Grateful

I am grateful for the many blessings in my life.

I am grateful for moments that make a day special.

 Hope your Christmas was filled with happiness, peace and love.

The Eye Of The Storm

I've learned about telling a story through cloth from Jude Hill. 

So much goes through my mind when I'm stitching. I just never thought of transferring those thoughts to cloth to Tell My Story.

The idiom "eye of the storm" means the region of mostly calm. Here the eye represents the center of calm, but the added tears mean there is potential for violent outbreaks. This has been my body's experience dealing with gluten sensitivity.

Telling My Story

One small phase of my life, yet such a big piece.

I got the idea of squares on squares from Jude over at Spirit Cloth. Once I started stitching the squares together, they became blocks of time that I have traveled during this phase. 

The spiral is the journey through these blocks of time.

#2 Block Of The Month

Finished Floral Delight, block #2.

Block #1, if you're interested.

Stitching To Stay Warm

Today's high was 15 degrees. A perfect day to stay inside and stitch.

Time With Family

Thanksgiving weekend was spent with my children and their families, which always fills my heart. 

One special day was spent with a trip to the local tree farm to pick out a Christmas tree where we also enjoyed a tractor ride, candle making and hot chocolate. 

As my grandson proudly helps carry our special tree home, he says "This is the best day ever!" 

My son-in-law cut a few extra tree stump pieces for us girls (and grandson) to make into keepsake ornaments.

The bear represents a new grand baby on the way.

I did very little stitching during these past several days, but I did manage to find a home for my satin stitched initial.

Seashells

After sewing these two pieces together, the bottom half appeared like sand, so a few seashells were needed. 

Grandmothers Flower Garden Is Growing

This is a great travel project.

I baste these little hexagons on the go, and then stitch them together when I have enough.

#1 Block Of The Month

I enjoy visiting stitcher's blogs, but I felt the need to get out and socialize in person with other hand stitchers.

I am participating in my first Block of The Month quilt with a group of ladies from a local quilt shop.

Block #1 is finished.

Gluten Free Bread

It's been 6 weeks since I've been on a gluten free diet. I feel good, but I miss having a slice of bread with jelly.

I've been spending a lot of time cooking and baking gluten free recipes, and I want to give this one a "thumbs up." This bread is very good. The recipe is from Elana Amsterdam's cookbook.

One thing I have noticed is that the bread recipes make just one loaf, which is a good thing.

The Beginnings Of A Story

Here is the state of mind I was in when these two pieces came together.

I have several projects going right now, but they just weren't stimulating enough at the moment. It's like my creative soul needed a challenge or something. Do you ever feel like this? 

 Some may call it bored. I can't explain it. Anyway, when I feel like this, I look through unfinished pieces.

These caught my attention.

 I'm not sure where I was going with this woven cloth piece.

I gave these little English paper pieced sailboats a scenic background a while ago.

I joined the two pieces, added a few more blue fabric scraps.

Added some wave stitching, and……

Now, I see sand. 

Maybe a few seashells?

11-12-13

We got our first snow fall last night.

It always seems weird bundling up for that first snow fall walk…..

Checking my boots for spiders that have made them their home and sorting through the hats and gloves that I only put away a few short months ago.

What I love about Winter walks: 

the fresh, cool, crisp air

the bare trees

sounds of nature

the birds seem to sing in a different tone

the sky is a deeper blue when the sun is out

i feel more at peace

they are my favorite 

Time For Healing Mixed With Tradition

It seems the days pass by so quickly, yet when one is dealing with a health issue, time seems to slow down.

My 8 month battle with an off and on severe skin rash is due to a wheat/gluten sensitivity. During that period, I saw three conventional doctors who insisted I had contact dermatitis or didn't really know what was causing the flare ups, and thought there was nothing wrong with me being on steroids for the rest of my life. That was not going to happen! 

Then finally, I went to see an alternative doctor, and he muscle tested for a food allergy which turned out to be wheat/gluten. Since I have been on a gluten free diet for the last three weeks, my rash has gone away.

 Finally! A doctor that was able to help me. 

You will probably hear more about my new gluten free lifestyle in the future.

Meanwhile…...

During this time I became depressed and crazy at the same time. My mind wasn't clear enough to allow creativity to take place, yet I still needed to keep my hands busy. 

I started this quilt piece…...Grandmother's Flower Garden.

I'm always drawn to traditional quilt patterns every time I see them in person or in magazines. I even have several in my quilt collection. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'll ever finish this as I will probably get tired of doing this tedious pattern over and over and over again, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time I started it.  

I chose to do this in reproduction fabrics. Below are a few antique quilts from my collection.

So Many Hearts

This is a sampler from Jude's class, Mini Hearts. The background section is from an old cotton shirt, which I love the feel and color of.

The broken heart fits perfectly right now as I have been dealing with a skin rash that has brought my world to a screeching halt, and I have shed many tears from it.
This too shall pass......

Playing With Walnut Dye

Experimenting with walnut dye.

I wrapped fabric around some rocks to let sit in the walnut dye for a week.

Interesting patterns.

Hmmm....

Half Of The Tree Arch

Finished half of the tree arch.

Now, to get myself to do the other side before cool weather sets in.....

More On The Jean Jacket

It's time to add a little more to the jean jacket before the weather cools down, and I need to wear it.

I thought a tree arch (sort of speak) over the main tree and animals. 

I've had this bark patterned fabric in my stash for quite some time, so I thought I'd use it up.

I'm liking the stitched texture on the tree trunk.
I'll have better pictures of the whole scene in a couple days.

Satin Stitch Gone Bad

For some reason, I couldn't leave well enough alone. I just had to add more stitching to the inside of the circle. 

Note to self: When working the satin stitch, don't pull your stitches too tight.

Seclusion and The Satin Stitch

Feeling like this blue egg today.

I have developed an allergic reaction to something. I don't know what, which is very frustrating, painful, and annoying.

so.............

While visiting some bloggers, I got inspired to do some satin stitch designs from Jude's blog. This stitch seems perfect for the time I sit in seclusion until I am presentable to the world again. 

I do like that satin feel.

Experimenting With Natural Dye

The walnuts are starting to fall from the trees, so I thought I'd make a walnut vat.

I don't really know much about dying fabric, yet. I just keep reading bits and pieces. I wrapped a piece of cotton fabric around a stick, tied it up and let it sit for a few days.

Here's what I got! 

This will lead to more experiments, I suppose.

Woven Heart

A small patch of woven cloth becomes a heart.

I really don't have a design plan for this quilt except to just stitch whatever feels right at the moment.

 I'm enjoying the freedom of expression. 

Peaceful

Too hot and stuffy indoors. Stitching on the patio while listening to the night sounds of crickets and frogs. 

Hello Mr. Sunshine

Trying to decide if I should give Mr. Sunshine a face or not?

A Story Quilt

 It's been a very long time since I've indulged in hand stitching. Sometimes, I let other life matters consume my time that I loose sight of what brings me joy......being creative.

I've always loved this small piece of garden fabric, and I now have a place for it.

Many, many years ago I started a quilt for this little girl who is now a young lady in college. That quilt had dolls sewn on it, and I'm quite sure she has outgrown the doll phase.

 I've started a new quilt for her. 

Ruffled Rose Scarf

I've hit a blank wall in the hand stitching area, so I thought I'd pick up the ruffled scarf and see if I can't make some progress. 

Just need to keep the hands moving.

Exploring White

I am participating in What If Diaries with Jude Hill. We are exploring White. This can be quite challenging when you find your fabric stash has very little white in it.







I did find a couple pieces. The story begins…..

A house is a place where "change" is always happening. Where once there was lots of color to signify the movement of growth has now faded.

The Rose Shawl

It's finished!

A month ago I purchased this cotton jersey from Alabama Chanin's garage sale. I ended up with this marbled, tie dye fabric with pinks, blues, grays, and browns. I had no idea what I was going to do with it until I saw this shawl pattern in the stitch book. 

Appliquéing with cotton jersey is so different from cotton fabric, and I'm really starting to appreciate the versatility of cotton jersey.

Chau,

Linda