Throwback Thursday - 2006 Part 8

This week we travel back to July, 2006. I finished five small projects that month.

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First Christmas

I stitched this ornament/door knocker for my oldest niece. She was expecting a baby at the end of October. I wanted to make a little something special for her.

The design by Lizzie*Kate was charted for some specialty threads. Since I didn't have them on hand, I chose my own colors. I also used beads instead of making the red scatter stitches. When I did the finishing work, I added an extra layer of batting on the front of the ornament to give the ornament some poof. The cording is from a spool I had in my Christmas stash and is finished as a tassel on the bottom of the heart.

Quilter Bear

I stitched this design as another quilt square for an elderly woman named Doris. The entire quilt was composed blocks stitched with these "Bears with Personality." The bear designs are by Lynn Busa for Leisure Arts.

Peace

My sister who lives in Hawaii is a peace activist. I've long admired her spunk. I made this for her 2006 birthday, finishing it as an easel/flat fold. The design is by Cecilia Turner for Heart in Hand.

Adonis Blue Butterfly

This butterfly was for another charity quilt. The entire quilt was made of butterfly squares and stitched for an ill 12 year old girl named Maryah.

The design is from a book called Butterfly Charted Designs from the Archives of the Lindberg Press.

I completely miscounted the stitch count when I decided to make this butterfly. I thought it was twice as big as it is! So to help fill up the quilt square a bit more, I added a border of my own design, using some of the same colors in the butterfly. I like the way it turned out!

Suede Bookmark

One of my stitching friends told me about a bookmark kit she purchased. The bookmark was made of leather or suede with a spot where you put a piece of stitchery. I loved the idea and thought I might be able to replicate it.

I bought a piece of suede from a local fabric store. They had a wide variety of colors in fabric that's 55 or 60 inches wide. I bought just six inches. (I can make a lot of bookmarks!) The mouse design by Ghirigori was an online freebie chart.

I like this finishing technique quite a bit. Later, I used the same technique using craft felt instead of leather. It also turned out well and is a much less expensive alternative. This bookmark was donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and given to one of the sick children there.

In August 2006 I stitched two ornaments, two bookmarks, and a quilt square. I intend to share them on the next #throwbackthursday.

National Pistachio Day

Some people call this Ash Wednesday.

In the Davaz house, we're observing National Pistachio Day.

Comply, we must.



Yum!

Celebrating minor holidays as one of my 20 Goals for 2020 was a great idea!

Overexposed

Dale and I went out for a ride to explore some local countryside. I brought along my big girl camera and was messing with the settings while doing some front seat photography.

There's something soothing about this overexposed shot through the trees that makes me smile.

StudioTime

After working long and hard all weekend, my new Studio has order and is inviting. So I spent the entire day inside.

Lemon-Ups ... it's Girl Scout Cookie Time!

True, some of it was ironing and folding towels and underware. I find those peaceful and zen-like activities. Wrinkles smoothed from Dale's dress shirts. Freshly laundered towels folded into soft piles. I like the way it's one job that has a defined beginning, middle, and end. There's satisfaction in completing a job.

Not everything has a place  yet

As I puttered, I took time with several spiritual thought leaders via the online Celebrate Your Life Soulfest.

The best StudioTime leaves me refreshed, body and soul. And soul. And soul. And soul. I'm grateful my room is ready for creative activities again.

Cottage Grove

Geocaching with my daughter at the covered walking bridge in Cottage Grove, Oregon. The Centennial Bridge was built in 1987. Jodie scored the cache is in that bush on the left.

The structure of this bridge was interesting on the inside. Is it called Post and Beam? Whatever it is, it's gorgeous craftsmanship.

On the Move

Dale and I are still trying to make sense of our new home ... no ... in our new home. As much downsizing as we did, we are still having a hard time fitting the items we brought with us into this new space. Last week I managed to rearrange the laundry room. I go in there now just to open the cabinets and look at all that order. It calms me and makes me smile.

One more room settled.

We got our master bedroom closet organized last week, too. I may have to do a blog post about it. I'm over the moon with how it looks. I go into that walk-in closet, close the door, and bask in the order and symmetry.

Another area settled.

Dale's been working on the garage. He's brought a lot of order to it over the last few days. There's still much to do. But I'll bet we can park at least one car in there before too long.

My Studio however...

:: sigh ::

I'm still trying to make it work. Part of the reason the bedroom closet works so well is because we moved one of the seven foot tall bookcases that was in my Studio into that closet. However, all the art supplies that were stored on that shelf need a new home.

After much deliberation, we decided to move the other three seven-foot shelving units out of my Studio and store my stash down the hall. That area is starting to take shape. My dressmaker's mannequin even made it upstairs from where she was tucked in the garage. So here's another corner of order.

Now I'm trying to figure out a new layout for my Studio that makes sense. It's chaos in here. I want to return to creating.

I've got my computer corner almost set up. (Thus, my ability to write today's blog post). I've moved my sewing/cutting table from the kitchen(!) into the Studio. I've added a small folding table for the sewing machines, and another small table for crafting. But none of the furniture has a home yet, nor many of the supplies. I've got cardboard moving boxes literally stacked to the ceiling in my bathroom and most of my office supplies taking up space in the bedroom.

Chaos!

The first thing after removing the bookcases was to move the computer and the six foot folding table away from the window. I want to be able to be closer to this every evening! The school. The sports teams on the field. The dogs catching Frisbees. The clouds playing in the western sky.



I don't want to have the window shades down and miss the nightly show.

A girl needs her priorities!

A girl also needs to make some more decisions about what goes where ... instead of getting sidetracked with sunsets and writing a blog post.

Crocus

I had a small crocus bed by my front door when I lived in Idaho. It was beautiful and I savored each flower as it struggled through the snow and frost. My bed never looked like this!

Such beauty

Delicate petal cups reaching for light.

Read more about Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Throwback Thursday - 2006 Part 7

This week we travel back to June, 2006. It's still The Year of the Ornament, but I stitched only one that month.




Sunflower at my Window

One of the stitching groups I was part of decided to participate in an outreach project. We created bookmarks that were donated to St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

I picked this chart by Handblessings (Eileen Gurak Needlework Design) from my stash. I'd received it as a freebie with a stash shipment. The design is charted for Weeks Dye Works threads on Nordic Blue Jobelan. Instead, I chose to use up bits and pieces of things I had on hand -- some bright DMC colors and a scrap of Fiddler's Cloth. I backed the bookmark with a remnant of autumnal fabric from my stash.

Skater Penguin

This perky little guy is the final piece I needed to pre-stitch for the Denver finishing class.

I don't have any designer information about this pattern. His silver skates and bright beaded eye are adorable. What a handsome chap!

In the class, he was finished as a "tall triangle." Much like the box I showed last week, the base of a tall triangle is composed of foam board, sturdy cardboard, or tag board. The base is covered in batting, the fabric, and the stitchery. Then they are glued or sewn together. The rough edges are covered in cording, and decorations are added.

Goofy

One of the gals in the Cross Stitch for Charity group got a bit behind in her stitching and asked for help with a couple quilt squares that she'd promised to stitch. Since I was between projects and could hit the deadline, I offered to stitch this block for her. She donated the chart and fabric; I donated my time and talent.

The finished Disney quilt was to be gifted to a sick child named Jennifer. It feels darn good to stitch for others ... especially when it is appreciated not only by the child, but by a fellow stitcher I was able to help out.

Frosty Friend

I found this design by Forever in my Heart online. It was charted in black and white and appeared to be a good choice to make into an ornament. The charity group I took part in had a gal that volunteered to turn our stitching into completed ornaments. While doing the finishing work, she'd insert a chip that played a Christmas tune. Squeeze the ornament for an extra surprise.

There are some stitched projects I've made that just never worked. This is one that embarrasses me. The problems usually arise from bad color combinations, inappropriate ground fabric, or a poor floss choice. I definitely got the background color wrong here; the floss choice is questionable, too. This poor lackluster thing simply lacks pizzazz.

You stitch, you learn.

And on that sad, sorry note, I'm done with June! In July 2006, I stitched five pieces and plan to share them on the next #throwbackthursday.

Sunshine Yellow

It's a beautiful Spring-like day in Eugene today. No clouds! Lots of sun. Temperatures in the 50s.

I went out for a walk in the neighborhood with my big girl camera for the first time since moving here. The crocus are in full bloom (more about them later this week). The daffodils are just starting to wake up and raise their heads.



Perhaps I'll soon settle in with a regular camera walk before to long.

Oh, The Places You'll See!

I took a little break from my online life over the President's Day holiday weekend. After finishing all the puzzles, and messing with googly eyes for weeks, I got thin on ideas for blog posts. I have some ideas, but they involve editing a lot of photos and writing long posts. I'll get to them eventually, but I was too pooped.

So over the weekend Dale and I did a project for the house that took more ingenuity than time. But it broke a log jam that's been keeping us from settling in here. We figured out how to configure the walk-in closet in our bedroom to fit all our clothes, including those usually kept in a dresser. We finally figured it out! And figuring that out is helping me breathe new life into how I'll set up my studio and another storage area.

Also over the weekend, Jodie and I did some geocaching. She bought a car that can carry us onto back country roads, so we were testing it out. That car is a champ! For both of us, finding 20 geocaches is one of our 20 in 2020 Goals. Jodie reached her goal yesterday. I have only two more caches to find.

The thing about caching is that even if you can't find the cache when you get to ground zero, you often get another kind of prize. That's what happened at a cache called Bird Hunting:

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It was such a pretty day, and such lovely territory. The road overlooked a piece of BLM land that had been replanted in trees about seven years ago. The trees are thriving. We watched three birds of prey sailing on the winds. We took time to savor this beautiful valley, with a backdrop of snow-covered mountain peaks.

click for larger image

I'm lovin' livin' in Oregon.

February Welcome

Our front porch

Valentine's Day

photo credit unknown ... not mine

Windows

Here's Puzzle #20 of the 20 puzzles I planned to put together for my annual 20 in 2020 Goals.
It's 300 pieces of pleasure.

I'll let the charming individual windows speak for themselves.

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Ahhh, those eyes! A window into the soul.

Candy Shop

I'm so close to completing my 20 in 2020 goal of putting together 20 jigsaw puzzles! This is Puzzle #19. I call it the candy shop, but it's official name is much longer: Jelly Sweets and Gummies at the Market. That's a mouthful.



Here's something new. I've put together several puzzles that had missing pieces. But this puzzle had one duplicate piece. That was unusual. I assume that another buyer was disappointed receiving the puzzle with a missing piece this time.

Even with candy skulls and sharks and other wiggly squirmies, it took me a while to find the candy monster in this puzzle. Fear not! She was hiding in the pink and white twists!



Yeah. I had to reach for that one.

Valentine Countdown Bags

When visiting my daughter Julie in December, she showed us the advent calendar her family used in preparation for Christmas. Melody got a big kick out of it. So I planned to do something similar for Valentine's day for our granddaughters.

Unfortunately, I was sick for much of January, and didn't get a firm plan together until it was the end of the month. Determined, I went shopping for some small goodies for Melody and Annie. Then I grabbed what paper bags I had ... ice cream bags.

With the idea in my head that "done is better than good," I set to work. First, I used some lilac-colored paper to cover the printing on the front of the bag. (Mostly cover it. But the imperfections had to stay). I used a tape runner with double-stick tape to adhere the layers.

Then I ruffled through my sticker stash and my heart stash for the decorations. Before I got sick, my idea was to use all kinds of techniques and supplies to create unique bags. But time was short, so I simplified my ideas and used only stickers. Luckily, I have lots of fun stickers!

Each bag is unique, though several use the same elements. First, I used some numeral stickers to put the "date" in the bottom right-hand corner of each bag. I eyeballed it, so again, I checked my perfectionism at the door and left cockeyed numbers at their goofy angles. The kids wouldn't even notice. 

Those giant stickers on days 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, and 13 are actually wall decals. Lots of the stickers are 3-D. Some, like the huge one on Day 6, have glitter. The dainty flowers on Day 2 are vellum. The big heart on Day 11 is actually a mirrored sticker, which was marketed as a wall decoration.

Dale was able to drop the bags off in Moscow on February 2, on his way to a work week in Spokane. The girls ... well, Melody ... has been having a blast opening the bags. I marked each gift with an 'M' or an 'A' so that Melody would know which are hers and which are Annie's. Melody understands as a two year old ... which is mine are mine, but I get to play with yours, too.

Julie's been sending me photos of the girls getting their gifts. Melody has all kinds of fun things like goofy glasses, coins for her bank, Play-Doh, Silly String, a notebook with its own pen, etc. Annie mostly receives board books and Goldfish crackers. I so love receiving the photos from Julie and Skyping with Melody as she opens her bags! What a fun idea with really positive results.

Bags 1 and 14 even have a little something for Julie.