Working on Sketches

I have been really wanting to make a nativity scene for Christmas. But I missed my opportunity, since I started this after Christmas. So I'm hoping I'll get this done before next Christmas. 

I'm getting it done, very slowly. The above is the inked study on white paper. I'm eliminating a bunch of the ornamentation and the column, and will be adding new things. I hope to transfer this design onto some very nice cotton 300 lb paper. And then, perhaps, I'll try to paint it.

That's terrifying, because whenever I add color or paint, somehow a great drawing becomes an awful painting.

The Wonky Heart Quilt

I recently finished a baby quilt for my new niece Nora. I had found some large gingham check fabric at a Walmart that still sold fabric one day. I had thought I would make Lucy a dress in it but never got around to it. I decided to instead, do another quilt.

My attempt was to piece a large heart, and then long arm quilt it with a wandering heart pattern. It didn't quite work out as well as I wanted, I had to improvise a lot more than I was expecting, and the heart got mishapen and the edges never matched up.

There fore it became the "Wonky Heart".

Wonky Heart Quilt

Here's how I started.

Ugh, curves. Why did I cut them in curves!?

Re-working the set up

None of the slices matched up because C*RVES, are always a bad idea when you are pressed for time and sloppy. So to disguise the lack of matching (see left side) I reworked some slices to fit and then added sashing between all the slices.

The Greek Flag re-imagined by Strawberry Shortcake.

I then spray basted the layers together (huge sticky mess on my nasty vinyl floors) and rented some time on the Sweet 16 long arm quilter at The Quilt Haus in New Braunfels. I wasn't terribly satisfied with the final quilt top, but I had come up with a neat wandering heart stitch I wanted to try out. I'm in a heart phase I think.

I like the pattern!!!!!

Gee, I love large scale gingham.

Finished with my sweetheart trying it out.

 

 

My son using it as a cape

I even tried mitred corners on the binding, which went horribly awry.

Now, onto  finally quilting the big brother quilt which is way overdue. (I finished the quilt top in October of last year)

Until then....Ruth

Pearl Bracelet charm pack quilt

Hello,

I finished a small baby quilt for my neice Evelyn as a thank you for the adorable pictures her Father J.Bell took of my little one a month ago.

Here's the finished piece.

In progress

After quilting

I really like it. It finished only about 2"x3", which is perfect for a little carry along, play on the floor, love on little "wooby" quilt.

Ruth

embroidery

Lately I haven't had a lot of time for projects, mine or others, I've been working on being a Mom to a lovely 2 month old daughter and a 3 year old son, as well as being a hopefully adequate Wife.
But in-between all that, I finished an embroidery for my niece, who will be born in about a month or so.

It's an E, for Evelyn.

sewing projects

I'm suffering from pregnancy related carpal tunnel syndrome. So off and on I use wristbraces to keep the numbness and pain away. It keeps me from doing a log of stuff I'd LIKE to do. So does my sciatic nerve pain....also pregnancy related.

So instead of sewing, and crafting, and dancing and walking. I'm doing a lot of sitting and lying down and wearing wristbraces instead of the usual things I would prefer to do.

I managed a few things in the past month in spite of my general laziness.

I finished a baby dress for my baby (still not born) and finished some pillows for her crib. Mostly for my rocking chair, since she wont need them for the first 6-12 months really.

Little Lucy's ric-rac dress. When I sewed them on the fabric, it looked
much straighter. Oh well.

Pillows, for, well me. 

There's a slew of stuff I feel that I want to do but at this point lack the energy/money to go and do them.
And that's ok. Honestly, I really really like that at this point, my son can play by himself, or watch TV and for 30 minutes I can rest on the couch in-between other stuff one must do. I know I'll have much less of that when my daughter is born.

Until then.

Ruth

Poppy's finished quilt

I finished the "rainbow" quilt for my little girl today. 

Here's some pictures of the process..

Starting out and making sure I like the colors

Onto heart placement

This hear won out

Adding borders

Quilting

Binding Finished!

The rainbow quilt is complete!

When my daughter gets here on November 26th (or thereabouts)
I hope she'll like it too..

 I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. I have a lot of fabric left over to do various pillows and mats, and baba's and possibly a big brother quilt.

Not that I have a need for any of these things but I cannot stop my need to nest.

Ruth

Paint my walls

I was thinking that I needed to paint a wall in my house. Just one. And had some super ideas. Or at least  I thought they were until I drew some out.

This is the wall that I'm thinking about painting.

The starburst just sits there, looking all bland. And I wanted it to pop. So I did a little drawing in Illustrator and came up with some ideas. 

The ever present arabesque pattern. 

A plain wall, no fancy painting.

Stripes

Chevrons.

I'm not really in love with any of them. Or maybe I just don't like my couch. Who can ever know. What are your thoughts?

Here were my inspirations: