Stitching and Sightseeing

03 Sep 2011 12 Comments

by averyclaire in Chicago, Cross-Stitch, Halloween Tags: , ,

I know I should be working on Christmas things (because it’s RIGHT around the corner, but I have been busy with some little Halloween pieces. A couple of small ornaments (“Boo” from Waxing Moon and “in progress” is “Full Moon” from Ink Circles–Halloween Just Cross-Stitch Issue 2010) to hang on hooks and knobs around the house, and another lovely Halloween piece from Drawn Thread. I LOVE Halloween. Guess I am a kid at heart.

I DID do a bit of Christmas (only because this project takes a LONG time)! Another finish for me this week was the Christmas stocking I was making for my daughter’s husband. She has a felt stocking from when she was little and each of her children have one, so she asked me to make one for her DH. Voila! I thought “Santa’s Workshop” was appropriate for him. It had a “zillion” pieces, but it was fun to make.

This past week my DH and I spent a day in Chicago’s downtown area and I thought I would share a couple of photos of some of Chicago’s famous artwork. In 2004, the sculpture “Cloud Gate”, dubbed by Chicagoans as “The Bean”, was unveiled in our new Millenium Park. Creation of British artist, Anish Kapor, “The Bean” is 66 feet long and 33 feet high, weighing 110 tons. Made of steel plates polished to this shiny finish, it looks like a big drop of Mercury. The skyline of Chicago can be seen in it’s reflection and everyone loves the reflections that are like a funhouse mirror. “The Bean” and Millenium Park has become a destination for school trips and people of all ages.

Also downtown, but on our “Magnificent Mile” is the “Forever Marilyn” statue created by artist J. Seward Johnson. It was unveiled in July 2011 and will remain here until Spring of 2012. Marilyn Monroe (26 feet tall) is posed in her famous stance from her movie “Seven Year Itch”. It is fun and interesting to see. There are mixed emotions from the masses regarding this statue. Some people say it does not depict a dignified enough image for Chicago…that it is too obscene. I thought it was delightful. (Everyone goes underneath it to see her panties.)

And last, but NOT least, I went with a friend to visit “The Farnsworth House” in Plano, IL about 1-1/2 hours west of Chicago. It was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and completed around 1951 for a physician who was single and wanted a weekend get-away house for the weekends. An interesting architectural experience, it sits on lovely acreage along the Fox River. All the walls are made of windows. While I do not care much for modern things, I could live in this house in a minute because of the surrounding woods and beauty. However, being near the Fox River, it has been known to flood, so I think I will stay where I am at!! Anyway…it was a SUPER fun day to spend with a good friend.

Til next time…Amities, Averyclaire

Update

27 Aug 2011 17 Comments

by averyclaire in Applique, Baby Quilt, Family, Quilting Tags: , , ,

Warning: This is a LONG post…after three months of absence.

On July 6th we welcomed a brand new baby granddaughter, Maya, into our family. She is precious. Of course that meant “another” trip to Colorado to see our new little bundle of joy. Her parents are thrilled to say the least. It is SO hard to be so far away from them.

In May and June I caught the quilt bug! All I have been doing is working on quilts. First I would spend some therapeutic and meditative time in my garden weeding, then would have my shower and get to it! Last post I showed you the first two blocks of an applique quilt I am working on. Here are photos of the next six making a total of eight completed. Number nine is in process. (There are 16 total, so only halfway there.) It’s an easy applique pattern from Edyta Sytar called Sweet Sixteen.

I am committed to finishing projects this year. So here is a photo of a pinwheel quilt in process. Have the bug to use up old fabrics using half square triangles….hence the pinwheels.

Next I have a photo of my Japanese bento box that is still being hand-quilted by yours truly. I have only about a third of the sashing to quilt….but it seems to take forever. And when one has a million hand projects to work on….which one does one choose? (I even have one of those felt Christmas stockings I am putting together at the request of my DD.)

And last but not least I have made another 25 baby blankets with matching teddy bears. These are for my large quilt group Holiday Boutique which happens every year in November.

So between my garden, three active quilts in process, a Christmas stocking, 25 baby blankets and teddy bears, and a stabbing effort to get the laundry, cooking, and cleaning done….well…it’s a crazy fun world for sure. I did do a tiny bit of cross-stitch and taught my granddaughter, Sophia (age 9), to quilt (she made a small quilt for Maya); she learned to cross stitch; and learned to embroider (made two pillows).

And in the midst of all of this I was ill for five months…..April, May, June, July and August. In April I thought I got food poisoning. Not so. The painful attacks after eating, hanging over the commode, would last for four hours at least three or four times per week. After lots of doctoring, lots of tests, and my own experiments trying to be “fat free”, “lactose free”, “gluten free” nothing worked. Even the specialists at our wonderful Northwestern Hospital in downtown Chicago are mystified. However, I did learn after charting my food for weeks, that I simply cannot tolerate any kind of complex carbohydrates…no rice, no pasta, no breads of any kind, no crackers, no carrots or beets, anything with high carbohydrate content. There seems to be no name for my condition and no cure….but now I finally have no more illness so long as I don’t eat those things. I did lose a LOT of weight during this time (not such a bad thing…a bonus for me). Guess I just have to live and eat differently now. Golly I miss my junk food!!!!

For now it’s good to jot out a fresh blog post. I have silently lurked amongst all of your blogs in the past three months and they are wonderful. Thanks for visiting. Amities, Averyclaire

Happy Memorial Day!!

30 May 2011 12 Comments

by averyclaire in Applique, Quilt Blocks, Quilts Tags: , ,

A very special thank you to all the men and women serving our country and helping to keep us safe!!

It’s been a LONG couple of months. First we were away in Colorado for some time, then I was ill, and then finishing up on some projects and a lot of work in the house and garden. Time heals all.

My DIL loved the quilt I made for the new baby-to-be (only six more weeks to go). Helping them set up the nursery was truly fun. And the baby shower was wonderful. Her friends made these scrumptious cupcakes…..delightful to look at….”almost” too pretty to eat!!!

It was such fun creating this secret gift tote for my friend, Maggy, with whom I do an exchange for Les Muguets Day (Lily of the Valley Day which is May 1st in France). Her favorite color is purple.

She, in turn, made for me this LOVELY, Japanese folded origami pocket. I adore it. It has THREE little pockets, perfect for sewing supplies, nail items, etc. Her sewing is exquisite. Already I have put it to good use to carry my nail files, etc. in my purse. Also…a generous friend of hers, Elaine, decided to make for me a lovely French apron. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful friend of a friend!!! Thank you so much Maggy and Elaine. [Correction: Maggy also made the apron…but her friend did some decorative stitching on the pockets. I love it Maggy and Elaine…thank you]

After recuperating for some weeks, I finally completed my scrappy tablecloth quilt (about 62 inches square). It is machine pieced, hand appliqued, then straight line machine quilted by me…and the applique border I free-motion quilted around the applique by adding lovely leaves whereever they would fit. I used a thin cotton batting. It is perfect on my kitchen table and will certainly warm my kitchen during Autumn.

And last, but not least, I have been working on another applique quilt. So far I have two of the sixteen blocks completed (16.5 inches square). I do love handwork. Although I have spent all of my time on the quilts and, alas, have not completed any “needlework” projects. But the applique blocks are fun and a change of pace for my fingers.

That’s all for now. I know that’s not much news for two months of absence….but I did miss all of you and am happy to be back.

Til next time….Amities, Averyclaire

Happy Spring…

22 Mar 2011 10 Comments

by averyclaire in Applique, Baby Quilt, Cross-Stitch, Needlework, Quilting, Rabbit, Sewing Tags: ,

Yes…it’s been six weeks…going on two months. I’m just not good at posting often. I hope you will all forgive me for the times you visited and found nothing new. But….I HAVE been enjoying my retirement.

I am slowly working on “Briar Rabbit.” Love him, but he’s really tedious. It’s a Cedar Hill pattern (I love their patterns), but can’t wait to have him done and framed. I wanted to do a rabbit for Easter, but I must not be in the mood. Perhaps my focus has been more on quilting lately. Ahhh…whereever the spirit pours out the creativity I guess.

Here’s a peek at the quilt top I have created for our new baby granddaughter-to-be due to arrive in July. Her name is going to be “Maya” and her Mom likes Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit……so……here are some of the blocks. Here’s Peter….with an embroidered flower garland….

and here’s Johnny Town Mouse, Hunca Munca and Tom Thumb….

and some pretty flowers….

and here’s Nutkin smelling the embroidered flower…

and some hearts and birds and pretty scrolls….

and here’s Jemima Puddle-Duck and friend….

along with a lunch basket and some carrots…

another flower…..

and voila…..the quilt top waiting to be quilted.

The block patterns came from the book “More William Morris Applique” by Michelle Hill. Her pattern was made with William Morris fabrics. I wanted something more pastel and I wanted to make it larger. So I added sashing where there was none….and I added the blocks with the letters to spell the name “Maya.” I drew the letters by hand. And because it was so very pastel I also added the flange cording around the blocks and sashing. It helps to separate something so pastel that does not have a lot of contrast. The blocks were machine appliqued.

There will soon be a baby shower and I hope the top is quilted and complete in time for the big day. It was a lot of fun to make and prodded my creative touch with the changes I made to the pattern. It now measures about 40 x 50.

And last but not least….I made a new cushion (approx. 16″ x 50″) for my son and daughter-in-law’s foyer bench. A request that somehow remained set aside for more than a year. It feels good to check things off the to-do list.

I pray all of you are enjoying warmer weather and hints of Spring. My walks on these warm days are delightful and inspiring. Back to the rest of the “to-do” list….

Til next time……Amities, Averyclaire

It’s Been A Quilting Week

12 Feb 2011 14 Comments

by averyclaire in Quilt Blocks, Quilting Tags: , ,

My quilt quild does a new quilt every two years to put up for raffle. Members are asked to make a block…fabric and instructions are included except for the tone on tone pink fabrics which we provided. This next quilt will be the Carolina Lily.

It was the block from HELL. I think the instructions were “antique” as well as the design. I absolutely love the block and think the finished quilt will be exquisite, but the pieces did not fit together properly and I had to cut, recut, sew, resew!!! I am happy it is finished. We were asked NOT to square it up in the end…I imagine that everyone’s will have slightly different measurements. Mine actually measures the 14-1/2″ it was supposed to be. Hallelujah!!!! Here are the photos of my block.

And here is a sneak peak at another project that I have been working on for a while. I LOVE SCRAP QUILTS. The actual piecing was done a year or so ago, but took only about two weeks. It was put away while I was working full-time because I couldn’t be bothered with the appliqued border. The applique sure took a long time to prepare and even longer now to applique it. I am using just a blanket stitch simply because it will be laundered quite a bit. My plans are to use it as a table cloth (as it is about 60″ square). Half of the appliqued border is now finished. I really like the way it looks. What do you think?

When one does needlework and quilting and gardening and reading, etc. etc. etc., it is hard to decide what project to work on at any given time. I guess I am just a jack-of-all-trades….master of NONE!!!!

And last but not least….I thought I would wish EVERYONE a Happy Valentine’s Day! Hugs and Much Love to All of You.

Amities, Averyclaire

Digging Out

05 Feb 2011 8 Comments

by averyclaire in Snowstorm Tags:

Yes photos are worth a thousand words. We have finally dug ourselves out of the Blizzard here in Chicago.

We had been away in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Taos, New Mexico enjoying 55 degree F. and sunny weather….only to cut our vacation short and hurry home so that we were not stuck in some hotel somewhere. Lots of the highways all across the USA were closed because of the snow storm or ice storms. Crazy. While it has been a lot of snow….nothing can compare to the flooding devastation in Australia and the horrible huge amounts of snow received on the East Coast of USA. I cannot complain.

My entire body aches from all the shoveling snow. But this was probably really good for me….great exercise!!! SMILE….

Amities, Averyclaire

Another Birthday Gift

20 Jan 2011 11 Comments

by averyclaire in Gifts Tags: ,

My friend, Maggy, is having a birthday on January 20th. Here is a little gift I made for her.

The pocket calendar pattern is from Drawn Thread and done on 32ct natural raw linen.

Happy Birthday, Maggy! May you be blessed in this New Year with Laughter and Joy.

Amities, Averyclaire

A Framed Finish

13 Jan 2011 10 Comments

by averyclaire in Cross-Stitch Tags:

I finished this needlework back in June 2010, but I finally have finished framing it. Closeups of the stitching can be found on my June 12th post.

My framing was a bit of a “cheat”, but I love the way it turned out. Wish all of my pieces could look as nice! It is impossible to find a ready made square frame. The fnished needlework is 6 inches by 6 inches. One day I happened upon a sale at the store with framed art pieces for half off. I managed to find this frame for $10. The insides were quite glued together, but I carefully did away with the “ready made photo” and redid it to use for my Sophia’s Sampler. Just great….don’t you think? Will have to look for more finds like this!

Amities, Averyclaire

A Gift for Judy

07 Jan 2011 10 Comments

by averyclaire in Gifts Tags:

My sister-in-law, Judy, has ALWAYS been more like a sister to me. I don’t get to see her as much as I like, because she lives in Iowa. But when we are together we sure have such fun and NEVER run out of things to say. Her birthday was December 17th and I just finished this little gift for her. It finally found its way into the mail last week, nearly a month late! Sorry, Judy…but, better late than never. She just received it and LOVES it. I’m so happy. I LOVE to surprise people. She actually used an alias name and tried to win my give away a while back. She didn’t win, but little did she know that I already had something similar in process for her!?!

The pattern is from the 2010 December Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue, done on Misty Blue, 32 ct. linen.

Happy Birthday Judy! May your days be filled with laughter and may you have MANY more birthdays!

AND HERE’S A GIFT I MADE FOR MYSELF………

I have a wonderful collection of scissors, now I guess I must make myself some fobs. This is the first cross-stitched one I have! Isn’t this Santa cute?

Amicalement, Averyclaire

A Gift Received

07 Jan 2011 Leave a comment

by averyclaire in Gifts Tags:

In December Hillery from North Country Samplings had a give away and I won her first prize! [She actually has a new blog now called This and That.] Please stop in and visit her.

Some lovely threads, a cross-stitched santa book, a very interesting motif cross-stitch book, four pretty pieces of 28 ct. linen and not shown in the photo, a lovely card I can use for a small cross-stitch. Thank you so much Hillery.

What fun to win something so nice just in time for the holidays!

Amities, Averyclaire

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