Queen of Hearts

In the story Alice in Wonderland, The Queen of Hearts is no sweetheart! However, as I scoured Pinterest to find inspiration for something to adorn my dressform for February, I couldn't resist the images of all the Queen of Hearts costumes.

My first dressform...Genevieve...is still wearing her Snow Princess ensemble. With tonight's weather, snow and sub-zero temperatures, it seems fitting to let her stay wrapped in her white furry stole.

I won't have to always use Genevieve anymore because I was fortunate to stumble across a fantastic unadvertised sale at Joann's last week. The dress forms I had been looking at for over a year were now discounted 66%! The sale, along with my senior discount that was offered for only one day, brought the discount to 72%! So, tonight I dressed my new dressform in her February ensemble.

Her skirt is made of tulle, her blouse is stretch velvet, and she wears a pretty ribbon around her neck. Her collar is made of playing cards. I had help making the skirt.  I needed four hands, so my husband came to the rescue! It made the construction go much faster!

Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I wanted to get this post written  tonight. I think that my Queen of Hearts is not mean at all, but a real sweetheart. ♡

Meet my friend, the nice Queen of Hearts!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Emmy

Keeping my word . .

Well, here we are in the middle of February with near zero temps and up to 10 inches or so of snow predicted over the weekend. Over the past couple days, I have thrown open the closets and hauled out the totes full of fabric and UFOs  (unfinished objects/quilts). Doing so causes me all kinds of feelings of guilt and regret. Those are not the feelings I should have when I revisit my beautiful fabrics in my stash and my partly finished projects. Those yards of  fabric were once a great source of hope and joy. I don't want to be a hoarder of fabric. I want to be a finisher! When discussing this recently with a friend, she told me she thinks I am too hard on myself. She is probably right. I am task driven and a planner. When I get up in the morning, I make my to-do list while I have my coffee. Things that "must" get done always come first. So, by the time I check off the "musts", the energy I need to play and enjoy my creative pursuits is greatly diminished. 

It is my hope that this will be the year that I complete a lot of my projects. I bravely showed all of my UFOs to my husband this morning. He is so kind and supportive. He knows me so well! I always say to him that I can't wait to be snowed in so I can hunker down in my studio and sew for hours. Here's my chance! I am not about to venture out in this weather. My to-do list can be put on hold. He said it was the perfect time to just dive in and finish something. He's right. I want to keep my word and prove to myself I can do this!

So, pictured below is my sewing table with my UFOs stacked up higher than my machine! Realistically, do I think I can get every single one of these finished this year? Yes, I do. Sewing will need to move up a bit on my to-do list. That will be a good thing. I hope I will begin to play with fabric more and not be so serious and hard on myself. I will still do my paper crafting and monthly dressform ensemble because I really enjoy the variety. In fact, I should be back in a day or two with Genevieve, my dressform studio companion, wearing her Valentine's Day look!

This is a lot to consider finishing in a year, but I am up for the challenge!

Thank you for stopping by to read my blog. It is my hope that you are having a good day and until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Emmy

A Clean Slate

Good morning!

The table in my sewing room became a makeshift medical supply table over the past year. The supplies have been reduced to one cardboard box and I am more than ready to dive in and start to do some serious sewing once again. I set my little portable machine up yesterday and when I walked past the door this morning and saw it silhouetted in the early morning light,  my heart fluttered a bit. I am so ready! 

The first order of business will be rifling through my stash to find all of my UFOs...unfinished objects (quilts). I will post photos in my next blog post....just to make myself accountable and keep me honest!  My friend just posted her UFOs on her blog last week. You can view her post by clicking on the link that follows:

Bits of Merth

I made some cards to send as thank you notes. I was a bit lazy and didn't use my little homemade light box to take a picture of them. It was too much effort to walk across the room to get it! You know what I'm talking about, right?!?!

My homemade light box!

She looks a little blue.
:-(
A good example of why I need to use my light box.
I made several of these and used some of the fake fur that was left over from Genevieve's Snow Princess ensemble.
If you haven't met Genevieve yet, you can read about her and see photos of her in previous posts here on my blog.
She appeared in the January 15th post.

I love the look of craft paper and burlap.
This too, was a remnant left from the shawl I wrapped around Genevieve in the fall.
She is pictured wearing it on a post made on September 29th.

I used another piece of the remnant for her shawl.
I am really liking the look!

It's a new week and a new month. There is even an extra day this month, being that 2016 is a leap year. I must move on and start searching in the closets for all of my UFOs. It's a little intimidating! I need to put my money...or should that be my sewing machine...where my mouth is! Blogging will hopefully keep me on track with this commitment! After all, the quilt show for my guild is only nine months away! You can view the guild's blog by clicking on the following link, where there are a lot of nice show and tell photos as well as photos of the challenge quilt exhibit that was just installed at the Richmond Memorial Library in Batavia.

Museum Quilt Guild

I hope you are enjoying your day and wish good things for you. And, until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Emmy

P.S. Blogger recently changed some of the ways readers can comment on blogs. If you do not have a google account, you may not be able to post a comment. I will investigate the settings and see if I can make adjustments. If you are one of the readers who cannot post a comment here, please post here:



 

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