Thinking.

Well, we are in the midst of replacing a bedroom so that dh's folks can come and visit more often and stay overnight. They are in a nursing home and the head nurse feels that it would do them a world of good to come out for a night every now and then.

I have been packing and moving boxes from one room into another as they sleep in two single beds. I overdid it today, but then it was a good day so I have not been stitching much this week. I will take a break until I get my room set up finally so that I can go in, close the door, and stitch to my little heart's content.

It has been overwhelming storing dd's and her dh's extra's, dh's folks extra's all in our home and then trying to make room for company and ourselves at the same time, but it does work, and I must admit forces one to purge what they are not working with and that is good.

Well off to grab a hot cup of tea and decide what to put on for supper, so that dh will not be totally floored when he comes in and finds the mattress and spring in the tv room waiting to be moved and a frame to come down............good will here we come. My white on white room is gone and I will miss it, but then I haven't been able to find it for some time now.

Reflection - Comfort Kitties

This morning while reading the newspaper I was overwhelmed by the story of the little oriental angel with the voice of a Madonna. I was upset that she was not allowed to perform her song in person and had to have a " prettier " person perform for her. I saw her picture and she is adorable. I also feel sad for the little girl who had to perform a lip sync that was second to none and now will be haunted with this for the rest of her life. She was not at fault.

It brings to mind that some people want to live in a so called " perfect " world. If it were so perfect we would not be at war, there would be no hospitals, no foster homes, no orphanage's, no neglected or abused children or adults. People would accept those who are challenged for who they are and not for who they appear to be. Sometimes it takes stories like this to bring the " lost soul " in all of us to the front and place he/she where they really belong.

I thought yesterday that today I was going to work on the " Comfort Kitties " as I had promised them to Pat some time ago. I was and still am waiting for the lady who needed at least six or more for some children she had sponsored in Africa. I would love to do them for these little abused children, it would make my heart feel so proud. I still have the little tags that Pat Winter's gave me to attach to them. Only difference is I won't make them until I hear from the lady on my blog who asked for the pattern. I cannot share this pattern as it is not my original. It is one that I am choosing to adapt and share in a loving way to bring comfort and joy to a cause that Pat Winter's has started and I enjoy making for.

I also have an " Izzy Doll " made for a child...........a little African child.........but there are not enough made yet to make a difference so they will be placed in the basket until more are made and that will be my fall knitting project. Look up Izzy Doll and feel proud.

The more I dig the more I find that need to be finished so I will have to put them into separate categories of importance to me., as I do want to do my Christmas wall quilt and finish some stockings that have been embellished but never put together as yet. Where does time go.

Hope these little labours of love inspire you to " pay it forward ".

Another Charity Finish

Art Bra Quilt Charity Block 2008

This is my block to date. There is still a lot of work to be done on it and seams to be embellished, but as my first love is silk ribbon embroidery I wanted to make sure that this block had more than it's share of this technique for a change.

This is a bower of roses and baby's breath that I created using different widths of silk ribbon. This is the main theme of the block and has set the tone for the rest. I truly loved doing this particular piece.

This is a little bouquet of roses that a butterfly is going to light upon and spread the love of the rose throughout the whole block. This is not done as yet, but is in a finishing stage.

This is the swag of roses that I finished with so far today. I have set it aside and will embellish with more fancy stitches, glitter and beads of love, before it is finished. As you can see there is a feature fabric in the top corner and there will also be one in the bottom corner of the block as we were all given a piece of the same colour rose silk, a six inch square to incorporate into our blocks. I just love it.

Below the centre piece is a seam that I wanted to stand out to sort of shelter the peachy rose that was above and so I rusched some ribbon and have started to form another cascade of roses from this point down. I had pretty soon start doing some seams or no one would believe this is a crazy quilt block.

Wedding Block 2 Finished!

A quiet, serene and breezy day was spent finishing this block so that I could put it in the post to Leslie tomorrow. I did a lot more bead work than I would normally do on a block as I wanted to keep the mood elegant and " wedding like ". Once again my favourite part was devoted to the hearts. I love it when someone actually gives you a theme and you can run with it., it sure simplifies the stitching. I must admit there is a lot of back stitching on the beads to make them stand up and some soft shades of peach and pink were added for colour.

Tomorrow I will work on the Art Bra block and play with colours, and if the mood is still with me start piecing my white on white quilt as well as my Victorian Christmas Wall Quilt for this Christmas..........all vintage and full of colours.

Wedding Block 2

The dove of peace was very hard to stitch detail into as the only spot on the block it would fit required that it go through very stubborn lace. I am pleased and I candidly added more flowers.






I also added some sequined flowers and beads. There are some irridescent butteflies flying amongst the the olive branches.





Two seperate hearts on done all in knots and daisies and they have more detailt o be added. The other in metallic thread and sequins.





I truly enjoyed filling in this heart on the block today. It felt good as I was not wanting it to overpower the whole block. I used a string of pearls to make the looped heart, and thendid a fashion flower in a tone of blush and added three antique roses with pearls and rusched ribbons.

I started this block as a gift for my dd and wanted to make it larger into a quilt and do more work on it. It is away from the style that I normally work as this would be all cottons with no beads, frills or silk ribbon work as my daughter is not a frilly person.

I would concentrate more onto he stitching than on the embellishment unless it were buttons and whimsical buttons. My friends have sent me fabrics and I have to hit the cotton section of my sane quilting mode to do enough of these to do a wall hanging for dd. This is way overdue. Just to stay motivated I can work on this one and finish off some of the other items that just need to be sewn. Holding my head low.

Lisa's FF3 Round Robin Block

I must admit that I totally enjoyed working ont his block and had to stop myself from going further. Lisa set a nice scene by including her pictures of her home at Christmas and what she perceived this block to look like when it was done. It is gorgeous, her home is so beautiful at Christmas time.

I did work a few seams that were different for me as I wanted to push myself a bit futher in the beading department as this block leaves tomorrow for Pam's in England and she is a true beader.

I worked a herring bone stitch across the green to cream velvet and then went back and did a slant stitch topped with a bead, below I did the same on a smaller scale and ended up using small and medium bugle beads and red beads to form holly in the beginning. I could have used whtie and made them sptrings of miseltoe but they would not have shown up.

I then did a slant stitch with daisy stitches and back sitchining in both wildflowers and krenink threads. I did a fan on the bottom and added a single strand of silver. I highlighted with irridescent beads.

I then went to the top and did a collage of Christmas roses done in Christmas red and green and set off with sprigs of beads in size 13.

On the bottom end I used a gathered piece of wide lace with a red soutache cord running through the top. I hand stitched this down securely so it would not wave and was pleased. I did hesitate with the black but felt after it was on the red glitter beads were added in size 8 that it did make the block.

Now, across the ocean to Pam where she will work her magic. I had a totally wonderful day, and must play catch up with another two blocks I have on the go.

Perhaps tomorrow I can clean my sewing room and finish Leslie's second block and then work on my Art bra block at the same time.