and now for other updates

as mentioned in the earlier post, time has really slipped away this year.  i can't believe it's about to be july already!  i'd like to say it's all "time flies when you're having fun" but unfortunately, it's a mixture of fun and stress.  my quilting, sewing and art slowed down considerably last year and i'm picking up speed in those departments again in the last month or so.  quilts and dresses are in progress... drawings planned....pieces just returned from a show in the outer banks, nc last week.... and welding caps being made every week.

in more exciting news, i just celebrated 4 months of marriage!  we had a surprise leap day wedding, just us, my son and parents, plus my friend who became ordained for us.

he surprised me with my parents actually.

i love my shoes.  i should have worn those to work today....

after 9 years, my boss finally sent me to one of our project sites.  he'd been telling me he'd send me out one of these days, tour the plants and visit with our teams.  not only did i finally get to travel for work outside of the greater houston area, but i got to go to ALASKA!! 

my guys have such a horrible view from their "office"

it was late march and first couple days of april.  it was cold, but was warm for anchorage.  the week before, there was a lot of snow on the ground in downtown anchorage, but rain and high temps in the low 40s cleared up most of that for us.  we managed to get south down the seward hwy into the chugach mountains and national forest our last full day.

on an observation desk on top of mt. alyeska (snowing and wearing fleece and two coats)

the deceiving "warm" temps we planned for didn't exactly cut it for the mountain tops.  and the wind. holy cow the wind.  but wow, is alaska beautiful.  every turn my coworker and i took was another breathtaking view.  i highly suggest eating at moose tooth pizzeria and pub and try some of their broken tooth brews.  yum.

so february and march were my highlights of 2016 thus far.  there are plans for some other good things to come - my best friend just moved back to town last week, my recently diagnosed hypothyroidism and some other health issues are being worked on and i am getting back in the swing of things.  i'll try to come here more often again as all the goodness comes to fruition.  

new in my etsy shop

oh my.  has it really been over a year since my last post?  time has slipped by this year for so many reasons.  i guess i'll catch you up some in another post.

first things first!!  i have ventured into something new:  welding caps.  personally, i'd love to see lots of women welders wearing them so i could do really fun and girly fabrics, but i know there are fewer women welders than men...

i *adore* this welders cap soooo much and i was so excited when i got to make it for a customer.

this is josh.  he requested the skulls and top hats welders cap and was pleasantly surprised that my cap fit him better than the ones he's purchased from stores.  makes my heart smile hearing that as well.

if you're interested or know someone who wears them (motorcycles, hard hats, welding, etc), send them my way.

it's spring!

hey blog-land...

i'm alive.  spring is here and so is quilting time!  I have been working slowly, but steadily on a bunch of things.  unfortunately, pictures didn't result from most of that. 

BUT.... I have a finish here.  I didn't piece this one, but I did quilt and bind it.

my church has a spring carnival for the kids each year.  for the adults, there are raffles and prize baskets and such.  this year's big ticket for the raffle is this quilt.  some of the ladies pieced the blocks, someone else pieced the top together and then it was passed on to me.  I quilted big fat swirls in pale yellow thread and then did the binding in a similar pale yellow.  looks like spring to me!! 

it's been delivered and the carnival is in two weeks.  i'm hoping they do very well with it - I know I've already sold $20 worth of raffle tickets just on a FB post. 

looking around, the pictures I have for other UFOs and finished projects aren't much...or only show a piece of it.  oh well.  i'll get some more when I've got others finished.

next up:  binding a woodlands creatures throw quilt using dream green batting, starting a Christmas present for a special person, QOV top #2 for the year and maybe a dress.  I was doing some more hexie piecing on a roadtrip last weekend.  one day....

inspiration ideas?

i'm trying to get back into the swing of things this year.  boy scouts has taken up an incredible amount of my time since the summer and I've pretty much gotten the migraines under control (although i'm on day 2 of one this week).  so..... can anyone give me some inspiration and ideas for quilts and projects?  I really need to get the QOVs going again.  I only made three last year and I've got a list of recipients I need to fulfill.

other than that, i'm about to start another art history class, I just handed over troop treasurer duties last night (yippee!) - with the knowledge that i'll get calls and questions for a bit, I do have a little knitting started, I went to the gem show last weekend and am trying to be inspired there as well.  AND I've got a show in the outer banks late this spring that I need to work on the pieces for.  it could be a great year. 

on the work table

I've been busy.  Not as much sewing or crafting or drawing as I'd like to do... mostly scouts and work, but I have a few things in progress.

Two dresses - one on indefinite hold and one a short term hold.  The dress on the far left I started before the shoulder surgery and tried to pick it back up recently.  But it fits funny after last year's weight loss.  I don't know how to  fix it without taking it all apart and the sad thing is, I put it on hold for the zipper, front hem and the neck/collar pieces.  Ugh.  The green dress in the middle left is one for transitioning between weather/seasons.  It's about half finished.  I have sleeves, the lower hem sections and neckline, then it'll be finished. 

Then there's two quilts.  One for my mom.  I have the top nearly pieced together, but I'm frustrated.  The rows got out of order when I was piecing them together.  My living room isn't big enough without moving lots of furniture for this one, so I was doing it in sections.  Everything lined up nicely and now it doesn't.  So I'm redoing the top to make it look ok and in a different order than before.  She's in no hurry, so I'm working on other things too.  The other quilt in the middle is nearly finished - just half the binding to turn and stitch and then it's good for Christmas present time!

More Christmas present action here.  I'm trying out welding caps.  The recipient is my boyfriend and he's of Irish descent, so I'm making one in with Celtic knots.  I have two other fabrics I'm going to use as well for some more fun and funky caps.  So far, I'm not super thrilled with the pattern instructions and might make the outside and inside separate and then join for a smoother seam.

first layer of paint down

I've been layering the paper and collaged elements all week... tonight was the first bit of paint to go down on the canvas.

back to the sewing while this dries.  aaaahhh.... the meaning behind it all.... it makes me smile to be making this piece.

octo-cute?

yeah... it's been a while... again... but I've been sewing and drawing and fighting migraines like crazy, along with scouts, school, more scouts, summer camp, scouts work and more scouts.  spent every day with a migraine and vertigo from the end of april until about 2 weeks ago and then it'll be a few days each week with one.  that limits what you work on.  and I was on crutches for a bit after a severely sprained ankle and the neck issues were up and running again.  in short:  i'm a mess.

BUT I've been busy despite it all.  mom's kaffe quilt is nearly pieced together.  all the rows are sewn and half of those are sewn together.  somehow, they got out of order when I started putting the quilt top together and now i'm putting that puzzle back together in a new order.  the next QOV is in a box and being shipped out to the navy yard this afternoon (no pic of it finished, sorry). 

I did finish this awesome dress this week:

 

 

it looks better on than on the hanger.  fits really well and hugs in all the right places.  the now-ex-boyfriend and I had lunch yesterday so he could see the dress finished... he said it was cute.  ugh.  it's NOT cute.  it's sophisticated in the cut and pattern, with whimsy in the fabric print on bottom.  the top is a great linen and it's more rust red than the red it shows in the photo.  of course, in typical man he backtracked to say other things later about how I looked like a beautiful woman who knows how to have fun.  why couldn't that be the first thing instead of "cute" as a description?  oh well. 

 

 

next up on the sewing table are a christmas present quilt for a salsero friend.  he's been there through thick and thin and deserves it.  plus, in the winter, he buries himself in all my quilts on my sofa as it is so he should have one of his own.  the squares were cut when I started the kaffe quilt, now the triangles were cut and i'm laying out each block separately.  then I've got to start cutting a new dress pattern that will transition from summer to fall with some gorgeous bright emerald linen I bought with a birthday gift card from one of my favorite geocaching friends earlier this month.