Stitching with Sue Spargo

I recently had the pleasure of taking a wool applique class from Sue Spargo.  Sue is a contemporary folk art quilt designer and has been featured in American Patchwork & Quilting magazine.  When my friends and I found out she was coming to our neck of the woods, we could not pass up the opportunity to meet her.  We live 3 hours from Quilters Paradise in Clovis, CA...but were very happy to drive that far to take her class. 

We were very excited when Sue accepted our invitation to dinner the evening before the class.  She was so gracious!  I felt little like a groupy!  --or maybe a stalker? We found out that she's a Starbuck's coffee drinker.  So, of course we all had to motor over to Starbucks the morning of our class to get our cup of java. I was truly on cloud nine.


Sue showing us her quilts

This is my Sew Your Seeds Project in the works

Connie and I showing our progress

This is my other Sew Your Seeds

The inside

We stitched, we laughed, we ate, we had a blast.  I did not want to go home.   If you ever have the chance to take one of Sue's classes, I highly recommend it!

Lambie Update

Our lambs has grown quite a bit.  We are just about to wean them off the bottle.  Glad, yet sad at the same time.   Minnie is our runt on the right and Phoebe our youngest is on the left.  They are just adorable.

Silk Velvet!

I am thinking of changing my blog name.  I'm not just dying wool fabric.  This is some silk/rayon velvet that I dyed a Robin's Egg Blue.  Isn't it to dye for? LOL!  I have more colors coming. 

Meet Minnie and Libby

It only took 7 months from moving into my new house to get some lambs.  Minnie and Libby were born on February 27th.  They are sisters (from a Ewe who had quadruplets).  Minnie is a minature sheep and although she is older than Libby, she's about 1/2 's size!  I am bottle feeding these cuties about every 3-4 hours.  Needless to say, I'm exhausted.  It's been about 13 years since I've had babies. 

Gallons and Gallon of Formula!

Give Thanks!

I am on this mission at the moment to create a pillow every season.  This is my latest one…”Give Thanks” from Simply Need’l Love.  Don’t you just love those designs?  The pattern comes with instructions for wool appliqué, cotton appliqué and rug hooking.  I know I am a little late in posting this….life you know?  I figured I better at least post it for the few days left in November.

Crazy Wool Pin Cushions Round Robin

I am so excited to show you the crazy wool pin cushion Round Robin that my students and I have just finished. I am so proud of these ladies who dived right and were so creative! I provided each student with a template and background wool to make their base.  Each month we chose a pin cushion and decorated it.

Gayle's Pin Cushion

Karen's Pin Cushion

Julie's Pin Cushion

Mine!

Connie's Pin Cushion

Joan's Pin Cushion

September Lambs

I had to post these photos of our neighbor's new lambs.  Momma Ewe gave birth to two cute little Suffolk lambs last Saturday.  I was so excited I could hardly stand it. I am totally in love with them.  So far, they don't seem to be too afraid of me.  I always approach momma with a handful of alfalfa.  She doesn't seem to mind me in the pen too much.  The lambs make the sweetie baa.  Their are 3 other Ewes that are due any day now, so we will have more to play with!

I remember....

Cashmere, Merino Felted Sweaters?....Mmmmmm

I was interested in felting some old sweaters that were made of Cashmere and Merino (not in the same sweater that is).  I got on the net and had a look around.  People have posted that it does felt, so I gave it a try.  I bought a bunch of sweaters at the Good Will.  I was very choosy regarding which items I wanted to experiment with.  (no blends) I always try to buy the largest size possible.  I found several men's XL 100% Merino sweaters. Well, I'm not all that jazzed about the result.  It took several washings and drying to get any reasonable result. I think they were just a little too fine of a sweater.  Although they did felt, I think they need to be a looser knitted variety.  I am sure I will be able to make some cool stuff out of these pieces. Just some thoughts on the subject.

Housing Update

It's been a month since I've written any news on our housing situation.  As you know, we've sold our house in anticipation of buying another (short sale).  The purchase didn't work out, and we decided to get off that roller coaster.  This caused some panic because we didn't have a place to go and we are currently living at a friends house.  By some miracle, if you believe in that sort of thing, we came across a house that is just perfect for our family.  I am so excited that we finally will be able to sleep in our own beds this weekend.  I hate being without my "stuff."  We officially close on Thursday and true-to-form, I will be painting the girls rooms before the moving begins.  It's about a week before school starts and I want them settled in our new place.  I will post some photos of our new mini-farm after the closing...I don't want to jinx it!

Excuse the Mess

I am trying to update the look of my blog...hense the mess.  So, be patient, I'll get it back to normal...if not, I'll have to call Eli!

And Life Goes On....

A lot has been happening over the last month or so.  We sold our house (We lived there for 10 years.) with the anticipation of buying another one.  We thought if all goes well, we would need temporary housing for about a month to 6 weeks.
Our "guardian angel" friend saved us in so many ways by offering her house to rent for the summer.  We are so grateful for her! The movers came, moved everything (except my sewing machines of course!) into two storage units and we moved ourselves down the street.  I couldn't get over how much cleaning supplies I had collected.  Does that tell you something about me?
We settled in long enough to go on vacation.  Jeremy and I went to St. John USVI for a week of snorkeling and no kids, the kids went to my sisters to have a visit with their cousins. St. John is absolutely gorgeous and the people are extremely friendly.

Salt Pond Bay- notice no people?

St John has wild Donkeys roaming around - here is momma and baby.  They came right up to the car for some petting too.

Not sure which bay this was, notice no people?  There were very few crowds.

Another shot of Salt Pond

Velvety Delicious!

Velvet in the dye pot

I am trying my hand at dying silk/rayon velvet.  Oh my!  I bought a couple of yards to "test" my skills and if this fabric was edible, I would have eaten it!  So much fun taking a piece of white boring fabric and turning it into something lovely!

The finished product: Avocado Hand Dyed Velvet

News About Our New Home

..........................................................................................does that give you any indication?  We made the offer in February.  Still no close date "Oye Crumbs"!

Happy Mother's Day!

my beautiful mom and me circa 1967

A very happy Mother's Day to all those hard working moms out there and especially to those who take the time to create!  Where would we be without our crafts?  I don't know myself.

Every year my family asks me what I want to do for Mother's Day and I reply with the same answer:  "I want to sew all day long."  The best Mother's Day to me is being able to sew to my hearts content, watch chick flicks, eat chocolate (I'm staring at a box of truffles right now.)  I don't have to drive anywhere, answer the phone, cook anything, or do laundry.  Is there anything special that you do for Mother's Day?

Magnolia Continued

I've finished another block and really like the way it turned out.  It would look awesome made into a pillow.  I am moving along so quickly that I will be a little sad when it's finished.  This is a perfect project to ring in the spring season. 


Leaves made with silk velvet



Close up of  a leaf with couched Ric Rac



Close up of the bird block

Another Block

 

I've finished another block in the Magnolia Quilt.  This block was fun because I "couched" some hairy looking thread around the flowers.  I also practiced my bullion knots too.  This block has two wools for the background and wool and cotton for the applique pieces.  I also used some Kaffe Fassett fabric from my stash!







close up of the bullion knots

close up of the fuzzy threads



The Only Good Thing About Being Sick

So, I've been under the weather with some kind of virus for the past week.  Coughing, sputtering, sneezing, the whole lot of it.  It's not fun when you have to function as the master chef, chauffeur, housekeeper, CEO of your own company, etc.  The only good thing is I can sit on the sofa and work on my hand applique.  Here is the latest block from Magnolia.  I am loving this project.  I was up until 1am cutting out the next block because it's so much fun, I just could not stop!

I used a combination of cotton and wool for the background and cotton, wool, ric-rac and silk velvet for the applique.  I tried my hand at the bullion knots and after watching a YouTube video, got that hang of it!  Love the bullion knots.

Magnolia Quilt Block 2

I am starting to make some headway with Magnolia.  I finished block number 2.  I really love working with ric-rac.  Couching the ric-rac is a fast and easy embellishment.  I used my hand dyed wool, silk velvet and some Kaffe Fassett fabrics for this block.

Oh For The Love of Plaid

A really cool stripe with beautiful plaids.

Look what the UPS man delivered this week!  I can't get enough of those soft, colorful textures that come with plaids.  How pretty they are!  The hardest thing about receiving these plaid wools is cutting them up.  I usually stare at the box for a few days before washing and cutting them into pieces.

OOOOOH! Geometric!

Check out the awesome green stripe