U.F.O. & Black Hole Discoveries

Well it's ALL GO here at Lewis Acres.

Tony and I have decided to sell our farm and retire to Hawkes Bay.

I have oodles of cupboards here packed to the brim with MY *stuff*, and I need to empty them all before we can put the house on the market. 

So this week I have been slowly working my way through ONE cupboard, lol. (I think it's going to be a long job).

Anyway, I have discovered so many *treasures* in just this one cupboard.

It has been so much fun coming across these U.F.O.'s that were relegated to the dark depths of  the black hole that appeared in the cupboard.

As I have't done ANY stitching at all this week (because of sorting and packing) I thought I had better share 'something' with you, so here are some of the treasures from my "black hole".

I can vaguely remember starting this x-stitch for mum and dad about 15 or more years ago. It was supposed to be an anniversary card, but it didn't get finished. Shame on me.

And this stitch sampler  never got past the letter 'L'. 

I think it was meant to be my own name there, and I started in the middle of my name to get the spacing right for the other letters.

And this, rather creased, 4-panel embroidery, was meant to be a cushion.

It seems I was reasonably ok with stitching satin stitch and French Knots all those years ago, but not so good with the other stitches. I've practiced a LOT since then, lol.

The Vintage Crinoline Lady embroidered table cloth was started by my mum and her sister Doris when Aunt Doris was living with us for a few years when I was just a little girl. They never finished it. There is a crinoline lady in each corner, and only this one is stitched (minus her head, arm and flowers).

One of the un-stitched corner designs.

The next pic is my own hand dyed fabric, quilted with a gold metallic thread meandering pattern.

And then, in the cupboard black hole, I found this paper-foundation-pieced mini quilt that I made about 12 years ago. It's good to let it see the light of day again. I may put it to good use now as a bedside table mat or coffee table mat.

Love the backing fabric. Wish I had some more of that.

It was fun to "re-discover" these things.

I wonder what else is hiding in the black hole.

Stitching and Travelling

Sorry I was missing last week. We were *on the road* again.

Hawkes Bay is a fabulous place. We are actually thinking about buying a property there.

Mountains, forests, wide rivers, seas, beaches, gorges, and scenic views wherever you look.

I will be uploading more pics of our travels on my 'other' blog soon.

Last of the Summer Wine

Anyway, here are some pics of the stitching I've been doing. Some random, and some not quite so random pieces. Nothing more on my Mandala Quilt though.

This is my Art Quilt Wall Hanging

Can you see the NZ influence?

Here are the random stitching stuff

So that's me for this week.

Happy Stitching

I Deviate from my Path

I have spent a lot of time this week editing photos and creating my new

Travel & Adventure-Blog.

...Last Of The Summer Wine...

Tony and I are in our early retirement years and we are having a ball travelling around NZ on days out and holidays vacations

There will be lots more posts to come on Last of the Summer Wine. 

_____________________________________________________

It has been a bit of a weird week on the stitching front.

I was leaping ahead with my Crazy Mandala Quilt last week, and I was happy that I knew exactly what the next step was going to be........ but..... (there is always a 'but')...

....... I chose to pick up a completely different project to work on.

This is a U.F.O. that I started about eight or nine years ago.

This project sits in a satchel near my front door. It is my QSK, or, Quilter's Survival Kit, and is ready with all the necessary sewing items in the satchel for me to grab on my way out of the door for when I need a quick and easy sewing project to take with me......on appointments etc.

As it has been quite a while since I have needed to grab my QSK, I decided I would like to stitch a bit more on it.

I love the 3-D optical illusion. A whole new dimension.

I have completed 4 of these 'Building Block' shapes this week. 

The Building Blocks are not joined together yet as I wait until I have about 50 or more before sorting out the block placements so that I can get the colour gradations in the right positions.

I am very pleased that I laid these blocks out today for the photos above, because I discovered that I had stitched two blocks together the wrong way round on my last session.

Time to 'un-sew' those trouble-makers.

Happy Stitching

CQJP 2013 Mandala Quilt Update

 CQJP 2013 Mandala Quilt Update 

Sub-titled - - Let Me Tell You A Story

So this is how the story starts.

Centre-Circle wants to dress up to go to a party.

So Centre-Circle asks for a smart black suit, 

and Centre-Circle gets a smart black 'suit'.

But then the others started getting very jealous because Centre-Circle looks so smart in his new black suit.

The others think that they look 'under-dressed' compared to him.

So they beg for a smart black suit each 

.....and, one-by-one they get 'dressed' up in their smart black suits too.

And happiness, once again, started to return to the Circles.

Until, eventually, laughter overtook them all, and the dancing began.

And the Party of the Circles was THE  place to be.

Happy Stitching

Let the 'party' jokes, 

and 'circle' jokes, 

and 'dancing' jokes 

                            begin.........................

.

CQJP 2013 progress

I've been away....... did you miss me?

We had a great time in the Hawkes Bay area. The sun shone (most of the time), the beaches were mind-blowing (as always), the Motel was 4**** awesome, the scenery was beautiful, and the wineries were, well.... full of wine, lol. Delicious.

I'm creating another blog as our "Travel-Adventure-Blog" so that this Free Form Stitching blog stays mostly on topic here, and so that family and friends will be able to follow our adventures without getting caught up in my stitching projects. I will let you know the web address of that as soon as I have uploaded these latest photos.

On topic again now.

CQJP latest work.

Nine more of the smaller circles that surround the larger circle in the middle. That now makes 12 all together.

That's my lot for this week.

Now to catch up with all that I've missed while away.

Happy Stitching

Round and around I go

I've been going round and round in circles this week, and this is what I have achieved........

All the above will be going on my Crazy Mandala Quilt.

I've also been working on an UFO. A lacy crochet tunic that I started making in Nov 2011. I think it got put on the back burner when I heard about the Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP).

This pic is the beginning of a front piece before I started working on it. This week I have finished the two front panels and I'm about a quarter of the way up the back.

Tony and I are off on another adventure tomorrow, and we'll be gone for 6-8 days, so I'll probably not be around for a post here next week.
We are going to the Art Deco centre of New Zealand.... Napier, and the surrounding countryside of the Hawkes Bay area, which just happens to be the heart of NZ wine making country.
I have a feeling we are about to have a good adventure.
I'm sure I will get totally absorbed (not just with the wine) and inspired by the creative era of Art Deco.
Hopefully I will have a few tales to tell you on my return.
Watch this space.


Happy Stitching

12 Crazy Mummies

Haha, don't you just love that title.

It conjures up a lovely scene in my head..... and talking of heads (crazy ones mind you) ... I 'walked' into a tree today, head first. 

Ok, straight into stitch talk now.

Here are my 12 Crazy Quilt blocks in the Mummy shapes.

    

Done and dusted......(no I haven't been doing any more housework).

I have just decided.......after seeing the photos here (above)...... and as I have not used the traditional black fabric for the background (traditional for stained Rose window quilts)......

..... this quilt is from now on going to be called my 

 Crazy Mandala Quilt. 

You know I love Mandala's...... and now I KNOW where this quilt is going.

Isn't it a great feeling when creative projects start to evolve of their own accord.

Happy Stitching

About Housework & Stitching

Stitching or Housework?

It's a dilemma, I know. 

Yes I am guilty of letting the housework lapse because

 I just HAVE to finish.....  >enter your project here<

.......this crazy quilt block
.....or that embroidered part on the 'other' project
.....or another couple of rows of crochet
.....or read another chapter or two of this gripping novel

I digress.

Over the weekend I have suddenly that discovered that not only do I need to be in the right frame of mind for stitching, I actually NEED to be in the right physical place as well. 

Is that weird?

This is how I found that eureka moment.

My hubby has suffered with back problems for quite a few years. 

Late last year he discovered that sitting on MY arm chair helped ease his back pain, and so he claimed my chair as his.

I don't mind giving up my chair at all, anything to ease his pain is ok with me.

But this weekend, while I was doing the housework, I changed all the chairs around so that my, new chair, is where my old one was by the French window, which is where he has been sitting ever since taking over my good chair.

What a remarkable difference it has made to my stitching in just a few days. I am back to being enthusiastic about it and have a much clearer idea of what I want to stitch (I have been in a bit of a muddle this year over stitching). I hadn't realized that moving to another chair in another part of the lounge room had dulled a part of my stitching enthusiasm.

So, since my spring cleaning  housework on Sunday, and changing the furniture around, here are some stitching progress photos.

My CHANCE project - Free Form at it's finest

The roll of a dice, and toss of a coin, choose what I do, what colour I use, what shape it is, and where it goes.

I was meant to be using the TAST stitches for this, but have not incorporate them in these pieces......yet.

Chance #2

Chance #3 

Chance #4 

The Stained Glass Rose Window is double what it was last week.

I now have six 'bits' sewn up, which is a half of the complete Rose window shape.

I have also been crocheting for the IFFCG challenge. A project that is to be completed sometime in May, but must not be shown online until the final show is published.

I will share that piece when THE SHOW goes public.

Happy Stitching