12 Days of Christmas Fabric

While scoping out some new cat fabrics made by Benartex, I happened upon a non-cat line called 12 Days of Christmas. Many of them look like they were made for my block patterns of the same name, although some of the prints are too large for the tiny 4" blocks. If you're curious, here's a link:
http://db.benartex.com/storelocator/FMPro?-DB=collections.fp3&-lay=internet&-max=200&-sortfield=collectionname&-sortorder=ascend&-Format=new.htm&-findall

Here's a tiny url:
http://tinyurl.com/8wv6n

Why do large companies give their web pages such long names? I'm guessing it's computer-generated, but surely they could generate shorter names. :-)

12 Days of Chrristmas Patterns are Complete

I just finished uploading Day 12 of The 12 Days of Christmas patterns to my web site:
http://www.sundropdesigns.com/projects.html

If you're still looking for the other days, check out the Blog Archives on the right sidebar. Links to the earliest days were posted in January.

The patterns will be availble for free for two more weeks. On March 8, I will begin removing them as I update the pages on my web site. The complete set will be available for purchase at that time. I can now cross this off my List of Things to Catch Up On and start on something else! Does everything on this list ever get crossed off?

Day 10 of 12 Days of Christmas

I just finished uploading Day 10 of the 12 Days of Christmas patterns! This one had me stumped for the longest time as to what the lord might be leaping over. After weeks of deliberation, I'd decided on frogs (as in leap frog) over candlesticks (as in Jack Be Nimble). But then on Friday, I heard some senator say that he thought no one (as in no senator nor representative) had actually read the economic stimulus proposal before voting yes or no on it. That got me to thinking about the behaviors of politicians in general. As a result, yesterday I changed the ten frogs to a stack of ten books. My only political comment here is that I suspect a lot of politicians simply leap over things they're supposed to dig into. But since some say this verse symbolizes the Ten Commandments, the books are appropo for that, too.

Have fun with the pattern!
http://www.sundropdesigns.com/projects.html

12 Days of Christmas - Day 9

Life seems to be returning to normal around here. I just uploaded Day 9 for the 12 Days of Christmas on the Projects page of my web site:

http://www.sundropdesigns.com/projects.html

From here to the the twelfth day, some of the pieces begin to get really tiny. For those of you who don't like working with such tiny pieces, embroidery or fabric paints or pens are a good alternative. Another option is to omit some of the tiny pieces. For example, if you omit the ribbon with the 9 dance shoes, the dancing lady will still look like a dancing lady to represent day 9.

Or, you can do the redwork option and not have to deal with any tiny pieces!

More 12 Days of Christmas

Just in case anyone missed it, there's a link on my home page to a pdf that has the words to The 12 Days of Christmas. These are the American lyrics. I know the British version is slightly different, but I haven't taken the time to research the lyrics and add them to the pdf. Here's the link:
http://www.sundropdesigns.com/

I'm still trying to work with only one contact lens, so things are going slowly. Oddly, computer work seems to be the most difficult. My guess is that the monitor is is just far enough away that reading glasses don't really help. Closing my eye without the contact lens helps a little, but I've never been that good at winking. Oh well, I'll keep plugging along at my snail's pace and at least I'll get a little bit done.

12 Days of Christmas: Update #2

We had a mixed bag of weather last week: half icy winter wonderland and half the usual winter temps in the mid-40's. I divided my "warm day" time between sewing in my shed and doing computer work in my trailer, so I only have two new blocks up for you.

Day 6: http://www.sundropdesigns.com/bom/bom09.html
Day 7: http://www.sundropdesigns.com/projects.html

Since the coming week's weather forecast is for another mixed bag of winter goodies, and I have other deadlines to meet, I decided to make things a little easier on myself and set things up to add days 8-12 on the same page as day 7.

In addition to last week's icy weather, the electricity went off, Sunny fell into something yucky and had to be bathed, and two days I had to clean my keyboard because someone left hairballs on it. I suppose it's my fault for forgetting to cover my keyboard when I turn off my computer, but I've not had a problem with this until lately. So why have my cats suddenly decided that the keyboard is a good place for coughing up hairballs? In all my years of living with cats, this is the first year that my keyboard has been a target for hairballs. They started doing this after I bought a "spill-proof" keyboard. Do you think they actually know that it's supposed to be spill-proof?

12 Days of Christmas Update

Well, those warm 50-degree days the weather forecasters promised us for last week never materialized. Instead, we got a temperature inversion that socked the valley in fog with temps staying in the 20's and 30's. I spent most of my week sitting by my parents' woodstove crocheting. However, I did get one more block up for you:

5 Gold Rings - http://www.sundropdesigns.com/critcorner.html

Tooday, the sun came out and it did warm up to the mid-40's. Some of the forecasters are predicting highs in the 50's for the coming week; some are predicting 30's and 40's. I'm rooting for the optomistic forecasters!

12 Days of Christmas

I'm doing a freebie on the 12 Days of Christmas on my web site, in both applique and redwork. My original intent was to post a new block each day during the 12 days of Christmas, Dec. 25 through January 5. But it's winter and I'm learning that I shouldn't make schedules, or rather I shouldn't expect to stay on any schedule, during the winter. It's now Jan. 10 and only 4 days have been posted. So I'll be posting weekly updates here with links to the blocks so that I don't make people crazy hunting all over my web site trying to find them.

So, here's update #1:
Partidge in a pear tree - http://www.sundropdesigns.com/patterns/applique3.html
2 turtle doves - http://www.sundropdesigns.com/patterns/applique4.html
3 French hens - http://www.sundropdesigns.com/patterns/applique5.html
4 calling birds (or colly birds) - http://www.sundropdesigns.com/patterns/applique.html

I'm planning to post update #2 next weekend, but as you read in the first paragraph, it's winter and schedules are unreliable during the winter.

Dresden Turkeys

Carrie of Freckles Galore just e-mailed me the news that she used my Dresden Turkey block pattern to make a wallhanging. You can visit her blog, http://www.myfrecklesgalore.blogspot.com/, to see her turkey.

If you'd like to make one, the block pattern is available for free on my web site: http://www.sundropdesigns.com/thanksgiving.html. You will soon find some other Thanksgiving ideas on that web page, too.

It's a Banner!

When I sat down to sew my leaf blocks into a table runner, I suddenly changed my mind! I blame it on those stark, white sheets of drywall that seemed to be screaming for something to decorate them. I decided to make two simple banners instead - one for my shed and one to give to a friend. The scan of a portion of one banner shows the fabrics I used. The other graphic shows a rendering of the banner made with Electric Quilt software. You can get the applique patterns and very basic instructions for making this banner on my website: http://www.sundropdesigns.com/specialdays.html

Kitty Block

My sister and nephew showed up without warning on Saturday to put the drywall up in my sewing shed. Needless to say, my sewing plans flew to the wayside. It took me the better part of 3 afternoons to get things back in enough order that I could sit down at my sewing machine today and finish the alternate blocks for my Halloween table runner. But the disruption was worth it as the drywall will make my shed a warmer place to work.

For my altternate block, I decided on a black kitten batting at a falling leaf. It's cute, but I've dicovered that I have a difficult time seeing what I'm stitching around when the applique is black.

More Fall Leaves

I collected fallen leaves from the silver maple tree today. This is my favorite tree on the property because there's such a variety of colors and sizes. Leaves on the other trees generally turn just one color or another, often a dull brown.

I chose 4 leaves of various sizes and traced them on brown freezer paper to make templates to keep on hand for future use. They look wrinkled because I salvaged this paper from a box of art supplies that I ordered years ago - the paper had been used as filler instead of styrofoam peanuts. Of course, I had to try a couple of the templates out now using some fabric scraps. Wow! I really like how this simple block turned out. I'm now inspired to make a few more to make a small table runner for the bowl of Halloween candy to sit on.

By the way, I noticed something odd about the silver maple tree: only the leaves on the east side of the tree are turning color. The leaves on the west, south and north sides are all green!

Leaf Quiz Answers

This is the answer sheet to the leaf quiz. How many did you get correct? It's not that easy to identify a tree by just the leaf or a leaf without its tree. After scanning the leaves, it took me 5 minutes to remember what tree or bush the grape leaf was from!

My Newest Pieced Quilt Pattern

My friend Dena, who sometimes tests pieced patterns for me (oh, how I wish she did applique, too!) came by last week to show me the second quilt she made from one of my new patterns she was testing. She strayed a bit from my instructions on this one, so I can't use the photos for the cover, but her quilt is absolutely gorgeous (and her little niece is adorable, too). Dena chose a striped fabric from her stash for the border, then used colors from it to pick out her other fabrics. A local long-arm quilter chose a loose meandering stitch that looks like a cross between waves and clouds - perfect for this quilt.

Here's a full shot of the quilt, along with some of Oregon's beautiful scenery. If you look closely, you can see the four white sails in the Mayflower block. Instructions for a crib size version of this quilt will be on my web site someday soon - before Halloween for sure.

Leaf Quiz

I took a walk yesterday to check on the blackberries and ended up stuffing my pockets with a variety of leaves (I stuffed the blackberries in my mouth - mmm, yum!). How many leaves can you identify? Hints: Most of the leaves are small ones, not grown to full size - that way I could get more of them on my scanner. Near the bottom left corner, there are two leaves from the same tree: one shows the top color and the other shows the underneath color.


Here's the list:

apple

big leaf maple

bracken fern

cherry

Douglas-fir

filbert (hazelnut)

grape

ivy

lilac

morning glory

plum

silver maple

sword fern

viburnum (snowball bush)



I could have included three kinds of blackberry leaves and a holly leaf, but I didn't fancy getting my fingers pricked. I'll post the answer sheet a couple of posts from now (that way the quiz and the answers won't appear on the same web page). Good luck!

Stitches for Redwork

While watching the Olympic games on tv, I kept my hands busy trying various stitches for embroidery on some inexpensive stamped quilt blocks that I bought at a local store. I'm using size 8 DMC perle cotton and love not having to separate the strands!

On this block, I tried four kinds of stitches. The rope, the arm, the hat and the bow are done in stem stitch. I'm a little rusty on my embroidery stitches (haven't done much since high school) and it shows on the bow. But I doubt that anyone will notice once this block is in a completed project.

I used my own wierd version of the backstitch to do the bottom flowers and scallops. It looks okay on top, but it's messy looking on the back side and uses lots of thread. Still, I like this stitch, especially for small things with tight curves.

The shoes and the flowers on the hat were done with a faux chain stitch. I haven't seen my version of this stitch in any embroidery stitch encyclopedia either! Like my weird backstitch, this one is a bit messy on the back side, but it makes a smooth, solid line on top.

My favorite stitch on this block is the whipped running stitch. I used this stitch for the dress, the sleeve and the hat band. This stitch goes fast and has a soft, ruffly or fluted appearance. I like it for clothing and think it would be great for furry animals, but I'm not sure I'd like it for body parts. Maybe I'll try it on the next block to see what it looks like.

By the way, if you're familiar with these blocks you've probably noticed that the butterfly is missing. I discovered that zipper-lock plastic bags don't necessarily prevent moisture from getting to fabric. I left my bag in the sun one day and condensation formed on the inside. These blocks are pinted with an ink that easily washes out, and my butterfly did just that. Since the butterfly was so close to the corner and difficult to get in a 6" hoop, I decided not to bother drawing it in freehand.

Fall Leaves

You can blame one of my 3rd grade teachers (I had 2 teachers that year) for my interest in leaves. She assigned us to collect "pretty colored leaves" for an art project and I've been fascinated by leaves and their changing colors ever since. Today, I found an internet article that explains why leaves change colors and gives a toll-free phone number for the U. S. Forest Service's Fall Color Hotline (who would have guessed there was such a thing?!): http://my.att.net/s/editorial.dll?eetype=Article&eeid=6104281&render=y&ck=&Table=
(800) 354-4595 Fall Color Hotline

Leaves are one applique pattern you don't need a designer for - nature provides them in abundance! Take a walk, collect some leaves, then trace them on paper or template plastic. Or sandwich the leaves between clear adhesive-backed plastic (i.e., Contac paper), then cut about 1/8" around the leaf (leave enough seam allowance for the plastic to adhere to itself). Now you have a pretty leaf to look at and an applique pattern to trace.

If you need an activity for kids, have them collect the leaves and sandwich them between the adhesive-backed plastic, or press between two sheets of waxed paper (adult help required), then cut them out. Punch a hole at the top of each leaf, thread yarn or string through the hole then tie to make loop. With adult help, hang leaves near a window or above child's bed. Small leaves can be used as bookmarks. Have fun!

It's Summer!

Summer is here! In western Oregon, that means 2-3 months relatively free of rain. For me that means trying to do a zillion things during those precious dry months that are difficult to do when it's wet and muddy. And I never have enough time to do much more than make a small dent in my list of things to do. So far, I've managed to cross off 2 major items: set up a canopy (so I have a dry place to work under if it does rain) and add a deck to my sewing shed. Still have to add drywall to shed and prepare and move my trailer to a new spot with a better view and hopefully more sunshine.

Now that the Olympics are on TV, I'm getting even less done. Well, less outside stuff and computer stuff. I am making headway on a redwork project. And I gathered up 8 quilt tops that need to be sandwiched and quilted. I can do things like that while half-watching the TV, but my back is toward the TV when I'm at the computer. Once the rain returns, I'll spend more time at the computer and blogging.

New Quilt Blocks

I've been busy this week catching up on a block challenge for one of the Yahoo groups I belong to. The challenge is to make one block for each month that features a cat and represents that month in some way. We had snow in January, so I used yo-yos to make a snowcat and stitched it to a snowball block.

February's block features a heart for Valentine's Day and uses a pink fabric that I used in a project I was working on in February. The cat fabric just looked like Valentine's Day to me.

March's block is a 3-leaf clover made without a pattern - I just haphazardly cut some white rectangle and square shapes and sewed them to green squares to make the leaves. It's fun to ignore all the fussy rules once in a while! I drew the cat on a small piece of fusible web, cut it out and fused it in place. The stem is embroidered.

My oldest cat, Wylie, was born in April many years ago, so I searched my cat fabric stash for a black and white tuxedo cat. The kitten in the center of this block was the best I could find. The block features a 4" Puss in the Corner block as the center of an 8" Puss in the Corner block.

What I Learned Today

It's said that we should try to learn at least one new thing each day. Here's three things I learned today:
1. If a grocery store employee is walking around the store with a box of cookies from the store bakery and offering a cookie to adults as well as kids, say "no thanks." I said "yes" today and about broke a tooth on the cookie. I'm guessing it was at least 3 days old, probably older.
2. Don't put a cookie in your pocket and then forget about it for 12 hours. I did and I now have a greasy pocket.
3. Wrap cookies in paper towels for several hours before eating them. If fabric can absorb so much oil from a stale cookie, paper should absorb even more from a fresh one. And less oil means fewer calories, right?