1.23.12

Look, Mom. Wouldn't this look good on your shelf? It is a pretty one! Find it here if you want to buy one.

1.22.12

Here is the doll to be. What you see is the cover of the pattern, "Under the Harvest Moon" by Deanna Hogan. It can be purchased via her ETSY STORE in PDF form. There are other options to buy her pattern, including Craftsy, Cloth Doll Patterns, and Dollmakers Journey, where I bought mine.

I like to browse Dollmakers Journey and look at each dollmaker's patterns. I visit old favorites like Patti Culea, elinor peace bailey, Margaret-Acker Missal, Lynne Butcher, Kathy Briggs, Virgina Robertson, Barbara Graff, Kathy Hays, Julie McCullough, Barbara Willis, and Christine Shively. One day, I made it my mission to look at each designer's offerings. Usually if I find something I want on the internet, I set it aside, and come back to look at it over the course of a week. Not this time. As soon as I saw this doll, I grabbed my credit card and she was mine. She has been on my "Can't Wait To Do" list for several months.  

I will keep you up on her progress but I may not be working on her every day. Retired means pretty much getting to do what I want but there are so many commitments I have made to other things I want to do that I do not always have uninterrupted stretches of days. PLUS-I have to photograph my steps, do the photo editing and write the blog!

1.21.12

I won a contest the day after Christmas! My prize was a pattern by Toby Lischko at Gateway Quilts and Stuff. In my entry, I chose Zen Garden as the pattern I would like.  You can buy a copy at Quiltwoman.com. Here is what they have to say about the pattern.

"Zen Garden is a beautiful King size quilt that would do any bedroom justice.  It features a separate panel for the head of the bed.  This quilt is a favorite of our staff!"

 Thank you, Toby!

1.20.12

Here are some possible vests for the doll that is waiting for me. When you went to Deanna Hogan's GALLERY, Blue Heron Cloth Dolls,  did you guess which doll I chose?

Here is her ETSY SHOP. Once you get there, click on Under the Harvest Moon. You probably guessed! I bought this pattern at the Dollmaker's Journey store and downloaded it onto my computer. Then, I printed it out when I thought I was ready to make templates.

Back to the vests. My doll's vest is really the bodice of the blouse. I have not decided if I will do it that way or wander out into the realm of reinventing the wheel--my usual mode of project work.  ON the one hand, separates would allow a lot of combinations. On the other hand, well, it is reinventing a perfectly round wheel.

Lower right section? I LOVE LOVE LOVE this fabric and all I have left are those strips. I will be trying to get them in on this project any way I can. Upper left? It has a teeny bit less teal in the tone than I would like but to its benefit, it DOES have DOTS. I LOVE LOVE LOVE DOTS.

1.19.12

Blouse fabrics! Here are my final four. Like I said, this doll will probably have a wardrobe of separates because I had so much fun pulling coordinates.

1.18.12

Interviewing fabric this past weekend. Here is what I have so far.

These are the finalists for skirts for a doll in the making. I bought a pattern from Deanna Hogan of Blue Heron Cloth Dolls some few months back. I will link up to the particular doll later this week. Click her GALLERY link and go see if you know which one I chose. Here is her blog if you want to get to know her a little.


Although my photo editing needs more experience, in real light, all these skirts have a teal/turquoise in common. They look terrible together, but this doll will only be wearing one of them, so that should not matter.  All of the coordinates I picked go with each potential skirt so it may be that this doll will have a wardrobe of separates.

Come back tomorrow to see some blouse fabrics.

1.17.12

A while back, I joined the 2012  Free-Motion Quilting Challenge. See my badge on the right? I carefully chose good but economical fabric, decided to sacrifice a nice batt, inventoried my needle supply, and purchased 505 spray and a spool of variegated thread. Then I watched the tutorial on SewCalGal's blog.

I practiced with a pen and paper. Many times. I waited until I had an entire day with great lighting in my studio and cut and spray basted (for the first time) my sandwich samples together. I selected a needle.

I practiced on a single layer remnant. Not bad, just a little shakey. Tension issues I will work out on the sandwich remnant. That would be next after a break for lunch so maybe I could address the shakey issue.

Gloved and ready. I may not find much in their magazine, but I DO like Fons and Porter quilting gloves. I am about to bring the bobbin thread up to the top and begin on the sandwich remnant. Everything is going just fine! Cute little trial on the sandwich remnant. Time to try the real deal.

Oh-oh! Thread shred. Maybe it is just a fluke. Re-thread the needle. No, that is not it. Wipe the goo off the needle from the 505 spray.

No, that is not it. Adjust the tension up. No. Down? No. TRY A DIFFERENT NEEDLE!    By now, the sun has gone behind a cloud, literally and metaphorically. I tinkered with the light in this picture but you can still see the dismal mood of the situation reflected in the no longer warmly glowing fabric.

One more shred and I am CHANGING THE THREAD. 

This is the back. There are issues with the top thread tension being too loose but that happens mostly near the beginning of the shred. I unsewed at the shreds, brought the bobbin threads up to the top, knotted and buried them. Considering the trouble I had, and the increased tension I carried while determinedly pressing toward the finish, this is not worse than I thought it would look. 

Yes. I changed the thread. I finally finished but not before I decided I still do not care to FMQ. I can HAND QUILT in the time it takes to do this and my results are MUCH MUCH better looking. I have 11 more months to change my mind. We will see.

1.16.12

TEA TIME

My favorite tea this month is from Mitoku. It is called Nagata Organic Brown Rice Kukicha and it tastes like happy twigs. I thoroughly enjoy it.

An interesting quote from the Mitoku Company: "In Japan, kukicha has been stigmatized as a poor man's drink, because, like brown rice, it brings back memories of the days of deprivation during and after World War II. Macrobiotics founder George Ohsawa introduced kukicha to the West forty years ago. Since it contains only one-tenth the caffeine of sencha and because it is the most alkalinizing Japanese tea, Ohsawa considered it to be the most balanced beverage. Indeed, kukicha is an excellent complement to the grain-based, mostly vegetarian diet he advocated."

1.15.12

Happy Birthday Mom. Did it arrive? I did an excellent job on it and I truly enjoyed each stitch.

Here are photos from Away Son's birthday gift.

 

 
Thanks to Ernie Ball's cheap straps which I destroyed to get the hardware, and a tutorial by One Shabby Chick, I was able to make some guitar straps. I have no idea if BASS GUITARS use different straps but I guess I could make those, too. I have a workhorse Bernina 910 and with great care, I was even able to coax it to sew through the holes in the leather tab. I simply adjusted stitch length for EVERY SINGLE STITCH ONE STITCH AT A TIME. It was very easy and only took a few minutes to go around the square twice each. Who knows, maybe I will branch out and make neck straps for saxophones next...

1.14.12

My Quilty Friend and I have done a little sale shopping. I added a few pieces to my stash.

Unfortunately, I think I might already have this one. It makes great legs for elves and fairies. I am sure I will use it.

Here is another favorite. I buy a lot of bright checks and I know I have had this one before. I think it is quite an old one back to when I first started making dolls. It always reminded me of Valentines day.

I just had to have this one. Those tiny little umbrellas and the bright yellow, green, teal, and blue make me smile. Maybe this is destined for a vest on a frog prince.

 Here is something you do not see everyday--pink in my stash. This is a piece of homespun in a color I call Capezio pink. It is the color of ballet shoes. I think I know where it will go but it might not work. I will have to see.

Another stripe. Chocolate and Capezio pink. The stripe is fairly wide--maybe a quarter of an inch.  It might make good smocking for a bodice and peplum. This bears some thinking.

1.13.12

Happy Birthday, Away Son. I made you some things. What are they? I hope they got there in time.

1.12.12

 PLEASE SEE THE PORTION HIGHLIGHTED IN ORANGE BELOW!!!!! EDITED 1/13/12


I never showed you one of my favorite gifts. These little deer remind me so much of where we live. It is in my studio right now and I decided to keep it out all year. My Quilty Friend gave it to me for Christmas. It actually has a pretty maple frame but my photography does not show it to advantage, so I cropped it out of the picture.

My Quilty Friend does lovely hand work and two of her quilts have won awards. Right now, she is getting ready to make this. I think this might be a photo of the original quilt top from the American Folk Art Museum in New York. You can see it has a kind of 18th Century sampler feel to it. My Quilty Friend likes primitives, applique, and truly loves the Civil War reproduction fabrics. 

ALERT! EDITED TO ADD:

I believe this photo is from SEWPRIMITIVE, Karen Mowry's new book called a Bountiful Life which she ALSO engineered on the original quilt.

A quote from KAY HARMON about the original quilt:

"The Civil War Bride quilt is an interpretation of a quilt in the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, c 1858-1863. The top was made during the Civil War period and is thought to be an unfinished wedding quilt. A female figure is appliqued in one block but the block next to her is almost empty which leads experts to believe the maker had planned to include a groom but for some reason did not. Their theory is supported by newspaper templates, including one of a male figure, that were found with the quilt top."  Kay used modern fabrics for her rendition. Check out her blog and see some of her blocks.

 Naturally, My Quilty Friend was attracted to this quilt. She bought a pattern released by Corliss Searcy from a shop in Australia called Threadbear.  You can see by the watermark, she says she designed it. I think she actually means that she designed pattern pieces to look as much like the original as possible and did all the math work (believe me, there is a metric ton of math work) involved and included all kinds of instruction for $40.00 Australian. I think she should put Engineered by Corliss Searcey because the designer is a woman long gone.

1.11.12

Here is more of Dot Vaughn's Crazy

This photo shows another section with butterflies. She also used part of a doily or maybe it was a dresser scarf? I like the way she let her stitching carry her across a gold plaid piece.

Here is a piece of the tiniest cross stitch you can imagine. She cut it up to go in this quilt. The little red triangle to the right of it is fabric I have sewn with before.  It looks like it has sequins on it but it is very easy to sew right through. I used it to make sugar plum fairy costumes in 1998.

Dot loves gold. Gold and butterflies are recurrent themes in her work. This shows another of her butterflies and the beautiful border she used.  Last week she told us to remember to do something on the borders but not too much. It should enhance not overwhelm the work. She has put a pin of some kind on the corner, giving it the feeling of fancy bow. A lot of her border is free of the French knots and embroidery but the corners have a little something special.

1.10.12

My Crazy Teacher for Crazy Quilting is Dot Vaughn. She always brings a car loaded with boxes of fabric for her students to dig through. She loves glitzy, gold, and gorgeous. Her boxes are full of damasks, silky prints, and cut up evening dresses and curtains. 

 

 One time I said to her, "This is beautiful. Don't you want to save some for yourself?"

"Oh, honey. This ain't even my good stuff. You should see my stash."

I still have my two block sample awaiting more stitching but sometimes there is a quilt in my head that just has to come out. I have a couple of projects on my work space but when I get a chance, I will photograph my current Crazy. Until then, have a look at some of Dot's work.

Here is a pretty good shot of much of Dot's award winning Crazy. I would like to show you the label but it gives too much personal information for me to put it here. She made it for her daughter and it is lovely.

This close-up shows a neat little pyramid stitch with red crowns. Dot uses a lot of black in her work, also. The back is black and she does a lot of tacking from the front to the back as well as tying. She is careful to "hide" the tacks and ties in the black areas of her quilt.

The black fabric in this photo had butterflies on it, but Dot added a few here and there. I like the lacy one with the purple embellishment. I think it was a motif she re-embroidered.

1.9.12

Just as cute as can be.

 

I can imagine drinking a chamomile and lavender blossom tea, sweetened with honey. Just a little bit of honey.

This is the Honeycomb Teapot

1.7.12.2

I am having a great deal of trouble today getting this to post. I am sorry if it is late. I will be taking tomorrow off because I am tired of dealing with this posting system. I will ask my experts if it is a problem with my brand of blog service and if I need to change to something else.

  This is HMHC's grandson who is almost two days old.

1.6.12

I am a great-aunt again! HMHC's daughter had a little boy last night.  

I spent a wonderful morning learning to cane chairs. Pictures soon. I am up to step 4 of a 7 step process. I will have to look for something else to cane before too long! In the afternoon, I began a hearth basket. It is a very pretty shape, about 12 X 18 on the bottom and something like this picture.

This one is from Old Salem Shops Online where you can buy it completed online. We are following a pattern that shows the chicken foot bottom, like this one seems to have but I have already selected a different bottom, more like the model in class which simply folds the filler stakes back into the inside bottom to be tucked away.

I may put a little color in mine, maybe something like this one from Bev's Baskets. I think you can buy them already finished from her. Look around. If you see a basket you like somewhere, let me know. Maybe I can make it for you.

1.5.12

We had so much wind in the past few days, none of our snow stuck. We were plenty surprised to find out that school had been cancelled in town due to snow! On our drive to THE CITY Tuesday, anyone from Florida might have thought the white stuff on the side of the road was sand. IT WAS NOT SAND! The water flowing over the rocks along Neel's Gap was beautiful as icicles.  There was frost on the road and some of the hairpin turns looked especially treacherous.

Walasi-Yi Interpretive Center, on the east side of Blood Mountain. It is the only place where the Appalachian Trail passes through a building.

Sorry for the late post, I have had a lot of trouble today getting pictures to upload and capturing the attention of my internet.

1.4.12

A few weeks ago, I won a Happy Birthday Quilting Gallery Blog Hop Contest for some Aurifil thread.  I sure am lucky! See the colors I won? 

 

Michele Foster offered me a choice but it really didn't matter, all the threads are so pretty. Just in time for me to practice for the FMQC.  

This month's lessons are heart shaped leaves taught by Frances Moore.  The video is over at SEWCAL's blog.  I would repost the video but I don't think I am supposed to do that so you can click and go over there yourself.

See you later, I am off to Crazy Quilting. I will take some pictures if I can.

1.3.12

 We rang in the New Year at Clay's Corner in Brasstown, NC. Every year we have talked about going to see the Possum Drop celebration--you know, New York has the big ball, so NC has the POSSUM. We got there around 10:00 pm in time to see last year's Possum Queen do a "dance routine" after the ceremonial possum in cage was raised to hover over the proceedings. The beauty pageant  part of the festivities features regional "beauty queens" or whatever men from area communities who could be persuaded to dance in drag on an outdoor stage. There were four or five obliging participants.

There was a bluegrass band called The Barker Brothers and they were pretty good. There was some impressive finger movement in the 32F weather. 
Here is my own short little video that lets you see a little of the band and a little of the possum. At the end of this post you can see a professionally made video from last year's event. 


An area church led a sing-a-long of various carols and gospel songs. Right after that was the beauty pageant. The emcee was pretty good with the jokes and the whole thing was pretty much G-rated. There was a portion where a band of black powder enthusiasts--the Brasstown Brigade--had a vocal blessing/song which to my mind somehow rationalized belief in Jesus means you should shoot guns. Then they fired several volleys, a tuba played a vaguely recognizable melody--something Sousa, I think. There was a small fire on the hill from one of the projectiles but I did not worry too much, they were firing over our heads even though they were facing us.

There was a rodeo clown and some bull riding. That is, a rodeo clown and some girls with bull costumes around their middles acting like bull riders. Prizes were awarded by applause. NC Speaker of the House Thom Tillis was on hand to honor US Military and the three Congressional Medal of Honor winners who passed away in 2011.

Finally the Possumtron revealed the moment was at hand. Representative Tillis ceremonially and SLOWLY (PETA IS WATCHING) lowered the possum to crowd applause. Following that was the largest display of fireworks I have seen in a long, long, time. We figured someone went over to Tennessee to buy them.  And I was not more than 50 feet away from the ignition site. Huge chunks of the stuff fell on my head, arms and hands. When the sound from the grand finale died away, Willie Nelson (via recording) led us all in "Dixie" as we turned from the display to walk back to our cars. What a great way to start the new year.

Here's a video from last year's event.

1.2.12

Ready for tea on Monday? My grocery store had some STASH TEA! I was pretty excited to make that discovery. I celebrated by purchasing this happy, exotic flavor. It is naturally sweet and I used only about a half teaspoon of sugar for a 10 oz cup. Lots of places sell it but you are likely to find it in health conscious markets like Whole Foods.