TIF-August, TAST

I am still trying to catch up on my challenges. I finished the one for August last night.
Sharon's TIF challenge for August was about balance, what balance is to you, whether you maintain a balanced life, and how you balance aspects of your life.

This was the color scheme:




I have to say, that most of the time I maintain a balanced life, I am able to keep a lot of things
going at the same time. I was doing really well before our daughter's wedding, I was getting a lot of things done, getting ready for the wedding, working, and doing some projects too. Then I just sort of lost my balance. We had our granddaughter's birthday the week after that, for which I made her some gifts. We had our daughter's (the bride's) birthday the week after that. I had some computer issues (which I work on most of the day) which I got straightened out, but it took awhile. I had some Photoshop Element issues which I finally got straightened out, and some printer/scanner issues which I gout straightened out, but these all took time, and in the evening
I did not feel like doing anything creative.


This is my piece for August, representing me trying to keep all the portions of my life in balance. I think I have it back again and am trying to get caught up. The colors really matched the color scheme, although it doesn't show up very well on this photo.
'
Also for the Take a Stitch Tuesday, the balls were done using the barred chain stitch, and alternating barred chain.

TIF-JULY, Sticher's Angel

With our daughter's wedding in August, and preparations for that, time sort of got away from me
for July, although I did get my block pieced. Sharon's concept for July was "half", "way", "mark". I thought long and hard about that, but could not come up with anything to do with it.
I instead just pieced my block using the color scheme.





I am going to use this stitchery to make a needlecase for my
Stitcher's Angel recipient. I hope to get this made up in the next day or two.

TIF MAY, JUNE

I just realized, I never posted pictures of my finished projects for May and June TIF. I am trying to get caught up after the excitement and preparation of the wedding this past Sunday.

Last week, I gave away the project I had finished for TIF May, an eyeglass case as a play it forward gift on my blog.

I had intended to give this to my sister for her birthday,
but I decided the June colors were more of my sisters colors, so I gave this one away.








This was the TIF color scheme for June, and this I also made up into an eyeglass case. My sister loved this when I gave it to her for her birthday this past weekend.

I still have July's to stitch, and August's colors to put together.

TIF MAY

I finished stitching on the TIF for May. I plan to assemble this into an eyeglass case for my sister's birthday in August. She will happen to be here, to attend Katie's wedding 2 days later, so I have a couple of weeks to assemble it. This time I used the color scheme for the month of May.

TIF JUNE

Well my TIF for June still looks like this. I had planned to make this into an eyeglass case yesterday after I got off work, but it did not quite work out that way.

We have been busy doing things around the house that need to be done before the influx of relatives for Katie's wedding.
DH decided that the next thing he is going to work on is a problem with the French doors he installed. My buffet sits right up against the edge of the door he needs to work on, so I had to totally empty dishes, glassware. All the stuff on the the shelf above it, and some tins on another shelf. So this occupied my time, instead of my finishing this project up.






This month as I was thinking of stashes and the stories behind them, I was reminded I also have a stash of sewing machines which I just added to this month.

1. I have the old Singer my parents got me for the Christmas I turned 13. It is in a rounded wooden case.

2. I have a Singer Touch and Sew John bought me right after we were married. It was used but it ran great. This is the machine he still uses to sew sails, and boat-related items.

3. I have a Singer Featherweight. Right before my DFIL died, when he was becoming incapacitated with his Alzheimer's, I flew down to attend a wedding of a friend in San Diego, and stayed with my in-laws. I was big into quilting and asked DMIL if she had ever seen in her garage sale visits a featherweight, and I described it to her. That day we put DFIL in a daycare for the day, and went to a bunch of quilt shops I had heard about. While we were driving around, she told me she had gone to a garage sale and had seen a little machine in the garbage, and asked the people if she could have it, or buy it. They gave it to her. She got it tuned up for $65 and said I could have it, if it was what I was looking for. It was right around my birthday and she gave it to me!

4. Juki Serger. When my oldest daughter got married, she wanted me to make the 4 flower girls dresses, of this really slinky slippery fabric. Halfway into this project my Singer serger had a nervous breakdown and I ended up buying this Juki serger and it is so easy to thread and the tension is always perfect.

6. Bernina 185. This is my embroidery machine, but I also use it for regular sewing and love it.

7. Juki TL98. This is the machine I use for quilting. This is actually the 2nd one I got, the first one was a lemon, so they gave me the demo unit and it works like a dream.

8. Huskystar ER10 embellisher. This is my newest toy, I bought almost 2 weeks ago with my economic stimulus check. I having a great time playing with this, and hope to learn more about what I can do with it soon.

WhAT I'VE BEEN UP TO, TIF JUNE, TAST

As mentioned before, I joined the Fabric Postcard Group on Stitchin Fingers, and this is the one I sent to Penny.



















I also made this one and sent to a friend Marilyn who is a mixed media artist and always makes such lovely comments about anything I am working on.















This is for my TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday) Group I am also in on Stitchin Fingers. I added the detached chain stitch to what I had previously done on my buttonhole sample.
















Lastly, this is my Take It Further Challenge project for June. I am going to try to make it into an eyeglass case today and should have the finished project tomorrow.

MAY TIF, JUNE TIF, MAIL SURPRISE

Well May got away from me. I quilted and sent away my Spring Quilt Swap quilt, worked on and sent off 2 RRs, and the biggie was finishing up my CQI purse last week.

So I finally got to piece my block for the May TIF last night. I am going to make this into an eyeglass holder for my sister's birthday in August.







June's TIF concept is about stashes. Sharon B describes it: "Stashes are either purchased or scavenged materials that have accumulated over time and as such they often have a story to tell........So this month, the idea is to think about is stories that are, and stories that are possible."

This is the color scheme for this month.

Well I am certainly not going to take a picture of all of my stashes but I will list them.

This one though, is the one that got me started. A long time ago, when my 2 daughters were small and living at home, DH built me a room upstairs in the crawl space that was 8 x 10. This was my sewing/craft room. At that time, I had 2 knitting machines, and I collected a HUGE stash of yarn.

These are just the ones that are on the wall of the cone yarns. I have about 10 large boxes of skein yarn, and more of the cone yarns. But I went way, way overboard, and I am not even really knitting anymore, but I still have this huge stash.

When my daughters left home I acquired 1 of their bedrooms for my office, and 1 for my sewing room. The yarn stayed upstairs.







Next I started quilting and I have a HUGE fabric stash. They are generally separated separate stashes of:

30's fabric. (HUGE)
Civil War reproductions (HUGE)
Homespuns (HUGE)
Red, whites and Blues (HUGE)
Nauticals (HUGE)
Chickens and Roosters
Neutrals
Reds
Blues
Greens
Browns
Blacks

Then I have a large wool stash, because I love doing penny rugs, etc, and have wool threads to go with those.

Then there is the CQ Stash with
Fabric
Threads
Laces
Hankies
Buttons
Beads

Anyway, this past year, I have been whittling down my various stashes, and trying just to use what I have and not buy anything else, although I have bought some threads and laces. I also donated fabric for the 19 pounds of red, white and blue fabric for the American Hero quilts, and some for another charity. I shared some of my Civil War reproductions with some friends.





Last night, after I pieced my May TIF, I went ahead and pieced by June TIF. I used what was in my stash and they are not usually colors I use so there were not many choices.

















Lastly but certainly not least, yesterday's mail brought his beautiful postcard from Jo in NZ. I was the winner of her May drawing. It is just lovely. Thanks again so much Jo!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, TIF MAY

Hope all the mothers have a lovely day today. Both my girls and 3 grandchildren will be coming over sometime today. John has decided to make a boiled dinner with ham, potatoes, carrots and cabbage.















Sharon's concept for May is: "How Do You Describe Yourself As An Artist?" Be sure to read Sharon's post on this. You can find it here.

This is the color scheme this month:


This concept isn't something I have really thought about before. But I guess I would think of myself first as an artist, whether a quilt artist, a watercolor artist, a doll artist, a fiber artist, a crazy quilt artist.

My husband John, when I asked him, said he has always thought of me as artsy-craftsy (for some reason I don't like that term). He said if it has anything to do with arts or crafts I will want to do it!

APRIL TIF, JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME

The Take it Further challenge for April, outlined by Sharon Boggon here, questions how we view change.

For my challenge project this month, I started out thinking I was going to play with some images in my Photoshop Elements, print them on fabric, and then embellish them. Well I played around with this for about a week, and I could not get my program to really do what I wanted to do, but I came up with this.

By now I am running out of time to embellish anything, so I decided it would just be a picture, reflecting how I am always thankful for our hot Sacramento summers to change into fall, and my love of sunflowers.

But I really was not pleased with this image. The colors are not right, the background and the image of my sunflowers.



Next I decided to play with some images of my John and I and how we have changed. The first, was in around 1976, I was 26, and he was 32. We had been married 1 year. The shirt he was wearing was one I made for him and embroidered, styled after one that Neil Diamond had worn on the cover of one of his albums. He has always romanced me with music, and most importantly, Neil Diamond tunes! The second picture was taken last autumn, 2007.
I finally was able to add words to my layout, which has eluded me for days. It will be there, but not print up. But I finally mastered this, I think.



This morning, I redid the first image of my sunflowers, and I like this one A LOT MORE!

TAKE IT FURTHER CHALLENGE, MARCH FINISHED

Sharon B.'s theme for March is: "Do you ever notice the little things, the small moments, the details in life? This months challenge is to do just that, pay attention to the tiny details. Sometimes the small things become emblematic for something larger."

I did a lot of thinking about this month's theme. I would have loved to notice the little things in my garden, but my garden is still in a winter mess, and needs to be sorted out.

The thing that I see on a day to day basis, is this starfish, that occupies a place in a shadow box filled with shells in my home office where I work each day.

Throughout the past couple of weeks, I thought about what I was going to do. I decided to make a paper collage incorporating this starfish.

I have to explain that I have always loved the ocean, lighthouses, sea life, and my husband and I have a mutual love of sailing and old sailing ships.
Almost every room in our house reflects this.



This shows my completed collage. The piece at the time is a copy of the border that is in my bathroom that I just had to have several years ago when we remodeled our bathroom, with the sailing ships, lighthouse and whale.

I also stamped a row of starfish, and added a metallic placard (I collect a lot of scrapbooking items and stamps too). I cut out the picture of my starfish after I had enlarged it.

I also came across a quote of William Shakespeare that
I loved, "my bounty is as boundless as the sea.
my love as deep; the more to give to thee
the more I have, for both are infinite". It is from Romeo and Juliet, act II, scene 2 in Capulet's garden.




This is the back of the piece, I included some images of the many starfish I found online. I did not realize they came in so many shapes and colors.












I also thought I would show one of our nautical quilts. I did bluework squares of nautical motifs, or quotes and set them in a crazy setting.















I even incorporated in this 27' sailboat DH built.













And this 25' houseboat he built, that was our last boat.

SPRING QUILT SWAP, TIF

Today's mail brought a big surprise. I got a package from Betsy from Florida. On the way inside, I was wondering what I had ordered, and I couldn't remember ordering anything. On opening the package I discovered she was my partner in the Spring Quilt Swap, and I received this lovely quilt. It is gorgeous Betsy, thank you so much! I really love it!













On the Take it Further Challenge for March, I have already changed my mind. I decided Kaboul is going to have to wait a little further for her outfit. Ever since Sharon gave us the challenge for this month, I have been looking for small details. On walking out of my office, on the wall by the doorway, I glanced at this trinket box on the wall that I have filled with shells, and the starfish caught my eye.


So for the March concept, I am going to do something with the intricacies of starfish.

TAKE IT FURTHER CHALLENGE, MARCH

Sharon B's March Take it Further Challenge is "Do you ever notice the little things, the small moments, the details in life? This months challenge is to do just that, pay attention to the tiny details. Sometimes the small things become emblematic for something larger."

This is the color scheme for this month:


When I first read about the challenge, I had ideas of incorporating one of my UFO's, which is a small detail in my life, and finishing it up grandly. For probably more than 14 years, I have passed by this unfinished small detail in my life, and kept thinking I needed to finish it up.


Way before I made quilts, but after I was into my machine
knitting phase, I made porcelain dolls. This is one of the last ones I made. Her name is Kaboul, I don't know the maker off the top of my head. She is a fairy, although that is hard to see because she is wearing a knit dress of my youngest daughter's, that was hers when she was a baby. Kaboul has been moved from place in my house, sadly restricted to the spare bedroom, sometimes my sewing room because she is not dressed properly for a fairy. Her wig isn't even glued on.

For awhile this problem was due to the fact that I lost the bag with the pattern for her clothes, and her wings (for several years). I have know where they are for the past several years, but still haven't gotten around to it. All my other dolls have proper clothes on, but not poor Kaboul.



This morning noticing one of the fine details on this picture, I notice Kaboul is missing one of her fingers. I wonder where it could be? Maybe in my sewing room her last residence before the spare bedroom again. I will have to look for it.

So this month, unless I can think of a better idea for this month's subject, Kaboul is going to be outfitted right down to her fairy wings, have her wig glued on, and maybe find her missing finger.

Don't think I am going to use the color scheme this month though, as I already have fabrics set aside for her outfit.

TAKE IT FURTHER CHALLENGE, FEBRUARY, FINISHED

I finished my February TIF piece, "I Remember Mommy". I also used the color scheme. This piece measures 8 x 10 and will eventually be framed.

My mother loved roosters and chickens, so I added some in the piece too. For some strange reason, after she died, I feel this compulsion to collect roosters and chickens and make a rooster and chicken quilts.

I thought of a few more things my mother told me:

Your sewing or embroidery should always look as good on the back as it does on the front.

When I was in 7th grade, I wanted to take choir class as one of my electives. My mother told me I could sing anytime, she wanted me to take home economics, which I ended up doing. When I was 15-17 I was making all my own clothing, plus some of my mother's and my sister's.

TAKE IT FURTHER CHALLENGE, FEBRUARY

Yesterday I got my block pieced for the February block for Sharon's Take It Further Challenge.

The first thing I remember is my mother. My mother was 18 when I was born, and she had been married 10 months, so she was a new bride, and a new mother and I was her first born.

I remember things my mother told me like:

If you don't have something nice to say about someone, don't say anything at all.

Always wear clean underwear, because what if you were in an accident?

You catch more flies w/honey than vinegar.

Don't cry over spilled milk.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

I can't remember her exact wording, but it was essentially something like there is no sense doing something if you don't do it right the first time.

I also remember that if you mother tells you not to wear your good locket to school you shouldn't
(I didn't heed this advice and lost mine).

I had an interesting time making this block yesterday. I am trying to use just what is in my stash, and it was so dismal with these colors, I was contemplating using the concept and not the color scheme. But I was finally able to put a block together.

I also rediscovered something yesterday. I started out with a relatively clean sewing room. There seems to be a direct correlation with making a crazy quilt block and the shape my room gets in afterwards. I am going to have to pick up again in there today before I can do anything else. When I am making a CQ block, a crazy woman comes out and makes a huge mess!