July and August

I made up a pincushion pattern and submitted it to a quilt magazine. I haven't heard from them yet. A local woman, who has been published, said that is a good thing, as they tell you right away if they don't like a submission. They may still turn it down, but since they haven't told me no thanks, someone still likes it.

I saw a picture of an owl necklace on the web somewhere. It was sort of cute, but I dont wear jewelry. The owls were flat. One day, I got the inspiration to make round, stuffed owls that were simular. I made up a pattern, and after some false starts I came up with these owl pincushions. I took the first 3 pairs to my quilt guild meeting. I was asked to make and donate 12 pairs to a fundraiser in September. The guild is trying to setup a quilt museum. So I made up a lot of owls.




On July 28th I was on my way to a job interview, and worrying about what to say, etc. and got into an accident. It totaled my car, broke my ankle, various bumps, scrapes, sprains, and cuts. I hit my head and my forehead swelled up like a Klingon (without the bumps) and my eyes turned the most horrible shade of black. Over the next two weeks, the bruse sort of melted down my face. I had red eyes for a few days. I just have a little reminder in a few places now, but I still have a swollen area above my eyes, look like a neandertal. And I have to wear this stupid black boot thing for another 3 to six weeks. The doctor said the xray yesterday doesn't show a lot of healing.

It's my right ankle and I haven't been able to sew or drive for 3 weeks now. It's a good thing I got the owls done. In fact, they were in a box on the seat of my car, when I had the accident. I was going to deliver them after the interview. I still haven't gotten them delivered. There is a guild meeting tonight, and Nyda, my sister, will drive me over so I can deliver the owls. I need a job, but even if I got another interview, I can't get my dress slacks over the boot, and I can't drive. Sorry for the pity rant. I'm feeling like crap about this.

I have been working on hand embroidery. I saw a metal dragon wall ornement in a gardening catalog a while back that I liked. I put the picture in my files, and after the accident, I enlarged it up to about 18x24 inches and transferred it to a piece of black linen. I used gold colored pearl threads couched down with a gold colored sewing thread and outlined the whole thing. I haven't decided if its done or if I want to do a fill stitch or couch it all in the gold pearl. I only used it because I had a lot of it left over from a store I had about 10 years ago. The store lasted less than a year, but the inventory will outlast me. I have a big tote full of DMC floss and another full of linens. I always check there before buying any floss. Nyda kitted up a new cross stitch pattern the other day and only had to buy 3 skeins of floss.


While I'm pondering on the fate of the dragon, I got out my Nemisis, Teresa Wentzler's Peacock tapestry. I have been working on this for about 12 years now, off and on, mostly off. I think it is beautiful, but I can't seem to make any progress with it. I work from the bottom up and I am almost 2/3 finished.




I recently moved my room around so I have my sewing desk in front of the window. I think I like it better here. I also was able to get rid of one desk chair, and it leaves me a larger space to move in. I just have to turn around and I'm at the computer. I don't have to walk around the sewing desk to get to the computer.

It's March!!!

It was warm enough that some of the ice on the walk to the porch melted. It has been so cold this winter. I'm getting tired of ICE!!

I have several items that I wanted to show you.

I finished a crazy quilt pin cushion. It is about 5 inches across.










I have also been beading some motifs. Some I will add a stiff interfacing to and add a pin back. Others will be used on crazy quilts or appliqued to tote bags. I might even sell some. Here are some pictures. Some are a little fuzzy. I have problems getting good pictures of beads.

The smaller butterfly is about 2 1/2 inches, the larger about 4 inches.





I've also done some paisley motifs. The larger ones are about 3 inches, the smaller about 2 inches.
The fabric is a rich chocolate brown, and some of the silver beads show white.


A large green paisly and a smaller purple one.


A purple and green large butterfly.



In February, I finished a machine quilted quilt. I was searching through some storage boxes and found 11 patchwork squares. I couldnt find the 12th one and I didnt have any of the fabric in my stash. These blocks were made about 15 years ago.
I set them together with a plain white block for the missing square. I used a basting spray to hold the 3 layers together. I used a walking foot for all the quilting, even the curved lines. I need to practice free motion quilting. I cant see using the walking foot for any smaller curves.

I think the big white triangle gives it a very interesting composition. This quilt is the size for a lap quilt or a crib quilt.



Here is a close up.


I have at least 7 or 8 other tops that need to be quilted. Now that I have one completed, I need to keep going.