Tomomi's New Quilt

Tomomi has been working on this for some time. It's finally finished and isn't it a beauty.

Crazy Quilt Block

Since I have never done a crazy quilt block, I thought now would be a good time to try it. Thanks to Sharon at in a minute ago there is a wealth of how-to information that is available. I had no idea that ribbon embroidery could be done so easily. This one is made up of some some velvet that I have had for a while, a piece of an old scarf and some bits of fat quarter squares. The pseudo-pansy is made of strips of a new piece of cloth that I cut, folded and pressed instead of using ribbon.

Dr.'s visit for Hubby went well and test was scheduled for next week. Daughter came in last night and we are so enjoying her visit. These visits are just never long enough since she will have to leave tomorrow.

Work Bench

We finished the workbench this afternoon. This will give us room for the new framing tools that should arrive next week.

Building Work Bench, Spider Lilies

We have been working in the shop all morning working on a 10' long workbench and it is coming along. Had to take a break, find some lunch and do a little laundry so thought I would write a bit. Tomorrow is doctor's appt. for Hubby and won't be getting much done tomorrow.

We didn't get any rain at all so this morning I put the water out on the spider lilies along the drive. They are popping up a few more every day. I have to keep reminding my favorite "lawnmower guy" .. grin.. about them being there.

Tie One On ... Dish Towel Apron

We went to Wal Mart today to pick up some things and I found a package of tea towels on sale. When we got home it just seemed to be the perfect time to work on my apron for the Tie One On Dish Towel Apron for this month. It took very little time to make and will be very durable.

We are in the mid-lying swirls of Hurricane Rita and have been expecting rain since early this morning. Nothing yet but a little (very gentle) wind. However, the temp here has remained hovering at 80 degrees since around 7am. It's been so long since we've had a good rain here that everyone is holding their breath and hoping... but looks like maybe not.

Bags of Fun ... Switched but complete!

I figured out that the original plan for my Bags of Fun was a bit out of my league, so when I found the Ike Rosen book from 1972, I changed the bag. This is it. Finished!! The other one will be worked on, but at a more leisurely pace.. grin.. as I learn a little more.

Our First Picture Frame... almost complete!

We have almost completed our first picture frame. Hubby has decided that we need some more tools to have a truly professional look, so we are awaiting the arrival of said tools within the week. The poppy pastel in the new frame is one I completed last winter and has been patiently waiting for the framing to begin..grin The doilies are ones that I completed many years ago. If you click on the picture, you can see in the bigger size that the corners need to be filled and when the new equipment arrives we can strengthen the frame and then do the finish work. I think this one will not be stained since the color is perfect for this picture and for the area this picture was planned.

Kaleidoscope of my bag pattern

This is one of the first kaleidoscopes I did and I find that the pattern turns into something I really like.

I have working with my Microsoft Digital Image Pro and have found a way to come up with some inspiration for working with images for many media, including quilt design. I found that many of the everyday photos that I have stored can be made into some interesting designs just by using the "kaleidscope" feature.

New Bag Start

I found a book the other day that I have had since the early '90s and had forgotten about. It's called Modern Embroidery by Ike Rosen. As I looked through the book it occurred to me that the bags for the Bags of Fun project came about because of the embroidery that was done in the 70's on jeans. This book was published in 1972. As a result, I am changing my purse to one using the general design of what is in this book.

Hawk

We had an unexpected visitor to the bird bath yesterday. This picture is very bad (it's the only one I could get!), but if you look closely you will see what looks like a small curved limb touching the fence in the center of the picture. That is a chicken hawk flying away! He made two trips to the bird bath, calmly sitting on the edge and sipping the water. As we moved around the porch, he just sat there looking at us... that is until I got the camera!

Full Moon

When I stepped out onto the porch, coffee in hand, this morning this lovely round moon greeted me. The temp is still around 80 degrees and not as cool as a few of the mornings have been, but still is nice to sit out and enjoy the quiet while waiting for the birds to make their first appearances.

Banana Bread

Banana bread, pumpkin bread and bread pudding always bring back memories of days when the children were young and couldn't wait for it to come out of the oven. Today has been such a wonderful (almost perfect) weather day that banana bread just seemed to fit right in.

The woodpecker suet feeder that Hubby made turned out to have too much area for them to stand on, so a remake is taking place. I'm thinking this shop is great thing.. grin

Afghan

It is the most beautiful day here in Texas. Cool breeze, sunshine and the short rain we had yesterday has cleared the air. After the rain yesterday, the birds flocked to the feeders, the squirrels arrived in force and what a show it was.

We have been working out in the shop for the last couple of days and I have been working on a new bag in the evenings, so I thought I would put up this pic of an afghan I made for my husband winter before last. He decided that if I was going to make an afghan, I should make it 7 feet long so it would cover his feet while he sat in his chair..grin So I did.

Daughter-in-Law Correction.. ;)

I have just talked to my son on the phone... Tomomi is tickled that I think her quilt should have been "Best in Show"... but alas...was not! (Imagine that!) I told her I would correct it. Her quilt won "Blue Ribbon First Time Quilt". And isn't it lovely!

Remember These!

Does anyone remember these patterns from the '70s? I had forgotten that I had the book by Ike Rosen called "Modern Embroidery".

Old Quilt Appraisal

We took the old quilt to the appraiser yesterday. She said she had never seen the kind of "woven" material that makes up the mid and dark blue tones in this quilt. She dated it from the first quarter of the 20th century circa 1910-1925. It's value is not high (due to the condition of the quilt and the availability of string quilts from the period), but is considerably more than the $20.00 paid for it... :) She was very helpful with ideas for mending and cleaning this quilt and it was an altogether enjoyable experience.

(It was also very interesting to find that she had been one of the judges at the Wichita Falls, TX Quilt Festival when our DIL won Best In Show with her quilt!)

Bags of Fun... Pic 5

I finally finished beading the hat and making the necklace. By now, my husband has I have lost my mind..grin

Evening Tea

Having tea in the evening was one of the first "rituals" my husband and I started when we first married. During the last year as we have moved and remodeled, we fell out of the habit. Tonight, we re-institued it... grin

The African Violet is one that has been in my husband's family for 40+ years. With the death of his uncle earlier this year, we inherited several of his aunt's violets. They are quite special.

What is there to say about September 11? Here in Texas life goes on as usual, but I think between Katrina and the remembrances of this date there is a reminder here to hold dear ones close and be grateful for all the mundane things in our lives that we take so much for granted.

Morning

What a lovely morning it was here in Texas today. The cooler mornings make coffee on the back porch a pleasure. We spent the morning working in Hubby's shop, cleaning and rearranging so he could place his saws and tools. It seems there are many more raccoons around than we thought. When we went out yesterday morning, our feeders were on the ground and the poles (both of them) were bent. As a result we spent yesterday morning building hangers for the bird feeders to hang from limbs on the pecan tree. Around 10pm last night, we looked out as we were locking up and there were two wandering the yard wondering where the feeders had gone!

Making the new hangers for the feeders turned into so much fun we finally decided to finish setting up the workshop and make some of the things we have talked about for the past year.

Old Quilt

I am not a quilt collector... unless you count the ones that my grandmother, hubby's grandmothers' and my children have made. I found this quilt in a used furniture store that had purchased some things in lots at an auction and among everything else there were 4 quilts in a cedar chest. At first I couldn't figure out what kind of blocks these were, then after I had taken the photos and looked at them a little closer, I could see that this is like the ones my stepmother used to make. She called them "string" quilts because small strips of cloth were sewn onto cut newspaper squares, then the squares were sewn together in 9 patch blocks and then the quilt top was put together. At some point in this process the paper was removed.

This one is in fair condition and from the fabric colors and the fabric itself, appears to be early to mid 20th century. After I saw it, I came home and searched online to see how close to home I could find an appraiser. Believe it or not, there is one in the next town over ... so will be making an appointment to see if the $10.00 I spent was too much... grin

(My husband has corrected me... it was $20.00! ... sorry!) :)

Bags Update

Slow going, but going none-the-less.

Racoon

This cute little guy has been raiding our bird feeders for some time now and during his antics has bent our feeder pole almost beyond repair... grin We have relocated two of his siblings/friends previously, but he kept eluding us. It was a surprising turn of events when I stepped onto the back porch, coffee in hand, and saw him lying calmly in the bottom of the cage. (The last time we tried to catch him, he politely pulled the cage down the slope and sat eating the bait that was in there through the wires!) He was very calm and appeared to know that he wasn't going to be hurt as I photographed him. He has been relocated to a large pond area that has all the trees he could ever hope to climb... not to mention his siblings/friends. Wish I could have kept him. He's too cute for words. If you click on the picture, you will get a much larger one that shows just how cute he is.

Update

I have been working on my bag for "Bags of Fun" and am in the middle of an especially time consuming part of it, so no pics for a bit. Hubby and I are on our way to Nick's for breakfast after sitting on the back porch admiring the squirrels and birds while we sipped our morning coffee. These are our third generation birds and squirrels, so we get a real kick out of watching them grow and change.

Bags of fun -- Hall's China

I worked on my bag last evening... finished the beading and will now move to another spot. We have no one in Hurricane Katrina area, but we can't help but have the people there on our minds. We have contacted all the ones in our veterans organization that we think may have been in the path and all are ok, so there is a heavy sigh of relief.

I am working on putting up a web site for my Hall's China (and my other favorite things) in an effort to organize them and see what is actually here!! Also as a way of keeping track should they be lost. (We live in tornado alley... ) I will post the address when I finally get it up and running.

Needlebook Finished

My first needlebook is finished. I debated about doing more stitching on it, but decided that if I use it, I don't want to have to worry about catching the threads, so this is quite simple. I added pockets to the inside for the needle threader and thimble, or possibly thread. It was quite simple to do since I used felt. All in all, I am quite thrilled with it and think these may just make some really nice Christmas trinkets.

The flash on my camera is too bright and when I do the correction in my photo program, the yellow turns a bit green...