done!

There. Another project completed. It's always wonderful for me to see something that began as an idea formed in my mind, perhaps schetched on paper, grow and become reality. Sometimes I see faults, sometimes I'm pleased, but always there is something to learn for the next project, whatever it may be.

The quilting ladies, our little bee, were at my home for our regular meeting, and it passed their approval, man and child were also pleased with it last night when it finally went up, so I guess it's a succeeded project. Yipee!

Now it's back behind my sewing machine, working on the red and white log cabin..so stay tuned....

wall hanging

The latest project: a 3 piece wall hanging for in the dining room to bring in some color. I chose the warm green of Kaffe Fassett fabrics that were interesting but restful to the eye. The project has taken longer than it should, but if all goes well it should be hanging before the end of the week!
It's very simple really, just one piece appliqued over the other, then stapled over a hand-made frame and hung on see-through suspension threads so it floats just in front of the wall.

Can't wait until it's done - then it'll be off to the next project - another log cabin project in red and white.....

I'm back!

Phew!

It's been a very long time since I've written!
Where have I been? In Second Life, exploring new worlds, meeting wonderful people, making good friends, and working in this never boring world. One of the first things I did once I figured out how to move forward and backward, is joined a quilting group. A great, creative group of people from all over the world, it's been very inspiring to see their work, and share ideas. After realizing I'd need some money to be able to "live" like many of the residents and have a decent representation in the form of my avatar, I went looking for a job and found it teaching English as a Second language. Come of my colleagues have become good friends with whom exploring SL has been one adventure after the other.

After all this time, I finally feel a bit settled in Second Life, so now I've returned to my passions and projects that have been waiting patiently for my hands...
It's been weeks and weeks since I've really sat down and got to stitching, and I"m missing it. Stayed tuned for some shots of the latest project, a simple tryptic wall hanging in two Kaffe Fassett farbics. Something was needed in the dining room to bring some more color into it, but had to be restful to the eyes. If the sun will shine today - I'll add to the post...

SBQ of the Week: January 16, 2008

This week's SBQ was suggested by Outi and is:

What is your favorite past time while stitching? Do you just enjoy
silence, listen to music/audiobooks or do you "watch" TV/movies? Do
you have specific favorites you listen to/watch while stitching?


Normally I settle down during quiet moments of the day in my favorite corner of the couch, with a good murder-mystery series or plugged into my iPod and stitch away, a hot mug of tea with hands' reach.

A lot of stitching gets done in the evenings - as well during football season (soccer) when I don't have much choice (read: none!) as to what to watch. It's not all bad - a lot of eye candy in colorful shorts passes when giving the eyes some rest!

oh, brave new world....

Monkicat Giha


Where have I been? Yes, yet again, I've neglected my blog. Not intentionally, life just threw me a boomerang and I went after it....but its' path brought me back eventually...

So, to answer the question, I've been exploring that strange world called Second Life. Some of you may have heard of it, some of you may have already entered it. I had heard of this Second Life through the media - can't remember exactly but on and off for the past year and a half or so. It went in one ear and out the other. Then one day, while thinking about what to do it popped into my head to go check it out. I did, and so my life took a little turn...and so for the past few weeks I haven't done a stitch, haven't looked at my blog. Second Life is a virtual world, a world created by the residents themselves. Everything one sees, can do, and experiences in Second Life has been created and made possible by a human being like you and me. You start off with a generic avatar, learn a few rudimentary basics to get you started and off you go! Even though I officially started the end of June, I didn't really get into it until quite recently. It was so overwhelming at first! Then with help from total strangers (avatars dressed in black capes, fairy wings, or just in jeans) I began to learn. Now I've made friends from all over the world, laughed until my belly ached, and had serious discussions. I've even joined a wonderful groups of quilters! We recently came together from all over the world for a show and tell of our quilts. Good fun that was!

Now, I have a home, first alone, now sharing a bigger one with a real life friend of mine who lives in France. I, or actually, my avatar was found pretty enough to become a model with a modeling agency. While that's going on, I've been looking for more serious work and am most likely to begin in a week or so, and earn money. Yes it's strange, but Second Life, or SL is much like the real world and even though many call it a game, there's so much happening that is real that I've come to realize that this is bigger than I thought! Oh yes, there are people there with the only goal of picking up someone, or creating havok, but SL is so big, I haven't come across any trouble yet.

I haven't made up my mind about SL yet, but for now, I'm enjoying exploring the brave new world, a world that for better or worse is on the threshold of the way we may live and relate in the future. It may not be through the SL platform, it may be evolve into something else, and although I feel strongly about the importance of relating to each other in the physical world, this may be the direction we are going in whether we want to or not. In the meantime, I'm going to move among the natives, like David Attenborough and observe...learn...ssshhhhhh....!

SBQ of the Week: October 3, 2007

Suggested by Jennifer

What are your favorite online stitching supply sources?

There are many I like to browse through and some that I have ordered from, all have given me very good service, especially since I live in the Netherlands and the places I order from are primarily in the States. However, since I'm living here, I would like to support as many shops here as I can and this two, by far, have the most items that fall within my interest and, more importantly, great service! The first is the "Handwerkboetiek" (or literally translated, "Handwork Boutique"). They are way in the North of Holland more than 2 hours drive from me, so I do my business with Annemiek on the phone. She's quite knowledgeable, even knew a pattern I was planning on working ONLY by the threads (Au Ver A Soie) that I asked for! I trust her blindly with color choices, and what she has chosen was always perfect. Brilliant.

Then there's "Kunst en Vliegwerk". This shop specializes traditional cross stitch patters, such as quakers, red and white work, reproduction samplers. With Lonneke it's a pleasure to chat, discuss, and her advice is always on target.

These are my favorite stores in Holland, stores that not only carry what I want and need, but always go that little bit further to educate, explain, and enjoy to talk with their customers about our favorite past time. It's just another pleasurable part of the craft...!

SBQ of the week: September 6th

Today's SBQ is from Rene

Would you ever stitch one of your BAPs a second time? (This does not
include starting over because of mistakes, bad fabric, etc., rather
stitching something from the first stitch for a second time.)

For those who don't know (I didn't) BAP = "Big Ass Project"

Answer: NO.

No matter how beautiful, fantasic, fun it was to make: No
No matter who asks: friends, family, etc: No

There's so much stuff, wonderful stuff out there, so many patterns, challenges, colors, fabrics, threads...
I probably won't be able to complete the projects that I'd like to make in my life time, wouldn't want to spend not a single second repeating the same project.

No.

never thought of them that way...

Heard on APM: The Splendid Table Podcast:


On the subject of Chinese food and chopsticks:

"You do not sew with a fork and I see no reason why you should eat with knitting needles....."

-Miss Piggy

ladies, grab your needles!

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!