Still fighting a cold

 

Still have a head cold but I guess it's part seasonal allergies, too. It's making me SOOOOOO tired and other than a minimal amount of housework not much is getting done. I've tried a few different medicine and one for coughs and mucus seems to help the most. The DH is getting tired of hearing me cough and the snoring that's coming from not being able to breath well is keeping him up. I just remind him of when he snores and I have to move to the livingroom to get some sleep. I'm just glad I did get both my covid shots so I don't have to worry about going for one.

The pic above is of a begonia I got at Easter. Isn't it really pretty? Behind it are 2 kalanchoes and a poinsettia. I used to grow a lot of african violets but don't seem to be able to keep them alive anymore. I think the house is too dry in the winter for them.

 I made 2 pincushions in the past month. I'm finding they come in handy when working on some jewelry patterns I've been designing. It's nice to be able to pin everything down so nothing falls off the table or gets mixed in with other projects. I wish I could keep my crafting table clear except for the project I'm currently working on, but since I tend to work on a lot of things that's not possible. I LOVE violets and during their blooming season try to keep small bottles and shot glasses filled with them. The embroidery was something I just free hand drew on the fabric. I followed a crazy quilt block pattern for the top from Pintangle.There are a lot of free block patterns and that's where the embroidery TAST group I do is found.

 The second pincushion has a small piece of embroidery I made from directions at elefantz . Look in the tutorials section. BTW, she has a lot of free embroidery patterns and an etsy store.

 Just a small selection of the eggs we get every day. We used to take the extras to a local foodbank but with covid we stopped going over there to drop them off. They get a lot of eggs donated now from stores. Friends and family can only use so many. We definitely have too many chickens and ducks. The DH just bought 4 more ducklings. He's crazy for birds. They just give me more stress and I have egg intolerance so I seldom eat them unless I'm baking with eggs. We lost one of the male ducks to a hawk. His name was Blade and he was a runner duck (hence the name Blade). Below is one of the comets, not sure which one. I was taking pics of the bleeding heart when she came over to see what was going on. They are very inquisitive.

I am trying to finish updating my old seahorse rider pattern. I made a LOT of changes to the pattern. Now there's only one version and the horse and doll are for advanced cloth doll makers. The original pattern was for sewers with some experience. I really like the new version and I know it's taken me more than 4 years to get her done. I had so much I wanted to do to the seahorse I finally realized if I made it easier I would get it finished. I do that a lot, design things that will be difficult to make, start them, and then set it aside when I realize it may be too hard for the average sewer to make.

I keep all my UFOs on the shelf with the crate that has the hearts stenciled on it. The crate and 2 shoe boxes have various doll projects as does the crate at the bottom of the pic with the stenciled pineapple and the box to the left of it.

In case you missed the post, this is a pic I shared last winter when I had a clean and tidy  of my craft closet. The shelf is larger than the door shows, it's over 4 feet and there are 2 rows of shelves above built in the 10 foot closet. All that really means is I have way too much craft supplies I don't and probably won't use. The plan is that when I feel better to start selling on ebay again. I have a lot of books and magazines on doll making, quilting, and lace making that I'm ready to let go of. Some of the supplies I'll sell and others I'm donating to the local humane society stores resale shop. I'll post here when I finally get moving on this.

Hope you are all feeling well. PLEASE get a covid shot and wear a mask so we can get back to some normalcy.

 

Here's what I've been doing -

I'm trying to work on the multitude of UFO's I have. I tend to move from one project to another when I can't decide what I want to do with what I'm working on. Take for instance ... the new version of my seahorse rider. It’s been 4 maybe 5 years ago that I started redoing that pattern. The doll still needs her hair on. Oh, I have the hair fibers but just can’t get inspired enough because of the seahorse. I had a huge change for it and have found what I drew on paper is a lot harder to accomplish when sewing it. So, there it sits on a shelf in a closet with other started designs that stalled as I worked on them. Way too many :(

As unfinished projects sit, I’m always moving onto the next thing. To help me stop all this I bought a small wipe board and made 2 columns, one for old projects, and one for new. I also added a note to remind me to stop adding more stuff to make without finishing stuff that’s already started. I was going to post a pic of it but my camera battery just died so it’s on charge.

As for old projects I decided to work on some aprons I started last summer.

I’ve cut out a Japanese style full apron using the chicken print fabric. For my husband I’m finishing a basic butcher style with a panel cut from a t-shirt a friend bought him. I’ll post a pic next time.

In the new pile I made myself a new pincushion. Again I followed some free patterns I found at Elefantz. They're on her free patterns page.Here are some pics.

 Amazing with all the buttons I couldn't find one I wanted to use so I went thru a small set of drawers where I have lots more and found the perfect ones.

I love the tiny bee print fabric by Mary Englebreict. I bought it ages ago at Walmart and save it for special projects. The fabric bin above is made using a free pattern I have at my web site over at tripod. Each of the flowers are yo-yos that I gathered into 5 petal flowers. Each of the 4 sides have a ceramic button. Here you can see the hive and a bee. The case was made to hold my original cell, a small tablet and pen. I decided it was too big and made another. Unfortunately I've misplaced it and it's making me crazy. I HATE to lose anything. I also lost my original haircutting shears. I think they cut a hole in the tote they were in but where they fell I don't know.

Back to the pincushion, here it is! I made a change to the scissor pocket since the embroidery wasn't as long as the one in the directions. I found another ceraminc bee button so added it to the front. But it's the back that's I love. I found I had a spool of this tape measure ribbon so I checked to make sure it was accurate, and it was! Perfect for the back.

 I also want to share a mat using a denim pocket. I found the pattern in Quilter’s world magazine, vol.39 no.2. I changed out the bias for the stem. I had some crochet cord I made that was perfect. My pocket was larger but I did have the same fabric for the back/binding. I also switched the mini dot green and orange for a tiny leaf pattern. I also used 2 vintage buttons.

 Now I have a place to set my iced tea and coffee without staining the vintage tablecloth.

And ..... in case you're windering if I'm designing anything new here's a pic of the supplies I'm working with. It's the same pink fabric I used for the flower on the mat. I've had the ivy/rose fabric for ages. I bought a couple of yards but after making a few doll dresses with it I never used it again. I think it's perfect for my new version of the clothespin fairy. BTW, I'm working on directions using dowel rods instead of mini clothespins. Too many people couldn't find the pins.

It's getting better all the time -

My ankle's doing better. It's great to be able to walk around without wincing in pain. Since I've been hanging around the house instead of working in the garden and yard I've been sewing. Below is a tutorial I followed after finding the post on http://www.elfantz.com for making quick cover for small tablets. The link will take you to the post. This would make a great beginner project for new sewers. I love little tablets for writing down all the lists and notes I make all day.

To the top right is the printout of the blog post so I could follow without being on the computer. My tablet was a little bigger than the one in the tutorial so I made sure to wrap a tape measure around the tablet to get the correct size. I bought this cherry print fabric at Walmart before covid hit. I wanted to make a cute walhanging but knew I had to use some for this cover.

I used the red dot for the inside. This shows the cover pockets laying on top.

Here's the whole thing pinned together.

My little Singer sewing it together.

Using a dowel to turn right side out.

I decided it needed a small embroidery of some cherries so I drew out the design and picked out the DMC floss.

Here it is! I hand sewed some green ric-rac around the fringed edge and added the button.

I like it so much I'm making another using a cute peapod fabric I had in my stash. Speaking of my stash I recently bought these quilter's quarters. Don't they remind you of sorbet or sherbet? Or citrus? Not sure what I'll use them for yet. I think I need to find a print with at least 3 of the colors. This calls for a trip the the fabric store that just relocated 10 minutes away :)