Avidquilter's Place - A place to show what I am working on and what I plan to work on.

Peanut's ticker

2009-01-26T21:07:00.000-08:00

Found this little ticker to tick down the time to Peanut's first birthday by following the link of one a lady had on the Greenleaf forum. Very cute!

2008-12-29T19:35:00.000-08:00

Boy do I need to catch up. Christmas around here is, as usual, extremely busy. We got all the lights put up by the 6th of December but took until a week before Christmas before the inside was done, and even then there were more things to add to and fix. Finally just relaxed and let them go undone.

We did have a nice Christmas though. Tom's Mom and David came down and we had Roast for Christmas eve dinner then turkey and dressing for Christmas day dinner. We tried to make it as simple as possible but still spent 2 whole days in the kitchen cooking. Wonder if we will ever start early enough to get it all done before the last minute. Our town, Big Spring, TX, has a festival of lights each year so we went to see that. Very pretty. Lots of giant candy canes and poinsettias.

I made ornaments for everyone this year, and some gift baskets for the ones that weren't here. That was kind of fun. Haven't ever done that before so made game time baskets for the sports fans with Chex party mix, pkg's of microwave popcorn, pkgs of instant cocoa and cups, and fudge and magic cookie bars. Did a similar one for movie night for the non sports fanatics. If I had planned ahead a little more I would have included some mugs and napkins but was a last minute idea.

The ornaments I made are folded star and so much fun to make. I sold quite a few of them on ebay and plan to sell them on my new etsy site.

A while back I posted that I didn't sell any of the little lamps I made but guess the timing was just off as I relisted them closer to Christmas and sold quite a few. Have put the rest of them on my etsy site and will be making more stuff to sell on there.

Here is the link to my etsy site.

GleamingDollhouse.etsy.com

Here are a couple of videos of our house this Christmas, kind of blurry but you get the idea. The Christmas trees are live trees we bought in years past. There are 10 in all. We haven't been able to buy trees the past few years as no money, maybe we can start again someday.

Here are some pics of the house where you can get an idea of how many lights we put up and how much work we put into it. I still enjoy it and wish i could just leave it up all year but the weather would destroy it all. I do have plenty of storage space though and I enjoy putting it all away and organizing it almost as much as putting it all up Here are the ornaments I have been making, or rather a sample of them. I started real late but sold almost all I made. I have plans to make them all year and have some great ideas for making them with pics like the Coke ones, dogs, horses, letters, etc. Maybe can get enough made to sell at a craft show or two as well.

2008-10-20T03:19:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot, had to post this pic of my grandson. I was holding him and he just kept leaning over looking in the empty trash can so I put him in it. Just the right size for him to stand up in and hold onto the edge. He was perfectly content for the longest time. Goofy child.

2008-10-20T03:08:00.000-07:00

This is one of the little bedspreads I made to sell on eBay. It is supposed to look like a vintage chenille spread with the teeny adorable pompom fringe around the bottom.

This one is a silk fabric with silk ribbon embroidery design in the middle. I love this one and plan to make another with red silk ribbon embroidery on it.

This is a little tree I made to sell but if it doesn't sell I will be more than happy to keep it to use in my own dollhouse.

I have been getting caught up on lots of things. Forgot to take a picture of the little pink tree skirt I finally finished. Well I say finished. I bought trim to go around the edge but didn't get quite enough so will have to finish that later. Also got 12 quilts ready to be sent off to the quilter and several table runners ready to finish myself. Already finished one of those. Will have to take some more pics tommorow. Off to bed for me, it's after 5 AM!

2008-10-17T18:28:00.000-07:00

These are the chandeliers I made for dollhouses. I did sell 2 of them, the gothic with the rose and skull and the first waterfall.

2008-10-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

These are some of the little lamps I made that I think are just too cute. I listed them on eBay and didn't sell a single one. Am still trying to figure out why. I also made some little chandeliers and sold 2, the gothic one and the big waterfall one.

Catching up

2008-08-10T00:14:00.000-07:00

Whew, What a hot hot summer! Finally have my computer set up where it is cool. Have worked on my crazy quilting but no pics yet, maybe tommorow. I have recently been working on my dollhouse and have accomplished quite a bit. Am in the middle of doing the wiring right now. It was already wired but was having so much trouble keeping the work that was already done on it, working, decided to start over. Walked in the other day and this is what I found!

Yes, the dollhouse is upside down. I decided it was easier to wallpaper the ceilings with it upside down, and did some of the walls too! Our grandson, who we call Peanut, is growing like a weed. He is 5 months old now and laughing and starting to grab his toys and bottle. Just too cute for words! Here is a pic from 4months.

Here are a few more pics of some cute happenings around our place. My baby Maggie is growing and is the subject of all kinds of cute pics. She loves Lucky, my daughter's cat and we caught a pic of them sleeping together. She also loves to sleep in Dad's lap. The next pic is of our nightly visitor to the outside cat's food bowl. The last pic is of my sunflowers, that tall one is 9' 6" tall.

2008-03-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

Mom, Andrea, and her new little peanut!

Big Sis, Jesi, and her new little brother

Big Cousin, Christian, and his new little cousin

Andrew James Underwood 4 lbs 11.4 oz, 18" long, a tiny little peanut! What a little sweetie!

February 18

2008-02-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

Well the refinery fire is out and all is quiet again.

I have actually done a little sewing the last few days. got some blocks put together for a baby quilt I started last year. Then added borders to my crazy quilt cats block that was in a round robin. Also did a little sewing on the skirts for my tables that I set my village on. Didn't have time to do it before Christmas so am getting it done so it will be ready for next year.

Better get off to bed, was up early with the explosion this morning and am definitly feeling it. Maybe can post some pics tommorow and some of my new puppy.

Our refinery explosion

2008-02-18T12:06:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to post a couple of pics of the smoke plume coming from the refinery explosion that happened in my town about 8:15 this morning. It woke me up and looked over and my fish tank was rocking back and forth. These pics were taken from my bedroom window and we are about 10 miles from the refinery. I took these about an hour ago about 1:00 pm. It's amazing only one person was injured at the refinery. A girl was hurt that was driving by the refinery on the interstate when her car was thrown off the interstate. Lots of windows broken in the area within a mile or 2 of there. I'm sure we will hear more things as time goes by. The smoke is still drifting off to the northwest so we haven't had to deal with that problem here in town although I am sure the little towns of coahoma and Sand Springs are in its direct path.

December 22 Morning

2007-12-21T22:39:00.000-08:00

Christmas Myspace Comments
I collapsed today, got my Christmas cards finished at 5:30 this morning. got up at 9:30 to go shopping and then our moving business intefered so we didn't go. Have done most of my shopping online and the rest I can just do locally. Hope to do some baking over the weekend. Something I never seem to have time for. I love to make home made cinnamon and orange rolls for Christmas morning and haven't had a chance for several years. Still have a little housework to do to make the house presentable for guests.

Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

2007-12-21T22:25:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas

Too busy to post

2007-12-11T01:35:00.000-08:00

I don't know about the rest of you but I am so busy getting ready for Christmas I don't have time to sit at the computer more than a few seconds to check for important email. Oh well, will be back and post some pics of my decorations or something soon.

Have fun you all, getting ready for the holidays.

Not much new

2007-11-26T22:18:00.000-08:00

Have been so busy working on my house and getting through Thanksgiving haven't posted to my blog in a while. Haven't sewed much. Have worked on a little Christmas tree skirt have had for a few years. Got it off a moving job where a lady gave us stuff that was left over in her house along with a bunch of other craft supplies. It is a muted pink and gold and I have been embroidering metallic gold around the gold and pink metallic around the pink. Then have added the acrylic flower beads I like so well to all the flowers on half of it so far, plus beads to all the berries. I have a pink Christmas tree I plan to use it under. Will take pics soon whether I finish it or not.

We got a lot of snow for us Thanksgiving day and a day later. Was really beautiful and enjoyed every minute of it. The kids sure had a good time having snow ball fights and there were snowmen all over town. Everyone took advantage of the rare snow that was enough snow to do something in.

Just catching up

2007-11-01T15:55:00.001-07:00

Well our little boy is doing really good, one side of his face is really healing fast and the other is looking good too. He now has a new scratch down the middle of his nose. He may have learned not to do what caused the eye damage but he is still not afraid to accost every other cat in the neighborhood!

You might notice a new link on my blog to Sew Mama Sew. What a great idea to make something, a small gift, everyday for the month of November. Last year I had lots of things done ahead of time but not this year. Got myself in to entirely too many round robins this year. Which i enjoyed every single one and learned soooo much, but over extended myself. So now am going to do this to help me catch up. Tonight I think I will make an apron for my oldest DD who cooks and cleans for us and we jokingly call her Cinderella. So will make her an apron with the name Cinderella on it.

I am still working on doors for my hallway and stairs, refinishing a antique bed, and various other similar projects. Also having a yard sale. Haven't done a lot of sewing but have kept a little tree skirt I am embellishing in the car so i can work on it when am waiting or riding in the car. it is coming along nicely and will take a picture in a few more days when i get the embroidery done if not more.

Well, am back to my projects for now.

Our hurt baby

2007-10-22T10:27:00.001-07:00

Our "son" Gandalf came running up to "Dad" this morning to tell him he got hurt. Of course he had to go the emergency room. The Dr. thinks he got caught in the fan belt of a car. We can't imagine him doing that but it was cold for the first time this morning???? Our big tough guy who usually fights, spits, bites, and screams and has to be restrained just to be examined, when he is at the Dr., didn't make a protest. Just a big shot of antibiotics and some cream for his eyes and he is home again. Can you imagine how much that hurts though!

OH NO! I've been MEMEd!

2007-10-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

I have been meme'd by Jane, http://crazyhereandnow.blogspot.com/

I really don't know anyone else to tag so will have to add some later if I can find anyone that hasn't already been tagged.

Ah! I found one, Susan at http://cq4fun.livejournal.com/

If you want to play, great! If you don't that's great! No obligations here, just trying to have fun, sooooo.....1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Now let's see! I think i am supposed to do 7 things you might not know about me or something like that.

No 1

I grew up in the Air Force and have lived in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Tennessee, Arkansas, New Mexico, Wyoming, on Okinawa, and Colorado. I have lived in 18 different cities that i can remember and have visited 19 States so far.

No 2

My first job was as a soda fountain jerk and I have worked as a waitress, sales clerk, cook, caregiver, housewife, in a chicken factory, restaurant assistant manager, restaurant manager, motel housekeeper, motel desk clerk, motel night auditor, motel accounts receivable secretary, radio station newsman helper, in a pet store, as a college continueing education computer teacher, computer lab technician, and I own a moving company.

No 3

My favorite place I lived was in Arkansas with all the water and trees. My favorite job was motel desk clerk

No 4

My dream is to own and operate a Bed and Breakfast with a Quilt shop as part of it.

No 5

My favorite vacation was a week long trip to Cancun Mexico with my DH, we toured a pyramid, rode in a glass bottom boat, snorkeled, shopped, and just had a great time.

No 6

Sleeping on my back causes me to have nightmares!

No 7

I love to read stories about animals and especially fantasies about dragons, and read lots of fantasy books from the teen section of the library.

Wow! that was kind of hard, made me think!

Another Julie's Round Robin

2007-10-19T22:29:00.000-07:00

This week i worked on this Round Robin from an off shoot of the Kaye Woods Quilting Friends group called the Learning Fabric Art's group. This one belongs to another lady named Julie. I decided her traditional style quilt needed some crazy quilting so i did a crazy quilt border on one side and a regular strip of elephant print fabric on the other, after adding a 1 1/4" black border all around.

Here at the top of the strip i added a branch of flowers and leaves, below that is a printed on silk, pic of an elephant and her baby, i added some coconut shell beads at each corner. To the left i added some little metal charms and an elephant button I had.
Below i made some golden yellow yoyo flowers and to the right of that some cascading lily like acrylic flowers down the seam. The elephant print fabric is from a friend in South Africa.
Below the print i used some cool fringe trim and a bead and button cluster featuring an African mask button. Then i used a couple of coconut shell spears with some beads between to do that seam.
Another elephant with some trim around and acrylic flowers framing it. Also a feather stitch seam treatment to the right, and a couple of lazy daisies with bead stems
The bottom is another african type fabric with a black fringy trim and beads above it. i thought this pic of the indian elephants all dressed up was neat so printed it out on silk too and used a gold metallic trim to frame it. made a wooden bead flower in the corner.

Latest Round Robins worked on

2007-10-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

This first one is a sewing themed Choose your own theme of "Carole's" Had fun doing this one. I used a piece of a tape measure, some ric rac, a piece of elastic, some seam tape, piping, covered buttons, regular buttons, snaps, ribbons, beads, yo yo flowers, silk ribbon flowers, acrylic flowers, sewing themed charms, and a little cross stitch of a embroidery hoop and work. Plus a few basic sewing stitches like the blanket stitch and a basting stitch, and a couple of embroidery stitches.
This is Flora's kitty kitty block. Such a great colorful block. Had no trouble picking out colors for it. I add the little prissy white kitty with the pink collar among the acrylic flowers at the bottom right. Above that I used her great red grosgrain ribbon with the white stitching, couched it down and added bead flowers and beads and a few paw prints. To the left I did a featherstitch in a pretty variegated thread got in a thread buy from Susan N. and added some purple beads to highlight the stitching. This kitty kitty has been a great Round Robin. Such great stitching and ideas from all the ladies. Got to work on two of Rebecca's kitty kitty blocks, this being the second one. I add the hidden kitty at the bottom among a bunch of acrylic flowers and a little butterfly he is watching. Above that I used a set of kitty buttons that spell out meow. Drilled holes with them to sew them on. Don't they look like they are looking up at the great big kitty in awe?! To the left on that gorgeous piece of fabric in soft aqua with butterflies and silver highlights I added some beads to all the butterflies spots.

September 29, 2007

2007-09-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I would try to make a mini crazy quilt block which I have never done before so was not sure on the size to make it. I made these four blocks and as you can tell from the second picture next to my hand it is a little big. I plan to try again when I have time and use a 1 1/2" backing to get a 1" block. I might use these for pillows or something.
Here is something else I did. I saw the most magnificent stairs in a magazine so copied some of it on the back of my stairs. It's not perfect but I like it. The next pic is of the front of the stairs. I plan to put a small study under the stairs for the man of the house with more of the fancy wood work and a leather chair.

Now this is what I have worked on mostly for over a week now. This is part of my real stairs and landing that I have painted dazzling red! The trim is white and the baseboards, floors, and doors, are to be the natural wood. I started this project last fall by stripping the stairs, baseboards and railing. Before I started all the stairs were painted black with a gold design on them as well as the top landing. the first landing had gray tile on it. I took pics but who knows where they are. So these pics are after I stripped all the black paint off the stairs and while I am in the process of stripping the awful, horrible black tar like stuff they put down the tile with. This is the main set of stairs that have already been stripped.This is the first landing at the top of the main set of stairs. Have all my supplies out there ready to get started. I tried to remove most of the gunk with paint remover, orange paint remover and scraping, and wiping up with rags and over and over and over again. Whoever thought it was a good idea to use this black gunk was nuts!After you turn the corner there is a walkway before you get to the next set of stairs. More tar gunk to be removed. I didn't do a perfect job but it turned out pretty good. I did alllll the work by myself and it took the whole winter to recover.This view is from the top landing looking down on the bottom landing. Here you get an idea of some of the rails I had to strip black paint off of. Here is a better picture of all the railing and part of the upper landing after it was stripped.This is the top landing looking over the railing towards the bottom landing. To the left is a shelf where i have all my supplies piled up. Inside this shelf is old cast iron plumbing. Makes a great place to set up my Christmas sleigh collection and my ceramic cats the rest of the year. and finally a part of it after some of my painting. Will post more pics when I am through, this is just to give you an idea of the color I am using. Isn't it enough to wake you up when you come out of the bedroom in the mornings? I think it will make a great backdrop for all my bright color quilts too! I have very few walls in the house where I can hang my quilts so plan on hanging some of them in the stairwell. When I wasn't working on my real house I was working on the miniautures. Some of these kits go so fast that I get lots made but here are just a few I got made this week. Here is the hanging shelf. I love the design on the sides.

I finished this corner cabinet yesterday. Plan to paint it to match the room I put it in.
The biggest piece so far, the flat top highboy. Still have to make the broken bonnet highboy but it is made the same with only a different top to it. See my tapewire in the back ground, I finished it this week and it actually works, so all but one room is electrified, forgot about the last room when I was doing it so will have to do it later.
Ah, and the slat back chair. They remind me of the chairs my Grandmother had in her kitchen. Only thing is, is that hers were strung with wire and had a throw pillow in them. I got some wood this week and plan to make a replica of her house. Can remember the whole thing from memory. One of my Uncle's and Aunt tore the old house down and built a new one in it's place. They built a great house but sure miss the old one and wish it was still there.

This was the most fun I had building something, even though it was a real challenge. A dollhouse for my dollhouse. I painted the inside after I had most of it together. Talk about challenging. Each room is a different color and 3 of the floors are stained and one painted. Just too cute, huh?!Well bye for now. Will post again when I get those stairs finally finished, the real ones that is!

September 24, 2007

2007-09-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

What a challenging and fun block to make this one was. It is a Geronimo Choose your own theme block for a lady in our group named Jane. I looked up pics for Geronimo and Apache Indians and came up with quite a few images. My favorite is the dream catcher. I had the fabric pic of the canoe from a quilt I made for my daughter and thought it was perfect for the theme so framed it in the center. As I forgot to use the focus fabric in the block itself I made yo yo flowers to accent the center. I have had the saquaro cactus and thunderbird concho's for years so used them adding a little tassel for each. For the button bead cluster I used some coconut shell beads have also had for years, as well as some old buttons, and feather shaped charms from an old broken necklace. The fall leaves seemed to match, and I found the pic of the needlepoint thunderbird online and used waste canvas to turn it into a needlepoint pic. Oh, and that glorious fringe! I just loved it when I bought it, then never had anything to use it on. the color was just perfect so it was the first thing I added. The couched ribbon was some Jane included in her baggie and I added beads of various kinds to it. Here is another kitty kitty block I worked on for a lady named Kate. Can you find the kitty hiding among the flowers? These are acrylic flowers with a button kitty. I used beads for the dragonflies trail that the kitty is fixing to pounce on. I think I did the seam treatment below it but can't even remember. Oh well, Quiltimers has hit again. I do remember block was pretty full and still a few people to work on it so wanted to leave some room.
Another Kitty kitty block. This prissy little kitty is just sitting among the flowers after walking across the block, see paw prints on yellow patch. I also added the beaded feather stitch in red and the red and white with beads chain stitch.
Back to sane quilting. I wanted to add some interest and character so only did rows on 2 sides of this center using the friendship block. I love the RR's that come back with row encroaching upon previous rows and hope this gives this RR some of that character of thinking outside the box. The colors were hard to match on this one with fabric from my stash. Never realized how much color variation there are between different batiks, even if they look similar.
That's about all I have done so far. Have another Choose your own theme block am working on and still working on that dollhouse. Mostly boring structual stuff for the moment. Will write about that next time.

Update on Dollhouse work

2007-09-02T01:42:00.000-07:00

All of these pictures are the dollhouse and furniute I have been making, from kits of course! I have been collecting the House of Miniature furniture kits and started putting them together. These kits are really fun and of very high quality. Wish the company would start making them again. I have paid top dollar for some of the rarer pieces. the two chairs were the hardest pieces I have made as far as trying to line up the parts and get them to stay that way until the glue set. Most of the furniture I have used a aged oak stain on. Some, as in this picture, I used a bottle of the mahogany stain that originally came with the kits. I have run out of that though, so bought some mahogony stain. It is different but pretty too. I know originally all these pieces were done in the really dark stains but I like the lighter stains much better.
The clock was an adventure. I glued mine together backwards, bought one from another lady that had hers partly done, so I put the two together and I still managed to put the border around the clock face on upside down. Oh well, it's unique now.
I made this little stool and decided I would do a cross stitch design for the seat. Thought this heart pattern was cute.
Don't know if you can see but have some of the tiny spatterware utensils on the dry sink. I found a set of cannisters, cup holder and cups, cooking utensils, pots and pans, coffee pot and cups, and dishes. Just too cute.

Here is some of the dining room furniture. Notice more of the spatterware dishes. The little white things are cookies my 7 year old Grandson made for me. I am upholstering the chairs in a green velvet that I used to have my real antique dining room chairs covered in.
I just love the variety of pieces in these kits. The one on the left is a desk on frame. Just too cute.
Here is some of the bedroom furniture. Still need to make a bedspread for this bed.
Living room furniture. I am trying to use all fabrics that mean something or are vintage. Both the pink and the black velvet came out of a old doll museum that we cleaned out quite a few years ago. These fabrics were used as display drapes. The pink is a soft satin with a paisley design and the black has a pink and white bird design on it.
Have mostly done touch ups to the outside of the dollhouse. Second coat of paint on the trim, etc. I did put the deck together. For the floor of the deck I used tongue depressors and stained it with redwood stain. The railing is various pieces stained with the same redwood stain. It's not perfect but I like it. I need to put shingles on each end and top and will be through with the outside except any landscaping I deside to add. Need to finish the electrical next so can start working on the inside.

Catching up

2007-09-02T01:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a block I added to belonging to a lady in one of the Round Robins I am in. I just love her cross stitch peacock. Here is the part I added. Did a paisley trying to make it look like the eye of a peacock feather, with a little mirror in the eye. I missed using that perfect shade of blue in a peacock feather as just could not find any beads just that color. Below the paisley is a little seam treatment using a feather stitch with a lazy daisy with a bead as the "eye". Below that I did a maidenhair stitch with beads and lazy daisy stitches again.
This block is from a beading Round Robin and love how Victorian this one looks.
I added this button and flower bead cluster. I love these acrylic flowers I got on eBay. To the left are some little flowers I added in beads and below is another maidenhair stitch with beads. I love that stitch.

What I've been working on July 23

2007-07-25T02:12:00.000-07:00

The projects I have been working on besides the dollhouse are these two blocks. The first is one of my peacock blocks. Have been trying out lots of stitches using the book "Elegant Stitches" by Judyth Montano. The scroll stitch, maidenhair stitch, a combination of lazy daisy and featherstitch, double chevron, a russian chain stitch, and the loop stitch. The peacock applique I bought on ebay, along with several others. This is an oriental block I am planning to use in a oriental throw. Here have started with a cherry tree covered with blossoms, a chain stitch and bead seam treatments. Have started a cluster of SRE flowers. These are the ones I did while making the videos. Will be adding to that now that have the cherry tree done. Oh and will probably add more to the cretan stitch I did on another seam.
Tommorow will be getting ready to go on a camping trip to a lake not too far away. SIL has rented cabins so won't be roughing it too much. I have already packed my tackle box. Of course it is full of beads and threads and silk ribbon, not fishing tackle. Have all my peacock blocks to work on in my little minnow bucket.

I'll also be taking a card table to work on doll house furniture and have some fabric peices in case inspiration hits me for more little pillows or things to use in the doll house. Maybe will have some more pics and interesting stories when i get back.

Round Robin updates

2007-07-25T02:01:00.000-07:00

I finished up working on a few Round Robins the past couple of days. The first one is what I added to Candji's block in a beading round robin. I did a beaded feather stitch with little pink flowers, a scroll seam treatment right next to it with beads, and a cluster of SRE flowers with bead clusters and accents. The next 2 are from the peacock Round Robin, Mari's and Sandi's. I did the paisley on this one, am definitly addicted to those, a chain stitch next to it with beads, and a maidenhair stitch seam treatment.
On this one I did another maidenhair seam treatment, the cluster of flowers in SRE on the pink patch, and a snail trail stitch seam treatment.

These blocks have been so fun to work on, love the colors and fabrics and I collect peacock things so love seeing everyone's different ideas for peacocks.

July 22

2007-07-20T21:30:00.001-07:00

I must confess that I have been bitten by the dollhouse and miniature bug. Here is one called the Harrison that was given to me and I have been working on it for a couple of weeks now. The top photo is the before pic from when it was given to me, and this next one is what I have done so far. I still lack the shingles on the roof, doors, deck rail on the extension at the far end and just some fine tuning. Then lots and lots of work on the inside.This is an expensive project so am doing as much as I can by hand. Last year I bought a bunch of the House of Miniature kits for furniture and have put almost all of those together. Will take pics of those in a day or two, still lack a coat of polyurethane before they are finished. I hardly paid anything for those kits a year ago, but the price has doubled or more since then. Here is a pic of one of the beds, not the one I plan to use this bedspread on but haven't bought the other one yet! Lol! I just finished the little bedspread and pillows today. Still need a little shaping to hang right. They have Silk Ribbon Embroidered flowers on them. We're very fun to make. I'll be making everything that can be made out of fabric myself. Am off to make a few throw pillows now!

2007-07-20T21:16:00.000-07:00

These are the last blocks I made for an Egyptian themed swap. I made 4 so i get 4 back. Plan to use the ones I get back to make a wall hanging or throw for DH. He is fascinated with all things Egyptian and especially the pyrimids.

On this first block I used one of the buttons that I thought looked like pyrimids in the button cluster. I found the little camel on eBay as a trim of a row of camels and cut it apart to use a few on each block. The egyptian charm is from a pair of earrings I have had since the 80's. I used some wood beads have had for years and some trim I have had a while that has coins with egyptian looking symbols on one side and oriental on the other. All the embroidery borders and designs are from a Dover Egyptian themed transfer pattern book. Got the little charm on this one on eBay. These are what almost made me late for this swap, took forever to get them, but she sends them off and has them made and the price is very very good. I also used some other little metal discs, more embroidery, and my second attempt at adding one of those little mirrors. Sheisha I think it is called. I could not do it in thread so tried it in beads and turned out pretty good.
Another of those charms on this one, of a sphinx this time. I did a lot of experimenting with different stitches and combinations on these blocks and learned in the process. I like my cat with the earring in his nose and ear. Have a couple of cats around here that think they should be treated as royalty.
Used the pyrimid charm on this one, more of those old wooden beads, and lots of experimenting on those seam treatments. Had to add a scarab beetle somewhere.

tiny rose

2007-07-08T16:59:00.000-07:00

This is the cutest little rose and so simple. I like to make little tiny ones out of 2 or 4 mm ribbon.

Stem Stitch or Back Stitch Rose

2007-07-08T16:51:00.000-07:00

Here is the instructions for a stem stitch or what I call a back stitch rose.

Gathered Flower instructions video

2007-07-08T16:35:00.000-07:00

Here is instructions for making a gathered flower. keep in mind that My granddaughter is doing the filming and we are outside. The flys are driving us crazy so these are a little bouncy.

2007-07-08T15:52:00.001-07:00

Spider web rose instructions

Newest work

2007-07-02T02:38:00.001-07:00

This first block is one I did for a lady in a sane quilting RR. Decided a simple 1/2 sq triangle border would be good and add some interest with all the triangles pointing in the same direction.
Here is another Choose Your own Theme block I made. The lady said to try new things on her Garden theme block so i sure did. the little red border at the bottom is a two post lazy daisy with straight stitches. Above that is a design i got out of the book Elegant Stitches. And above that is another from the same book with lazy daisy stitch and cretan stitch which I am still getting used to. In the SRE cluster I tried a new little rose in the light blue. It is just stitching the ribbon in an accordian and stitching straight through. Very cute tiny roses. Nearly all the seam treatments were new ones I tried. Got a little carried away on this one but it was fun to make.

I have actually mostly worked on the 4 Egyptian themed blocks and am almost through with them. but not quite, so will post pics when i do finish them.

CYOT latest blocks

2007-06-21T02:59:00.000-07:00

Here are the latest Choose your own theme round robin I am in. The one on the right belongs to Becca and has a mouse theme. Isn't he cute? In this robin we each make a whole block for the participant in the theme that they chose. I made the block on the left. Mice we're kind of hard to find. I had some little buttons so used them to go from their little hole to a chunk of cheese. I then found a cute little picture of a mouse sleeping holding a pic of her mously love. Then I just decorated the block with various seam treatments. finally I found some mouse buttons on ebay and a charm in the scrapbooking section at Wal Mart so added them to the button cluster. I actually found some cute mouse charms on ebay but even though she said she mailed them on the 25th of May I have never received them. Frustrating, but need to go ahead and get the blocks in the mail on to the next person so will just use the charms on something else if they ever come in, or maybe will mail some to Rebecca later.

Auction pillow and Egyptian swap blocks

2007-06-20T01:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a CQ block I made for a family reunion auction coming up this weekend. Plan to make it into a pillow. Just need to get my behind to the store and buy the pillow form. I really enjoyed working on this block. Even tried some new stitches. The fly stitch and the pekinese stitch. A lot of the elements are things I have already done but these family members haven't seen them so that is fine. I used the center focus fabric and made a beaded medallion out of it. And how bout that blue spider. Cute aint he!
Here are my four blank blocks for the Egyptian swap. Hopefully I will get all four done. Plan to make this into a wall hanging for my DH who loves pyrimids and Egyptian things. I might, underline MIGHT make it into a throw for him as he is not too crazy about wall hangings. I may do so by only adding borders rather than make more blocks unless I just make a few more. Way too many projects to make lots of blocks for it.

I also have some more pictures of swap blocks have worked on but haven't uploaded them from the camera yet. Will try to do so tommorow.

My latest CQ block and another project

2007-06-13T02:03:00.000-07:00

This is my latest block. My bedroom is done in leopard prints with black and rust red accents. I made this block to send on a sane round robin to make a wall hanging for my wall. The walls are a taupe color with one accent wall in rusty red. the rusty red wall has needed a wall hanging since I did the room, just could never decide what to put there. Now I am going to get my fellow quilters to help me make one. A couple of these fabrics came via my quilting friend Biffy in South Africa. The rest I have saved over the years. I added a button cluster in the top right, a starburst on the left top with a mirror in it. I couldn't not for the life of me figure out that technique where you sew in a mirror but I did figure out how to do it with beads and like the way it turned out. Oh, and I have those paper mache parrots hanging all over my room, one is 3 foot long, so had to add one to the block on the black patch. A zebra and giraffe charm and some bead flowers are on the center patch. The leopard is peeking out amongst the branches on the right patch. The rest I didn't think really needed anything but some seam treatments, but who knows, I might add something to them later. Oh and two of the seam treatments are coconut shell beads I have been saving for something for years. I will be putting a backing on it to protect the threads from getting pulled and a border of black to make it easier to add borders to in the RR.
This is a wall hanging I did for a class taught by Shirley in the Kaye Woods group. It is called a 3 fabric wall hanging and I like the way it turned out. The focus fabric is some I bought the whole bolt of cos I thought it was just gorgeous and it was only $1.00 a yard. It has a sparkle to it that I hope shows up in the close up of the picture. I plan to use some of it to make a tree skirt as well. It is a 60" wide fabric and has the ice pond and trees and all on both edges along with a pretty border. Just a great fabric. the big tree on the left is part of it but the red accent parts and birds are not part of it.

That is what I have been working on as well as another CQ block in blue and white I am going to make a pillow out of for a family reunion auction coming up the 23rd of this month. Will post pics of it soon as I finish it.

CQ update

2007-06-05T21:08:00.000-07:00

While I have been trying to recover from the flue I worked on these two blocks that came in. The first is from the Kitty Kitty RR and belongs to Lori. I added a little repro print of a kitty with trim, buttons and flowers. Below that I did a lazy daisy seam treatment in yellow flowers with some yellow seed beads. Below and to the left I added another seam treatment with lazy daisy leaves and french knot flowers with teal beads. These kitty kitty blocks are some of cutest blocks I have seen. Now this one is elegant. Love the all black block. It is from the Beading RR and belongs to Cathy. The picture doesn't do it justice as doesn't show the all black and I only took a pic of what I did so you don't get the overall idea. Guess any light that reflected showed up as a goldish color. I added a button and bead cluster. Had some great black buttons that were perfect for this. Then I added a feather stitch in black beads to the right side of the patch and a little fuzzy trim piece with bugle and seed beads to the left side of the patch. Can't wait to see this one when it is finished.
I have also been working on a CYOT theme block and have almost finished it. Just lack one seam I am saving for when i get some charms I ordered for it. Will post that soon.

Catching up

2007-06-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

Wow, didn't realize it had been that long since I caught up my blog. Have been a little under the weather with MVP and then caught a flu bug. Yuck! Still fighting the tired and headache. Like I needed the flu to make me tired!

I managed to get 4 sane quilt tops put together. Since it will be a while before I can get them quilted wanted to go ahead and post pics. All of these are from block swaps done on the Kaye Woods Quilting Friends list. This first one is from a Yellow themed Beginner's block swap which I just added yellow sashing. Plan to use it for a wall hanging. I might add another border by the time I get the backing for it. Mine is the center block. You might notice that my blocks are usually quite different from everyone elses. I'm not sure what that means.
This is one of my favorites. It is from a rather extensive set of swaps we did with stars. This one was a red and/or blue stars on WOW background. Later i will post a pic of the quilt I made with blocks from the other half of the swap. I also tried to use fabrics I received in fat quarter swaps as the sashing but only had enough for half, used a star fabric I had to do the other half. I will add another border to this one before having it quilted, maybe 2. Isn't it great, love the variety. Mine is third row center.
I really like this one too. It is to be a wall hanging and is from another beginners swap, this time log cabins. I didn't have quite enough so used a spare leaf block from another swap. Haven't decided on another border for this or just let the binding serve as the final border. Mine is of course the pink and blue, middle top. I made the leaf block also.

This is the first of 4 Block of the Month swaps I participated in. I have 2 more ready to put together but the 4th is missing about 4 blocks. Will have to make those so who knows when i will get that done. Was planning to use these as wall hangings, maybe changing them once a season, even though they represent the whole year. got some really cute and unusual blocks from these swaps. Will add another border, decide on a backing and off to the quilter's it will go. Mine is the December block, bottom right.

My Sewing/Craft/Quilting/Family Room

2007-05-15T01:59:00.000-07:00

I am very lucky to have a large house. We have turned one of the upstairs bedrooms into a family/work room to avoid having the constant mess downstairs for everyone to see.

Here is my work table before I straightened it up. Actually it is straightened up but I hadn't put anything away for awhile, just kept folding and stacking. In the back you can see my design wall, just a flannel piece of fabric tacked to the wall. Am getting ready to put those log cabin blocks, from a swap, together for a wall hanging. If you look outside the door you can just see my book shelf that I keep all my craft, sewing, quilting, and home decorating magazines in. The most organized place in my house. Each type of magazine and book is labeled as to what craft and the name of the group of magazines. Wish the rest of my house was that organized.Here is the table after I cleaned it off and put everything away where it belongs. I made this table myself from a sheet of laminate board, put some old legs on it from a broken table then set it up on cinderblocks to bring it up to the right height. I love my table. I think I cut about a foot off of it so it is 7' by 4'. Under the work table are the rolling carts/5 of them/ that I keep papers and files on one side and more fabric on the other. Also my trash fits under there, and on the end I have a trunk of quilts and it gives me a place to stash things out of the way. Need lots of those spaces.
Here is the other side with the carts I use for fabric. Had to use 2 drawers for all my blue fabric, one for novelties, one for animal prints (have 2 rooms decorated with animal prints so needed lots of fabric for that), one for muslin and white, one for unused blocks, one for flannel, one for scraps, and one for just misc. Also I have 2 baskets hanging off the table to scrape stuff off into when I need more room on top. Lol! Here is one of 3 large shelves I have to keep all my stuff in. Got all these shelves from an old doll museum that closed down. Have about 3 more of them I think. They are sure handy. This one holds all my boxes I plan to cover some day, and a few baskets on the top shelf, misc. on the very top, then the next 2 shelves are devoted to my tubs of fabric. the first shelf of tubs is my cotton fabrics. The next two are fancy fabrics and a few project boxes. And that big tub on the right is all my Christmas fabric. Or most of it anyway. All these are sorted by color, cottons and fancies. My granddaughter is allowed part of the bottom shelf for her games and then a box of tax papers. In one of the closets I have these 2 hanging shelves that are full of more cotton fabrics and UFO's (unfinished objects) from sane quilting projects. The rest of this closet and another the same size are full of Christmas decorations.

Here are the other 2 big shelves and they are full of craft supplies, upholstery fabrics, ribbons, more cotton fabrics, and who knows what else is in those shelves.

Here is my sewing machine and table and in the background is my computer desk. In the background on the right is another future project, a doll house. There is a small bookcase and a large book case behind my desk I keep bolts of fabric on one and dollhouse furniture and office supplies on the other. Oh, and butted up against the sewing table is my Granddaughter's computer desk and messy work station, not included in the picture.
And last but not least is my work station to do my sit down CQ work. I hated getting up and going behind my chair to get this or that beads or ribbons a hundred times an evening so have arranged all my stuff around me. The little bookcase is a special one I have always used for this sort of thing. My Dad built it for me my senior year in high school. It has a pocket on the end for pens and one for magazines. In it are my little tubs of special threads, hand dyed lace, dmc embroidery thread, special yarns, appliques, etc. On the first shelf I try to keep what I use at hand, such as scissors, patterns, embroidery hoop, pin cushion. On top I have 2 of the little drawer cabinets with beads and sequins in them. My ott lite sits on top of that side. I have another of the little drawer cabinets in the floor with more beads, buttons, etc. I also have a couple of tubs under the chair with stuff I don't use very often. On the foot stool and side table I keep the plastic organizers. I have the ones with seperate boxes for the beads and the ones with dividers for my threads on spools and silk ribbon on spools. I keep my inspiration notebook at hand. Loose ribbons go in the clear plastic round container on the side table. there is also another one of those rolling carts at the end of the book case at my elbow with all my venice lace, appliques, and special ribbons and things. Oh and over there on the left is our coin collection and my DH's knife collection.
I love my space. It is a very crowded room but is all so functional (except DH's area, Lol! no pics of that messy part either, sorry!) that you don't notice it being crowded unless it is very messy. The only thing I would change would be to have a better floor, and the only way it could be better would be to have built in cabinets floor to ceiling to put everything in. That is not likely to happen. Hope something I have done with my space helps you with yours.

Update on White and Peacock Blocks

2007-05-15T01:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a lot of time to work on my own things but did add this crocheted doiley I made to a peacock block and added shell beads around with some rhinestones, big turquoise button and flower to the center.

This is the 4th shades of white block and I practiced my sre flowers on it by using a pattern from a sre book. I like the way it turned out. also tried out some bead flowers, which I will add more to later. did a seam treatment with bugle beads and embroidered flowers, and started another of those feather seam treatments. Plan to use beads on it this time and see how that looks.

And finally, I finished the pillow top I was making. I added a paisley, beaded roses surrounded by some venice lace that I added beads to, a spider and her web, a button cluster, some sre roses, a sunburst of beads, the print on silk, and several seam treatments. Now to purchase a pillow form and put it together. This is the one I am going to try and sell to see how that works out.

Round Robin and Swap blocks

2007-05-15T01:13:00.000-07:00

I have been swamped with my own work and quite a few Round Robins I joined so am just now getting around to posting pics of things I have been doing. Will have 3 seperate posts, I think to catch up on the past couple of weeks. Hope you enjoy seeing what I have been up to.

This is a block from a CQ for Newbies group RR that I added the paisley, 2 seam treatments and a simple dragonfly.

this is a Round Robin from the Kaye Woods group. Thought it was so pretty. I added the last red row with white hearts. I added a chain stitch heart in the corner hearts in pink.

this is another from the Kaye Woods group. I added the scattered flowers and the flower on the hat. Cute!

This block is one for the CQ for Newbies Spring Fling swap. This one I used some appliques and things I had with some seam treatments of chain stitch, flowers, fly stitch, which I finally figured out how to do, and a button cluster.

The second block for the Spring Fling. I did a couple of sre roses, a row of sequin flowers, an embroidered birdhouse with sre flowers, a metal butterfly with beads, an applique butterfly, decorated ric rac in pink and silver, accents of butterfly beads, a feather look seam treatment which is my favorite seam treatment, lazy daisy seam treatment, gathered ribbon with beads, a flower of hearts on the big pink flower and a couple more appliques

Third Block for the Spring Fling. On this one I put a little spider and her web in the corner, a chain stitch seam treatment, fan seam treatment, ribbon yarn seam treatment, flowers in a row seam treatment, and a chain and another fringe seam treatment. I also added the starburst in pink and a metal basket of flowers. Embroidered a birdhouse and decorated it with flowers. These 3 were fun to do.

2007-04-17T02:03:00.000-07:00

Got my taxes done so back to crazy quilting. Here is a block I made earlier and I turned it into a little door hanger friendship pillow for my secret pal. This block is one I made especially for my secret pal and turned it into a box lid cover and covered the rest of the box. I will fill it will the little door hanger and other little gifts, hope she doesn't get on my blog site before I get it to her.

The next pictures are of blocks I made for a drawing . The first two are fruit basket blocks and the second 2 are friendship blocks. The patterns for both came from Marcia Horn's quilterscache.com web site.

4/12/2007

2007-04-13T02:39:00.000-07:00

Just finished the third block of the white blocks I am making. Am not as happy with this one as I was with the first two but it is a musical theme block and guess it is ok.

Have been working on taxes the past few days and will send it in tommorow.

2007-04-07T18:57:00.000-07:00

It snowed here in West Texas today and it is cold. I'm not too fond of cold and as you can see from this picture we live in an old house built in 1897 and it is impossible to get warm. (This picture is not of the snow today but the one we had around Christmas, hence the decorations. ) We pretty much stay in one or two rooms when it is cold as we can't afford to try and heat the whole house. It has no insulation in the attic and even though the walls are solid wood there is no insulation in them either. We did put energy efficient windows in it several years ago and I have caulked and caulked inside, and it is better but still cold.

So I am spending my time in the only warm room today working on CQ stuff. Made little books for two of the round robins I have joined and getting my blocks ready to mail off. If I can pull myself away from my warm spot I might take pictures of them later.

Here is my latest white CQ block. I am working on the third in between other projects. I decided to make it a musical themed block and am having fun with it. Not as many beads on it as the first two so far.

New blocks and my blooms

2007-04-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

This my first finished block for a white crazy quilt I am making. I actually hope to sell this one. I don't know how these sell but am going to try. I bought so much white "stuff" I figured I could use some to make one or two to sell. I have started the second block and love how it is coming along. Should have it finished in a day or two.

This is my blank block for the Kitty Kitty round robin. this one is going to be fun

This is the first time my wisteria has bloomed and it is AT LEAST, 10 years old. So am proud that if FINALLY bloomed. And it smells sooo good!

I had to share a picture of my Lady Banks rose bush, it is humongous and just loaded with flowers this year. When i bought and planted it I never realized it would get so big but it is technically a climbing rose and it is slowly but surely taking over my whole front yard. I remember that my Mom had one in her back yard. Not anywhere near this big but I just loved all those clusters of tiny perfect roses.

2007-03-23T03:16:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of the blank Peacock CQ blocks that I still have to embellish.

this was my first block I put together and did some practice embroidery on.

2007-03-23T03:10:00.000-07:00

Finally found time to take pictures of the lace I dyed. Here are 4 pictures of the best of them. I mixed my dye colors in small jars then used a paint brush to brush the dye onto the lace. Some of the teal, blue, green ones I had to over dye as it didn't come out as dark a I wanted the first time. I am happy with the results.

This first picture is of some of the pink/blue combination and some other colors.

This is the best of the blue/teal/green combination

This is a mixture of all the colors I tried.

Last picture is more of the pink/blue combination and some other mixed in.

Enjoyed doing this and the results can't wait until I start a new project so can try some other colors.

2007-03-23T02:37:00.000-07:00

Finished another block for the peacock Crazy quilt. First is the overall picture

Here is a close up picture showing the purple beads sewn on each spot on the peacock's tail and it's crest.

Cancer donation block

2007-03-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

Here is another block, this one to be donated to a cancer fundraiser in Omaha, I think it was. I am now working on my next Peacock CQ block and will take a picture when it is finished. Don't lack too much on it.

2007-03-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

Worked on this little block last week. It is 6 1/2 inches and a new challenge to make everything fit with in the seam lines. I find that the really hard thing for me is actually putting the block together where all the fabric pieces come all the way to the edge of the seam line. This one is a little short in a couple of places. I spent lots of time Friday night practicing by putting together 5 (I think) blocks for the peacock crazy quilt. One of the blocks I will use in the beading rr I just joined. Will post pics of those later.

On this little block I tried out all kinds of flowers using different ribbons. I like the way they turned out. My first spider web and spider.

This little block are the fabrics I picked out to do a jewel tone block for donation to a cancer fund raising quilt. Have started working on it today.

Another peacock cq block done

2007-03-12T01:41:00.000-07:00

I finished my second peacock RR crazy quilt block. Am taking a break for a couple of days now that the weather is finally warming up enough to function in this cold house I need to put away Christmas decorations. Also am reorganizing our family room. Is so cluttered I can't function in it.

Here are the two blocks I have made together.

My newest interest, Crazy Quilting

2007-03-07T00:02:00.000-08:00

I have recently started working on crazy quilting. I joined a round robin that is a Peacock theme. Am really enjoying it. The first picture is of the block I submitted in the RR. The peacock on the right top is one of the ones made for me by my secret pal a couple of years ago and thought they would be perfect to use in this project.

Here is the same block with the work added by Brenda in the Round Robin

The center peacock is another one of the ones made for me by my secret pal.

Today I spent the WHOLE day dyeing venice lace, other laces, silk ribbons, and fabric to use in this RR as well as on my own blocks. Was really fun and they seemed to have turned out really well. Will see tommorow when I rinse them out. I also dyed a ball of crochet thread and some fabric pieces in the same colors.

I have plans to make a white crazy quilt The idea came from when my Dad brought home a bunch of white rags years ago. They were such pretty fabrics I confiscated them from him and have saved them ever since to someday use in a crazy quilt. I plan to start that one very soon. Have collected lots of white, off white fabrics, lace, etc. since then to use in it. I probably have enough to make a couple of quilts.

Wish I had more time in the days to do all these projects I would like to do.

My First Blog Post

2007-01-26T09:43:00.000-08:00

I love the set up of this blogsite, especially that you can add photos each day so plan to start using it. What fun to be able to show what you are doing each day.

Right now I am working on embroidered and colored quilt blocks for nephew and his wife's baby that is due in February. Plan to just outline stitch and then use crayons to fill in the color as am on a time limit. Hope to get some fabric that goes with the theme which is the Alphabet flower fairies. I found a color book to use for my patterns and a little book with a poem that goes with each one to get my colors from. I gave them a baby book of the same theme for Christmas so know that they like the theme. Plan to use just the baby's name for the 6 blocks for this quilt also because of the time limit. Will use sashing between the blocks and think I will use a fabric pen to write the little poems below each letter of the alphabet that is used. Plus a satin stitched letter on each block to spell out her name.

Am also in the planning stages for a ribbon embroidery sampler and will post more about that later.

Now i am off to get ready for a trip to Albuquerque. We are doing a moving job to there and hope to get to work on my embroidery on the trip.