A Finish, A Start and A Treasure Chest

A finish!

A start of the August block from Sue's Imperial Blooms from 2011.

And I should never have looked to see what was stored in that cedar chest or so I thought.  Lots of lost treasures.  Lots of clothes that my mind said, why am I saving these.  Many memories from the past.  I'm glad I decided to open the chest.

Projects and Snow

I started back on my Imperial Blooms BOM 2011from Sue Spargo.  This is the July installment.  Making a few small changes as I stitch.  

Progress on the Pictorial quilt from Harriet Powers, my fingers were cramping from stitching those tiny points.

And finally, snowing, all day. This is looking out to the upper meadow and the cliffs to the side of the house.  Jim use to take me on a round about hike to get to the top, a tough climb no matter how you look at it.  One of the cats decided to scale it one day, it was hours before we were able to get her down.  I think she was grounded for a few days.

Imperial Blooms progress Block 6

Showing my progress on the next block of Imperial Blooms, a zillion bullion embellishment stitches to add to the yellow wool with a beautiful thread.  Sue included some tiny little blue beads to stitch on the outer edge of the blue center wool applique, leaving that to last.

Sea Grass

 First time I have ever used this speciality thread, sea grass, I love it.  Love the look, the matte look of the stitch and the ease of stitching with it.  It came from Sue Spargo with her kit for her BOM Imperial Blooms.  It comes in all kinds of colors, even black.  I can see using it when you don't want that gloss look of perle cotton, like on prim projects.

Imperial Blooms, Almost a Finish

Lots of progress today on this block from Sue's Imperial Blooms.  Just need to add two shell beads and the embellishment stitches.  I used a crayon art pencil to add the markings to the off white velvet, thought it needed just a bit of color.  Wasn't sure it would work on the velvet when I ironed the crayon onto the velvet, but it blended nicely when I ironed it on.

Imperial Blooms block 3 finished and that Bear

 Don't know why it had taken me so long to finish this block.  I think it was because I changed it more than I usually do, (had to look for more beads and threads) and since I had changed the previously block also, had to bring the beads into this one and change some thread colors and wool.  Also didn't embellish the same, added more here, less there.  You can see the difference from Sue's printed picture below.

Yes, he's back, never had a bear in the middle of August, look at those eyes.  He has sweet eyes.  Off he went and outside I went to sew.

Imperial Blooms Progress and the Bear

 I'm making progress on this block from Imperial Blooms.  Now adding the embellishment stitches.  Changed it a bit by adding the stem and the shell looking beads and the center color of the wool.

 Just when I thought he had gone to the higher elevations.  He was back, only for a few minutes so he was a good bear.  Didn't even have to yell at him.  Does he not look like he's praying.  He was so hot, he put both paws in the water pail before he left.

And I failed to mention that the Prim String quilt I posted about earlier was inspired from this vintage quilt.  Pictured here in The Ultimate Quilting Book by Maggie McCormick Gordon.

And yes, those are antlers along the stairs, many more outside, those are white from the sun.  The perfect ones are in the house, all finds from Jim when he use to hike in the woods.  He loved finding those antlers.

Imperial Bloom

Starting block three of Imperial Blooms, added a stem for now as I prep the block, can't have a floating flower, at least for now. Can remove it later if it doesn't work. Have more shell beads in blue that I will use on the circles. I see I need to iron that fabric again, now I see the crease.

Imperial Blooms and a Gift

A rested body and mind for now, have to take it a day at a time and remember from a book that I continue to read and reread over, called "Good Grief", love the title, anyway, from the book, "must learn to embrace my loss, and everything that comes with it, sorrow and joy, tears and laughter, love and loss, what was and what will be."  And when the feelings of loss become too much, how to take a deep breath, and rest my thoughts and my body. 

So, a finished Imperial Bloom block and a gift, a wonderful Mouse pinkeep and sewing box from a member of my Yahoo group.

Starting Imperial Blooms, block 2

Hope you can see the little shell embellishments I bought, think I might use the golden ones instead of the white wool circles that are in the middle of the flower, would show you that pic, but blogger seems to be having problems, will try later or let you be surprised. Have to see. The blue ones will be for another block if I like the way these turn out.

Well, that last post was scrambled, think I was still freaked out that I might have lost my insurance coverage due to a computer glitch. Just want the little things in life to run smooth.

Pekinese Stitch

Back to working on Imperial Blooms, adding the Pekinese Stitch. Needed Sue's instructions and my Embroidery Guide to get started, usually make my embellishment stitches much larger than they need to be, but want them to stand out, so my stitch is probably three times as large as noted in the instructions, but I like the look.

Will return to finish the bullion stitch when I get the right needle, the one and only I have, the eye is ripping the linen thread too much. I consider that I have a nice stash of everything, fabric, thread, since living so far away from even the post office, but needles, I'm looking in the bottom of drawers hoping to find "the needle".

And then had to take Sidney to the vet yesterday, knew something had to be wrong, more than her missing Jim,

talking nonstop, eating like a horse yet not gaining weight, and as I suspected, she has hyperthroidism. So a pill twice a day, and after only a couple of pills, she already seems more relaxed.

Imperial Blooms progress

Able to stitch some outside today on block one of Imperial Blooms, finally having beautiful weather. I added some extra beads and embellishment stitches. Will probably use beads on the big flower also instead of stitches, have some turquoise beads, will see if they won't be too heavy. The fuseable makes working with the velvet so much easier. Sue has it for sale on her website, think it's called Presto Sheer.

I do not fuse any of the wool, just globs of glue to hold it in place and since you only use a whip stitch to stitch the wool, the points are very easy, one stitch to either side of the point, and then one on the tip. One reason I love to work with wool.