Merry Christmas to All!!!

Just had to post this photo. Yes we are those kind of people that dress our dogs up and take holiday photos. This one made me laugh out loud when I saw it. Santa (Sydney) is such a good model, the reindeer (Penne) not such a good model or her nose was running because it was so cold outside today.

Happy Birthday to Penne, Dec. 17, she will be four years old. We can't imagine our home without her. She is a rescue but we are the lucky ones for getting to adopt her. Still remember the day a cute little 19 lb bundle of fluff came to our house.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas

hope everyone gets what they want

and especially what they need.

Halloween Primitive Pumpkin Give Away

Great Halloween Give Away from Primitive Pumpkin. Found this give away on Donna's blog Everythingquilts.

Beautiful fabrics!!!

House Progress

This was our house!!












House last winter












House remodeling is progress, here is the front.
Waiting for the front door to finish the front. They are working on the sides today.






Electricians have started on the inside.




Craftroom view and space.

Quite a bit of rain last week, most of the leaves have fallen to the ground.

A few projects

Had a little creating time the past two weekends. I know the word should be "creative" but "creative time" doesn't mean actually creating to me. I have a lot of "creative time" just thinking of ideas, it is the "creating time" I need more of. I have several projects going right now: Mermaid RR, Self Portrait ATC Swap, CQ Ornament Swap, CQ for Me Challenge, and Artys Fartsy Book RR. Good thing the deadlines are all at least a month apart.

The Mermaid RR doesn't have specific deadlines. I am working on my third mermaid block, I have Kathi's block right now. I've done some work on it, but I have more ideas and stitching to do before sending it off to Carolyn. Here is a very very small sneak peek, just a teaser.





ATCs are so much fun, the theme for this swap is "Self Portrait". I didn't want to use a photo of myself, tried to convey my self portrait of having so many ideas and techniques that I want to try and never enough time. Fun creative time always seems to "Fly" by.





I haven't started my CQ for Me Challenge block yet, hopefully this weekend.

I do have my CQ Ornaments pieced and one started. I made mittens last year and really liked the mitten shape, so I'm making mittens again this year.







"Artsy Fartsy RR Book", only an idea written on paper. I have a Feb. 1, 2010 deadline to mail my "Artsy Fartsy RR Book" cover to one of my "Artsy Fartsy" friends. This is a group of 6 women, I'm honored to be invited to "play" with them. I'm hoping to make some "fabric paper" to use for my cover.

For a little diversion I made a Halloween CQ block for a friend. I'll finish this with peltex so it is like a postcard.



Tried something new, on the HGTV message board there is a BOM (Block of the Month) posted at the beginning of each month. I am not a "quilter", but I look at the post most months. This month I really liked the BOM so I decided to give it a try. I have only made a couple of quilt blocks, so this was a challenge for me. I did it!!! It took me about an hour and a half, the seams aren't perfect but I do like the block.

I also made something with my County Fair entry block. It was good practice sewing a zipper.

I WON I WON!!!

WOW!

I won one of Pat Winters "Bird Nests" from her blog give away. She creates beautiful, delicate, wire bird nests with pearl eggs (beads). Thank you Pat for your generous give away and for sharing your creativity. Take a look at Pat's Crazy Gatherings upcoming crazy quilting classes. I'll be watching for upcoming classes, maybe something in Spring 2010.

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Stitching Weekend - I had some good stitching time this weekend. I have finished my work on Therica's Mermaid block, for the Mermaid RR. I stitched in two areas. One mostly stitching the other beading.

Seahorse, pattern is from the issue 63 of Inspirations magazine.



Beaded Fish

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I attempted to create two crazy quilt blocks for our county fair. I only finished one in time for the fair, but wanted to finish the second one because I like the colors. It is a work in progress, I'll be adding some beads and embellishing the lace motifs.

Pat Winters Blog Giveaway

Pat Winters of Gatherings blog is having a small giveaway, one of her bird nests with blue pearls in it. Very pretty, check it out: Pat Winters Gatherings. Take a look at her blog, very creative and inspiring.

Summer Stitching and County Fair

Pretty in Pink - my deck garden - Pink Cosmos and Bee Balm
We've had humming birds and this beautiful butterfly visiting our deck.

Our County Fair was the last week in July. I entered a small CQ block, winning first place by default. I do like the block, fun colors to work with.





The HGTV Annual One Block Swap ended on Aug. 1st. Completed blocks were mailed to arrive on Aug. 1st. This is the block I made for LadyJ66.




Gonesewin made my favorite things block. She is new to CQing but you wouldn't know it looking at this block.











The completed blocks are posted on the CQ Wiki: HGTV Favorite Things One Block Swap. Enjoy the "Eye Candy". Forty-Nine "Crazy Ladies" out did themselves creating these blocks.

Finishing my stitching on Therica's mermaid block, should have photos to post this week.

New Blog!!! I found this very cool blog "Shabby chic Papirskatter". The creator posts downloadable vintage images to be used for scrapbooking, card making, collage, etc. Everyday she posts a new image. I've downloaded all that she has posted so far, can't wait to print some on silk for crazy quilting or use Digital Grounds and print on other fabric/paper.

Mermaids

WOW....awesome talent stitching on the Mermaid CQ blocks. Here is a photo of Therica's work on Kathi's mermaid.

Finishing up my "One Block Swap" block this week and then on the Therica's mermaid block.

Fun weekend and my handsome pup

We finally had a great weather weekend. On Sunday I went with friends to the Elkhorn Flea and Antiques Market in Wisconsin. A beautiful day to be outside, sunny, warm, with a nice breeze. Enjoyed looking at the antiques, but the greenhouse/farms there had awesome deals on flowers. I got this pretty planter from Kathy's Blooming Creations, LLC, Burlington, WI.

I also found some good CQ embellishments. My friend Karen gave me 4 hankies to use in CQ blocks.




In my last post I showed a picture of my dog Penne at the beach playing frisbee. Here is a picture of our other dog, Sydney or "Velvet Face" as we call him. He is the sweetest puppy boy.

Still working on my "One Block Swap" crazy quilt block, may finish it this weekend but I can mail it until July 27th.

Happy 4th of July to all. Have a happy and safe holiday.

Reading and One Block Swap

Still getting settled back in the house. Weather was finally nice enough to plant the deck planters and containers. So our deck is in pretty good shape, of course now we are having "heat advisory" weather and it is too hot to sit out on the deck.


Our pups have been enjoying some walks on the beach, playing frisbee, tennis ball, and a little swimming. Penne loves to play frisbee, she barks to say "Throw it again".

This is the shore of Lake Michigan on the Illinois side. Having grown up in Michigan, I think the Lake Michigan shore is sandier/less rocky then the Illinois side. Both shores are beautiful views.


I have been working on a "Favorite Things One Block" Swap. I am making a CQ block for someone that choose: Pink, pale green, cream, angels, flowers, and hearts as her "Favorite Things". We are only allowed to show two sneak peeks, the blocks have to be finished and delivered by Aug. 1. Here is my progress so far, hope the owner isn't reading my blog. I have quite a bit more to do before shipping it.


Reading two books, both recommended by my COF friend Kathi, Art Quilt Workbook: Exercises & Techniques to Ignite Your Creativity and City of Light.

In January I started reading about and planning an "Art Journal Quilt". I have some of the pieces cut out and a layout planned, just need several hours to assemble it.

Mermaid Block

We had Chinese Food for Dinner this was my fortune:
"More art in your life at this time will help you feel better"

Hope this means stitching creative time for me.

We did move back into our house, last weekend. It is good to be back here, even though the house isn't finished. Sydney and Penne, our pups are very happy to be back home, running around in their yard and chewing sticks. We still have moving to do and lots of work to be done on the house, but we're HERE.

I'm very busy at work getting books to press and preparing for the launch of the 2nd level of our NEW Latin Textbook.

Stitching time?? What's that? hopefully this weekend as things settle down a bit here. In my last post I showed a photo of Kathy's mermaid block. Hopefully Carolyn doesn't mind, I am posting her photos of my block. Carolyn was the first person to stitch on my mermaid block, here are the photos she posted.
I printed the treasure chest on fabric, added the beads, sea shells, and silk roving around the treasure chest. Carolyn painted, did I mention she is an Artist "Painter", the background around the treasure chest. Her painting blended the treasure chest into my pieced block.

Another view of Carolyn's work. Along with painting around the treasure chest, she stitched the "net" over the appliqued seashell.



After adding beauty to the treasure chest, Carolyn painted my mermaid's tail. I used my mermaid image as the center of my block. In the image I chose the mermaid's tail was cropped out of the photo. But thank you Carolyn, my pretty young mermaid has a tail. She also added some seaweed, a fish, and a seahorse.

I did get to see my block in person at the COF retreat. My block is now with Kathi, can't wait to see a photo of her work. Kathi, like myself, works outside her home M-F so creative time is limited. Some much to create so little time!!!


Along with the Mermaid RR, I'm in a "Favorite Things" One Block Swap. I'm working on a block for LadyJ66, from HGTV, her favorite things are pink, pale green, angels, hearts, and flowers. She wants a very girly block. I have the fabrics gathered and will piece her block this weekend.

I did do a little stitching last weekend. I worked on my "CQ Encrusted" class block. Will take and post photos this weekend.

Happy Stitching

Mermaid progress and moving back to the house

I am finished with my round of Kathy's mermaid block. I will be mailing it on to Carolyn.

I used silk roving to create seaweed mermaid hair. Used silk ribbon to embroider flowers with bead centers. Then added sea shells and pearls.

To the right of the mermaid I couched seaweed fibers and stitched beaded feather stitches.

On to Therica's mermaid block. I will be the second person to stitch on Therica's block, Kathy started it off with some amazing stitching/embellishing. I'll post a photo when I do some work on it.



We are planning on moving back to our house this weekend. The remodel is not finished but the bedrooms are finished so we can live in the house. We will have bedrooms, kitchen, and family room for living space. It will be good to be back in the house, our Pups will have their back yard to play in and we will have a little more living space then we have in the townhouse.

Happy Memioral Day weekend to everyone.

How Time Flys!!!!

COF was WONDERFUL all that I hoped it would be and more. I had the honor of spending 5 days in the company of 69 VERY talented and creative women. It is a wonder the committee was able to find a room large enough to hold all of that talent. I met and made some wonderful friends.


Along with the COF Retreat activities the Mermaid group got together for a little bit to share our work so far. I have been working on Kathy's Mermaid block. I have a bit more to do, but I made progress this past weekend.

I couched slik roving to create seaweed/hair and added treasures from the Sea. I will be adding some stitching and beads before sending Kathy's block off to Carolyn

Carolyn was the first person to work on my block. She painted a beautiful tail on my mermaid. Kathi posted a photo of my block on her blog - Thank You.

I finished the last round of the HGTV CQ RR. I will be mailing the finished block off to MsBananas/Tammy, tomorrow. She should have it by the end of the week. I've done a little more work on my CQ Encrusted Class block. I hope to get back to it in the next few weeks.

Along with my Crazy Quilting projects, I am trying to finish my first Art Journal Quilt by the end of May. I have the idea, fabric pressed and ready to sew. I have some images etc. ready. I am trying to print on fabric using Golden's "Digital Grounds" product. I did try printing an image on fabric after treating it with "Digital Grounds". It worked, but I should have printed it on lighter colored fabric. I quickly rinsed the fabric, most of the ink washed out I have a plan to reprint the image. I will post photos as soon as I have something printed.

I read about Digital Grounds on Gail Schmidt's blog. She is offering a workshop on using Digital Grounds.

I should have some good stitching time in the next couple of weeks - the Red Wings and the Blackhawks are both still in the Stanley Cup playoffs - I have to say "GO WINGS"!!!!!

HGTV COF Retreat

It is finally time...I am off tomorrow a.m. for the HGTV Circle of Friends Retreat - 5 days of stitching, learning, fun, and meeting new friends.

I'll post photos when I return.

Happy Stitching

Making Progress...One Step Forward...Two Steps Back

How can that be progress? In 16 days I leave for my first ever Stitching/Quilting Retreat. On April 23rd I will be attending the HGTV COF Retreat in Manchester, NH. There are a few projects, challenges, and some pre retreat homework.

I have started my FQ Challenge, will finish it this weekend. Have ideas for my "What State You Are From" T-Shirt. I'll start assembling it this week. I have collected and bagged my FQs for Bingo. My retreat group project "Homework" is finished. I've started packing supplies for the classes I will be taking at the retreat.

Two Steps Backward....well I am making progress on my COF stuff, but have fallen way behind on the 6th Round of the HGTV CQ RR. Need to finish my stitching so I am ready to send Alex's block on to Ms Bananas on April 15th. Good thing my taxes are done!!!

Mermaid block, I've had for three weeks now. I have started stitching on Kathy's mermaid block. Lots of ideas just need some time to stitch.

Ok...getting away from this computer to do a little more stitching tonight.

Happy Stitching

Tried new stitches

Working on my CQ Encrusted Class I have tried some new stitches/motifs.

I don't mind stitching seam treatments "free hand", but I have a hard time getting the outlines to embroider motifs, flowers, butterflies, images, etc onto my fabric. I have tried using "Solvey", tracing/chalk paper, and iron on transfer pencil. "Solvey" has worked the best, but even using pernanent sharpie to draw on the "Solvey" I've had it bleed on to my project when put water on it to disolve it. Tracing/chalk paper the image brushes off before I finish stitching and the iron on transfer pencil didn't work at all.

I really wanted to try to embroider some of the flower motifs from Teach Yourself to Embroider book. So I tried a technique that Shawkl had mentioned, "tissue paper"!! Yes, it worked like a charm!!! I traced the image onto white tissue paper, actually leftover tissue paper from Christmas. Pinned it in place on my block and started stitching.

CQEncrusted Class block so far. I am going to start adding beads/buttons etc. next. I think it needs a little more stitching, but I need to add some beads/buttons to be sure, may be a few days before I get to it. I need to get going on my COF projects, I do have an idea for my FQ Challenge fabric.

Happy Stitching

Creative Slacker

Looking through all the blogs that I follow and clicking through to other blogs listed on their blogs...wow..lots of creativity. Looks like everyone is exploding with creativity and I'm just watching. So my question; When does everyone find the time to create all of this beauty?

Happy Friday, YEAH the weekend, my two days of the week to create.

CQ Lesson 2 Stitching

I have completed the basic seam stitching on one of my CQ Encrusted class blocks.

Lesson 3 arrived today, I have yet to read it.

I plan to add a few more stitches to this block and then on to my 2nd block and lesson 3 "Motifs".

Round 5 of the HGTV CQ Round Robin ends this week. I need to write in the journal and I'll be ready to send it on to the next person. Two more rounds and our CQ Beauties will be on their way home. I am very excited to see mine. Along the way we have only been allowed to see two small "sneak peeks" per round. Only seeing very small areas doesn't give a very good idea of what the whole block looks like.

I'll also be mailing my Mermaid block out this week. Again, need to write in the journal and package it up.

Off to put my Encrusted CQ lessons in a binder and get organized to read lesson 3.

Happy Stitching

CQ Encrusted block 2, lesson 2, and Mermaid Block

Continuing to make progress, I finished piecing my 2nd CQ Encrusted class block.

I'm calling this my "Sunshine" block, a little more yellow than I originally planned.

Lesson 2 was emailed to the class today, seam embellishments. I am ready to stitch!!

I also finished piecing my Mermaid block, need to do a little embellishing.

Making Progress

I am making some progress on my swaps, challenges, classes etc. Wed., Feb. 25 was the start of Sharon Boggon's CQ Encrusted class offered through Joggles.

Lesson one was about color and piecing a CQ block. I hope to piece two blocks for the class, I have one finished. The lace and heart are just pinned in place for now, may change my mind as we start embellishing the seams.

I really like the print fabric but didn't have fabric in the correct shade of blue, so I dyed a piece of white dupioni silk to the shade of blue I needed for this block. I think it worked well.

I found a nice size piece of white dupioni silk in the remnant bin at JoAnn's. I check out the bin every time I'm at JoAnn's and often find pieces of dupioni silk in the remnant bin.

I finished piecing my Mermaid block, I need to applique a couple of seashells silkies onto it and maybe a few stitches before I send it off on it's RR adventure.

Still haven't started on my COF FQ or t-Shirt Challenge...soon!!!

YEAH!!! It is the weekend.

It is the weekend and it is snowing here in IL. Not that I want any more snow, but it will keep me in the house this weekend and I'll get to my projects. The list is long...need to figure out what to do with my COF FQ for the FQ challenge, decorate my COF "state" t-shirt, piece a CQ swap block, round 4 of RR, and gather my supplies for the CQ Encrusted class.

Off to stitch!!! Stay warm and dry.

Personality Rainbow

Tisme posted this on her blog and the HGTV boards, so I thought I'd give it a try. Interesting little quiz. Give it a try, takes two mins or so to do the quiz.

Your rainbow is intensely shaded green, indigo, and brown.

What is says about you: You are a proud person. You feel strong ties to nature and your mood changes with its cycles. Those around you admire your fresh outlook and vitality. You feel closer to people when you understand their imperfections.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Happy Stitching

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Oh wait....

Yes the new year is a couple of weeks old, but it is a happy new year. Shawkl (Kathy) has written an awesome lesson on how to stitch "Bullion Roses" and it is posted on the Crazy Quilting Wiki (link to the lessons and challenge page, scroll down to Lesson 12).

Along with the new lesson on the wiki, Shawkl has continued her 12 dozen in 12 months stitch challenge, posted on her blog: shawkl.com

Two great stitching opportunities for this new year, enjoy.

Happy Stitching
TGIF!!
Jody

It's Official!!!

I'm going to the COF Retreat in New Hampshire in April. I booked my flight yesterday. I have never attended a stitching/crafting retreat and I can't WAIT!!!!

So far in 2009 I'm doing two things I've wanted to do for many years. In Feb. I am taking my first online Crazy Quilting Class and going to a Stitching/Crafting Retreat in April!!!

Happy 2009!!!

4 stitches

Four stitches have been posted on Kathy's blog www.skawkl.com. I have stitched all four stitches. Only hope I can keep up as the weeks/months go on. I happen to have an open weekend and plenty of time to stitch.

Here are stitches #2, #3, and #4:







Stitch #4 photo isn't very clear, but it is pretty in person.

If you would like to participate in this stitch challenge visit: www.shawkl.com. Awesome creativity by Kathy.

Happy Stitching