Proof we're working.....

 MALE BONDING

Jack and Shawn working on the kitchen floor today.  The old tiles required the use of the heat gun to get them off.  The new ones are looking beautiful though and they have nearly finished...only a few odd little pieces to cut and put down tomorrow. 

Shawn is now a pro with the heat gun!

I, being a wife of thirty one years, know full well that the best way to get a big job like the kitchen floor done by the men...is to stay the heck out of the road and tackle my own project....in this case, painting my studio.

I have the first coat on the walls and it looks awful, but that's the way painting always looks.  

Tomorrow I hope to get the second coat on and hopefully start at the trim.

Yikes!

The drawers are exploding,

The drawers are exploding!!!!!!!!!!

THE DRAWERS.......

Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

The great studio re-paint is about to happen over the next few days and the chest of drawers that holds my crazy quilting fabric stash are bulging open (quite literally).  

SO.....

 

this is drawer #1,

upended on the floor.  

The scissors and the iron have been busy most of the afternoon and I have this lot only HALF done.

(too much stash you say???)

There just might be a few chubby envelopes of stash enhancement up for grabs in the next while along with at least one large garbage bag destined for the fabric recycling depot.  Now, if only I could lose weight this easily!!

Spoiled offspring!

#2 son (the one that's 6'8" and has a 38" inseam) has been crying the blues because the sleep pants I made him in 2005 have had the audacity to wear out.  They just don't make things like they used to, do they?

Anyway,

because I'm his mother
and don't like seeing
a grown boy cry...

I hauled out the pattern and made him two more pairs
out of these fabrics....

And yes, I DID crop these pictures and the computer told me they were saved as cropped.  So....hmmm....wonder why they aren't cropped here?  Serves me right for thinking I should pay attention to that little icon that kept popping up telling me to 'update' my computer!!!  Why is it that the so-called updates really aren't and are subtly hidden as huge learning curves and muck-ups of something you had just managed to figure out how to do from the LAST time there was an update??  Feel free to interject a letter of your choice to begin the word 'muck'.  

 

quilt and tute

There has been some discussion lately about the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt patterns (and I've noticed a definite resurgence in interest in making them).  My aunt made us one as a wedding gift 31 years ago and it's one of my special treasures.  Unfortunately it doesn't fit any of our beds, but it is special nonetheless.

On another subject - there were a few enquiries yesterday regarding how I made the little napkin ring pincushions, so I thought I'd break it down so you could see...

This photo pretty much shows all the necessary 'ingredients' - a napkin ring, a small block of wood cut to fit inside the napkin ring (not necessary, but gives a more finished look), a small amount of stuffing, and a circle of fabric.  I simply used floss to embroider little flowers on the fabric, gathered up the edge of the circle, stuffed it with fabric and plunked it in the ring.  I'll be painting the wooden blocks black to finish them.  Then it's just a case of gluing the parts together - I'll use E6000, but I would imagine a good white glue that dries clear (or even hot glue) would work just as well.  If you make any, please let me know because I'd love to see them!!

Small things

 (Yes, I can hear you all muttering things about 'small things...small minds', so don't think you're being sneaky about it!!)

Twelve of these wee pincushions - made with a sterling silver napkin ring as the base and some scrap fabric, beads & embroidery floss.  Easy peasy!!

I'm honoured!

My friend Pam Kellogg of Kitty and Me has done me an extreme honour and asked me to be one of her guest bloggers.  To me it IS an incredible honour to be asked because I admire Pam so much for her beautiful work AND for her willingness to talk so openly on her blog about her struggles with depression.  I think Pam and I have 'bonded' over our issues with it (depression) and also with the fact that we both enjoy crazy quilting so much. 

If you're interested in reading my guest post please visit Pam here, and leave a comment to say hi to her!  While you're there be sure to have a look around and also check out her etsy shop where you will find all kinds of lovely things!  Pam also recently did an excellent post on creating a crazy quilt block - great learning tool for beginners. 

Thank you Pam - I really enjoyed being your guest blogger and am so tickled you asked me!!

Art doll - Audacity

This afternoon I finished working on Gail's doll Audacity for the Art Doll Cool-aberation 2010.  When Audacity arrived, this is what she looked like....

Gail is the queen of paper mache and did a wonderful job of creating a base for us to work on.  In case you don't remember me talking about this before - we were to create the beginning of a doll but not the entire body, which would leave more room for interpretation by the other artists.  I had a really difficult time deciding what I wanted to add to her - I thought of, and rejected, numerous ideas.  I finally resorted to the old trick of thinking about it just before I went to sleep hoping for inspiration.  Well, she did speak to me, but again I dragged my heels.  After three nights of waking up with the SAME thought running through my mind, here is what she became.....

She wanted to have an octopus.  

There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it - she insisted!

She wanted to be a Queen
of the lost city of
ATLANTIS!!

Well, never let it be said that I don't listen to dolls so I created her an octopus, made from painted felt with sequins (160 of them, to be exact) for suckers.  Raiding the teddy bear eye stash yielded perfect eyes.

Her journal was fun to do, but I think I got a trifle carried away.  I have a habit of wanting to make journals fat and chubby, so Gails nicely put together journal doesn't close properly now (oops).  Here's page one...

Page two (remember the glue-ey mess I was in a few days ago with watercolour paper, fibers and white glue?)...

Page three...well, that sand dollar HAD to be on there, right??  AND then I wonder why the pages are fat???

Finally, page four....yet more geehaws to make the pages thick.  The little tag at the top has my name on the back and the little charm was in my stash, along with the copper washers.

Hope Gail likes what I did, and that she won't be too upset that her book gained so much 'weight' while Audacity was visiting with me!

A meeting of the minds

Every month our little crafting group gets together and exchanges atcs and generally the hostess comes up with a small how-to that we can play with.  This month is was my turn to host and I'm sure the ladies arrived with trepidation knowing full well that some of the 'how-tos' I've managed to come up with have been more like 'how NOT to'.  Being a last-minute sort of person I left it til last night to come up with what we would do.  

We made decoupaged buttons and these are mine...

These will be great sewn onto a crazy quilt piece.  

Above are the atcs we exchanged.  Last month the theme was 'masks' and the top one on the left was what I did and Sue made the one on the right.  This month it was 'artist choice' and Halloween is on everyone's mind I guess.  I made the one on the left and Sue did the other two.  My efforts this time were quite paltry, but I was under a time restraint and thought I did well to get anything done at all.

A fun day, with a couple of fun-to-be-with friends - what more could I want?

And the winner is.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BUT - before we get around to that announcement, I have a few other newsworthy things to pass on to my faithful readers....

This blog is supposed to be about crazy quilting (amongst other mumblings) and, believe it or not, I have some CQ content today!

FINALLY

I will get to the winner!

(go ahead, fess up if you scrolled down to read this bit first!!)

First of all I want to thank all of you who took the time to enter my giveaway (and those of you who signed up to be followers).  Thirty six of you were hoping to win and I SO wish I had 36 copies of the book to give you each one!  Believe me, I'd be so happy if I could.  But there's only one copy and, using the extremely scientific method of asking my hubby to choose a number between 1 & 36, the lucky winner is............

CHRISTINE (from sunny down under)!!!!!!!!!!

Christine said she will be taking a special in-depth class over the next couple of years and that she thought this book might be useful.  

Congratulations Christine - drop me your snail mail addy (to my email at marmic1954 at gmail dot com)  and I will get the book in the mail this week.  Hope you like it!!

As I said, I'm sorry you all couldn't win, but  keep tuned to this space for further giveaways over the next while.  I'm seriously downsizing my studio and there will be tons of stuff that won't be moved with us - a lot of it just might become giveaways!! 

Housekeeper wanted!

I'm looking for a housekeeper - one that works for nothing (well maybe tea or coffee could be produced).

HOW

MAY I ASK YOU

CAN A PERSON

BE EXPECTED

TO WORK

IN

THIS?????

yeeewww????

Never let it be said that I'm afraid to get completely covered in yuck (of course the fact that I have disposable gloves IN the drawer didn't occur to me until AFTER the fact!!). 

BEHOLD.....

Perfectly good watercolour paper being sacrificed for the sake of art??

This unqualified example of mess is a combination of different yarns glopped (good word!) onto the paper with a mixture of white glue and water.  EVERYTHING is covered with it.  It got to the point where my fingers were sticking to each other, to say nothing about the scissors and the table and the brush and....well, you get the picture I'm sure.  I never had the pleasure of going to kindergarten so does this mean I'm in my second childhood?

The rest of my day has been spent throwing watercolour paint and water around with gay abandon and making yet another huge mess with gesso.

Colour me happy!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Look what was hiding!

Jack found these lurking in the garden underneath a bunch of leaves - heritage butternut squash - that will join the approximately hundred others we have harvested this year.  Before you ask, our garden isn't that big!!  For some reason this was a good year for squash. 

I actually did something creative today, but it's not ready to show you quite yet.  I can tell you though that it's something for the new Art Doll Cool-aberation and I will post pictures soon.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway on the previous post if you haven't already.  A brand-new copy of 'Drawn To Stitch' by Gwen Hedley is going to be an early Christmas present for one of my readers!  Remember to enter ONLY on yesterday's post!!

Maybe it will be Christmas a trifle early???

I'm having a draw!!!

A giveaway draw!!

I have found myself in possession of an extra copy of a great book and so, in the spirit of generosity (sharing the wealth, so to speak), I decided that it was time for a giveaway for no special reason other than I have the nicest readers!  That's a good excuse, right?

SO....

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO WIN THIS????

Specs:  'Drawn To Stitch' by Gwen Hedley, published in 2010 by Interweave.  ISBN: 978-1-59668-233-7

The only thing you have to do in order to have a chance to win is leave a comment on this post only and I will make the draw on Oct. 25th.  Easy-peasy!

Found object - use unknown

I've had this in my stash for quite some time
and have no recollection of where
I got it.

Might have been from my grandmother.

The question is....
what is it for?

Above is the outside.  It measures approximately 6 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches.  I think you would call the stitching on the front 'ruching' and it's further decorated with ribbon and a little bouquet of velvet flowers.  The back is plain.

Then, it opens up....

There is no form of closure on it - seems to just be a pouch of some sort.  Would it have been used to hold handkerchiefs perhaps?  Any ideas? EDITED TO ADD:  It's closed on two sides and open on the other two.

Scrub, scrub, toss, and sort

That's pretty much what I've been doing over the past few days!  We just hauled a giant stack of old bedding and towels to the local Humane Society for the animals and I won't mention just how many boxes of stuff have been packed up for a yard sale next spring.  I have a large box of 'interesting' papers to go through and file somewhere in my archives - mostly things pertaining to the family history. 

I also found this image and thought I'd share...
maybe it's something you would like to

create with??

 

Hopefully tomorrow or the next day will see a return to the regularly scheduled drivel you've grown to expect on this blog!

I really am back - sort of

I know I did say I was back and I am - more or less.  The past few days I've pretty much spent going through 'stuff' that belonged to my Dad and I didn't suppose anyone wanted pictures of that sort of thing.  Today I had to take a picture of this spectacularly-coloured vine (Englemens Ivy, I think...sp?) that is on our fence right outside our back door.  The green you see is actually some sort of very miniature tomatoes that has run amuck along that fence over the summer. The tomatoes are only about the size of blueberries, but the vines make up for it!   If you embiggen the picture hopefully you can see some little green ones hanging in a cluster on the right side of the picture (above the date).

I'm back

Rest in Peace
Robert "Bob" Michie
December 27, 1920 - October 5, 2010

Dad passed away peacefully with us by his side last night just after supper.  He was home with us, in his own bed, where he wanted to be.  

He has lived with us for eleven years (since my mother died) and it was a decision we made that we have never for one minute regretted.  He has been a pleasure to have with us and I'm so grateful that we were able to give him the home he wanted.

Thank you so very much to all of you who have been praying and sending your best wishes to us.  I'm sure it was because of those that his passing was so comfortable.  I could never begin to repay you all for your kindness but please know how much it has been appreciated by Jack, RJ, Shawn, myself and Dad.  Just knowing you were there gave us all great comfort.

Back on the other side

Just a quick post to let you know that my Dad is in the end stages and I will be absent for a little while.  I hope I won't be away too long.

Thank you so much for being so caring and for your prayers.  Dad, Jack, and I appreciate them so very much.

Anneelaw's journal

Over the weekend I finished working on the journal beginning for my doll 'Anneelaw', who will be visiting with six other artists before she finally returns home to me next May.  I'm so excited about this because the format is quite different  from Coolab2009 and I know it will challenge my creativity a lot.

My journal was begun when I snooped through the male workshop domain and unearthed an old cigar box, which I covered with some recycled paper and a little stitching.  I'm hoping the other artists will add to it too!

the box, outside......

and inside....

There is lots of room in there for whatever might be added!  Next came the first pages of the journal.  I used watercolour paper as the base.  Pages 1 and 4 were created using layers of fabric, fibres and various and assorted other 'bits' from my stash...layered between two pieces of Tyvek and then stitched using variagated thread.  Then I ironed it (using parchment to protect the iron). 

Pages two and three began with a piece of recycled (and rusted) Swiffer cloth as a base, then a piece of painted (recycled) dryer sheet.  A leftover piece of the front page was attached to the side and the poem I wrote was printed onto a piece of cardstock that had been 'aged' with gesso and newsprint.  The newsprint was a 'nod' to the fact that when I took the lamp apart I discovered a sheet of newspaper had been stuffed in the bottom dated in the early 1970's - a fire hazard I would have thought!!

If you'd like to read the poem (and it doesn't enlarge enough when you click on the photo) take a look on our blog where I've written it out.
----------------------------------------------------
Update on Dad - We got through the weekend, but all he had to 'eat' was two meal replacement drinks each day.  He's simply getting weaker and weaker.  I have a call in to the doctor today and am waiting to hear back from her as to what the next step might be.  I expect it will be some sort of feeding tube, but will have to wait and see.  Thank you so much for your kind comments and prayers.  They are appreciated more than you know.

Christmas?

Craftbits is having a really fun giveaway that you are likely going to want to check out.  The rules are simple - just decide on a Christmas gift you would really like to get (up to $150 US in value) and blog about it.  Then link back to their site and you're entered.  Their site has tons of Christmas ides for projects, cards, ornaments, wreaths and also things that kids can make - all are fairly cheap and use easily obtainable supplies (if you don't have them already.  
My entry (and wish!) is this:



Options Interchangeable Harmony Wood Circular Knitting Needle Set by Knit Picks
9 Pairs Needle Tips, 4 Cables & One Cable Case
$84.99
Save 19% when you
buy the set

 

 I would absolutely love to own these - I would probably not knit with them and just keep them to fondle and admire!!  Well, that's not true - I WOULD knit with them and would fondle and admire them the entire time.  

_________________________________________________

For further entries into the contest, we can preview a couple of the patterns/ideas in their list of Christmas ideas, so here are mine....

# 1 - KNITTING & BEADED CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS - these look like they would be a great way to use up some stash!  The pattern calls for a styrofoam ball, seed beads and pearl cotton thread.  I would think you could simply use a larger foam ball, larger beads and yarn too.   These look pretty simple and would make lovely gifts.

#2 (and #3) - CHRISTMAS GUEST SOAPS  - Another fun project for gift-giving or decorating your own bathroom at Christmas.  You just need plain soap bars, some Christmas stickers, and some white glue - simple supplies.  If you look under the CHRISTMAS GIFT SOAPS you will find instructions for how to wrap your decorated guest soaps for gift giving.