Monthly Archives: December 2010

Unfinished Business

I was so smug in thinking I had plenty of time and a machine was on it’s way.  Well it arrived a day late. I thawed it out-it had frost on it which I am sure was not good for it.  I waited patiently for it to dry out. I sat down and realized I didn’t send along the right walking foot for the machine . I couldn’t quilt without the right foot for the machine. Kind of like forgetting the paintbrush but remembering the paint. . It wasn’t going to happen.  Unfinished quilts will remain unfinished for 2010. I fussed for a bit. Ok fussed for a few hours and into the next morning.

And then I looked outside.

Beautiful sunshine. We rarely see the sun in Michigan in the winter. I strapped on my snowshoes and just walked. Breathing in the cold air and feeling the sun on my face.

And realized fussing is really rather foolish.  Maybe I  needed a break from this obsessional sewing. 



I am sure I will sew yet this week. But right now I am going to enjoy my vacation and the mountains.

Be creative-or maybe just enjoy the time between the holidays to see where you have been and where you want to go. 

Changing Places

     I have traveled to our second home in Vermont. We left on Sunday and thankfully were just ahead of this epic storm. We flew into Burlington, VT  and it was the only airport open on the East Coast. I thought it was just amazing to actually be leaving until the luggage cart hit the wing of the airplane we were on!  After a short delay, we arrived minus only one piece of luggage at our destination.

It takes me a day or two to adjust and get organized here but I am in vacation mode.

It was nice being snowbound yesterday-not as much snow as others but amazing winds with bitter wind chills.

Windy and snowy. It’s a nice day to sit by the fire and stitch. I am waiting for my sewing machine to arrive. I had to have it shipped here. Which is a good thing because the one I have here just wouldn’t budge today but one or two stitches. It is my first machine-I should have a ceremony for it. Dead as can be. I am not giving up on my goal to have two more pieces done by New Years’.

I have a new computer and I can’t figure out how to get to my photo library despite having some great edited photos for you. So, I better go. I found a coffee shop in Morrisville with wi-fi and a great latte so hopefully you will have a better post next time.

Anyone doing the Sketchbook Challenge?

Be creative, my friends and stay warm!

Merry Christmas, My Friends!

     Wishing you a Merry Christmas and blessed holiday celebrations this week.

      No- we don’t have that much snow here but it’s a great dreaming of a white Christmas picture, isn’t it? One of last winter in Vermont. Off for a few days of posting but hopefully back early next week. Pictures of my sweet treats I have received this Christmas, too.

     Merry Christmas, my friends from near and far!

The White Flag of Surrender

      That’s what I feel like doing tonight. I surrender until the 26th of December. I can’t get beyond the basting point on this one. It’s really high thread count pimatex that is hand dyed and I was worried that the safety pin basting method wouldn’t stabilize it enough.So I decided to try hand basting it via the Sharon Schamber method. It isn’t hard at all and really is seeming to lay nice and flat.

     I don’t want to hurry with this one. I am feeling the need to slow down. And enjoy the holidays a bit. So I probably won’t have any finished work before Christmas for you. Maybe just some pretty Christmas pictures. I am going to try to  sneak in a visit to the botanical gardens tomorrow. Don’t tell my family that-they think I am working like a slave around here.:) No one wants to go with me.

   Just take some time to slow down, my friends!

There was a Goal Set/ #5 Finished

     Wasn’t there? I think the number was seven. Well, I think this is five. I had purchased small block kits at a yearly shop hop. Never made it to all the shops so I had miscellaneous blocks sitting in a pile. Once I opened the packages and saw-directions – dreaded directions- I knew I couldn’t follow them. So, I started cutting them up and now I have a little improvisational baby quilt.

One donation for March already done! ( Yes, I think all sane people are thinking about March in the month of Christmas.A little absolute insanity for the week before Christmas when I haven’t even finished Christmas prep yet….)

                                            
                                                    Sweetness and Light
                                                          37×37, 2010

     I had my family Christmas party this weekend. My brother and sister-in-law  from Indianapolis spent the weekend with us. Lots of busy going on here. My family -minus my sick sister and her sick daughter…

       Yes , I have a whacked header up there. I just really only have a certain amount of competence with Photoshop. I will have to wait until my daughter comes home from her exam today and fixes it. With a lot of eye rolling and little patience for me! 🙂 It really does bug me that I don’t know how to do this stuff. Fearless to try  but too foolish to know how to correct some of my mistakes. Oh well. No one will die from my whacked header today. Lesson learned: don’t change it until  you have the right thing to replace it with.

      Off to run a few errands. I will baste #6 today and finish it before Christmas leaving number 7 to be done the week after Christmas when I am on vacation. Or so goes the plan.

      Be creative, my friends!

One More To Go

  

     I just finished this scarf for a friend. It is made out of really soft alpaca. One more left to do after this. Scarf that is. Also working on quilt #5. Almost ready for binding. In case, you wonder if I am still here. Just finding it hard to think of something very exciting to say!  Guess all the brain cells are being used to stay on track and finish chores these days.

I spent yesterday cleaning up my studio. The tables were overflowing with unfinished projects and I got tired of looking for things. Scraps were even placed in the appropriate drawers. Now, I feel lazy!

    A little caffeine should help that ! Are you making gifts? I haven’t for a few years but felt so inspired this year.

Have fun creating, my friends!

Why Do you Make?

My favorite handmade Santa from a craft show ~ 15 years ago

     I was reading through my favorite blogs and this one really made me stop and think .Tara Gentile in her blog, Scoutie Girl, asked us to comment or leave a link to her question today. As I am just starting a few last minute Christmas gifts to tuck with packages last night, I was asking myself the same question. Let me try to sum it up for you so don’t fall asleep.

The Process: I love the process of  designing and stitching with needle and thread on fabric. Adding any kind of handstitiching just really pleases me and I find it relaxing. I enjoy sharing the process with others-belonging to groups , teaching my kids how to sew or just giving what I have made to others. So the process and sharing in the product of the process.

The Completion: I enjoy the satisfaction of finishing a project and knowing that I did my best on it. If I didn’t feel like it was my best work, I enjoy completing it just for the process of knowing what I learned from it and knowing I pushed through some kind of a new barrier. So many of my tasks that I complete, are undone quickly and need to be re-done:dishes, housework, etc. This one stays done and hopefully is pleasing to look at.

The Spontaneity of It: Doing something spontaneous on the design wall or just with my hands is an extra treat in my planned out days and duties. Sometimes feels like a naughty pleasure…it shouldn’t I know but so many things need to be done -not the want to do things- the needs always call me as they have to be done.

Uniquely Me: What I make is uniquely from my hands, heart and mind. It is me being creative and thinking through and loving the process. No one else will make it just like I have. Don’t mean in anyway to sound vain. Just hope that the passion  I have for creating and making things will show through with what I make and give this Christmas. I am not me without creating something with needle , thread and my hands!

                                                      Hand stitched coat-? unknown maker

So, my friends, why do you make?

Be creative- we have a snow day today. I love it.

The Hamster Wheel

     Yes, I am on one this week. Hustling around trying to get the computer situation fixed. My computer guy is very disorganized and has cost me lots of extra time. Customer satisfaction is everything these days…Take care of the customer seems very easy, doesn’t it? One more trip back today to return something and then three will be working. I might cave and go for the big Apple for myself after this fiasco. And then my lab is sick and at the vet-she ate a cake on the front seat of my car-homemade and a gingerbread cake. Silly things -that as the vet says-she does this every December. Must not like how busy I am.

     So, very little time has been spent on quilts. I have been hand stitching on my crinkle quilt. Pieces pulled

for something like this.

. Basting done for #5 which needs to be done before Christmas.

 I think #6 and #7 might be for the week after Christmas unless a huge chunk of time opens up. Haven’t given up yet. And trying some more screen printing.  Screens from Lynne Krawczyk.

     Definitely addictive.15-30 minute bits of time in my studio.

     I am going to put some of these threads in my Etsy shop as several people have requested that I dye some for them. But I will put them here first. Two batches:

     The first one is Fire and consists of 5 skeins of hand dyed DMC embroidery thread- 10$.

              

The second is my favorite is :  Spring Sky 5 skeins of hand dyed embroidery thread-10$.      

             

Great for hand stitching on your art quilts. E-mail me if you would like them. If not they will be on Etsy tomorrow.

Whew -the weekend is almost here!

Be creative, my friends.

ADD: Hand dyed thread is sold- more to come in my Etsy shop.

Onward and Forward?Finish #4

     I have spent the past 48 hours trying to move forward. And I am. I keep reminding myself of that.  I have added a computer to our household-for my husband. I have spent hours deleting old files and then getting the data transferred. He has been very patient but is tired of searching for our one and only desktop throughout the house. By the end of the month- or should I say Christmas day- we should have 4-yes four operating and efficient computers. It is a huge deal to us as we have been operating on one for the past few months- limping along- going nowhere fast.( My daughter is taking a graphics design class and is hogging up the time at night.) I am very excited. More than excited.

     I have also spent way too much time(and money) getting my beloved Yukon fixed again. Yesterday. An unexpected and unwelcome start to the week. The Yukon had problems after the decision was made on computers so no looking back. She has 115,000 miles on her and she is mine. This is a sentimental kind of thing. She has been reliable. She is old and very dog friendly , if not a little smelly. But repaired and good to go today.
     Now, back to my quest to finish things. Finish #4: Carnival Ride.

     It’s for a table in Vermont. Table art. Carnival Ride, 14×33, 2010 , and it’s finished!

     My daughter Hope chose a winner for this last giveaway. She pulled out the name –Lynne– you are the winner. You will love the velvet. And the paints. I’ll mail it out tomorrow.

     I want to join in the holiday fun over here. It might totally distract me from this finish thing. Remind me next year not to do this during December. Motivation to finish works- in- process needs to come in November.

Thank you again for stopping in.

Be creative, my friends!

Time to Play/ Last Giveaway

     I had exactly one hour before I left to pick the kids up from school. And I had finished my quilt. So, I lined up my supplies: Simply Plaid screen printing paint, sponge brush, fabric, a thermofax screen and a cover cloth for my work surface.

 The first pull-I should have peeked underneath to see what my coverage was like. Sorry about the dark picture. I need to adjust to really dark, cloudy days here in my picture taking. I love this process as it is instant gratification.

     I purchased my thermofax screen from Lynn Krwaczyk in her Etsy store. I have enjoyed her blog for the past few months and thought it was something I would like to try. She has EXCELLENT tutorials (free education!) on Youtube and you can find links, of course, on her blog. Fun and very addictive. It only took about 15  minutes and now must be heat set. When I received my copy of Quilting Arts magazine yesterday, she has a 6 page article on this process. It was an added bonus to my new little surface design playtime.

     Last thank you for reading my blog giveaway:

     One yard of handdyed blue velvet, 2 Simply Plaid screen printing paints, and 4 handdyed embroidery threads.  My question : Do you have a technique that is on your list to try? Leave a comment on this post by next Tuesday and I will have one of my kids randomly choose the winner.( If you win, you might need to check out Lynn’s Etsy shop.)

     Be creative, my friends. For me. I need to focus on Christmas shopping today.