Well, I haven't posted in a week or so but I DID post 3 different postings on my last one so I thought that might carry over for a while.
What have I been doing??? Just my usual nothing and a little more. It seems that when I go to bed at night and am waiting for sleep I go over my day and think about what I didn't do and remind myself that tomorrow I will do all those things. I am trying to decrease that list of things I didn't do but sometimes it is hard.
Last week was kind of a 'wash' as we had a LOT of snow and various storms that came though the area. We are all covered with white again. I did manage to get back to school to volunteer but not on my usual days of Monday and Friday. They cancelled school on both those days so I went in on Tuesday. I did manage to get out of the house most days though. We are pretty skilled at driving in difficult weather here.
Yesterday I decided I needed to get going on something other than my sewing projects. I made myself reconcile my checkbook, go over the Christmas Visa charges AND clean the house. I did get all my Christmas decorations down last week while the snow was falling around us. However the tree is still up on the deck outside the window. You may remember that we often leave that up until Valentine's Day as it leaves a nice glow in the neighborhood that brightens the winter here.
What I HAVE been doing is sewing. I am getting ready to put some pieces in a show the first of February. I didn't have many items I wanted to show and put up for sale and I couldn't use the piece I made for last year so I just had to go to work and make something new. This piece above is a pattern I had in my collection. I don't remember where I bought it but I decided it would look very nice. It is long (about 70 inches) but very nice looking I think. This is a depiction of the leaves falling. The first tree has lots of leaves and the final tree is almost empty with all the leaves on the ground. I think it turned out very nice.
I thought a closeup would be nice so you could see all the work involved. I had to stitch around each of the circles that depict the "leaves". I had a lot of fun making this piece even though it was a lot of work. I did this piece all myself including the quilting which is the stitching of the backing to the front using my sewing machine and my own skills. I usually send the quilting part of my work out to my quilter who does this professionally. Since these pieces were a little smaller and more manageable I thought I could do it myself. I have a little experience with the 'free motion quilting' and am trying to get better. It looks good as long as you don't look to closely and check the 'stitch length'. I like this piece and will put a high price on it so that no one wants to buy it or if they do I will be rewarded nicely for my work and I will have to make another one for myself. I would like to hang it somewhere in my house.
Then I started this one this past weekend. I have been looking at this pattern for quite a while and decided to go for it. It isn't finished yet. I have just finished stitching the flowers on the background fabric. I will start putting borders on it today. It is quite big too, about 40 inches long right now without the borders. I have enjoyed using various gray fabrics for the background. This too will look great in my house since we are decorating with gray shades. The fabrics in this piece and the tree piece all came from fabric I had around although I must admit I have visited the fabric store a couple of times to add to my stash of batik fabrics. They work very well for wall hanging pieces.
Just another shot of the same piece. I think I will put some bright borders on it and get it ready for the show.
This is a smaller piece that I was just experimenting with some things and made this piece. I will put this in the show and not worry if it sells although it is cute.
SO, that is what I have been doing, playing and working and trying to find a balance. I would rather play than clean but must do both.
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