needlework

needlework, a photo by Tadlafleur on Flickr.

designing a peice.. i hope to have a series using my initals.

Special Fonts

o you like this?





found it at this site.




http://www.dailydropcap.com/

Kaffe Fassett

I love this designer... In fact it is a connection with my Aunt. When she died my brother and sister gave me her knitting statsh. In it I found articles on Kaffe from the 80's when she lived in the San Fransico area.

http://youtu.be/ZktTHOFv_mY

A Sunday note.

Things are going on in my life...

I am house sitting again. 3 minutes from work. It is so nice to leave work at 3:30 and be sitting on the couch working on my needlepoint by 3:45.
 

I have made great strides on this lately. I am on the bottom 3rd. Of that portion the two corners are a light apple green and white check. I have finished one corner and just have the white checks to finish on the other side. Still have the middle portion to finish. I feel so soothed when I stitch and it makes me think of my aunts  (my fathers sisters) who are great needle workers. I am so excited to start my next project when I am done.

I finished my cake decorating class Here is the final product.

Do I love it? No. I don’t like the size of the cake I used, it didn’t turn out like I had it in my head and I had so much trouble baking it. I made it in the kitchen I am house sitting at. Let me tell you there is nothing like missing your own kitchen. I had to make two versions. The first one had one disaster after another. First I couldn’t not find any oil or Pam to put in the pan so I gave up and made it anyway. In checking it when the timer went off I discovered I had turned the oven off and had to cook it longer. When it tried to get it out of the pan it fell apart and half of it stuck to the bottom of the pan. On the second one I decided to use butter to powder it with the flour I finally found but it turns out it was rice flour and I lost one of the ends when I took it out of the pan. But as I told them in class I was learning – and I learned so much.

This is my friends cake. It turned out awesome. She went ahead and made one out of the book. Of course perfection.

We have signed up for the next class.

The Flowers and Cake Design class.

We will see how it go’s.

I have been watching some good series lately…

Watched  

In the middle of

And just started and have on the shelf

I am reading

and also found another series in which I have read the first one.

 

Still working on collecting all of the DMC threads and working on my design books. Quilting is not at the forefront on being worked on but it’s never far from my mind.

Well it’s getting late and I will update you again soon.

My library adventures

In one of my quests to save Money and to also quench my thirst for books I take advantage of the Multnomah County Library.  The have many branches and it is one of the most used libraries in the nation.  I have intersts in a wide circle of things.    Currently I have 28 book/things checked out and I have 11 items on hold.
Today I will be returning a few:  Let me list them.

1. A Knitter’s Home Companion – A heartwarming collection of stories, patterns and recipes by Michelle Edwards
2. I Remember Nothing – and other Reflections by Nora Ephron
3. Hook, Loop and Lock – create fun and easy locker hooked project by Theresa Pulido
4. The Vintage Home – Clever finds and faded treasures for today’s chic living by Judith Wilson
5. The Pioneer Woman Cooks – Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl by Ree Drummond
6. Shed Chic – Outdoor Buildings for Work,  Rest and Play  by Sally Coulthard
7. Brava Valentine – a novel (audio book) by Adriana Trigiani
8. ReKindled (audio book) by Tamera Alexander
9. October Road  The complete first season
10. Run Fatboy Run
11. A Wrinkle in Time (2003 Disney)
12. Little Big Town by Little Big Town
13. Stripped by Christina Aguilera
14. Corinne Bailey Rae by Corinne Bailey Rae

The things i have checked out that I still have in a pile next to my bed are:

1. Summer of the midnight sun by Tracie Peterson
2. Whispers of Winter by Tracie Peterson
3. A summer in the Country by Marcia Willett 
4. A week in winter by Marcia Willett  (halfway through)
5. Big Stone Gap (Audio Book) by Adriana Trigiani   only have a few cd’s left to listen to on the commute
6. Commander in Chief.  Part 1  (DVD)
7. The big book of cross-stitch designs: over 900 simple to stitch decorative motifs
8. Crating a home by Kathryn M Ireland
9. Sister Parish Design: on Decorating   by Susan Bartlett Carter and Libby Cameron   ( I love Sister Parish – she is so into chintz.)
10. Color schemes for the flower garden by Gertrude Jekyll  - thought it would help on color theory.
11. October Road:  The complete second season  (DVD)
12. Live by Design:  6 steps to an extraordinary you by Tom Ferry with Laura Morton   I am pouring over this one as it is hitting home with me and plan to work with it some more.
13. Gunn’s golden rules:  life’s little lessons form making it work by Tim Gunn, with Ada Calhoun
14. Thrifty chic: interior style on a Shoestring by  Liz Bauwens and Alesxandra Campbell

Currently I have 11 on hold with two ready to pick up.

1. Drawling lab for mixed-media artists: 52 creative exercises to make drawing fun by Carla Sonheim
2. North and South.  The complete collection (DVD)
3. Big Love.  The complete fourth season.   87 out of 297 on hold
4. The Kids are all Right (DVD) 19 out of 207 on hold
5. The book of Stillmeadow   1 of 2 on hold
6. Doo-wops & hooligans by Bruno Mars  188 of 240 on hold (have had on hold since March and I am only up to 188)
7. Once and again: The complete second season   1 of 1 holds but on it’s way
8. Big Cherry Holler – A Big Stone Gap novel by Adriana Trigiani 1 of 1 holds but on it’s way
9. A wrinkle in time  (audio book) by Madeleine L”Engle   4 of 4 holds
10. One Tree Hill.  The complete first season.    1 of 1 holds but on it’s way
11. A year on Ladybug Farm by Donna Ball  1 of 1 holds

Mamma Mia

 I am going in Aug to see this with my Mamma, my friend Rob and his mamma and sister.    Rob and I saw this on Broadway and have seen the movie lots of times.  I also have both the  soundtrack for both the movie and the London production.

Cake Class

I am takig a fondant and gum cake class. Yesterday I went over to my friend Kim’s house to make our “flowers” for our final project. Below is what I made. I didn’t have a set plan when I started but it all came together – I think. I looked at a couple of choices that they listed in the back of the class book and I started from there. I didn’t “love” anything so I took bit’s and peices from all the designs. I was first making circles with circles cut out and then I moved on to the flowers. Then I added the leaves. I don’t know what I am going to do with the little balls as I had one idea of putting them all around the edges but I don’t know.

My pink is not what i wanted. I wanted more of a red. I wanted to do a red and aqua colored cake. I couldn’t get the colors deep enough. For the purple/blue I tried to match the colors on her kitchen wall. I kept holding it up to her wall. She was giggling at me. She painted her house from the colors from the Disney line. She is a Disney fanatic.

I have made too many pieces but I wanted choices. I still don’t know how it’s going to be decorated but I will post photos when i am done.

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While we were doing this we made Cinnamon rolls from scratch. YUM YUM! She is such a creative and crafty person. She gives me so much inspiration. Our tastes are not the same but her continuous effort at cooking, crafting, thinking up new ideas motivates me to push my self. I say all the time I want to do this, or that and never get around to it. She says it and the next thing i know is we are doing it. I want to be like her when I grow up.

A romantic vision.

I stayed up all night watching the wedding. I was in love with the way she looked in the blush veil. I was reading blogs on Friday and someone said that the dress reminded her of Marie from the movie Sound of Music - I can see that. I can also see how it reminds them of Princess Grace. Two grand ladies to be compared to. What do you think?


I liked watching the pageantry and the tradition. I loved it.

Sorry I have been gone so long.....

Did you wonder what happened? I just got unmotivated. I was house sitting and posting daily felt more like a job then a creative movement, I got behind and then I just stopped. I have been in an uncreative state for a while as I was working lot's of overtime but it has settled down. What a wonderful thing it is only working 40 hours a week is again.

Lot's has happened since January.

I got hired on at the company I have been temping for. I start on Monday. I am making the most money I have ever made since 2001. For some people it's not enough but for me it's a nice treat and an accomplishment. I have either been unemployed or working a temp job with no benefits for two years. I will have to get use to being paid only twice a month now. That will be odd and will have to reshift how I pay bills.  At my prior job i got paid every other Friday. It was like that for almost 7 years.

I have decided to buy every color in the DMC embroidery line. I have about 1/3. It is so fun looking at all the colors in my plastic thread holders. I will take a photo and post my collection but here is a sneak peek of one i found on the Internet.

In looking for the above photo I stumbled across this awesome craft idea...


What else?


I want to decorate. It's a combination of a romantic country, shabby chic, lots of flowers and wood and white and color and soft lines with strong lines ... They say the more you put it out in the atmosphere the more you will get it. These are a few of the looks I love.

I am taking a class on fondant and gum paste at my local Michael's. It's beyond fun. It's awesome. I made a beautiful rose. I took photos so I will post soon.

Won't be so long between posts!!!!

L – Day 12

Today I was thinking of words that start with L.  I was blank.  My coworker came up with love.  That’s a good one.  Then after coming back from lunch…  it hit me lunch.   I should have taken a photo of my lunch but it wasn’t that memorable. Then I looked at my mission statement which I have posted on my wall at work.

It made me think of laughter and life.  To enjoy life.   But those weren’t the right words either but reading the statement with a new slant got me thinking.  I still haven’t picked a word to live by this year.   I think I have found it.  Encompass.    I wrote this mission statement my first full year at Portland State.   A good friend helped me but through the bull***t to really figure out what I want to be.  As I have been living life I have really tried to remember who I want to be.   I have tried to live with passion, to  laugh, to be creative especially through my struggles in the last few years – good and bad.  I am finally in a good place I hope and I know that the words above have helped me. Back to my L word.  I think the word for today is lists.  I am not normally a list person, I make a list for special dinners and for trips but I don’t live my life by lists but I am finding I do in one area.    I have made lists of books I read, books I want to read, movies i have watched and ones that look good to view.  A couple of years ago a friend ( the same one who helped me with my mission statement) told me how he keeps track of  the books he has read in a little notebook.  That seemed so intriguing that I decided to do it.  I went to a book store and found a journal that had quotes from Jane Austen and little drawings of the era.  I loved it.  Since then I have kept of all books I have read.  It’s so cool to go back and look at how many I have read in the last 4 years or so.  I have also started an excel spreadsheet of  authors and all the books they have written to help me keep track.  I have many many on there.  I love going through and checking off ones i have read and ones I can search for.  Another L word. Love.  I love it!!!!!!

K – Day 11

Key's

1. keys, 2. Tower of London Keys, 3. The stroke of a key, 4. Key to the Past, 5. Keys, 6. Keys Set 2, 7. key, 8. Key To My Kingdom, 9. key

http://bighugelabs.com/mosaic.php