UFOs to FFO's and Another Fabric Card

Although there aren't too many flowers left blooming in the gardens, I did find these:

annabelle hydrangea

garlic chives

golden glow








I had two CQ projects that were UFO's. All the blocks were completed, but they hadn't been put together for the wall hangings I had planned. Well, one was almost together, but then I had to rip it all apart to fix a block which was slightly larger than the others.........and I hadn't noticed the size difference until then. Frustrated, I put it away in the closet, and it sat there waiting and waiting..........
They sat there, one for 3 years, and another for 2. (hangs head in shame)
So, when we finally had some rainy weather, I decided it was time to turn those UFO's into FFO's! (finally finished objects)
Here is my Christmas wall hanging all ready to put up on the wall for this Christmas:

Although I made 12 blocks, I decided to use just 9 of them for the wall hanging.

















Crystal and glass beads create icicle dangles

Sorry this is a little blurred. It's also a little pouffy, too, but this is the one I've put together twice. Will I let the pouffiness bother me? I'm not sure. I may tighten up the blocks a bit with some edge stitching and see if that solves the problem.  sigh
This is my Lace and Roses CQJP project. I do like it.

The newest fabric card is for my granddaughter, Jewel. She turns 5 next month, and she loves the colour blue.
On the right is the card front, with laces, a variety of fabrics and trims, and a blue lace butterfly I dyed.
On the left is the back of the card. It has a mesh pocket over a fun, flowery fabric.

This is the inside of the card. On the right is a layer of turquoise organza over some blue and white fabric. It's a pocket to hold some goodies I'll be sending Jewel.

Here are some of the goodies that will go into the pockets for Jewel, along with hair ribbon and some stickers.

a close-up of the organza flower with a tatted stem and leaves

A box full of new books are headed her way, too.

Some goodies arrived in my mailbox! The silk threads and gimp were a birthday gift from my DH. ;-)


That's all the stitching I have to show this week. Hope your week was a fun and creative one.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Hi Everyone,
I'm sorry I haven't been posting. First, I was away for several days, then was unwell for most of a week. Once I was feeling better, I was busy painting instead of stitching, so I have nothing to show in the needle and thread department except this fabric card I made for a friend for her birthday last month.

the front of the card

the inside of the card

There is a lace pocket on the right side

the back of the card has a lace pocket, too.

My friend loves the colour blue, so I used pretty blue brocade, plus satin and silk ribbons and laces that I hand-painted or dyed. Lots of other laces and ribbons were added, too with some dark blue velvet.

I made some special tags

and tucked them into their pockets

On the left is some lace, layered with blue foil, a layer of hand-dyed cotton, then a lace edging, satin ribbon and a blue lace butterfly. I love the layers.

a gelli-printed bird

tucked into the back pocket with the dangle tag



Happily, my friend loved her Birthday card!



Here's one of the funny little paintings I did with pen and watercolour:

I hope you've had a fun and creative week.
Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz

Suz:

This is the view at the front of my house.

The black-eyed susan vine has gone crazy, almost taking over the planter. I've added branches so it can grow upwards, and it looks as though just a wee bit more will have it tangling with the tree branches above!
Obviously, it likes this spot.

I've been doing some painting exercises in watercolour. Here, I'm using only three colours to create the lily painting.

Although there are certain things I like about this exercise, I am still too heavy-handed with the paint, and want a more spontaneous look.

So I began this painting of roses without a sketch, and again using only three colours. I like how they work together.

I'm enjoying painting this.

 Overall, I like the result, and plan to play some more in this manner, without sketching, and using a limited palette.

New thread supplies arrived. Yummy!

a tat and swarovski crystals added to PPP #5

TAST stitch # 51- buttonholed herringbone, another tat, cast-on loops in white, and bullions

this lace piece is adorned with sequins

PPP #5 is almost finished.






I hope your week has been a fun and creative one.


Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz

Halfway Through

It's the middle of August already, and we finally had some rain, so the temperatures have cooled, at least for a couple of days.
The gardens were wilting badly, but the rain has perked everything up. It's raining again today, which is good. ;-) 
These photos were taken before the rain:

hot colours for a hot, dry summer

yes, that's grass behind the sweet william........it's usually a deep green this time of the year

even though I've been watering regularly, the golden glow is still wilted

and the echinacea look very sad

 This lily was the only plant of 18 that survived the squirrel/chip-munk attacks, even though I used wire caging.  Once they popped through the ground, their heads were all eaten! grrrr    I'll have to have another ponder.........
 I took this photo after the first rain

a few days later there were more blooms

isn't it pretty?



















I finished PPP #4:

A crystal and silver butterfly has flown to a bullion seam treatment

the finished block

I'm leaving the top section plain, at least until it's joined to the next block.

PPP #5

the fabric card for my sister is underway

auditioning fabrics and trims

these are tags I made for another fabric card

one of the finished pieces for the wrapping cloth had beads added to the flower lace

all the pieces have their buttonhole edging

This is the lay-out for the wrapping cloth. See those openings here and there? I have 2 other finished pieces that I may cut up and fit into the bare spots.........
The size as shown measures 49 1/2" by 51 1/4". I think that's large enough.  Now to finish joining all the pieces together!
I hope your week has been a creative one!
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

August Begins

Happy August! I hope this month brings us more rain and cooler temperatures. Sorry I missed last week's posting, but I was having technical difficulties with our internet and had to wait a day for the technician to arrive.
On those too-hot-to-garden days, I hid indoors and played with thread and paint.

These are repeats of former paintings that I'm doing for practice. Some of the originals were done in a rush on location, so this time I'm considering and painting slowly, trying to improve on the result.

I liked the bold yellow in this exercise, but felt that perhaps the painting could be a little softer.......that might allow for a gentler foreground.

So then I began another in softer tones. I stopped at this point to let the paint dry. I may continue just to see the difference a softer beginning can bring to the final result.

Then I began this rendition of an old painting.  Sorry I forgot to take more photos, but I was in painting mode.....

This one turned out much nicer, brighter, and fresher than the original, so I'm quite pleased with it.

I might punch up the foreground flowers a little with some added definition. Maybe.











I've been spending most of my stitching time on the wrapping cloth, adding a buttonhole stitch edging to each piece, then joining the pieces together, also with buttonhole stitch.

the right side

another piece to add

the left side

growing

draped over the loveseat

there are edged pieces awaiting their placement

the free-form tat is getting another addition, but this is how it looked before I added another row, more beads and picot rings

How the tat looks now. Sorry it's a bit blurry. I think once the beaded picot rings are finished,  the motif will be complete. But, you never know. I may change my mind. lol




That's all the stitching so far. I'm working on another fabric card which I'll show when it's all done and mailed away. Here's how my desk looks:

The fabric card is for my sister, and she loves blue!

In the garden, there is a lovely crop of beans. I picked a few for supper.

Yum!




Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz