Happy Mail from Germany! -- Thank you, Brigitte

Four beautiful DJ blocks -- all perfectly made -- sent all the way from Germany! Thank you so much, Brigitte.  Brigitte's needleart skills are amazing... every seam perfect; every seam intersection, perfect! Golly, sure wish I could sew like this. 

Look carefully on the right side of the photo: A lovely and darling handmade card! All hand-painted, colored, calligraphied... wow! I'm lucky if i can legibilly sign my name to the monthly checks when i pay the bills! LOL.

Thank you, thank you, Brigitte. Here are some closeups of her beautiful blocks:

Perhaps I shouldn't try posting so late at night... can't seem to get the photos to line up where I want them. It doesn't detract from their beauty however, but I apologize that it might make it more diffiuclt for you, dear reader.

That's all for now... I just wanted to share these gorgeous blocks... I'm so excited!
Night nite everyone. . .


Oh, BTW, while I've been on this sewing hiatus, I have been working on other handcrafts that are easier for me to manage right now.  I have some new projects to share of knit, crochet and tatting items I've been working on lately. Pictures to follow soon. . . . Thank you for stopping by and visiting. . .

Many hugs,

Cyn; -)



BookMark is Fini! . . . & Shirt Sleeve Squares

Oh, I am so happy! Thanks to the wonderful and friendly advice from Jane in the UK and Susan in Texas, my bookmark is finished and all the ends are tidied up! Thank you, thank you, ladies!

I put a little pink ribbon through the middle, but now that I am looking at it -- the ribbon might actually be detracting from the tatting. Shoot! I'm not sure... what do you think?

Today was a massive sewing and laundry day.

The set up: while straightening a bit in DD's room [read: looking for some of MY stuff, as this room used to be my sewing room! lol] I "found" four shoeboxes full of strips, bits, and Shirt Sleeve Squares... sort of a bazillion of these squares. This could be a no-brain and no-cutting sewing day, so I sewed and sewed and sewed until I had a stack of "two-sies".

I thought about it some more while folding a laundry load and decided if I put them into "foursies" [4-patch] I could either use them that way, or sub cut into "wonky" pieces and mix with other bits to make wonky-blocks.  "Wonky" really appeals to me today. LOL.  I now have a fairly large stack of 4-patches and I will decide their "fate" tomorrow! lol.

Now all of these 'squares' are "sort of the same size" but not exactly the same size. What to do? Sew into 4-patches matching the center seams -- both ends -- as much as possible knowing that later they can be trimmed up. That last was my "process thinking".  I'll make them CaveMan style, as Ricky would say. . . but actually I am just being a bit lazy and only want to trim up these blocks ONCE! lol.  I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Oh, I am sure the Eagle Eyes among you have spotted the larger-than-normal seam allowance. As this Shirt Sleeve material has a looser weave than the cotton we all know and love, I thought a fat 3/8" [almost a 1/2"] seam allowance would be a good idea. It does like to fray a bit. And. . . if anyone's interested in how I came to be the caretaker of 100's of Shirt Sleeves, I can tell the tale in another post. ; -)

I hope all of you had a wonderful day and were able to spend some of it on the crafts we all love.

Hugs,

Cyn; -)

Reducing the UFO Piles. . . . Crochet, Tatting & FF Blocks

It is time to reduce the UFO pile that has grown in leaps and bounds! Past time actually... lol.  OMGosh, the holidays are almost upon us and I have yet to begin making those projects. LOL. So, here is what I've been working on finishing up lately:
Saw a picture of a clutch purse on the LionBrandYarn website that was the inspiration for DD's crocheted clutch purse:

PROCESS: Began with Cone of cotton yarn; crocheted a rectangle of sorts & blocked it; wove sides together & made a lining; crocheted a button and completed finishing work. Ta dah... done!

The two pockets inside were made to fit and accomodate her cell phone and the small personal size of Kleenex tissues. I had also made a loop inside to clip her keys to, but she decided she didn't want that so I removed it.

Three Frosty Flake blocks completed & the forth and fifth ones printed, cut out, and ready for sewing. Because I think it's good to try different methods, I used EPPing on the Green one, but have returned to Inklingo as it is so much faster and precise. I am using a small drop of Roxanne's Glue Baste It on the outside s.a. edges to facillitate the applique process--I love this stuff!

As you can see in these photos,  the beads I used are too BIG and the blocks look a bit gaudy! Just because the package says "Seed Beads" don't believe it! lol.  If this continues to bother me I can always take a hammer to every other bead, and embroider a French Knot in its place! LOL.  Also, made a couple of bad embroidery mistakes on the green one, so perhaps I'll just do that one over. . . yeah, sure, in my  next life time. lol
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The other two recent finishes are a potholder that is so bad that I won't even share the picture with you. . . and some Tatting. 
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This year I've taught myself how to Needle Tat and more recently Shuttle Tat. I like them both but am able to do finer lace work using the shuttle. Here is a little bookmark that I finished yesterday:

The end of the Bookmark pattern says, " ... then cut and tie". Well, I understand the 'cut' the thread from the ball part, but tie what to what, and then what does one do with the ends? Hmmmm, hopefully someone out in Blogland is a Tatter and can advise me... that would be wonderful! Meanwhile, I think some severe blocking would benefit this little item greatly!
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That is all for now. . . I hope everyone is having a wonderful day full of working on the crafts we all love.

Hugs,

Cyn; -)