MeMe

I've been tagged by Candi for my first MeMe! Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.


Now for the 7 facts about me:

1. I love God.

2. I have three children, ages 17, 14, and 1. I love each one of them the most.

3. I have the best husband. We've been together for 10 years. I love him more every day.

4. At 4 months old, we discovered the baby was allergic to wheat. Some friends suggested she had already gotten most of the benefit from nursing, so I should give her formula and continue eating whatever I wanted. I never had to think about it. I gave up everything with wheat in it. The list is quite extensive and includes sandwiches, pizza, cookies, crackers, and almost everything that comes from a can or box. With a few exceptions, I cook nearly everything from scratch. As a result, I have lost an extra 30 pounds after losing the baby weight and we are much healthier. The baby just had her first birthday. She shows no sign of wanting to give up nursing yet.

5. There is only one thing I miss since giving up wheat. My husband and I had a traditional date night of Chinese take out and a rented movie. We've gone on fancier dates, but that was always my favorite. Unfortunately, Chinese food is full of wheat. It's in the soy sauce.

6. I have more projects planned and/or started than I could possibly finish anytime soon. They include all sorts of things: knitting, traditional quilts, crazy quilts, doll clothes, paintings, scrapbooks, ornaments.

7. I met my husband online. At the time, we lived on opposite sides of the country.

And for the 7 people I tag:
Ati
Mindy
Lori
Jo in NZ
JoWynn
LinMoon
Carol-Anne

Blue CQ Details, TAST

I've worked a bit more on my blue crazy quilt block. With so much going on, I am just not dedicated to one project at a time. Crazy quilting is nice to work on a bit here and there to relax between other projects. These blocks also take longer because I have no finished project in mind for them. They simply exist to enjoy the process. When I finish enough blocks, I'll figure out what to do with them.

This first detail shows my variation on the linked chain stitch. This was a TAST stitch a couple of weeks ago. I probably should have started with the actual stitch, but I'll get around to that sooner or later. When I read through the original TAST post describing this stitch, I kept thinking it might be interesting with an extra chain. So my version has the twisted chain alternating with a set of three chains.

This next detail includes the twisted satin stitch. I started with straight stitches in yellow cotton pearl #5. Then I added the twist stitch with a light brown silk thread that is much thinner. I like the effect in this spot, but if I use this stitch again I will try it with pearl for both parts of the stitch.




The last detail shows a seam with different stitches built up in layers. It started with the feather stitch in variegated thread. I added pistol stitches with the pale silver thread and then fly stitches with navy silk floss.

Beads or glitz to come later.

I started embellishing this block during SharonB's encrusted crazy quilting class in February. She's running the class again in November. If you're interested in learning more, be sure to check it out. Sharon includes tons of information and eye candy in her lessons. I thoroughly enjoyed the class.

Vickie Howell's podcast coming soon

I've just discovered Vickie Howell's blog, and soon she'll have a podcast. I must admit, I don't know anything about podcasts. I saw a few episodes of Vickie's show, Knitty Gritty, when it aired on HGTV a few months ago. It's normally on DIY network, which I don't get. Maybe this is good incentive to learn about podcasts.

Dolly

Haven't finished the clothes yet, but here's the finished dolly for my angel's birthday.

Crazy Quilt Blog

A Wagonwife's Life

This blog was mentioned on one of the yahoo groups and is pretty cool. It has nice photos and how-to info on techniques for embellishing a crazy quilt.

Littlest Angel's Birthday Dolly

Another new project, but one that will be finished this week. My little angel is having her first birthday on Friday. Her daddy drew the face for her dolly. I spent the last couple nights embroidering it after she went to sleep. It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by.

Scarf Knitting

I started knitting another scarf last week. The stitch pattern comes from the Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns. Some of the stitch's design is lost with this yarn, but it produces a wonderful texture and scalloped sides. Lion suede yarn is soft and will make a cozy scarf.

Knitting

As I mentioned in my post about the new yarn stash, I have a plan. The plan is to use the glitzy new yarn in combination with other yarns in my stash and make holiday gifts. I'm thinking of scarves, hats, purses, and maybe shawls or throw pillows. This is the first project on the needles. It's a simple garter stitch scarf. Narrow stripes of blue Bling Bling are paired with stripes of cream chenille which get progressively wider in the center and narrower on the ends. The chenille is quite slippery on size 13 needles, but it has a nice lacy look.

Clay Quilt Shop

Found on the Lazy Girl blog:

Quilt shop in polymer clay.

Stash Aquisition

During my recent move, I made the mistake of sharing a few revelations with my wonderful husband. Going through the stash in preparation for packing revealed that I have more than I could possibly use in the near future. This is even more true now that I have a toddler again.

Lugging all of the stash around the old apartment while packing, onto the truck, into storage, onto another truck, into the new apartment, and then into its new home in the new apartment... all of this revealed to me that I have much too much. With the prospect of doing this all again when we buy our house next year, I decided to use up as much as I could before that. This shouldn't be too much of a stretch. I have a list a mile long of planned projects. Many of them intended for gifts, so the finished item won't have to be moved again. The biggest challenge is the time factor.

Towards the end of the move, I ran out of space and time and had to throw away some stash. Nothing that can't easily be replaced. Nothing worth crying over. Some batting and pillow forms. A box of miscellaneous craft supplies left over from previous projects and not since used. The revelation here is that a good sale is only a bargain if the acquired stash is put to good use. Otherwise, the costs of stashing it just become too much. Those costs being to some degree the obvious waste of money, but more so the loss of space, my husband's frustration, the lengthening list of projects and ideas that leads to them being set aside and forgotten about.

All of this led to my decision to use up what I have and not buy any more stash... at least until I have finished a few projects and after we buy our house. Telling my husband about this decision was not very smart. It has not even been a month yet and I have already succumbed to the lure of bargain stash.

We were doing some shopping after church last Sunday. I spotted the Michael's sale flyer. They had advertised a clearance sale on yarn, only $1 per skein. You should have seen the look of dismay on my husband's face when I suggested we stop and check it out. He reminded me of all the aforementioned things that I had shared with him. I pointed out that I had just mailed out eight packages of squishies to cq list buddies to share and lessen the stash. Doesn't that count for anything? He suggested I finish a project first like I had planned. I argued that it wouldn't hurt to just pop in and see what they had. It probably wouldn't be anything I wanted anyway. And then I did it. I pouted. It was not my finest moment. I tried to take it back. I told him not to worry about it, I could stop by on my own some other time. It was too late. My husband cannot resist the dreaded pout. I'm not proud, but here is what I found...














I was a little right. Most of what was in the clearance bin was not anything I wanted. It was mostly Lion Brand fun fur, fancy fur and boa, a few skeins of twister and a few skeins of ribbon yarn. What I did find was this Bernat bling bling. It has such a nice texture and sparkle. The pale blues on the right are baby lash yarn. One of the black and white skeins is Moda Dea swirl. It was the only one left. At $1 per skein, I just couldn't pass these up. I am so weak. But not to worry, I have a plan. :)

Blue CQ Details, TAST

Take a Stitch Tuesday ran with the crested chain stitch a few weeks back. It looked interesting and I wanted to try it, but I didn't know where. I was also offline for a while and couldn't access the directions while I was stitching. Well, I am back online now and finally found a place to try it. I did have to redo a part of it that was too crooked on the curve, but I like this stitch and plan to use it more. It adds a good deal of texture and interest. Here, the stitch was worked with rayon floss, fairly closely spaced, and over some couched fibers.

In this detail, the original line of buttonhole stitches felt too straight and had too harsh a contrast of values. So, I added some lacing over the buttonhole stitches. The lacing thread was a silk tweed knitting yarn. I don't do much with lacing stitches, but I am pleased with the result here. The lacing pattern produced a nice wave like look and toned down the value contrast. It turned out so nicely that it's a shame it doesn't contrast more with the dark fabric underneath. I may try to enhance it a bit by adding small gold accent stitches or beads.

Back in Action

After my recent move, I am finally getting settled and back to blogging. The new apartment wasn't ready until a week after we left the old apartment. So, everything went into storage and we went to visit my grandmother for a week. She was thrilled to have us and we had a wonderful visit. I took one project with me to work on. Only one fit in the car with all the baby gear. I chose the blue crazy quilt block that I started embellishing during Sharon's encrusted crazy quilting class last February. She is offering this class again in a few weeks and I highly recommend it. Her instructions are great for beginners and seasoned crazy quilters interested in applying design concepts to their crazy quilting. This is the progress I've made so far. None of the seams are really finished yet, but there are a couple of things to highlight.

The white wavy seam is my attempt at the Portuguese Stem Stitch for Take A Stitch Tuesday. It wasn't done correctly as I was working from memory, but it is some variation of knotted stem stitch. Now that my internet access has been restored and I can stitch with the instructions, I will have to give this stitch another try.

The chevron seam has straight stitches along side it. The idea was to continue the geometric shapes from the patch above it. This is my first try at doing this purposely. I'll be working at this more as my muse permits.

This next seam is a herringbone stitch with buttonhole stitches done over it. I've tried it once before, but I like this one better. I used a #5 pearl cotton for the herringbone. Then the buttonhole was done with 2 strands of the new DMC color variations embroidery floss. If you haven't seen this combination of stitches, Annie has instructions on her blog.

There are several things going on here. On the left seam is branches feather stitch that will have white stitches or beads added later. A fancy twist of fibers was couched down around a printed angel picture. I've started a meandering filler design with detached chain stitches on the right. Along the edge of teal lace, I started with a wide cretan stitch and then added rich yellow straight stitces for an accent. The yellow was picked up from the printed patch and will be repeated as an accent throughout the block.

My First Quilt

I started making quilts a few years ago. The first was for my son's birthday. It's a simple nine patch. The quilting comes from my crazy quilt background. I used crochet cotton and did a herringbone stitch along the edges of the nine patch blocks. The back is microfleece and it is very soft and cozy.

Bit by the knit bug

I've finished the back of a sweater for M. I'm following a knitty.com pattern with a couple of adjustments and different yarns. I'm not the fastest knitter, but it's coming along nicely.

Jayne Hats

My wonderful husband is a Firefly fan. He reads forums about prop making and came across patterns for Jayne's hat. I agreed to make him one. After several trips to the craft store and buying multiple skeins of various yarns for him to choose from, I have managed to knit him a hat that he is proud to wear. I put extra effort into reproducing the hat with its straggly bits instead of trying to improve on the design. The ear flaps curl up and have strings hanging. The whole thing is loose and floppy. But, wonderful husband feels loved and that is what counts.


I then proceeded to make a not-quite-matching hat for our little angel. I used soft cotton yarn in baby girl colors. She seems to like it, but she doesn't keep hats on her head. This is fine for now as it is currently the hottest part of summer here. When winter comes we will try to keep it on her head longer.

Knit Bits

I knit up a couple of bits last night for M's book. This first book will be texture collages, a different color on each page. The orange is a piece of furry fabric. The knit bits are fun to do when I want something to work on without pulling out bins of supplies.

Sampler progress, TAST bullion

I've been making progress on my sampler. Here you can see the verse is finished, I've embroidered a heart at the bottom, and I've started on vines that will frame the piece. The bullion roses and buds still need leaves and stems. I think I'll add something to the center of the heart, but I'm not sure what, maybe a couple of bullion roses or a charm.

Crazy Quilt Project Detail 10

A beaded dragonfly.

Crazy Quilt Project Detail 9

Crazy Quilt Project Detail 8

The motif here started with the purple flower done with oyster stitches. Pink flowers were added with detached chains. Buds were sprinkled around the flowers with pairs of bullion stitches. Feather stitch greenery connected the buds. Lastly, detached chains were added for leaves.

To balance out the darker motif, accent colors were added to the cream lace flower with simple straight stitches and a few split stitches on the longer green lines.