One more for fire...

My Amaryllis came through and bloomed a fiery red in time for Project Spectrum: Fire!

Hurray for Friday, but still no computer

I'm being very naughty and posting from work on my lunch hour because my laptop is still in the shop. Here's a photo update on the genealogy sampler.




It's actually further along, but this is the most recent set of photos. I don't know why it came out so badly - it's the same camera I use for all my posts!

Did you feel the earth move?

Happy Monday to everyone. It's raining and we just had a little earthquake. The local seismic center puts it at just 3.5, so it was a bitty one! I hope my computer is ok in the shop, so that someday I can post again from home! I had a very productive weekend on the sewing front. My family/genealogy sampler is ready for the names to be entered. The outside border is redesigned and complete and is about 20 by 23 inches. I think I overestimated the size in an earlier post. It just FEELS bigger! It was originally a stitcher's alphabet from the Mary Jane Collection in the UK, but I took out the designer's initials, some repeated alphabets, and some number charts and added family information instead. Eventually I'll post pictures of the original and the altered versions.

Happy spring - not!

It's snowing, for the second day in a row and it is not making me want to do anything creative. Additionally, my computer died and is in the shop, so if I want to post, I have to do it from work over lunch. Not the best situation. So I may be away for a while. So sad!

Maybe I'll have to see if I can get excited by an ongoing Christmas project to "celebrate" the weather!

Tuesday Blahs

It's Tuesday and it feels like winter is back. We had a wonderfully warm and sunny weekend and I was very productive on both the Easter piece and the Family sampler. Two days later and it's cold, wet, and getting ready to snow tomorrow and I'm working late so no sewing for me. I'm killing a little time right now while waiting for a meeting to start, so I looked at some sewing websites. This is a good one for traditional Bulgarian patterns. I think I will use some of these on my SCA garb.

Spring Posies, Easter Bunnies

Well, at least now I'm in sync with the seasons in theis hemisphere! It was gorgeous out today and I had to take some pictures of the hyacinths, miniature daffodils, and primroses. They look really good this year.






I also got out some Easter decorations today. This wallhanging is impossible to de-wrinkle. All you have to do is look at the linen and it crumples. At least it's pretty.

Bitty Quilt

Here's one that was intended for a dollhouse, but ended up as a wall hanging. I like quilts in all forms and this one was fun to make. It's about 4 by 6 inches.

I should be south of the Equator

If I were in Australia, this post would be seasonal. Here's a harvest piece I did two years ago. It says "Live within your harvest". I have a companion pattern to do someday that says "Eat what you can, can what you can't". Both are quite appropriate in today's climate crisis.

Kitties

I made this one for my daughter a few years ago (yes, it's another oldie but goodie from Just Nan and she uses it to store cards for various games. Having two photos should give you an idea of scale.



I bought (well, I ordered and had shipped to my mother, anyway) two new Just Nan patterns today - When Barnabee met Bella and Barnabee's Bride Bella. Very naughty of me, but I really liked them! They're both new limited edition projects and were just released yesterday. Into the stash they'll go!

The Workroom

I am one of the lucky folks who have a room dedicated to my "stuff". That's sewing, embroidery, other crafts, and indoor gardening. I've made a number of little things over the years that make the room more fun to work in. I especially like the rabbit that covers my sewing machine when it's not in use.


I also made a pin box...



And some comfy pillows for my favorite embroidery seat!



Plus there are lots of shelves of good stuff to round it out!

Gardening indoors

As it's still cold and wet outside, my porch plants are all still in my workroom. They're looking pretty good and I'm going to have both Christmas cactus and amaryllis blooming for Easter. Not too bad! All the herb seeds I planted have also sprouted. They'll be yummy eating in a few months. Now it's time to start flowers and tomatoes. I got a bunch of heirloom seeds at Monticello last fall, so hopefully they will do well.

WIP

Well, I finally joined the SCA, so I can go to the Drachenwald Coronation in June. So that's one task down! Now I just have to make a costume. Oh dear!

On the WIP front, this sampler is rolling along:



It started out as a stitcher's alphabet, but it just cried out for some changes and now it is going to be a genealogy piece for my family. What you can't tell is that it's pretty big. The finished section is nearly 18 inches high. (That's the original package at the bottom of the photo and it's bigger than letter size paper) I think I will be able to fit at least five, possibly six, generations of names in the center. I took out some alphabets on both sides and added the names of countries my ancestors came from. (England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, and Holland) I am such a mongrel American! I also gave in to my O/C side and made the top border symmetrical by adding some additional trees and a bird. Heh heh heh. I'm still plugging along on the Easter piece, but as I said earlier, I hate working with the metallic blending filament, so it doesn't flow as quickly.

One more

by Just Nan. This is her Enchanted Swans. It was a limited class and I really enjoyed working with silk on linen.

Henry is a hunk!

Oh my. I just watched episode one of the first season of "The Tudors" on DVD. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers makes a great Henry VIII and the costumes are seriously inspirational. I don't think there are too many men who could look that good in those silly puffed pantaloons, but he manages. And the women's dresses make me want to go back into costuming in a serious way. Okay, fine. I know I've been shilly-shallying about rejoining the SCA, but the time has come.

Reversed Seasons

Here it is, a beautiful day in spring, but what am I posting? A Halloween bellpull. I WILL get all my old stuff posted someday and then everything will be in its proper season. I loved making this one. It is loaded with china bats and candy corn and sparkly spiders and has the "goblins and ghosties" prayer.

In the Forest

This piece, Woodland Walk by the Drawn Thread , is to be a companion to the Green Man plaque in my livingroom. I have to get it framed and up in time for May Day.

The Sorcerer

He's all done and ready for framing.
Somehow there's a message in finishing a piece my son picked 2 minutes before he calls to tell me he got the job he wanted. It's wizardry!