Finally! A finished project!!!

Inspired by Carolien's beautiful quilts, I did a Google search and found a pattern similar to her Autumn leaf quilt, called Fallen Leaves....and I've finally finished it!  YAY!!!  My first finished quilting project!!!

My little quilt is 20"x20" and it is all hand-stitched except for one leaf.  I started to sew the leaf and my sewing machine lost power and I stupidly tried to plug the thingee back into the foot pedal and "ZAP"!    I had a healthy fear of "Thor - The Cranky Sewing Machine" after that and decided to hand stitch my quilt.   It's paper-foundation-pieced by number and was so much fun to do. 

It's far from perfect, but I love it anyway.  I did it as a "quilt-a-long" with a friend who lives in England....we called it The Great British-American Quilt-Off!  She is an advanced quilter and finished her beautiful quilt way ahead of me.  My little table-topper wall-hanging isn't quite as crooked as it looks in this picture, haha!

Next up we are doing a Christmas Quilt-A-Long from this cover of Quilter's World!  

 I have a replacement pedal for my sewing machine and will be machine-piecing this one....I am hoping to come in a not-quite-as-distant-second as I did last time around!  I will still be hand quilting this, however, as I have no idea how to machine quilt!  I can barely sew a straight line, forget about any swirls!!!

Have a great day!  :0)

My Bleues

For a few years I have been obsessed with Bleuettes, the darling little French dolls that first appeared in 1905.   There are lots of vintage patterns to sew for Bleuette, making her really fun to own.  Even if you're like me and you struggle with your sewing skills, at least the dresses are small!!!  ;)   I belong to a few Bleuette Google groups and some of the members sell some fabulous outfits for Bleuette.  I bought the beautiful hanky dresses the girls are wearing below.

 I would love to own an antique Bleu doll someday, but for now I have a repro Bleuette named Isabeau and her sister, a Jne 9 repro named Maude.

I'm working on a "room" for "my girls" and recently completed a little redwork Becassine pillow.  

(Sorry, I didn't notice the faded blue from the washable ink I used until I saw it in the picture!  I'll have to give it another splash of water.  You should have seen me trying to figure out how to add the lace....I had to rip it out about three times!  Wish I paid more attention in Home Ec back in the day....)

Another obsession of mine is.....Pinterest!   I am totally addicted.  I am in awe of the utter creativity of some people.   I'm not that great of a cook, but I can bake and I love to decorate cakes and cookies, etc.  I'm all about the pretties.  I can't wait to try one of these beautiful designs:

source

 source

source

Have a good day!

Sheri

~~~~~

Happy New Year

 Someday I would like to throw a "Breakfast at Tiffany's" style New Year's Eve party. 

Party Wishes Blog has some great ideas for a "Breakfast at Tiffany's" party. 

  

 

They held a birthday party, but I think the theme would work equally well for a New Year's Eve Party, don't you?

 

I remember my parents had blow-out New Year's Eve parties back in the day.  I actually remember pink elephant cake decorations and napkins!

Of course my New Year's Resolution is to eat healthier (not saying the 4-letter word) and plan healthy meals so I decided to start now by making chicken and brown rice meat loaf....figured I could have it for dinner tonight and then heat up the leftovers for a few days of low-fat eating....wasn't that good planning.....well, I didn't start to cook until I was hungry and.....it took 30 minutes to cook the rice and the loaf has been almost an hour in the oven and....in the meantime I have eaten a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips and a slice of banana bread that I made yesterday before my resolution (and, yes, I added the optional chocolate chips, no less, since I had them on-hand for the Holidays)....I sure hope I plan better in January......

 Remember:  Everything in Moderation!  Don't overdo it!

 

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  

Chatrouille Fini and two teeny tiny dollshouse WIPs

Another finish!  Woohoo!!!  Haha, I still don't see how I will finish the 15 projects I started this year, but I'll keep trying!    Here is "Chatrouille"

the free chart can be found here:

http://lesmarottesdenath.free.fr/index.php?article=1127253600





Stitched on 28 count evenweave with DMC 310, 4126 & 4045

I'm not sure how I want to finish it yet....I found a great idea here on bagladyinstitches blog http://bagladyinstitches.wordpress.com/category/crazy-january-challenge-2011/

She charted a great "BOO" design for the back.  It means a bit more stitching, but it's awfully cute!  I strayed from the original threads and used variegated orange and green and used the variegated orange insted of black for the lettering.  Now I wish I had done it as the chart suggested, but I'm not going to re-stitch, so I will have to live with this version.  Maybe when I finish-finish it, I'll like it more.
~~~~
Julia left a lovely comment about my dollshouse and it got me to pulling out my mini needlework WIPs.

Here is the progress to date on my Art Nouveau Bellpull.  It's being stitched over 1 on 32 count silk gauze. This beautiful kit came from Janet Granger.  When finished it will measure 4.5 by .5 inches ~ I can't work on this when I'm tired!

You can see what it will look like when it's finished here on Janet's website:

http://www.janetgranger.co.uk/acatalog/Needlepoint_Kits_Bellpull_Kits_for_your_dollshouse.html

My "Bless This House" mini sampler from Janet Granger is almost done.  Just a bit of back-stitching left:

Bless This House stitched over 1 on 28 count evenweave

Just so you know, I hate backstitching on mini projects even more than full-sized!    But isn't it sweet as can be??

While I was digging though my mini stash, I came upon this micro mini project I made last summer:

Sorry for the glare of the flash.  I tried taking it in full sun, but it was too shadowy and dark without the flash.  Wish I could say I made the lace in this teeny purple parlor, but alas, I did not.  Maybe next time!

Happy Stitching!


 


CJC ~ Souvenir of Paris ~ fini !!! ~~

Here is my first Crazy January Challenge finish, "Souvenir of Paris" from the Joyeux Noel book by BBD.

Stitched on Lucky Penny by R&R Reproductions with GA's Blackboard 7051 for La Tour Eiffel and DMC 471, 3051, 816 & 3865 for the rest.

I absolutely love this cute little design and think I will make another one with a few modifications suitable to display year-round!   This one is supposed to be finished into a stocking....and....my sewing machine still doesn't like me very much....so I'm not sure what to do about that.  The design is so cute, I may send it out to be professionally done.  I've never sewn a stocking before and usually don't have much luck with curves.....straight lines are more my thing.  But we'll see.  For now it's just going in the to-be-finished-finished pile while I pick up another of my challenge pieces. 

Isabeau, my little repro Bleuette loves this piece of stitchery even more than I do....seems it reminds her of home and a little boating party....

I don't know if I'll get much stitching done tonight.  I have treated myself to "Unstoppable" which just came out on DVD today, and then "White Collar" is on at 10:00.  With all those handsome gentleman on the screen, I'm not sure I'll be able to give my stitching the proper attention!  But I'll try!  (Maybe!) Stay tuned...
UPDATE:  No "White Collar" tonight due to the Westminster Dog Show.  Good thing I love dogs!

1 side of Quaker Heart finished and A Hobnail Milk Glass Pincushion

Thanks to a horrible head cold and flakey barometric pressure that combined to trigger a day and a half long migraine, I have not been very productive the past few days.  Once the headache went away, I did manage to finish one side of my Quaker Heart.  And I turned a piece of my Great Aunt's hobnail milk glass into a pretty little pincushion! 

When we lost our wonderful Auntie Wanda, I asked for the little hobnail milk glass set that she had in her dining room to remember her by. It consisted of a small ruffled pedestal bowl and two little votive candle holders.  What I got was a small ruffled pedestal bowl and ONE little votive candle holder.  (You'd have to know my mother to understand ~~ "Oh, was there another piece??")  

It has always driven me crazy to have this odd configuration.  Then one day I was looking at pincushions made from teacups and I thought "Hey!"  So I bought a piece of blue velvet and turned the odd little votive candleholder into a sweet little pincushion. 

Now the little piece of milk glass isn't part of an incomplete set sitting in the cupboard.  It's a useful and very special treasure all of its own.  Great Aunt Wanda was a fun and crafty lady herself, and I hope she would approve. 

TUSAL

Here is the first look at my ORTs from 2011. 

I joined Daffycat's TUSAL and am duly posting the pic of my ORTs by the first deadline of Jan 4th.  Before you get any ideas about me, you should know that I hate beer. But this huge, heavy glass was only $1 at the dollar store and with the handy-dandy handle I can easily pick it up and take if from room to room with me and my stitching! 

Happy Christmas To All, And To All A Good Night!

An Ornie Finish!!!

YAY!   I have finished the cross-stitch ornie I am making for my friend Barbara in England.  She collects vintage Sindy dolls -- sort of a British Barbie -- so I added "Elf Sindy" to the cute little chart I received as a gift from The Sampler Girl (free with an order during the fab "Black Friday" sale).  I also changed the beautiful colors that were recommended to use some Christmassy colors I had on hand.  Time is of the essence this time of year!   I messed up the hair a little bit....but...it was 3 AM and I was too tired to frog again....so I just went with it.

Sorry for the blurry pix...my camera battery needed to be charged and I had to use my cell phone to grab the shots before I sent the ornie off to Merry Olde England.

 I actually started stitching another pattern for Barbara, but when I received this adorable little elf pattern, I just had to go with it!  I hope she likes it!  (I haven't given her the link to this blog yet, so the secret is safe!)  I have never finished an ornament before and this method wasn't too difficult but I can't say I did a professional job.  You definitely wouldn't want to pull the two pieces apart and look inside....lots and LOTS of glue.  (I LOVE Tacky Glue.  It's my best friend!)  It doesn't look too awful, but I hope it doesn't fall apart on its' way across the pond.  Sorry Baps!  I'll do better next time!!!

I found a really great website with awesome finishing tutorials:

http://focusonfinishing.blogspot.com/

I wanted to do Elf Sindy as a pillow ornament, but I have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine (I think it knows I'm afraid of it) and I just didn't have the time to chance it on this one.  But I definitely will try Anne's instructions when I have a little more time to set up the machine.  I have a few ornaments lined up to stitch for the Crazy January Challenge and I plan to "finish" them myself.  Ha ha, yet another goal for 2011 ~~~!!!

;O)

Needlework in Miniature

I have finished a couple of mini needlework items for my dollshouse (WIPs abound!)..... The inhabitants are thrilled and are preparing for the Holidays.  Shall we take a little tour?


 Oh, hello there!   It's sweet little Mattie... 

....and her cute little dog, Dickens! 



Wonder what's going on inside?

  Looks like fun!

Mmm,do I smell cookies baking???

I do!  Cook is making gingerbread cookies!   Hey, there's only two left....where'd they all go?!

Cook, did you "taste-test" the cookies while you were baking again ???! 

Hmmm, looks a little serious in this room...

Oh, they're only just anxiously politely waiting for the hosts to serve the wine....

Someone's left their beer on the piano, and Mr. Pinkerton-Spice is ready to have a taste!  Mrs. Pinkerton-Spice must have already gotten into the wine at home before she left because she is dressed for the wrong season!  Nice and rosy-toasty then are we, Mrs. P-S.?

Wonder what our hosts are up to....

Uh, oh, The Mister is getting an earful for forgetting to remove his hat immediately upon entering the house.....tsk, tsk.....Well, really, the poor fellow just came home after a long day and he made a straight bee-line for the Gluhwein, can you blame the poor chap???

I mean what's a fellow to do with a house full of family for a fortnight?!

Speaking of which.....the children are being awfully quiet....

Oh, aren't they perfect angels?  Roddy and Ruth are keeping Baby Eleanor company in her Nursery.   And they've only made a little bit of a  mess with the books on the floor...not too bad yet!  Be careful you don't ruin that lovely hand-made blankie kids....the nice lady who made it for you has sworn to never crochet anything that tiny and intricate again! 

But where is sweet little Elspeth?

Here she is!!!  The little doll (tee hee) is sitting quietly on the bed with the sweet tiny hand-embroidered sheet.  She's still quite cold from the buggy ride over and she's not moving until she gets the call for some Gingerbread Cookies!!!!

All this talk about cookies as made me hungry!  I'm headed to my own kitchen to make some of The Barefoot Contessa's Ultimate Ginger Cookies!  Click on the link below for the recipe!!! 

Happy Baking!!!

Barefoot Contessa Ultimate Ginger Cookie Recipe