I'm Back!

But BOY oh BOY! Is it hard to get back to a routine after being on vacation. Someone sent me this cute drawing and I altered it a bit (the stitching bit). I think, as I have aged it pretty much lays out my typical day. I'm constantly losing things or going into a room and forgetting what I came in for.

I have received the first block (Leslie's) in the round robin I am participating in on the Crazy Quilt Int'l list. The round robin is called "Jewels on Black" and was actually my suggestion for a round robin to complete my required plain round robin before I can do some of the more fun DYB and exchanges. I'll have to get busy and finish up my work and post it.

While we were gone I didn't get much stitching done. I got a little work done on a redwork piece that I am doing for my brother. It's a picture of his 2 cats and I'm actually doing it in brown because that's the color they are. It will be part of a flap/door for the cubby in his motorhome where the cats' things are stored. My brother calls it their Cat House.

I've also been crocheting at night in front of the television. I was doing some circle looming before we left and made a couple doll hats, but haven't gotten back to that since we've been home. Must finish the 2nd one and get it mailed off to Izzy for her baby doll.

While we were visiting my brother in Arizona we were also looking at homes even though ours here hasn't sold. Big Mistake! Of course, we found a couple places we really liked. We are now investigating the possibility of buying before this place sells and will be getting back together with our financial advisor soon. Meanwhile, it seems nothing is selling ANYwhere and surely not here where almost 50% of the homes on the market are bank owned/short sales/repossessions!

So here we are and here we may be staying for awhile! Living with this unsettled situation with all our stuff (including my stash) in storage is less than fun!

So, I continued on the trip to build what G calls my "Back up Stash"! I managed to visit 3 quilt shops while we were gone. One in Sedona, one in Cottonwood and one in Prescott Valley, AZ. Plus I had major fun for an house in a Hobby Lobby store when we went through Phoenix. Would you believe skeins of luscious yarn for 73 cents? LOL! G actually found those for me! Whatta Guy!

Stitch On!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope 2008 holds only wonderful things for you and yours. And especially for you Loads of stitching & artistic inspiration. For now, G and I are taking off on a short vacation away to visit my brother. Don't worry that I've fallen off the blog-a-sphere. I'll be back in a few days with perhaps some wonderful things to share. I say that because there is a Hobby Lobby where we are going and given the chance to cruise through a HL store, I can get into BIG trouble, doncha know? I'm taking a lot of stitching with me including an embroidery project I'm doing for my brother. I will share it and my progress when I get back. Stitch On!

Passing it On

Passing it On
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Way before Christmas I was sent this book by a fellow blogger who put it up for grabs to the first responder. It took me a while to find time to read it, but what a treat it was!

If you or any members of your family are familiar with the 1930's Depression you might find this book particularly enlightening. In my family my brother remembers those times, but I do not, having not been born until 1942. Ha! ......So now you know my age!

At any rate, you can read reviews at amazon.com. It's not your typical warm fuzzy story, but what a great story it is!

I will send this post haste (book rate) to the first fellow blogger who speaks up! That means leave me a comment here and I'll get in touch!

I'm off now with Ashley to have coffee with her grandma who will take her home. Don't know who Ashley is? Click on the picture of the book and see the next picture posted in my photostream at Flickr!

Stitch on!

Nekkid Jewels on Black RR Block

Nekkid Jewels on Black RR Block
Originally uploaded by lasassone

I haven't participated in a round robin for quite some time, but recently I signed up for one on the CrazyQuilt International list. We are doing jeweltoned embellishment on all black blocks.

This is my naked block that I have ready to send off. Yes, those are all black fabrics. I know some look grey, but I think it's the way the light was hitting them. They are all different textured fabrics from wrinkly taffeta and faille to crushed velvet! The hardest part of making this block was doing the applique of all the patches. The black stitching on black fabric drove my eyes crazy!

The pink stitching I did outlines the 12" square block that I intend to make up into a pillow when the block returns home. I really like the way the piecing turned out on this block. I didn't have as much trouble with the curves as I usually do. I had no plan actually. Before I began piecing I went through the stack of blacks in my scrap sorter and pulled out all the solids. I laid out a few that I was sure that I wanted to include and since some of them had curved edges, things just started to come together. The only hitch in the whole thing happened when I was about 90% done. I moved the block to the ironing board where, with the light shining on it, I discovered a couple pieces of velvet that I had included were actually dark brown & not black!

I can't wait to get started on this RR; jeweltoned stitching on black is one of my favorite looks for crazyquilting. Just this past Spring my Omaha roommates and I each stitched jeweltones on black blocks and then they were all put together. The wall hanging that was made from them was awesome and it went for many dollars at the 2007Omaha Retreat's auction to benefit Breast Cancer Research and retreat scholarships!

This will be mailed off to Japan on New Years Eve day and after that it will make it's way to Australia and then around the USA before coming home.

So, now it's back to making the outfit for my dolly model, Ashley. I must try to remember how to make a little pom pom for her hat by hand because I was unable to find a pom pom maker today at JoAnn Fabrics.

Stitch On! No time to waste!

Bitty Baby Doll Hat

Bitty Baby Doll Hat
Originally uploaded by lasassone

For the past few days I have been trying to get the hang of the new-to-me set of Knifty Knitter circle looms. This doll hat was made on the smallest blue loom. My "model" Bitty Baby named Ashley that belongs to my friend's granddaughter is still visiting me. I plan to make her a bunting to match this hat and then return her next Monday. She came to me naked and so this will be my thank you for her modeling stint.

The hat still awaits a pompom and, since any pom pom "thing" I might have is in storage, I'm not sure but that I should just go buy one of the newer ones I've seen on the internet. They look much improved.... Or perhaps I should try to make one myself without any fancy tool. Will have to decide at some point because I also want to make my granddaughter's doll one of these hats to go with that hot pink poncho outfit I sent her.

The dolly wardrobe was a big hit Christmas morning according to my daughter. Isabelle also got another baby doll from Santa and she quickly figured out that her new baby could wear the same size about as the Bitty Baby. Possibilities are endless now for this Gramma (called Maas by her grands) to endlessly design and sew babydoll clothing!

As for these circle looms, once you get the hang of them, they make a hat quite quickly. At first though I thought I could have knit one with needles MUCH faster; it was a little discouraging. Now I also want to try one for G (dh) from a less bright color using the 2nd largest green circle. He says he would like something in the green color family because he just got a new dark green sweatshirt.

So I guess my stitching vacation is over. After embroidering on those jeans for Isabelee for Christmas my hands were swollen and sore, so I took a week off from stitching. I did a lot of reading, but mostly I was bored out of my head! I live to stitch! Good thing I have a lot of projects lined up to keep me busy!

Stitch On!

A Christmas Questionaire (Meme?)

Favorite ornaments
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Mary Frances of the blog Frequently Wrong but Never In Doubt tagged me on her blog regarding something called a Meme I think. So I'm going to attempt to answer these Christmas questions! I'm not going to tag anyone since it's so late in the season, but if you read this and wanna play, leave me a comment below so I know, ok?

1. Wrapping or gift bags? Wrapping... usually. Unless something is odd-sized or I'm in a hurry! I don't mind the bags, but never think to buy them.

2. Real or artificial tree? Artificial and small too - 4 foot tall....after many years of having a real tree. But now we have no one but the two of us and if we aren't going to be here for Christmas, we don't even put up Tiny Tim (my name for the tree).

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually a week before Christmas. I grew up the youngest in a family that never put the tree up until Christmas Eve. I always loved Christmas Eve when it was all about the tree and getting to bed early in my room upstairs where I'd try to stay awake to hear Santa and the reindeer land on our roof. Alas, I always fell asleep despite the noise coming from downstairs. A few years ago I was comparing Christmas memories with my brother who is 12 years older than I am. I told him how I found it hard to put up the tree so soon (a week before) because I loved our family's traditions so much. He laughed loud and hard at me and told me that was no tradition; it was necessity. He said our Dad always waited until Christmas Eve to bring home a tree because they were half price then. Take note because little things you do just might be making memories/traditions that your children will remember.

4. When do you take the tree down? At least by New Year's Day! Usually G removes the ornaments while he is watching football games and piles them in a chair and I wrap and box them up.

5. Do you like eggnog? LOVE IT! In fact I just had a glass because today I got the results back from my bone density scan. There's only a slight change from 5 years ago, but the doctor made a note that I should up my calcium intake. So, instead of just the 2 chocolate calcium chews, from now on I have to work in a couple other milk products daily. I also still love the stuff off the grocery store the best!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Wow! It's hard to pick just one. I'd say it's a toss up between the Flexi-Flyer sled I got when I was 7 or 8 or the Terri Lee doll I got when I was 11 or 12. The sled was great and on Christmas Day my dad even took me to the local park to try it out. The doll was his doing too. I had asked and asked for that doll, but before Christmas my Mum took me to look at and buy a parakeet & cage, which I also wanted. She thought I was too old for dolls, so when I opened that box on Christmas morning and found that doll, my Mum stared daggers at my Dad, but he pretended not to see.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, but it's not on display this year because it's in storage. We usually display it in this wonderful hand carved (by G in college) small cabinet which is also in storage this year. The nativity set itself was my Mum's but we have added to it over the 40 years we have been married. Gosh, that's a long time!

8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't recall anything but I DO recall one Christmas when I got nothing at all from my mil. We had all gone up to a Lake Tahoe cabin for a snowy Christmas and she gave G a desk set of letter opener & magnifier and each of the girls these pink parkas with fur around the hoods that they absolutely refused to wear. Me? I got nothing, nada, zip, zero. Perhaps she thought the desk set was for both of us, but my name was NOT on the tag! Truly never figured that one out cuz we had a fairly decent relationship all things considered.

9. Mail or email Christmas cards? We sent no cards out last year because we were traveling in Texas. We also thought we'd be sending out wonderful newsy cards this year with our new address. Well, house didn't sell; that didn't happen. So, this year I did up a Christmas letter and sent out about 35 to family and old friends. So far we've only gotten less than a dozen cards. Guess everyone crossed us off their lists last year when they didn't hear from us. I will mail out electronic (Jackie Lawson?) cards tomorrow to close friends who we may not see before Christmas.

10. Favorite Christmas Movie? "The Christmas Story" ....I always wanted a BB Gun and a train set, but my parents told me those things were for boys.

11. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Since our girls are all over the map, if I can't make them something, they get a gift card from somewhere. This year I mailed the packages out on December 20th. The one for Atlanta made it there in 2 days! Amazing, huh?

12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Yummmmm! Ham, this baked pineapple souffle and the potato dish made with Potatoes O'Brien! Oh and fudge & Italian Pizzelles too! Just made a batch of Pizzelles last evening. Will probably have to make another so that we can eek them out until about the end of January. Wonderful with coffee!

13. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear lights on the tree. No lights outside, but we normally have blue icicle lights all over the house. ....Yup, those are in storage too!

14. Favorite Christmas song? "Here comes Santa Claus" definitely. When I hear it I feel like I'm 7 years old again. Back then we sent letters to Santa and he was on the radio station every night at 5 p.m. That song was the one they played at the beginning of the show. All this month, in the car I have had the radio tuned to an all Christmas music station and in the house on the computer I have XM Holly station playing that comes through AOL. Our stereo, alas, is in storage. Are you sensing a theme here?

15. Travel at Christmas or stay home? This year we are staying home, just the two of us. There's a slight chance that our eldest daughter may come down out of the mountains just for the day to see us. Next year, although we don't know where we will be, perhaps we will go to Texas again so we can see our two youngest daughters and their families. They are married to brothers and one lives in San Antonio along with the brothers' parents who are also our friends.

16. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Used to be able to, but am out of practice.

17. Angel on the tree top or a star? There is nothing on the top of Tiny Tim. He is pre-lit and from the outside the neighbors can't tell he has no ornaments on him. Truly a cut-back Christmas here. Somewhere in storage there's an angel that we've had for 40 years!

18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning? Oh, always Christmas Morning. And we always took rotating turns opening one gift at a time going from eldest to youngest. It takes all morning but we don't start until we have the morning food on the table and then everyone just waits on themselves. For G and I it was a big shock the year that we turned out to be the eldest and had to go first. The reality of it all was overwhelmingly sad.

19. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Shopping, crowds & rude people. And stories of decoration vandalism.

20. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme or color? Nope, but the tree used to be mostly things the girls made in school or special ornaments to commemorate achievements. Next year I hope to have enought crazyquilted ornaments to dress TT to the hilt. I may even give our elderly angel a makeover with a white cq skirt!

21. What do you leave for Santa? When we are with the grands we HAVE to leave eggnog and pizzelles cuz that's what Santa likes, doncha know? (and all the cats do too!)

22. Least favorite holiday song? I can't think of any I don't enjoy. I grew up singing in groups and choirs in church and school and love all the music. There's so many new ones now too. I especially like "Mary Did You Know" that is new to me this year.

23. Favorite ornament? Well, with this post, I have included a picture of 4 ornaments that I just adore. For many reasons but mostly because they were made for me by my stitching students. Alas, I actually couldn't find my very favorite which is a cq old fashioned ice skate complete with curled blade.

Let's say it together now....."It must be in STORAGE!"

LOL!

Merry Christmas to you All!

Remember! If you wanna do this "meme" let me know by leaving a comment!

Stitch On!

Completed Outfit

Complete Outfit
Originally uploaded by lasassone

I just could NOT send that poncho to San Antonio for my granddaughter without a matching outfit to got with it. I had the hot pink Kona cotton handy for the pants and found some white seersucker for a blouse. The picture of what's under the poncho is below this text.

The pocket on the shirt is made from another funky print I had bought with hopes to use it for a dress for the baby doll, but, alas, time has run out. This evening I'm wrapping things and packing up the boxes that I'll take to the post office early tomorrow morning.

Picture me breathing a sigh of relief!

Later tonight I'll clean up the doll sewing mess I've made and refold all the fabrics. Then it's back to the purses I'm making for a couple family members who we may not see until after Christmas.

I look forward to getting back to my redwork stitching AND I must construct an all black crazyquilt block for a round robin called "Jewels on Black" that starts in January.

Merry Christmas & Stitch On my friends!

Another Play outfit

Another Play outfit
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Tote & Poncho for Sissy!

Tote & Poncho for Sissy!
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Well, obviously the doll clothes making bug has bit me! Last evening while watching a couple rare new programs on tv, I sewed up this little tote and pink poncho for my granddaughter's doll. Just when I'm getting in the swing of making doll clothes, I have to quit and get all this in the mail.

If you'd like to see the other outfits I made for the doll, just click on this picture and you will find yourself in my Flickr picture site where you can see a dress, a pants & shirt outfit and a nighty.

This little tote was on a preprinted panel for 18" dolls. I must have made the outfit (robe & pj's) for one of my other grandgirl's American Girl doll a few years ago. I found this in a box of doll clothes things.

The pink poncho was an afterthought and the poor doll won't have anything to match, but I have some pink fabric for pants which I will send to my granddaughter after Christmas. .....unless of course I get another spurt of energy later today! LOL!

Stitch on my friends! Hope all your holiday preparations are going well. I hope to get to a little baking tonight!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE DELTA CRAZY STITCHERS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE DELTA CRAZY STITCHERS!
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Here we are wishing you the best during this Holiday Season. Attendance this year was a little sparse due to vacations and company arriving that some of the other members experienced. This time of the year it is hard to schedule a date for our Annual Holiday Party that works for everyone.

We had a great time at Olive Garden. We all had the Soup,Bread and Salad special and it was wonderful as usual. My favorite is the Zuppa Toscana soup and it turns out several others like this one best as well. One member had never had it but fell in love with it. Since I have the recipe, she called me last night to get the recipe so she can serve it to visitors this week!

Afterwards we adjourned to Laura's beautifully decorated home for our Angel exchange and dessert. I have posted a few of the angels that were exchanged. As far as the members go, if you click on the picture, there are names to put with our faces!

Angel Kitty doll

Angel Kitty doll front
Originally uploaded by lasassone

This is the Kitty-Angel that I made for Fran for our Holiday exchange. If you click on this picture, you can also see the back of the kitty and his Michael's purchased wings.

Fran and I both love Kitties and so when I drew her name a few months ago for this I just knew that I had to make my angel a kitty-angel!

I'm happy to say she was delighted with "Miss Kitty" as I dubbed her. She was fun to make and, as Fran said she liked traditional Christmas colors, it was a simple piecing from out of my piecing scrap box. The threads used are mainly silk pearl and mainly J.Walsh ones at that. I have just learned today that my favorite shop, Needle in a Haystack in Alameda California, is no longer going to carry this line of thread and is closing it out at half price! I need to take inventory and make a call to Alameda!

The beads I used came from a multi-colored box of little containers of seed beads that I purchased at Michaels Craft Store before all my other beads went into storage. The starburst jewlelry-like item on the front is a piece of broken jewelry from a bag that I got at a garage sale this past Fall in Sedona, Arizona.

Miss Kitty's eyes are 2 black Swarovski margarites that I put on with the gold backing side up using a black seed bead to anchor them.

I was very happy and surprised at how this turned out because I was just winging it with a vague idea in my mind. It turned out so well that I may just have to make one for myself!

Fran's Angel

Fran's Angel
Originally uploaded by lasassone

The lovely ornament was made by Fran for Andrea. Fran is a great cross stitcher. She came to our group because she was curious about the stitching Sandy and I were doing on the crazyquilt blocks. First she took my piecing class and then the stitch class. Then she discovered that I have a passion for Redwork embroidery and she and I started trading patterns. More often than not she and I are doing redwork at our monthly meetings.

We all love her cross stitch work though and still wonder how she gets so much done when she still has children at home and also has a full time job as a secretary for a school Principal.

I sat next to her last Saturday at our holiday party at Olive Garden and I think I now know her secret! Shhhhhh....don't tell, but she confessed to me that she has a HOUSEKEEPER. My friends: she doesn't have to do housework! Boy! that would sure make MY life easier!

Andrea's Angel

Andrea's Angel
Originally uploaded by lasassone

This awesome angel ornament was made by Andrea for Laura who was our hostess for dessert after our Holiday Part at Olive Garden last Saturday. She hit the jackpot with this one and was SO thrilled. So thrilled that she dashed over to her lovely Christmas tree and gave it an honored spot front and center!

Andrea is a wonderful and prolific beader and we all lust after her lovely beaded ornaments. The wings on this angel are all beaded and I don't mean on a foundation! They are soft & flexible to the touch and the whole thing is just lovely.

The crazyquilted angel body isn't shabby either - great piecing & stitching!

Laura's Angel

Laura's Angel
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Made by Laura for Beth who is a redhead and was tickled beyond belief with this angel. She even had to call me the next day and tell me again how happy she is with her Angel. But she also said she thinks we ought to go back to doing just an ornament exchange. She said having to make an angel was too much pressure! We all simply LOVE Beth; she tells it like it is - doesn't mince words as well. The eldest of our group and her age (which ONLY I know) she is an awesome quilter, embroiderer and supreme applique artist. She's the one who taught us all last year how to do the spray starch applique method. She's a great teacher too!

Chocolage & JBM's fabrics

This is block #5 from the Chocolage Quilt booklet which I finished on 11/6/07. There are a total of 16 block designs and so I have 11 more to go. My backstitching is getting faster and I have been doing these in the evenings while watching tv. I do not plan on making "my chocolate quilt" the same as is shown in the booklet. I am going to frame each block with the fabrics shown above my finished block #5. I will frame each block with strips of the pink and green fabrics and perhaps use the chocolate brown fabric either as cornerstones or fill ins/sashings. I just couldn't resist buying it. I loved how it looked like melted chocolate. The bonbon fabric will be the borders of the quilt.

ARE YOU READY?

As I promised below are the Judith Baker Montano fabrics from her new line called "Ornamentation". I just love these fabrics and after seeing a few fat quarters at a nearby fabric & craft store called Beverly's, I vowed to treat myself by buying a half yard of all of them. I actually didn't buy ALL of them, but I bought MOST I think, only passing on the extreme pastels. I placed the order just before we traveled to Arizona and when I got back the package from http://www.fabricshack.com/ was waiting for me. It took me a couple days to get it all laundered and pressed. Below are 5 pictures of the ones I bought. Aren't they gorgeous?

I've seen the ones in the 4th picture down referred to as faux silk ribbon prints. I can't wait to start using these beauties. I have been unable to find a lot of the colors of the Kaufman Radiance line that are a silk/cotton sateen and coordinate well with these JBM prints. I may have to go back to Beverly's and just get the other colors in fat quarters. I already have one project in mind. When I visited the hospice shop last week, I found an interesting lacy doily intricately woven into asort of a 4 pointed star. I am thinking of making 4 blocks from these fabrics at least 12" square or more. Where they meet I will piece with the same color of the sateen in all blocks so if I put this lace piece over the center where the blocks meet, it will show that one color through. I'm not sure I've explained that well, but I can see it in my addelpated brain and hopefully will show you the reality soon. I've taken classes from JBM in the past in Omaha at the CQ Society's Yearly "do" and so would like to make this a piece to honor my experiences in her classes.

Stitch On my friends!

Chocolage Block #4

Chocolage Block #4
Originally uploaded by lasassone

MOO!!!!!!!!

Last evening I finished this Chocolage block which I started while on vacation in Arizona. I think it's my favorite one so far. It's a cute cow! Also the backstitching for the wording isn't so much of a chore anymore. It seems I am getting it more even and it is going faster now. Practice-practice-practice is what always works, right?

I've traced off a few more blocks to work on in the evenings while watching tv with G, but during the days I need to get busy on Christmas gifts for my daughters and grands. The youngest is a girl and wants clothes for her Bitty Baby doll.

Since I don't own that particular doll (G says it must be the ONLY doll I don't have in my collection), I borrowed a Bitty Baby from my friend's granddaugher. They brought her over today, so now I just need to find a pattern.

I got the shock of my life yesterday at JoAnn's Fabrics when I found the PERFECT pattern with several outfits and by the description it was obviously designed for this 15" baby doll that is from American Girl-Pleasant Company dolls. I about fainted! When did patterns go up to US$15.95? That is just plain crazy.

When I worked at JoAnn's years ago there were always sales on patterns every week or in every sale flyer for like $1.99 each. Next week I noticed in their current flyer that Simplicity patterns will be $1.99, so I guess I'll wait and make sure I get down there on the first day of the sale. At that cost, I could buy 4 or 5 for what it would have cost me yesterday even with the 40% coupon!

The Judith B. Montano fabrics? I haven't forgotten. I'll take the picture tonight, ok?

Stitch On!

Building a Backup Stash

Building a Backup Stash
Originally uploaded by lasassone

The other day we spent 4 hours moving our stored "stuff" from a 10'x15' unit to a 10'x10' unit and by doing this, my stash is now close to the front of the unit. However, it's all so tightly packed in, I can't access too many things. We had to bring all our Christmas decoration boxes, tree and the reindeer for the yard home and G plans to put them back into the attic. Or maybe we'll just sell them - who knows - we thought we'd be moved by Christmas!

I managed to snag a few things while we were moving boxes - like some supplies I had to make Christmas gifts for my grandkids. Silly me, I thought we'd be moved by now and would be making gifts in my new studio.

So, a crazyquilt friend, former student and member of our local stitching group asked me the other day if I knew that our local Hospice Shoppe was having a "Vintage Sale". She told me briefly about some goodies she found and I was intrigued. So, the next morning I managed to get to the shop soon after it opened.

Gathering all the laces and trims you see hanging there in the picture after their Oxyclean soak was a long process as most of them were buried in bins filled with doilies and other things like ladies gloves, etc. I don't believe I've ever seen so many hand made doilies in one place before. My Mum used to make fancy doilies and whenever I see large numbers of things like that I remember how many hours and how much concentration she used to spend on her crochet projects.

One of the best treasures I found was a little crocheted dress that you can see kind of laying over the top right hand side of the rack. It's ecru with pink trim. It was obviously not an actual doll dress, which is what I thought at first. It IS 2 sided but has no opening, only a little hanging loop on the back side of the neck. It must have been made as a kitchen decoration. As a hot pad, it wouldn't do very well; it's very lacy! I plan to save it for embellishment on my planned doll-themed quilt. I saved some of my daughters' doll clothing in a box SOMEwhere, so I'll add it to that eventually. (If you'd like to see closeup photos of the little dress and some of the trims, click on the picture of the rack and you can see 2 additional photos in my Flickr pictures.)

A couple days before my trip to Hospice, the couple we do our morning walks with returned home from their month-long vacation. Diana, who used to work with me at the doctor's office brought me back a packet of awesome tatting that she and her daughter found in an antique shop in Seattle. Such a lovely thing when you see something like that and realize you know exactly who will love it SO much. I've done the same for her on trips as she is one of our Katie's "other mother's" and cares for Katie when we travel if she can.

So I am sort of tatting & crocheted edging rich! Now if I could just find some motifs! Perhaps I need to go out to the storage place by myself and see if I can manage to reach some of my stash. The other day when I had to go pick up something non-cq related, I actually was able to pull a couple of my embellishment drawers open and fondle some ribbons & such before I to leave.

Did I tell you that I ordered a half yard of most of the new line of fabrics designed by Judith Baker Montano? They were waiting here for me when we returned from Arizona. It's time to make dinner, so guess I'll leave that for tomorrow, okay?

Stitch On!

Final Vintage Embroidery Piece

Final Vintage Embroidery Piece
Originally uploaded by lasassone

This is the final vintage piece that I purchased in Nevada. I think this is my favorite of all 6 pieces and I believe this will be the centerpiece of anything I make from the 6 pieces.

I have to say this photo comes up looking like the velvet is blue, but it is not. It is a deep rich teal in color.

Each side measures 19 inches and from the base to the top it measures 17 inches high.

99% of the stitching is done with the old-style chenille thread. There is a little pearl cotton stitching in the center of each of the flowers. The piece is in good shape but there are 3 or 4 places where the stitches are loose. I will repair these discreetly using a strand of silk floss and tacking the errant ends down from the back.

I do not know how this was used originally, but you can see the old seam lines and, in addition, there are evenly spaced small holes inside the seam allowance. It's almost as if someone had used a pushpin to tack this piece up somewhere. I don't have a clue as to what would have made these holes.

So those are all the 6 pieces and now..........

I'm off on a week's journey to Arizona where I will visit with my brother and visit some favorite places. This is the first time in a while that I will travel without my laptop, but at my brothers home I can check my email and some favorite links.

I'm also taking my cpu into the shop where, while I'm gone, they will tweak it and maybe give it a physical and put some life back into it. It may need a transfusion for all I know. Or perhaps it's just getting old like me. At least IT didn't fall on the laundry room steps this morning!

Don't ASK!

LOL! I'm not sure how this "no computer trip" will work, but I have forwarded some things to my yahoo mailbox in hopes I can still check things at my brothers place.. Whether I'll be able to blog remains a mystery. But if I can't, I'll see you all in a week!

I'm taking a lot of stitching with me for evenings when my brother reads. He doesn't watch television!

Stitch On!

Vintage Embroidery #5

Vintage Embroidery #5
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Sorry for the delay in posting this 5th vintage piece. I loaded the picture up to Flickr some days ago as some people have discovered, but along with the last days of recuperating from the hellish virus, lots has been happening around here to keep me busier than I'd like to be.

No, the house has NOT sold, but according to our realtor there's been much more action on the listing since we lowered the price. Remains to be seen what that means.

So here we have the 5th vintage embroidery piece I bought at that shop in Carson City, Nevada. It is also 8.5 inches square and the velvet base is the darkest navy blue I think I've ever seen. The skillfully-done embroidery looks to have been done in one strand of silk. I think this is my "next to favorite" because of the subject.

California's official state flower is the California Poppy and they have always been my favorite wildflower. In our former home I used to have 100's of them in our front yard and they would re-seed every year resulting in some interesting variations popping up over the 12 yrs we lived there.

This is a lovely well-done embroidery whose colors are a bit more intense than the photo shows. Somehow I just couldn't get the orange as bright as it should be nor could I get the stems and leaves to appear as green as they do in real life.

I can't wait to work up an idea to incorporate all of these pieces. Tomorrow I will post the 5th, final and my favorite piece. I promise!

Stitch On!

Halloween Pillowcases for the Grands

Halloween Pillowcases for the Grands
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Last night I finished up 5 of these pillowcases for my youngest grands. The one on the left I made for the boys and the Witchey's Underwear ones on the right I made for the girls.

Today I got Halloween cards made for each of them (thanks to the Dover free weekly samples!), wrapped them up and took the 2 packages to the post office where the lines were long - even at the automated teller "thing". The lady in front of me had never used it before and so I and the guy behind me ended up training her! LOL.....she made a mistake twice, so by the time she was finished she'd done the whole thing 3 times and said she'd never forget how EVER!

After that we went to Circuit City and bit the bullet. We purchased a dvd/vcr recorder that is even digital and should last us a long time. We had hoped to avoid any big purchases until we moved, but when your vcr dies, what are you gonna do?

What I'm going to do is recommend that anyone reading this NEVER buy a television with a built-in vcr, okay? Trust me! Three-year-old TV is still great, vcr inside NOT so great aka virtually dead.

So, tomorrow morning, when my mind is fresh, I will try to figure out how to hook it up. The cute young salesman assured me it's simple, but you gotta know by the point he told me that, he was already thinking of how he was gonna spend his commission!

It's back to the studio/sewing room for me! Loads to do before our trip next week to Arizona!

Stitch On!