craziness

I've been collecting fabric for years. I've had in the back of my mind that I would make a crazy quilt "someday".

I own a fabulous book on crazy quilting. I have looked at the pretty pictures thousands of times. and drooled over what MY QUILT will look like draped over the end of the bed. 

Yes - that quilt - the one I haven't even started. 

Then on my blogroll I saw a link to this online free stitch along class. The picture below is Sandy's picture from that class. 

I may not be inspired (right now) to start a quilt, but a cuff, well that is quite do-able.

So I gathered my fabrics. And following the really well written instructions, I pieced my foundation for the cuff.

Then I started following the step by step (clearly written instructions - Sandy is a great tutorial writer). Because it is the type of personalized project that allows it, I picked the parts best suited to what I wanted mine to look like.

There was coarse linen - some velvet - eyelet - even some loose woven damask type fabric. (Note - loose woven was HARD to work with in this manner.)

I then added pearls and teeny rick rack.

 Laces and trims and medallions. Some ribbon.

 Always some buttons and beads.

Metallic floss for a bit of sparkle. I cut four tiny hearts from a bit of lace and made a little flower..

Then I ran across this bottle ---- Now who would give me an empty whiskey bottle. Well - someone who knows that the etching on this from being buried would make me happy. (Discovered under an old house) The front of this is frosty looking from that etching while the back is clear.

I decided then - that this cuff would not be a bracelet for me - but would be a removable cuff wrap for my bottle. (another note - I can slip this off and wear it if I choose. I chose to adhere it to the bottle with double stick tape)

I finished the final assembly of this last night before bed.  Sandy's tutorial uses some glue, but I actually hand stitched every single bit of this.

The detail below is the center medallion of the cuff. Layers of lace - tulle - and silk flowers.

But I think my favorite detail is the tiny beading along this ribbon. So dainty and sweet in reality.

This is a wonderfully well written tutorial --- I'll be going back and making more of these.

Enough about that --- Here is my "cuffed" bottle. I have a big ugly pickle jar with some beads in it. I'm thinking this will be MUCH MUCH better looking on the shelf.

Please go see Sandy if you are interested in making your own.

CRAZY QUILT CUFF CLASS

i'm really happy with mine.

a happy DO year update

Happy Wednesday. 

There is a serious issue in my life right now. I am about to share a detail that many may know, but putting it into words is going to make it very REAL to all of you. 

Here we go. I have a real, crazy, unpredictable, over-the-top, drives me crazy,  never imagined I would love what I am doing but I do --- FULL TIME JOB.

I sell something everyone needs and something everyone IMMEDIATELY knows when it is not working. 

I sell plumbing materials --- yup --- pipe and water heaters and toilets and sewage pumps. Bathtubs ant faucets and sinks and and and. I know how to put said things together. I know a lot of troubleshooting steps. I can operate a set of hand trucks. I have blatantly refused to learn to operate a shovel. But a "sharkbite" fitting, that I can handle. 

Some days it is crazy. 

Some days it is fun.

Some days I teach.

Some days I wrangle idiots.

Some days I learn. (well most days I learn something from somebody. Lots of it is useless, but I make a really great member of a Trivia game team  - just saying)

The picture below was taken at my desk. 

Now for the very ugly secret.  Actually, it is not a secret and, well, depending on who you are, it's not all that ugly. And it directly ties in to the happy DO year part of the title.

I have hoarding issues.

After the wedding, and the subsequent mess that is still being sorted and put away, I determined to reclaim my studio. I am actually doing quite well on that front.

I pulled the lace from several paper hearts that were on the chair backs at the wedding. Then I added those lengths to the lace that I had pulled from and dug through and such and so forth. I carried all of that back to the studio on Monday night. I then pulled out the other boxes of lace and started putting away and detangling  all of the scrummy beauty of pile.

First I boxed several spools of assorted laces. yards and yards of it.

That left me with this pile.

I attacked it. If a piece was less than 12 inches long, I stuffed it in a jar on my table. I WILL USE THOSE FIRST in my creations.

I folded the 2 inch or wider lace and separated those.

I also pulled out some bright purple and lavender that will be used for the RELAY FOR LIFE event decorations at the church.

Then I grabbed the scrap cardstock pile and started smoothing and wrapping the lengths around scraps of paper.

After two hours last night --- the pile looked like this.

And the storage box looked like this.

I will work in this pile again tonight. After I get this sorted and put away, I will make a few skeleton key necklaces.

I reward myself with "making" after I get one of these areas cleaned up.

Another phase of the HAPPY DO YEAR is to complete and utilize this wonderful hoarded material stash.

There are seven new Bundles of Joy coming into our lives. Friends of mine (who are obviously  MUCH older than I am) are becoming Grandparents. Some of my favorite people are adding littles to their lives. It is a wonderful time in the life of all those folks.

I have made a goal to do all seven of these baby gifts without purchasing anything.

I delivered the first one last night. A blue crocheted blanket for Kris Youngblood's new Grandson. Yarn I bought for making a blanket, then never got around to it.

Then while I was in the studio, I gathered the things for baby #2. A plain white flannel blanket (a flat flannel piece with surged edges) a strip of floral cotton, some crochet thread, and some bias tape. I bought several of these blankets at a fabric warehouse a long time ago, they are sold to hospitals for the infant nurseries and are a very high quality of flannel.

Here is the little grouping ---

It will be my travel project for the next several ball game trips.

There you go -- confession  ---- and a plan to continue destashing.

Have a wonderful day.

Escape into the secret garden

That sounds like a fun trip - right?

Well fun is relative. I'm just saying.

I'm feeling a constant level of agonizing stress right now. Push me into a place mentally that I have not been in many many years. Some of it is self inflicted (the result of bad decisions). Some of it is economic (I am employed in the construction industry). Some of it is due to all this wedding prep (which really should be a joyous thing to celebrate).

Too many things on my little plate right now. 

Oh well ----- the secret garden ----- aka getting away for some much needed time to just "BE". is not going to happen anytime soon. 

So we just keep plugging away at those wedding details. 

Over the last several days - and for a trackable 22 hours and 46 minutes over the weekend (Friday included), I have been creating flowers. 

The process included marking 100's of graduated circles on fabrics of synthetic materials. These were assorted white and blue fabrics.

Then hours of cutting --- going round and round. And making piles of these circles.

Leaving piles of scrap bits (the significance of those scraps will become evident in a few)

Then candle lit romance (not even).

Expose those fabric circles to heat ------ over and over and over.

Resulting in things that look like this......Blue flowers.

Stack five graduated ruffled "petals"  and sew on a button or some beads.

The amazing part was that the different fabrics reacted entirely different to the heat, giving me different plant varieties. All beautiful -- just very unpredictable.

Real flower petals are not allowed on the gorgeous wood floors of the wedding venue. The reason being that walking on them and crushing them can cause stains on those floors. So -- being the creative soul that I am (actually BEING COMPLETELY NUTS) --- after I melted all those flower pieces, I attacked the pile of scraps.

Trimmed and melted a gallon ziploc bag full of fake flower petals that match the colors of the wedding.

Cool?? Crazy?? You tell me.

Now on a simply beautiful moment frozen in time ---- if you hook up with me on facebook you have already seen this.

I took a picture of the white ones - not sew together - simply stacked and waiting.

Look how delicate this is. How fragile it looks.

That's how I feel. Delicate and quite a bit fragile right now. But as you handle these and stitch them together, you realize there is so much strength in them ---

Hopefully I have that much strength in me, because today I feel like I may come apart at the seams.

Love -- Olympic sized love.

Faking it........

Oh come on ... we are all adults.

Last night found me crashing ---- slept thru three alarms this morning too. Work. Wedding. Life. Busy. Busy. Has kept me up late and rising early and it all caught up with me. 

Wedding DIY continues. 

There must be thousands of little details to think about. 

One thing for sure - this wedding will be personal - very personal.

We are using a vintage typewriter as a prop and to continue the theme, I wanted / needed some of these. 

Although they are not super expensive, when you are doing all the wedding on a seriously low budget, you have to watch every penny.

Besides -- I happened to have this paper in the hoarded pile of stuff. It's a little over scaled from the real thing, but it has the look I want. (this paper is discontinued but I found a link for some similar on ebay)

So -- under the influence of the beverages consumed during phase one of the matchmaking project. (see previous post if you are confused) ---- I put my thinking cap on.

Then I proceeded to dig in the hoarded piles of stuff I call my stash.

And I found these. Big silver buttons. (Thank you Crusty Old Guy for befriending the button man at the flea market)

Note - I did not have enough of one style to finish the word I am attempting to use, but I had two styles that looked ok together and I was able to alternate my letters,  thus solving that little problem.

I cut out the letters I needed -

Adhered them using some Alene's Paper Glaze. (another note - the paper glaze will react and oxidize to green some things so proceed with some caution when using this medium)

I also covered them completely with the Paper Glaze.

Went to bed and hoped for the best.

There were giggles and squeals of glee the next morning. My FAKED typewriter keys were great.

Some days you get rewarded for risky behavior.

I have also been involved in a huge CIRCLE OF LOVE part of this project.

I've cut 100's of circles of all kinds of blue fabric.

Then I lit candles - needing a touch of romantic lighting. (just joking)

I used the flame from the candle and

Applied heat ---- lots of heat. To the edges of those circles.

I made little stacks of those circles again and they look like this.......

I'll be doing lots more of this over the weekend --- and then adding button centers to them.

I sure hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

Love.

Living - loving - life

MaggieGrace has had the flu......

It was a drag.......

But on Saturday, I felt like getting out and about with her.....


Sorry - he kinda comes with the package. I looked hard for a picture that didn't include him. Oh well -- he's a nice kid and he's housebroken too.

The pretty girl in the picture is College Girl. She wants to make a formal dress. We ventured out to look for fabric. My mama joined us. It was a load of fun.

We went here.....



AllAboutFabrics in Williamston, SC. Google it. They have a nice website. It is open to the public once a month. Well worth the trip.

This place is huge. These people are wonderful. Knowledgeable. Friendly. Helpful.

College Girl knew what she wanted. We just had to find it.

She is funny. Like me. When I go to any fabric store, I HAVE TO TOUCH THE FABRICS.

She does it too.

There was lace. Lots of lace.

And bolt after bolt of fabric. We touched it and compared drape. We looked at colors. We loaded things in our cart and debated. We took fabric back and got more. Trims too. Hours we spent.

Steel grey with a black lace overlay and a bodice that Mom is gonna have to figure out somehow.

Enough fabric for that boy's mom to make a vest and tie from.

There is no red in the lace - funky lighting.

I''ll keep you updated on the project.

Lets get out and play

It was a stunning long weekend. Hints of fall in the air. My favorite time of year. Cool mornings, warm afternoons.

On Friday morning, the loverly medical people that gave me a new lease on life in April, blasted the stone that was lodged in my remaining kidney. This went really well and in full crude rude and obnoxious me fashion - I say - "I have pissed a beach." They broke the stone into small pieces - some resemble beach sand. Once I slept off the anesthesia on Friday afternoon, I was good to go. Only tylenol for the discomfort.

I had finished up some pretties that I always envisioned in my trees outside. On Saturday morning, I headed out and strung these - it immediately looked like a party. Aren't they fun.



Handpainted words. Strung together in threes. Hanging in my eucalyptus tree. Poor tree had a rough start in life, the man repeatedly ran it over with the mower. We persevered and she has rewarded me with about 30 feet of growth. I cut this for arrangements all the time and during cold season, I hang a few in the shower to rub and release that oil. mmmmm.


See the little curly cues that I crocheted out of the yarn from my stash. The dapple light is simply wonderful. I handpainted the lettering on scraps of muslin.

There is the whole lot of them - looks so happy to me.

The dream - plan - act set is painted with the most gorgeous chocolate color.

I stitched the words onto some fabric samples that are in the stash. I didn't even trim the paper edging off the fabric. It stiffened them perfectly

Paisley - fun words of wisdom - curly cues - simple things make me so happy these days. And this was a completely stash driven project.

The rest of the weekend was productive too. More on those as the week progresses.

I'll be making a few more of this type of banner.

They were fairly quick steps. If anyone wants the directions for the curlies, just let me know. Like everything I do, they are step by step easy easy.

Have a wonderful day.

Teresa

College Girl

College Girl is home on her fall break. Morman Boy had a paper to work on and College Girl had a church project that she has found herself some what in a leadership role on. So she spent yesterday at home and then most of last night too.



She took over my studio and painted this bigger piece for the Penumbra Show. We are involved in this show because the Morman Boy's mom is the organizer of it. Anyway Jennifer has tried to get Molly to create a work for the show and she finally relented. I love this - it is a larger version of the one she painted for me back at Christmas. The sunrise or sunset glow at the bottom is stunning to me. Would it be wrong of me to purchase this just cause I like it??

Then she asked me to help her with her church project. She works with the younger girls and they are learning to sew. They picked out an A-Line skirt pattern for this beginning class. Already some valuable lessons are being learned.

College Girl is a size 6 really long jeans. But this pattern runs small. She bought a size 10 and we had to add to the measurements to make it fit my missy. I showed her how to do that and where and we cut out fabric.

Then a lesson in cussing the machine. Yes - she became well aquainted with that activity. This is a cheap WalMart Machine that I have had for years. It is functional but temperamental. Hence -- cussing required. (Please disregard the pile of crap in the background - it is destined for the studio but just has not made that trek. )

The pattern included two things I would have avoided if possible.

A zipper -- this machine has no zipper foot and they do not make one to fit it. Remember - I quilt and craft sew. I have no need for a zipper foot. A quick phone call to my Mama gave me the trick of hand sewing the zipper into place and then you can zip and unzip to get the tab out of the way. She did a pretty good job of putting this in for her very first zipper.

The other thing is darts - four of them bad boys. We measured and pinned. Her OCD tendencies were not a good match for my "winging it" style of doing some things, so a lot of compromise was required. I could not find my white chalk pencil, so she quickly learned that a bar of Ivory soap will work in a pinch on that dark fabric.

The finished view a la model pose.

It actually fits really well. We will be working on the hand stuff tonight. Hook/eye and hemming. Then she wants to put a skinny black velvet ribbon around the bottom. Not too bad for a very first garment.

I'll try to get a picture of her when they complete all the skirts and have the fashion show.

I had a wonderful time with her last night. She is fun to hang out with.

I have a beautiful life.

Dish washing (drying) made pretty

I have no idea where I found the line drawing. We call them "snake doctors" here (Tipper is that an appalachian phrase too?) I had the Martha Stewart dish towel in my stash - so I went looking for floss and such. The line drawing had the body filled in with floss - I originally intended to use buttons from the stash - then while I was digging, I found these red orangy beads. Loving how this one turned out. I did manage to spill tea on it on while I was working at the ball field. I'll wash it and iron it tonight -

There will be more of these for sure - what cha think?

I spent the entire afternoon yesterday cleaning in MaggieGraceWorld. I managed to clear one work surface - two more to go. It was nice to get back in there and work - more of that to come.

That pup is growing - she is funny but not yet super loveable. Damn that puppy nipping. We are working on the biting and chewing - the sofa, the chair, my arms, my toes. Yesterday she spent a load of time outdoors and she comes and goes in and out of the studio and the house. It was such a nice day that I had the door open and she would slip in and startle me with a nip of my foot, then when I would jump she thought we were playing.

I hope all of you have a wonderful day - I got workout - then more house and studio cleaning.

Fun Stuff

Give me a little while but there will be several more pictures over at Jones Chapel Quilts. I wanted to share some of my mama's stuff here.

We met last night. My mama is sick, but she wanted to get out anyway. I could tell that she was pretty miserable, but you never stop being the mama and she tried to reassure me that she is "just fine". This is that icky nasty rotten cold stuff.

We had a show and tell night in addition to a cutting lesson and a beginning piecing lesson. I flitted about and took pictures and just generally bothered people.

I get my packrat tendencies from an honest source. Mom keeps everything.

Labels included. Look at this little wall hanging.

A row of houses. She had (still has some) old clothing labels. She has a fabric stash to rival anybody I know. Buttons too. She tells me all the time she is adding to the junk me and my sister will someday throw away.

The entire wall hanging is pieced from these tiny 1 inch squares. The labels are top stitched on. So freaking cute.


The Shirley label is a favorite - how long ago was it that many things were labeled MADE IN USA. Considering where our economy is right now - that labeling needs to return.

While I love this wall hanging. The picture below is the quilt top that is my all-time favorite of ones she has ever pieced. A scrappy state of Georgia. This will be my next hand quilt project.

Each of those squares is 2 inches. The layout is adapted from a cross stitch pattern. What do you think?

I hope all of you are having a wonderful day ----