Cross Stitching

 

Cross Stitching

February 27th, 2006 ~ Monday: It's been a while since I blogged. Work has been busy - it's audit time at both jobs. I cleaned up my office and designed some storage units as well as a work table. It was a necessity because I was so tired of digging through boxes and bags for a particular needle size, a pattern I remember buying at a quit show, or just one lousy safety pin. It's nice to know where everything is now. My motivation, besides having company, was the need to begin designing my challenge for our Guild's show in June. It's supposed to be a self-portrait. I may do something "disney" of just a simple photo collage.
Today I'm going to post a photo of one of my other hobbies besides knitting and quilting. This cross stitch item was finished a few years ago. It is worked 2 threads over on linen. I had it professionally framed and it hangs in the room just off my kitchen.

Poinsettia #3

 

Poinsettia #2

 

Poinsettia #1

 

Snow and Quilting

Saturday, February 12th - We had my least favorite thing happen during the night ~ SNOW! And it appears that it's enough so that's going to require a shovel. Oh, how I wish I lived in the South!
Earlier in the week I blogged a photo of my water lily quilt ~ pattern by Eileen Sullivan. I have another Eileen Sullivan quilt to share with you. This one is Poinsettia and although I don't have a finished photo, but it is indeed finished, I wanted to share my 'progress' photos with you so that you can see how it all comes together. I really enjoy paper piecing!
Photo #2 is trying to decide which fabric to use as the border print. As you can see in Photo #3 I went with something different from my first 3 choices. I thought that the color in the small rose buds brought out the color of the poinsettia. You'll notice I didn't want to make this a traditional RED flower. I used fushias and pinks so that it could hang year-round. I did use the fabric to the right on Photo #2 for the backing.

Meteor 

Snowflake & Shadow with Christopher 

China Girl 

Four Fluffy Furry Feline Floozies

I need to introduce my family. First there is China Girl. She is the one with her eyes closed. She has such a personality. She was a kitten when I met her. She lived in the neighborhood with another family, but I don't think they took care of her. She would always come over to my porch, and eventually she came everyday. I guess putting food out for her was the motivating factor. Then one day we had a terrible snowstorm, about 18" of snow. I made up a litter box and brought her into the house. Then the family wanted her back, and they moved away. I cried, but realized that she wasn't really mine. Then 3 weeks later she showed up at my doorstep....the rest is history. Now she's 100% indoor cat. I moved to a much larger house, and adopted 3 more kitties. The next of my babies are Shadow (pink nose) and Snowflake (dark nose). As you might have guessed, they are sisters. They were rescued and adopted from the North Fork Animal Shelter when they were 6 weeks old. That's my son Christopher holding them at 4 weeks, at the Shelter before we could take them home. That's about a year ago, and they are quite large now. Snowflake has turned into a real 'fatty'. Snowflake is also known as flashlight kitty. She goes crazy when the flashlight is moved about the room on the floor. Shadow is shoe kitty because she loves shoes. They are like catnip to her. I've even woken up some mornings to find her little toy mouse placed in my flipflops by the bed. She seems to stay away from my sons sneakers....pretty sure why that is. The next kitty is Meteor. Meteor was rescued from behind a McDonald's and was adopted from a group called "SAVES". Meteor is a tuxedo cat. He is the only male in the group and loves having his belly rubbed...he reminds me of a dog. He has a purr that can be heard down the block. All four are indoor pets.

 

Water Lily

Tuesday, February 7th - Ah, the doldrums of winter have set it. It's been quite mild here in the Northeast, but it's still winter.......and it's my least favorite season. Seems that I just hear ching - ching everytime the oil burner fires up.
I thought I'd start out by showing you this quilt I made using an Eileen Sullivan pattern. It was entirely paper pieced. I've had Donna at Quilting up a Storm machine piece most of my quilts, as I am not so good at machine quilting, and I haven't hand quilted in over 10 years. Donna does wonderful work. I always give her freedom to decide how to quilt, and I've never been disappointed. This quilt hangs over the mantle in my living room and usually cheers me when I look at it. The living room is painted a light blue, and the darker blue fabric with the bright fushia really makes the quilt pop. Well, it's 8:30 AM and I should soon be off to work. The accountant is coming in 2 weeks, and there is no way that I'm ready with the year end stuff. I barely get the day-to-day work done. I need a weekend alone in that place to just get caught up.
In the knitting department I'm working on a baby blanket. Size 10 1/2 needles with Lion Brand Wool-Ease thick n' quick. I really like the way the yarn handles. The pattern is worked side-ways...cast on 5 stitches, then knit 2, yo over and knit to end. When you get to about 100 stitches, you then start to decrease, by knitting 2, knitting 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together and knit to end. It forms a beautiful edging. My hope is to put tassels on each corner. It's not an incredibly large blanket. But, I think it will be perfect for a cover in a baby carriage, or a stroller. I made it for one of my co-workers who has been out on maternity leave since Nov 30th....she'll be coming back to work on March 2nd, and I can't wait because I really have missed her.
Have a great day! 

Four Furry Floozies

Saturday ~ February 4, 2006: Finally decided to give this 'blog-thing' a try. I've been lurking for a few months. Furry Floozies was chosed to celebrate my Four Furry Feline Friends; China (aka China Doll, China Girl), Shadow (aka Shoe Lover), Snowflake (aka Flashlight Kitty) and Meteor (aka Meatys). Photos to be posted at a later date. But this blog is not about cats, although their antics, I'm sure, will be shared from time to time. This blog will be about knitting and quilting. Knitting during the winter, and Quilting during the Summer. From time to time I will also feature comments about my career (Winery Office Manager), my volunteer activities (Firefighter/EMT) and my almost 12 year old son, Christopher. I will also share about my family. I will also share about my love for Disney and my many collections, including enough yarn and fabric to open a large store.
News of the week is that I signed up for EIGHT, yes 8 classes at my local yarn shop. I never do anything on a small scale. I'll be taking the first class this Wednesday. It is entitled Flowers, Flowers & Flowers. I saw the samples in the shop when I signed up and they look like they will be fun (& quick) to create. I have to go through my sparkle yarn stash, as well as my button collection so I have some supplies to bring. I'm knitting a felted needle roll, but I doubt I'll have it finished by then, so I'll just have to throw a bunch of needles in a shopping bag. I have a lot of UFO's at the moment. Gave up trying to knit socks with Koigu and size 1 dp needles. Perhaps after my One Session Wonders classes every Friday in March, I can graduate up to that. But until then, I have 2 baby blankets in the works, as well as a beaded ascot. Look for finished creation photos to be posted at a later date.
Well, I'm off to read one of my favorite blogs, A Dress a Day at http://www.dressaday.com/dressaday.html