Friday, August 22, 2008

Ferne's Favorite Blog of the Morning

Doing my morning blog hour that I don't seem to be able to get through a day with out, I stumbled upon a blog with the most beautiful crazy quilting. There are a lot of links to information along with some of Lisa's own tips and directions. So if you are interesting in trying your hand at crazy quilting or just looking at some really elegant work check out my link to her blog. Today she is showing some truly exquisite pin cushions.

Ivory Blush Roses

someday I will figure out how to copy pictures here, but since I didn't have her permission I will just send you to her blog.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

A Special Visit











I had a nice visit with my family last week. My brother came down from Portland and my Mom and Aunt from Sarasota, Florida. We had a great time and did a lot of eating out along with a trip to Los Gatos, Gilroy, and Chukchansi (for a little gambling). Maude even won a little money! I was so glad to see them. We keep in contact a lot thanks to the Internet, but I had not seen my Mom and Aunt for 9 years...now that is a long time. Unfortunately when they got home hurricane Fay was about to strike and they were evacuated. They spent yet one more night in a hotel. The hurricane fizzled out and didn't leave them with any damage and they are home again safe and sound, but pretty tired! Just a note: the handsome young man each side of the ladies is my available brother...send all inquiries to me and I will forward them on after careful investigation.

While searching through the blogs of my sewing peeps I stumbled upon a post by Pam Kitty Morning that I found very entertaining. She was talking about how her corners don't always meet, I looked at the pictures for the longest time and just couldn't see it. I would hate for her to look that closely at any of my work. I strive to have corners as good as her worst. If I keep sewing at the pace I have been I will be there soon enough!

Keeping the corners together!


Therisa & Ferne

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Fun in Blogland

I love to look at other people's blogs and I'm sure that there are many other creative people that are always searching for inspiration in Blogland so I thought I would occasionally share other fabric artists ideas that inspire me. Today inspiration came from Betz White's blog. She made her brother a cozy for his iBook. It is so adorable! It looks just like an Etch-A-Sketch. Gotta love it! I tried to share the picture, but couldn't get it on the screen so you'll have to use the link and go to her blog. Be sure to check out all the pictures of it and the wonderful little details she added. I have enjoyed Betz's site for a very long time. Her cupcake and coffee cups pincushions inspired me to thrift wool sweaters, shrink them and cut them up. What fun I had! My creations have not been as cute as hers, but it got me thinking and that is good exercise for my creative side.

Thanks for todays Creative Exercise Betz!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Summer Projects















I have been working on a few small sewing projects this summer. I am keeping it simple and fun. This is a table runner that I made for a friend who recently got married. They are remodeling the house that they are going to live in with 'green' materials so I chose to use the color green along with an earthy brown and sea blue. I also used bamboo batting with it. I loved how soft the bamboo batting was and how smooth it was to sew. It is not very thick, but will work well for a table runner. Before I put this one together though I experimented with the blocks using by stash of Susan Branch's Tea Party. I had a lot of fun with it and modified a pattern from the book 'Jelly Roll Quilts' by Pam and Nicky Lintott. I am going to wash it tonight and see how it responds to washing. I am beginning to realize that I am creating projects with no particular use in mind, but I have having fun with whole process . Hopefully this is just giving me practice for some very useful projects in the future.


My next project will probably be a pin cushion, now that is something useful. I seem to be collecting pin cushion patterns lately. One of my favorites is on Heather Bailey's blog...she actually has several, but I am going to try her free pattern for the square one then I would like to purchase her fruit ones for later. So if you go to her site the link for the pdf file for the square pin cushion is down the page a bit. On your way down the page don't miss her velvety strawberries...to die for! What talented people we can find in blogland. I for one am so thankful that they share their ideas with people like me.

Well, I am going to have company for a few days so will be quite busy, but may have some more fun things to post about next week. Enjoy all your summer projects, big or small!