MAGPIE'S MUMBLINGS

A blog about my interests, which include fabric landscapes and various and assorted other artsy pursuits and sometimes known to contain mumblings of a random nature.

Monday, March 31, 2014

shovel, shovel, toil and trouble.....

Yeah, I suspect you have figured out already from that blog post title just what I've been doing!  My studio had reached the point of either having to move out, or shovel it out.  I opted for shoveling because I really like where we live.  Two and a half days of solid slugging and it now looks just about the same as it did before I started.  Yep....there's still piles of 'stuff' everywhere, but at least the piles have a purpose now and aren't just hodgepodges of mess.

No pictures today,
because you really don't want
to see the mess, either
before OR after!
.  

And the quote for today, from J.C. F. von Schiller.....  "Happy is he who learns to bear what he cannot change"


Friday, March 28, 2014

awwwwwww........


I finished knitting these teeny-tiny little baby socks last night and I am seriously in love.  Such baby cuteness!!!

The pattern is 'Get To Work!-Baby Socks' by Laura Sapergia and can be found on Ravelry






The quote of the day, from Sophia Loren....  "There is a fountain of youth;  it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love.  When you will learn to tap this source, you will have truly defeated age"


Thursday, March 27, 2014

and more on the baby cuteness front....


This is the second baby blanket I've made for
our grandbaby-to-come.
Although I know there's no need for two blankets, I made this one more as a family heirloom of sorts.  The yarn that I used came from the baby's maternal great-grandmother and I thought it would be nice to use it to make something for the baby.  The yarn itself isn't as soft as I would have chosen myself, but it's the history of it that makes it fun.

Today's quote is from Tennessee Williams....  "Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quickly you hardly catch it going"


Tuesday, March 25, 2014

More baby cuteness

I simply could not resist making this little hat!  Our son is a chef and this is a crocheted baby chef's hat...what could be more perfect, at least for photo ops?


It's very difficult for me to get a proper picture of this, but I think you can get the general idea.  The pattern was found on Ravelry and is the 'La Petite Chef Hat' by My Crimson Clover. 

Today's quote, by the infamous Anonymous...  "Don't be afraid to attempt something new.  Remember it was amateurs who built the ark.  It was professionals who built the Titanic"


Saturday, March 22, 2014

More grandmotherly cuteness

I know I don't normally post on the weekends, but since I missed my post yesterday, I thought I'd pop in today to show you these.....


The crochet pattern is to be found HERE.

Today the quote is from Geoffrey Godbey...
"Hang around doggies and kids; 
they know how to play"

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Happy to say....

......that the reports of my early demise have been grossly exaggerated.

Yes, I survived the 'talk/trunk show'.  I didn't notice anybody topple off their chair having fallen asleep...nor did anybody get up and leave.  Several of the ladies even came up and thanked me afterwards (mind you, I'm not quite sure if they were actually thanking me for what I said or for the fact that I'd finally shut up).  I didn't want to ask because I was afraid of what the answer might be!  

This quilt guild is quite new, having been started to give an alternative meeting time to the afternoon guild which has a membership of over two hundred.  Not everyone is available to attend afternoon meetings, so it certainly is nice to be able to go at night.  Of course some of the ladies are now members of both.  The evening group seems like a fun group and I think they are doing some fun things.  Currently they are doing a year-long challenge - each participating member was given a baggie filled with small pieces of fabrics, some beads, buttons, lace and little bits and bobs and then they have a year to create 'something' using the contents of their bags (they can include other things from their own stash as well).  They gave the bags out last night and it was great fun to see what some of them got.  I get the honour of going back in a year and judging the challenge.  Hmmm....nice idea, in theory, but it might mean I'll have an entire roomful of ladies mad at me for not picking their creation!  

And, in further news, it appears that the upcoming (2nd) hussif workshop I will be teaching for the daytime guild has filled up with fifteen people having been deluded into thinking I might manage to teach them something about crazy quilting.  It also appears there is a distinct possibility of yet another waiting list being started to offer it a third time.  Who knew that there would be so much sudden interest in crazy quilting in this area? 

Obviously, from all this mumbling,
there was absolutely nothing creative done
around here today so therefore no pictures to be had.

Today's quote, courtesy of Suzy Szasz.... "Some misfortunes we bring upon ourselves; others are completely beyond our control.  But no matter what happens to us, we always have some control over what we do about it"


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

On acquisitions and shootings

I'll bet THAT post title got you wondering, didn't it!!

First of all I have to show you what I was just gifted with, and that I'm absolutely thrilled to now own....


This wedding dress is over 58 years old and is 
in beautiful condition, with only a couple of
minor stains.  
It came with this...


It is absolutely beautiful and to be
entrusted with it is a huge honour.
It will certainly be appearing in some of my creations!

+++++++++++++++

The shooting part of this post involves my usual feeling of  'shoot me now' when I have to do any form of public speaking.  Tonight I have been asked to do a trunk show of my crazy quilting pieces for the local night-time quilt guild.  Fortunately they only (!) have 50 members and, because they're now calling for freezing rain, hopefully they won't show up!!!  I really do hate having to speak in public (as my many, many trips to the bathroom prior to the event will attest!).  One of my friends, upon hearing that indelicate comment, very brightly said that I should look on the bright side...at least I don't have to pay for a cleanse!!!  

Today's quote is from Ray Bradbury....  "Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down"




Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Purse 1/3 completed....



Finally finished one of the three purses!   The front is shown in the photo on the left....




....and the back on the right.  The back wasn't a feature on the original pattern and came about because I messed up on the first purse I made and didn't read the directions properly (oops).  It ended up being something I really liked, so I have continued to add it.

Pattern: 'The Gadabout' by Studio Kat Designs.


Today's quote is by Anonymous....  "I am not overweight.  I am chocolate-enriched"  and, further on that theme, here's another one... "Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate" (Sandra Boynton)




Monday, March 17, 2014

More cuteness



Remember that baby sweater I showed the other day?  Well I simply had to make these little tennis shoe bootees to go along with it!

Am I having fun, or what....









And for today's quote....   "Although the past is over and the future is never quite here, our minds are usually so involved with one or both of them that the present serves very little function except to form a bridge between the two"


Friday, March 14, 2014

Knitting for babies

It's so much fun to be expecting a 
grandbaby!

See?


The little sweater is the 
"Room to Grow Baby Sweater' 
designed by Laura Marconi-Cox
and can be found on Ravelry.

The book is the one that both of our boys absolutely ADORED when they were little.  The parents?  Not so much....after having read it to them at least a couple of gazillion times its charm tended to wear a little thin!  It will be fun to see if our wee one will find it to be as wonderful.

The quote of the day....   "It is never too late to be what you might have been"  - George Eliot  



Thursday, March 13, 2014

Another one done, and pecking away


This is the completed front of purse number two.











This morning we had the pair of woodpeckers at our suet on our balcony.
They don't normally arrive together so it was fun to see them
both getting their fill.
(picture taken through window screen, so not the best quality!)
 

Today's quote is from Ralph Waldo Emerson...  "To laugh much; to win respect of intelligent persons and the affections of children;  to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;  to appreciate beauty;  to find the best in others;  to give one's self;  to leave the world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;  to have played and laughed with enthusiasm, and sung with exultation;  to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded"


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Progressing....


This is one of the fronts of the purses completed.


It's a good day to stay inside stitching because it's snowing and blowing and completely and utterly miserable out.  I'm SO done with winter!



Today's quote is from that infamous person named Anonymous...."Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money"


Tuesday, March 11, 2014

A mish-mash of things for your reading pleasure (or not!)

Yesterday Jack and I had somewhat of a 'sanity day' and toodled off and explored.  Well, truthfully, the entire day wasn't total pleasure because Jack had to first go for his yearly physical bloodletting, but after that we had fun!  We hit our two absolute favourite thrift stores in quest of baby clothing cuteness for our expected grandbaby in June.  Wow - so much cute (and some of it came home with us to be washed thoroughly and packaged up to await the arrival of baby).  Then it was off to a place called 'Len's Mills' which is a grand place to explore.  My main quest there was to pick up some nice flannelette  to make some receiving blankets.  Mission was accomplished.  Then it was a pit stop to inhale the marvelous scents at the 'Grande Cheese Factory' outlet.  Mmmmm.  Of course some cheese managed to hop right on into our cart!!  Then it was off to have supper with our 'expectant' son and d-i-law.  All in all a perfect day!  Needless to say, however, no stitching was done.


And, this came to me via Ginette...


- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

And, finally, here's another quote...

"We must not give only what we have,
we must give what we are"
- Cardinal Mercia

 

Friday, March 07, 2014

More progress....


Today's quote is from William Hersey Davis...

"The circumstances amid which you live determine your reputation;  the truth you believe determine your character.  Reputation is what you are supposed to be; character is what you are.  Your reputation is made in a moment; your character is build in a lifetime.  Reputation makes you rich or makes you poor;  character makes you happy or makes you miserable.  Reputation is what men say about you on your tombstone;  character is what the angels say about you before the throne of God"

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Dear winter.....



There won't be time for stitching today, so here's today's quote...

"You are today where your thoughts have brought you;  you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you"   - James Allen


Tuesday, March 04, 2014

More, on a snowy day




It's snowing....again (or is it yet?)....and therefore a good day to spend inside stitching flowers and dreaming of spring.  




Today's quote, from Montaigne...

"The value of life lies not in the length of days,
but in the use we make of them;  a man may live
long yet live very little"

Monday, March 03, 2014

Here's proof....

....that I actually do something besides crazy quilt!

   I'm not a good knitter by any means but I don't think our expected grandbaby will care that it's not perfect.





Today's quote is from one of my favourite authors, Ralph Waldo Emerson...

"To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.  This is to have succeeded."



Saturday, March 01, 2014

Another announcement (and some stitching progress)



And, here's a bit of the stitching I did today...




Today's quote comes from Robert Frost... "Something we were withholding made us weak, until we found it was ourselves"