Blizzard

Well it is Tuesday and we had a blizzard over the weekend. It started on Friday, all day Saturday and most of Sunday. I have no idea how many inches we got but I thought we had teleported to Alaska. My perfect timing, I got sick starting Friday afternoon and was really miserable by Saturday. Could not get out of the drive to go get any medicine, therefore, could not sleep. Saturday was a really long day. We have a 4WD p-up, which my DH took to work at 1:00 on Saturday and then got stuck working a double and didn't get home until 6A.M. Sunday morning. By 9 I was out finding someplace open to get Nyquil. Finally I could breathe a bit and could sleep a bit. I am still not completely over it, but can tell I am on the mend. Lord that nyquil tastes so bad!! My good friend Veronica sent me an email with a picture of some mouth watering cinnamon buns that you could almost taste right through the screen. I was sure I could smell them even thru all the congestion. Thanks Veronica.

Monday, took my DD to the doctor and they did an ultrasound. I have never been good at seeing much in those pictures. The baby has already turned and the best we got was a profile of his face, which is still a big old guess in my opinion. Looks like he will be here around April 5. Got to get busy on the spring cleaning and get the crib set up. Would like to be ready when he gets here. Plus, I will be going back to work soon (YUCK) and never feel like spring cleaning then.

I have no pics to share today. Still working on UFO's. Should finish up one of the 3 fairy babies from Paula Johnson's class on Dollstreet today. The quilt that is ready to be quilted is still sitting by my sewing machine and I just keep looking at it. I might feel up to working on that today. Geez, if I would just apply myself it could be finished.

Do you ever feel that you have so many things to do that you don't know where to begin? That is where I am right now. Big old list of have to do, bigger old list of want to do. Seems like I just been pickin at a little of each and not finishing anything. This morning I took down the curtains in the bath to be washed, worked on my doll, played on the computer and game my honey his to do list. Guess that is accomplishment.

More Harpy Info

Anyway, I got carried away posting the pics. Her feathers are from the wing of some kind of pheasant I think and they are amazing the way they change colors in the sun light. Her bolero jacket is from a fox head pelt and where the ears were form her cap sleeves. The halter top is just fabric but it looks like snake skin. She is quite dressed for and with her envirement.

Now on to my Paula Johnson Fairy Babies class. I have 3 about 1/2 done. 2 large and 1 small. I couldn't decide on fabrics so ended up doing 3 so I could use all my fabric choices. More later.

Harpy Done!!

Drum Roll Please...............

Here she is, my Harpy, finally finished after almost a year. I think she is fabulous. I used so many new techniques on this doll and did things (like sculpting) that I never thought I could do so, to me, she is fabulous just because she looks like she is s'posed to. This was a Judy Skeel class, which is being offered at http://www.dollstreetdreamers.com/ in April and I cannot recommend this class highly enough. Many, many very clear pictures with very clear instruction and Judy is right there for questions and input. Well worth every penny. Best class I have ever taken, and I have taken a few.

Just A Note

Your fairy is called Thorn Hailfly
She is a protector of the lonely.
She lives in brambles and blackberry bushes.
She is only seen at midday under a quiet, cloudless sky.
She wears purple and green like berries and leaves.
She has cheery turquoise wings like a butterfly.

Get your free fairy name here.
http://www.emmadavies.net/fairy/default.aspx

So, lets see....I have been working on my UFO's still. I got my quilt top finished and my quilt "sandwich" is basted together. Now if I can just figure out how I want to quilt the thing. It has me stumped a bit. So I switched off and worked on my Harpy some more. I have her wings almost completely feathered. Hopefully I can post some pics later this week.

Today we are going to a friend's house for her daughter to braid my granddaughters hair. She has wild curly hair and you can't do much with it because it is soooooooo curly. We are going to try 2 french braids going from front to back and see if they stay in for a while. I think they do if you know how to braid them right. We shall see. I'll post some pics of that too.

My ex-DIL and I went out yesterday on the spur of the moment and bought the book "The Secret". Wow, 15 pages and it is a powerful book and concept. I am studying on it and hope to put it into practice. Ya know, there really is a lot of magic in this world and it is amazing.

An internet friend has gotten me started on an herbal tea and I have been drinking 3 cups a day for a couple of weeks now. Yesterday I had to stop and realize that I feel "different". I mean, I feel GOOOOOD, physically and mentally. It just struck me that I feel like I am in my twenties or something. I had ordered more from her before this revelation but WOW this is wonderful. There you are a bit more of that magic in the world.

I feel like I am also trying to go through some kind of spiritual readjustment in myself and my life. Wish me luck on my journey of discovery and if you have any tips or words of wisdom...pass it to me.

Black and White Challenge

This is Olivia the Octoherpodite. This was done for a yahoo group called Black and White Challenge. She was done in October but she didn't win. I still love her tho. The rules were that everything had to be black & white, but could have subtle color in the makeup and skin tone. My DH built her cage and I love it. Didnt he do a fabulous job? I got the idea for her from Circus De Soleil. The group has changed their name to Technicolor something and every year there is a new pattern and new colors. This year is a circus, mardi gras theme and the colors are purple and gold. I don't know if I'll enter this year or not. Right now I have no ideas but they aren't due till end of October so there is time. Everyone used the same pattern to start with and they, as usual, came out very different.

New Year Projects

My new year resolution was to try and finish up some "stuff" that has been languishing for a long time. I got started on this because of the house/dog sitting for my SIL. I was going to have 2-1/2 weeks of uninterrupted time. I knew that trying to pack up stuff to work on dolls would be next to impossible unless I wanted to move my entire sewing room. We use so much stuff when making a doll don't we? So, I went through my unfinished project piles and pulled out stuff that I could do without dragging everything. Unfortunately, that can be astounding and I am just disgusted with myself for not finishing. That is how I decided this was ridiculous and I was finishing old before starting new.

The first thing I tackled was the large quilt which I had started for DD #3 when she was still in high school and she is now 25!! I had already made her brother and sister a quilt then got waylayed on hers. This is a simple quilt, like quilt in a day. You sew the top strip, batting, bottom strip to the quilt all at once. Since they are less than 6" wide and I used cotton batting, no additional quilting is necessary. I had seen this technique on Simply Quilts and they were using it to make quilts fast to give away to homeless children/hospitalized children. This thing is huge! I wanted to use the pillow panels that came with the center panel as the four corners and they are 8-10". That area of the quilt needed to be quilted and that is where I got hung up on it. My DD made me feel so bad that she never got her quilt that I had to finish it. Yippee.

The table runner was the first thing that DD #1 had ever sewn. I thought she did a fabulous job. I did need to quilt it and bind it for her, but now she let me keep it and I love it.

Then I started on the quilt from h----. DD #1 had cut and pieced the quilt top and it was a mess. I made her tear it out and I tried to get it back together and be usable, at least around the house. After two weeks of fighting with this quilt, I threw it in the trash. I mean, I do have my limits, and boy had I reached it with this top. That day my girlfriend came over and saw it in the trash, dug it out and is using it to make pillows. I consider that a very happy ending to that story. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it before she took it. Maybe I can get a pic of her pillows to post when she finishes.

That burnt me out and I had another top about 2/3 finished that I was going to start I next. I did start on it, but I was very stressed from the last two weeks about square blocks and things fitting together. So, I sew a bit on the quilt top, then I took a break and decided to get the feathers on my Harpy. I think she has been in the birthing stage about a year now. I really like these feathers. I got an actual bird wing at a shop near here and pulled it apart for the feathers. Boy the colors are gorgeous and change with the sun. God certainly can make some beautiful stuff can't he?

Well that gets me pretty up to date with what I have been doing. The last week I have not been too productive and I don't know why. I have been doing a great job at holding the couch down, but I guess we don't need any pics of that!! LOL

I did sign up for Cyndi Mal...... Caterpillar Class at Lisa Risler's site and Colleen Babcocks Water Lily at Cloth Doll Connection. I can't wait to get started on them, but so far, I am sticking to my resolution.

Christmas

Hello everyone or anyone. I too feel like I am talking to myself, but, hey, at least I listen. VBG I haven't been posting since October. Geez. Above are pictures of the jammies I made for my 3 little princesses for Christmas. Don't they look sweet? Fooled you!! I was house sitting for my SIL and sewing up these jammies in the country, all alone, no distractions and enjoying every minute of it. Taking breaks from sewing in the hot tub. I know it is a tough job but someone had to do it. She paid me to house/doggie sit so I was having dreams of what I was going to buy when my oh so expensive Janome sewing machine froze up. Jammies not done. So, I packed up and came home the day before Christmas eve trying to think who I knew that I could borrow a machine to at least get these jammies finished. Oh, and no more hot tub breaks. Boo Hiss. Couldn't find anyone with a portable machine. So, out I go on Christmas Eve to buy a sewing machine. This was not what I was daydreaming about spending my newly and unexpected riches on, but isn't that the way it always works?
The other pic is of granddaughter #2 dressed up like the princess she is. I have two more coming. A girl in Feb and finally a boy in April. The two older girls got another pair made from fabric with frogs with big red lips. #2 says they have on "lipis" (aka lipstick).