I wiped away the weeds & foam. / I fetched my sea-born treasures home... Ralph Waldo Emerson







Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Hi! I am Here!


Hi everyone! I am so happy to report that in the past few days I am feeling much better! Yay!
I have progressed from lying hopelessly in bed to [eew] watching daytime TV [or recorded shows--- I have become hooked on Who Do You Think You Are? LOL, I can just see my old ancestors...doin' nuthin'! I don't think they've plowed the land grant yet...from the Revolutionary War!]...to spending an hour or two each afternoon, enjoying my deck and the summer sea breeze while I hand quilt my doll quilt from last winter...



Okay, not the best hand work but progress? We can pretend a child did it?



I also dug out a project, a small hooked rug panel. I requested this as a Christmas gift a few years ago from my sister in law who is an expert rug hooker.


I love the idea but I can't seem to get the hang of hooking!


The hook snags when I pull the loops through to the front..why? I must need a class or a tutor.



It sounds strange..and braggy but it is odd for me not to be good at a hand craft. Even crafts I don't do, like crochet: if I have a pattern and a how-to book, I can produce a decent crocheted thing, if I must. But this hooking! Nope. Not to mention stupid mistakes, like using the ivory beard wool for the hat fur...a rip out. So back in the UFO chest it will go, for now.

I also am back working on Mr Sunshine. I ordered a batch of oddly cut fabrics [a jelly roll? 6'' x 45" pieces] of brilliantly colored Kaffee Fasset prints. I had to soak them in Retayne here (I ordered it from eQuiter) and I am glad I did because the presoak wash was very red when I rinsed the fabrics. But later when I washed them, the Shout Color Catchers showed no bleeding. Nothing worse than red stains on something one has spent endless hours on.



I had hoped to use all stash fabrics for this quilt but I needed  some vivid reds and textured  yellows.
I found this print with little ''stars'' to use for all the tiny appliqued stars the design requires. I just can't imagine sewing hundreds of 1/2'' stars....
below, right.

 
The fabrics were perfect for this redo, too. Remember how dull the big flower  was?
 
 
new

 
Here is the redo, not yet sewed....much better?  though I see that now the leaf on the top right needs to be repositioned ...



The beach is still out of reach...but I can enjoy these last muggy days of August.



These are my deck flowers, so carefully watered and cared for by my children, so I would have my flowers to make me smile.



 
 

 




So much nicer than my boring bedroom, isn't it.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach [if only in my dreams...