Pretty Embroideries

I finished off my label for the Row Robin, I'm posting it here again with the row so that you can see how they match, there is a line for each group member to sign, embroider, or cross stitch their name. Someone else has finished their row as well, so we're rolling onward. With 2 down.
My embroidery unit has been quite busy in a bust of free time I began working on embroidering a couple of large butterflies that I'm planning on using in the Sampler quilt that I will be making in 2009. Yes I know I haven't trimmed all the threads on the upper two. I tried to make each on different from the others. Can you see my Black eyed Susan's? The blue fabric much like the green from the label I showed you above came from my Secret Santa, Elle in Spain. It's amazing how a bit of new fabric can inspire us.

Best Hopes and Wishes for your Entire Holiday Season

I hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas, I know we did. It was packed full of love, laughter, mostly peace, and happiness. Now I'm not going to have a list of whats-wes-gots because my Christmas was wonderful for such deeper reasons. I am thankful to every power-that-be that I found some great deals long ago and stocked the closet. It really was Christmas to pull some beautiful much appreciated toys out of that closet. I kept it pretty low key and small scale for the " just in case" of tomorrow.
Now I would like to review my daughter's Calico Critter Toy Store, this is an amazing toy! It was worth whatever 70% off price that I paid for it and then more. It was better and more wonderful than I ever would have guessed. We just couldn't swing the doll house this time around (not enough money, or even supplies for dh to build it). This toy is great. She has already had hours of fun playing with all the little toys the toy shoppe came with. It's a beautiful thing. I would highly recommend it as an add on to your doll house or as a complete starter stand alone. My daughter said it best as "we're going shopping again!"

I promised so post Christmas photos so here they are. Daddy showing off the sweat rag I embroidered for him. He was quite surprised and gave me the look of, you weren't supposed to make anything! Haha, wait till he sees his birthday present on Sunday. This is my sister Ashley with her blue Butterfly Bouquet Quilt. Hopefully she wasn't just pretending to like it. My mom was the recipient of the Red Wintergraphix Star Quilt, boy oh boy am I happy to see that one go.
Life wouldn't be complete without a toddler enjoying a classic now would it? Here we have The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle thanks to our Book Club this one will be appreciated for years to come.

Row Robin

My first Row for my Row Robin is done. For medical reasons I'm way ahead. I wont be mailing my row to the next person till I know hers is done as well.

My center point is a double star that I embroidered, with two blocks by the name of Crossed Roads one on each side. This is quite symbolic because my theme is "Christmas Hope" and I am so sick of crossed roads, and picking paths and walking down this road. At the intersection of each road is a snowflake, I let the bobbin tension off unpurpose so it shows through the top stitching at different intervals, showing that no two snowflakes are exactly the same. Of course finishing everything off are the two hearts from the pattern I made up when I first started quilting. To pull the Christmas - Winter theme in the red hearts sit on beds of blue with white falling snowflakes.


More than once I wondered if I even liked how this was turning out, but the embroideries added just the right touch to bring it all together.

Currently the large quilt group is closed with 6 members. The two mini quilt groups are still open with five members each. Honestly I'd really like to close them a bit early as five in the mini groups will work out so well for some of the quilt sizes, but I haven't pulled the plug yet. My planned close date is set for Dec. 24. We'll see if I let it run. :)

Sometimes Ups...

Today has been a day of ups and downs, much like that song in Disney's Robin Hood. "Sometimes ups, out number the downs but not in Nottingham", I'm not certain which weighs heavier here yet.

The first up is that I shopped fabric today. My most favorite thing in the world it seems, which lead me on an inspired path including but not limited to giving myself a refresher course on batting. My friend Heather must be rolling her eyes by now, but that comes with being a quilter, sometimes people understand you, but not always.

Next up my mom came over and we measured my scarf for Soldier's Angels, I'm up to 28"! I might just have enough yarn after all.

Lastly that Double Star I made has been driving me crazy, something with the colors, ect. just wasn't quite right. So it dawned on me (no dish soap involved thank you) that I should turn it on point. So here it is and I can honestly say I'm much happier with it. I'm planning to embroider "Hope" in the middle of the white center, and my Row Robin theme will be Christmas Hope. I was going to do something fancy with the triangles but the Batik worked out just fine.

On the sad side, my nearly 9 year old cat Kitty got herself into an awful bit of trouble with the Christmas tree, and injured herself quite badly. We are under strict orders to keep her quiet and to keep a close watch on her. Any spare happy thoughts we could use. Kitty's birthday is this Jan. 1st (well as close as we know to celebrate it) and her 8 year anniversary of living with us is the 3rd of Jan. I certainly never would have guessed that when I mentioned her the other day that I would be beside myself right now as to if she'll even make it to celebrate with us. So any happy thoughts you have time to give us we'd appreciate it.

Tribulations

My one of neighbor from the North have returned this afternoon. It's always nice when the subdivision starts filling back up. It works out to be great timing as well, because we just raked up all the leaves and moved all the brush off his driveway, so he can feel nice and welcome. It's not our job, he has a lawn service guy who takes care of it, but let's just say the lawn service isn't very through.
I've been working on the first row for my row robin. So far I have one block done. It's a double star with two batiks, a white on white fabric, and a blue that looks like the ocean. Hopefully that will provide a nice blend of fabrics for the other ladies in my group to tie into. I haven't settled on a theme, but currently I'm liking favorites of the holidays. So each person can add fabrics, blocks, or embroidery of their favorite things. Currently my plan is to add two applique blocks on either side each containing a Christmas Cactus. Oddly my own little plant hasn't started to bloom yet. Not one trace of a bud. It's been cold enough so I'm not certain what it's trouble is.
My friend Gail sent this to my daughter. I helped Jessica to open it and she hauled it all over the house until she decided around about her nap time that she needed a bath. She just loves buttons, so this is wonderful for her.

Last but not least my Sunny Boy tried to run away today. Jessica was playing a bit rough with him when he was out on his leash today and he wiggled right out of his collar. Eventually Rob found him up under the house. Only after he was found did I allow myself to fully feel the terror I had over thinking him lost. Silly cat putting me through that.

The Blue Quilt Is done!

My oh my oh my! The blue quilt is completely done. This is a dual sided quilt with no real top or bottom, just which ever side you want up when you put it on the bed. The blue side is a lattice with nice big squares turned on point to form a lattice. The heart fabric an all proceeds go to charity print and I used it to bind the entire quilt as well. The Second side is partially pieced, partially embroidered, and a bit of hand turned applique in the center. Those in fact are hexagons for the insanity that I found myself a couple of months ago. Each one has been detail hand quilted so the blue roses have that extra pop. I wove the basket from tubes of fabric. I think sometimes I like to do things the hard way.

If you look closely at both tops you can see the radiating diamond I quilted upon them uniting them together. I really struggled with how to quilt this so the diamond was truly inspired.

Last night Jessica decided it was cold in the living room and she needed her quilt to sit under while she watched the Dora Special that was on last night. She huffed and puffed until she dragged that quilt up the steps and to the couch. I saw it coming and bit my lip for a moment, oh all my work! And then it occurred to me, I've always wanted her to love it. That is what children so with things they love. So I took photos of her playing peak-a-boo with it.

The things my 3 year old says

DH takes DD's nose. She yells "don't eat it don't eat it, there's boggers in there!"

DH say's "well then I'll just have to blow the boggers out and then eat it."

"I need my nose back," she says.

"Why do you need it back?" DH asks

"So I can put it back on my nose!" DD retorts.

At this point I can't help but ask, "how do you put your nose back on your nose?"

Jessica's Check up

As much as I wanted to I can't seem to bring myself to label this post with what my daughter said at the doctor's office yesterday. You might worry about me.

So dd went to the doctor's yesterday, we needed her shot records and they wouldn't give them to me. Which was crazy because they were up to date. I thought there was a law about that? Ahh well, so we went. First off to the scale, It's a tiny little thing only about 2 feet high, with a silly simile on the stainless steel. The step plate is "bubbly" as though to be silly on your feet. Well my daughter takes one look at that and stops dead in her tracks.

"Noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not DYING! I'm not DYING!" She screams, "Did she just say..." says one of the CNAs standing there. Her daddy and I glance up from trying to get her on the scale. "Yes, she did" we say together. We did manage to get her on the scale with her shoes off. Silly again since then were those foam clogs that weigh about an ounce, and most likely added more insult to the injury. 30 pounds that's my big girl. It was so bad at this point the nurse takes us off to the room and measures Jessica on the exam table like a baby.

After that it was smooth sailing, she's been talking about it ever since. Any why not, in spite what they'd told me she didn't need any shots!

Today I have the blue quilt in the sewing machine! Oh it thrills me to have it there. I'm quilting a exponentially growing diamond over it, and I'm going to quilt back in some of the blue borders. I'd say in one day I got it about 80% quilted. Not bad for a full size quilt. Of course I will have photos when I'm done.

My knitting is only 24"! That's half way, but it means I need more yarn. Hopefully a way to get it will appear, so I can send it before Christmas like I wanted.

My handmade Angel doll made it's way north and has been received. Apparently I didn't dress her well enough and the new owner thinks she needs a quilt. I thought angels could regulate that stuff without clothing, but what do I know?

My sister has assigned me another pair of pants to embroider, so when my arms became tired today I looked at designs. I have plenty of ideas of what not to do. Hopefully what to do will come to me soon.

DH and I have been playing an old GameCube game. We once beat it, but since it has been collecting dust on the shelves. We pulled it out I guess two years or more ago, but Rob played it without me, so for me to play I had to use his character and that's no fun. So this time around we have rules. No playing without the other, unless you're bringing your character up to the level of your spouse, and no playing unless Jessica is in bed. Regardless of animated blood and violence the music is a bit on the creepy side. It's a nice change of pace. But it had me going to bed a bit later than normal, maybe that explains the sleepiness I'm feeling?

Tomorrow is our Secret Santa Christmas Party on the Quilting Board. I'm certain that will be loads of fun. Did I mention that my Santa lives in Spain? Her work is simply amazing. A pox on the $20, a part of me hopes she invested just a tiny bit of time into making me something. Oh where is the big happy eye smiling face when I need it! LOL. I also invested time over money, more than a little time, as I hand stitched... Okay no more hints until tomorrow. Our party starts at 4:00PM so pictures of the gift I sent and the gift I received with post after that. DH has been keeping my package put up and away somewhere. I don't know where, hopefully he will give it back so I can open it tomorrow.

Bake, Quilt, and Love

Today I made binding. A real treat I know, yes, yes it says I bought it, but that's because I bought it one time and the card that held the binding was the best thing, so I just add whatever binding I need to save to bits form before. I asked DH to perhaps make me some so I could have yardage of it, someday, perhaps. The good news is that with just a bit of gentle prodding I was able to convince DH to help me baste up the blue quilt (the last one with a deadline before xmas). I'm not certain how I will be quilting it, since it's two sided and one side is on the vertical and the other is on the bias. Fun, fun, fun. Perhaps tack quilting with my sewing machine.

One of the ladies on the quilting board wanted so heart embroidery, so I will be doing that for her shortly. I took a photo of all of my embroidery threads, only for her to decide perhaps she will buy the color she'd like. Ahh well this way all of you get to see my threads.

Today was baking day. I started this afternoon with sweet bread dough (not sweetbreads, that's something completely different) and then I made a nut past to spread inside them, then rolling them up like a Jelly Roll. These are a super yummy Christmas treat in my family. We call them Kulich (call-lotch), which is strange because we've always passed it down in my family and none of us are Russian which is where my ancient cookbook claims it came from. Hey we don't make it the tradition way with the coffee cans ect. so maybe that's the difference. It was my intention to make 7 loaves this holiday. I doubled my recipe forgetting that it only makes two loaves, and then there was a thing, and another thing... So now I have four. Just four. I don't know how many I'll be sharing with the rest of the family, after all Jessica will be helping me eat it this year. It's only been in the oven for a few minutes, but already it smells like Christmas cheer.

Tomorrow Jessica goes to the doctor's office for a check up. She doesn't remember having gone in the past so this should be different...

Surprise!

Yesterday I made a veil for my daughter. Of course she's only three but she thinks anything that wears a veil must be a princess. I had extra material, because someone once told me you use crinoline on top of a towel when you embroider it. So I bought the first kind I found in the bargain bin. Of course it was the "sparkle kind" so that's not the "proper kind". Oh well. I was going to give it to Jessica for Christmas, but she's been pretty bummed that the birthday crown they gave me at 1900 Park Fare broke. It's completely "dress up" play style but it turned out okay. She tells me it's to big, in spite that I measured her head first so I put a tiny knot in the elastic.

My kitting is coming along just fine, with my "twists" yarn as long as the green. I wrap the entire thing around my needles every night before bed after I'm done working on them, but I promise my progress isn't worth photographing.

I also made a towel from a bargain bin purchase a while back. I made it from the terry cloth, would you have guess if you hem it, terry will stretch? It gives it sort of a rippled edge. Nice enough to give as a Christmas Gift. No photos till after Christmas.
I got a just because pressie! Yep, I swapped charmed squares with Linda a while back, and you know how much I just love cutting fabric. LOL! Well she sent me a nice present today, complete with a rice pack (sans the rice) inside. It was such a nice surprise. It's been a tough couple of weeks so it was nice to receive a little surprise.

BIG RED IS FINSIHED!

The Red Quilt is all done! Finished, complete hooray! I'm feeling quiet a bit worn from the final push to get it done, so it's nice to know I can move on to the blue quilt now. You're not seeing things the back is natural muslin.
Rob took all these photos so I didn't have to wasn't that nice? It's a shame he already knows he's going to have to help me baste up the next one. Basting even spray basting is not his favorite job.

So these are prairie points, the ones I'd been talking about for so long. Making the points is easy but time consuming. Then you sew the points to the quilt, and then because I didn't look up the directions on how to bind with them until after the quilt was 80% quilted, I then affixed a small strip of doubled over binding on top of the points. I was low on the fabric and tried to make it work but another inch in thickness would have really helped. You can see the red there in the first photo the solid row. I personally was hoping it would "border" the back and it did, so I'm happy. :) These are individually made, alternating, slightly nested, binding finished Prairie Points, with my own personal twist on the corners and the binding. I got my tips from Quilter's Cache

My friend Mary said "just when I thought it couldn't be any more beautiful" Isn't that nice? It warms my heart. :) Here's hoping it will be well appreciated by the recipient.