Thursday, November 24, 2011

First Snowfall


Just a very short note... We had our first snow storm yesterday and last night. Left us with about a foot of snow on the ground. We had an exceptionally warm and sunny fall so the snow is actually quite welcome as it will help get us into that Christmas spirit. Up till now, it just didn't seem right thinking of putting up lights and a tree and doing shopping and baking with it being so wonderfully warm outside! The house feel so much warmer with all that snow!
Its just the beginning folks of many more storms to come, I'm sure!
Take care!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Encrusted Crazy Quilting almost finished!

WOW! What a course! I think I have been eating and sleeping this course! It's wonderful! It certainly stretches your creative juices. At times, I found it almost profoundly difficult to get going in a particular area, and yet, once I started stitching, the ideas would pour out of my mind like a raging water falls...
In any case, this is what we were sort of aiming for on this site. (click on the word site) IE, what our blocks sort of should have looked like! LOL

I have never "Crazy Quilted" before so I had no idea what to expect. I thought my supply of fabrics was varied enough to be suitable for the class and there was an ample supply of ribbons, lace and embellishments on my shelves in containers, but I was wrong! LOL.. hence, this is what my "almost finished" block looks like:


I did some of the smaller areas of the block first, not really following instructions or understanding what the weeks instructions were, so, if I had to do the block over again, it would not look like it does, but hey, isn't that what a course is all about! LEARNING!!!

And I felt I did that. I learned lots! It was a totally enjoyable course; the notes we received in PDF format were so detailed with lots of photos or computer links to go to. I am guessing that the notes were either just shy of or just over 200 pages, one side printed only. There was an incredible amount of feedback from the instructor Sharon as well as each other, on the group site that we posted our comments/questions to and we were able to share our photos with the other class members as well. It was a lovely class and experience and I hope to be able to make many more of these wonderful blocks!

Something I will be looking forward to after Christmas is joining Sharon's "Stitchin Fingers" group. I am sadly lacking in my knowledge of the enormous varieties of stitches that are out there. Joining the group will help me commit to practicing the stitches and learning more than just the few stitches I am able to do now.

Enough for now. Later!
ps- first real snow storm of the season is due tomorrow! YIPPPYY!!


Saturday, November 5, 2011

Encrusted Crazy Quilting


Yes, twice in one day.
I am taking another class from Sharon B. Wow! What an amazing woman and talent she is! The course is wonderful, the notes are so well thought out and detailed. I am so glad I took the course!

This is Sharon's web site for the class, Encrusted Crazy Quilting. (click on the words to the left!)
I admit that crazy quilting was not something I was ever too fond of. Just never appealed to me. What I fell in love with though, when I took Sharon's Sumptuous Surfaces Course, is the stitching. Oh my...... I could do that forever! That is what encouraged me to take the Crazy Quilting course, the stitching. And now that I have put my first block together, I just love the whole process tho I have really just begun (tho if I had to do it again, I would not have used the colours I did for my first block).

There is a saying that goes "When the going gets tough, the weak eat!" I expect to gain alot of weight in this class! So many new stitches to learn. So many ways to embellish, add ribbon, add buttons and decorations. But, I can't explain the overwhelming emotion that comes from digging deep into your soul and finding imagination and inspiration that moves you to put certain colours and threads and ribbons and buttons on a piece of fabric that becomes a beautiful piece of art. What an amazing process. Again, I am finding this to be an excellent class!

I am going to attach a photo of what I have done so far. Keep in mind that I am about 4 weeks behind (surgery and cottage trip) and am a total newby to this art. You can click on Sharon's link above to see how Encrusted Crazy Quilting is REALLY done! Her work is beautiful!
In case you are interested, Sharon has another place where she details various embroidery stitches. (again, click on the words on the left)
I have a long way to go to finish this piece but it is so much fun to work on it!
Enjoy your day.


Weather


Went out yesterday evening to take some photos. Felt I needed to celebrate the fact that it was Nov. 4th, the weather was warmer, drier and nicer than we have had in a long time. Tho we had had some good overnight frosts, we didn't have anyt really hard frost and there were still plants alive outside!

Honeysuckle was actually blooming, bleeding hearts were still around, and flower pots were still alive! Oak leaves were still on the trees and bright red.

This morning, well, it's a different story.... you will see...































It appears we will be blessed with more good weather for another week, starting tomorrow...
Keep smiling!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Vacation, Surgery and Fall Colour

Hello again!
Well, as usual, its been a very long time since my last post. And as usual I have many reasons as to why! LOL

Two days after my last post, I had gall bladder surgery. That was so much fun!! NOT! Along with it came a bit of a recovery period. We then took a week and went to our favorite cottage in Nova Scotia! And what a week it was! WOW!!!! We were originally going to go in September but put it off because of my surgery. It turned out to be such a blessing because while we were there, the fall colours were at their peak and they were spectacular, to say the least. I took almost 1,500 photographs that week. Thank God for digital is all I have to say!!!

I will only be posting the photos from this trip today and will let you in on what I am working on now in the very near future, but I make no promises!! LOL How do I chose a handful oh photos out of 1500?

I am going to post the photos without commentary. No need for it. Some of the cliffs in the photos are a few hundred feet high.
Others are almost 600 feet high. All the photos were taken along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia around Economy and Parrsboro. An interesting fact is that the Bay of Fundy is in the running for one of the NEW 7 Wonders of the World and I sure would appreciate you voting for it! Apparently, there is so much water that flows in and out of the Bay of Fundy, that if I have this right, in one 12 hour tide change, there is enough water coming into the Bay of Fundy to fill the Grand Canyon 6 times! Imagine that! It is one of the most beautiful places on earth to me.

I should add too that I have this real fascination for light and dark shadows. When I walk in the forest, I try to catch scenes in the shade with a bit of sun poking thru the trees and lighting up just one small leaf or bush. I think it will be evident in some of the photos.

These are the photos. Talk to you soon!