Thursday, August 28, 2008

A life in six words....what do you have to say?

I was looking through my monthly Quality Paperback Book Club flyer yesterday and saw a book titled Six Word Memoirs by Larry Smith and Rachel Ferschleiser. It must have piqued my imagination, because I was still thinking about it last night as I was trying to go to sleep. Here are some examples by people you may or may not know:
"Liars! Hysterectomy didn't improve sex life!" --Joan Rivers

"Well, I thought it was funny." --Stephen Colbert

"Revenge is living well, without you." --Joyce Carol Oates

"I still make coffee for two." --Zak Nelson

"Wasn't born a redhead; fixed that." --Andie Grace

"Giraffe born to a farm family." --Grant Langston

So here is what I'd like to know, dear Readers and Friends, how would you sum up your life thus far in 6 words, no more, no less? Please send me your ideas, and just to make it interesting, I'll put all the names in a hat and choose one, to whom I'll offer either a squishy of CQ goodies, OR a finished CQ item (my choice of finished item). You can email me or simply comment to this post with your 6 word memoir (be sure to leave your name or contact info if you comment). Shall I go first?

"Just one crazy thing after another." --Janet Popish

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The clutch bag

Here is how the black and gold and red block turned into its new incarnation as a purse. The scissors are for size comparison.

And the other side. The triangular part is a flap that closes with a bit of black elastic that slips over the red button. It is lined with black satin, and the black rectangular piece you see as part of the front is mole cloth.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Birdhouse swap blocks

I've done two blocks for the bird/birdhouse swap on CQ4N. They're very different, but I like them both. The first was done with some print fabric given to me by Marianne H. to set the color scheme. Thanks again Marianne! The house is done in velvet and appliqued on, with a piece of brocade ribbon for the post. The red flowers are done in cast-on stitch, so they're slightly 3D.

This one has a center fan blade of tiny love birds, which is all the bird fabric I had other than owls (of which I have at least 3 different prints) and chickens, until Marianne shared with me. The lace is hand dyed by me using Kool Aid. The cast-on stitch flowers in the handle are done in a Sassa Lynn variegated thread.

Moon flowers; a beautiful August night

We have two moon flower bushes this year. Each is actually a clump of plants that grow together to look like it's one bush. One is right by the front door. This one is at the corner of the house. Here's how it looked in the afternoon:

And here's how it looked after darkness had settled:


Here is a closeup of the flowers before they open:

And after they've opened; they're about 5-6" across and maybe 8" long:

Here's what greeted me when I opened the front door this morning:

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Black and gold

Earlier this year I met a new friend online; Kate in UK. I sent her some fabrics and a heart that I had done in CQ, and she sent me back some goodies and this block that she had pieced all in black and gold. It was mostly unembellished, so I could do with it whatever I wanted to.
Last month, while trying to find a bag to carry to a wedding that wasn't my usual "suitcase", I thought of this block. It would make a really lovely small bag, hmmm. I didn't have time to make it to take to the wedding, but afterwards I got busy on it. I had just done a very pastel block and the dramatic black and gold was a great change of pace.


There was just the tiniest bit of red peeking out from a seam line of the center medallion patch, so that inspired me to use shades of red along with the black and shades of gold. As I was embellishing it, and telling it it would be a lovely purse someday with a nice long black braid strap, it began to contradict me. I tried to convince it that it would like being hung over my shoulder, but it kept saying no. I tried folding it along the lines I was picturing, and still it said no. Bossy purse block!

So I believe it will get its own way and be a strapless clutch bag. Stay tuned for pics of its future incarnation.