Grey Day Stitching

Hi All,

This winter the weather has been a bit different than the years previously. Since it is only my 5th winter here in Paducah I can barely call it strange but the temps have been up and down, and down and up since November. No snow...for it seems these have been our dry days. But there has been weeks of rain.

Today the day is gray. It has been gray, wet and cool for quite a week and we are looking at another week of the same. With the gloom settling in I decided it was time to finish up some projects that have been put aside for quite awhile for one reason or another.

I was totally surprised when I opened this first one. I was just hours away from completion.

This second one was another story. I loved using these amazing Cherrywood fabric to stitched together this HOME piece. The rich solids begging for thread play - and playful mark making. I pulled the stitching kit out and soon had a big pile of thread bits. The piece is still underway, but there are a few more gloomy days ahead -- time to get it done and enjoy the process. I do love hand stitching!

Then the projects swimming around in my head  will have a clear go ahead. Til then....

hope you are finding a bit of time to be creative.
Would love to hear what you are up to!

Bundle Fun!

I picked up a wonderful fat quarter bundle of delightful Me+You Hoffman batik prints while at Quilt Market --

looking at them, I could hardly wait to cut into them...
hmmm?

Since it is getting closer to the holidays I thought I could use a bit of this one and that one to make some holiday cards. I used the fabric and a few other items I had in hand and came up with these.

The fabrics could also make some great tags, too...
I'll have to work on some of those as well.

Meanwhile, that were fast and easy so I have written up an instruction sheet and am offering them as a give-away to anyone signing up for my Fabric'ating Embellishments on-line workshop.

Starts Friday, from silks to sheers there will be plenty of opportunities to learn about some of my favorite embellishments!

Join in and stitch up some fun!
~Rose

Fall Roller Coasting!

Well, here is Paducah they have announced frost warnings for the weekend. Add this to the amount of leaves beginning to fall and I think it is safe to say that 'fall is here'.

It has been a roller coaster month - my darling David trip over his own feet in the middle of the night and broke his wrist. Originally it looked like a clean break, but that did not remain and he had to undergo surgery. Add in that it was his dominate hand... let's just say it is good that he is retired.

With the passing of my sweet Nikki, we had just thought about getting a kitten to keep Edgar happy -- and one just fell into our lives.... he's a little love who right now is watching the birds from a perch in the studio. Ralphie---

In between all this I have completed my latest on-line workshop with Academy of Quilting and it begins on November 6th! It took a while to pull it all together for there are more techniques on creating your own embellishments -- and how to embroidery, bead and generally use all sorts of methods to embellish these... phew.... than I can count! All my favorites, and hopefully some that will become yours, too.

Fabric'ating Embellishments

There has just been so much keeping me happily busy - while not driving me crazy.

I'll be sharing more about getting ready for quilt market next week later on this weekend, but for now I couldn't wait to share the button I've created to give away while I'm there.  Reach for the Stars!

What colors are your stars?

~Rose

Missing You!

I have had a full schedule this summer -- like most of you.
Running around, taking in some wonderful new sites,
teaching & presenting through this new part of the world (to me).

While all this has been happening I have composed a bunch of posts in my head --
only to be distracted by almost everything.

I can't say that things are slowing down any, but I am trying to make a better stab at posting.

Today I wanted to share a fun find on Pinterest last week. It was a book of Embroidery Stitches -- why? It was originally printed in 1912 and is now available on-line for free. I definitely downloaded it and have already used some of the stitches I found.

It also got me thinking -- I would love to think that in 100 years someone may find my books and just have to share them with their quilty friends... wonder what quilting will look like in 2115? what new forms of delivery will words and pictures use then?

OK back to 2015.
Here's the book and some of its pages.
enjoy and get your own copy soon.

Stitch-On!

Nestlings --

Betcha you may have thought I dropped off the face of the earth.
I actuality I took myself off to California for some r&r, birthday parties and generally catching up with my west coast buds.

I had a great trip -- that started with sneaking in for an amazing surprise party for my daughter-in-law (Dawn), and staying long enough to celebrate my bestie's (Angelique) 60th. In between there was catching up with a bunch of friends from northern LA through the southern end of the OC. There were walks of my favorite beaches, and eating at some of my favorite eateries and being introduced to some new favorites.

All done while giving my self time to stitch on some nestlings.
Nestlings??? You may wonder.
While participating in the daily word challenge my sketch book became filled with nest like drawings -- so with only minutes to spare I put together some small quilt blanks based on these drawings and through in some stitching stuff to embellish along the way.

Below are 5 of this little stitch-portunities.

These have only made me think of more/different nest inspired designs...

but, they are taking a bit of backseat, for now that I'm home I'm really excited to getting some landscaping projects out of my head and into reality.

gardening or stitching or laying by the pool/lake/ocean....
What's on your list to get done this coming month.

The Hunt Turns to Embellishments

Last Friday I flew into Orange County --
I wanted to sneak in and be there waiting for my daughter-in-law at a  surprise party being held for her on Sat....
it went off without a hitch,
of course with the help of a small number of friends.

Before I left home I worked on a series of small quilt works --
all silk, and all ready for some wild embellishing stitch-portunities.

Since visiting the OC last year there seems to be a new bunch of stores that have moved in. Think Japanese dollar store, then check out the on-line Daiso stores.  Everything in these stores is a $1.50 and fun, so it seemed a great place to find things that may work out as embellishments.

So, along with things pulled from my stash I'm going to try and incorporate some of these finds...

What do you think?
Could you come up with ways to use some of these items?

I'm looking forward to jumping in soon.