Hello ... and... SPIDER Virus strikes So. Calif!!

Hello Friends. . . It has been ages since my last post. It feels good to be back again. Thank you all for your kind emails and well-wishes.  Update: I am healing well. No more surgery until sometime later this summer.

QUILTY STUFF!!! . . . The SPIDER VIRUS is going around putter-land these days and now it has struck in Southern California! lol. Cattinka was my first 'exposure' to this disease, and when I mentioned this to Rosa, she became infected too! Now I have the virus!  Will YOU succomb to it? Go visit Catinka for the 'scoop'.  Below is first block:

Second block: [sewn together after its Photo Op]

And this is the MESS they leave behind!

I'm just a novice PPer and have a lot to learn. Practice, practice, practice... ya?!  For reasons still unclear to moi, I drew my PPing pattern as a size 4 1/2" block! Yikes! I must be crazy. Note to self: switch to larger size!

More pictures next time. . . thank you for stopping by.

Hugs,

Cyn; -)

MORE SURGERY. . . Off putter x 3 weeks

Good morning. We all got a big surprise yesterday when we went to my post op appointment -- they will begin the reconstruction phase on my face today! Wow, wasn't expecting that, so I feel at little bit at lose ends. I have good doctors so I'm sure it will be ok, it just caught me off guard... so I'll deal with it. Because of how they will do the repairs to my face, my eyes and forehead will also be involved and that means NO glasses for at least 3 weeks. So that also means no sewing, knitting, stitching, or computer play time... that's gonna be the hard part. Please wish me well and I'll be back with you in 3 weeks, I hope.

Meanwhile to keep this post within the scope of my blog, here is a pic of the latest purse I've made. This one is crocheted and is lined with pockets for cell phone, pen, emery board and small kleenex keeper. It's a present for my DDIL Donna who watched me put finishing touches on it this morning. She likes it!

I just have one more FF block to make -- so far I have 8. These have been a lot of fun and I appreciate having the 1/2 Hex Collection from Inklingo to make the hexie flowers with -- if you haven't looked into it yet, you might give it a look-see. I have no affliation with Linda Franz, I am just very appreciative when a fabulous new quiting/sewing tool comes on the market... Inklingo is right up there with the rotary cutter in my humble opinion. Here's a pic of the 'back side' of one little hexie... I just love the way the seams swirl at the intersections... pressing options are limitless. Love that!

That's it for now. Be well and I'll be back in three weeks.
Hugs,
Cyn; -)

Another Purse... & ANTIQUE GFG QUILT

My time and goals of late have been to bring some little projects to completion. I wonder why I get so excited about doing/making something and then let it sit and languish somewhere uncompleted? Shoot... I have absolutely no idea. Does that happen to you? I can understand it with long complicated projects like making a Dear Jane quilt, but not knitting or crocheting up a little purse! lol... of course in all fairness, sometimes not having or finding just the right fabric for the lining, or perhaps stumbling over a couple of design decisions can muddle things a tad. . . that's what happened with this knitted purse. I knitted it in the round; made the bottom with Emily Ocker's Beginning and swirled the increases to make it pretty and then knitted it straight up until it was deep enough to make some eyelet openings to later run I-Cord draw strings through and then finished it off with a bit of a ruffle to give it a "girlie touch".  I was inspired by a picture I saw in an ad for Lion Brand Yarn. Actually Lion Brand has a ton of free patterns available on their site.  So, this little purselette was easy peasy... but the lining slowed me down. SOLUTION! I remembered I have a wonderful gadget by Olfa -- their Circle Cutter -- OMGosh this is a neat tool. If you don't have one, please do yourself a favor and run out and get one! I see a bunch of circles in my future! LOL. So after cutting a few circles out of TemTex to stiffen the bottom, I made a double pocket on the lining to hold Kleenex and Cell Phone in neatly in place and then sewed the thing up... slipped it inside the purse and whip stitched around the top edge to hold lining in place.  Very straightforward. Below are some pictures of my process. 

Note the muslin double circles folded in half and put edge to edge--that's so I can remove or replace the TemTex as the whim strikes me... I'm happy with that little idea and will probably use it again in future purses/totes. A little zigzag around the edge to tidy it up.

I did a purl round to set off where the circle of increases ended and where knitting straight up the sides begins... this also made it easy to put the lining in later.. no guessing... I like that! lol.

Last night I printed up the last of my FF hexes, cut them out and hope to sew them today & applique to their b/g squares tonight... then the fun part: embroidery! I sure do have the embroidery bug lately. . . do you like to embroider? What kinds do you do?  If you are interested, there is a button on my sidebar so you can click over and see what some of us are doing with these FF blocks... cute, small, quick & fun.

This is a GFG quilt that my neighbor brought over yesterday. Isn't it gorgeous?  The color choices are amazing! Every intersection is perfect and this is stitched hex-to-hex... no EPPing! Keep in mind that this was pieced sometime in the 1940's before rotary cutting and Inklingo. This was made by someone with serious and extraorinary quilting skills!  So here's my neighbor's dilemna: "... what do I do now?"  As she wants to actually use it, binding it will be necessary. Once the edges are stabilized the stain removal process can begin. Can you believe this was rescued from a tattered box in a garage?! Unbelieveable! My first inclination would be to LIGHTLY trim the sides by about 1/2" to true them up, then bind with a bias binding... the scallopped top and bottom edges could be saved with even more careful trimming before binding. I wished she had shown this to me before she ran it thru her washer a few times as the edges could have been saved... I don't relish doing all of that mitering, but it would have been beautiful... of course, facing is always an option too.  Now, before doing anything, I'll be doing some online research today to hopefully find some local people who can advise about other options for this beautiful antique quilt. She wants my help to fix it, but I want to gather more info first. The repairs are no problem, but when it's an antique I think gathering some opinions from the experts is always a first good move.  We do have a couple of very well known and admired quilt appraisers and quilt judges in my area... I'll try and reach a few for their thoughts.  I'll post more pictures of this beautiful quilt as we go along. If you have specific recommendations, or know of some experts in the San Diego area, I would very much appreciate some contact info... please comment here on this post or email me. Thank you.

Missy lounging in her supervisory spot at the end of my bed while I sew. Note how she has taken over my hand knitted shawl. . . she now thinks it's hers and uses it all the time! lol..

That's it for now... I hope everyone has a lovely day. I'm thrilled to be moving around more and actually sewing, etc.. Prayer is incredible and I sincerely appreciate all the prayers and well-wishes I've received... I am doing well and the healing process is moving along. Reconstruction surgery will be in about 10 days to two weeks... then I'll look normal again... well, what every "normal" is... lol

Hugs,

Cyn; -)



SIGGY TIME. . . It's raining Siggies in California!

Happy Mail is so much fun to get and it's raining Siggies here in Califnornia!  Here are 5 that haven't made it to my blog yet... enjoy, these are some fun ones!

Sorry for the sloppy edges on the pics. I had them all cropped up real pretty and now my laptop won't let me get them! Sheesh... some days! I know it's probably some little stupid thing I'm either doing or not doing that's throwing the wrench into the works, but I don't know what it is... so I'll just live with it today.

There are so many wonderful talented and sharing people in the world. I am so lucky that these five people chose to share their art with me. . . I hope you enjoyed this little art show this morning.

Have a nice day everyone and may all your edges be straight! LOL

Hugs,

Cyn; -)

PS: Surgery went well. Better than I had hoped for, actually. I am lucky to have so many wonderful people praying for me... thank you, everyone! There will be a couple of days rest while we wait for the final pathology reports to come back and then more surgery and the reconstruction process will begin.  I will be on and off the putter during this time and will post on days that I feel up to it.  I am fortunate that I feel well enough to sew a little bit some days and that helps fill the time and ease my nerves during this whole process.  Life is good!

POT LIFTERS... One More Time... and last post b4 surgery

Good morning, all! This is a super quickie post to share my neighbor and friend Joy's bindless potholder with you. Joy alternated her folded bits, then stitched down. I like her version better than mine and will make mine like this from now on. Everything else is the same except for the layering [see yesteredays' post for construction info].

Here's a pic of my campanion Miss Diva who keeps me company on these long nights. Missy is not too sure about posing for pictures at this un-goshly hour! LOL.

Seems that lately I've been doing more stitchery than sewing. Here's something I made a several years ago but have yet to finish. Think i'll just put a pieced framing unit around it; sew it up into a pillow and call in fini!

This will be my last post for a little while. Not sure how long. I have surgery early Tuesday morning... then the inevitable time for healing, etc.. Please pray for me... hope to talk with you all soon.
Hugs,

NO-Binding Pot Lifter

Well, wadda ya know... the epiphany I had earlier this morning actually worked! Here's a pic of the finished Pot Holder:

Not great, but for a proto-type it is ok. It will look better [i hope] after it takes a trip through the laundry and softens up a bit.

Here's what I did:

Cut: 6 squares ea 9.5" [because that's the ruler on the mat at the time...lol... slightly smaller would be fine, too.]. A 9.5" sq will equal finished size of about 8.5". AND, a square of batting, Insul-Bright, or what ever wadding you like to use. [This is also a good place to recycle old torn washcloths, cut up flannel shirts, etc.... waste not, want not.].

Press: Four of the fabric squares on the diagonal. Save for next step.

Layer: Sandwich a piece of batting in between TWO of the fabric squares; Right Sides OUT. Carefully layer the pressed triangle/squares corner to corner [see pictures]. DO NOT WEAVE as you did for the MugRugs... first lay two on oposing corners and then the other two.

Sew: Around outside edge. I used a 3/8" s.a. and trimmed to 1/4", but you do what is comfy for you. Next time I will use a WALKING FOOT... the Insul-Bright was very poofy and things didn't line up as well as I hoped they would.

Trim: Outside edges & zigzag all the way around. Here's a good place to try out your top-stitch thread color, which is what I did.

Turn, Smooth, Press, & Top Stitch: Fold diagonal edges back Cathedrawl Window style and TOP STITCH in place. Voila! DONE! Enjoy your binding-less potholder. The whole thing took about 45 minutes and that's 'cause I had trouble re-threading the s.m. needle! lol.

Here are my step-by-step pics:

Have a nice day,

Hugs,

Cyn; -)

Pot Holders & Siggie Lines. . .

Good Morning... at least it is morning here and now at my end of the keyboard.  Just a tad before 6:00am., actually. Sure am an early riser today. lol.

Today, while finishing up a little potholder, I decided to try some different corners and binding techniques. And, what better project to 'donate' to a learning and practice curve than a poor little potholder?!  If it turns out badly I don't have anything to lose, and I still have a little functional something to lift hot pans with. Win - win! lol.

As you can see the corners don't match... I was trying out various corner ideas in preparation for making a stack of potholders for Christmas. While trying out some different options, I had an epiphany of sorts: sense I don't relish the idea of sewing bindings on about 25 potholders, why not make them a'la Mug Rugs? Why not indeed! I think it will work and NO bindings to sew on.

Ok I'm off to my sewing corner to give this new idea a try... I'll post some pics later and share how it turns out.

Hope everyone has a lovely day.  Oh, almost forgot... if you don't see a post from me for maybe as long as two weeks from this coming Tuesday, it's because I'm having surgery. As soon as the wind gets back into my sails, I'll be back on line.  Wish me well... ta ta for now,
Hugs,

PS: see my new sig' line? Ain't it purrrrty? Thank you, Brigitte, for tutoring me on how to do this!

OH, YOU SAID "WHAT"??? . . . & Cute Knitted TOTE Grocery Bag

Good morning... this card is just too funny NOT to share. . . . . rofl . . .  Ok, now that I've tickled all our Funny Bones. . .

Here's this morning's tale:  Being a little out of my mind this morning [read: heavy meds...lol], and felt biten by the Fly Lady bug,   I ran across this pattern idea [pic below] from Knit Picks as I was sorting through a huge stack of catalogs to shred the mailing labels off before tossing the whole lot into the recycle bin. Anyway. . . I just love their products: good stuff and decent prices; nice people, too. So. . . I am going to run off and go order me one right now! lol.
.
OMG... while I was testing the link to make sure it is working ok, I discovered that the pattern & kit are NO LONGER AVAILABLE! Yipes! This is sure a case of "Me Snooze, Me Lose"! When I called and s/w Susan, she said they will be re-offering this pattern in new yarns some time later, perhaps in the Spring. *big sigh!*  It sure is cute, though, isn't it?

I am not familiar with the "mesh stitch" shown in the pic, or I'd give it a go w/out a patttern. . . anyone out there know how to do this Mesh stitch? The Mesh Stitch panel looks knitted with an alternate panel of just just plain garter stitch. Is that what you see?  If you click on the pic, it will get larger.  The bottom looks to be very firm... maybe a slip-stitch stitch like: Sl1, K1 on alternating rounds? I could cast on about 8 stitches & begin with Emily Ockers' beginning, increasing to a functional circle size using the Sl1K1 pattern and see what happens, eh?! lol. I learned about Emily Ockers' trick by reading Elizabeth Zimmermans' many wonderful books. I'm such an EZ fan! *grin*  Any helpers out there is blogland today that can help? Thanks. I think it's ok to ask for help on this, as it was offered as a FREE patt when purchasing their CotLin  yarns and, of course, I would purchase their cotlin yarns to make it.

What projects are you knitting or crocheting these days? Gee, the Holidays are right around the corner; guess I better get crackin'! lol

I think I'll go stitch my last couple of Hexies for the FF BOM and bring myself up to date on that project. Do you ever fall behind on the many FREE BOMs offered on the net by wonderful and sharing bloggers? I have good intentions, but can't always follow through.
Have a lovely day.
Hugs,
Cyn; -)

JUST FOR FUN: POOR LITTLE KITTY & Other Happy Mail. . . .

Most of you know that I have a very soft spot in my heart for kitties. Well, since I've been under the weather a little bit lately, I've been lucky enough to receive some wonderful Get Well cards.  My sweet cousin Sandy, who is also a kitty-lover, sent me this card recently and I think it's just toooooo darling not to share:

Right now, everyone who happens to come visit at my house better be on their "Ps" n "Qs"! LOL.  Why? If they don't watch their language, I have just the gum to offer them, thanks to my great friend Rosa -- lol.  What a hoot, eh?!

Quilters and bloggers are such wonderful and sharing friends... dear Rosa is both.  Thank you, Rosa!

The last couple of days has seen a bonanza of Happy Mail at my house.  Here are pics of my two recent DJSP gifties... Aug and Sep.

The one [to the right] is August's and includes authentic 30's fabrics. They sure are purrrty!  A very clever "match book style" of emery boards to carry in my purse. I love this! Also for my purse, is a very small note pad. It has a nifty strap so the notepad will stay CLOSED when inside of my purse instead of all messed up! Now that's smart... love it! Thank you, SP.

Here's September's fun gifty package:-- FIVE FQs!; a Photo Sponge [I don't know what this is but will have fun figuring it out]; Candy... yummo!; and a Sugar Bear. I had only heard of these and never seen one... now me gots one... I'm happy! LOL.

What a clever invention. What a fun assortment of goodies. Thank you, dear Secret Pal.

Here's a close up of this great fabric! The perfect fabrics for this season of the year... I love it! Oopsy, pic won't come out of the bottom of the post... so that's where it is! LOL

I just can't resist sending the pic I took of Missy this evening. [pls see pic below].  I was laying out everything on the foot of my bed getting ready to blog -- I think that was her 'signal' -- and when I turned away to reach for my water bottle, up she hopped into my chair and sat looking right a the screen of the laptop. Sure wish my shutter speed was faster; the first shoot was the priceless one as she was intently staring at the computer screen! LOL

That's it for now... I need to take my night time meds and hit the sheets.

Hope all is well out there in blogland... I'm sending you all my very best!

Hugs,

Cyn; -)

PS: Well, as u can see i am having more than a little bit of trouble posting and getting things lined up tonight./.. please bear with me as I think I will just have to leave this one as it is and I'll try harder next time.



New GIVE-A-WAY! ...

Kaaren, at The Painted Quilt, is having a Give-a-Way for an AccuCut GO cutting machine & three dies!

WOWZER, this is not to be missed.  Also, Kaaren offeres a beautiful BOM embroidery showcasing Raggedies [see the button on my sidebar]... just lovely... go ck it out! I have no financial offiliation with her patterns, but I do think when someone goes to all the trouble to make, post, and offer tutes and free patterns that we should all make an effort to promote their blogs. Just my opinion.
Good luck,
Hugs,
Cyn; -)
ps: There's a cute little vid about a another new product... click on the link at Kaaren's blog... no, I have no affiliation, but love their products.

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; -)



More Lovely "HAPPY MAIL" - Thank you, Tich!

Isn't this T-Towel puuuurrrrty? I love it!  It comes to me all the way from Orkney Islands,Scotland from my dear friend, Tich! I will get a better pic of it up soon to share [after I get it framed], but right now I'm just so excited that I can't wait. *smilies*

Tich sent me the most lovely Comfort Package: It included this beautiful Tea Towel, some scumcioulicious Orkney FUDGE!; several Dear Jane blocks and two packages of Seed Beads!  These seed beads will be wonderful on my FF blocks... I am tempted to take the others apart and put these on all of them, not just the new ones!
Oooops, the secret is out... see the Open End of the Box? Yup.. we've all been at it, for sure! LOL. Everyone here sends big "Thank Yous" from their sweet teeth! lol

Tich, your piecing skills are fabulous... thank you for such beautiful DJ blocks; these will make a perfect addition to my DJ. 

OMGoodness, am I the lucky ducky or what?! That you, Tich... I love everything.  There is NO way that I'll ever use the tea towel in my kitchen for anything utilitarian! lol... NO WAY... I plan to have it put on bars and it will hang proudly in my kitchen. The colors are fantastic. Talk about brightening up one's day. I am Happy Dancing, here! LOL

That's it from my end of the keyboard. I hope all is well and happy at yours!

Hugs,

Cyn; -)

TICKLED PINK!! . . .

These shoes are made for walkin' . . . .--feel free to hummm along here-- lol, but these LACES are for pure F-U-N! 

These laces came recently as a "Happy Mail" surprise from my good friend, Rosa.  Aren't they fun?  Thank you, Rosa!  Now I'm Pickled Tink!

This is just a quickie post so everyone doesn't think I've fallen off the edge of the planet--again! lol.  As soon as I learn how to better read and post from my iPod, I'll be able to post more regularly, even while laid up.

See who's keeping me company? My darling little kitty Miss Diva, who follows me from room to room now. LOL... it's really cute! To show what a dainty little kitty she really is: the LC quilt she is laying on has finished blocks of less than 9 inches and Missy weighs less than 9 pounds! She's tiny. She's not to be messed with, however, for whatever she may lack in size, she more than makes up for in "attitude"! lol

Hope everyone is having time to stitch and enjoy the last benefits of summer!
Hugs,
Cyn; -)