A bit about me!

I see meme on blogs all the time.  I am always impressed by the one at  Barefoot Mama.  So I thought I would do one.


Right Here, Right Now


What I'm wearing... jeans, white tee and Nikes

What I'm reading... Moonlight Cove by Sherryl Woods

What I'm creating... I'm working on my Grandmothers Flower quilt that I am sewing from scraps of other quilts.
What's happening in my kitchen... left over pizza

What I'm smelling... the smell of rain and fallen leaves

What I'm hearing... U of O beating USC and now the news.

What's on my mind... That’s it’s a nice relaxing Saturday night – and a sick friend

Words to live by..."In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away"- shing xiong


What happened in my world this week... Really feeling “relaxed” in my apartment and that it’s my own.

E- Day 5

An old English proverb says:
Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
I am going to take that advice and head to bed early. That is my word of inspiration today. Early.
I did a impromptu survey of my friends at work for a word or subject that starts with E. What is interesting is many people first said excellence. That is is a good word to strive for and I have it in one of my quotes at work but what can you say about that?
Another subject I thought I could talk about is Embroidery. But where to start on that subject. I was listening to Pat Sloan’s podcast of her radio show on TalkNet radio. I They were talking about the old style iron on transfers of embroidery patterns. It made me think of Rodgers – a local 5 and Dime store here in the NW but is now closed. You could find anything and everything there. They had an old wooden cabinet that held old fashioned candy. You could also get the coolest embroidery pieces their. They were the blue ink on white fabric. They also had the black looking sick that my sister made into pillows for my 3 aunts. It was always fun to go look through them as a kid. I wanted t \this one or that one but my mom wasn’t real crafty so we didn’t get to buy them very often.
Today I love to sew pillow cases and even tried my hand in designing the pattern of the thread detail but I haven’t gotten very far.
Getting late. Off to bed.. Night NIght.

Thursday – I guess I didn’t post this but I did write it on Wed night.

Someday.....

Inspiration from My Sewing Serenity.

Someday I want to crochet a rug like this. Maybe even make a braided rag rug. Someday I also want to hook a rug.

This is a cool one for inspiration.

Cool things...

Sometimes you find the coolest things. I found this from Alica on Posie Gets Cosy.

They are called chef's medallions and she connected to the website How do people find these cute things. I love it.

New look..

Do you like my new look. Worked on Gimp today.. I made.. or i should say.. i improved the flower i drew a couple of years back. I put the borders on. Still along way to go on the design front and learning the program but I am having fun.

What fasinates me now..

Hi,
On the previous post you see my favorites that I have found on flickr. This is new for me. I have found so much inspiration from the groups and all the photos. I never knew that it had so many things i would like. It has also been eye opening to figure out how to post it to this blog. Lots of hoops to go through and definitly a learning curve..
Enjoy.

My Promised photos..

The first is the items I found at Goodwill. I scored a bargain for the book for 3.99. The second is my completed project from a few posts before and the frame I found for it and the paint I want to paint it.
The third is my threads. Both my threads for my cross stitching and my knitting/crocheting.

Update on projects..

Good Morning ;)
Update on projects. Today i have the day off so i thought i would update you on my projects. Photos to follow later today as i hope the light to be better.
I have finished my Pretty Posies cross stitch pattern. I haven't put the black border on for two reasons. I ran out of the black thread as I used two strands instead of one but i prefer the heaviness of it. Also i wasn't totally sure i wanted it. I plan to frame the work and adding that border would square it up. That is not the look i am going for. I found a frame for 1.99 or was it a dollar at Goodwill. Boy i found a couple of good things there. More on that later. Today I am going to paint the frame with a blue base and then white and then will sand it a little bit. Should be cute.
With the temp job i have now i have time to sew on my table cloth. I have made so much progress. I can not believe i have been working on it for over 10 years. A bit here a bit there but it's so time consuming and it's not even very big. I have finished all the cross stitching round the sides and the center. I just have the red berries to do and the strings of the harp. I am working on the last big section. Yahoo... I probably won't touch it today as what else would i do at work?

I have gotten a new craving. Doing some crocheting. I have been looking on YouTube and Flicker on how to make granny squares. This morning i wrapped into a ball some yarn i used from the family reunion. It's in primary colors that are variegated. I am going to practice using that. It should be fun. Hopefully I pick it up pretty easily.

Quilting you ask. That is always with me but i am taking some time to explore other passions. I have set up my machine on the desk so it won't be hard to remove the few things on there and sew. I just gotta get my fabric out and play with it and start sewing. I will get back to that.

Things i need or want to do.

1. Buy a DMC floss holder (those plastic containers ) to put my left over thread from my projects.
2. Buy the 4th season of the quilting show.
3. Explore cool yarn shops to get an assortment of colors for my granny squares using Attic 24 and Jane Brockett colorways as inspiration. Check out Jane's sock colors.
4. Just have fun!
5. Get out pumpkin Amish and start sewing blocks.
6. Mark my tumbling block chocolate pieces so that it can be my next project at work or should i work on an applique project. Decisions, Decisions.
7. Should I get a new cross stitch project after the table cloth is done? Something to ponder. If so what would it be?
8. Make up a needlepoint project and use up the webbing i got. Something in the vein of Kaffe Fassett. Gotta get the holder out of storage.
9. Take on the world.
10. Finally find a full time job as the option of not working is not an option financially . lol

Have a great day everyone.

another idea name...

I found it on my new project..
Jolis petits bouquets de fleurs des champs. or pretty posies.. I never knew i would be so attracted to french words and i am so excited my mojo is back.
Dottie

A new project

I am in the mood to do needle work. I found this little project in my stash. I was going to work it during the summer but i didn't have a small enough hoop. I then got distracted by my new toys, my pin cushions and looking for a job. Well now i have a temp job so my time is a little b it more free and i have reached the deadline for the bazaar.. I have done just a bit and can't decide if should use my glasses. I can't tell if it helps.

Off to do my needle work and listen to pod casts.

Dottie

I reached the deadline!!

Hello Everyone!!!
I am back to work. It's a temp job having to do with the N1H1 virus but it's something to do for money over the holidays and it might get my foot in the door.
Needless to say I won't be able to attend the bazaar at my local church that I was helping my friend out. I now work weekends and noon to 9. After 20 years working 8-5 and weekdays it should be interesting.

So what was the deadline? It was making my pin cushions. I have posted a few i did at the beginning. I ended up doing 52. Well really 55 but the first two i made are not decent to sell and the third extra one is not up to par either so i keep that one for my Xmas needlepoint project bag.
Here is the box of them. I just love how they look. All 52 of them put in a photo box. And a few of the last ones i did. I even took a video of them by mistake.. but it gives you a view of the whole box. I might have to post more of these videos. It was fun.

Even though it wasn't a huge pressure it felt like i had to get them done. I didn't know how many to do and it felt like i was working on them all the time but only having 50 done I guess not. I definitely got faster as the weeks went by but they still take time. We will see if they sell at all. I might have 49 by the end of Saturday. lol

So what is my next project you ask? I don't know.. but i think i hear the gym calling my name. Too much Halloween candy. lol

Ta Ta!!!

Pin cushions

Hi,

I was looking on Flicker for some ideas for pincushions. I found these cute ones using felt and thread. I read through the tutorial and came up with these two. They are not perfect but they do the job. SHHHH.. i think i will make them for christmas presents.

Dottie.

A productive 3 days..

Hello!
In the last few days I have been a busy girl. I have completed 3 projects. ( 3 ufo's)

First - I completed my "Home is where the heart is quilt" to the flimsy stage. I consider it done. I didn't add the very final border as it was getting too big. I don't need another 100 by 100 inch quilt. So I repurposed the border fabric into the backing fabric. I cut it in half and used it but it wasn't quite wide enough, so I cut off about 6 inches and used it as a connection between the two sides with other left over fabric. I haven't taken a photo yet but i will soon. Oh - another thing that happened was that since i wasn't using the large blue fabric i increased my last border to 4 1/2 inches wide. I only had 1 yard of fabric and just had enough. When i put it on the quilt i was short a few inches on the sides so i did an estimated cut to extend it off the top and bottom pieces. I judged correctly. Also when i put the border on the top and bottom... again i just had enough. I know i should have been more precise and done more measuring but i was just wanting to get it done. As I always say.. the quilting gods were watching out for me. So my second UFO is done for July for the Charming girls club.. Yahoo. I am still debating which quilt to do for August. So keep reading... as I will post the answer soon.

2ND. A couple of years ago a went to the close out fabric store in the "hood". I found some black and white toile that i fell in love with. I think that it's a duck broadcloth. I thought it would be the perfect picnic cloth. I bought two yards i think and it was a bigger size over 44 inches. I folded it together with the right sides together and sewed a 5/8 seam on the two sides. I then turned it inside out and sewed a quarter inch seam along the bottom and the two sides. I then folded in the top ends and sewed a quarter inch line and then another line a quarter inch from that. I did sew three cross seams horizontally. It's simple and a good practice piece to get some sewing miles on. I love it.

3rd. This is another UFO that has been sitting in my closet for two years. I got the idea when i went to the beach with friends. My friends mom had made a wind breaker using purple denim and a couple of old broom handles. I went to Fabric Depot here in Portland and found some striped denim on the clearance rack. The stripes were wonderful to use as i used them as guides from the amount i turned over on the ends and to sew the holes for the dowels. I included a photo of one offered by Kath Kidston but mine is closer to the ground and not quite so tall and is longer in length but you get the idea. What i also did was did a label so i would remember when i did it. I took some decorator fabric and cut it out in a flower shape and then embroidered the name "The Wind Breaker" (how original I know.. lol) my name and the date as the Summer of 09. I then sewed it on with a zig zag stitch all around the sides on the wrong side of the fabric and then a bit of free hand lines to tack it in the middle. It even looks good on the outside as it is in the shape of a flower. I can't wait to try it out at the beach. I think i will use the dowels i used for the family tree last year. I will need to take them over to my brothers so i can cut them off of the cement blocks.

So I had a wonderful 3 days and feel like i got something accomplished. Well it's off for a few days at the coast. Enjoy your weekend!
Dottie

Another day

Up at 6 this morning and at the gym at 6:30. Then to the Dr's at 9 and another one at 2:30. In between went out to lunch with my mama on the river. It was nice. It's only 9:15 and i am headed to bed. lol..
I worked on my flower quilt today while waiting in the waiting rooms. Nice to have a hand project.
Sunday i plan to get out a UFO.. Now which one???????????????????
Happy Weekend...

Summer of Independence

Well with all that has happened in this past year or so and now with the layoff I am going to declare a "Summer of Independence". Julie over at Jane's Apron has declared it for helping with her kids, I am going to use the motivation for me to become more of who i want to be, rather than who i have turned out due to life's circumstances. I am going to push my self creatively. Check out her blog. It's a good one. ;-)

My new toy...

I get laid off so i go do some retail therapy. lol.. No it just is a coincidence. I received money for my graduation and combined with money i earned house sitting and money i was refunded from co pays I had about 400 dollars. Well i wanted to buy something. I was debating between an IPOD touch and a new TV.

All i had was a shuffle and i wanted to upgrade. Now my TV is another story. The red bulb has been going out more and more. I can still watch TV but not the right color. It's interesting to watch something and think it's a blue dress and when the red comes back on you find it's a shocking pink. lol. Kept me on my toes. Also since the TV was so old i need to buy a converter and it wasn't worth it. I was just going to give up TV and watch DVDs.

When i came home that Monday i knew what i would get as i would be home more. So i went out to look and came home with the 26 inch TV.

It's just slightly bigger than the one in the living room. lol but it's MINE... and i love it.. I get more channels.. Yea!!!!!

When i told my boyfriend that night he just laughed and said he would need to keep an eye on me if my reaction to an event is to go buy and expense electronic gadget.. I told him not to worry. lol It happens rarely.

Off to watch the TV. lol

Dottie..

Sunday morning.

Hello again,

Well it's Sunday morning and I am sitting here folding laundry. There is something soothing about it. If i lived in a house I would have a clothes line. I love the smell of the fresh air and the wind. Talking about the wind - it was howling last night and banging things all around.

Today I am off to work with a group from school on our systems analysis. I expect it to take 4 hours. I greatly admire the group I am with. I originally started with friends in another group but 4 out of 5 of us dropped out of the class because it was too hard. One I would never do that - just because it was too hard ,I am made of more than that.. I mean just because you are deciding that this time is difficult there is no guarantee that the next time won't be even more. I have been lucky in my schooling that I haven't had too hard of professors. The timing has been good. Back to the group. One gentleman em pressed me last week in another class we share. He spoke very eloquently and had good things to input into the discussion. I have had a class with him before and he was very quiet as he is from Russia. I am glad I was able to see his wisdom. The other 3 I don't know yet but it should be interesting today.

After the school work I get to go out with my boyfriend. Isn't that a nice word. lol. We have been dating since the fall. He is a single father with five children who works nights. . I am a single girl with no children working and going to school full time. We don't get much time together with or without children. I greatly admire him as he has been faced with an interesting situation and has stood with pride and responsibility. It was fate that we meet and that we have connected so well. He definitely is a supportive man and has made me a better women. But he could stop beating me a chess.

Well the laundry needs to be put away and I have to get ready to go out on this cold, sunny blistery day.
Till next time.

Dottie.