Next phase of ongoing projects....

In addition to preparing for Florida and the  upcoming holidays - yes, the holidays are coming whether you want them to or not!! - these are the four projects I'm working on!  They should keep me busy for a day or two!

A gift cuff

Start of my online MACRO challenge - yes, lots of beading involved!

My 2nd Tiffany reverse applique piece for our Masters Exhibit.  You can see what the pattern and  fabrics I'm using here.

 Ugo's artwork for my inspiration for Master's exhibit.  You can read about Ugo on my post here.

First Tiffany piece finished

I finished my first Tiffany piece for the Inspired by the Master... exhibit.  It's funny because we've had so much humidity and fog even this picture looks cloudy!

Here are a few closeups...I added beading around the inside of the sun...had to put beads on my piece! 

And a closeup of the echo quilting.  I echoed the background as well using an orange thread to match vs contrast with the background.

I'm happy with how this piece turned out.  I haven't even made one cut on my 2nd Tiffany piece (the peacock I posted about here).  Might be a good project to take to Florida with me!

Decisions, decisions...

Seems we always have decisions to make, doesn't it...so it's no surprise my current projects are giving me some options...but then I do love options!

 I finished hand stitching the center of my sun and started on the 'rays'...you can see the top 3 rays are also stitched.  I wanted to do some stitching on the purple area and I still may but I'll match the thread...and of course, I'm thinking of adding some beads around the center of the sun.

Guess I'll just go ahead and stitch some bead spirals and see how it looks.  Time consuming but I don't mind!

I've made great progress on my beaded cuff.  In fact, too much...it's a perfect fit right now but....I have to decide if I want the 'X' area to be the center of my cuff or if I want the 'diamond' area to be the center!

I'll have to remove some of the beads from the left side and finish the 'X' on the right side!  Hmmmmmmmm

I like my cuffs on the tight side so I could actually leave as is and just slide it to either pattern I want in the middle...DECISIONS, decisions....but that's what keeps us on our toes isn't it! Or is it just busy work!

I have to say it was interesting to read the comments from my readers on 'scrubbing the floor on hands and knees' post .  Must be our generation...I still remember my great aunt (who raised me for my younger years) getting on her hands and knees, in a dress, no less!, scrubbing the floors.  Just the way we were raised.  And I don't think it's a bad thing at all.  Hard work is good for us and I do love being Suzie Homemaker.  Yes, I still make breakfast for Bob every morning and if he's home for lunch, I will make a sandwich for him or just cut up an apple.  Of course, I make dinner every night, unless hubby takes me out.  Some of my friends tease me or think these acts aren't necessary but for me it works!  All in the way we were raised and the environment we were raised in.

Another cool, beautiful day!  At least for me...Bob had to wear slacks rather than shorts for golf today but it's perfect for dog walking!  Which I have to do shortly!

Whew!

OK, so after I got back from grocery shopping, I scrubbed the dining room & kitchen wood floors and the master bath.  All on my hands and knees!  Yes, I'm old fashion and I like to get down and not just move a wet mop around...guess I'd rather move a wet rag around!  Oh well...makes me feel better...I only do this once a month...rest of the time I do just move that wet mop around the floors!

I also brushed Kalee and trimmed Cody's bottom and now I'm sitting and relaxing!  Figured I better get a blog post out there.  Yesterday, I worked most of the day quilting my sun/moon Tiffany piece.

 

I decided to just outline quilt the moon and the background.

For the sun, I plan on doing some stab stitching by hand.  I would like to add some beads and of course I have to decide how to stitch the rest of the moon pieces...purple and orange points.


The next pic shows some of the background stitching.  From a distance, you can't even tell there's any stitching there.  That's fine with me...I don't want to take away from the moon or sun.

So that's all from me!  A beautiful day again with all windows open...love the fresh air!!!

Sun and Moon

I've blogged lately about my Tiffany sun and moon piece I was struggling with.  I wanted to use Susan's, tried and true!, reverse applique technique, but had huge struggles this time!  OK, I did struggle with 'Georgia' the first time too, but she ended up just great!

You can read about the last struggle I had with the 'sun and moon'  here!   So, yesterday, I removed all the stitching (again!) and then fused some black bias tape for the leading!  Woohoo!  Finally...I am happy with the piece!

I still have quite a bit of work to do on the bugger but I'm glad to have it at this point. I plan to do some Trapunto and of course I'm sure there will be beads in addition to the quilting.  The sun orange is quite a bit brighter than appears in the picture...but I will have to continue to keep it brigh compared to the background orange/green.
The piece will be put on hold for a day or two as I've got lots going on this week.  We're headed to the kids today to celebrate Amber's BD, a few days early, with the rest of the families.
Speaking of Amber, here's her Kumi bracelet all finished.  I added the clasps for her and will take it with me today.  She did a good job for her first bracelet!

We had lots of rain again yesterday and tonight!  Temps have dropped to the 60's and I even turned on the heat this a.m.!!!  I know...something must be wrong with me!  Warmer weather is headed our way this week.  After all...it is almost August and it is Michigan!!

Here we go again!!

Since I'm so good at 'unsewing'...I thought I'd give it a go again on my Tiffany piece!  Sure, why not...I'm not doing anything else!  NOT!!!

I'm using black cotton sateen for the leading, which I didn't think would fray as bad as some other cottons.  But....I kept having problems with fraying...hence, this is me starting to unsew my lead lines (red threads) and my reverse applique stitching (around the orange fabric)....it was good TV work and kept me busy while listening to the Tiger's!

I did come to the conclusion that I'm cutting my turn under area(s) too small...so, I'm going to try the cotton sateen again!

This is what will be under the black sateen...the pale lips you see won't be pale.  I'm going to cut a heart shape and fuse to the piece when all the stitching is finished.  OK, at least that's my plan!!

Yesterday I did the basting of the black fabric and then last night I stitched the center of my lead lines (next photo).  I want to make my mentor, Susan, proud of my work...so if I have to redo again and again, I'll do it!!  Just hope I don't have to!!!

Temp is already at 81!  And we're expected to have temps in the 90's for at least 4-5 days this week!!  UGH...as I've said before...not my kind of weather!!  Monday we have our fiber meeting since it was canceled last week.  We'll have a nice time with all the show and tell...and of course lunch somewhere!!!

I did finish my cuff so I'll be posting pics of it later!!  Now to decide what else to do!!!

Break time?

  Well, it is break time from all the reorg I've been doing!!  But it does feel good to look at what I've accomplished.    I finished  the downstairs this a.m.  going through some of the old books I got from the library book sale...I  use these from time to time and I did get rid of some of them but saving most of them (I failed in this area, Lynn!).  I'll take some with me to our fiber mtg to see if anyone can use them.  The dye/wet room looks SO good!!!  And I even did a reorg in my closet today!!!  Bob took two bags to GoodWill this afternoon!

I'm making good progress on my Sand Fiber peyote cuff.  I'm going to try a different method for the closure that I saw on Beadaholic web site.  It's called a beaded toggle...now I just need to figure out when I stop my rows and start to create the toggle!  Might need some really quiet time for this step!!

This is the start of my Tiffany piece...these are the fabrics that will be under the 'leading'/black fabric.


The next picture shows the back of this piece where I've stitched the center line for the leading.

Lots of prep work for this reverse applique method but well worth it in the end.  It took a great mind to come up with this process and I'm so glad she's my buddy!  Thanks, Susan!

You have to look really close to see the red stitching, which is the center of the leading (reverse applique).

This is always the scariest part!!!  Cutting into the piece (black fabric only!) and starting to stitch the leading.

So that's on my to do list for today!  Start to cut and sew!!

On Wednesday, I'm taking Amber and Nick, along with their friends, to the 4-H fair.  This is our tenth year of fair going!!!  I love having this as our annual event...now to hope the rain holds off!!!

A productive day...

Today was a productive day for me...I am usually productive or at least busy....I don't have very many days of just sitting on the couch and eating bon bons and watching TV!  But that does sound like fun!  Well, maybe not...depends I guess what kind of bon bons and what's on TV!   But I digress...back to my day.
Kalee sits in the car with a dog safety harness on but she likes to sit up and look out the window...so I made her a pillow to sit on.  I bought this fabric in Florida this winter.  It's a reproduction of a newspaper but from a dog's point of view!  Cute or what!  The pillow is all finished and in the car!  Now my little one can sit up higher and look out.

I am a fan of Lynn Krawczyk and have followed her blog & FB posts for quite sometime.  This past week Lynn started a reorganizing of her art space (her warehouse and studio - both in her home).  She was brave enough to post pics of the before and after shots of her rooms and is now writing a six part series on how she "reclaimed her space".   She got me thinking today about my little art world....it's not bad...but there's always room for improvement...so, today I did purge 3 drawers!  Thanks, Lynn!!!  You got me motivated!!!  And for others who would like some motivation, do check out Lynn's blog and don't miss her six part series!

 I don't like things laying out on tables...so my projects are put in one of my drawers under my work bench.  Because my bird's cage is in front of the closest where all my fabric is stored, I don't always put the fabrics away...it's such a pain to have to move Grace's cage to get in the closet, so at times, I tend to 'pile' fabric in the drawers.  You can see all the fabric I started taking out of this drawer to put away.

After my purge and put away...this drawer just contains my current projects and fabrics I need for them.  All stored nicely and no excess fabric in the drawer...yes, I had to move Gracie's cage to put all the fabric away!  But it was worth the effort!

This second drawer contains some of my 'self' help folders...I say 'self' help because they are my own tips, tricks, ideas, etc.  I also have some special pieces of fabric that I want to work on in the future.   No, they don't belong in the 1st drawer because I'm not working on them (yet!).  It's  a method that works for me!   Don't ask!



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And this next drawer I had old receipts for threads, fabrics, etc.   I mean from YEARS ago!  Not sure why I was saving them but the drawer was really messy!  So purge I did!!!  And now it holds my wonderful Label Maker (a gift from my daughter!) and ear buds, etc.  Just some electronics I use in my art room.

So, with just reorganizing those 3 drawers allowed me to get started with a project from that 1st drawer!  Actually, the kids and I went to the copy store yesterday and I had a coloring page enlarged so I can start working on my Tiffany piece. I just didn't know I would start on it today.

 I found this coloring page (copyright free) and had it enlarged 250%.    It's sun/moon and I think it will work for the Inspired By Master - Tiffany exhibit.

I'm hoping it will work for the reverse applique technique Susan developed and taught me!!!  I had another picture that I sent to my mentor (Susan).  Because it had lots of small areas, Susan recommended it would work if I were doing a large quilt...but we're limited to 16" X 20", so I chose this more simple design.

Here all all the pieces cut out and ready for the next step...which I did today...I basted the black fabric I'll use for the leading (stained glass effect) and tomorrow I'll start stitching the leading lines.  It's a pretty labor intensive process but works so well!!!

The colors in this picture aren't as vivid as in person.  There's more yellow/orange and the deep purple is really a pretty purple..the picture looks yucky...but you get the idea.

Here is the back of my piece...the black fabric is basted to the front and where you see the red ink lines, I'll stitch all of those so they show up on the front/black fabric.  CONFUSED YET!!!!

I love, love, love this process my Q Buddy, Susan, developed.  I know I may have some studying to do on this one before I start cutting into the black fabric...there are small areas in this piece as well and I need to take into consideration keeping some of the lines flowing rather than chopping them up....it's hard to explain...I had a good teacher so I know what i need to do...just don't know if I can do it!!!  But I'll try and if not, it's a good practice piece, right!
So that was my day...I grilled chicken & veggie Kabob's for dinner and Bob took Kalee and me for a Blizzard too!!!  Now we're watching the Tigers (9-0! yea!) and relaxing!!  All in all a good day!  Hope ya all had a good 4th as well!