Last of the Hydrangeas for 2009

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!

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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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.
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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.
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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.
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The next block I'm doing is the farmer on the old fashioned tractor.
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Stay tuned & Stitch On!

2008 Take It Further Challenge - August Block

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.
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August was the month of the Olympics in China, so I have applied a copy of the olympic flag on the upper left patch.
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On the lower left is a depiction of the Chinese character for "Harmony" which was the theme of the 2008 Olympics.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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All the stitches I used on this block are copies from my workbook of stitches I have observed on antique crazyquilts.
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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

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!!!!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!"

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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

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!

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!

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!

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!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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