More fillers

Above you can get a better look at the flower beads

and below you can see the word I choose for this

block.

Today your quote is from Budda.... "What is the difference between "I like you" and "I love you"?  Beautifully answered by Budda...When you like a flower, you just pluck it.  But when you love a flower, you water it daily.  One who understands this, understands life"

Filling, but not fattening!

Over the weekend I started working on the fillers for Block 5 of the courtship series...

I can't share these patterns with you because they aren't truly mine.  As you can see from the picture above, I've stuck to my plan of having a rose on each block, and from the picture to the right you can see that I've also included the heart.  

You'll see the word I used in my next post.

Today your quote is from Mandy Hale... "You don't always need a plan.  Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go and see what happens"

Little seams

Today I finished up three little seam areas on Block 5....

And here are the patterns... (cross stitches and straight stitches made up each of these).  

Today your quote is from an anonymous source..."Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you; not because they are not nice but because YOU are"

Just one

Today I have just one seam treatment completed to show you (and at that I'm not quite sure that it IS complete - jury is still out!)....

This one is straight stitches (black); lazy daisies (green) and I used flower beads and seed beads to finish it off.  You could use French knots if you like.

Today your quote is from T. Gaskins..."You teach people how to treat you by what you allow, what you stop, and what you reinforce"

It seems there's more seams

I finally got back to stitching on my courtship blocks and completed two more seams to show you...

This one is cross stitches (black and red; straight stitches (yellow); and lazy daisies (green).  

Cross & Straight stitches (black and green); rice and seed beads.

Today your quote is from Rumi...."Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.  Today I am wise, so I am changing myself"

I'm late!

Yes, I'm late to post today but better late than never (or maybe you think never might be preferable?).  Anyway...

Here's another seam treatment for whatever number courtship block I'm currently working on...

I have NO idea where that line appeared from!!

For reasons unknown, Blog-grrrr has decided to be a pain, and will not let me do anything I want it to do, so this post is going to be a crap shoot I fear!

As I would have liked to say above, the seam treatment is done using blanket stitch (black); straight stitches (green) and is woven with a metallic thread (pink).

The quote of the day is from Sandra Kring..."The next time you decide to unclutter your life and clean up your space, start with the things that are truly useless:  Like regrets, shame and anger"

Toast.....

....kaput, expired, done for, cadaverous, lifeless, departed, bit the dust, finished, obsolete, terminated, snuffed out and downright dead.

Yes, my beloved Janome sewing

machine has expired.

The dearly departed died of natural

causes after an unfortunate accident

involving a sudden contact 

with the floor.

The departed is resting in pieces.

We will now have a moment of silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the bright side a lovely box came home with me today - inside was this....

She's a lovely little Bernette 20 by Bernina.

and just have a peek at this...

There are sixty (60!!!!) different stitch

functions on this little beauty - at least

twice as many as my dearly-departed

Janome.  

Even better?  

She was on sale for a great price!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today's quote is from Oliver Wendell-Holmes:  "Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by.  Life is like that - one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery"

On cheese and whine

Who was to know that my much-beloved Janome sewing machine would decide that it would be fun to take a nose dive onto the floor and bounce around a bit?  Who was to know that said machine really wanted a holiday and decided that doing push ups on the floor was too much and flatly refuse to work?

Cuss.

Who me??

No matter - I have a back-up machine.  Wrestled it onto the table and cleaned it up.  Watched in utter amazement as the belt shredded itself before my very eyes.

Cuss.

Who me???

So - as I said - a little cheese with 

my whine would be welcome.

Thank you.

And just to prove that I've been doing something beyond breaking sewing machines, how about these...

The dress pattern is from HERE and the hat is from HERE  (I added the flower).  It still needs buttons for the back closure and I think I'll add one to the middle of the flower too.

Knitting content - who knew?

Yes, something else besides crazy quilting does happen here at Chez Magpie, and here's some proof....

These little charmers are going along with two baby gifts I've been putting together - one for a wee boy and the other for a little girl.  They're knitted using sock yarn and the pattern can be found HERE.  

We're battening down the hatches and laying in supplies - the weather man (rot his socks) is insisting that the biggest snow storm of the season is headed our way.  I'm so done with winter!!

 My current project on the needles is to make one of these...

 It's one of the Mary Maxim kits made from super bulky yarn and is a special request from our #2 son.  Of course he's the one that's 6'8" so there will have to be lots of extra length added!

Today, instead of a quote, I have this...

Block 5 begins

Finally got some time to stitch and completed a couple of the seams for block five...

Straight stitches, lazy daisies, cross stitches and either French knots or beads.

Straight stitches, cross stitches & lazy daisies. 

Today's quote is from Marjorie Pay Hinckley...."The trick is to enjoy life.  Don't wash away your days, waiting for better ones ahead"

Mundaneness reigns supreme

And yes, I know that 'mundaneness' is not in any version of a dictionary, but it fits so I'm usin' it.  So there.

Why would one want to see pictures of sock mending,  Ancestry researching, car riding and lunch and coffee.  Yeah...my life was on SUCH an exciting trajectory the past few days.  

Block 4 fillers

This is the final filler section on block four...

And here is the completed block...

Today the quote is from George Carlin..."Trying to be happy by accumulating possessions is like trying to satisfy hunger by taping sandwiches all over your body"

Final fillers for Block 4

Each block will have a rose, a heart, 

and a word reflecting courtship.

Today your quote is from an anonymous source..."These are NOT grey hairs!  They are my wisdom highlights.  I just happen to be extremely wise."

More fillers

I'm now working at the 'fillers' (for lack of a better term!) for Block Four.  

Today your quote is from Maya Angelou..."My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style"