Latest bag

Here's another Christmas present I just finished up. I've been trying very hard to use up my stash of recycled denim and, even after making about fourteen of these bags, I can't see that I've even made so much as a dent in it. These are really easy to make, which is what I look for at this time of year. The originial pattern came from the book 'Jazzy Jeans' by Mickey Baskett, but you could use any tote bag pattern. The 'bits' of denim are sewn on in the sew-n-flip method you use for crazy quilting. I top-stitch using a yellow denim thread and add recycled pockets. This one has buttons from my collections added for some bling. A cheap, and cheerful, bag which can serve many uses.

A washcloth....

Another Christmas present is done! This is a crocheted washcloth of my own design and will be paired with a bar of nice soap and included in a Christmas stocking for my future d-i-l's Mom, who (along with her Dad) will be here from France this year. It's going to be fun because they don't speak English and we don't speak French! I'm looking forward to meeting them and I know everything will work out just fine, despite the language barrier.

The washcloth is made from Bernat Handicrafter Cotton yarn in an oatmeal colour. I'm hoping to find some oatmeal soap. Tied up with a pretty ribbon, it will make a nice gift.

Ornaments!

Today we did the Christmas decorating/sorting. The back of the car is full of several boxes of decorations that are heading for the thrift store tomorrow. We have altogether too much 'stuff' so downsizing is a good thing!

I promised a picture of some of the ornaments I've given over the years. Here are some of them (there's more, but I didn't want to totally bore you!). One of them is from my 'ceramics' phase (the santa at the bottom of the picture). The round ball and the pine cone were another phase I went through (thankfully I got over that one). The three little wooden snowmen were mini-swags I made one year. The santa to the right of the swag is made from paper using an image from Dover Publications. If I remember rightly I printed him off on the computer, antiqued him, stuffed him lightly and stitched around the outside.

The final picture shows three cross-stitched santas (which I think was originally a kit, but can't remember for sure). The santa with the rabbit in the basket was one of the hand painted on wood ones which were just too time-consuming for words. Finally the felt snowman, which is pretty self-explanatory from the picture.

In which Magpie shall mumble...again

Sorry folks, I spent the day installing peel & stick liners in my s-i-l's cupboard at her newly-acquired house and so nothing creative got done (other than the ruination of my already sore knees, but we won't go there).

So....guess what? I shall mumble!

I just finished catching up on SharonB's site (http://sharonb.wordpress.com) and have discovered a few interesting topics, which I will pass along. Firstly, she has pointed us to a rather fun blog about to-do lists (we all have them, right?). Anyway, check out http://www.todolistblog.com for some fun reading.


Sharon has had some very interesting discussion about blogs themselves lately and her most recent post concerns comments and why people do/don't use them. I found her unofficial survey results to be very interesting and think you might too. Check out her site (listed above) and scroll down for the Nov. 21 entry titled "Response to Comments".


She has also been discussing what sort of challenge will replace our Take A Stitch Tuesdays we've been doing all year. If you're interested in voting on what we might be doing, scroll down further on her site to the post titled 'Take A Stitch Tuesday - Week 47".


Another site I've stumbled on is at http://sewmamasew.com/blog where you can find all sorts of patterns for all sorts of areas of crafting...a different 'topic' each day this month.


I guess winter must be here because when we came home late this afternoon it was attempting to sleet. Yuck, yuck, and yuck. The weather report is calling for some heavy snow tonight so I would just like to curl up with a good book and stay in. However, that's not to be because we are headed out again tonight. Sigh. I wish I was a bear and could just hibernate and sleep through the entire thing. Zzzzzzz.....

Birds of a feather!

In this case, they are flocking together. To answer Arlee's question in the comments - they will all be pretty much the same because they are going to different people. Every year I do a limited edition of ornaments (pity the poor people who have known me for lots of years...I have a personal connection with their trees!). Once we get our tree out for this year, I'll try to remember to take a picture so you can see some of the ones I've made over the years. I'd hate to hazard a guess as to how many years I've been doing them.

The birds!!

Yep, I have a whole flock of birds in my workroom, soon to be turned into Christmas ornaments. This year I'm doing something pretty simple and will show the idea I've come up with in a day or so.

The other picture is of a journal book I covered with some very rich looking velvet which I will be giving as a gratitude journal to a friend who needs it. The picture isn't very clear so you can't really see the pretty pattern in the velvet. Hopefully she will like it!

And another one bites the dust!

Another Christmas present, that is. I really don't know how one takes a decent picture of an apron without having someone to model it. Jack would be very unwilling (at least when it's this lacy!). The material is a slightly off-white eyelet edged with some lace I had in my stash. Pattern is McCall's M5551. It's for someone who appreciates girly things and I know she will like this.

I even (wonder of wonders) managed to figure out how to make a buttonhole with my Janome! That's a first and I've only had the machine for at least four years. I'm quite impressed with myself that I actually did it. Only goes to prove that I don't sew anything with buttonholes -ever!

And the stockings were hung....

...by the chimney with care. Today I've made a couple of Christmas stockings. It's a horrible dark picture (but couldn't get it any better). You'll have to imagine the main part of the stocking is green velvet with Christmas-y poinsetta fabric at the top, trimmed with gold ribbon. B.aaa.d picture, but you can get the idea! #2 son's fiance will be bringing her parents here for Christmas this year so I needed to whip up a couple of stockings real quick. They are from France and they don't speak English, nor do we speak French!! Should make it interesting, but I'm not the least bit worried. Body language works, and Carole will be here to translate if we need it.

You can also see in the pic a corner of a book (the pink-ish blob in the upper right) which I bought today to cover for a gratitude journal for a friend who really needs to discover some gratitude in her life. Maybe writing things down will help her to see that things just aren't as bad as she thinks. One can only hope!

TAST - Weeks 45 & 46

Here are my efforts at weeks 45 and 46 of the TAST challenge.

Week 45 is the Pekinese Stitch, which I loved playing with. I had done the simple stitch (shown on the top of the picture) but had never gone further than that. I'm quite in like with the braided look when I did more than one row.

Then, I attempted week 46 - the Chain Braid stitch. Sharon said it was difficult and she is absolutely right. The best of my several efforts is pictured here and it's NOT what it should look like. This stitch will not be taking up residence in my permanent repertoire, altho, to be fair, I could see it's use in something where I wanted a totally messy look. Sharon asked at the end of her post that we not curse her too much and I didn't. However, there were a few words uttered aimed at the stitch! For those of you wanting to see how it should be done, check out http://sharonb.wordpress.com

The Letter 'H'

H is for HELP, which is what I need right now. Chain Braid Stitch for the TAST challenge is getting the better of me and I'm going down for the last time....picture to follow tomorrow ( I hope).

H is for house and here's the picture of the front of ours. The two blobs in the front of it are NO (ahem) relation!!

H is for helmet liners. And why, you ask, would I be interested in helmet liners? One of the mailing lists I belong to (knitting content) was talking about the need for warm knitted liners for the soldiers to wear under their helmets. It gets very cold and they need the small comfort of something they can wear underneath. I'm sure the comfort also comes from the thought that someone cared enough to make them something. Right now I'm trying to find a place in Canada that gets them to where they're needed. I know I can send them to the US, but I think our soldiers must need them too. If you're interested in the pattern and in finding out more check out: http://www.geocities.com/helmetliner/

H is for Huh! What's with this weather we're having right now? It's NOVEMBER for cryin out loud. It's CANADA. We're supposed to be cold. We're supposed to have snow by now. These double-digit temps are just not right. I'm not a fan of winter, but even I know that this isn't healthy. Global warming...bah!

Gee!

Today I will visit the letter 'G'. The picture is of our dog Gypsy (more commonly known as Gyppy). She's a combination of llasa apso and shih tzu, but is mostly bark and wiggles. This isn't a particularly wonderful picture of her but, of course, my camera needs to be recharged so I had to resort to scanning an older picture of her.

G is for geocities, where I *think* I still have a website my #2 son started for me a couple of years ago. I never go there, but I do know there's a picture of me on there if you're really, really curious about what I look like (gag, choke!).  Oh!...gag is a G word!!

G is for 'great', which is what my husband is. He's busily tearing off wallpaper border in one of the guest bedrooms and getting ready to paint it. Of course the border is being stubborn and refusing to come off without a great deal of effort on his part. I, on the other hand, am spending my time happily working on Christmas presents and feeling guilty for not helping him (another g word is guilt!). The room is going to be a huge undertaking because right now it's painted a very dark navy blue and will require who knows how many coats of primer/paint to get it covered. He offered to do it and who am I to be stupid enough to say no? However, I do freely admit that he's great (and he cooks too!!).

Oh Futz! That's an F word, right?

For lack of anything more exciting to talk about today, I shall visit the letter 'F'.

F is for Futz. Yep, that's a good word. It's the only printable one I can use to describe my knitting abilities at the moment. 210 stitches, on circular needles x 4 pattern rows + a twist= Futz. Or more aptly described: Futzed Up. Argh!

F is for Floozie. Those who have followed this blog for awhile have already met 'Doll E, the fairy floozie', but I decided to show her again in honour of today being an F day. If you enlarge the picture you can probably see why she earned her name!

F is for Friends, both internet and in person. Where would we be without them? I really treasure the ones I have and really can't imagine my life without them.

On another subject, I've been reading 'Ripe Living After 50' by Susan Swartz and discovered something in there I really liked and thought I would share:

"They used to say that women over thirty-five shouldn't wear their hair long. They used to say women over forty-five shouldn't show their bare arms. They used to say all women over fifty better dye their hair and lie about their age. They used to say after baby-making women had nothing more to contribute. They used to say that menopausal women couldn't be world leaders. THEY didn't know we'd stopped listening."

The best laid plans...

....are bound to run amuck! Can someone please explain to me how one person can manage to ignore the fact that there's a 'certain' day in December and that it's bound to happen every year and that there's certain things needing to be done for said day and that leaving said certain things because 'there's plenty of time' is not exactly the least stressful thing to do?


Can someone explain to me how one person could manage to get herself bogged down in knitting projects when that person had been heard to say in no uncertain terms that she would NEVER have more than one project on the needles? And why would that person think (in her wildest fantasies) that she could possibly knit all these projects up in time for Christmas when she knits the speed of a turtle? No, don't bother telling me that the tortoise won the race!


Can that same someone come up with any ideas as to why that same one person could manage to futz so much time on a ridiculous box that has no bearing on anything needing to be done in the near future. Better yet, can someone suggest anything to remove too much gold leafing from said box?


Any someones out there want to come and help that one person knit??

Of snakes, and suppers, and kids

How do you like this? Our oldest son & his fiance had us come for supper last night so we could meet his new pet. Isn't she cool? Before you ask, yes this is my hand holding her! Right now her name is Rosie, but that's soon to change to a name which is befitting her. She's a type of boa, but I can't remember what exactly. She won't get much bigger than she is here because she's two years old already.

We had the greatest supper too (it pays to have a son who's a good chef!). Rack of lamb, fingerling potatoes, a wonderful leek soup, mushrooms in sauce, a homemade mint sauce, and a purely decadent chocolate banana crepe for dessert. Yum!! It was even nicer because #2 son was there too, so we got to see them both. All in all, a great evening!

TAST - Weeks 43 & 44

Here's my Weeks 43 and 44 of the Take A Stitch Tuesdays challenge by Sharon of http://sharonb.wordpress.com.

On the left is my effort at week 43's Drizzle Stitch. This one was a lot of fun and yet another stitch I hadn't tried. I found that it worked better in a hoop, at least for me. I don't normally use a hoop but think it works better this way.

On the right is week 44's ZigZag Spanish Knotted Stitch. This one was also a lot of fun, once I got the rhythm going. I love it and would carry it through with some flowers or beads in the centres. Thanks again Sharon!

The letter E

EEEK! Hope everyone had a fun halloween!


Sorry to say, there are no pictures today because the box pretty much looks the same in a picture as it did yesterday. I've dry-brushed it with purple and am now ready for the gold leaf which I hope to get done tomorrow.


So...we will visit the letter E today:

1. 'E'mbroidery! My absolute favourite. My library sports lots of books on the subject, a few of which I will list here.....two books by Judith Baker Montano - 'Elegant Stitches' and 'Floral Stitches'; 'Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches' by Carole Samples; 'Quilt Savvy - Embroidery Stitches' by Joan Waldman; 'Stumpwork Embroidery' by Jane Nicholas; and 'Embroidery Illusions' by Gary Clarke. I love them all! 

2. Further on embroidery (notice my obsession?) - I collect patterns and stitches (and combinations) and have quite an extensive file. Someday I might even be able to use a small portion of it (should I live that long!).


3. 'E' is for empty, which is what my head is at the moment. Surely there must be other 'e' words, but for the life of me I can't come up with any. I may have to re-visit the letter later on!

Halloween, Black Blobs, and Progress (maybe?)

First, thank you so very much to everyone who left a comment to help me decide where to go next with my box top. I really, really appreciate all the suggestions! As you can see with this picture, I've removed the faces (which I was really happy to do, even though I wasn't aware of it) and I've added some 'fluffies' on the buttons at the bottom. Now I'm waiting for the box proper to be done (pictured here as a black blob, but it's getting there) before I do any more to the top.

I think I will dry-brush the box with purple and then play around with some gold leaf I have unearthed from my stash, which in turn will maybe lead me to put some gold fibres on the top??!!

Happy halloween everyone. This is a rushed post or I would have some sort of halloween-y picture for you. We are headed out for the evening (supper, movie AND a trip to Michaels). We'd love to shell out to the little ghoulies, but we don't get that many on our street and the dogs go absolutely berserk, which in turn scares the kids - big time. It's not worth the angst so I get to go to Michaels instead. Works for me!

And yes, I DO know how to use paragaphs!!! Confound Blogger anyway.

Box Progress, Plant, and 'D'

Here you go Arlee...a picture of the base and leaves of the mystery plant. Yes, it has a light smell and it appears the stem (at least at the bottom) is quite woody. It's very tall and gangly too. Our elderly neighbour keeps giving us plants for both in and outside and has no clue as to what they are and nor do we, obviously!

I *think* I'm finished with the box top now, unless I decide to add more to it. Unfortunately the camera doesn't quite pick up how sparkly it is in real life. Don't forget you can click on it to enlarge it.

'D' today -

1. I hate to use the word 'disappointment' but it seems to be what I'm feeling at this moment about the box top. I set out to work outside my comfort level and, to a degree, I've done that. However, I wanted to go a whole lot further beyond what I normally do and something seems to stop me. I keep coming back to perfectionism and downright fear that people won't like it. (This is not a plea for nice comments either - I'd much rather you give me suggestions on what I should do with it now!). Don't get me wrong - I like it now, but really wanted it to be more 'out there' and can't seem to get to that point.

ns.

OK folks. Over to you. Any suggestions of what to do with my box top or should I leave it alone? Please comment with your opinion!

"C"onscience!! That's a C word.

Yep, CONSCIENCE. That's what I'm suffering from at the moment. Everybody knows there's a 'date' coming in December when things need to be completed by. I know this. It happens every single year. So why on earth am I spending my time working on a box that has absolutely nothing to do with the deadline staring me in the face? And why am I enjoying it so much, despite that pesky little voice in my head telling me I'm sure to regret this waste of time - big time. Picture of progress is included.

Further on 'C' for today:

- 'Cosmo' my 'cat' (second picture) who is the 'cause' of a lot of laughter and angst in this household. He was quite aptly named after the character of Cosmo Kramer in Seinfeld. Remember how Kramer always skidded into the room, making a dramatic entrance? Well, our Cosmo is exactly the same. He's also the cause of things going awol, amuck, and general mayhem in my workroom!

Lastly, anybody happen to know what this plant is? It is extremely tall and gangly (hence the reason I've buried the flower into my lemon tree to hold it up). It reminds me of a geranium of sorts in the flower, but the leaves are long and skinny. Got any ideas Arlee?

Box progress and 'B'

This is the base for the box top. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I expect it will tell me as I go along. In the meantime I have a lot of little seams to stitch down on this before I can go on.


Yesterday I got my 'invitation' to join Ravelry, which I am given to understand is THE invitation of the year. I hopped on over there, and have to admit that I am disappointed. All the hype led me to expect marvels and so far I have yet to find any. Sure, there are free patterns, but there are far more on the Lion Brand website. I'm not a huge lover of forums, so can't really see much value in those - at least for me. I will continue to check it out and may have to revise my opinion, but for now, I'm not blown away. OK, world, go ahead and shoot me!

Today, I will visit the letter 'B'....

1. Books!! Of course. What else would I put at the top of my list? I have a love/hate relationship with them; I love reading them and looking at them, and hate the fact that there is never enough time to read all of them that are out there. I have a insatiable curiosity I guess!

2. An author I particularly like is David Baldacci (note the 'B' in his name). He writes really good mysteries and I have yet to read one that doesn't keep me guessing. Some of my other favourites include Mitch Albom (who wrote 'The Five People You Meet In Heaven' and 'Tuesdays With Morrie' - two books that top my all-time top 10 of books I've ever read); James Patterson; Stuart Woods; Nora Roberts; Kathy Reichs; JRR Tolkein; James Clavell; Jean Auel; and many, many more. I could go on listing names forever, but I will spare you that.

3. http://www.bookcrossing.com/ I know I've mentioned this site before but it deserves another mention. This site promotes literacy in a fun way. The premise is that once you've read a book you register it with the site and then 'release it into the wild' (ie. leave it in a public place). Inside the book you must write a tracking number, which is assigned by the site. The finder of the book (hopefully) will read it, report to the site, and then re-release it for someone else to enjoy. Some books have been totally around the world, which I find amazing. What a fun way to encourage reading - and it's free too!

4. http://sharonb.wordpress.com/ I know that I keep telling you about this blog, but it's one you really need to visit if you are the least bit interested in the world of needlearts. Sharon B is one of the most knowledgeable people about the subject and very generously shares what she knows.

5. http://beadjournalproject.blogspot.com/ Again, I know I've mentioned this one before too. If you are interested in beading, check it out for a year-long project involving beaded journaling.

Brown Paper Packages NOT (quite) tied up in String

Now, on to the picture for today. I'm doing another step towards redoing my box. I'm sure you are very interested to witness what crumpled up brown paper looks like whilst drying on my laundry room floor! Stay tuned for what I do with it....

Notes & Mumbles

Because I haven't done a thing on my box today (or anything else, for that matter), I will do a short mumble.....


1. I will be starting a 'series' of posts on my blog concerning the 'A-Z of Me' for those days when I have nothing in particular of interest to natter on about. 

 
2. Went to a new dentist today. Never had a more thorough cleaning of my teeth in my life..and they're still not done! I couldn't believe it. Of course now that we have to pay for it (and not get it 'free' through a medical plan) might be making a difference. Certainly has eaten a rather largish hole in our meagre coffers and more to come, but at least not until after Christmas. I guess I should be happy about that.

'The' Box - at the yucky stage

The first picture shows the box once I got the innards pretty much removed. The brown blobs you see are from the glue they used and, believe me, it's pretty gross. The next step was for DH to take it apart for me to make it easier to work on.

The second picture shows the addition of a coat of gesso, which I've come to a screeching halt with because I've run out. The box is very 'thirsty' and is gobbling it up, big time. Now I wonder - where do I get some more in this town?! After all, I'm on a creative spurt here and don't want to stop!

The last rose of summer?

I think these are actually the last roses of summer 2007. It's hard to believe they are actually still blooming so bravely. I guess they chose now to bloom because they are surrounded by beautiful icelandic poppies most of the summer and can't reach above the crowd. Aren't they pretty?

And, the other picture is a 'before' of a project I'm planning to work on. This banged up old jewellry box was a 'found' item in my bil's house after he died. I assume it must have originally belonged to my MIL, but not sure. At any rate, I'm overhauling it, hopefully making into something a bit funky and useful for storing stuff. Don't know what I'm doing with it yet, but hopefully inspiration will strike when I start tearing it apart.

I'm sorry, I know Blogger doesn't post the pictures the way I want them to, so these are probably out of order!

TAST - Week 42

Week 42??! That means there are only ten weeks left in 2007. Wow! Just where did it go??

Anyway, here's my effort at the Take A Stitch Tuesday challenge - the Twisted Chain Stitch. I love this one! It's also a stitch that I had never seen before. Thanks Sharon, for constantly coming up with something new. http://sharonb.wordpress.com

Today it is dull and rainy, which I suppose is good for the new grass seed DH planted yesterday. As for me, the combination of damp and the leaves falling isn't good for my allergies, so its a good day to play around with knitting needles and hide in my basement studio where I can't see out!

Book Review!

For lack of something better to blog about today, here's another book review. Sorry about the bad scan!

I shall quote some of the info on the back cover (since it says it better than I ever could): 'Revitalize classic embroidery stitches for a contemporary look simply by adding beads to your needlework'.

The book includes basics on beading, threads, tools, etc. There are 215 embroidery stitches, translated into beads and there's 20 projects too. The instructions are quite clear and there are some great ideas of ways to use beads in embroidery. Crazy quilters would like this book, for sure.

Specs: "Bead Embroidery - The Complete Guide" by Jane Davis, published by KP Books, ISBN # 0-87349-888-7

No pictures, much mumbling

Working on Christmas presents doesn't lead to a lot of pictures for blogs, especially when people are readers! Sorry 'bout that. Will try to improve!.

Today I shall mumble (feel free to stop reading if you like)....


Oddly enough, on the same subject - Knitting Daily has been talking about the very same thing...UFO's and why we have them. When I returned to knitting I swore I would NEVER (hah) have any more than one project at a time on the needles. Well then. Ahem. I lied. Yep, I admit it - I lied. The number has risen to five and is threatening to keep increasing. What is it with knitting anyway? And why is it that we (I) have to have a different knitting bag for each project? It's an illness I know it is and it appears as though it's infecting more and more people all the time!


 Today I dyed. Yep. It's 'that' time of year for the proverbial flip-the-mattress-wash-the-entire-bedding process. Who knew that a green wool blanket would turn a flannel sheet the most interesting putrid shade of P-green in the washer? oops.

 Has anyone ever figured out a use for dust bunnies? It's one of those questions I would like to have answered. If there's a factory somewhere in the world that makes something with them, would you kindly let me know? I have a big supply, just waiting for a good home. All postage paid.

TAST weeks 40 & 41

It's hard to believe that we're into week 41 already of this challenge. It just seems like yesterday it started! I'm going to be really sorry to see it end.

Week 40 is another stitch new to me and is called Linked Double Chain (in red in the picture). I liked this stitch very much and will certainly use it in the future.

Then we come to Week 41. Oops. It is supposed to be the Lace Border Stitch, and quite obviously I'm doing something wrong! However, to be honest, I kind of like what I ended up with and can see it with a pretty flower bead in the open spots. I guess I'm destined to do some more work with this one!

Another fundraiser bra and general mumbling

This is another of the bras that was included in the Bras For A Cause fundraiser. I thought this one was well done and full of significance.

Mumblings:

- wonder why blogger has a 'thing' about sometimes including spaces for paragraphs and sometimes not. I really do use them you know!

- it's a good thing that blogs don't get laryngitis like I seem to have at the moment. The darn tree leaves are doing 'something' (in this case, falling) and whenever they do, my allergies kick in. This time I'm losing my voice, which tickles the other housemembers tremendously. They have no sympathy.

Of bras and bags

Bet that title caught your attention!

The first picture today is some of the new/old beaded purses I have hanging in my workroom. The black one is old, but I'm not too sure about the age of the white one. The blueish-purple is one that I knitted with beads a couple of years ago. The round beige one was made for me by one of the elderly ladies in our quilt guild to go along with my lovely porcelain doll, which was recently beheaded by the cat. Yep, Cosmo worked his magic and isn't smart enough to run from the scene of the crime. I was upset but it's only a doll, even though I did take lessons on how to make it! There's no longer a doll-making studio in the area, so there's no hope of replacing her.

As for the bras, the second picture is for you Arlee. Thought you might like to see how someone else worked with copper sheeting! No, I didn't make it...it was one of the bras that were donated for the Bras For A Cause breast cancer fundraiser. I thought it was quite unique.

Further on the bra subject ... today a friend & I got fitted properly and I'm currently wearing one that more or less makes me feel like I'm wearing the afore-mentioned copper one!! However, I am assured that it takes years off my age, so for that alone, it's worthwhile. Perky vs. droopy...I guess there is no contest. Sigh. Even my husband noticed. Darn, because all this time I've been looking forward to the day when I wouldn't have to wear one and could just tuck 'em in my belt! Let me tell you, this thing gives a whole new meaning to lift and separate - not quite Madonna cones, but close. What we don't go through to put our best foot (boob) forward....

Working on PSI's

Today I've spent my time 'making fabric' out of odds & ends to use for the PSI swap I'm in. I pretty much used the directions for fabric charms which is a free tutorial on the Fibre & Stitch site ( www.fibreandstitch.com) which was written by Sue Bleiweiss. Of course I didn't have the exact requirements but managed to find something that worked. The second picture shows the fabric cut into PSI's and finished around the outside. Now I just have to put something on the back and they're good to go! I'm likin' these.

More presents done!

I just finished putting these together...eleven sets of wine glass coasters ready for including with my Christmas presents (and in some of the stockings). They are simple-cinchy to make, which is what I like at this time of year. I put a wine glass in one so hopefully you can see. These coasters stay with the glass wherever the person goes, which is a bonus for those who like to protect their furniture against people who forget to use coasters!

Now I'm off to work on another present....

Wearing my Santa hat

Yep, I'm wearing my Santa hat today and getting a few projects done. Don't get excited though because I have a long way to go!

The pictures show the tote bag/padfolio combo I've made for several people (this one is for a friend who doesn't read my blog so it's safe to show). The tote is a pretty basic pattern and is using up some of my recycled denim stash. The padfolio pattern originally came from Sue Bleiweiss at www.suebleiweiss.com . I've tweaked it a bit (with her permission). Just hope she approves of what I've done! Thanks Sue.

Lutrador and Gourds

As promised, here's the picture of the lutrador Arlee painted (and burned) for me. I had been curious to know exactly what lutrador is, so she was nice enough to give me some. She said it's also known as 'synthetic rice paper' in flower shops, so I'll have to do some field work to see if I can locate it locally.

The other picture is of the lonely birdhouse gourd we managed to grow of any size in our garden. There are a couple of small ones, but I don't expect them to grow any more. This was an experiment, just to see what would happen. I'm waiting for the vines to die and then I'll put this one in a pantyhose bag and hang it in a cool dry place (the cold cellar I guess) and see if it dries. I read somewhere that it could take up to six months!

Goodies in the mail and 400!!

Now who would have thought I would stick with this long enough to reach 400 posts?! Who knew I had that much to talk about?

Today's picture (which you will need to click on to enlarge) is of some of the goodies my friend Arlee ( http://arleebarr.squarespace.com/designjournal sent me. We traded for the atc's and I'm pretty darn sure I got the best end of the deal! I love her work. The lace is some she hand dyed (painted). So pretty and I'm sorry the colours aren't showing well in this picture. The gorgeous green piece is an unfinished (her words, not mine!!) pin, which I am supposed to complete. I'm thinking maybe a row of beaded picots around the outside will definitely be enough.

She also sent me a great piece of lutrador which she had 'altered' which I neglected to include in the picture. I'll save that to show in post # 401.

Searching for something to talk about

I found two things to show you today. The first is a few embroidery stitches I found in one of the 'Needlecraft Magazines' I've been given (dated February 1928). The magazine says it's No. 5 of a series, so I'm hoping I will be able to find some more once I get through them all. I'm particularly interested in the bottom stitch combination, which is one I have never seen. Can't wait to try it on something!

The other two pictures are of a really pretty needlecase my friend Marie made for me a couple of years ago. It is absolutely perfect to use when I'm out and about because it has a nice long ribbon which allows me to wear it as a necklace. How cool is that?