Friday, November 10, 2017

as of today in South Jordan Utah

The gold berries really pop out but they mimic a gold tree that is a few blocks away.


You know, it seems like I have a needle in my hand every day but when it comes time to show my progress it is pitifully slow.

I finished the block above for the Roseville Album Quilt.  I've been stitching a block a month and even a panel a month sometimes.  This block took me 2 months to finish.  It must have been late summer.  It always catches me unawares. . .


This looks very wrinkled but it show the true colors of the piece.  I'll press it when I'm done.


I didn't finish my cross stitch project by  Halloween but I'm still plugging away at it.  It's just so relaxing in the evenings.  And it's a project that no longer has a deadline so I can work leisurely.  I changed the pattern of orange in the pumpkin.  Here is a picture of the pattern cover so you can compare.



I also changed some of the leaf colors.  I am planning on making the house a deep blue shade instead of the mustard and chartreuse of the original.



I'm in the process of making a baby quilt.  It's from a kit I bought in Wisconsin in 2014.  I remember it being a lot cuter. . .



I'm big stitching in red with outlines around the figures and just a X in the neutral spaces.  It is crib size.  The backing is the same red as the border and it will have prairie points around the outside.


Sunflower backing

  I finished up the "Yellowstone" quilt  (see here) and gave it to my grandson yesterday.  His birthday is today and he is 11 yrs. old.  It will make a great camp blanket.

I'm putting the binding on the charm quilt (above and below) that's been waiting for months.  I used some 6 1/2" strips that I had in a drawer so that the binding would be varied like the center of the quilt.  I'll get another picture when it's all done that will show it better.




My husband and I wound some grape vines around a frame that he made to form a tree.  I want to flock it and add some white lights for outside decorating.  I found some snow at Michaels and sprayed a little on the front.  But, it's the kind of snow you spray through a stencil on the window, not flocking snow.  I'm at a loss as to where I can buy a can of flocking spray.  Lowes and Home Depot don't have any.  I can buy some online but I'd like to support my local stores so the search is on.







An amusing thing happened the other day.  I have these dala horses from Sweden that my brother sent home when he was on his mission in the 70's.  I keep them high on a dividing wall between my living room and dining area.  They never get direct sunlight.




I was sitting on the couch in the living room and noticed this shadow up on the chandelier.  How curious.




What had happened is that the light shining from my backdoor on to my kitchen counter top was reflecting up on the horses




You can see the two shafts of light from my very reflective counter top forming shadows on the ceiling of the other room.

This happened once before but it was the reflection off of my son's truck windshield through the open garage door .  The light went through the window in the garage then through my round window at the corner of the entry forming a shadow on the opposite wall.  (Were you able to follow that?)  I think these horses are enchanted somehow~

Sometimes it can be discouraging to see what others have accomplished and I'm still working on the same projects.  And then, a friend of mine was looking at my blog for the first time and exclaimed, "Do you quilt every day?"

I'd like to.

Robin

8 comments:

Janet O. said...

Your progress may be slow and steady, but your projects are incredibly detailed and will be heirlooms. I tease myself that someday I will do something like that. But your projects take patience and tenacity and those are in short supply with me.
Your applique is stunning!
And I really like the changes you have made in your cross-stitch. The pumpkin coloring is so much more pleasing, and I like the specks of green from the leaves.
You do such lovely work!
I like your horse and shadow story. What are your countertops that they reflect light so well?

Karen said...

The Roseville block caught my eye right away. I do like the yellow.
I gave up doing cross stitch. I was struggling to see where to put the needle and was not finding it relaxing anymore. I don't have any cross stitch projects I made over the years. I know where two of them are. The designs are so much more sophisticated than when I first started doing it many, many moons ago.

Deb from Frugal Little Bungalow said...

you are progressing beautifully! These are all lovely projects. I am the same way lately...but I am currently not piecing anything / whatever I am doing is a Slow Stitching project.

Shadow shots are always intriquing / this was a good one :)

Ann said...

You really improved the pumpkin with the shading changes. The one in the pattern looks like a partially eaten apple.
Love the light detective work.

Karen in Breezy Point said...

Your cross stitch project is so beautiful--love it! I always seem to be in a rush to finish up my projects, and I'm trying to learn to slow down and savor the process. I think you are on the right track--lol!

Kaja said...

I don't think you should be discouraged at all;it seems to me you make good progress on a number of lovely projects. This sort of work is never fast, but it's worth the time.

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

That is a neat reflection. I feel like that too - my progress is never fast enough for me, but since I make quilts for the enjoyment and not the finished project, progress that is too fast is actually not a good thing. And the finishes do come, and are so delightful. If the finishes came too fast, we wouldn't take as much delight in them.

Nancy said...

Slow progress, perhaps, but beautiful, detailed work. I just compiling a 2017 review for my blog (the one with mostly quilts) and find that I've finished (all the way to binding) just four quilts this year -- one was about 18" x 24", one was a larger crib quilt, one was a crib quilt, and the other more of a throw than even a bed quilt. And yet, like you, I think I'm always busy, either with needle and thread or family history. I probably just mismanage my time.

Did you ever find flocking? I remember years ago someone mixed Ivory flakes with a bit of water to put on a tree and it looks just like snow glistening in the sun. I haven't been able to find Ivory flakes for years and years but even if they were available they probably wouldn't work outside, would they?

I think a blue house with that orange pumpkin will be beautiful -- much better than the gold.

I think your baby quilt is adorable and I especially like the sunflower backing.

That's a fun photo of the dalahest shadow.

Ongoing progress

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