red & white inspiration

From my dear friend Marni who surprised me and delighted me with this wonderful birthday gift of red and white fabrics and luscious silk embroidery threads. Are you telling me to get back into the quilting saddle Marni? UFO's, what UFO's? they'll be put on hold yet again while I get stuck into this bundle of joy! Of course, I've been wondering what to make - a wall quilt - but what block? How to incorporate the threads?

I've always had a preference for traditional blocks and old quilts. Their simple design and surprising color combinations I've always found inspiring, and never boring. Narrowing it down to two blocks: the nine-patch and the shoo-fly, I thought of a simple quilt using the deep red for the block, and the light fabric for the background, mixing the background colors up. I may dig into my stash to find some bits of red and white/cream fabric to add to the background. In order to use the threads, I thought of making a cross-stitched border separately stitched on linen. I could stitch one border design, or different ones using elements in the fabric. My only wonder is whether, when sandwiched, the cotton batting would creep through the linen...?

Lot's to think about and muse over....
Any suggestions, ideas, comments, are of course welcome!

more beads

This is what my Trollbeads bracelet looks like so far. It's a strange collection of colors, but that's okay, they're bright and cheerful. It'll change as I collect more beads.
It's been on my arm ever since I've had it and even fall asleep with it! During the rare moments no needle is in my hand, I find myself twirling and playing with it, enjoying the secret stories and meanings of the charms that they have for me. My daughter is crazy about hers as well, and it's fun to chose a new bead together. We talk about what each bead means to us and why we chose it, and which ones we'd like and why. It is another fun way to learn about each other...

I'll share with you a little about the beads and what they symbolize. From right to left:

Cells - fascinated by what nature is and how such a basic building block can create such wonder in the world.

Red Fizz - a birthday gift, a color that has always challenged me.

Lucky Dragon - I'm a dragon in the Chinese zodiac. They've always been an important symbol to me.

China - a birthday gift; a wonderful blue that reminds me of the Chinese worker suits I used to wear when there working in the rice fields...

Purple bubble - a spiritual color, a calming color, I imagine the bubbles burst through the surface like when I used to SCUBA.

The Lion - I'm a Leo

Green Rainbow - a fresh and cooling color, reminds me of the rustling leaves when walking through the woods

Three sisters - a birthday gift from Mieke, who considers me a like a little sister.

The Fish Lock - for the name "guppy" or "guppie" in Dutch: my daughter's second nickname.

done!

Blurry eyed, I completed the rose last night.
Now to figure out how to wrap the thing....

My Fun Loving Criminal

Our Darwin. 13 months young.
A great shot taken by our neighbor, and local canine papparzzo, Piet.
Note his date of arrest...

almost there....

I'll probably need glasses after this, I've been working for hours on this today, just a little more....

will it be finished by sunday?

a birthday gift

I've always wanted one, a charm bracelet, and now I have one.
Here it is, my own Trollbead bracelet.

a birthday gift

From one bit of panic to another....

For my friend Mieke, who due to health, cannot see very well. A cross stitcher for many, many moons, she can't see very well now and is limited to stitching on Aida, for she can no longer see properly to work on linen. She can see the little holes in the Aida fabric. Although it's not her favorite medium to work with, she continues to stitch and has discoverd the joys of red and white samplers - claiming it was my "fault" when she saw the sampler I was working on. Once in a while she tells me that she wishes she could work on fine linen like she used to, but is happy she can still practice her art. As it is, she had to give up quilting because she just couldn't see the seam lines to stitch. I'm soon to begin making a baby rib quilt for her - a kit that she bought but can no longer complete.

Anyhow, with this in mind, I decided to make this for her birthday, and hope she will like it.
Mieke is very fond of roses, and when I saw this rose, the decision was easy to make. Will I get it done? I'll be stitching as soon as I finishish posting......

Oh, and forgive the wrinkles and rings - I work with a hoop and don't iron a work until it's done.

From the book: Les Roses de Monique Bonin

ya think?

You are The Sun

Happiness, Content, Joy.

The meanings for the Sun are fairly simple and consistent.

Young, healthy, new, fresh. The brain is working, things that were muddled come clear, everything falls into place, and everything seems to go your way.

The Sun is ruled by the Sun, of course. This is the light that comes after the long dark night, Apollo to the Moon's Diana. A positive card, it promises you your day in the sun. Glory, gain, triumph, pleasure, truth, success. As the moon symbolized inspiration from the unconscious, from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made fully consciousness and wide awake. You have an understanding and enjoyment of science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect, clarity of mind, and feelings of youthful energy.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Panic!

Aaargh!
I'm feeling a bit frazzeld - partially my own fault, the reset due to being unwell for several days....
The cross stich friendship sampler group is convening tommorow, and I'm still not done with my contribution! A beautiful sampler, I just had trouble deciding what to do (it mostly consists of letters, with borders or little motifs for spice) and when I finally decided, I became ill, too ill to stitch. So now, still feeling, well, crappy, I'm going to have to spend the entire day stitching with a head filled with what seems to be cotton wool. Not good.
Because some of the ladies of the group like to take a peak at the progress on my red & white sampler, I can't post the round robin samplers I'm working on. That would spoil the surprise, of course. I will however, post at a later date so I can share them with you.

So off I go, needle in hand to try to get this work done on time!
Wish me luck!

Trollbeads

I've found something new and frivolous to get excited about: Trollbeads.

It all started when considering a gift for my daughter, who's turning sixteeen the 21st this month. I thought it was time for a more "serious" gift, something memorable, meaningful & personal. The classic charm bracelet came to mind, but upon seeing them in the jewelry shops, they looked flimsy, and visions of them breaking off and hooking onto sweaters and things immediately came to mind.

Then my eye caught these beads. Up until that moment I had completely forgotten that a good friend of mine had been given such a bracelet, each family member gifting her with a bead until it was full. I see it always on her arm, and each bead has a personal meaning to her and brings her pleasure every day.

The decision wasn't difficult to make and now, at the shop, the bracelet, and a glass bead waits for the other two silver beads on order. Dear Daughter will be able to create her own bracelet, special only to her. Did check first with and receive the enthousiastic blessing of one of her best friends - didn't want to go through all the trouble only to find it wasn't cool to have such a thing! I'm very excited and hope she'll be as well.

In the meantime, I've fallen in love with these beautful little sculptures too! Since my birthday is two days before, you can probably guess what I would like! A wish list is in the makng....

In case you're wondering what these Trollbeads are, here are some photos.....

red & white sampler

As promised, a complete overview of the sampler. In order to get it all, I had to hand it from a clothes line. Thankfully there's no wind today! When I see it like this, it feels like I haven't got very far....not matter, I'll get there or hope to as long as I keep working on it. Won't be much of a problem since I'm still enjoying every stitch! All the other projects I've been keen to begin will have to wait a bit longer!

red & white sampler

It's summer, and there's been lots to do besides sit behind the computer....
Here's another update on the sampler that's comng along slowly but surely....I'll try to post a complete photo soon...






It's summer, and there's been lots to do besides sit behind the computer....
Here's another update on the sampler that's comng along slowly but surely....I'll try to post a complete photo soon...