Thanks to All

Happy Thanksgiving to All of You.

And many thanks to all who stop by whether you comment or not. It really is appreciated.

Thank You and Nothing Special

Do you ever have the feeling that time is just slipping away faster and faster? Three weeks have past since I last posted and it just doesn’t seem like it has really been that long.

I want to once again thank everyone who takes the time to stop by here and especially for leaving comments. It really is so much appreciated.

I don’t really have any thing to show now, but I spent a little time working on a UFO I pulled from the pile. It was something I started years ago, got so far on it then laid it aside to start something else. It is a floral landscape piece that I purchased as a kit. I just need to stitch the binding to the back side and attach a hanging sleeve. And I guess I should make a label too. The thing is I am just not that crazy about it now. You know how your taste changes over time.

Over the weekend I spent time looking through some photos and reworking them in my photo editing software. Monday, I printed a few of them onto fabric. I have a few more to print and I may reprint a couple that I think could look a little better. The plan is to turn these into a wall hanging. It is to be a Christmas present for………….

Lap Quilt Finished

It really hasn’t taken me this long to finish up the lap quilt. I have been waiting for a sunny day to try and get decent photos.

The colors are brighter than they look in this picture.















The back is one solid piece of fabric. It too looks a little washed out. Sorry.
This one measures 40 inches by 68 inches.

The Finished Muse Doll

Well I finally managed to get some photos taken of the finished doll. She is from a pattern by Julie McCullough (www.magicthreads.com) called The Muse.

So here she is. She stands 20 inches tall. The doll herself is the original size, but Julie’s pattern called for using a newel post top as the base (I used a shorter one) so she would have been 3 or 4 inches taller.

Click images for closer look.




















































I chose two coordinating fabrics to create her wardrobe. I decided the outer fabric needed a little something more so I added some machine stitching using a couple of the built-in stitches on my machine to give some added texture.














The buttons were originally white. I painted them and finished off with a coat of polyurethane. I also hand stitched beads around the edges.


















I am not totally happy with her face (I never was that great at applying makeup) but I am not unhappy either. I learned a few things with this one and hopefully the next doll will be better.


















I had a little trouble with her headdress, but after a bit of playing around trying one thing then another, I finally got a look that I liked.

A Little Something

Well I haven’t meant for it to take so long in finishing the doll but “life” has been happening and so I had to work on her whenever I got the chance. She is finished but I haven’t any pics yet as the weather has been rainy and gloomy and I am waiting for some sunshine.

However I do have this little piece to show that I made last month and forgot to show it. It measures 6 x 8 inches. I named it August Lollipop Flowers.





















You can click on image for clearer details.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

A Computer Saga

I have owned one sort or another computer since the mid 80’s. And I was always hearing from one person or another about having major problems with their computers at some point. Well a week ago it finally happened to me, or so I thought. I had been having some little hiccups off and on since last spring, and last week my computer finally decided to not work properly. It didn’t die or anything but when I plugged it back in and turned it on (after we had a thunderstorm) nothing would come up on the monitor. Now I suppose most people would think right there and then that it was the monitor, but not me. Why? Because I had just been on the computer a few hours earlier and no problems then.

As I said before, I thought there must be some sort of problem with the computer such as a conflict with software or some such thing, as it seems every time I install something new little things seem to change and some times cause problems. I knew I wasn’t going to figure this out on my own so I called The Geek Squad and arranged for an agent to come to my house last Friday to run diagnostics on the computer. He came in and sat down. I turned on the computer and told him about the problems I had been having for months (meaning it was taking several minutes for anything to come up on the screen when I “woke the computer up”). He took a quick check of the plug wires on the monitor and promptly told me after about two minutes that I needed a new monitor. I mean I really thought it was any thing but that. His 15 minute visit cost me $130. And then I had to go buy a new monitor!!

After coming home and installing the monitor, I get on the computer and notice there is no sound. I do everything I can think of (which doesn’t say much) to try and get the sound fixed. Finally I gave up and called the store and spoke to another Geek Squad agent only to be told that the monitor I purchased doesn’t have built in speakers and that I could either return the monitor or I could purchase speakers. Now tell me, am I the only one who doesn’t know not ALL monitors have built in speakers? I mean every one I had before had speakers built in. And don’t you think the salesperson could have mentioned this when I asked him if there was anything else I needed to buy. So I went online and did some comparisons and after chatting with customer service to make sure the ones I picked were compatible with my computer, I placed my order. They are supposed to be here by Thursday.

Guess what I am getting/got for my birthday?

Doll Progress

The past few days here have been gorgeous. We have been having unusually cooler weather than we normally have for the end of August and going into September. It is normally very hot and humid, but the temps have been in the mid to upper 70’s and lower 80’s during the day and lows in the low 60’s or even into the 50’s.

I mentioned before that I have been working some on one of the dolls and so I thought I would give you a little peek at her.




















The things that look like little white beads are pinheads that were holding everything together in this photo. I have everything on her headdress stitched now. I still have to stitch up her robe/dress as it is only pinned on right now and attach her head permanently to her body.

I spent some time today looking through my stash for fabrics for clothing for the second doll. It will be a good while before she is finished, but I hope not too long as there are so many other things I want to get started on.