WIP . . .

My new addiction!

When I wrote last time, I had just completed my UFO (UnFinished Object) inventory. My goal is to complete as many of my UFOs this year as I can. There are some pieces, though, that I am just starting. To keep my head straight and to stay on track, I am going to begin calling my new projects WIPs . . . Works In Progress. Hopefully, they will be finished this year and not end up being added to the UFO list next January!

Speaking of WIPs, it's never too late to start something new, right? I recently said to my husband that I really should make bigger blocks when I make quilts.  I am always drawn to six-inch and eight-inch blocks...often with lots of piecing within the blocks. It takes a considerable amount of time to make a quilt when the blocks are small. But, here I am...getting interested in hexigons. Quilters affectionately refer to them as hexis. They are great to work on when watching TV and make a great carry-along project. I don't know why I stopped doing handwork, or when. Maybe it was a few years ago when I started to get sick. Now that I am better, things are falling back into place. So, the sewing basket is back and is next to my chair in the living room. ♡

It's surprising how many hexis you can make in an evening. I am not completely sure of how I will use them, but you have probably seen them in old quilts from the 1930s and 1940s. They are often in quilts called Grandmother's Flower Garden, made with calicos and the ever-popular depression green. 

I am using batik fabrics for mine. Here is my collection, so far. It will take about 800 more to make a throw!

It's fun to arrange the little hexis and audition them before making a commitment on placement. :-)

I have continued to make cards.  I don't always post them here. Sometimes I am in a hurry to get them out in the mail and I forget to snap a photo before I run off to the post office.

This paper has been in my stash since I began paper crafting about 4 years ago.
I challenged myself to use it because it wasn't really something I would buy today.
I made the dragon fly stick pin and black glittery leaves. The flowers are fussy cut from the paper and popped up on foam dots.

This fancy chair die is one of my favorites.
It has a matching embossing folder.
The raised--up designs are inked.

This was made for a special girl who turned 18 last week. Her birthday party was a Great Gatsby theme, so I used Graphic 45's paper, Couture.

My dress form ensemble for March never got off the ground. It was a busy time here with our granddaughter visiting us for a week.  I had my idea planned,  but I had much more fun spending time with my family!  Hopefully, I can execute my plan for April very soon!

I am looking forward to some warmer weather so I can get back outdoors and rake my gardens. After being out of commission, due to surgeries, for the past two years, I can hardly wait to get my hands dirty! 

Thats all for now. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. 

Until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of his hands. 

Emmy

. . . about those UFOs. . .

It took a while, but I persevered. I emptied both of the closets where I store my fabric stash and my UFOs  (Unfinished Objects/Quilts). I knew that I owned a lot of cloth, but seeing it all unpacked and stacked high on the sofa, on the table and in the chairs in my sewing room, with only enough space left for me to sit on the edge of the sofa, made me realize I have a serious problem. I have the same problem that many creative people have.  I have more dreams and ideas than I have time. Much of what I unearthed in the dark recesses of the closets were UFOs . . . anything from a solitary 4-inch quilt block to a few bed-sized quilts that just need borders. 

It has been fun going to quilt shops and picking out fabrics and patterns. Much of my shopping over the past decade has been in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Whenever we passed through Intercourse, I would be drawn to Zooks' fabric shop, like a moth to a flame.  Routinely, I would buy fabric, bring it home, wash and iron it, fan it out on the back of the sofa and look at it over the course of a few days, deciding how I would use it in a quilt. But, eventually, other things seemed to be more important than my sewing and I would pack the fabric up and put it on the closet shelf.

When I actually did sew and use my fabrics, I made quilt blocks. Some blocks ended up in the box of what I call orphan blocks. They never made it any further. Some of my UFOs are tops that are nearly completed. I have often remarked that I think I am more of a top maker than I am a quilt maker. There are many steps to making a quilt. I like the first steps the best. Picking out the fabrics, deciding on a pattern, constructing the blocks, and sewing them together is what I enjoy the most. As much as I like seeing one of my finished quilts thrown over the arm of the leather sofa in our living room, displayed on the bench in our foyer, or hung over the railing on the second floor landing, by the time I get a top sewn together, I am mentally finished with it. This is something I need to and want to change.

Laboriously, I opened each bag and box that I found in the closets and examined the contents. At first I thought it was going to be a difficult task and not a lot of fun. I was afraid the guilt of so much undoneness would over come me and I would stop and once again smoosh everything back in the closets. But this time, it was different. I stuck with it AND I enjoyed the process. I fell in love all over again with many of my finds! I repackaged them and listed them on a legal pad. Just to keep myself on track, I made a little scoreboard of sorts.

That's right!
45 UFOs!

I even managed to get rid of fabrics I no longer wanted. Luckily, I found places where I could donate them. That freed up some space.

I consolidated all of my UFOS into totes in the corner of my sewing room. The empty ones had various fabrics and patterns in them that are now put away on the closet shelves.

Of course, there will still be new projects to sew from time to time. In fact, I am currently participating in an online group called The Splendid Sampler. You can check it out here: http://www.thesplendidsampler.com 

Here is a photo of some of the blocks I have completed so far for my own Splendid Sampler:

I have a lot of blue and yellow fabrics in my stash, so I decided to use them for my splendid sampler.
It's a year-long project. We will be making two six-inch blocks each week for a year. The green and yellow block will have some blue buttons added to it!

There will be a new block posted tomorrow for the sampler. I will close here and get some sleep. I am going to need it with the work I have ahead of me....even though it is enjoyable, and a hobby more than it is work,...it can be very tiring!

Thanks for stopping by to read my blog.

Until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of his hand.

Emmy

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:



 

https://www.facebook.com/maryellen.hartwick

Thank you.



Princesse des Neiges

It is the middle of January and we had our first snow storm of the year this week. I was happy to be snowed in. It was cold and windy and visibility was reduced to under a quarter of a mile. It was perfect weather to begin my winter hibernation. It seems natural to me to spend time at home in the winter. The snow brightens my studio and the light beckons me to come in and create.

I have made a lot of thank you cards this month and several sympathy cards. It has been a tough start to the year for families who have lost young people way before their time. All the more reason to welcome each day and embrace it. My husband always encourages me to enjoy each day and allow myself to have fun and play. So, that is what I did this past week. I took the week to craft,  cook nice meals and sew.

Over the past few weeks, I have been shopping for things I could use to turn my studio companion, Genevieve, into a Snow Princess.  Since I prefer the French pronunciation of her name ("Gen vee ahhv"), I also prefer to call her new winter look, Princess des  Neiges, which is "snow princess" in French. The after Christmas sales were enticing, but I kept my eye on the prize, and kept my pledge to myself to only buy things this year that I will use right away. The goal in 2016 is to use my stash, not buy things uness I need them, and actually finish the  projects I start!

So, without further adieu,  let me present my Princesse des Neiges.

20 yards of white tulle, 2 yards of fancy light blue fabric with glittery swirls, fake fur, white Christmas garland, blue beaded floral picks, sparkly blue sticks. I am already planning her next ensemble for Valentines Day!

There will be some cards in my next post. Until then, may God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Goodbye 2015 . . .

Wrapping up the year can be anxiety producing. We hope to accomplish so many things in a new year, but sometimes life gets in the way of our plans. I guess it is good that one year has only 365 days! 2016 will be a leap year, so the year will have one extra day on February 29th! Each new year offers us a new start. So, it is out with the old and in with the new!

An altered jar holds our little notes of thankfulness. During the past year, we each jotted down things that we were grateful for and placed them in the "thankful" jar, as they occurred. We will open that jar tonight and reminisce. Tomorrow we will restart the process.

We will open our other altered jar of resolutions tomorrow. In the meanwhile, I am taking time today to assess what I have accomplished in the past year. I will make some plans and set some goals. I will write them down on little pieces of paper, just like I did last year, and place them in our jar. My husband and I enjoy this new tradition.

I posted photos of these jars, here on my blog, last year. If you would like one, please let me know. I will be happy to make one or both for you. They are a nice way to remind us of what is important. Here they are again:

I had surgery this year in September, and by the time I was well enough to work in my studio, it was almost Christmas! I managed to make a few cards for special orders. I will have a lot more ready for next year, as I am planning to ramp up my card making. Here are a few that I made this year:

There are just a few hours left in 2015. It has been a year of learning and coping for my husband and me as we spent the entire year focused on my health. I have been given the green light by my surgeon to resume a normal life. I am ready. I could never have gone through the surgeries and recovery without the loving care that my husband bestowed on me. He dedicated himself to taking care of me, the house and our real estate business. He needs a rest and I hope this year will bring him the rewards he deserves for his selflessness.

With all best wishes for the new year, and until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Emmy