Monday, May 26, 2014

I've been working on GigiR's Red Deer Sampler a lot recently.  Finished the green of the border (which met up -- yay!), finished the flowers on 2 sides as well.  And here is my progress on the interior that I started.


I'm loving the colors!

Here's my fussy cut star for the week, using a Vicksburg fabric from Judie Rothermel.


We've managed to get the whole family together for part of the long weekend.  After a lot of fuss and bother trying to get to the Bronx Zoo and failing (traffic and full parking lots defeated us), we went to Peekskill for some coffee, books, and dinner.




As soon as we left, both kids were off with friends and activities for the evening.  The father type and I are hoping for a relaxing day with the kids tomorrow.  We shall see!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  French Open started yesterday!!  Happy Memorial Day to everyone in the states.  May we always remember.



Monday, May 19, 2014

Back to little x's

I did go back to some little x's.  But first, I finished all the blocks for the Tula Pink City Sampler (100 Modern Blocks) quilt.  Now all I have to do is put them together into a quilt.



Here is my Fussy Cut Star for the week, along with last week's star.  I used the same fabric as last week but in a different way.


I finished the stitching on the pincushion and fob for the second Colonial Gatherings piece (from Dyeing to Stitch), designed by Tanya of Scarlett House.  This is the Strawberry House.



And I started the Red Deer Sampler from GigiR Designs using the called for fabric and fibers.


I have more done than this, but it's pretty boring since I'm only stitching the green part of the border right now.

Over the weekend, we went to our favorite mall for a bit of this.


We love Johnny Rocket's!  We also got on the ferris wheel.  I doubt the father type has ever been on it before.  The boy child and I haven't ridden it since he was tiny.


The view from the top.


Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week!




Monday, May 12, 2014

picking up the boy child (lots of pics)

First, here are my Tula blocks for the week.







Nine more blocks to go!

Here is my fussy cut star for the week, using Autumn Harvest by Jason Yenter.


I also got Annabella's Cowl off the needles -- just need to weave in the ends.

Annabella's Cowl from a kit from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas

I finally started stitching a bit again.  Here's a peek of the stitching I did on the Jenny Bean Sampler from Scarlet Letter.


And I also started the Shepherd's Fold piece from Shepherd's Bush.


This past weekend it was time to go to Boston to pick up the boy child from college again.  This time we met him at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.


We went to the Museum to see a lovely quilt exhibit from the collection of Pilgrim Roy.



I took tons of quilt pictures, but here are the featured quilts shown on various posters around the museum.




And just one of my many favorites.  Amish quilts always have a soft spot in my heart.


We also got to see an Impressionist exhibit, which was wonderful.  Here's my favorite of the exhibit.  A Degas ballerina in bronze with gauze.


When we got home from Boston, I found a surprise waiting for me from my sweet girl child for Mother's Day.


And here's what was inside -- 3 pieces of Liberty Tana Lawn!  How did she know?!


Aren't they gorgeous?  My girl child is so sweet and thoughtful.

Mia was happy to have us home again.


Hope all who celebrated Mother's Day yesterday had a good one!  Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  Have a great week!


Monday, May 5, 2014

bound feet

I finished the color work section of my Eclat du Jour bag.


And yes, in case you're wondering, I had a change of heart and changed one of the colors.  The blue colorway is a Plucky Knitter yarn called Two Drifters in Primo Fingering.  The neutral color is a Cephalopod yarn called Moon Jelly in Skinny Bugga.  Now I have to get up the nerve to do the rest -- which involves at least two techniques I've never done before.  Yikes!  Plus blocking and finishing, of course.  I seem to have put it away for now.  lol!

Here is my Fussy Cut Fridays Star for the week, using a Jo Morton Woodlands fabric.


And here are my Tula blocks for the week.  Being finished with the triangle blocks is a relief.  :D






Sorry for the shadows in some of the pictures.  I now have 67 blocks out of 100 done.  Here's my pile so far.


The father type and I went to our favorite craft fair on Saturday, the Lyndhurst Craft Fair.  It's both a foodie and crafty extravaganza.  We always manage to get some kettle corn.


And to bring home a yummy tart from Dutch Desserts.  (This one was peach/raspberry.)


There were so many wonderful artists there, but I feel funny posting pictures without giving them credit so I won't.  But we did stop at one of my favorites, Laura Baring Gould, who makes wonderful cast bronze pieces.  This makes the third year I've bought something from her.


We had a lovely conversation about her work and about other things as well.  And I brought home a lovely piece.


The piece in the front -- a "bound foot shoe" made from an actual shoe from China.  You can see all the wonderful detail from the shoe, even the stitching.  The two pears in the back are also Laura's work.  What you can't tell from the pictures is how wonderfully heavy and substantial these pieces are.  The bound foot shoe has even more significance for me since one of my grandmothers had bound feet.  She showed them to me once, unwrapped and naked.  It's an experience I will never forget.

(The box in the back is one from the wonderful Betsy Krieg Salm.  I've shown it before on this blog.)

I can't end this post without a pic of our Mia.  Here she is, having fallen asleep in a typical position in her bed.


Silly cat.

Thanks for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week!