Angel Wears Prada

The beginning of this month brought the annual Angel Festival in the city near us. It was so much fun strolling through the streets looking in the shop windows spotting these creative handmade angels. This one was in an art gallery which is made of paper and cardboard.


Sorry about the shadows on this window, it was a hard one to capture. This was in a florist window and is made from gauze materials, twig framing and a garland of silk flowers.
This one was near the top of the city hall building and looks to be made with tin foil and celophane for the wings.
Here's a unique one. It was in a bay type window and one one side it read, " The Angel Wears
Prada". She looked to be wearing a wig and made from cardboard, foil wings, and fancy fabrics and trims. Though you can't see her feet, she had crafted cardboard shoes on and held several shopping bags. I didn't get a picture of the right window pane, but it had a crafted pair of shoes on display. It was very creative. This whole event was to generate money for the local church, not the cathedral. We purchased a street map with the location of all angels entered.
These are just a fraction of the entries.


A few weeks ago, DH and I went driving and discovered a Chocolate shop where you can go in and watch them create handmade chocolates. Go here to see what they sell. Check out the chocolate shoes, they are awesome in reality. I literally felt like a kid in a candy store, only difference is that I actually have money now that I am somewhat older, and can buy anything I want to. When you're a kid and only have 25 cents, you're pretty limited. Chocolate was a bit cheaper in my kid years. DH remembers 5 cent candy. I don't think my parents let me have sweets until I was a bit older. I remember my Dad bringing me candy cigarettes once. Boy, my mother didn't like that one bit. She thought it would encourage me to smoke later on.


DH and I worked all weekend in our garden. There was just too much to do, however, I can say it looks 100% better and I am sure the plants are loving it. We have a pick-up truck so we packed the bed full of ivy. We pulled out what looked like years of over growth. We didn't pull anything out when we moved here last summer. Seems like everywhere we've lived, we had to pull out tons of ivy. I personally can't stand the stuff. I don't even like it appliqued on quilts or printed on fabrics. I am sure there are people that love ivy, but I am definitely not one of them.
I actually got something sewn yesterday. My son had a reuseable grocery bag that needed mending and a pair of pants that needed a button. Yep, both jobs took about 10 minutes in total. UUUGGHH. I really need to schedule some time for my projects. Today, however, is another one of those busy days where I am in and out most of the time.
Have a good day and I hope you have time to create! ;o)

Flowers everywhere

I made it to my favorite garden spot to get some pictures of the tulips in bloom. These were just gorgeous, even though the sun didn't want to shine that day.

Here's some more! This purple is my favorite!

I don't have a clue as to what these are, but they were blooming as well. Here's some more flowers in bloom. Love this one, it looks like a lamp shade to me. The tiny blue ones are just adorable, but again, I have no clue as to what they are. Periwinkle, maybe?

"So much time and so little to do....... strike that reverse it!" As Gene Wilder said in the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. That's the way I feel today. There must be at least 100 thoughts going through my mind today with so much I need to do. Being the treasurer for our morning bowling league has just taken all my energy. This is our final week for the season, so I will be tying all the loose ends up and getting everything ready for the presentation of prizes next week. Do I want to do this again next season? Right now, I'm thinking NO. However, I am sure come next week when we go to vote for officers I will volunteer again.

Needless to say once again, I haven't had any time to do any quilting. My sewing room is near the back door, so everyday I breeze through there without stopping, practically. I was able to sew up hems in 2 pairs of my DH pants last week, but that's it. It comes down to prioritizing my time, so usually quilting loses out. Hope you enjoyed looking at my pictures. Have a great day.

Beautiful Spring

What a wonderful time of year! Everything is blooming and beautiful. Needless to say I cannot be bothered with staying indoors working on my sewing projects. I guess I should, but I'll reserve those gray dreary dark days for that. So, I will share with you some of the pictures my son and I have been taking over the past 2 months. The snowdrops were everywhere in February and March.

Soon after followed the crocuses which were in gorgeous colors of purple, white and yellow. There were carpets of these in the village. They've died off and have given way to the daffodils.

The grape hyacinths are blooming.
And I even found some regular hyacinths.
The tulips are blooming now, but I haven't had a chance to go out and get some pictures. Maybe next weekend. I hope you've enjoyed looking at only a small fraction of our pictures. I just love all these vibrant cheerful colors. Enjoy the rest of our spring season.

dreary day ahead

This gorgeous flower was taken in 2006 in St. Stephen's Green, Dublin, Ireland. DH and I took a vacation there. It's so bright and cheerful, something I need on a dreary dark day like today.

A friend of mine asked me "what is my row quilt theme?" Not sure I have an answer other than using 30's fabrics and my favorite old fashioned looking blocks. Summer also comes to mind, but that might just be due to the colors in these fabrics.

Yesterday, I drew up a schoolhouse block and tried to scan it into my computer. The scanner didn't want to work so I searched the web for some free paper piecing patterns. Found one I really liked and it was similar to the one I had drawn earlier, so I'll use that one. My goal today is to sew up a couple of these schoolhouses.

Monday, Monday

Yes, I did it! I actually sewed for about 6 hours straight yesterday. So all the posys' are done and the row is sewn on. Next will be the school house block which is paper pieced.

We woke up to SNOW! Lots of it and it's been snowing on and off all day. London has been hit really hard and transportation has nearly come to a stand still, even the tubes are only running one now. It's suppose to continue to be cold and nasty, so it's a good time to be inside sewing.

Didn't the SuperBowl game end with some excitement? The Cards tried to come alive in the last minutes of the 4th quarter, but they just couldn't hold their meager lead. Holmes was awesome when he caught the Steelers winning TD in the end zone. Way to go Pittsburg!
On that happy note, I am retreating to my sewing room to get those school houses drawn up.
Have a great Monday!

Where did it go?

I just love this statue of a horse's head made from bronze with a very pretty patina. Very surreal. My son took this picture in July last year at one of those parks and gardens that showcases students work. Some of these were for sale, however I don't think we could afford these beautiful pieces.
Here's another statue made from marble.

January is gone already. Where did it go? I don't have much acccomplished for the first month of 2009. But, I am working on getting those posy's done. I have 2 made and 9 to go before sewing them into a row and onto the row quilt. Here is a picture so far.

They look a little boring at the moment, but maybe when they're all in a row and on the quilt they'll come to life. I've decided on a row of pieced teacups AND the schoolhouse. Afterwards I will measure the top and see if it needs more rows before putting on the borders. It's a haphazard way, no exact measurements, but that's the way I've always done things. It only has to roughly be a queen size to fit my bed.

Hopefully, if all goes well, this weekend will be my sewing marathon weekend. If so, I'll post on Monday as to my progress. Have a great weekend.

Inspired

Believe it or not, I've actually been sewing! Yep, I finished up the kimono blocks for my row quilt and added some sashings to them and got them on the quilt. Whew! I must be slacking after being out of it so long as I had to rip out 3 times before it was right. Here's a picture so far.

Here's the top so far. The backing will be a violet color with a floral pattern. The outer borders will be a random brick type pattern. I'm sorry my picture is so wonky looking. It was laid out on the floor when I took the picture. Oh well, this gives you an idea anyway. If you can't tell what the blocks are in each row, they are; kimono, sailboats, hearts, scotties/westies, pinwheel, butterfly, courthouse steps, basket, and sunbonnet sue (holding an umbrella).

The next 2 rows will consist of a posey applique block and a pieced block. The pieced block was going to be a paper-pieced school house, but now I'm not quite sure about it. Maybe something else pieced. Any suggestions? I will spend the weekend drawing up the posey and cutting those out. UUUGGHHH! I am anxious to get this thing done and am hoping to mail it off to be long-arm quilted by the start of February. The finished size will be somewhere close to a queen size.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend :o)

Short post

I hope everyone had a joyous Christmas with loads of merry making and pressie giving.

We had some snow during the first week of December. Our front gate looks more inviting snow covered,so I had to start off my post with it. We didn't have a White Christmas, however.

This is our tabletop tree. Our livingroom is a bit too small for our big tree, so we'll store it while we live here. No problem....we have several small table size trees to scatter around the house, just to be festive.

I have a confession to make....I didn't get back to sewing up my UFO's, so I still have 3 to go before New Years Day. I was able to work on some blocks, but there's so much more to do. Maybe that's my problem, I am looking at the whole instead of one task at a time. It just feels like a mountain of work I can't deal with right now. I will continue to plug away at it slowly, just not before New Years is over with, sorry Finn.

Have a very Happy New Year everyone!

It's Freezing!

A butterfly block from my row quilt.

Paper pieced Kimono block I am working on now for the row quilt.

It is freezing outside! Our driveway is a sheet of ice. The garbage had to go to the curb, so out I went to brave the cold. I hung on to everything in my path- the house, the truck, the gate-just praying the whole time I wouldn't fall on my bum. Chucked the bag by the side of the road and made my way back following the same path. Finally, the back door. AH, I made it without falling. I act older than I am, just in my nature, I'm a very cautious person. The garbage man, however, didn't make it. :o( Through the window, I watched him pull up, jump out of the truck, looking confident, threw me a wave, then he disappeared under the hedgerow. Poor man....he got up and gave me a half smile, tossed the bag in the back of his truck and hobbled back.

I keep saying I'm not ready for the winter months. Like it or not, ready or not, they are here!

A week ago, I went to the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate. It was a good distraction. So many wonderfully talented people out there. I just love to see what the artists are up to in their work. Everywhere I looked were signs saying that photography is prohibited. Yet, all around me were people holding cell phone cameras and pocket cameras. It put me off. Being a little rude, I got in a few of their shots on purpose. I'm bad.

Why can't people respect the artist?

The vendor halls were so crowded, I felt like a lost sheep trying to get out of the herd. Finally, I came upon the Bernina stall. Drooling with anticipation, I asked the salesperson about the 440QE machine. This machine is so awesome, it's been on the market for 4 or 5 years. Unlike computer stores. You would never go up to an HP or Dell dealer and say to your hubby, "honey, I want this, I wont leave this hall until I have it". I look at computers and say, "I guess if we NEED it, we'll HAVE to get it, but there are strings, we can't get the extras (and under my breath, it will be out of date in a couple years, money not well spent)" . There's just no love in buying a computer or anything else as far as that goes..........uuuhhh except fabric! hahaha

Back to the Bernina stall, the salesperson showed me all the cool stuff on the machine, quizzed me about my Bernina, it's a 160 Virtuosa almost 11 years old now, and really didn't have to pitch me much of a sale. Once I actually tried out the BSR, I knew I had to have it. I've been reading about it for 4 years! AND the machine came with some free extras, like the really wide acrylic table, the walking foot, and a free gift! Now we're talkin' !

In just 3 LONG days, it came to my door. Yeah, it was an expense or should I say an investment, but at least it lasts a lot longer than that stupid HP! I could possibly sew on this machine until I'm in my 80's, if I live that long!

I sewed and sewed yesterday and didn't even realize how late it was when I finally took a break.

My older Bernina was the same way, I could sew for hours without a care in the world.

Now if I can get my mind straight on what to work on and stick to it. I am going back and forth between finishing the 30's row quilt I've had in my UFO pile for uummmm......6 years, and working on the art work for my new series of postcards. I want to make them using the phrases and silly sayings I talked about in my last post. By the way, thank you to those of you who have given me some interesting and surprizing suggestions.

Now I'm off. It's actually sunny outside and the ice is starting to melt. Happy sewing to you all. ;o)

Rainy Sunday

I love this picture. It reminds me of a Koosh ball. It also looks like flowers you would see Dr. Suess put in his books. The colors are almost unreal, but believe me this was not altered.

It's raining cats and dogs today! Why do we say that phrase anyway? Anybody know? Our English is riddled with all sorts of crazy phrases that we seem to carry on for no particular reason other than it sticks in your mind as something you heard one time or more often at some point in your childhood. My mother said all kinds of wacky phrases that I really couldn't put a logical reason to. Like these:

"For Pete's Sake"

"For Crying In the Sink"

"Were you raised in a Barn?"

"For the Love of Pete"

"Honest Sakes" - This was my Grandmother's favorite phrase

"Come Hell or High Water"

"The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Grease" - This was my Father-In-Law's phrase

"One Man's Junk is Another Man's Treasure" - This was also my Father-In-Law's phrase

I am sure you can think of so many more that you've heard or even caught yourself saying. Sometimes a phrase will slip out and I'll think "why did I say that?", and there's no going back once it's out there, you've proved how old you are. Luckily, these phrases won't be passed to my son, he's never said anything remotely close to a cliche/catch phrase.

If you have a great old catch phrase, then please send it to me. I am thinking of making a collage/quilt out of some phrases.

We have a mole problem in our yard. He is just making a mess! I think we've tried everything to get rid of him, including pouring urine down his tunnels. We have tried drowning him, although it's nearly always wet here anyway, so he is immune to that anyway. We bought a trap that didn't work at all. He actually dragged it down further and buried it. Maybe he thought it would make a great decorative piece in his comfy home? The sonic pulse contraptions work, but you need probably a dozen of them to line the entire perimeter of the yard. He has just worked his way around them. My husband thinks it's funny. I think HE'S funny. So, here we are at an impass. What to do now? No, we won't be blowing holes in the ground like the "Caddyshack" movie.

Time to throw away the rotten pumpkins and start on something Christmassy! Have a wonderful autumn day! :o)

Tired Aching Feet

I love this picture my son took. He is extremely good at this kind of thing. Anyway I just thought I would share this one with you as it has beautiful orangey tones reminding me that it will soon be, what we Michiganians call, an Indian Summer! Here in England we are going through some of our last days of summer with warmer temps and some bright sun here and there. The colors are starting to come out with the ivy turning a beautiful red velvet color. A lot of houses and pubs have old ivy vines climbing up the walls and it is just beautiful to see it in the red colors.

Yesterday I went with the hiking club to Hebden (which I believe is Patrick Stewarts home town). We had a gorgeous day in a very beautiful setting. We hiked for 5.3 miles. It was not the farthest I've ever hiked, but my feet were extremely sore and this morning I couldn't get out of bed. I think I may have pulled something in the bottom of my foot extending through the heel and up to the ankle. Every time I put pressure or my body weight on it, I just feel extreme pain. If there's anyone out there who may have gone through this before, please leave me a comment on your experience. I've taken Aleve and Tylenol with no relief. Today I am staying off it and hoping it clears up. Sorry about being so whiny!

The country wall hanging I am working on for the New Years Challenge is not going too well. As I suspected before, it's a piece I absolutely hate and really don't want to continue on. I think the best thing I can do now is just finish it and get it out of my way. Donating it to someone or giving it as a gift would make me feel better. If I finish the row I am working on and not go any further with it, is there anyone out there who would want it? Here is a picture of it so far............

And here is the row I am working on. It is not the right length so it needs some bars or something to make it fit, however if someone gets it, they can add whatever they want or take off anything they don't like because the entire top is constructed in rows. The blank rectangle was suppose to be for some embroidery I was going to add.

It measures 42+" across and 34" down with the spool row another 6+ " in length ( width will be the same 42+" across, so it isn't quite square and there are no borders, yet? This project was started 5 years ago as a row robin quilt. There were 5 of us, I think, and we each started with a row and passed it around adding a row to it.
Everyone have a wonderful Indian Summer weekend!