Blogging...

Rainy, Windy, Chilly Day at Lake Michigan

Sunday we took our pups to the beach, Lake Michigan, for a little walk/run. It was a windy, dreary, misty day but the pups loved it. Look at Penne smiling. The waves were 3-4 feet. Penne is the only one that went into the water. We played a little frisbee until the wind caught it and it got stuck in a tree!

I found some mermaid tears, mostly green and a couple clear ones.

Did a little creating this weekend and learned a lesson about fabric paper and freezer paper. Here are the two pieces of fabric paper I made.

I liked how they looked better when they were wet, rather dull now that they are dry. May try to remove a layer of tissue on the red & green paper.

Lesson learned, check twice and make sure the shinny side of the freezer paper is up before you start applying the glue water. If not you will find, when your fabric paper is dry, it will not peel off the freezer paper! 

Making fabric paper is still a new technique to me, I will keep experimenting. These two sheets will be fun to play with.

Two good books - The Dark Tide, by Andrew Gross. Finished, it was good, sort of predictable but some good twists. And Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani, still reading and enjoying it. Adriana Trigiani is the author of Big Stone Gap and Big Cherry Holler, two books I read a few years ago. May have to read them again.

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.

---

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

---

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.