Mug Rug Swap

I am taking part in a Mug Rug Swap and it has been so much fun coming up with a concept for my swap pieces. I am not really talented with a sewing machine so I asked my BFF Maggie to help me learn to put on bias tape bindings. We got together the other day and she tried to teach me but I wasn't the best apprentice she's ever had. Her big computerized sewing machine scared the dickens out of me. Maggie finally suggested we opt to make the simpler "sandwich" style mug rug.

I gladly agreed. I think they turned out great. Each mug rug has a warm and natural batting inside which gives it a little body. There is a bit of quilting on each to hold the layers together. Of course, I sent along a few other little goodies but I don't want to show what they were because the ladies are followers of this blog and I don't want to spoil their whole surprise.

This first mug rug is constructed on a muslin foundation from selvedges generously donated to me by my friends who quilt and sew much more than I do. I love working with selvedges, I just don't like doing the sewing that is required to generate having my own, LOL. There is also a redwork style embroidery. I hope the recipient will enjoy this little matt, it is just the right size for use by the computer.


The second mug rug I made was also created using selvedges on a muslin base with a redwork style embroidery. This was a mix of patterns to get all the elements I wanted on the cup and for the steam lines. The difference is mainly in color, theme and the quilting stitches are the S curve lines in the selvedge strips rather than the straight stitch quilting stitches used above.


The third one is also selvedges on a muslin base but the muslin is entirely covered with the selvedges. I then took my passion for crazy quilting seam treatments and added a bunch of embroidery to each joining seam. This one feels very texturized when you run your hand over it and I am very happy with the way it turned out. The quilted lines run diagonally across 7 of the strips.


The swaps being sent to me should be arriving in the very near future. I will try to blog about them when they arrive.

If you haven't tried making one of these little matts I really recommend that you do so. They are fun, can be done in a wide variety of shapes and techniques. I plan on making more for gifts.

Shari

Lucky Me!

Kathy Shaw had the most wonderful giveaway just recently and I was one of the fotunate ones who won a prize. I would have been happy to have any prize she was giving away. Everything was beautiful. Kathy sure does know how to hostess a giveaway. Here is what I won:


This is a gorgeous Swarvorski crystal bracelet with a slide clasp.


These are fine silk cords from Judith Baker Montano's line. Yummy!

Thank you, Kathy. I am sure I will be able to put all of these great prizes to good use.

Hugs, Shari

Catching Up With Life

I really need to try harder to keep caught up with my personal blogging! Has it really been 8 months? Let me think back over what I have done since my last post.

In April I attended a class sponsored by the Rocky Mt. Crazy Quilter's. Judith Baker Montano came to Denver to teach her landscape class. What a time we had. There was a spring storm the first day and we learned to stitch by candlelight when the electricity went out. Judith brought lots of inspirational landscape pieces in progress and some finished quilts too. Of course she autographed books for us, had lots of supplies to sell and found time to regale us with some of her adventures. It has taken me several months to complete the project that I started in class. I call it The Peak In Early Autumn. Here it is:


I really enjoyed playing with the fabrics, learning to manipulate them, burn them, and press them into submission. I also gained a new appreciation for perspective, scale and proportion. I definitely intend to use this technique again and again. The embellishing was difficult to stop once started. There were so many things that could have been added.

When Summer came, we went to Vegas and I found a really cool fabric shop that sold high end fabrics and trims. Picked up some wonderful pieces with gifting in mind so I can't share those here right now......probably said too much already, LOL.

I went to the Stitching Shenanigans Retreat in Estes Park at the end of September. It was several days long but I only got up there for one day. It is so hard to get away from the kids and with only one car I had to make sure that all was covered during that time at home. DH drove me up, dropped me off at the retreat cabin and went fishing for the next 12 hours. I had a great time meeting many ladies whose work I have admired online for quite awhile. Took up a SW Fiesta Cheesecake for the snack table and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Several of us went into town in the afternoon to the Elk Fest to shop. The stitching shop there was mostly for yarn but I managed to find some silk ribbon and felting stuff so I was quite happy.

I prepared a gift basket of stitching tools and treasures for the Chinese Auction. Was happy that Ilys from Canada won it. She seemed to like it a lot. I was the lucky recipient of a cute handdyed fabric triangle hanging pot/basket which was brought by Colleen Anderson. I am thinking of using it for an orts bag near my sewing rocker. Here is a photo, isn't it different?


Colleen was also a vendor at the retreat and I bought some vintage ribbon and trims from her. We had fun cutting up old ties for crazy quilt use after the Ugly Tie Contest.

I was happy to meet several of the members of StitchMAP who also were there. Speaking of StitchMAP......I have been very busy helping to organize another Color Theory Course, and editing several new courses. We had a Christmas in July swap that was great fun. There were several new Challenges in which the ladies produced some fantastic pieces of needleart that just blew me away. One Challenge was the making of a Victorian Heart Pincushion and embellishing it with their favorite technique. I also made one to share. I used perle cotton to make bullion roses and for-get-me-nots. I used a recycled damask dinner napkin to make the heart. Here it is:


On a personal family note, much of our summer was taken up practicing for and attending Little League baseball games. My son was the head coach for Axel's team and they both did a great job. Of course school starting brought with it a slew of activities. One exciting one was fourth grader Axel's first foray into the world of Science Fairs. He did a project on whether or not you could grow spinach in the dark. I am really proud that he earned 40 out of 40 possible points for his efforts and presentation. Grace began first grade this year and she has done wonderfully. Axel made honor society and Grace would have, because her academic grades were excellent, but her little chatterbox personality got her a few too many cards pulled for disturbing the class, LOL. I think she has a greater appreciation for the need to be a little less social now. Little Bella turned 4 just a bit ago and she started Pre-K. She is a head shorter than her pals at school but her social habits very much mimic her sister's.....oh dear! She is learning to write her letters and memorize her address. She has been to her first birthday party for someone outside of the family and wants to invite her friends to the house for a sleep over. Isn't 4 too young? ROFLOL!!! My son has his hands full with these kids and I sit back and laugh. Payback for when he was young. Of course, they all live with us so I get a front row seat.

I hope to be posting again sooner than later. Keep your needles flying and your spirits will soar!

Hugs, Shari

Color Wheel of Solid Fabrics Giveaway

At Stitchmap many of the apprentices are currently in the middle of a wonderful Color Theory Course. They have been creating the most wonderful color wheels using fabric and thread (Well, some have used paper or paint chips, lol). One of our members found this giveaway for beautiful Kona fabrics and shared it with the rest of us because it was laid out almost as a color wheel. As reluctant as I am to decrease my own chances of winning I am going to share:

http://sew-fantastic.blogspot.com/2010/03/giveaway-time-kona-cotton-color-wheel.html

I highly recommend you go check it out. These fabrics have delicious names! You could get hungry just reading about them!

Shari

Giveaway Opportunities

Wil is celebrating the 333rd posting on her blog. She is giving away a piece of her snow dyed fabric. She has some wonderful quilts on her blog using some fabrics she dyed and designed. Visit her at http://wilopiooguta.blogspot.com to register to win some of that beautiful snow dyed fabric she made recently.

Lila is celebrating on her blog too! Her prize is a fantastic quilt she has made in lavender and yellow. Even if you don't enter (how could you not?) don't miss the opportunity to view this quilt, it is a doozy! Here is the link to enter and see the quilt: http://lilatuellerdesigns.blogspot.com/

My Rainbow & Color Theory

Your rainbow is shaded green and brown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a deep thinking person. You feel strong ties to nature and your mood changes with its cycles. You feel closer to people when you understand their imperfections. Those around you admire your fresh outlook and vitality.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Over on StitchMap we have begun our Color Theory Course and one of our newer members, Georgia Seitz, who is going to be a tatting mentor for us when the tatting class begins, shared the site for having our own color analysis done as a rainbow. It is a little multiple choice test you take and then you get your personal rainbow printed out with the analyis. I think mine is pretty on target, today. I am one who changes with the seasons, LOL. OH! It says that, doesn't it, LOLOLOL!

It is exciting to see what the ladies of MAP are doing with making their color collections for the class. I am anxious to watch this class proceed. We are also just a couple of lessons away from finishing the Crazy Quilting Course. Imagine my surprise when we had a new member join from Denmark this week in response to having seen one of our MAP apprentice's Hardanger Class piece in progress. It took awhile to translate her application but it was worth it in the end.

I am going to try to be more faithful about posting this year. Honest, I am!

Where Has 2009 Gone

My goodness! It has been 6 months since my last post and I am trying to remember all the things that kept me so busy that I couldn't keep in touch.

We did take a vacation with the family to Las Vegas. And when we got home there was news that my father-in-law had been diagnosed with cancer and needed immediate surgery. My husband and I packed up the grandkids and headed off for Michigan to help DFIL. We left our adult kids home to fend for themselves. Gone two weeks.

I did manage to work on writing some lesson plans for the StitchMap Beginner's Hardanger Class while I sat around but computer time was limited to the library only because my in-laws are not a part of the computer age.

Everything went well and we returned home just in time for school to start. Grace began kindergarten, Axel the 3rd grade and Baby Belle is going twice a week to pre-school because she is a "Terrific Tot", LOL. I have to admit that they do keep me busy and on my toes! Here are their school photos.




My husband did have to return to Michigan for his father to have further surgery and to help him set up his house for his aftercare. DH was gone 6 weeks. I had all the chauffeuring duties that he would normally do to attend to in addition to my regular chores. I managed to come through in pretty good condition considering the hour I had to rise and shine each morning to get my son and daughter off to work and then the kids to school. I gained a new appreciation for my husband's contribution of providing our daily transportation.

I spent many happy hours working with my apprentices at StitchMap on CQ and Hardanger classes. I also presented a One Stitch Challenge to the members and we had fun with the painting of fabric and the embellishment of it using just one stitch which was kept secret until after the fabric painting had been done. One of the members of MAP has a family member who lost a precious Wedding Quilt Wallhanging in a house fire. I worked on a block for the Wedding Quilt Replacement that the ladies of MAP are contributing their efforts to. The blocks will be finished and sent to the family soon.


I began my duties as the Program Chairperson for the Pikes Peak Chapter of EGA in September. We had a successful fundraising auction in October despite the fact that we were inundated with snow and ice the night before. In November I helped teach a workshop in Aztec Stitch. We made bookmarks in bright colors using 18 ct. canvas and #8 perle cotton. Our December holiday meeting was a delight. Julie Sprinkle came and spoke to us about tatting. She brought a wedding dress that had tatted lace on it, many examples of her tatted jewelry and her shuttle collection. My friends Erica and Connie and I spent a day experimenting with Kool Aid dyeing and will use the resulting fabrics in an EGA workshop this coming spring. Can't wait to show you what we are making.......but I must! Check back in April, LOL.

Somewhere in there Grace lost her first tooth and when we first noticed how loose it was I began making her a tooth fairy pillow out of selvages that had been sent to me by friends from various on-line stitching groups I belong to. I took advantage of the sewing machine time to piece one for Belle to use down the road, too. I embellished the pillows with CQ seam treatments of the most simple type so that there were no beads to scratch the girls' faces or catch Grace's beautiful long hair as it lies under her pillow. I am happy to report I finished Grace's just 10 minutes before the tooth was pulled! It was used a second time just 2 days before Christmas.



I also went to Albuquerque, New Mexico one weekend this fall with my husband. While he attended a seminar for Flight Instructors I caught up on reading my new stitching books, watching a tatting DVD, and editing the next lesson of the StitchMap Basic CQ Course. Well, that was the first day. The next day I went shopping and checked out some local needlework shops, quilt shops and a bead shop. OOoops! That bead shop was the best experience of the weekend. I brought home 21# of beads that were all on sale at 40% or more off the regular price. Of course I had to share with DD Moon when I got home. I also saw some crafts in the store next door to the bead shop that gave me some ideas for future projects and at the needlework shop they had some really cool finishing techniques that they shared with me.

The week of Christmas the whole family came down with varying degrees of the flu bug. I think mine has taken on the disguise of a head cold and queasy stomach. The children were sick over Christmas and we just took it easy on Christmas Day. The kids opened their gifts, we had small meals and enjoyed each other's love and companionship. On the following Monday my oldest daughter came down from Denver and we brought my mother home from the nursing facility. We had their Christmas and our holiday meal.

I want to thank everyone who sent me such great gifties this year from their blog give-aways and PIFs. I did manage to pay forward my obligatory gifts this month. Great big warm hugs to all my friends who sent me the selvages to make the little tooth pillows and some gifts for my stitching buddies (can't say what 'cuz I am still working on those, lol). Thanks to all the ladies on the needlework groups I belong to for all the sharing they do and for the constant supply of eye candy they inspired me with and to everyone who reads this blog and bothers to comment. You all mean so much to me.

My last thank you is to the ladies of my Yahoo Group StitchMap. The road was bumpy at first but to those who stuck it out....you are all like family to me. To those who have joined recently and are taking such an active part in the group.....you are the reason the group is growing and your eagerness to learn and share means the world to me. To each Moderator, Mentor, Stash Angel, and member........you are the BEST! I couldn't have done it without your support. If it weren't for your patience and understanding I am sure we wouldn't have progressed as quickly as we have. I am honored to know each and every one of you, so proud to call you my friends and I am in awe of your talents! Thanks for being there, without you........well there just wouldn't be a MAP, would there?

I hope the New Year brings you unlimited stitching time, prosperity and happiness!

Hugs,