How to make the easy more difficult

Or The Terri Way

Hello Friends,

I'm working on a fairly easy pattern



~one half of the Deathly Hallows block done successfully~

of the Harry Potter blocks you can see on Fandom in Stitches, but I keep making mistakes! I set the fabric at wrong side to right... I get a fold over when I set it under the needle, (see below)

 or I use the wrong color... OMG. Last week I had to "unsew" four pieces on one patch of the Mimbulus Mimbilitonia. I guess there is just too much on my mind lately.  There is the Darling Daughter trouble... never leaves my mind for long. (Love you Honey!) There is the kitchen mess - while awake there is no way to look away... there is kitchen everywhere except in the kitchen! Then there is the regular stresses of the Christmas season - will they like their gift?  When can I get out to shop? Where is the money for it all?  I'm really amazed by the ladies who have kids and a job, too, that also make things and have all these same stresses.  How do we cope with all that?  ANSWER=Youth.  The great elixir... Where can I find a drop or two?

Couple of pictures of my closest granddogs. They were here for a couple of hours on Sunday. Their "Mommy" took us out for lunch.

This is Ivy and Max is in the next picture. (They are toy sized dogs that think they are lions.)

Well, I'm off to go "unsew" the mess I made last night. Just a few more pieces to this side, and the center seam, and I'll have the DH to show tomorrow.

Hugs,

Terri

Love from the UK!

Hi Friends,
Look what I got in today's mail~

How sweet of you, Melanie! I love the little elf - he has his own scarf. Look how wonderfully he is made. You did a great knitting job...  and he brought me Chocolate!

 He even brought a bar with my name on it!!!  I love it all. The card - Santa's village - is very dear. I love the candy, and the elf - I'm going to call him Mel - is beyond measure, thoughtful and absolutely cute! For those of you who do not know, Melanie is the Houseelf. She makes all kinds of things, bags, knit things, and quilts! Right now she's refinishing her floor... and with big dogs - greyhounds - in the house, too.  You are amazing, Melanie.  Thank you so much!  The package was a  big surprise, and a lovely one.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and a wonderful start to the Christmas season... I did!
Hugs,
Terri

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

It's a day to remember what we are particularly appreciative of... (Okay, I know that is the worst English Grammar there is, but you get what I mean, don't you?)  There is one thing I'm particularly thankful for, but it is quite a melancholy thing, so I won't divulge it. Suffice it to say, I'm particularly thankful for family.  But wait there is also a looooong list which, in part, includes sunshine, and You, my Blogger Friends.  I especially appreciate the ones who consistently leave a little sunshine/love by way of the comment section.  Thank you all - you know who you are... I Thank God for You!
So there still is no kitchen - just look back a few posts, and you will see how ripped up and unusable it is...still. That could be a good thing.  That's how I'm getting to eat out for Thanksgiving this year... That's right, no all day cook-a-thon for me.  The he and me will be at Denny's for dinner tonight.  (We are not the "goremet" type.)

Now that's enough old lady maudlin talk... (Did I tell you we've been a few days without sunshine, and I get pretty morose without it.)

I've a few new blocks from the  Harry Potter paper piecing site  finished and I want to share and show....

This is my version of the Goblet of Fire. I went to the book to find the description. I'd forgotten that it was wooden, (the movies confuse things) thus the wood grain fabric.  I did remembered the blue and white flames. I like how it turned out. I found just the right background, black and blue swirl, at High Sierra Quilt Store a few weeks ago.

Another Mimbulus Mimbulitonia.  The other one I used a white background, and, while I did like the outcome, I thought it might not "fit" with the rest of the blocks.  I do always like to have a few extra blocks to rearrange the final layout. (If you are just tuning in, there is my Pensieve, too.  I have it padded and ready for the project that I can't describe right now.  After Christmas....)

Did I show you the Slytherin Snake?  I'm not real happy about the mouth, I wish there had been a red eye... maybe I'll revise this one and make it again.

Finally, here's a sneak peek... I'm working on the second block in the There and back again BOM.

I really got myself into trouble with this wood grain fabric... particularly hard to get it to go across correctly. It'll keep me out of mischief, for sure. Another new experiment.

So that's what we are up to -  since we don't get to cook. Hope your holiday is happy and fun!

Hugs!

Terri

Geek Squad helped some...

Hello again Friends!

Lets give this thing another chance.  We went to the computer store, and the Geeks tried to fix it, I thought they were heroes, but in the long run they didn't help much.  F10 is supposed to turn off that VERY sensitive patch on my lap top so I can actually type, but it doesn't work. I was able to get my printer as the default today.  It's like wandering around in a foreign country in the dark.

Anyway, lets get back to some quilt show pictures from Friday.

This is a detail of the quilt above.  I love the applique roses, don't you?

Apparently I was not the only one that liked this little wonky house quilt.

I liked this one, too.

You wouldn't believe how narrow those strips are.  I would say they weren't much more than one quarter inch wide.  It's gotta be paper pieced.

I didn't know what to make of this one.  Just love it.

There were lots of bird house quilts... see the other one off to the left. I'd say there were at least 6 all shown in near proximity. I love the cat on this one.

This one is only the 4 panels... most unusual. The colors on the extreme right are part of  the next quilt.

This is the quilt that convinced us that the lighting needed to be improved.  Without the flash you can hardly see the windmills. We were amazed.

I want to make a pointy circular quilt like this some day.... bucket list of a quilter! Mine will have more color, for sure, but even though I don't care much for brown, I do love this quilt.

And here is what I won as a door prize.  3 one yard pieces.  Aren't they pretty?  Copper Mountain Quilting in Nevada. If you know the store, stop by and say "hi" for me.

I bought these 3 fat quarters for $1 each at another vendor.

And I went back to get this yard at the generous lady's spot. It just called to me, and will fit well as background for the Harry Potter paper piece blocks.  Looks magical to me.

I made a Goblet of Fire today.... Show it to you next time.

Hugs,

Terri

Slipper Experiment & a Quilt Show

Hi Friends,
Today for your amusement I will show off the slippers I made. (Please, no laughing until I'm out of range.)  I even used a pattern. It's the first bit of clothing I have made in a loooong while. ( I used my afore blogged about  "genius idea", and covered the sticky material for the nonskid bottoms with paper while I sewed, and that made it possible to sew at all.  You really should try that idea.)

Nonslip Slippers:

I stuffed them with paper so they would stand on their own. I'm sending them off to my DD for her to try them out. Giraffe are her favorite animal.  Below is a different view.

Looks like I swiped some giraffe parts from the zoo... Hope you like them, DD.

And now for the River City Quilters Guild Quilt Show from Sacramento, CA some of my favorite quilts... then the camera got a bee in its bonnet, and threw a fit, so no more pictures. (Found out today - new batteries fixed the problem.)  Here are the very excellent quilts I did get pictures of. (Let me just say they look better on the pictures.  I know that seems backwards, but the lighting just wasn't that good at the Scottish Right Temple, and we were amazed what the camera picked up with the flash that we couldn't actually see standing right in front of the quilt!)

Doncha love the little baskets... so colorful.

 Love this one, so much variety of shape and color.

A different basket quilt. Must have been a challenge.

And with this picture you get a bonus segment of the quilt next to it... which is awesome, as well.

I liked the leaded glass look of this little quilt.

Sorry, that is all for today.  There are another 10 or so to show you, but the computer is just taking forever to download them... still don't have the beat of this machine.  It's supposed to be faster - buncha liars that sold it to my hubby. It keeps falling out of the Internet connection, too. Very exasperating - new technology.  I wonder if a spanking in legal?  Anybody know? Maybe a few well placed kicks. It sure would make me feel better.

Come back to see the fabric (my hubby) I won for a door prize.  I'll catch up with you in a few...

Hugs,

Terri

WOW - 2 days in a row!

Okay, I know it's not a big deal to most of you, but I really don't post this often, as you all know.  I just remembered a project I've been working on recently that I didn't mention yesterday.

Here's the pictures:

This is the mess from my sewing room... 10 paper shopping bags full of mostly fabric snippets, although there are a few pieces of batting, and some unsuccessful blocks from me, and from my Grandma, tossed in, as well. ( I still have a box, 12" x 15", full of larger scraps that I'm going to sort into plastic zip bags and store by color, and a small basket of non quilty fabrics saved for unknown projects.)  I've had the mess out to garner any bigger pieces for the Triangles Quilt, and went through them as I filled out these faux cheetah fur pillows.  I used 2 yards of fake fur, which was on sale last week at JoAnn's, and made 2 floor pillows. See the one that is finished below.

 

This you may recognize as the coffee swilling, paper reading, massage chair inhabiting, ham-it-up husband of mine. He always wants his picture in the blog. (And where would I be without him?)

This is the artwork I wait for 10 months of the year.  It's really just my bathroom window, but you see such a gorgeous abstract "painting" and it changes every day to more and more intense colors as my 3 Sweet Gums (Liquidambar Styrclflua, I think) are changing into their fall costumes. The color casts around the small room, too, so it is a wonderful effect.

That's it for today! Thanks for stopping by and thanks for hanging in there with me as I whine about my kitchen.  Love all you followers and visitors!

Hugs!

Terri

Latest works...

Hi friends,
I just finished a doll flimsy for a charity.  You remember from my last post, Stitchin' Therapy? She's making dolly quilts to add to the wooden doll cribs and beds being made by another for Christmas.  You just send the flimsy, and she'll finish it up.  When I read about that, I thought about this:

 He still gets a bead for an eye, but I'll leave that to her to put on after she quilts. It'll be easier that way.
I had several cardinal patterns in different books, but they just weren't right. This is the waxwing  from Feathered Friends by Jette Norregaard Nielsen. It just needed a few modifications to become a cardinal.  The pattern from the book is below. Sorry about the glare, I just couldn't prevent that no matter which way I turned the camera.

I built in a couple of leaves and their stems along the stem, added black areas around the beak, added a back to the crest and changed the colors to look as close as I could to a cardinal.  I think it is the state bird of South Carolina, where it is going. Below are my modifications to the design.

And now a picture of the few new Harry Potter inspired paper pieced blocks I've made recently. Patterns are from Fandom in Stitches

That's a Golden Snitch, in case you couldn't tell.

Wish I had cropped this picture.  Anyway, that's what I've been up to.  We've been eating out alot lately, because of the demolished kitchen.  (One of the perks.)  And hubby just bought the last two Harry movies, so on nights when the TV is bad (Wed., Sat and Sunday) we've got something to watch.

Hope all is well with you all!  Thanks for the sympathy for my dead kitchen. Appraiser said at least 3 more weeks, but they haven't started yet. Still waiting for an assessment of the flooring that was there.

Until next time,

Hugs!

Terri

11-11-11 Most of all "Thank You"

First I want to Thank all the Veterans for their service.  I have lots of Vets in my life, Grandpa G, my Dad, my Hubby, my 2 Sons and my Son In Law! Thank you all for my Freedom and my Country, and Thank you for all that you sacrificed to defend us and keep us safe. We do appreciate you all!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  It has been a mad house here.  I have kitchen stuff everywhere in the house, and strange men in and out. My kitchen is in a total state of mess! And since lots of the kitchen stuff is in other rooms, the rest of the house it totally messy, too, even more than usual.  Here are some of the before and current pictures.

Just before the "destructo" crew arrived.... Don't look too close cause the dirt around the cupboard door knobs is paint coming off from due to too much cleaning!

After they arrived all the doors into the kitchen were plastic sheeted, and this sign put on the garage door to warn people who might come in unaware. For 3 days we had the plastic covers, a loud fan sucking in air from the garage into the kitchen and the fan with filters pushed the air out an open window in the kitchen... Yes, an open window all night and day!  I was quite scared, even though we live in "Mayberry, U.S.A" sez our son. There have been break ins in our sweet little neighborhood recently.  I wasn't so much scared that they would take anything, but that they might hurt us... and if they had broken the seal on the plastic sheeting it would have let mold spores and asbestos into our sanctuary.

So now we're eating breakfast and sometimes lunch on the table/desk in the computer room. Dinner is being eaten out compliments of the insurance company. (We could have stayed at a motel during the destruction, but we wanted the most money we could for the work, so we don't have to pay any out of pocket, which we don't have.

Hubby hands about to make a sandwich, amidst unrelated kitchen stuff.

Our kitchen in the hallway.

More kitchen stored on the floor in front of the TV! I'm not showing you everywhere there are kitchen parts stored around the house.  Just some of the mess, so you get the idea.

Here is the same spot in the kitchen that I showed above.  Now that the plastic is removed we can see where the water damage was.  The reconstruction guy was here yesterday.  I don't know how long all that will take, but I should have a kitchen by Christmas!

This is the long view from the entry door to the garage door.

They took out all the tiles because they can't match them (they are from the 50s). I'll just have to suffer with some new counter top of my own choosing!!!!!  Oh darn.

Here's where the refrig used to go.  All the flooring had to go, too.  There were several layers, because taking out the original linoleum would have introduced asbestos.  Luckily, they know how to do that now.  So you are seeing the original wooden 2x6es (when they were 2x6 - lumber is called 2x6 now, but doesn't actually measure that large.  They will have to make some arrangement for the shorting.).  And I have real nails!! New houses in the U.S. are mostly stapled together.  How can they, in good conscience, build with junk?

Here in the livingroom, next to my book shelf and ahead of the plastic still hanging, to prevent sawdust and mess coming into the rest of the house when the start the reconstruction.   I really wasn't that attached to my kitchen, but it is still quite upsetting to see it all ripped apart, and in pieces all over the rest of the house.  I hope you never have to experience this.

So I started this.... It's a paper pieced cardinal for a charity doll quilt. (Check out Stitchin' Therapy for details.). Still some pieces in the lower left to finish, and the red & black piece there to rip... wrong color placement.  I've just made one mistake after another on this piece.  I guess my mind is going the way of the kitchen.

Anywho, I hope you are all well, and enjoying the day.

 Thank you again, to all my Veterans, and to all of Yours.

Hugs,

Terri