I'll be absent for a bit. Spring has finally showed up full force. With that being said, DH and I are busy trying to get the gardens formed and revamped in between trips to Dr's Appointments and cardiac rehab.
Those little excursions seem to eat up our days...weeks. Hopefully I will be back to share more soon. Wanted to let you know that life is resuming to a steadier pace now despite the seasonal rush that typically happens this time of year. Please excuse my absence.
Jane
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
A talented artist/quilter
Had to share this blog that was recently found- May your bobbin always be full. LuAnn Kessi shares quite a few techinques for quilting, dyeing fabric and fabric art.
Karen at Cre8tive kick blog also shares some interesting tips. Color catchers used for a purse tassle, ingenious
Karen at Cre8tive kick blog also shares some interesting tips. Color catchers used for a purse tassle, ingenious
Monday, May 16, 2011
When It Rain It Pours! Photo heavy.
Literally. The area I live in has been affected by major flooding. Just to give you a glimpse of some area photos. This first one is a sensational one and it's just amazing that no one was hurt or worst yet, killed. 
The woman driving the van, Anna Maywood was able to jump to safety when she felt the bridge collapsing in Moriah NY. photo by Lohr McKinstry
While traveling to Vt. this past Thursday I took several photos. As you can see my photographic skills are extremely limited. It seems that when I take a pic on a beautiful day the photos have too much light and get washed out. If any of you know what I need to do to try to fix it, I would appreciate any tips. The camera is on an automatic setting and this is one of the reasons I have always wanted to take a photography class at the local university. Might have to move that up on my bucket list!
Even the ferry did a great job of engineering. Since the record levels of the lake have been so high many engineering feats have had to be done. Stones hauled in so you don't drive through water and with the alignment of the boat with the load on ramps that had to be figured out as well. The last four photos don't look that bad until you realise that those photos are normally dry land with a picturesque little clump of trees scattered along a very nice sandy beach in the background. The little dark square in the last photo above is a building along the beach.
Time in my world has sped up to a 10X warp speed lately. The photos above are from my recent trip to Vermont to get my Bernina fixed. It seems as if everything around here needs repairing, fixing or a bit more attention lately. So there again when it rains it pours! Besides DH's cardiac Event, now his participation in Cardiac rehab and my having to chauffeur him everywhere, the wrecked car and numerous little happenings with that (typical car repairs needed doing that are not covered from the accident {of course}), the Septic and plumbing repairs (Both are totally fixed and correct now- can I say a major Cha ching!), the basement flooding with the area's problems (had 2-3 "of water in basement and we caught in time to set up a sump pump etc.), Furnace wasn't working correctly (probably because of the flooding - service calls), and then to top it off my Bernina Broke down! Enuf!!!!! Despite all these inconveniences my attitude has been positive after witnessing last month's blessings. Attitude is an amazing thing. What is that biblical phrase that comes to mind, oh yea, I can do all things through Christ. But please, let the dust settle a bit, I'm a bit on overload.
Amidst all of this several items have been completed in the project area.
The first thing I'd love to share with you is this quilt my Mom made for my PGS#2.
How she designed it herself is wonderful. She wanted it to have a masculine feel since PGS#2 is now 14 years old. That's him in the second photo on the top right, albeit a bit washed out since my camera skills are severely lacking. Mom's skills are amazing. This is a queen size quilt and besides designing it herself she fussy cut the fabric for the borders to get a tribal feel that would accompany the Savannah and safari panel in the center. We shopped my stash last summer while she was visiting NY and started and finished it these past 4 months. This quilt was also machine quilted by her on her domestic sewing machine all with different patterns appropriate for that section within the quilt.
Thanks Mom.
I love it and I think J likes it too, but he's at THAT age when communication isn't forth coming. The next 2 shots are the doll blanket PGD#1 and I did.
She is always wanting to have FUN, or is saying "Ccommmonnn, Meme, let 's do something funnnn!" Drawing out the words but, thank goodness bot whining- I just can't stand a whine! So for the doll blanket she selected all her own fabrics and trim. Am glad I didn't try to talk her out of using any of it even though when she selected the brown background floral print to accompany the black with pastel pink heart print I cringed a bit. Luckily the stash held a soft pastel pink that worked with both sides for the binding. That girl is definitely not afraid to use color!
Here's a snap of my current focus.
It's last month's UFO project that Judy Laquidera pulled, that I couldn't find the time to work on it last month. How nice to just settle with my machine and stitch. It was on this project when my Bernina started throwing a hissy fit. Thank goodness I had my trusty little Singer featherweight! I had forgotten how sweet it is to sew on. This is the same type of machine that I learned how to sew on when I was 7 years old. OMG, It might be the perfect machine for little miss PGD#1 to learn on. The only bit of sewing she does now is to sit on my lap and help manage the fabrics through the machine while I operate the foot pedal and of course she removes all the pins and places them nicely in the cushions.
If you are not too saturated with photos these last two snaps are of a bracelet that was finished yesterday. Can you believe it's made out of hex nuts! It's an odd count peyote stitch and thankfully Allison, the friend who shared the technique, had some 12lb. test fire line that I could use. Imagine my surprise to find my 10 lb. spool empty.
So this is a glimpse of some of the happenings and what has been keeping me busy lately. Sorry I haven't been able to post that often recently and I hope you understand. I also wanted to thank you for stopping by and all the lovely comments. I do appreciate them.
Enjoy your day,
Jane
The woman driving the van, Anna Maywood was able to jump to safety when she felt the bridge collapsing in Moriah NY. photo by Lohr McKinstryWhile traveling to Vt. this past Thursday I took several photos. As you can see my photographic skills are extremely limited. It seems that when I take a pic on a beautiful day the photos have too much light and get washed out. If any of you know what I need to do to try to fix it, I would appreciate any tips. The camera is on an automatic setting and this is one of the reasons I have always wanted to take a photography class at the local university. Might have to move that up on my bucket list!
Even the ferry did a great job of engineering. Since the record levels of the lake have been so high many engineering feats have had to be done. Stones hauled in so you don't drive through water and with the alignment of the boat with the load on ramps that had to be figured out as well. The last four photos don't look that bad until you realise that those photos are normally dry land with a picturesque little clump of trees scattered along a very nice sandy beach in the background. The little dark square in the last photo above is a building along the beach.
Time in my world has sped up to a 10X warp speed lately. The photos above are from my recent trip to Vermont to get my Bernina fixed. It seems as if everything around here needs repairing, fixing or a bit more attention lately. So there again when it rains it pours! Besides DH's cardiac Event, now his participation in Cardiac rehab and my having to chauffeur him everywhere, the wrecked car and numerous little happenings with that (typical car repairs needed doing that are not covered from the accident {of course}), the Septic and plumbing repairs (Both are totally fixed and correct now- can I say a major Cha ching!), the basement flooding with the area's problems (had 2-3 "of water in basement and we caught in time to set up a sump pump etc.), Furnace wasn't working correctly (probably because of the flooding - service calls), and then to top it off my Bernina Broke down! Enuf!!!!! Despite all these inconveniences my attitude has been positive after witnessing last month's blessings. Attitude is an amazing thing. What is that biblical phrase that comes to mind, oh yea, I can do all things through Christ. But please, let the dust settle a bit, I'm a bit on overload.
Amidst all of this several items have been completed in the project area.
The first thing I'd love to share with you is this quilt my Mom made for my PGS#2.
How she designed it herself is wonderful. She wanted it to have a masculine feel since PGS#2 is now 14 years old. That's him in the second photo on the top right, albeit a bit washed out since my camera skills are severely lacking. Mom's skills are amazing. This is a queen size quilt and besides designing it herself she fussy cut the fabric for the borders to get a tribal feel that would accompany the Savannah and safari panel in the center. We shopped my stash last summer while she was visiting NY and started and finished it these past 4 months. This quilt was also machine quilted by her on her domestic sewing machine all with different patterns appropriate for that section within the quilt.
Thanks Mom.
I love it and I think J likes it too, but he's at THAT age when communication isn't forth coming. The next 2 shots are the doll blanket PGD#1 and I did.
She is always wanting to have FUN, or is saying "Ccommmonnn, Meme, let 's do something funnnn!" Drawing out the words but, thank goodness bot whining- I just can't stand a whine! So for the doll blanket she selected all her own fabrics and trim. Am glad I didn't try to talk her out of using any of it even though when she selected the brown background floral print to accompany the black with pastel pink heart print I cringed a bit. Luckily the stash held a soft pastel pink that worked with both sides for the binding. That girl is definitely not afraid to use color!
Here's a snap of my current focus.
It's last month's UFO project that Judy Laquidera pulled, that I couldn't find the time to work on it last month. How nice to just settle with my machine and stitch. It was on this project when my Bernina started throwing a hissy fit. Thank goodness I had my trusty little Singer featherweight! I had forgotten how sweet it is to sew on. This is the same type of machine that I learned how to sew on when I was 7 years old. OMG, It might be the perfect machine for little miss PGD#1 to learn on. The only bit of sewing she does now is to sit on my lap and help manage the fabrics through the machine while I operate the foot pedal and of course she removes all the pins and places them nicely in the cushions.
If you are not too saturated with photos these last two snaps are of a bracelet that was finished yesterday. Can you believe it's made out of hex nuts! It's an odd count peyote stitch and thankfully Allison, the friend who shared the technique, had some 12lb. test fire line that I could use. Imagine my surprise to find my 10 lb. spool empty.
So this is a glimpse of some of the happenings and what has been keeping me busy lately. Sorry I haven't been able to post that often recently and I hope you understand. I also wanted to thank you for stopping by and all the lovely comments. I do appreciate them.
Enjoy your day,
Jane
Sunday, May 1, 2011
First of May
Alleluia! First of May
Outdoor playing begins today!
This ditty has been in my head for years! It all started with a co-worker 20+ years ago quoting this. Of course I prettied it up a bit so it would be politically correct here lol but ever since on the first of May I think of him. I actually was quite shocked and very surprised when I heard it for the first time but have since learned more and know it's very traditional with the May Day pagan Traditions of the past.
Being a new first, I have been reassessing my projects AGAIN! Lordy I do get into creative messes at times and besides the recent finish of the bracelet my creativity, stitching and sewing was ground to a halt. I have given myself some major slack with all that I had going on in our lives. Besides the typical chores around the house besides the additional bookkeeper, arranger, scheduler, etc.. I now am the official chauffer of my household. DH was able to start cardiac rehab this past week so that is 3 additional trips into town a week. At least while he is there I am motivated to walk city blocks for my own health. I was almost tempted to run errands on his second trip, but brought myself back to the "ME First challenge" and said "NO you need to exercise", (I think I actually said this out loud, so it's no wonder I received some quirky looks, they probably thought I was off my rocker!) so far am managing to keep to that. How silly to see that as an accomplishment, but I really do. I tend to always put everyone else first and have been forcing myself to put me first more, especially this year, 2011.
Yesterday at our Circle of Friends get together I wasn't sure which UFO to bring. So what did I do you might ask? Ahhh... I started a NEW Project of course!
Little Miss Shabby started a QAL in January and I have been saving and printing out the instructions all along. While pondering my selection of what to bring yesterday, I thought those Tina Givens fabrics I have in would be lovely together and a very cheerful coloring to work with so this is what I used to select the threads for stitching those shabby chics!
Not bad for several hours of work. I hope to get this January block done in two weeks. I hope to finish 2 a month until I am caught up with the rest. I like using an interfacing under my embroidery fabric square so my block constructions will be done after the stitching is completed.
Regarding the April UFO CHallenge with Judy Laquidera, I failed terribly this month. Am not beating myself up about it either, just couldn't get to it. This is as far as I got.
Managed to pull all the fabrics and actually started laying them out to audition which strips will be placed where during the construction. The plan is too cut varying widths of fabric and just a quilt as you go mode. Since everything is out, I will be getting to this in May even though another number will be getting pulled.
Looks like it's going to be a gorgeous day. My plan is to tackle many chores so I best get off this computer and actually get to some of them.
Enjoy your day!
Jane
Outdoor playing begins today!
This ditty has been in my head for years! It all started with a co-worker 20+ years ago quoting this. Of course I prettied it up a bit so it would be politically correct here lol but ever since on the first of May I think of him. I actually was quite shocked and very surprised when I heard it for the first time but have since learned more and know it's very traditional with the May Day pagan Traditions of the past.
Being a new first, I have been reassessing my projects AGAIN! Lordy I do get into creative messes at times and besides the recent finish of the bracelet my creativity, stitching and sewing was ground to a halt. I have given myself some major slack with all that I had going on in our lives. Besides the typical chores around the house besides the additional bookkeeper, arranger, scheduler, etc.. I now am the official chauffer of my household. DH was able to start cardiac rehab this past week so that is 3 additional trips into town a week. At least while he is there I am motivated to walk city blocks for my own health. I was almost tempted to run errands on his second trip, but brought myself back to the "ME First challenge" and said "NO you need to exercise", (I think I actually said this out loud, so it's no wonder I received some quirky looks, they probably thought I was off my rocker!) so far am managing to keep to that. How silly to see that as an accomplishment, but I really do. I tend to always put everyone else first and have been forcing myself to put me first more, especially this year, 2011.
Yesterday at our Circle of Friends get together I wasn't sure which UFO to bring. So what did I do you might ask? Ahhh... I started a NEW Project of course!
Little Miss Shabby started a QAL in January and I have been saving and printing out the instructions all along. While pondering my selection of what to bring yesterday, I thought those Tina Givens fabrics I have in would be lovely together and a very cheerful coloring to work with so this is what I used to select the threads for stitching those shabby chics!
Not bad for several hours of work. I hope to get this January block done in two weeks. I hope to finish 2 a month until I am caught up with the rest. I like using an interfacing under my embroidery fabric square so my block constructions will be done after the stitching is completed.
Regarding the April UFO CHallenge with Judy Laquidera, I failed terribly this month. Am not beating myself up about it either, just couldn't get to it. This is as far as I got.
Managed to pull all the fabrics and actually started laying them out to audition which strips will be placed where during the construction. The plan is too cut varying widths of fabric and just a quilt as you go mode. Since everything is out, I will be getting to this in May even though another number will be getting pulled.
Looks like it's going to be a gorgeous day. My plan is to tackle many chores so I best get off this computer and actually get to some of them.
Enjoy your day!
Jane
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