Annette's Fairy Block

 

Annette's blocks arrived just in time and I'm frantically making decisions, gathering supplies and packing.  This is the block I chose...  I love the combination of the strong yellows, purples, and lime green.. so will add more of all of these three..

The strong turquoise pulls the eye away from the fairy which is the focal point .

So I will soften the turquoise with some very fine and delicate tatted lace.. You can see that once the turquoise is muted that your eye stays on the fairy... at least mine does.

 I'm excited to also use a piece of intense yellow lace I've been saving for the perfect spot.. and have pulled some great ribbons and threads...  I'm thinking daisies, violets and butterflies.  She has purple in her hair....how delicious is that??

This is not a piece for in-the-car stitching but I will find time for it otherwise..

Road Trip & Thead MBR tweeks

We are going out of town for about a week or so...and it is a road trip that entails about 14 hours  in the car for the round trip....  Since I want to still work on seams but can't manage templates in the car, I am rapidly putting a base row of stitches on as many seams as possible so I can finish them while enroute.

The CQ look just doesn't emerge until there is a certain density of stitches.  Not there yet but working at it.  I had forgotten how big the back of this jacket is.  Not only because I am large, but the style is "swing or cape-like"

Two more refinements to the thread carousel  --- a cup for pencil and a sign clip to hold my beloved ellipse template... I was really hoping that some of the long-delayed RR blocks would show up before we leave but that doesn't seem likely now.

PERFECT! PERFECT! PERFECT!

SOMEBODY SHOULD PATENT THIS!!!  I blogged for a year about how I love having my threads on rings like JMB but I wanted ALL at hand where ever I was stitching in the house.  Recent I blogged about how I converted a revolving shoe rack into a thread merry-go-round. (http://olderrose.blogspot.com/2014/09/could-i-be-more-hoop-happy.html BUT it was a little shorter than I liked... so back to the barn this morning.  With an old broom handle and a couple cotter pins, it is now a perfect height.  I also added some plastic to the bottom of the basket to store tools in use... and a ring at the top to move it about...  It is so wonderful that I'm doing a "happy hoop dance!"

Happy with jacket front so far and in a pinch it could go even tho there is a lot more I would like to do.

 

Each critter has its own vignette

 

Thinking about moving on!!

I can tell when it is time for a project to be winding down (ie. jacket) because all the time I'm stitching my mind is obsessed with a future project...  This time it is the Quilt Alliance project..  I have missed a couple years.... I promised Allie I would  get into next year's as it is a good cause.  And the theme for next year is pets..

 

In 2010  I participated in a traditional RR (everyone working on a large block) and Janet Popish had a black block  and the theme was spiders.  Below is my part of that block.  After doing it I always wanted to carry the "I spy" element a little further and this might be the perfect project... I only had two black cats here but I'm envisioning maybe 3-5 hidden cats.

And I want to finish the cottage quilt in a grand way.

Button...Button

I got busy and listed lots of my hand-painted buttons. All are about 1".  If you have a favorite bird, it is probably on my Etsy site.

A very Seamy Day

Spent the weekend doing unpleasant chores but today I spent at the table with my revolving thread stand....just doing seams... Birds just tacked down.

Could I be more "hoop happy?"

 

Well maybe a little.  I have raved on and on how happy I am with my threads on hoops hanging on the door... But as I was stitching the other day I was thinking it would be even more perfect if they were all on a revolving rack at my side...  My first thought was a revolving tie rack I could mount on a stand but they were not large enough around to hold many rings. 

Since we worked booths at flower shows for years and years I have a small room in the barn filled with a variety of display fixtures and this is what I ended up with. 

I would like it a bit taller and the basket to have a bottom but it is workable.  I will see what I can do to tweet it to my needs.

Originally it was a shoe display rack and looked something like this, but only three baskets.  I had put bottoms in the baskets and used it to display small items.   I took off all the baskets except a large one. 

This is what would be absolutely perfect. It is a hankerchief or scarf rack.  The diameter is large and the height is adjustable...  But it is $60 plus $20 for shipping so I will (as usual) work with what I find in the barn for free and recycle and upcycle.  Plus I will keep an eye out when I am thrifting!

I'll be thinking on it while I'm winding down the garden and overseeing the "limbing up" of my forest to reduce fire danger.

Fans finish and full steam ahead on jacket...

The fan blocks for Lisa are finished and ready to mail   It will be a while before I get the next one and the wool block RR is  "whatever" so I am working on seams for jacket and getting all the motifs appliqued...

Tomorrow is back to the eye doctor... Sight in right eye has deteriorated to blurry  blobs and very dim... Left eye not so blurry I can't still stitch but very dim also//.. Working with multiple lamps at a time (3 ott lights) and upgrading my magnifier.. looking for one the strength jewelers or lab workers use.

Secret work on August unveiled!

 

I did the August page in Pam Kellogg's calendar which has just been released.  It had to be done in secret months ago.  It was hard for me to work on something and not share it on the blog.  I wanted intense color for the heat of summer.  Since it will hopefully be seen from a distance I also want something bold and visible.  But now it can be shared with everyone.  Bold enough????

The flowers were large silk white daisies which I disassembled, dyed with alcohol inks, rough cut the petals, stacked and beaded.  But what I was really happy with were the seams on it... Every one of them went into my seam book and will be used again on the jacket.