to Brown
Originally uploaded by lasassone

While searching for something else the other day I ran across this 8 inch block that I made a few years ago. Actually I never quite finished embellishing it. It was made for a project in our local crazy quilt stitching group and when that project never quite materialized I stopped working on the block. At that time I had thought of a project for myself in which I could use it.

Tone on tone blocks are fun to piece and stitch on and I thought perhaps I'd do a few more colors in that scheme and maybe eventually have a color wheel wallhanging of sorts. So I put it away with that intention and then forgot about it until I found it this past weekend.

Last night I finished the spider and his web and did the featherstitching on the bottom middle seam while I was watching tv. I also beaded some of the stitches which I think you can see better in the two pictures below this post.

I may do a white on white block next before I move on to blocks in yellow, green, aqua, blue, purple, burgundy, red and finally orange. Upon completion of the orange or last block, I would have 10 blocks which would make a nice wallhanging. I may not do the blocks in that particular color order because sometimes working in a particular color is set by my mood at the time.

At present I am working on a large white on white block for Leslie Erlich's Breast Cancer Project quilt. Leslie pieced the block for me to embellish and she and I are calling it "the tornado block" because she actually pieced it the afternoon a tornado ripped through her town of Windsor, Colorado.

I think I'll piece an 8" block to work on along with Leslie's block and perhaps I can try out a few stitches on my little block before I do them on the big block.

Stitch On!

Brown Spider and web

2008-07-14T14:02:00.001-07:00

Brown Spider and web
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Center Bone Ring Motif

2008-07-14T14:01:00.001-07:00

Center Bone Ring Motif
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Take It Further Challenge June Done!

2008-07-08T13:47:00.001-07:00

Take It Further Challenge - Whole June Block
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Only 8 days late! My June TIF block is done. As usual, if you click on this picture, you can see detailed pictures of each corner and the center in my Flickr album.

This block again uses two fabrics from Judith Baker Montano's Ornamentations design line. This month they are the center and the top right corner fabrics.

All of the seam stitch combinations are copies of stitch combinations that I've collected over the years from vintage crazyquilts. I really used my notebook of stitches on this block!

In the upper left corner is a beaded summer sun which in the guise of a heatwave really started our month of June here. This is another of those motifs that I found at that garage sale a couple weeks ago. The center is again a vintage Swarovski Lochrosen rhinestone with a center hole.

In the upper right corner I have hand appliqued an image for Father's Day that was a freebie offered by Janet at vintagevogue.com. Father's Day here was a barrage of phone calls from our 3 daughters and pretty much otherwise an ordinary day. G lost his father back in 1949 and his step-dad Papa Tuggle has been gone for a few years now. My dad passed away in 1992 just short of his 91st birthday.

In the lower left corner is a rose charm rather like a bush that I've had for some time. Last year we removed the rose garden in our back yard because the bushes were over 20 years old and were not doing well. The space just became a flower bed which was attractive when we were showing Hydrangea House to sell and move. Since we've been unable to sell and have decided to stay here a couple years in the hopes of the housing market recovering, we decided to replant the rose garden. In June we saw our first Mr. Lincoln tea rose!

In the lower right corner is the month name and some garden tool charms because G's vegetable garden fairly bolted in that heatwave and we have been deluged with all kinds of squash. I did the little zucchini outline picture with one strand of floss, but may still do something more to it because I am not liking it at all. At the very end of the month we also started getting tomatoes from the many vines, but July looks like when we will received our multitude of tomato blessings.

In the center I have done the spider web with 1 strand of DMC floss in one of the colors (#3033) Sharon picked for the TIF June color palette. The spider is also done with one of the colors (gold #436) from the June palette.

So there you have it. I'm halfway through the year of this challenge and I really LOVE all the blocks I have done. I have learned a TON about color by participating in the challenge, much of which I think will enhance my crazyquilt work in years to come.

Each and every month as I have pieced the blocks in the colors that Sharon has chosen for the month I almost always have failed to really like the naked block, However, as I have finished each of the 6 blocks, in turn each has become my favorite. I can't WAIT to have all 12 months done and get these blocks together intp a wall quilt that will be MINE, ALL MINE!

Stitch On!

Coming Soon!

2008-07-05T17:03:00.000-07:00

This picture of my Tuscan Zucchini Salad is just a coming attraction of sorts to let you know that soon my recipe blog will be up and running. Called "Lulu's Girl", it is a place where I will share my original recipes and also many recipes from my Mum's handwritten recipe book.

The recipes in her book range from ones from my grandmother and Aunt who worked in food service from the 1920's to 1950's and ones my Mum collected for her own cooking beginning in 1925 when she and Dad got married.

Hit the link and stay tuned if you love new-to-you recipes!

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July - Independance Day - for those readers in the USA!

The image above was a freebie from Dover books in one of their sampler newsletters. I don't know when; it could have been years ago or just last year. I just found her on my computer this morning and thought you would like it. By the way, if you click on it, you should be able to save it or print it out.

Today won't seem like a holiday to G and I because it will be just us two here. In years past we always had all the family & sometimes friends here for a swim, barbeque dinner and table games or cards. But sadly friends and family move on or pass away. Both G's and my parents have passed away and our 3 daughters are married and scattered across the USA as are the 7 grandkids who will be enjoying the holiday in their own ways.

There will be no barbeque dinner even for G and I. We will be enjoying the bounty from our garden. Here's a picture of the great zucchini flood of 2008:

And this is what's left after multiple deliveries to friends and neighbors yesterday. The 8-ball zuchinni in the back there will be what we are having for dinner tonight. We had hamburgers a couple nights ago for dinner and there were patties left over. They will become the core ingredient in a stuffing I will make for the 8 balls. Half of one each makes a meal for the two of us usually, but maybe I will jazz up some store-bought potato salad with hard boiled eggs and a little mint to have with the stuffed 8 balls. I will stuff and cook all of them because they make make a great quick lunch warmed in the microwave. No sandwiches this week!

Are you hungry yet? Well, stay tuned here to see the announcement of my new recipe blog called "Lulu's Girl" where you can find the recipe for the stuffed 8 balls and more. I started out wanting to blog recipes from my Mum's handwritten recipe book, which I'm lucky enough to own. A lot of the recipes are from as far back as 1925 when my parents got married. The blog will be a mix of her recipes and mine and you'll be able to tell the difference - Trust me!

Well, now it's back to stitching on my Take It Further Challenge June block. I've gotten carried away and done all 4 major seams with the proper colors of thread but also with 4 vintage stitch combos from my collection of stitches from antique crazy quilts. I'll post a sneak peek soon!

Stitch On!

Take It Further - May block

2008-07-02T15:16:00.001-07:00

Take It Further - May block
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Take It Further - May block

2008-07-02T14:57:00.001-07:00

Well, here is my May TIF block finally finished! Still behind, I must move on now to embellishing the June block which I have already pieced. But first a few details.

Firstly, this is the first month that I have not used ANY of JBM's fabric line. When I considered the colors, this iris print almost jumped off the shelf and landed on my cutting station. It has two of the May TIF colors in it and I found it to be just perfect. Fabrics in the upper right and upper left corners simply were obvious choices and matched the posted colors. The batik in the lower left fell into place as did the pale blue from the Fairy Frost fabric line.

Now for some detail pictures....

Here you can see this month's spider and web done over the iris print. I used blue metallic Kreinik blending filement for the web and stitched the spider using 1 strand of navy blue silk floss.

Here you see in the upper right a beaded summer sun. I found a bag full of these metallic trim pieces at a garage sale a few days ago and thought one would be most appropriate for the May block because May was a tremendously hot month here in Northern California. The center of the sun is a vintage gold Swarovski Lochrosen rhinestone. The rest of the beads are just gold seed beads. The seam treatment below the sun is one from my collection of vintage stitches.

On the upper left of the block I have appliqued an image on cotton that was an online freebie from Janet at Vintage Vogue some time back. Mother's Day for me was a quiet one this year with the exception of 3 phone calls from the 3 daughters. I really miss not having my Mum around to send flowers to and make calls to on Mother's Day.

On the lower right area of the block I placed a remembrance yellow ribbon and flag for Veteran's Day in honor of all our veterans but especially for the many men in my family who have fought long and bravely in wars from the Revolutionary War to present. There are too many names or I would have stitched them all in this patch. A few of the recent ones are Papa T, Uncle Roy, and my brother.

I think the seam treatment shown here turned out particularly well. It is also a copy from my collection of vintage stitch combinations.

Scroll down to my posts from the past couple days to see more close up details, ok?

Stich On!

Another sneak peek at May TIF block

2008-07-01T21:44:00.001-07:00

Upper right seam
Originally uploaded by lasassone

This is a seam treatment I have just finished on my May Take It Further Challenge block. I had this seam stitch combo in my notebook where I collect interesting stitch combinations that I see on vintage crazyquilts. I used a size #8 silk pearl thread which I think was a Rainbow Gallery thread. The beads are unusual in that they aren't the usual silver lined seed beads. They are opaque and I wish I had other colors of that type of bead. I really like the look of them.

Tomorrow I have a couple more things to do to this block and hopefully tomorrow evening I'll unveil the whole sheebang!

I downloaded the TIF July challenge colors this morning and struggled a bit with the colors. I have pulled 5 DMC colors, but am not sure they are the final ones I will use. I sure wish the color bars in my DMC chart were removeable so that I could lay the colors directly on the screen to compare with the chart.

I guess though I'm lucky that I even HAVE a chart. I read the other day that DMC has stopped making the charts with the actual thread samples in them, so if you've been thinking about buying one and you can find one, you should seriously do it now. I've heard from one of my thread sources that the new charts which are only printed are not so nice.

Stitch On!

May Take It Further Sneak Peek!

2008-06-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a little sneak peek at the work I've done on my May Take It Further Challenge block. I have fallen behind on this challenge for a couple reasons but am now trying to catch up and hope to have this block done this week. I already have the June block pieced, so it's all about embellishments until I catch up and move on to the July challenge which Sharon will post on July 1st.
And here's a little bearded iris motif. This is one of the 4 designs included in the Summer Creativity Challenge on the Hand-embroidery list at yahoogroups. When I needed a motif for this iris-centered block (another hint there....) I copied the iris motif at 50% and it fit perfectly! It is done with one strand of silk floss and I back stitched it. I am less than happy with how the backstitching through tissue paper turned out. It was kind of an experiment. Next time I'll use outline stitch for sure.

Stay Tuned & Stich On!