There have been two things that have made me happy on this Monday……
Seeing the cable that is being laid in my neighborhood to bring wired internet and TV service!!! No more DSL or U-Verse!!
Having these pins delivered to my front door. I bought them specifically to use on my design wall and they are PERFECT. The “comfort” heads make them easier to push and the size of the head makes them easier to find when I drop them!!!
As they say…..
I am working on a challenge piece so don’t want to show it until Tuesday, but PLEASE tell me that your studio looks like this when you are in creative mode……
When our first child (Brian) was born back in 1985, and my daughter (Jenny) followed in 1987, I was very early into my quilting career. Even so, I knew that I wanted to make quilted stockings for our entire family.
At the time, we were living in Canberra, Australia while my husband finished his PhD and Post-Doctoral fellowship, so Aussie animals seemed the perfect way to go. I used patterns from a book by Margaret Rolfe….
Michael and I were very much into the birds in our neighborhood so a Kookaburra and Sulfur Crested Cockatoo were perfect for us, while the Koala and Kangaroo were great for the kids…..
These four stockings hung proudly over the years and were filled with many fun goodies.
In 2010, Amber was added to our family and another stocking was needed. I tried to think about what she might like and immediately thought of a kitty….one that looks a lot like her cat Wheatley…….
So….with the Jenny’s marriage to Kevin earlier this year, it was time for another stocking. I kept trying to think of something to put on his stocking and finally contacted my daughter to ask her advice……she said an “X-box Controller”!!! Works for me!!!!
Now I can say….the stockings were hung by the chimney with care……
……bring on the holiday season!!!
Now that I have decorated for Christmas, I am finally being able to enjoy sleeping under my scrap pineapple quilt.
Many of you remember the LONG saga of making this quilt and then, after it was finished, I wasn’t super happy with it.
However, now that I added new pillow shams and 3 pillow covers, I am much happier with how it looks…..
And it is SOOOO warm!!!!
…..’Nuf said…….
Our family has always been a bit weird when it comes to holidays and Thanksgiving is no exception
Our son, Brian and his wife Amber spent the morning running in the Peachtree Half-Marathon in Atlanta. Brian did the half…..
….while Amber ran in the 5k. After they finished…..
….they ate at their favorite Korean Restaurant and spent the day recovering!! We celebrated Thanksgiving with them last Sunday.
Jenny and Kevin arrived for brunch, starting off with traditional Mimosas……
….and a family selfie…..
After eating our brunch, we made the traditional trip to the Tree Farm and picked out our 2 trees. After Michael and Kevin practiced with the small tree……
…it was time to tackle the 14 foot tree. We normally put the tree in the stand and then carry it into the house. Kevin asked the obvious question….why don’t we carry it into the house and THEN put it into the stand…..DUH!!!!
They carried it into the house (with Jenny helping by taking selfies)…..
And, in about 5 minutes, the tree was up and secure!!!…..
Michael said a big”THANK YOU” to Kev for his help!!!
After the kids left to go visit Kevin’s family, I headed to my studio for about 2 hours and then proceeded to strip the house of all decorations…..
Tomorrow I will decorate for the upcoming holidays!!
Thanksgiving dinner consisted of Cheese Dip, Salsa, Guacamole and Tostitos….
I hope that your Thanksgiving was equally fun and traditional!!!!
One side note here…… if you have a large tree and are looking for a good solid tree stand, I can highly recommend the Krinner Tree Genie…..
It is a bit pricey, but it is super easy to use and completely stable….a win-win!!
…..and an arm for that matter!!
Today, I had a few hours in the studio and was able to get the other arm, hand and henna tattoo on my girl…….
I had mentioned in the last post that I was uncertain whether I was going to use real beads or applique them in fabric and several people told me that I should use real beads. So, today I pulled out a box of beads and found this beaded trim that I had bought somewhere…..
I clipped off a few of these bead sets and strung them together to give myself a idea of what it might look like……
Right now I am thinking that this is the way I will go, but I am not completely sold on it. Part of me thinks that they need to be a bit bigger…..we will see!!
Unfortunately, I may not have a lot of time over the next week to work on her, but am looking forward to the next steps. The things that I still have to decide are….
On Friday, I was able to spend a good portion of the day in my studio and accomplished quite a lot on my Henna Girl.
First, I wanted to finish her shirt and am finally happy with it. I think that the quilting will add the texture needed to make it look better…..
Next, I finished up the arm and then it was time to tackle the hands!!! The technique that have been using on this quilt is to draw each section out onto freezer paper………
I then pick the fabric that is most prominent in the piece and iron the freezer paper pattern to the back. Once cut out, I start adding the details. If it is a bigger piece, I am gluing it on but if it is a smaller piece, I am using wonder under to hold it in place…..
The plan is to put a layer of tulle over the top of the finished picture and then quilt in the lines of the piece. That way I don’t have to worry about smaller pieces being raw edged.
So, once I got the hand and arm connected, it was time to figure out how to do the Henna Tattoo. The designs on the girl’s arms were not majorly visible and I knew that I wanted them to show up a bit more in the quilt. I also could tell that they were not done by a professional but probably by someone just learning the technique. Instead of trying to replicate her designs, I decided to find my own!! After playing with several designs, I came up with this idea…..
With much trepidation, I pulled out a Fabrico Marker and started drawing the designs. They are a bit shaky, but that actually fits in with the idea of someone just learning how to do this!!
At the end of the day, I had finished the right arm, including the tattoo…..
I know that her wrist looks weird but remember that there is a bead bracelet that needs to go there. I am now debating about whether to do the beads in fabric or with actual beads.
Hopefully I can keep working this next week and get the other arm finished and MAYBE work some on her pants!!
Thanks for following along and for all of the encouragement!!!
Yesterday I spent several hours working on the current quilt and was happy to finish her headscarf and one sleeve……
The string of beads will be sewn on after the quilting is done but I really like them. It seems to add a bit of spark to her face!!
Next, I started working on her right side shirt, and after a couple of hours, I thought that it looked like rubbish…..
So I set it aside and began working on her right arm.
But, when I finished last night and put all of the pieces on the design wall, I was excited that it DID actually look like a shirt with folds in it……
Today, the plan is to finish the shirt and her right hand sleeve and then work on the arm if there is time left.
The next hurdle that I have to figure out is how to get the Henna Tattoo onto her skin. I am currently thinking thru that problem!!!
THIS IS FUN!!!!
I have continued to work today on the “Henna Girl”. Part of the slowness is because I have to get myself motivated before each step!!!
Here she is so far…..
Now….back to the studio!!!
