More Sunflowers!

One of the mammoth sunflowers is trying to open up. I am super excited about how big and beautiful these flowers are going to be. We have had a very hot spring and even hotter summer. I know we have had some afternoon down pours. However, the real credit to the success of these flowers goes to the hubby who waters them twice daily. They add something lovely to the chain link fence.

This is one of the lovely crape myrtle trees in my yard. Even thought the little pink flowers are all over my path and car I still love it. So pretty! I do have to say that it seems a bit early for the blooms. I love our little home, too bad its not ours.

North Carolina Museum of Art

Hubby and I decided to take an trip to the newly renovated state art museum here in Raleigh. NCMA. It was fairly crowded, which we expected. I was so pleased that after all of the expansive construction that it under went, it remains free to the public, like most of the all the other Raleigh museums. They maintained and added to the sculpture garden/ park and the amphitheater that remember as a kid.

 My husband really wanted to go for our anniversary which is next week, however, we are working super opposite schedules. Today was prime because it is scorching hot here. The new gallery is stunning and inviting with a lovely restaurant.

 White roman shades plus white shears cover large walls of floor to ceiling tinted windows. There are lovely gardens  filled with water features and Japanese rock gardens behind all of the windows.

White domed skylights bathe the entire space. It was simply calming and peaceful even though there were many people.  They have permanent exhibitions that I also remembered, I was pleased to see Rodin castings.

The only draw back was the gift shop, the art items for sale were modern and not made by NC artist. We will be returning soon.

Summer Beginnings

I woke up and decided that I wanted to hang out with the dog. I think that she had a different idea, she got pretty muddy in the back yard, she was very proud of herself. She has taken a liking to digging holes when no one is watching. She stayed in with me in the ac while the storms passed. We had some pretty threatening thunder storms today. I worked on getting some baby  gifts completed, my two step-sisters are pregnant. I am going to see them soon at the lake. I had done the machine sewing a while ago for all three. The pieces went to the beach with us and have rode around in the back of my car for a whole week. I kept thinking I would work on them on my lunch break. I did finish all of them today. I bought a set of 24 of the plastic links and have used them now for 5 balls and have enough left over for two more. I really enjoy this project.  This is my mammoth sunflower plant. It grows noticabilly everyday. I am so happy we have a small garden going; tomatoes, jalapenos, lettuce, basil, cucumbers and yellow squash and a few flowers.

Art Nouveau Images

 I would love to know what type of wood the doors are carved out of. I have actually seen these in person in Amsterdam. The print is by Jesse M. ?, if you know please let me know. "The butterflies are all blue". Such a beautiful image.

Salvo, NC vacation

I just got back from a lovely vacation to the Outer Banks of NC. This is not my first time going. The rain kept us off the beach a couple of days so we traveled to the Hatteras Lighthouse and a few art galleries like Pea Island. We love the natural beauty of the long stretch of beaches. Here are a few photos from the trip...... Ahhhhhhhhhh.....

Went faster than I thought!

I started putting my blocks together for the mountain fence rail quilt. I got my self set up really well and utilized the diagram I made back in the beginning.

This really made the process go super quickly. I think that I would have gotten myself really confused had I not done this. The colors on the diagram are very close to the colors on the blocks. I was able to keep track because I used the actual color. I was also able to visualize what the final product would be. As I put the blocks together I kept them in chains so I could match them up later on.

I got quite a few rows together. I really like my color combinations of teal, purple, green and yellow. I have placed in a few embroidery blocks in rows. I am trying to be very conscious of where I am putting them in the quilt. I am even marking them on the diagram. I started doing rows on the left side of the quilt, then I jumped over to the right side to make sure that the embroidery pieces are throughout the whole quilt.  Below are the two sides of the quilt. The long rows are folded up on themselves. I am super happy so far.

Spring Paint

I have been inspired by the colors I see in my yard. I mixed up a handful of my favorite colors today from my acrylics. I have had these wooden beads forever and they were in need of decoration.  I really like the pinks and oranges turned out. I have a large collection of smaller beads that need to be made into jewelry. I wanted to introduce bigger and more modern colors into the mix. I painted just half of the bead on the majority of them. I had left over paint, so I used it up on these eggs. I got at them craft store on sale after easter. I find that many craft ideas come only as after thoughts...ie after the holiday.

Hand Sewing

I am trying to finish up the embroidery on a handful of the blocks for the fence rail mountain king size quilt. (There has got to be a better way to describe that quilt, for consistency concerns I need to come up with something). I decided on using small flowers/ leaves in threes for the Mountain Quilt ;  )  . I seemed to balance on the block nicely. I was attempting to make it look like a crazy quilt. However, it has ended up being more refined. I just stitch whatever comes to mind. I have completed most of them while Hubby watches NBA finals. I do actually like all levels of basketball, though I do find it hard to watch 3 games tailed on to each other.
Meanwhile, I threw this hand pin cushion together very quickly. It was more out of necessity, I lost a quite a few needles and pins recently. I actually found one in my nightgown... while in bed... in a not so great spot... just waiting to stab me.

Ultimately, I will be putting the Mountain quilt with the crochet afghan above. I beginning to think that it might just be too many stripes. What do you think?

Eggs and Bowl

I had an Easter afterthought. I wanted to make a reusable decoration. I came up with the egg. I simply recalled my hat making skills. The yarn colors also make them look like gum drops. Oh well. I got better after each one.

I also created this bowl out of stained sheets and scraps of fabric. I like how low and soft it is against the wood hutch. I created the bowl for this specific spot. I have started to fill up many corners in my house.

I know that its not winter anymore....

I realize that spring has sprung. There are little flowers all over my yard. I have avoided mowing the lawn because it looks so lush out my window.  In the south we had an abnormally harsh winter. I am so enjoying putting on shorts and going barefoot. Unfortunately, I haven' t felt all that great. I  have been getting in the bed earlier and working on crafts. I hope that I can get on the up swing of things so I can spend more time outside. 

Even though it getting warm out side. I still want cozy soft things to surround myself with. I bought this Angora yarn back in February with my B-day money. 

I started the bigger scarf a week ago, when I went to put the edging on. I realized I had stitched a few of the edges wrong. I went to fix one and I ended up undoing the whole thing. I had all these nice size yarn balls wedged between the pillows. When I made the scarf for the second time I ended up with leftovers. I made the little thin scarf to sell. They are both sooooooo soft. I wish that I had enough money to buy a ton of this yarn and make a blanket out of it. I wish I could use them now. 

I also spoke of my yellow dyed curtains for the living room in an earlier post. I had only posted a shot of the teal ones I made for the bedroom. I love the yellow. They let the light in, but the neighbors from looking in.  So, here we are.

Silver Make-up bag

This was my old make-up bag. I made it out of the silver vinyl. I created it before I had the blog. It is the perfect size and very durable. The zipper was never sewed in properly. I have noticed that the holes around the seam at the zipper were getting big and I was losing make-up in my car. So here is prototype #2

I re-used the button, ribbon and zipper. I hope that this one last as long as the other one did. I also mastered the art of putting the zipper in. I really enjoyed recreating the project and working out the bugs. I inverted the diagonal on the side seam. I kept losing the smaller items in the corners. It also makes the opening seem bigger. I didn't do any decorative stitching, it was hard to see on the old one. Took me about 30 minutes start to finish. The hardest part is turning the bag right side out after sewing. The vinyl is super stiff. My hands always ache after using the vinyl to make bags.

Kaffe Quilt

Look, I finished it! It ended up working out great. The perfect size for a throw. About 60x60. I debated and debated over what to do about the quilting. Again, I could see myself messing up the fabric. Finally, I decided I would  just simply stitch in the ditches. I was super happy with that choice. I washed it and it came out so soft almost a little puffy. I am super excited. I love the Kaffe fabrics together. It really works with what I have in the living room (the yellow matches the dyed curtains perfectly). The backing is the yellow from the trim and a few scraps. I think that was the fastest I have ever completed a quilt. I did not want to use super thick batting. I am excited too because I have left overs of this fabric. More Pillows??