Beaded beauty!

My friend Marie Alton makes exquisite beaded items - jewelry and beautiful pieces to add to your needlework projects.  I just purchased these two pieces to add to my white projects and I'm really thrilled. 

AND,

here is what I have done with her heart...

You can also see to the left of  the heart a seam treatment I've added.

While at Irene's on Wednesday for our meeting
she showed us how to make a pretty

ribbon embellishment from instructions

HERE.

I, of course, being 'different' had to 

do mine with a twist and now I've

added it to my seam inside out! 
On purpose!

atc's and dolls

Today was our monthly CQTeers meeting and, as usual, we exchanged atcs.  This month our theme was 'Beads or Buttons'.  Below are the ones I received in our trade...

Irene did the one on the upper left and Sue did the one on the bottom which is actually a needlecase which came complete with buttons, thread, needle AND a bandaid (was she trying to tell us something?).  The one on the upper right was from the challenge we had last month using foil and was also made by Sue.

Below is what I made for the trade, including a couple of crocheted bookmarks which incorporated beads too.

This time we met at Irene's house and we had a number of sweet little 'visitors' - unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so I couldn't take a photo of them all but this sweet little lady came home to live with me....

Isn't she sweet? 
She has a definite snooty attitude!

Thank you Irene!!

TUSAL & ORTS - April

This is my first test of the new 'improved' Blogger - bear with me if it ends up a garbled mess!!

Above is the pile of ORTS I have accumulated since last month.  I haven't been as busy stitching as I would have liked, but it's still a pretty respectable size.  Below you see it added to my jar.  I think it's rather fun to see the layers of colored threads. 

TUSAL = Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long
ORTS - Old Ratty Threads

whaaaaa???

The nerve!  Blog-grrrr changed itself behind my back.

Why,

oh 

Why

Must they mess with what we know?

With courage in hand....

I attempted to cross stitch

this word onto my 

white cloth again 

(remember the oh-oh-ism when I 

sliced the backing the last time?).

This time it worked!!

See??

Another bit of white

This is the latest block I have completed for my white cloth.  I've left the bottom right corner empty because I plan to have an embellishment flow over onto it from the adjoining piece. 

Above is the view outside my studio window.  The tree in the foreground is currently home to a nest of crows - unfortunately we can't see into the nest because it's almost at the very top of the tree.  I don't think you can tell from the picture but the trees beside the river are just starting to show the leaves coming out. 

White cover up and winning ways

Today I have a couple of things to show you.  First, I won this book from a giveaway at 'Craft Gossip'...yay!!  Since I'm currently rather enthralled with felting this book is a perfect addition to my library.  Thank you Craft Gossip!

Specs:  'Knitting Never Felt Better' by Nicky Epstein.  Published by Sixth&Spring Books, c2007,  ISBN -1-: 1-933027-11-8

Next, is a lesson in stupidity, or better known as 'how to learn things the hard way'.  I very happily cross-stitched the word 'courage' onto my latest white block and then, in a fit of extreme oh-oh-ism, I managed to clip through the backing as I cut through the waste canvas.  Oops.

What to do?  What to do? 

 

Well....see that piece of crocheting that's towards the upper right?  Let's just say it covers a multitude of sins.

White - finally!

Above is the latest of the blocks I have completed for my white cloth project.

Below?  Well, that's an OOPS.  

~~
~~
~~

Well, now....next problem is this....
suddenly my computer is telling me I'm over
my photo limit?  

What's up with that???

Good thing my computer guru #2 son is coming
tonight and perhaps he can figure out what on

earth has happened.

In the meantime, you will just have to wait to see a picture of my oops moment!

Journal book

Here's another project I was working on while I

was computer-less.

It's a knitted journal cover and is filled with a combination of

different papers.

Final jacket - for now

While I was unable to post pictures I managed to complete another jacket, which will be the last one I do until late summer/early fall.  I'm taking the rest of the spring/summer 'off' from jackets to concentrate on my white projects and a few other things that need to be created.

Hopefully you won't miss them TOO much!!

Yay - pictures....finally!

I know, you've all been just holding your breath waiting for me to get my computer back and the ability to post pictures!

......................you haven't?.......................

Well, then.  

I know I'm late posting my TUSAL photo so there it is.  I even found a nice new (well, at least new-to-me) container for my ORTS.  Above you see my collection for January, February and March.

NOTE:  TUSAL stands for 'Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long' and ORTS are 'Old Ratty Threads'. 

Spring = Allergies

I have a love/hate relationship with spring.  I love the new growth, the flowers, the birds returning and all the lovely shades of green.  I hate the fact that my eyes swell up, the sneezing, and the sniffling.  I'm sure people must wonder what on earth is wrong with me because I go about looking as though I've been through a huge crying jag.  All this despite living on extra strength allergy meds.  Argh!!  Oh well, once the trees are in full leaf I will be able to breath again (I hope).

ORTS and TUSAL????

Yep, I've been creating LOTS of
ORTS
and I know that the photos for
TUSAL**

are past due for this month.

No photo taking capabilities at the moment,
so will have to post mine later
once my own computer
comes home.

My apologies to those of you
who have been waiting for pictures!

Oh yeah, and I even got a new ORT jar for the occasion!!

** TUSAL = Totally Useless Stitch A Long

EDITED TO ADD:  Oops, should have explained what 'ORTS' are - the little leftover bits of thread from your sewing projects.    AND.....    I also have to apologize because the info regarding who originated the TUSAL was on my ailing computer and not on this one.  If anyone has the correct info would you mind putting it in the comments....thanks!

no mumbling today

weather too nice.

Outside enjoying it.

computer wizards

Hi all - it's me, back again from the computer-less abyss - thanks be to #2 son and his computer wizardry.  Apparently my hard drive fried, for reasons only known to itself, and left me high and dry.  He has installed a new hard drive and is now hard at work re-installing the rest of my programs.  He kindly loaned me the use of his notebook until we can get together and he can return mine. 

I've been curious about using a laptop/notebook and have decided that they really aren't for me, at least not for the long haul.  It's fun to experiment with this little thing but I find the mouse being at the base of the keyboard to be beyond frustrating.  I was a secretary and spent years typing and can't get my head around the keyboard not being at the bottom edge.  I know - I need to get with the times!

Anyway, I'm back in a limited way.  There won't be any pictures for another couple of weeks and you'll just have to put up with my mumblings.  Poor you!!

My Mother is AWOL

Hi there,

This is MA's number 2 son (I think that is how she refers to me).. My mother seems to have a virus... Yes, you guessed right, now I HAVE to fix it! She will be coming to my place on Saturday to have her computer fixed. So go outside and enjoy the weather! She will be back soon!


-Shawn

Completed project - and a bed

Here's the latest
jacket I just
completed.

I know, don't they all
look the same?

and, here's Cosmo
reclining as only

a cat can....

 

Score # 2

Here's another of the books I got at the second hand book store at a REALLY good price!

This book is what could be classed as a 'coffee table book' and was published in 1986 at which time the cover price was listed at $95 US.  I managed to bring it home for $25 which I thought was a steal.  The inspiration in this book is absolutely astounding, even though I have no intentions of trying to make any of these pieces.  I will have fun reading every word though and drooling over most of the pictures (all in colour, I might add). 

Here's one of the pieces I really like...