Still Rolling Along . . .

 Hi Folks! It’s been three weeks since my last post, so I thought that I would pop in this morning to let you know that I am still rolling along. My Achilles tendon is healing, but I expect to be in my boot and using my rollator for two or three more months. I am SUPER lucky and blessed to have wonderful friends and neighbors who have been helping me out. There is no pain but not being able to drive is simply driving me nuts. :-)

Anyway, last week I rolled out to my backyard and was able to take this pretty photo. The bees just love the sedum along the front of my large garden. I had had plans to remove all the sedum as the plants were getting too high and blocking the view of the other plants behind them. Since gardening is out until next spring, I’ll just let the bees enjoy the pretty pink flowers. Moving them to a different spot is already on my list of projects for next spring.

Speaking of projects, I have been working on a number of projects, none of which I will show here today. I did finish the quilt for the upcoming Herring Run Quilt Show and now I need to add a sleeve, do the binding, and add a label. My latest wool applique piece is about eighty-five percent done, and my latest cross stitch finish is just waiting for a frame. For those in the area, be sure to mark your calendar for the 

Herring Run Quilt Guild

17th Biennial Quilt Show

Sept. 21 - 24   10:00 - 4:00

Boys and Girls Club, 37 Proprietors Drive, Marshfield MA

There will be 150+ quilts on display and whether you are a quilter or not, you would definitely enjoy seeing this show.

Well, now it’s time to get busy unloading the dishwasher and hobbling carefully down cellar to throw in a load of wash, so I can then sit down and work on my wool applique and make the sleeves and binding for this latest quilt. :-)

Enjoy this Labor Day weekend, and I hope wherever you are that you are enjoying beautiful weather as we have been enjoying the last few days. 

A Day in Paris in Winter . . . Cross Stitch

 Have you been watching the Olympics? Has any host city ever looked more beautiful and more inviting? I, of course, have been stitching while watching the events. On Flosstube,  folks have all kinds of prompts and plans for what they will stitch during this period. I selected one chart from my stash and have been stitching solely on it. It’s by a French designer/company, Les Brodeuses Parisiennes. Sometime last year I saw this completed piece on someone’s flosstube episode and promptly ordered it. It was fun to receive a chart from Paris.

Here is my progress so far. I stitched the words and the Eiffel Tower first, but instead of then working on the background, I just had to see how the lady would look. She is lovely and wait until you see her stylish coat. 

When I’m not working on it, I slip it into this Parisean cafe themed project bag complete with beaded Eiffel Tower zipper pull. I had originally used this fabric to make a pocketbook, but at some point I had had enough fabric left over to make this project bag and another for a friend. The Eiffel Tower charm came, I believe, from Hobby Lobby. 

Did you notice that this lady is accompanied by her little black dog? Honestly, how could I resist stitching this? 

That’s it for now. A friend is going to drive me on Tuesday morning to drop off a quilt top with the longarmer. Saturday, Sunday, Monday . . . that should be enough time to get the top completed . . . fingers crossed. Fingers cross as well that the wide backing fabric I ordered arrives in time. :-)

A Mermaid Tale

My middle initial is E. for Elizabeth. When I taught English/Language Arts it stood for Enthusiasm! Most of the curriculum that I was charged with covering was fairly easy to present to my eighth graders, but can you imagine what it took to keep them even remotely engaged when I had to present grammar and punctuation rules? It took humor, energy, standing on my head, and a ton of enthusiasm to keep students focused. :-) Later the E. came to represent Embellish when it came to quilting. 

Way back in 2013, a wave of Row by Row quilts washed over the quilting world. A theme was selected such as Sports and Hobbies, Sew Musical, Water, Seasons, etc. Quilt shops would create a pattern which would be available free to those who visited their shops. Shops also had kits for sale. Contests were held to see who could collect a certain number of patterns and combine them into a quilt first. I found an article that said by 2016 there were over 3100 stores across the US, Canada, and Europe participating. By 2017, New Zealand and Australia joined the fun. 

There were wonderful stories of folks planning vacations to visit as many stores as possible. My friends Edith and Laurel and I drove all over New England collecting kits and patterns. Edith brought back patterns when she visited Montana and Laurel made an Alaskan quilt with patterns purchased while on vacation there. It was great fun year after year. 

You didn’t even have to physically visit the shops. There was a website where you could see all the shops and all the rows which brings me to this mermaid which shows up in my kitchen each summer. The year was 2015 and that year’s theme was water. I fell in love with this mermaid row from Quilter’s Fancy in Cortland, Ohio. I purchased the pattern and fabric kit and started it right away. The mermaid needed  jewels so I made a tiny necklace and bracelet and added crystals to her crown.

I found small white fish beads and added iridescent sequin bubbles which do not show up well here.

I dipped bits of cheesecloth in watered down acrylic paint and added small rock-like beads.

The seaweed was fun to make and there are various types in this piece: stitching, angel hair yarn, and pieces of multicolored threads and yarn.

I purchased this large clump of colorful twisted threads? yarns? fibers? maybe ten years ago. Why did I purchase it? Beats me! I thought that I would find uses for it and so I have through the years. The funny thing is it never seems to get any smaller :-).

I used Texture Magic to create areas of interest along the bottom. You can see it here in the lower right corner.

When I come across potential items to add to this piece, I tuck them away where I can find them come summer. This year in addition to more seaweed, I added turtle and starfish beads. 

It has been great fun adding to this piece through the years. I wonder what I’ll find to add next year. :-)

Have a fun, creative week and try to keep cool.

A Summer Stitch

 

Between the rain showers yesterday, I rolled out onto the deck to take photos of this ruby throated hibiscus. My friend Cathy had moved many of my pots up on to my deck, so I can roll out there with a plastic jug of water to keep them going. I had intended to use them in a project, but that project will have to wait until next summer.

When I sold my aunts’ home years ago, I had taken home my Aunt Alice’s vintage orange gardening cart. It has been sitting in the back of my garage holding miscellaneous pots and gardening implements. I had originally used it for my gardening, but when my sunporch was added, it created a large storage area under the porch and the cart was not needed. I enjoy watching gardening programs on Youtube, and a couple of weeks ago I was inspired to work on a new project. My neighbor had recently purchased a special drill bit with which he created a few drainage holes for me in the heavy metal cart. Off I went to Lowe’s to purchase some Rustoleum paint: royal blue for the body and white for the handles and wheel trim. Next I picked up a large plastic pot to fit inside the cart. I could already see the profusion of beautiful blooms that would cascade over the sides of the cart. And then . . . the ruptured Achilles tendon happened. :-(. Next year it will be my top priority spring project.

I am blessed to have wonderful neighbors; my next door neighbors are going to water my other flowers. My Cousin Kristin and her girls came to visit on Saturday and among other things, they watered and fertilized all of my hanging pots. (I had actually gone around the yard with my rollator earlier in the week dragging along a hose to do the watering, but even I realized that was a one time thing and beyond downright stupid.) 

Erin Wasilieff of Erin Elizabeth Designer is a Canadian cross stitcher who creates fun, whimsical charts. I love everything about this one and have already ordered another of her charts. :-)

In other stitching news: I’m back quilting!!! I had ‘sorta’ lost my quilting mojo. The Herring Run Quilt Guild has an upcoming quilt show, so I’ve been buckling down to finish a half completed quilt. I’ll show a few blocks from it next time.

For Emma Fans: How is she dealing with things? Well, she hates the rollator, but thinks my boot is absolutely swell, a perfect place to rest her head. :-)

Are you watching the Olympics? It’s interesting to hear how many athletes are recovering from Achilles injuries, so if anyone asks, that’s it,  I’m telling folks I injured mine training for the Olympics!!!!!