Iris Cabin

KTJ's block

2008-03-10T14:41:00.001-04:00

KTJ's block
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This is ktj's block I love working on cotton. I did the seam treatment down the middle. It's a little difficult to see in the picture...there is a close up of it on my flicker site just click on the photo and it will take you to my flicker site.

Susan N's block

2008-03-10T14:39:00.001-04:00

Susan N's block
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

Susan's block is gorgeous. I did the tatted medallion, the seam treatment to the left of it and the flowers in the lower left corner.

Cross Bookmark

2007-12-24T08:06:00.001-05:00

Cross Bookmark
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

I've been tatting this cross bookmark pattern for Christmas presents this year. The first one I made I gave to a friend then she commissioned me to make several for her...then our Director at work commissioned me to make one for her too.

Sew Buds block

2007-12-24T08:02:00.001-05:00

Margaret P's block
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This is Margaret P's block. The colors are beautiful on this block. I did the stitching on the far left and the tatting next to it.

Sue Trautman block

2007-06-18T08:05:00.001-04:00

Sue Trautman block
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This is Sue Troutman's block. I did the tatting in the upper left, the seam right below it and the seam to the right of the little girl print. I love the fabric in this block it is wonderful to stitch on.

This round robin is sooo much fun! So much fun in fact that we are keeping it going by sending more blocks around as we have time to work on them.

Susan Nixon's block

2007-06-18T08:00:00.001-04:00

Susan Nixon block
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This is a round robin project and the block belongs to Susan Nixon. I did the feather stitch and curved fan seams at the top of the block. It was quite the challenge Susan didn't want any pink embellishments on the block.

Sorry the buttons are distorting the photo...

Tatting

2007-04-15T11:39:00.000-04:00

I've been doing some tatting...thought I would share it.

I did this bookmark for a friend that is having knee replacement.

This one is for a round robin block I'm working on.I'll add a photo of the block when I get my part finished.

This is just a fun piece of edging I worked on one day...I love the way the variegated colors worked out.

Happy Easter

2007-04-08T09:07:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter Everyone!

I've finished two more redwork flowers.

The first one is a sunflower and the second is a ladies slipper. One of these days when I have them all done I hope to make a wall hanging.

I'm Back!!!

2007-04-06T06:56:00.000-04:00

Yes, I know how long I've been "missing in action". But I have pictures...does that make up for being gone for so long?

Several friends and I are working on a round robin. It's my first one and this is what I did on the first block I received.

This is Jane's block by the way; hope you like what I've done.

The colors in this block are wonderful; I have some green silk stranded floss that I knew would be great with this patch. The silk floss is from Hand Dyed Fibers . Victoria has some really great assortment packs that I love.

Recent work

2007-01-21T07:52:00.000-05:00

It's snowing in Eagle Valley this morning. When I got up at 5:30 this morning there wasn't a snow flake in site but by 7:00 we had close to a half inch! It's 8:00 now and still putting it down out there.

The snow makes it a perfect day to stay inside and embroider! Before I get started I wanted to share some of my own work to show you I really have been stitching.

I found a piece of redwork still in the hoop last weekend so I finished it this week. There are a stack of these redwork flowers that I've been working on for the last year. Would they qualify for Sandie's UFO and WISP challenge? I sort of have a plan for a wall hanging but it hasn't really been designed yet. Guess I'm waiting until I have them finish for that.

Redwork is great fun for me...I know...I know some would say it's boring but I love the challenge of keeping the stitches even. I'm afraid I didn't do a very good job with this hibiscus flower but it's the one I found in the hoop and I just couldn't match the stitching that was already there.

This Daisy I did yesterday...the whole flower... so the stitches are far more even. I wouldn't go to bed until it was done.

This heart was finished yesterday morning. I have a stack of hearts sewn up and waiting for embellishment but I slow at working on them. Sharon B's TAST helped me out with this heart I did the herringbone on the left side, the buttonhole stitch on the right side, blanket stitch along the bottom and detached chain stitches several places.

Well I'm off to fix another cup of coffee and get started on some stitching. I hope you all are having a wonderful day and Happy Stitching!!!!

Sisters Block

2007-01-14T16:20:00.001-05:00

Sisters Block
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This is my first block for a round robin. There is only two pieces of material that are from my own stash all the rest are from swaps. The sisters print I have used before on a heart and I thought it was perfect for this block too. I've never been in a rr before so I'm really looking forward to it and I'm excited to see with the other ladies will stitch on this block.

Birthday Swap Stash

2007-01-01T19:15:00.000-05:00

I belong to the CQfor Newbies yahoo group a wonderful group of ladies that are all just getting hooked on CQ. There are always interesting swaps and fun contests going on. One of the swaps that I joined is the Birthday Swap. There are 12 of us in a group and each month one person receives a squishie from the other 11. Rebecca is our swap hostess and does a great job keeping the swap going. November was my month to receive as you can imagine it takes some time to get the squishes and send them out again. My box came right before Christmas.

I want to share with you some pictures of the fabulous squishes that I received. There are a few more on my flicker site; just click on one of the pictures and it will take you to my flicker site. Our group consists of Laura, Wilma from The Netherlands, Gerry from Texas, Mary from Louisiana, Ati from Norway, Elizabet from the UK, Brenda from Arizona, Bethany (Tink), Renea from Washington state and Judyth from Kansas. Thank you so much ladies your generosity is overwhelming.

A New Year

2007-01-01T17:45:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. December was a good month all around. My job is is great and I'm very happy with it. We had a new addition to our family in December; my nephew and his wife have another beautiful little girl....Isabelle Madison. We are also expecting another addition later this year.

I traded several hearts and I want to show you the ones I've gotten in return. The first one is from Beverly Ann. She does lovely work and the piece of doily really makes this extra special.

Ati from Norway sent me this one. I love the cotton prints she works with and this little bird is so cute! Please visit Ati's blog and see all of the wonderful things she does.

This heart is from Margreet in Holland. I guess you can tell I like birds...lol. Margreet's work is amazing...I invite you to visit her blog too. She has some stunning quilts on her blog.

Charlene's Heart

2006-11-12T06:53:00.000-05:00

This heart was made by Charlene ...her stitching is so lovely! Her tatting is wonderful too...isn't the caterpillar adorable? When Charlene first started tatting she ask me to steered her to some of the sites that I had learned from. Please visit her blog she has been tatting with buttons recently.

Thank you for trading hearts with me Charlene.

New Beta Blog

2006-11-11T09:58:00.000-05:00

I switched!!! And it wasn't difficult at all. I've been reading every one's comments on whether to switch or not and for those that did how well the switch went for them. All of the comments had me worried but I knew it was time to go ahead with the change.

For all of you that have switched what is your favorite new feature? I would love to hear from you.

The new job is still keeping me busy...but I have been tatting. Wish I could show you what I've been working on but they are Christmas presents. A few of my readers will be recipients so I had better wait until after Christmas to share photos.

I can share a photo of the lovely needle book that Maureen sent me. I sent her some sequins and beads that she couldn't get in Australia and this is what she sent me in return.

Maureen's stitching is so perfect and so detailed. I always drool over everything she does. It's almost to beautiful to use...but I promised myself I would. I'm like so many people I want to save my nice things instead of using and enjoying them. I must break myself of this habit...

Weirdness

2006-10-15T10:24:00.000-04:00

I see that I've been tagged by several people to share five weird things about myself. I've been thinking on this for several days now....its hard to know unless someone else finds what you do weird. My best friend even had a difficult time coming up with something weird about me. So here goes....

I mostly watch old movies on TV....I just have one or two shows (that aren't movies) that I watch.
When I'm home the TV is always on. I have a TV in my bedroom too...and the remote upstairs turns off the TV downstairs and turns on the set upstairs. I can't sleep with the TV off...I just lay there staring at the ceiling until I turn the set back on.
I hate to go to the cinema and I don't...can't stand watching movies with a crowd of people.
Most people like to trade cars every 5 or 6 years but not me I love my car and would like to keep it forever. I hate power windows and doors and most of the other computerized gadgets that are on cars now days. I've always thought power windows are a dumb idea...you can't roll down the window if the car isn't running.
I like to add hot chocolate and half and half to my coffee...is that weird?...I love flavored coffees.

I'm sure there are other weird things about me that I just don't know about. I was tagged by several people and I know most of my blog friends have been tagged several times too....so if you are reading this and haven't been tagged yet consider yourself tagged by me.

Thanks to all of my readers that have been leaving me comments. I love to read them and I try to respond if I get an email address otherwise I visit your blog (if you have one).

I started a new job a month ago and it is seriously getting in the way of my stitching time. Several of the ladies in one of my online groups suggest stitching at least 15 minutes each day...I really need to start this and make it a habit. My biggest problem with that is I lose all track of time when I'm stitching...lol!!!

I hope everyone is having a great day!

Birdhouse heart

2006-10-02T07:15:00.000-04:00

Birdhouse heart
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This little heart has been patiently waiting in my flickr folder to be posted to this blog. The print in the center is one of my favorites. It has all of my favorite things....birds, bird houses and flowers.

The flowers on the top left are Fargo roses...they are very full and look the way roses should. Three of the seam treatments are done with a single thread of DMC floss.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Country Tulip

2006-09-25T20:56:00.000-04:00

Country Tulip
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

Sometimes it's fun to do some thing totally different. This county heart is made from all cotton fabrics...I love working with cottons they are far more forgiving then fancy fabrics.

Purple Hummingbird

2006-09-24T18:37:00.000-04:00

Purple Hummingbird
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

I've been working on more hearts. The spider web roses got a little flattened in the scanner but that's ok they puffed up again. I really am trying to get away from purple but I think there are a few more in my pile to do.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Purple Rose Heart

2006-09-16T07:20:00.000-04:00

Purple Rose Heart
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

I love doing these spider web rose motifs!!! Others must like them to I have several comments on my flickr site about them.

This one the silk ribbon is just one color but I like to use two ribbons together in my needle while doing them. I'll use a 7mm ribbon along with a 4mm ribbon of a different color so the rose has a two tone look to it. Belinda from www.bearembroideryden.blogspot.com shared this tip and I have been using it on most of my roses.

The roses at the top of the bottom seam treatment are Fargo roses...now that I can make them right I use them often too.

Stitching Hearts

2006-09-16T07:09:00.000-04:00

Purple Heart 3
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

Life has been so busy lately that I haven't had time to work on big projects. It's nice to have a pile of hearts made up so that I can work slowly and not forget what I'm doing on them. I enjoyed working on this heart; the curve was interesting to play with. The seam treatment makes such a pretty arch.

I seem to be stuck on purple lately most of the hearts are shades of pink and purple. The center fabric is a beautiful bold cotton print; this is only a small corner piece.

I want to thank all of those that have been leaving comments I love hearing from all of you. I do try to respond to anyone that has a return email address. It is so nice to know people are reading my blog. Hopefully life will settle down for me and I will be able to post more often this fall and winter.

I'm posting this from my flicker site and it will only allow me to post one pic at a time. I have another heart pic to share so it well be the post above this one.

Happy Weekend Everyone!!

A Heart From Lorenza

2006-09-11T08:27:00.000-04:00

From Lorenza Actis Foglizzo
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This beautiful heart came all the way from Italy to my little home here in Ohio. Lorenza does beautiful work....aren't those violets great!

A Heart From Susan Nixon

2006-09-11T08:23:00.000-04:00

From Susan Nixon
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

A scanned picture of these hearts just doesn't do them justice. This heart is so sweet and Susan's stitching is wonderful.

Trading Hearts

2006-09-10T10:13:00.000-04:00

From Norma Harris
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This beautiful heart is from Norma Harris who lives in Virginia. I love the paisley!

Trading Hearts

2006-09-10T10:07:00.000-04:00

From Michelle Share
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This heart is from Michelle Share who lives in Maine. She does lovely tatting and I've been looking forward to seeing it up close and personal.

Butterfly Heart

2006-08-26T06:26:00.000-04:00

Butterfly Heart
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This heart is truly an experiment with color contrast. I used the main colors of the print (shades of pink to dark maroon and shades of yellow) to make a very bold heart. The threads are all perl cottons which adds to the boldness. The Fargo roses at the top have seed beads in between them.

I like doing this kind of heart every now and then. It's like singing really loud and maybe off-key but you don't care because it makes you feel soooo good. I'm afraid the scanned photos just doesn't do it justice I think it much prettier in person.

The Sail Boat Heart

2006-08-25T06:23:00.000-04:00

I really like this sail boat image and wanted to try it on a heart. I guess I didn't have a plan for the stitching so it has a little of this and a little of that. The interlocking circles motif and the motif on the right are from Carole Samples "Treasure of Crazy Quilt Stitches".

Now that I can actually do Fargo roses I added them at the bottom along with ribbon stitch and lazy daisy stitch leaves. The spiderweb rose at the top is very eclectic...I like changing things up a bit. It's done with olive green and orange 7mm ribbon that I dyed myself. The two-ribbon technique I learned from Bear...she's planning on doing a tutorial soon so please watch for it.

The bead trails on either side of the spiderweb rose are my very first attempt at them. It was fun to pick the beads then decide which should lay against each other. I can see myself doing a lot more bead trails now.

The little anchor at the bottom is done in satin stitch. It wasn't easy to get the details to show, I would have liked to make it bigger but I didn't want it to over power.

Here is a larger view if anyone cares to see the details.

Under the Sea

2006-08-24T12:04:00.000-04:00

Under the Sea
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This is my first attempt at a Seascape Heart. It was fun but I just don't have any sea theme charms or buttons so I stitched the beaded star fish. The pattern for the sea horse came from Needlecrafter.com. All of the fancy threads are couched down with beads and on the left I used a feather stitch with beads for more sea grass.

Busy...Busy...Busy

2006-08-11T08:40:00.000-04:00

I haven't had time to embroider lately...I've had other sewing projects to keep me busy. My niece is getting married tomorrow and she ask if I would do some alterations for her and two of her attendants. It was interesting for me... the attendants dresses were much easier to work on then the bride's dress. The work has me very curious about doing alterations on other projects...I would love to watch someone that does wedding gown alterations for a living to see just how it's done. All that I did was make the dress a little more comfortable for the bride...I shortened the shoulder straps and took up some fullness under the arms.

I wanted a new dress for myself for the wedding and thought I would make it....what an adventure! It is so difficult for me to know how to adjust patterns to fit. Like most women I'm narrower through the shoulders than the waist and hips...so I have to make several alterations to the pattern. Well needless to say the first dress was way to big through the neck and shoulders...Luckily I had other fabric and a pattern that fit better and I ended up using both patterns... made several adjustments and now I have a dress that I'm happy with.

Has anyone been watching "Project Runway"? I usually wouldn't watch shows like this but this one fascinates me. Maybe because of seeing the creative process at work. I never wanted to sew my own cloths before but this show has made me want to do more sewing. I just wish I knew more about fitting patterns!

I have two garden pictures to share. The first one is one of my Lemon Boy tomatoes and the other is a pumpkin. The pumpkins have vined their way all over the garden!

Blogs

2006-07-29T14:12:00.000-04:00

Reading Blogs has become part of my daily routine. I have a very long list of blogs bookmarked. Time doesn't allow me to read all of them every day but I check in on all of them sometime during the week.

I've added more of my favorite blogs to my list here. Please check them out if you have a chance. Reading blogs reminds me of visiting with a good friend and sipping a glass of ice tea on the front porch while they tell me about their day. Actually that is very true because I've become friends with many of the bloggers on the list.

I can only hope that this blog makes my readers feel the same way...I just wish I was a better writer. That was one of my objectives when I started Iris Cabin.

I invite you to get yourself a cup or glass of your favorite beverage and take some time to visit some of my friends and fellow bloggers.

Madeline

2006-07-27T11:38:00.000-04:00

Madeline
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

I have had such a difficult time finishing this heart...I've been working on it for 4 weeks. I love the way it turned out and I tried out some new stitches...cast-on, Fargo roses and the scrunched ribbon. It looks like I need more practice on the cast-on stitches...lol...they don't lay flat like others I've seen. I'm really pleased with the Fargo roses...they never turned out right before when I've tried them. The spider web roses are done with two ribbons a 7mm and 4mm threaded together. I really like the effect! Larger photo here.

Yes I'm still here

2006-07-13T10:46:00.000-04:00

Life has gotten in the way of play lately....but I did want to share some pics. We are having rain here in the valley and things are growing like crazy. My garden is doing great! I've picked cucumbers and a zucchini, the tomatoes are loaded but none have turned yet. The pumpkin patch is taking over...they are the little pie pumpkins. I love to freeze my own pumpkin for pies and a dear friend does too but she doesn't have a garden yet so I'm hoping she takes some of these of my hands.

I put hay in between the rows to keep the weeds down and to conserve moisture. It works great I seldom need to water even when it hasn't rained for a couple of weeks.

This sunflower came up in a very small flower box on the back porch. It must have come from the bird feeder...not sure how it got there but it's done very well. I set the box next to the porch post for support...the flower is very tall and rather top heavy for the box it's in.

I love hydrangeas....I have two and this one is blooming like crazy. The flower heads are huge!

Cardinal Heart

2006-06-27T16:40:00.000-04:00

Cardinal 2
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

My dear friend Sandie loved the first heart that I did with this pattern so I did this one just for her. I believe the embroidery pattern is from one of Judith Baker Montano's books.

Kitten in Thyme

2006-06-24T13:56:00.000-04:00

Kitten in Thyme
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

I couldn't help myself this pic was too good to pass up. I had to take it through the glass in the back door. The kittens aren't tame and take off as soon as they hear the door knob turn. There are three of them and they are all cute but ornery...they love to play in the flowers and nap in them too!!!

Red Hot Poker

2006-06-24T13:48:00.000-04:00

Red Hot Poker
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This flower just went crazy blooming this year. The kittens have played in it quite a bit. I have yelled at them several times to run them out. Ornery kittens!!!

Shasta Daisy

2006-06-24T13:39:00.000-04:00

Shasta Daisy
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

I really should have staked these daisies they have fallen over and now they are covering up my hydrangeas.

Bear's Heart

2006-06-21T14:27:00.000-04:00

This heart arrived from Australia this week. Bear made it for me...the spiderweb roses are beautiful...I need to take lessons on making them from her. I always pull mine too tight..and they obviously need to be a lot looser.

I worked in the garden this morning. There were a few things I wanted to finish....I had late corn and beans to plant along with four tomatoes plants and four pimentos plants to set out. As I was finishing up setting the plants it started to sprinkle rain...I wanted to put the tomatoes cages over the plants too but when I looked up it was obvious that we were in for a down pour. So I'm still not done in the garden...I have some pole beans that I want to sow in the corn rows and the cages to put on the plants. We haven't seen the end of the rain our forecast is for chance of thunderstorm's the rest of the week. It's great for the garden but my yard is getting carried away...and the mower needs parts...I never seem to be able to get everything looking good at the same time. Does anyone else have this problem?

My Shasta daisies are starting to bloom...they need supports just didn't think of it soon enough. I also have Red Hot Pokers in bloom too...must take pictures and share them here.

Contest Block

2006-06-20T09:26:00.000-04:00

Contest Block
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This block was fun to do...it was part of a baggie swap and block contest on the CQNewbies yahoo group. I had a wonderful time stitching seam treatments that I hadn't tryed before. It's my first completed block.

Silk Ribbon Dyeing

2006-06-12T16:19:00.000-04:00

Saturday was a very rainy day here in Eagle Valley so after straightening up the house I played with dyeing some silk ribbon. One of the yahoo groups has been chatting about dyes and we talked about using Kool-Aid and what vibrant colors it produced. So Kool-Aid is what I used. The mixture I used was a 1/4 of a teaspoon of Kool-Aid powder with a Tablespoon of water. Lemonade made a very nice light yellow...lime made a bright green...orange of course made a bright orange...and grape made a very dark purple.

To get lighter green colors I mixed lemonade and lime. Adding a little orange to the lemonade gave me a darker yellow. To get an olive shade I mixed a little orange with lime. I'm very pleased with the colors.

For the most part I followed Sandie's dyeing instructions..I microwaved them, then heat set them with the iron..after that I rinsed them in fabric softener. It was easy and not too messy...I didn't use gloves but the Kool-Aid has worn off my fingers already.

Red Buttonfly

2006-06-06T08:33:00.000-04:00

This is such a cute pattern and it isn't as difficult as it might look....but after doing over fourteen of them I can still mess one up. I've been tatting butterflies for a motif swap...I love them but I'm very very tired of butterflies. Here is a link to the pattern if anyone is interested. It really is easy.....but it's easy to mess up too...lol.

We are have the strangest weather here in the valley. It was very cold one week.... it was hot and rained all the next and this past week it's been very nice during the day and cold at night. The yard was a mess I couldn't mow for two weeks...I did manage to get it done on Saturday...it looks so nice now.

Sunday I worked in the garden...planted 36 tomato plants...Lemon boy and Roma's. I make salsa and can (preserve) it so I need lots of tomatoes. Last year I entered my red salsa in the county fair and it won Best of Show. I also entered my yellow tomato salsa, canned red tomatoes and canned yellow tomatoes. Everything placed first but the yellow tomatoes...not sure why but they were canned in pint jars instead of quarts. I plan to try again this year...I just hope I have a good crop of tomatoes to work with.

Roses

2006-06-02T10:27:00.000-04:00

Closeup of Roses
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

The upclose view.

Rose Bush

2006-06-02T10:24:00.000-04:00

Rose Bush
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This rose was a gift from my neighbor last spring. I usually don't have any luck growing roses but this one made it through the winter and I didn't have to do much pruning. It was full of buds and I couldn't wait for it to bloom. The blooms smell good with out being overly fragrant. What I like best is that the blooms are very showy and can be seen from the road.....so my neighbor can see them when she drives by.

Press Chicken recipe

2006-05-26T23:53:00.000-04:00

I love recipes that have an interesting history and I'm glad to share this one with you. The main ingredient is a nice fat chicken.

When I make press chicken for a large group (which I usually do) I like to buy packages of breasts and thighs. A whole chicken works nicely for a family. I like the mixture of light and dark meat so that the end product is nice and moist with good flavor. Also the meat should have nice yellow skin and some fat (it makes better broth).

Before I cook the meat I like to soak it in salt water. This is something that my mom did whenever she fixed chicken she bought from the store; mom said it cleans the meat. Rinse the chicken and place it in a stock pot with enough water to almost cover the meat. Add a large pinch of salt to the pot. Slow boil the chicken for around three hours or until the meat is falling from the bone. Remove the meat from the broth to a platter to cool. Strain the broth and save; keep refrigerated until ready to use (never store broth in a metal container). After the meat has cooled separate it from the skin and bones. Keep the chicken refrigerated until the broth has completely cool and any fat is congealed. Remove and discard the fat from the broth.

I use my grandmother's meat grinder to grind the chicken. Meat grinders come in all makes and models now, but the one I use is like the one mother used. It clamps to the tabletop or counter and has three different blades: course, medium and fine. I always use the medium blade to get the same consistency my mother made. Any meat grinder will do but you may not get the consistency that I do. While grinding the meat I usually add saltines a few at a time to move the meat through grinder and saltines also act as a binder when the broth is added. While grinding the meat heat the broth, for a whole chicken you should need between 1 ½ to 3 cups of broth.

Place ground chicken in a large bowl and slowly add the broth a little at a time. Mix until it is moistened also add salt and pepper to taste. It depends on how you want to serve it as to how much broth to use. Adding a little broth will make it stiffer more broth will make is spreadable. Mom would use less broth and put the mixture in a loaf pan so she could slice it for sandwiches. I usually make it with more broth so that it is easy to spread on sandwich buns. Refrigerate until cool.

Typically no condiments are used although I like a little mayonnaise on my bread. As long as you keep the chicken cold you can make up sandwiches ahead of time.

Tips:

If you have more broth than you will need boil it down some to concentrate the flavor. Or save it for another use (noodles?).

If you don't think you have enough broth add some water and bring it back to a boil.

Busy Week

2006-05-25T20:08:00.000-04:00

This week has been a busy one....I think it's mostly because Memorial weekend is coming up. I've been to all of the local greenhouses getting plants for the garden and for my hanging baskets, planters and flower beds.

Yesterday my neighbor and I planted flowers in the flower beds at our town cemetery. We've been doing this for years....it seemed to slip up on us this year but we wanted to have it done for the holiday weekend.

I didn't do up as many hanging baskets this year...I have other places that money can go too. The garden has been calling me and I have all of my seeds planted and some pepper plants are set out too. The tomatoes and the rest of the pepper plants are on the porch waiting....I like to repot them into larger pots with good soil before they go to the garden...just gives them a good start.

The flower bed out front needed dirt...the eve drips into the bed and the dirt disappears. I added a bag of dirt and planted vinca, blue salva and a few petunias. The three hanging baskets I made up have petunias...one with yellow the other two with pink.

The wind has been blowing all day....very hard at times and the tree frogs have been singing too. I suspect we will have rain in the night. The wind always brings the Hawks and Turkey Vultures to hang glide over the trees....poor Jesse nearly ran himself silly chasing and barking at them. He should sleep very well tonight.

Has anyone heard of Press Chicken? That is my next big project this weekend. Our little community has an Ice Festival on Memorial day every year. My job is to make the Press Chicken for sandwiches...it's a local favorite. We have people come from several communities around just for a press chicken sandwich. When I was a kid nearly all of the local ladies made it but most of those ladies have passed away and I guess the recipe wasn't pasted on to the next generation. I haven't posted any recipes here yet but if anyone would like the recipe please leave a comment and I will post it for you.

Hearts Received

2006-05-19T07:45:00.000-04:00

Only a few of my close friends know that I'm trading hearts through the Chain of Hearts group...and they ask me about it frequently. I've even been asked to show my Hearts scrapbook to friends of friends. People are always amazed at the beauty and craftsmanship (craftswomanship) involved in the making of these little crazy patched hearts. I thought I would share the two latest hearts that I have received.

This heart is from Candji who lives in Ohio

This heart is from Hideko who lives in Japan.

More on my First Block

2006-05-16T07:44:00.000-04:00

cq block 1 with seam treatments
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

I've added more seam treatments. The one on the top right on the light blue fabric is my favorite. When I look at the block it just stands out.

I used a very loose pistil stitch on the seam to the left of the center print. It reminds me of fireworks...it curves in a comma shape. There is still more to come.

My First Block

2006-05-15T12:17:00.000-04:00

My first block
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This is the first cq block I've ever sewn together. I'm not sure I would have tried some of these seam treatments if I had to do them freehand. Press & Seal has really been a big help to me. Julia just posted a tutorial on useing P&S on her blog, Camille's Place.

Recent Tatting

2006-05-12T11:04:00.000-04:00

Latest Tatting
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

Here are a few of my tatting projects that I finished recently. Click the link to my flickr site to see a larger picture.

I want to thank everyone for their comments on the cabin and my stitching and tatting. It's so nice to know there are so many people out there that like what I do.

New Heart

2006-05-11T09:00:00.000-04:00

This is my latest heart and it went to Belinda in Australia. All the fabric and the pink lace are from baggie swaps. I tatted the butterfly to match this heart.

Open House

2006-05-06T20:01:00.000-04:00

The last couple of weeks have been very busy for me. So I'll catch up on the main thing that has had me so busy. Some of my readers know that I live in log cabin. My brother (who sells the log kits) uses it as a model home and we have an open house once or twice a year. Today was our open house...so I've been busy getting ready for it by getting rid of some things that I didn't need any longer and packing away things that were setting around. Plus I've been doing cleaning...cleaning and more cleaning plus the yard work. While the house was clean and tidy I thought I would share some pictures.

This is the south side of the cabin...that is a rock walk to the porch. The next pic is the kitchen and dining area. You should be able to see larger pictures by clicking on them.

This is the living room and the stairs lead to the master bedroom on the left and loft on the right. The house if very open only three rooms have doors (both bathrooms and the downstairs bedroom).

This is the guest bathroom (downstairs) I had seen these old washstands and dressers used in Log Home magazine and was lucky enough to have one to put in my bathroom.

Grant Days continued

2006-04-29T13:21:00.000-04:00

This area of Ohio has a lot of history most of it in some way connected with the civil war. The Rankin House, written about in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and part of the underground railroad, is in Brown county too. As a matter of fact there are many homes in the area that were used as safe houses for the underground railroad...including my Aunt and Uncle's.

If you would like to know more the Internet is packed with info on the civil war, Grant and Morgan's raid. I did find a few sites that might be of interest:

Ulysses. S Grant

American Presidency

John H. Morgan

Grant Days

2006-04-29T10:16:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I attended the local Grant Days celebration for a few hours and thought I would post a few pictures. I wanted to attend because the ladies from the weavers guild were going to be there doing their thing. They were demonstrating how the spinning wheel and weaving loom were used. It turned out to be quite an interesting day.

I guess I should tell you a little about the celebration. Ulysses S Grant, our eighteen president spent his early childhood in Georgetown Ohio. The house he lived in and the school house he attended are local historical sites. Several of the events included a history walk through the home and school house and several historic landmarks in Georgetown also a Grand ball that evening with everyone in civil war period costumes.

One of the events that I got to see was the reenactment of Morgan's Raid. The whole center of town was cordoned off and all the actor's were dressed in period costumes. The raiders came through town on horses and locals were trying to fend them off with single shot muskets to no avail. The raiders then proceeded to raid the local shops looking for supplies and money. There was a considerable amount of comedy in all of the goings on too. And of course a few locals died in the raid...one fellow played his death very well... he died in the middle of the street. The sun was out and it was very warm so the poor dead man was dragged up on the sidewalk to the shade and remained there quite dead for the next hour or so. Finally the Calvary rode in and saved the day...with a horse back saber fight and muskets going off everywhere it was very dramatic and so much fun to watch.

The Cavalry arrives, or maybe it's Union troops, to save the day!

Daffodils

2006-04-24T21:12:00.000-04:00

Daffodils
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

I've been working on these daffodils for a while now. I just can't seem to get them to look the way I think they should :-(

Thank you Julia for the pattern and instructions. With any luck my next attempt at these daffodils will be much better.

The Survivors

2006-04-21T08:32:00.000-04:00

Thought I would share some pictures of the survivors...the tulips that is...I did get to see a few bloom. There is a closeup of the crabapple blossoms too. Something wonky happened to the pictures of the trees that's why they look of center. I left stakes around the tulips to remind the deer to stay away.

Gold Heart

2006-04-14T16:19:00.000-04:00

Gold Heart
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This heart has been in the works for more than two weeks now...and it's done!!! I wasn't able to take Sharon B's class but I did try to learn a few things from the ladies that did. Like planning the stitches...I made a color copy of the heart and drew what I wanted to do. I played with using Press and Seal too. It worked fine after I put a second layer over my ink marks so that the ink didn't come off on my thread.

I always try out books from the library to decide it I want to buy them. Last week I found Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches by Carole Samples. It's amazingly chock full of stitch combinations (along other stitch designs)...many are from antique crazy quilts. I always have trouble coming up with combinations on my own so this book is a gold mine for me. Several of the combinations on this heart came from Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches.

More Tatting

2006-04-13T07:39:00.000-04:00

It took three attempts to get this tiny piece done. The first time I was almost done when I found a thread wrapped around the piece and I couldn't fix it. The second one I forgot to join the picots (yes, again). This design is in Tatted Snowflakes by Vida Sunderman (Dover Needlework Series). I did alter the chain by adding another double stitch on each side of the picot.

I love this little heart but all of my previous trys were sad attempts...until last night when I actually did justice to the pattern. This design is in Easy Tatting by Rozella F. Linden (Dover Needlework Series).

Sewing corner

2006-04-12T08:05:00.000-04:00

Sewing corner
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

This is my little sewing corner. I changed it around recently hoping to tidy up the area just not sure it helped. My fabric is in the plastic tubs and the drawer set is new...thinking of getting more of them so that it's easier to get to my fabric and see what I have. My sewing machine is a White and it has a few embroidery stitches that I forget to use. Someday I hope to have better storage, a big cutting surface and a nicer table for my sewing machine...but what I have is fine for now.

Yesterday I revisited a semi-local yarn shop (it's really so much more). The first time I was there I mentioned that I tatted and the owners invited me back and to bring my tatting. Their weaving guild meets at the shop on Tuesdays and they wanted me to come and show my tatting to the guild members. I spent a very nice day with the ladies. When I walked through the door they ask me what I do when I said tatting there were lots of oh's and ah's and I proceded to show them some of my motifs and books. Then they wanted to see how needle tatting is done so I showed them how to do rings, chains, picots and joins. After lunch at a local coffee house I watch as three of the weavers set up their looms and another lady was spinning yarn. The yarn spinning was very interesting; she was using a wonderfully soft white lambs wool to make the yarn. All and all a very nice day and I learned some things too.

Fun Threads

2006-04-11T07:52:00.000-04:00

Rosemary sent these fun and fancy threads along with the heart. I'll have lots of fun using them.

I'm stitching on a gold heart now but I'm taking my time and working at it a little differently than I normally do.

I have had so many nice complements on my tatting which has evolved into two swaps. So now I have even more tatting to do. The swaps push me to build my skills and I get lots of practice...which is a very good thing.

It's time for coffee anyone want to join me?

Hearts

2006-04-11T07:47:00.000-04:00

Rosemary
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

I swapped one of my Dragonfly hearts for this lovely one from Rosemary. The butterfly is beautiful and there is a little mirror inside that circle of stitching.

I have some sad news, you may remember my post about the deer nibbling the tops out of my tulips...well they finished them off buds and all. At least around the two trees closest to the road. The trees must be right in the deer path across the yard. I did find one that they didn't get..it was on the side away from the road..so I put a tomato cage around. The tulips around the tree closest to the house were spared..but I'm taking no chances and I put a chicken wire fence around them until the tulips bloom. Looks like I'll have to move the tulips closer to the house and put something deer proof around the trees. Which upsets me to no end...the tulips would have been so pretty there. I'll post a picture of the survivors when they bloom.

Tissue Holder

2006-04-10T17:29:00.000-04:00

turkey feathers has been making beautiful bags (purses) and she has made tissue pouches to go with them. She had a link for the instructions too so I gave it a try and this is the result:

I would love to make more (Christmas gifts maybe) but I definitely need to get better at making them. When I had it finished I noticed that I had sewn one end crooked. It's for me so I'm not too worried about it.

Dragonflies

2006-04-10T17:01:00.000-04:00

It's surprising to me just how many people like dragonflies...and enjoy making replicas. Jo introduced the Chain of Hearts group to these dragonflies along with the instructions to make them. So of course I gave it a try.... and posted a link to the photo on the CoH site. Today when I opened my flickr site the dragonfly has been viewed 43 times and I had two comments....how exciting!!!! It never occurred to me that so many people would look at it.

Purple butterfly

2006-04-04T11:07:00.000-04:00

Purple butterfly
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

Look!!! I did it...I figured out how to finish this butterfly! It was driving me nuts! Then I was working on another piece that had the same problem...ended up slipping the work off the needle...stuck the needle through the picot and finished the work on the other side of the picot. So easy, then I knew that I could do the same thing with this butterfly. It will be one of my favorite patterns now that I know it's secret.

Purple butterflies

2006-04-02T14:04:00.000-04:00

Purple butterflies
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

I've been playing with this butterfly pattern from "The Complete Book of Tatting" by Rebecca Jones. I just can't get the last wing attached to the picot on the head correctly...I'm doing it on a needle. Anyone have any ideas??? I'm about ready to attach it with invisible thread and leave it at that. The one on the right is missing a wing...not an angel although it could make a good angel too. LOL

We are having a lovely spring day. I actually have two windows open!!!

Buttons

2006-04-02T11:32:00.000-04:00

Vintage Buttons 3
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

Yesterday I met a dear friend for lunch. We hadn't seen each other for a year or more...so we had a lot to catch up on. After lunch we went to a nearby historic village...Old Washington Kentucky. Many historic buildings and most have antique shops. We found a magnificent stash of buttons in one of the shops and I couldn't help myself...I came away with this little collection.

Most of the buttons are made from shell. I have been told that there was a button factory in the area many years ago. The story goes that they would dredge the river for mussels and used the shells to make the buttons. Many of these buttons aren't finished on the back so you can see part of the outer shell. If anyone knows anything else about this type of button I would love to hear from you.

I have added another picture of the same buttons...they reflected the camera flash but it shows how shiny and colorful they are.

Well... we sprang forward today and I forget to set the clocks last night. I slept in this morning so instead of feeling like I lost an hour it feels more like I lost two hours. It always takes me a week or more to get used to the change.

Tatted Edging

2006-03-30T09:20:00.000-05:00

tatted edging
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

I've been working on this bit of edging. It's done with size 80 tatting thread...very fine and difficult to work with. The pattern is my own design...I find that I don't forget to do picot joins on my own designs. Yes the needle is bent but it works just fine...it's a very thin needle.

I joined the baggie swap that Sandie is doing over at abeautifulcraft... check it out if you haven't seen it yet. I am adding several of my tatted pieces to each baggie.

Hopefully I can find (make?)time to sew up a few cq hearts and do some embroidery this weekend. I have had such a good time tatting and teaching myself to crochet that the embroidery has been neglected for sometime now. I want to learn how to do thread crochet but I can see it is going to take longer to learn than the tatting did. LOL (:o)

Small Tatting Motifs

2006-03-25T14:07:00.000-05:00

small tatting motifs
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

I think my tatting is improving at least a little. The purple piece (doesn't it look like a dog?) of tatting is about an inch long... that should give you an idea about size. The red one has a few mistakes...forgot to join picots...I always do that.

Purple Heart

2006-03-25T13:58:00.000-05:00

Purple Heart
Originally uploaded by Iris Susan.

I like the colors of this heart but I think it needs something on the print...I just don't have whatever it needs in my stash. I tried buttons, charms, tatting, and nothing suited. The butterflies are tatted.

Spring Snow

2006-03-21T09:02:00.000-05:00

We did have some snow and ice. I could hear the sleet hitting the roof early this morning. Then we had enough snow to cover it up. The roads must be a mess. I took these pictures of the birds enjoying the feeders this morning.

The birds in this picture are mostly gold finches... they like the thistle feeder...there just isn't enough room for them all so they sit all over the pole and wait their turn. This morning as I was watching there were purple finches, house finches, song sparrows, cardinals, chickadees, one junco, and a pair of brown headed cow birds. The cow birds have to go...I scared them off every time I saw them on the feeder. I made the wooden feeder...the birds like its plastic roof it keeps the weather off but allows them to see predators.

It isn't easy to capture a bird in flight but there is one in this picture....fuzzy but there. This is the view from my back porch. I actually took the pictures through the glass of the back door.

Spring...Maybe...Maybe not!

2006-03-20T15:07:00.000-05:00

It might be the first day of spring but the weather report is that we may have ice and snow tonight. It isn't all that surprising...I remember an Easter when I was seven or eight that we had a half inch of ice. It was so sad...my oldest brother and his family were home for Easter. All of the girls had new Easter dresses and bonnets to wear to church but the ice was so bad we couldn't get out of the house. I'm not sure how Dad made it to the barn to do the chores that morning.

Blogger still won't let me upload photos...wish they would get it fixed.

Still here

2006-03-19T08:57:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been so long but there hasn't been anything to blog. None of my projects are far enough along to share and I have had other things to keep me busy this week. Soooo....I thought I would share some photos....but blogger will not let me. Blogger has had several problems this week...for two days my blog was lost on a server that was down.

The best that I can do is send you to my flicker site to look at the pictures of my daffodils. We have had frosts the last two mornings and I'm worried about the ones that haven't bloomed yet. My tulips are showing themselves but hopefully they won't show buds for a couple more weeks. My crab apples trees were showing green...I haven't been brave enough to look at them since the frost.

There is also some photos of my Chain of Hearts vines...also known as Ceropegia woodii. The original plant was my mother's. When she passed away I rooted four or five plants from the original so that my siblings could each have one. The vine grows very fast and I have rooted several new plants and given several away. Now I have five plants and two of them need shortened. They are easy to start...they have nodules on the vine and I lay the section I want to root on soil in another pot, anchor it with florist wire until it roots itself then cut it from the original plant.

I'm off to have another cup of coffee it's cinnamon hazelnut this morning...would anyone care to join me?

Snowflake

2006-03-13T07:21:00.000-05:00

It's finished...it's not great... but it's finished! I just wish I could get the turns right...if you look closely you can see were it looks twisted and doesn't lay flat. Tension is a problem for me too...some places are too tight and some to loose.

Saturday was a fun day even if it did rain all day. My dearest and life long friend and her husband were here for the weekend and she and I want shopping. I had found an ad for a yarn shop that I wanted to visit and we went to check it out. The lady that owns the shop spins a lot of her own threads and weaves... there is a workshop with several looms set up. It would take several weeks to look at all of the things in her shop. It's definitely a place to visit often. After the yarn shop we had lunch at a local steak house then spent some time at Hobby Lobby. On the way home stopped at Starbucks and treated ourselves to a latte. All in all a very nice day.

Sad Tatting Attempts

2006-03-09T06:09:00.000-05:00

I have had some very nice compliments on my tatting and thank you all.......but I thought I would share some of my sad tatting attempts with you. I plan to persevere in spite of my "sta" (sad tatting attempts) and I'm determined to improve.

The sta on the left should have been a medallion I think.... but I couldn't figure out when to join the picots.

The sta on the right...well I didn't make it loose enough ....anyway it doesn't look the way it should.

I had a very good start on this sta when I realized I wasn't making some picot joins where I should....then I realized that not all of the large rings were facing the same direction as they should have been. But I didn't give up and a second attempt is on the needle at this moment.

These two are actually pretty good. I have had several sta at this heart...I like it but it needs to be done on a shuttle I guess...it doesn't look like it should. The Butterfly I actually like but this is the result of the second or third attempt.

Hearts and more Hearts

2006-03-08T07:40:00.000-05:00

I spent last week and the weekend working on improving my skills using silk ribbon and these are the hearts I worked on. Three ladies have their choice...Maureen B has first choice then Rosemary and Toni. I'm afraid Maureen is having trouble making up her mind which one she wants.

Yes, it is a piece of my tatting on Millie.

Sadie and Millie

Water Lilies and Cardinal

Topiary Tree

2006-03-08T07:28:00.000-05:00

I finished the tree over the weekend... the only thing left is maybe signing and dating it. When I have improved my stash of silk ribbon I would like to make another one. Thanks again Julia for sharing the design with me and for your help.

Hearts Received

2006-03-04T07:37:00.000-05:00

Thought I would share my resent swaps from the Chain of Hearts group.

This one is from Maureen B in Australia.

Pat from Indiana sent this heart.

This heart is from Sue in the UK

Toni from Ohio sent this heart.

There are all so lovely... I wish the scanner could really do them justice. I think I'll make a frame to put them in when I scan them....might help the hearts stand out a bet better. Still not sure what I want to do with them just yet...it's just so much fun to look at each one and see all of the detail and admire the work.

More Tatting

2006-03-01T17:58:00.000-05:00

This piece of tatting I did this evening...its the same pattern that I used on the first piece I tried. Today I worked out how to finish it.

Tatting

2006-03-01T06:56:00.000-05:00

I did it! I did it! I actually finished a piece of tatting actually two pieces of tatting! The one on the left is the first one tatted and it's a little rough in places but I think the second one is much better. If anyone out there does needle tatting and would give me a few pointers I would love to hear from you. I can't always figure out what the pattern means for me to do next. The piece that I'm working on now is more difficult and the instructions aren't as clear for a beginner as they could be.

New Projects

2006-02-26T08:41:00.000-05:00

First things first....I want to thank my dear friends that commented on my last post. Your kind words and encouragement have cheered me tremendously. This past week has been one where if something could go wrong it did. Even little things that shouldn't have been a problem were....two light bulbs blew and I had trouble getting the old bulbs out of the sockets. It took two days before I finaly got the stair light replaced...I thought I would have to call my brother to get the bulb out of the socket! I know that sounds dumb but it shows just how aggravating my week was. I'm not getting along with yahoo this week either...pages won't load, the email is slow and I think the emails that I have tried to send have gotten lost in cyber space.

Anyone that does any kind of crafting knows that it always leads to learning new techniques and new crafts. That's what I've been attempting to do lately. I wanted to share my attempts but...for some reason blogger will not let me upload pictures today. Is any one else having trouble?

Yesterday I went shopping...yes again...for silk ribbon and I wanted to get some tatting needles and thread. I want to four stores...only one store had needles but they had sold the last package on Monday...more of my bad luck this week. When I got home I ordered needles online. But while I'm waiting I bought doll needles and dulled the point. Laugh all you want but it works well enough for me to learn the stitches. It took several tries and reading several tutorials to get started tatting. I would show you how I did but alas blogger won't let me. Its a medallion shape...not sure I reversed like it said to but it lays flat...my only problem is I can't figure out how to do the last chains to finish it. I did manage to get a picture loaded onto my flicker site, click on the flicker link to see the tatting.

There is also a picture of silk ribbon topiary tree pattern that I'm working on too, on the flicker site. Julia over at Camille's Place sent me the pattern and is helping me learn silk ribbon embroidery. There are a few mistakes...the spider roses are to small and the lazy daisy flowers are to big. I still have some flower buds around the pot to do yet. It's my first SRE project so I'm not total bummed about my mistakes. I'll just do another one and get it right.

New Hearts

2006-02-24T06:35:00.000-05:00

This week has been full of highs and lows...well maybe more lows than highs. It doesn't do for me to work on my stitching projects when I'm upset... never satisfied with my work and pick it all out again. I did finish a heart last night and two earlier in the week.

It's obvious that I don't have a certain style or color preference. Maybe I should and maybe it will come with time. The heart with the peacock is vibrant to say the least...but I like it. Each one has a dragonfly... seems most of the ladies in the COH group like them...so do I.

Old Man Winter

2006-02-21T08:57:00.000-05:00

Maybe spring is on it's way at least the birds and flowers seem to think so. The daffodils on the south side of the house are up and I noticed one bud...just hope it doesn't get nipped. I planted them along with tulips last fall and they are my very first bulbs here at the cabin. Yesterday there were over 20 robins in the yard...always a sign of spring....in the evening five deer were in the back yard.

We had snow over the weekend and the bird feeders were busy. I'm not sure the birds even knew the feeders were there until it snowed. This is a picture from my back porch which faces the east... a very nice place to have a cup of coffee and watch the sunrise in warm weather.

Old Crazy Quilt Blocks

2006-02-21T08:23:00.000-05:00

Mary of Frequently Wrong but Never in Doubt is working on CQ blocks and is looking for ways to set the pieces together. I have several old crazy quilts some are tops and I have one set of blocks that aren't sewn together...and promised to share pictures of them.

I'm not sure but I think this set of blocks came from my maternal grandmother (part of my mom's inheritance and now mine too).

This is a crazy quilt top that is made from flower sack material. After I looked at it closely I would guess that no one wanted a dress made out of any of these prints.

This one is a silk and satin tie cq top. It does have some filler material too. There are some very... and I do mean very... ugly ties in this quilt.

This is the back of the silk tie cq it was sewn in 15 x 20 inch panels.

Jo's heart

2006-02-18T07:38:00.000-05:00

Jo's heart arrived in the mail yesterday all the way from New Zealand.

The Ohio valley is having it's usual strange winter weather. For the last three weekends we have had snow. It is snowing this morning too. But the weekdays have been very mild. Wednesday and Thursday the temperature was in the mid 60's and on Thursday night the wind blew vary hard all night. Friday I noticed that the grapevine friendship tree on my front porch is lying down and a flowerbox is out in the yard. I had the tree tied to the house with wire so the wind was strong enough to brake it and topple the tree and the concrete block that it set on. The flowerbox had hens and chicks in it so they must be scattered across the yard. I hope we have nice weather this next week so that I can fix what the wind damaged.

There is a good breeze most of the time here at the cabin except in August when I could really use it. I wish I had a wind generator then I wouldn't have an electric bill to pay. Maybe I'll get one installed this summer.

Since it is cold and snowing I think it will be a good day for sewing and embroidery. I'll put the teakettle on and get started would anyone like to join me?

Goodies in the Mail

2006-02-16T08:37:00.000-05:00

It has been an interesting week! The mail has been full of goodies. But I must tell you a story first.

Several years ago my Brother and Sister-in-law sponsored an exchange student from the Czech Republic. One day when they were out driving around she ask what all those boxes on posts were along the side of the road! You know you live with something all of your life and it never occurs to you that it might be strange to someone else. Sometimes these boxes stand alone and sometimes there are grouped four or five in a row... or more. They don't all look alike some are very ornate or funny or unusual and some are plain. Mine is very plain. Can anyone that doesn't have one (a box on a post) guess what it is used for?

I live on a road that bears my family name along with with a cousin, two brothers and a nephew all with the same last name...and three of us have the same first initials. To make matters even more confusing I use to live in the farm house that my brother and sister-in-law live in now (my SIL and I have the same first name and the three of us share the same initials). And their son lives in the house that they use to live in. Needless to say there are days when we have to visit each other to sort out the mail deliveries.

The reason I have shared all of this confusion is......my SIL has received two of my hearts in her mail. She knew that I would be getting the hearts (she is also the Postmistress for our local Post Office) and I have shared the first look at each heart with her.

Now for the mail goodies:

This heart is from Julia you can visit her at Camille's Place. She is very graciously helping me learn silk ribbon embroidery.

Karen sent this lovely heart and you can visit with her at Karen South's Crazy Quilting World.

One of my online orders come this week too. Lovely silk ribbon and silk floss from Hand Dyed Fibers.

Sandie's Heart Arrived

2006-02-11T10:07:00.000-05:00

My first swapped heart arrived in the mail! It's from Sandie in South Australia. It's lovely and so much to look at! I see something new each time I look.

Now that my mail-person is bringing me more than bills ....I've been watching for his car to stop at my box. I'm expecting more hearts and some packages from my online shopping sprees. I'll share my goodies from the shopping sprees when they arrive.

It's snowing here this morning...but doesn't seem to be accumulating. We have had such warm weather for January and February that my daffodils are peeking out of the ground ... not good news. Luckily the tulips haven't started showing themselves yet!

The Sisters

2006-02-08T11:33:00.000-05:00

My mother always teased me that I needle the thread instead of threading the needle. For a right handed person I do a lot of things left handed. It's just easier for me to hold the thread steady in my left hand and slide the needle onto the thread with my right.

On this heart I used a Chinese knot something new for me. It's used at the ends of the feather stitch along the top and as the flowers on the left. All of the other knots are French knots. Some of my designs and most of my inspiration for The Sisters came from The Big Book of Crazy Quilt Stitches by Patricia Eaton and Floral Stitches by Judith Baker Montano.

Yesterday was one of those days. I just couldn't get anything done. I picked up The Sisters to do a little embroidery but I would just look at it and put it back down; no inspiration. I finished the heart this morning. I also started a crazy quilt block but stopped once I got the material cut out. Again no inspiration. I'll try again later.

Pistol Anne has found a home with Jo and Desert Sands is on it's way to Karen!

Another note: Jesse seems to be totally recovered from the bruised paw.

More Hearts

2006-02-06T14:11:00.000-05:00

This is Pistol Anne, I liked the diamond shapes on her skirt and added the ones on the right.
Desert Sands is a little different, but when I saw the print I new I wanted to try to make a heart with it. We will see if anyone in the COH swap group is interested in it; if not then I won't have to make a second one for me.

Beth - COH # 3

2006-02-05T18:29:00.000-05:00

This heart is for Julia. I'm looking forward to getting the heart she made for me; Julia does the loveliest silk ribbon embroidery.

Redwork Flowers

2006-02-05T08:42:00.000-05:00

Lilac
Lily of the Valley

Don't know what happened; I posted these redwork flowers Saturday and today everything I posted is missing. Now I'll make a copy of each post for a back up.

It was a busy week, my niece delivered a baby boy Tuesday. Shayne is very cute with lots of black hair. I'm a Great Aunt nine times (five boys and four girls). Now don't guess by age by that my brothers are much older then me.

Yesterday I spent the day in my sewing room/computer room loft sewing hearts for the Chain of Hearts swap group. They will show themselves as I finish the embellishments.

Jesse is much better he actually walked down the stairs this morning without any assistance.

Well I'm off to emblellish hearts.

My Little Chickadee

2006-02-02T17:25:00.000-05:00

This little heart gave me trouble. I just couldn't decide what I wanted on the blue above the chickadee. I tried three or four stitches and picked them all out. Then I used the woven running stitch with two colors of floss and was finally pleased enough to leave it in place.

I have swapped the Rose Mauve heart with Sandie. How exciting to get a beautifully stitched heart in the mail... much better than bills.

The Jesse saga continues...he tripped on the stairs this morning and slid down the last four steps on his belly. It scared him... so he got lots of love and hugs until he recovered. He kept looking back at the stairs like they had tripped him on purpose. Jesse hasn't even attempted to come upstairs today. My poor baby.

Nutty for Hearts

2006-02-01T11:04:00.000-05:00

I think I've gone nutty for these hearts. The chickadee is from beautiful fabric just covered with all kinds of birds. Scanning doesn't show how pretty it is and I can't do digital images right now so scanning will have to do.

Rose Mauve

2006-02-01T10:48:00.000-05:00

There seemed to be a bald spot on this heart so I added a bead flower. You can't see it put I signed it too. Just a small "I" among the roses. Rose Mauve (the heart's name, title) is up for trade with the Chains of Hearts swap group.

Heart for Trade

2006-01-31T20:28:00.000-05:00

This little heart is ready for trade. It's late now so it will get posted on the Chains of Hearts tomorrow.

I spent the day being nurse maid for Jesse. He was doing something he shouldn't have and ended up with a bruised and swollen paw. He is hobbling around and can't make it up or down the stairs without my help.

This heart is Finished

2006-01-30T16:12:00.000-05:00

Well it's finished! I stitched on it off and on for several days. The heart and butterfly were from tracings the rest was done free hand. I'm not comfortable with bead work yet I need more time to play with it.

I joined the Chain of Hearts group and got the pattern for the hearts. The hearts that I have been working on are about an inch bigger. So I cut down my backing material and sewed this little heart this morning.

I'll use my bigger hearts to try out new stitches and different techniques then use them in some of my other projects.

Crazy Patch Heart

2006-01-29T10:32:00.000-05:00

Larger version

I laid the red heart aside until I got some ideas on how to embellish it. I found some purple material in my stash and stitched this heart. There is still more to do and I wish I had made the butterfly bigger but I like it so far. I need to practice doing the feather stitch; I took it out three times before I was satisfied with it. The scanner doesn't do it justice it changes the material to much.

Ribbonwiz and Chloe gave me some great ideas for the red heart. Thank you both. I don't have much lace to work with; I'll have to check some of my other craft boxes. I'll play with it a while and see what happens.

Crazy Patch Hearts

2006-01-28T08:19:00.000-05:00

I need some advise today. I love all of the beautiful hearts that Ribbonwiz, Chloe and others are doing and I have tried making a few myself. My problem is that after going through my entire material stash all I have are cotton prints. Can anyone give me advise on how to embellish on prints?

The hearts are so much fun to do. I would love to join the Chain of Hearts swap group, but I need to improve my embellishing first. Fabric shopping is on my list of things to do too.

Redwork Iris

2006-01-27T09:12:00.000-05:00

Yes, this is the same pattern as the tiny iris. The pattern is saved on the computer and I insert it into a word document where it can be made any size needed. Doing it that way comes in very handy.

The stands are done with a variegated floss. I like the effect but the color changes to quickly. In my floss stash there is some older J & P Coats embroidery floss where the variegation is much better, but there were no reds in the stash.

This is another project I've been working on...

This is part of my inheritance. I have my mother's embroidery floss and her transfer patterns. Back in the days when beds, sheets and pillow slips only came in standard size my mother always embroidered pillow slips for wedding presents. I remember going to white sales at Montgomery Ward (department store, out of business now I think) where Mom stocked up on pillow slips and sheet sets. I found this pattern among her Aunt Martha's transfers, she paid 60 cents for it at Ben Franklin's (a 5 and 10 cent store). The pillow slips are from Mom's stash too.

Larger version

Mr. Jesse

2006-01-25T07:41:00.000-05:00

This is Jesse, he and I are constant companions. I can't do anything around the house without him by my side. Jesse is an English Springer Spaniel but the only birds he knows are the turkey vultures that like to lay on the air currents that flow up over the hill behind the house.

We have been together for 12 years and he has me well trained so we do mostly what he wants us to. Jesse has quite the following nearly everyone that knows me knows Jesse and they all ask about him.

The picture as taken in my front yard, there is a hay field next to the house and a pasture field across the road. Both belong to my brother who owns the family farm now.

2006-01-24T15:30:00.000-05:00

Tiny Iris

It is 1 and 3/4 inches by 3 inches. I wanted to copy colors from my favorite Iris (Supreme Sultan). For the falls I blended a red and a brown floss to get the color I needed. I received Schreiner's iris catalog in the mail the other day and it inspired me to try this miniature project.

2006-01-24T07:47:00.000-05:00

Thanks...

Thank you Ribbinwiz for the warm welcome and mention on your blog. I'm in love with your dragonfly heart it is wonderful.

Redwork Flowers

2006-01-24T07:01:00.000-05:00

This is my second redwork project. I love flowers and when I saw a set of them at Ladies in Red I knew I wanted to stitch all of them. This flower is so dainty that I did it with a back stitch and one strand of embroidery floss. I have decided that I want the flowers to be 6x6 inches or under and I drew them on 8x8 inch panels. There are 12 flowers all together so I'm thinking when I get them all done I may set them in a quilt. That is quite ambitious for me so we'll see what happens.