Fiber and Pulp

Some Progress

Well, our phones and internet connections are still down. SIGHES! I'm posting this from my computer a the store, just so you all will know I'm still alive. :P

I've been having what I thought was a recurring viral infection over the past three weeks -- sick for a day or two, then ok, then sick again. Wednesday I found out what the problem really was -- I have a mild staph infection in my left leg (the same one in which I have had these infections twice before in my adult life). I've been taking a broad-spectrum antibiotic since then and I'm feeling MUCH better -- almost chipper.

We have snowdrops BLOOMING in our front yard !! Even though it might snow today, spring is coming -- the daffodil leaves are about three inches tall, too. :)

While I was sick in bed this past week, I did manage to start my stitching and to complete the first pattern for the Verandah Views free block of the month:

The background fabric I chose is a soft green batik and the DMC floss is from a new-ish collection they have of hand-dyed variegations. I'm _very_ happy with this. :)

I also am experimenting with a new gadget we picked up this week to test for the store. Clover Notions from Japan has a new "Sweetheart Rose" making tool. I tried it today with some nice purple batik from my stash (scraps) -- this is the 'large' size:

I hope you can tell the size from my hand holding it -- less than maybe 3" across or so. I had to read the instructions carefully and follow them step-by-step --- I tried reading the whole thing and doing it in my head first, but failed miserably. :) Some times you just gotta do it! :)

Tomorrow is the Hand Piecers meeting and I might managed to finish another Mariner's Compass block. :)

Telephone Woes

Well, we now have neither telephone NOR internet services at home...and Verizon won't schedule a repair appointment until March 7th!!! GRRRRR!

If you've tried calling us to no result, that's why. <sigh> Better use my cell phone or Skip's for now. God alone knows whether Verizon will find the problem this time (we went through this for an entire month in August).

GRRRR

Ups and Downs

the past couple of days have been stressful -- full of high spots and low points. ;P

Tuesday was the monthly meeting of my FiberLectic group which is always a high spot in my month. :) One of the things I took away from that meeting was an antique pen -- a ruling pen -- from Sue who was cleaning out her art stuff no-longer-needed. She said the pen belonged to her mother who was a successful watercolor artist.

I love the beautiful old fashioned box it came in (with its original wrappings). If you see that screw on the right side -- it opens and closes the slit in the pen's nib to allow it to make a wider or narrower line -- a sort of adjustable nib. ;)

I got a lovely small packager from Laura Cater-Woods today -- she sent back the airplane-safe scissors I had thought were hers with an added hand made case --- what a pleasant surprise! :)

In her letter, she said that she hoped I was using the Wednesdays that the store is now closed for my own creative time. (sigh) Not so much -- I'm not taking any other day of the week off, so Wed is turning into appointment day. :P 

Yesterday, for example, I met Officer Bendle from the Howard County Animal Control division to buy four animal liscenses -- one for Foxy which is now on his collar and one for each of the three cats that has to be filed somewhere 'safe' since none of them will _wear_ a collar. :)

I also had to take Chico to the vet yesterday afternoon. Poor old guy, he is gradually losing more and more muscle control (he has the feline equivalent of Parkinson's Disease). He's lost weight and his heart/lungs are laboring. The vet thought he might be developing hyperthyroidism (which cats are apparently prone to in old age). Today the tests came back negative, though ... so ... I fear he is not long for the world. (sniff)

It takes discipline to use some of my 'off' day for creativity -- yesterday I opted to take a three hour nap instead. :P I did sit in front of my lights, and that seems to help.

I also got a piece of fabric in today's mail that I ordered from Bold Over Batiks (hmm, no, it's _made_ by BOB, was sent by Batiks ETC). I decided that I really want that 'arty scrap' quilt I found during our cleaning frenzy to be a lap quilt, so this is to be the border (you can see the body of the quilt here

These BOB fabrics are sold in 2 1/2 yd pieces (for beaucoup $). I'm hoping to get a border all the way around my quilt that is about ten inches wide ... and maybe have a little left over to use for something else.

As much as I love batiks, Bold Over Batiks imports from someone who does the most clear, intense, saturated colors of any company. I love their fabrics, pricey as they are. ;) A literal as well as figurative bright spot. :)

I am working on coin purse number eight for Danielle -- I'm looking forward to finishing these babies and sending them off to her. I am still wondering how many folks are in her tribe, too. :)

Blue Sky

The skies are blue today and the weather mild (in the 40's F). The little dog and I walked a bit farther than usual as we were both enjoying the outdoors. :)  Here, with thanks to Violet is what the sky looked like:

My very most favorite color is that intense blue. :)

Today was the monthly meeting of the Sew&Tell stitch group at my store. Since we had two staff members to work the sales floor, I allowed myself to join the group and sew all afternoon. :) I made two more coin purses for Danielle:

This pic isn't very good so you may not be able to see the embroidery I did on each bag -- one has an aster-like flower, the other a butterfly. :)

I realized the other day that I had never shared the Tulip Bag purse I made from Asian prints and that glorious silk/cotton pink solid. Here's how it turned out:

For now this bag is a sample hanging in the shop. I may take it out and use it when Spring finally arrives, though. I really like how it turned out -- and the pattern was very easy. Next time I'm making a bigger one for a knitting tote. ;)

I spoke to my Mom this morning - she is feeling well and the weather is also being nice today in s.e. Ohio. However, her younger sister, Joyce, is in the hospital. Apparently the doctors think the poor woman has gall stones. Mom expects that she'll have surgery some time this coming week, once the CAT scan and MRI results are back.

Remembering

Today was sunny and _very_ breezy (my car was dancing around on the highway as I drove to my store this morning). It was supposed to get up to 60 degrees F today -- don't know if it did or not, the wind made it feel colder. ;)

For some reason I am thinking of old friends, some of whom are also lost friends. (sniff) One of the unfortunate side effects of being a business owner has been the serious curtailing of my social life. Before I bought the store, I had four people that I would call close friends in my local area. One of them works for me now, so I get to see her almost every day. :) One of them lives less than a half mile from me and I get to see her once or twice a year ... and I miss her.

Two are completely lost and I've been missing them both, wondering how they are and what they are doing now. One was my friend Jackie, from Barbados. Her daughter and mine are the same age -- I wonder how Natalie is and what she is doing ... did she graduate from college and what did she study ... is she married now?

The second was my friend Stan, a househusband (probably back in the work force now since his kids are the same ages as mine and therefor grown:). How is he and his wife? Does he still get to game?

I've also had three good friends die -- my friends Bobbie, Karen and Dawn. I got to go to Karen's funeral, at least, and say good-bye. Bobbie died suddenly and unexpectedly ... and I could not bring myself to go to her funeral. (sigh) Dawn died and I didn't even know about it until six months later. 

Life is a strange journey, to say the least. I still have one friend from my undergraduate days -- Pat in Milwaukee -- and I got to see her in October when we went to Wisconsin for my daughter's wedding. I have to say, even though many years have passed since we were young and in school together, she's still as wonderful as she always has been. :)

I _think_ have another acquaintance from my undergraduate days who lives in this area ... but I have not seen her for more than 25 years. Not sure we would recognize one another.

I've been thinking about making a memory quilt about the women who have influenced me personally. Most of them are family members and friends that I admire ... a couple are women whose lives I have taken comfort from knowing about (Jane Goodall and Mother Theresa fall into this category). Maybe I should start a list while I can still remember.

More Baggage

I made the other small tool bag for my friend's birthday today - I'm happy with the kind of boxy design I came up with:

I put a special tool inside to be the first use for her bag. :)

I also got started on what will be a series of coin purses to give my daughter's friend Danielle for her naming ceremony (D will be giving these away -- they aren't for her use:). These are pinch-top bags, small enough for coin purses. I used high quality black boiled wool for these and some wonderful variegated DMC floss to decorate them. I hope D doesn't think they are too simple/crude!

Here's what they look like open -- you can't really see the two ends of the pinch-clasp, but they are there. :)

I got to talk to my Mom today -- she and my brothers have been working through bronchitis (sigh) in the cold southeastern part of Ohio that they live in -- and snow/ice. (brrrr!) She is well now and will be going to get her second cataract surgery the end of this month (the first eye has healed really well and she is pleased to be able to see well again:).

Slow Progress

I thought I'd share my most recent projects with you. 

First is this tool bag which is entirely hand pieced and is intended as a birthday gift:

Here are the makings for a second, similar bag for another friend:

I finished a small quilt from a pattern by McKenna Ryan last Thursday -- this design is called Harmony:

I actually bought all nine patterns in this collection of designs, thinking that I would make them for my beloved daughter and her new husband. I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but these quilts are intended to be mounted on stretcher bars so they hang on the wall like paintings. I really enjoyed making this one enough to pursue making the others, I think. :)

This was the first time I ever used McKenna's method for finishing the edges of fused designs -- she does a free motion straight stitch just inside the raw edge around all the fused pieces. It was not nearly as hard as I expected to do that, so I might use her methods more often. :)

I have several other projects in my mind, gestating, waiting for time to make. Here are a couple of the more recent ones. :)

First, an antique applique quilt for my bed at home (where we have three cats and a dog) -- a very nice 'cheater' cloth design in early 1800's colors:

Each of these blogs are about 24" square and I have eight of them (was all the yardage they had at the store where I bought the print). Someone I know professionally was there while I was having this cut -- she walked up to feel my forehead, laughing because this is NOT the type of fabric I usually buy. :) Mimi suggested that I could applique one block in the same pattern for the center of a nine-by-nine block set -- no way, Jose! Maybe something pieced. (grin) Not wasting my applique time, precious as it is, on cat claws. LOL

The next piece of fabric I bought I do not know how I will make into a quilt -- what pattern, whether this will be the border, no idea. Could not leave it behind, though. :)

Soft colors, tapestry style print texture, beautiful Renaissance angels -- what's not to like? :)

As you may know, I have a passion for the Daiwabo-style Japanese prints -- taupes, beiges, soft colors and antique reproduction (Japanese) prints. I found a wonderful tote bag kit at a shop that carries the Daiwabo fabrics (there were so many beautiful prints there, I was frozen with indecision -- and at about $17 to $20 per yard, no way I can buy it all:). Anyway, here is a shot of the kit contents (I did not think to take a photo of the bag sample hanging beside the kits, and there is no photo in the instructions). 

I am hoping to make this tote up sometime soon. (sigh)

What are you working on? :)

Blocks of How Many Months?

I'm not sure why but I am being captured by every free block of the month program I come across on the web right now -- and I've found five that I sincerely desire to make. I think the days must be getting longer already -- my usual spring euphoria is clearly starting early this year! :)

Here are two stitchery b.o.m.s that I am doing:

 This one is called Verandah Views and is going on at the Willowberry Designs blog.

 This one is a Christmas stitchery and is being designed by Gail Pan on her blog.

There are two b.o.m.s that can be either applique or redwork (I'm leaning toward redwork:):

  This one is by Esther Aliu and is available on her blog. 

 This totally adorable basket themed b.o.m. is available on the blog Bunny Tales. 

The last b.o.m. is a nifty tree themed quilt that uses foundation piecing and about twenty variations of Flying Geese:

 My friends will get a great chuckle out of my interest in this one since I have often spoken of how much I dislike making FG blocks. You can join my delusion on Twiddletails.

In other news, I spent most of yesterday in Pennsylvania doing a variety of pretty exciting things with a customer/friend. More on that later as I can download the photos. :)

Some photos

I did manage to finish those postcards yesterday. I thought I'd share a few of them before I drop them into the mail box.

The December colors were blue and silver. Many of the participants did snowflakes -- which, truthfully, did not cross my mind. :) I did some fish, some other things. Here are two of them:

"You cannot step into the same river twice." (Sidhartha Ghatama, the Buddha)

"There is no cloud that does not have a silver lining." (not sure -- adage?)

The January colors were pastel purple, blue and white (I took that to mean pastel purple but any blue):

"When snow flies, flowers follow."

"Stars bloom like flowers in the night sky."

As you can see, I mostly did water media for these two months' cards. Someday I should take a watercolor class -- I do enjoy the spontaneity of the medium. 

:) Linda

Errors of Judgement

... are the story of my life (at least I feel that way, sometimes). 

Yesterday (Tuesday) I had to make a call as to whether to close my store due to snow or not. I _think_ I made the wrong choice -- I did close, but it didn't snow as much as the weather report made me fear. (sigh) Hopefully any customers who didn't get to shop will come back.

Today (Wednesday) is our now-regularly-scheduled closed day ... so I've been at home for two days. I'm not very good at being alone these days. I tend to waste my time instead of  doing anything useful. (more sighes)

I have managed to make a good start on the sixteen postcards I am behind in the colors postcards swap -- the December colors were blue and silver and the January colors were pastel purple, blue, and white. I've managed to get watercolored backgrounds for all of them made up. Now I'm pondering embellishments and quotations (each card gets some kind of inspirational quote). Hopefully I'll be finished and can mail them off tomorrow.

A friend gave me a very nice pad of twenty blank watercolor paper postcards for my birthday last fall -- they are easy to paint and fun to work with. In the past, I've sent off fabric postcards of one kind or another, so these will be different from my usual.

I'm sorry to say that I am feeling rather un-inspired with  my sewing recently. Maybe getting the cleaning done in my studio and things set up again will liberate my energy? right now, it's mostly blog reading in front of my bank of lights (set up beside the computer).