A little something

Over the weekend I stash dived and came up with enough yarn to make this...

He measures about 6" tall and the pattern is the 'Little Bigfoot Monkey' by Sharon Ojala and can be found HERE.  

Another anonymous quote..."Beautiful has nothing to do with looks.  It's how you are as a person and how you make others feel about themselves"

Happy Easter wishes!

Happy, and blessed, Easter!

Alas, there are no other pictures to share with you - I haven't been home long enough this week to get any sewing done.  

Sometimes I love my mailman!!

Anyone who crafts knows how much fun stash enhancement is...right?  Especially when it comes from someone who 'gets' what you do.  Well, imagine my astonishment and delight when all these wonderful things arrived via the post office!  I have attempted to photograph just SOME of what was stuffed  judiciously placed into a rather large box.  Photos simply don't (and can't) do justice to what I discovered inside the box!! (and this is only a taste of what I found in the box)

THANK YOU CAROL!!!

You definitely 'get' me!!

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For those of you who are following 'The Saga of the Bernette', perhaps you will be interested to know that it was 'fixed' - in theory, anyway.  I haven't been home long enough to be able to test it as much as I'd like but at least it's better than it was.  The problem - according to the repairman - was that I (!!) had broken a needle in it and that, in turn, had punctured a hole in the bobbin case.  Ummmm.....I have been sewing for probably fifty years and I can't remember ever having broken a needle, and I certainly didn't in this one.  Told him as much, but it appears he didn't believe me.  At any rate, the bobbin case has been replaced - no charge - and we will see if it's any better.  Stay tuned!!

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Today your quote is from Lee Strobel....."He came into this world to make dead people live"

A wee bit of change - and something wonderful

I've done a little of the detailing on the latest barn as you can see from this photo (if you want to scroll down to my previous post, perhaps you can see just how much as been changed)....

Yesterday I had coffee with one of my friends and shared my tale of woe over my sewing machine issues and she remembered that she had a machine that she never uses (she much prefers handing her sewing needs over to me because she's pretty hopeless when it comes to any sort of machines).  She offered to let me try her machine and, if it worked, we could discuss a price).  Of course it was in the case when she gave it to me so I wasn't sure what was inside but when I picked it up my heart did a little flip because I thought that maybe.....just maybe....it might be a Singer Featherweight.  And it was!!  And even better?  It works!  She hadn't used it for a number of years and I knew it likely needed oiling and luckily I have some.  Of course it won't do anything but straight stitch (no zig zag or free motion capabilities) but it sews!  

See how beautiful she is???.....

An internet search with the model number

yielded the information that this little

beauty was made in December of 1951.

Another anonymous quote for you today..."Ability is what you're capable of doing,  motivation determines what you do, and attitude determines how well you do it"

Barn raising - of a sort

There has been a small amount of progress on the latest barn project.  I am limited in what I can do without a sewing machine, but there is a bit of hand work that I can work at, at least for now....

Another unknown source for today's quote..."Sometimes you just have to close your eyes, count to ten, take a deep breath, remind yourself that you wouldn't look good in prison stripes and just smile at the dumbass and walk away"

Another beginning

I just got back from taking my sewing machine to the doctor -again.  That will be twice since I got it just a year ago.  The store has promised (?!) that it will be fixed this time and if not we will discuss further options.  I will give them another chance to get it working properly and if they don't, I will be demanding either my money back or a credit (more likely what will happen) towards another machine that will NOT have the name Bernina attached to it in any way.  I know that will offend some of you who are happy with your Bernina's but I had to admit they leave a bad taste as far as I'm concerned.

So....because my machine is....a) not working and b) in the shop.....I started another barn project that I can work on while I wait.  For now it looks like this...

....with the ultimate hope it will end up somewhat

resembling this....

With some 'executive' changes by moi, of course!

Today your quote is from Barack Obama..."If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress"

Fun arrival in the mail

Today I don't have a picture of my own work for you, but thought I'd share something sweet that popped into my mailbox the other day.  My friend Renee sent a postcard featuring one of her pretty crazy quilt pieces. 

Isn't it pretty?  Renee takes part in the InCoWriMo2018 challenge which involves sending mail throughout the month of February.  Thank you Renee - I love it and seeing your sweet stitching in person.     

Today your quote is from Greg Anderson..."When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life"

Argh!!!!

Alas, no pictures for you today.  

I'm sorry.

At least no pictures of what I've accomplished on my barn project.

I spent all day Saturday trying to wrestle my machine into submission using invisible thread and I'm pretty sure there was a massive black cloud just outside our apartment building.  'nuff said (because I know you're getting sick of hearing me bitch about my machine!).

So....today I decided I would do massive amounts of samples using all different stitch lengths, tensions and thread combinations.  

SEE?....

Yeah - okay - move right along.  There's nothing to see here.  At least nothing that's worth looking at.

Suffice to say - invisible thread is NOT going to happen on this machine, at least not anytime soon (see below).  The machine will happily free motion (well, as happy as this machine gets!) with regular thread on both top and bottom but invisible thread on the top is not happening.  

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So....now I'm throwing myself at YOUR mercy.  What brand of invisible thread do you use?  And where can I get it in Canada?  

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Another anonymous quote..."Classy is when you have a lot to say but you choose to remain silent in front of fools"

Very little

There is very little progress to show you this time, so I will give you a close up of the rail fence and the flowers...

I don't know if you can tell from this but I have started to enhance the flowers with embroidery.  Doing that won't be a huge statement in the overall look of the piece but (hopefully!) will be a nice surprise when you look closely once it's done.  You can also see (to the left in the photo) one of the seams I've embroidered using the machine.  I wanted a stitch that blended in overall because I didn't want the seam treatments to make a huge statement and take away from the barns themselves.  I've done the same thing in the sky.  So it IS crazy quilted/embroidered but not glaringly so.  

Another anonymous quote for you today..."The best place in the world is in the arms of someone who will not only hold you at your best, but will pick you up and hug you tight at your weakest moment"

Layering

The barn project is progressing slowly - with a lot of contemplation between every step.  I have to muster my courage a lot!!

Here's a closeup of the smaller barn...

Another anonymous quote for you...."A recent study has found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it"

A bit more progress....

There's a long way to go yet on this piece, but you can see the progress I've made over the weekend.  

I had a question about how I create my landscapes so thought I'd share my answer here.  The actual creation of the barns is done using a class I took online from Craftsy taught by Wendy Butler Berns.  Because of that, I can't share her techniques here unfortunately.  After I've used her techniques to create the barn, then I start to build layers of colour on top of the fabric.  The missing board areas are simply drawn in using a black Sharpie marker and I rely on layers of watered-down folk art paint to add shadows and highlights.  I would use fabric paints but don't happen to have any!  At times I also use watercolour pencils to add shadows.  I have had absolutely NO training in painting so anything I do that turns out is more by luck than anything else.  

- From the current Dior clothing collection....

This is only one of a number of crazy quilt inspired pieces in

the Dior clothing collection.

Who knew?

The quote of the day is another anonymous one..."Grandparenting is the stage in life when you finally understand the true meaning of the best is yet to come...because you've reached it"

Progression - maybe

Thank you to those of you who took the time to point out that the small barn was rather tipsy in my previous post.  That has been rectified now, as you can see...

Can't have a tipsy barn!!

Another unknown quote..."The first to apologize is the bravest.  The first to forgive is the strongest.  The first to forget is the the happiest"

A teeny bit of progress

Not sure if this is actually progress....or something more suited for the nearest garbage receptacle.  At this point in the process I wonder why I'm even attempting to make something that looks even remotely like the original.  As you can see, this is the photo I'm working from...

....and this is the way it looks at the moment...

Dog's breakfast?  

Maybe.

Another anonymous quote..."The things you take for granted someone else is praying for"

A new beginning

You can never say that I'm not willing to try new things - or at least new applications for things I already do.  I love crazy quilting (imagine that!!) and I love old barns....so.....why not combine the two?  Not at all sure if the concept will work, but here you can see the beginning....

Is it going to turn out - or is it the beginning of the end??

Another anonymous quote..."Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it"

Done!!!

I suppose I shouldn't tell you that I have all of these done for my Christmas box for next year....that wouldn't be nice would it?  Methinks I can feel the hatred for starting so soon flowing in my direction already!  So....I won't tell you that they're for Christmas and just tell you that I finished a whole funch (hah - I was going to type 'bunch' and it came out 'funch'....just as my brain was wondering what you would call a whole lot of mittens.  Funch it is!).  Wonder if I should submit my new word to Funk & Wagnall's??

Ten for women and six for men

Pattern can be found HERE.  

NOTE:  I enlarged the pattern to make the mens

Another quote from an anonymous source..."Friendship isn't about who you've known the longest, it's about who walked in to your life, said "I'm here for you", and proved it"

Crochet? Who knew?

My sit-in-front-of-the-tv project for the past few weeks has been to create an afghan for a wedding gift that is upcoming in June.  There's no particular pattern....I just repeated the same 6 rows for each colour and then cobbled together a border.  It's quite large - might even cover a double bed if that's what they choose to do with it.

It's hard to get a picture of something that big - and it's dull here today so pictures are not the best quality.

A close-up showing the pattern and the 

edging.

Another anonymous sourced quote..."When thinking about life, remember this:  no amount of guilt can change the past, and no amount of anxiety can change the future"

Excitement reigns at Chez Magpie!

Many of you will remember when I showed you the photo of one of my barn landscapes....this one....

It was only my second attempt at this art form and I was surprised when my friend wanted to take it, along with the other one I just finished, to the local quilt guild meeting to show the members.  She was hopeful that someone might want to commission me to make more.  She wondered if I would like to set a price on this one (the other one is spoken for) and I gave her a number that I thought was quite steep.  Well, right now I'm bouncing off the walls because it  SOLD!!!!  Even more exciting is that the guild itself is buying it and will be using it as one of their raffle prizes at their next quilt show being held in 2019.  I am blown away and still can't quite believe it!!  

And, just to prove that something else is happening here at Chez Magpie....the pile of mittens is growing!

The pair on the left is for a man and the rest are all for women.  I still have to add the buttons for additional pizzaz on each one.

Planning ahead?

I have been enjoying making a bunch of these....

Men's on the left and a women's pair on the right.  They're made from recycled sweaters and lined with recycled velour housecoats.  Really fun to make and cheap too!  They will be going in the Christmas box for next year (at least 14 pairs!!).  Will show you a picture once I have them all finished.  The pattern is from HERE  (with some adjustments by me).  

And just for the sheer cuteness factor, have a look at this....

Today the quote is from Abraham Maslow...."In any given moment we have two options: To step forward into growth or to step back into safety"

Ask....

....and you will receive!

(mainly because I have nothing else!!)

A couple of people have asked to see my button collection so here you go....

Sorry about the glare!

My buttons are guarded by 'Elyron' my sewing room dragon, who oversees all that I do.  The shelf they're on runs almost the entire length of one wall of my room.

The reason for all this downsizing of buttons was not only to get rid of w-a-y too many, but also to make room for this....

I received this wonderful hand-made magpie for Christmas and needed a place to put him/her.  Getting rid of four of my button jars gave me just enough space to display my magpie.  A win/win!

Another quote from an anonymous source.."Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around"

14 + 1 - (4 +1) = ?

I'm a day late in posting this AND (maybe worse!) I don't have any pictures for you.  You DON'T want to see my cleaning/purging efforts in my sewing room which is what's been happening behind the scenes here at Chez Magpie.

Many of you will remember my true confession earlier of having FAR to many buttons for any person in this world.  Fourteen (large!) jars AND a nearly full shoe box (see what I mean?  Too many!).  So....I've been spending my evenings sorting through them and....drumroll.....I am now down to *only* 10 jars! 

Ten jars that look like this....

The only problem is that, although my plan was to get RID of the empty jars, they have now been snatched up by my DH for use in the kitchen.  Drat - I almost had them out the door.....

This is another quote from an anonymous source..."The quieter you become, the more you can hear"