and more....

Now, a return to the series...

My boys (in their 30's now) are both fans of 'Calvin & Hobbes' and when I stumbled across this cute little crocheted fellow on Ravelry, I had to make him for the each of the boys.  

The free pattern is HERE.  






2012 was when my fascination with making hussifs began and this is the first one I made.  It's the one I use everyday.

2012 also was the year that I created a pair of crazy quilted Christmas stockings - a gift for a friend.  She loves all things Victorian so these were perfect for her.

Today your quote is from Laura Ingalls Wilder...."I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all"

yawn....

I'm doing my post early today because I've had a couple of inquiries regarding the denim quilt I posted about yesterday.  The pattern is free and can be obtained HERE and also there's an updated version HERE.  They're really easy to make and could be created using cotton fabrics in place of the denim.  I think it would make up into a great I-Spy quilt for little ones too.

Soldiering onwards in the ongoing looking back series...

Yet more in my love affair with recycled denim.  Two pillows made in 2011.

2012 seemingly was the year for making felted bags.  I did quite a number of them and this is one example.  It was a gift for someone who is a pianist.

Another knitted project from 2012 - a journal cover.

In 2012 I took another online class from Carole Brungar called 'The Road To My House'.  It involved a great deal of free motion embroidery, something I wasn't particularly good at (still aren't!).  

The houses you see here are replicas of the houses I've lived in over the years.

The rest of the 'elements' are things that I love...there's a bookcase filled with books, a ball of yarn and knitting needles, a sewing machine, a spool of thread, a cup of coffee, flowers, and one of our cats, and my dog Odin. 

It was a really fun class and I definitely learned a lot.




Today your quote is from Anonymous..... "If you can lay down at night, knowing in your heart that you made someone's day just a little bit better, you know you had a good day"

 

Moving right along

And I can hear the collective 'would she just get ON with it already!!'  from my faithful readership.  So sorry, but I have absolutely nothing new that I am allowed to show you at the moment, so the looking back series will just have to continue for a little bit longer.  I do promise that I will be doing something I can show before long if you can just hang in there with me a little while!

This post bounces around a bit chronologically, but I thought you might like to see a few of the different things I created.  

 From 2012....
This was another of my recycled denim projects and was created for a throw on the back of our couch.  I really loved making this, so much so that when DH suggested that maybe it would be nice to have two smaller ones for the backs of our respective recliner chairs I was happy to oblige.
***UPDATED TO ADD - the pattern is free from HERE and an updated version is HERE.  

From 2011 - another of my recycled denim bags.

 In 2010 I took a wonderful online class (my first) from Carole Brungar where we created a fabric journal.  I, of course, being an over-achiever made one twice as thick as the original.  At that time we were planning to sell our house and move to the apartment and I wanted to have a memory book of our garden.  Each of the pages featured a photo of one of our flowers.  That was also the year that our garden was featured on the local garden tour so there was lots to celebrate.

The photo below shows a closeup of one of the pages.  If you embiggen it, hopefully you can see some of the details and can also see the table that my DH created using an old sewing machine base with a cement top.  We scrounged an old wooden rocking chair to complete the scene (wouldn't dare have sat in that chair though, because I suspect it would have fallen apart!).   We set it up at the back of the garden during the tour and many people commented on how pretty it was.

Today the quote is from Max Lucado.... "Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leave you speechless, remain that way.  Say nothing, and listen as heaven whispers, "Do you like it?  I did it just for you"

Plugging along

Well, at least I'm able to get back at my stitching, which is a huge step in the right direction.  I even actually managed to spend a whole night in bed last night (as opposed to having to be propped up in the recliner).  Still not working on anything I'm able to show you quite yet, so I will continue on with 'the series' (at risk of losing my faithful readership who really do want to see something new!!).

 Back in 2011 I was heavily into working with recycled denim and one of the things I designed and created then was a circular knitting needle case.  To the left you can see the outside and below the inside of what I came up with.  Unfortunately I didn't keep the pattern and couldn't likely make another one like it now (at least not without a lot of thought!).

 In 2011 I took part in another art doll round robin and this is the 'naked' doll I sent out into the world.

Her 'skirt' was metal as I remember, but I don't know the origin of it.  The upper 'body' was a glass part from a lamp.

Below you can see what came back to me, complete with her own table and vase of pretty flowers.  Her name was 'Anneelaw'.

I also took part in a crazy quilt heart swap and this is the one I created...

Today the quote is from Aristotle... "Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all"

more looking back

Today I want to mention a really great embroidery newsletter that I've been getting and perhaps you might like to sign up for it yourself.  There's a very excellent embroidery magazine published in Australia called 'Inspirations' and they issue a bi-weekly (or perhaps it's weekly?) online newsletter that is often filled with wonderful embroidery inspiration.    They also can be found on facebook with tons of pictures of absolutely beautiful embroidery.  Unfortunately I can't give you a link to that...can't get it to work properly.  (Oh...and just as a sidenote - remember my rose-themed hussif?  Well, they published it a few weeks ago....not only on their facebook page but also in their newsletter!!   Did you see my buttons popping??).

Now, back to the looking back series....  Yesterday I showed you my naked Shudayra doll as she looked setting off into the world.  Well, here she is as she looked upon her return...

She came home riding on a beautiful horse and her lovely auburn hair was protected by her very own parasol.  The horse was created using a plastic version, which was then covered with paper mache.  To say I was thrilled was the understatement of the year!!


UPDATED TO ADD:  This doll was done in a round robin and visited several other doll artists all over North America before coming home to me.

 There are just so many incredible details that the girls added to her and I never cease to be blown away when I look at her.  Right now she resides on top of my bookshelf in my studio and oversees all that I do.

Here's another doll that you might like to see as well.

This one I called 'Key To My Brain' and she was created as a result of a challenge in the doll group I belonged to at the time.

Her body was a metal Christmas tree and her torso and head were from a dollar store doll.  I gave the poor thing a lobotomy  (oooh - mean, mean person I was!!) and re-created her 'brain' using electrical wires and keyboard keys.  She was painted silver and her 'dress' was a piece of metal mesh ribbon.

Here's a closeup of her face and head...













Well, poor ol' 'Key To My Brain' wasn't destined for a long life and one day, not too long after her creation, I entered my studio to discover this...

Yep, she'd had enough of this earth and threw herself off the shelf and beheaded herself.  Poor thing.  Sad really.

Today I have another anonymous quote.... "You have to take the good with the bad, smile with the sad, love what you've got, and remember what you had.  Always forgive, but never forget.  Learn from mistakes, but never regret"

Soldiering onward....

Carrying on with the Looking Back series...

This was a block I created for donation to a Breast Cancer fundraiser quilt project.  It had to be washable, so I relied on pre-made lace motifs for much of the decoration.

From 2008 through the latter part of 2011 I was heavily into making my recycled denim jackets.  At first I only used blue denim and then I decided that I wanted a black one for myself.  That, in turn, started a whole new round of requests because now everyone wanted a black one too.

The back of one of the many I have made.

The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed that the sleeves of my jackets all featured a seminole pattern.  A few of you might even think that it was a trademark of mine or that perhaps I was rather clever to come up with doing that.
Nope.  Not clever at all.  The original pattern idea called for a 'gusset' under the arm and the seminole was a case of my having absolutely NO earthly idea of how to make a gusset!! 

The end of 2009 saw the beginning of an art doll round robin collaboration that I was involved in.   My naked doll, which I named Shudayra, set off into the world looking like this.


Tomorrow I will show you how she turned out.  The transformation was absolutely incredible!!






Today is another wonderful quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson.... "Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not"



 

The eternal question

I wonder who feels worse right now - me for having a bronchial 'infection' or you, for having to continue to suffer through this Look Back series!   Somehow I tend to think it just might be you!!

And now, on to the rest of the blocks I created during the year-long colour challenge organized by Sharon Boggon....

I apologize for the photo quality on these - I've learned a little bit since then about taking better pictures. 

Today the quote is another anonymous one.... "Few things are created and perfected in the same moment"

 

On plagues and retrospectives

Many of you know that I deal with seasonal allergies on a regular basis, and generally manage to do my fair share of whining and complaining about same.  Well, the 'plague' part of this post falls under that umbrella.  My fall allergies struck insanely early this year (what's up with that anyway?) and have already morphed into what the doctor very helpfully calls a 'bronchial infection'.  It's a plague.  There's no doubt about it.  I must say that I'm heartily sick (hah...that's funny!!) and tired of the lack of sleep and efforts to dislodge one or both of my lungs, either simultaneously or separately. 

Needless to say there is absolutely nothing creative going on here at the moment either.  Can't quite decide which is worse - the disease, or the withdrawal pains from not being able to stitch. 

So....here's some more in the look behind series...

These were also part of the year-long colour challenge led by Sharon Boggon. 

Today the quote is from Anonymous..... "Dear 3 am...we have to stop meeting this way.  I'd much rather sleep with you"

 

A weekend post....

While I'm at it, I'll show you a couple pieces of my work from 2009...

For some reason I ended up covering a large coffee can with recycled denim and 'artsy' touches.




Pretty sure I missed the mark on it, but it still serves as a recycled paper receptacle in my studio, so there must be something about it I like.

 I also made a ring bearers pillow using what else but crazy quilting.  The center fabric was from a piece of the gown the bride wore.

Today's quote is from anonymous..... "Habit saves you the trouble of making a lot of dull decisions"

Yet more looking backwards

Now we will move on to 2008 (I can hear the collective groan from here!!)....

In 2008 Sharon Boggon (formerly of InAMinuteAgo, and currently Pintangle) ran a year long colour challenge.

Each month she would post a colour scheme and we were to create a CQ piece based on those colours.

Some months it was really hard to do because they sometimes were colours that I disliked (or thought I did) or they were colours that I would never have combined.

I set myself an additional challenge and decided I would use a 'silkie' from my collection in each block.

 I managed to complete the challenge and now these blocks (and their companions, which I will show you over the next couple of posts) hang on my studio wall.


Today your quote is from Herm Albright.... "A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort"

Yet more....

My work on the secret project is continuing, and so too will my look back series (just so I have something to post about!!)

Over the years I have made many of these Santas.  This one was a special request to be made in purple and white and this is what I came up with.

If you look closely you can see that his outfit is crazy quilted! 

This is another of the dolls I made in 2008.

And how about this babe?

One of my friends made the mistake of moaning about the mess her house was in, so I showed up for coffee wearing this.  I'm not sure what her neighbours may have thought, but we had a good laugh anyway.  Hmmm.....come to think of it.....she hasn't complained about her house being messy since.  Wonder why?

Today the quote is from that infamous anonymous source... "Hold a true friend with both your hands"     Obviously the friend I referenced above is a true friend because she's still speaking to me!

Another bit of looking back

Today I'll show you a few more of the things I made in 2007

In 2007 I was in the midst of my love affair with recycled denim and the tote bag on the left was one that I made for a Christmas gift.

 The bag on the right was a project I created during the Winter Olympics.  Stephanie Pearl-McPhee spearheaded a knitting olympics - the rules were that you were to cast on something when the Olympic flame was lit and that it was to be done when the flame went out at the end of the games.

This bag was knitted using torn strips of recycled denim.  It was a fun project, but VERY hard on my hands. 

This was another of the bags I did that year, most of which were given away as gifts.












Today the quote is from Ralph Waldo Emerson.... "Guard well your spare moments.  They are like uncut diamonds.  Discard them and their value will never be known.  Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life"

A break

Today I thought I'd give you a little break from the Looking Back series 

For today's quote, I am going to snag the one Ann used on her blog....

“A ‘no’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.”
Gandhi

 

 

Continuing the 2007 look back

2007 was a busy year.  I created my first (and possibly last!) beaded doll.  It was fun to do, but terribly time consuming.

2007 was also the year that I made this beauty (??!!).  Her name was Doll-E Parton.














 It was  also the year that I took part in a crazy quilted Teddy Bear round robin and this was the bear I ended up with.  She now lives on our bed during the day.

  

Today your quote is from Saint Jerome.... "The face is the mirror of the mind and eyes, without speaking, confess the secrets of the heart"

 

It's August 1st!!!!

Today your quote is from Kenny Ausubel... "Each of us has a spark of life inside us, and we must set off that spark in one another"