my creative week A finish! "The chalice"

 

"The chalice"  10.5" X 14.5"

For this week's creativity round-up, I painted, sewed, embroidered and learned ...

I started the quilt above as a way to sew tiny strips together with no goal in mind.

and planned to use the painted fabric for my table scraps challenge this month, embroidering all over it.

 

then I looked into my orange scrap bin, since the color of the month at RSC is orange, and saw a little cup shaped piece left from cutting flowering snowball blocks one year... ohhhhhh. 

orange on orange

I glued it on, put the strip+cup on batting, sewed a quick zigzag stitch around to secure it, and started hand embroidering it. First a black thread size 8 perle cotton for outline stitch around and on the base. Then a thick gold (bratty and easily frayed) thread for accents to make it look Medieval. 

Joy challenged us to use embroidery on our table scraps this month. I did a running stitch, then pistle stitch alternated with a single chain like stitch hanging from it. I purposely didn't sew the chalice itself down to the batting so it would puff up when I machine stitched along the tiny strip set to push back the background

Next up along the side borders I did a sort of lazy daisy decorative element and a running stitch along the top. I was surprised at how pretty the thick gold thread was hand stitched onto the surface. 

I made good use of the latest needle book, made in zen stitch workshop a couple months ago

It's now my favorite needlebook and so useful

The strips themselves were random sizes, uneven and raveling. I sewed them one to the other, without worrying about the width, as I like organic lines. None of them were more than 3/4" wide cut.I like to sew tiny pieces together to see what emerges.

after the edges were polished off, I wondered what would imply fun coming from the cup... a little magic in our humdrum world today. I got out the iron on crystals, hearts and diamonds. Yes I have a stash of iron on embellishments. arranged them and pressed to set the adhesive. 

from the old days when I wandered the aisles of Joann and Michaels stores. 

outline stitch creates the base, and french knots the golden lines near the base

I don't know where this will go or how I'll use it. Table Scraps challenge is to make something to cover a surface any size. 

I changed my rotary cutting blade this week.....life changing... wow!

it takes little effort to cut fabric now! Why do we put up with a dull blade for so long??  One nick in the blade leads to another, and it dulls slowly. I would go over and over a line to cut it.

 Reminds me of cleaning the microwave. You get one spot, then another and you'll clean it later it's not THAT bad and when you finally get around to cleaning it, you're so happy and proud!

a friend of mine, after cleaning her microwave had her daughter come in and exclaim, "so clean! Is grandma coming to visit?" 

so now cutting is a breeze and I continue to make these X blocks for what I don't know. 

 I watched this video and plan to watch her tutorials on youtube later

what an embroidery show! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u41Q7z9KMkE
 as I mentioned, I painted also this week but plan to share that next week...they deserve their own post! 

Linking to

https://thejoyfulquilter.blogspot.com/2022/08/august-2022-table-scraps-challenge-link.html

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

patchwork Sunday                    

oh Scrap Sundays

 slow stitching Sundays

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays 

http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss

Midweek makers wednesdays  

http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/ 

off the wall Fridays   

peacock party

tgiffriday

finished or not

 

 

I Like Thursday # 312

near where we stayed on Mirror Lake in Lake Placid NY

 Welcome to this week's list of likes. The prompt for the I Like group this week is where do you like going in the summer... is there some place traditional to your family, a reunion or vacation spot? Right now, with threat of covid so high, and me allergic to the vaccine, we go no where. I looked back through my blog at pics of all the places we used to go and Lake Placid NY is top of the list!

here's one post on it: ( waking up is a pleasure)

dh and Cole lakeside at the Golden Arrow where we always stayed

We took two days to drive up from Maryland to Adirondacks and always stopped in Saratoga Springs, at quilt shops,  Princeton, and small towns along the way. Lake Placid was cool and fresh, has a 3 mile sidewalk around mirror lake where we walked twice a day, lots of shopping and restaurants, boat dock parks to sit and read or bead... we recharged there.

 

 As a child, another time and place... Maggie Valley NC was our go to place for summer...

 we owned  a lodge, and stayed there often... a perfect location for a little girl

 eventually my parents invested in two more cabins on the mountain so our extended family often went there for long summer vacations. I remember:

hiking, fishing, rolling down grassy hills, playing in the creek so cold my toes went numb, picking blackberries along the road, then making cobblers. Lots of kids playing and adults playing poker at night telling stories. Going to square dances, shopping for junk that kids love, visiting Cherokee and Gatlinburg , watching the clouds below the porch, and the freedom to explore,  going up to Ghost Town amusement area, 

main street Ghost Town

 where I did the same thing each year, watched the same "shoot outs" and dreamed of being a "dance hall girl" on stage when I grew up.  They had tv stars that appeared there and often came to the Lodge for a late night drink... fun stuff.

Between the lodge and our cabin, we spent so many good summers there.

I liked these t shirts this week

t shirts from https://www.daedalusbooks.com/shirts?page=2

    

 

I liked this book on Audio, a character driven story of how a group of women in a suburb of NYC interact and grew and talk to me after you finish it. I related strongly to it's message of women's issues

 

we have a bumper crop of grasshoppers this year, and I marveled at how they blend in to the stones

I'm very interesting to watch!

 

the poppies are poppin'

the bell peppers finally, finally, have flowered and one is growing. Now if I can keep the bunnies from grabbing it...

see the tiny pepper? size of a beebee?

 This week I cooked and cleaned and kept Milo sorted out. He got groomed Sunday, and doggone if he's not a "blue poodle"  Gray ish. Blue poodles turn gray from black around his age, 5. 

Milo's Moments

turned blue but still cast a big shadow!

it's hot again, my ears are hurting again, but I still want to be outside! Mama tries her best to help my ears but now when I hear the word "EAR" I run away! 

Mama made more of my pumpkin cookies yesterday and boy did they smell good out of the oven! Pumpkin and almond butter and oatmeal/oat flour with an egg. All good, very nutritious so I should have all of them now, so I can be big and strong! Right? Amiright? 

now please visit these folks with lists of likes to share too! What is your go to place in summer?

https://melvalovesscraps.blogspot.com/

http://littlepenguinquilts

mmmquilts 

 craftscaviescontras   

http://www.piecefulthoughts.com

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/  

 

grammajudyb.blogspot.com

 http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

 https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/   

 

 the knitty quilter

https://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/

princess bubbles creates  

 

https://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/2022/08/more-power-in-good.html?m=0

https://100sweets.blogspot.com/

Faith, Trust and Breast Cancer 

https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/   

http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com  

https://www.homesewnbyus.com/

 https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/ 
 https://quiltschmilt.ca/blog-posts/

 

 

                                                                  LINKING WITH 

https://brianshomeblog.com/ 

http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/   

http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com

https://www.knitbygodshand.com/   

http://all4boys.blogspot.com/2022/08/thankful-thursday_02125806378.html

friday smiles at a stitch in time   

floral passions 

rosie and the boys nature pics