Season to season winter block

This is my half-done winter block. It doesn't need to go to Gerry until November 1st, but I have that craft show coming up and wanted to get it done in plenty of time. It is a mixture of cottons and fancies, including white velvet. I built the whole thing around that piece of slate blue moire taffeta in the center. When I saw it on the bolt it reminded me of an iced over pond. So here is a winter scene with snowy hills and some bare patches leading into a frosty woods. The time is sunrise or sunset (I honestly can't tell which), and a blue jay has found a perch in a winter stripped tree. The jay is a button I bought during the great button buy, and two of them on a card only cost 50 cents!
I used some of the Sassa Lynn threads to good advantage here and there on the crests of the snowy hills. One that I have is very pale pinks blending to blues and greys. It picks up just enough of the colors of the sunset (or sunrise) to look like reflections on snow. I also used quite a few white iridescent beads and silver lined clear beads.

Meme 4 things challenge

First of all, just a cool picture of clouds from out my back door.

Lauri tagged me for this challenge.

Name 4 jobs you've had: Motel maid (that's going back to high school days), gift shop clerk, bridal shop clerk (that's another thing Lauri and I have in common), and antique quilt restorer.

Name 4 movies you could watch over and over: Just four? Okay, all the Mummy movies, all the Indiana Jones movies, all the X-men movies, and..... Milo and Otis.

Name 4 TV shows you like: Firefly (okay, it's not on anymore, but I have the whole series on DVD), Chuck, The Big Bang Theory, CSI.

Name 4 places you've lived: I've never lived anywhere but here in my hometown, but I have lived in 4 (and only 4) different houses during my life. There was the house I grew up in, the little house Paul and I rented when we were first married, the tiny house we bought soon after, and the one we have now. I would happily stay in this house till I die!

Name 4 favorite foods: Mexican, Chinese, steak, chocolate (dark chocolate M&Ms)

Name 4 favorite colors: Faded denim blue, burgundy, black, dark blue.

Name 4 places you'd love to be now: Does in bed count? It's been a long day, and not nearly over yet...okay, how about Hawaii, Santa Fe, Disneyland, and.....at a fabric and craft store with $100 burning a hole in my pocket.

Name 4 names you couldn't or wouldn't use for your children: Anthony Paul is the name we had picked out for a boy during each pregnancy, all of which turned out to be girls. I also like the names Asher, Brianna, and Alexandria.

Okay, now I'm supposed to tag four more people. Let's just say, if you're reading this and haven't already done this challenge, consider yourself tagged!

Craft show products

This first is a box I bought on clearance at Hobby Lobby. I also have two white ones just like this. With a box with an inset area on the top, it is easy to make a cq piece to fit into it. I made quite a few boxes similar to this for a small craft show last year and did fairly well with them. This year Lauri and I are doing two craft shows. One is with Holy Family School, a very large and well attended show on Saturday, November 3rd. The second is the same one I did last year, held by Mesa County Employee's Association on Tuesday, December 4th at the old court house. It's an odd day, and a little late in the season, but we probably won't sell everything at HF, so it'll give us a second chance to sell some things. If you're in GJ, please come and see us at one or both shows!

I meant for these to post in the reverse order, but this is how they came out. The second photo is of the finished velvet boxes. They are pieced with fancy fabrics and embellished with buttons, beads and embroidery.

I bought these two boxes at Walmart in the after Christmas sales in January. They were supposed to be sewing boxes. They were empty, but had a strange felt and ribbon corset-like decoration on the top that was to be used as a pin cushion. I pulled those off, and that is why there is a nasty glue glob in the center of the top. I also pulled off a row of sequins around the edge of the top and covered that glue with braid trim.

Fall swap blocks

On CQ for Newbies, we are doing a Season to Season "swap", where we each piece a block, embellish half of it, and then send it to a partner to be finished. My partner is Judi in.....Washington, I think. After the block is completed, we will get our own back, so it's not a true swap, just a temporary one. This is Judi's block as I received it. She did some very clever little pumpkins using orange felt and floss. She also used a nice variety of textured and printed fabrics.

Here it is with my embellishment added. I used some lace motifs that I dyed at Lauri's house last week. The flowers in the motifs are a softly muted lavender. There wasn't much purple in Judi's block, so I hope she doesn't mind that I've added a bit. It is very soft and doesn't scream purple. The color reminds me of chrysanthemums. I gave each of those flowers a center of a single orange bead. Just had to find a way to put orange and purple together, didn't I? I also used a lace motif that Lauri gave me; the gold one in the upper right corner. It adds a nice balance to the gold leaves in the lower left corner.

And of course, that black center patch just begged for a spider web. The spider is made with two iridescent gold glass beads for the head and body, and perle cotton legs. The web is a Kreinik blending filament (by itself). This was a delightful way to spend a Sunday afternoon and evening, thanks for letting me work on it, Judi!

Hand dyed lace

These are some of the things I dyed at Lauri's house last week. I'm really having fun with the perle cotton size 8 that I've been dyeing in variegated tones. I also tried some braid trim that has a bit too much nylon in it to take the dye very deeply, but for a soft colored block, it does make an interesting trim.

Garden fairies or not fairies at all?

This is some fabric I'm planning to use for a block. The little ladies in it are tiny and fairy-like, but they don't have wings.

Needle book? Hussif?

I actually was wrong yesterday when I posted that I hadn't finished anything lately. I forgot about this thing which started out to be a needle book, but is quite a bit larger than I think a needle book would be. I bought the wallet-like thing at a yard sale. It was hand-made and probably intended to be a coin purse/wallet. It's made of brown and cream print quilted calico, and has several pockets and a zippered compartment inside. I cut a muslin foundation by drawing around the unfolded wallet, and added a bit to the straight-cut end so it would cover part of the inside, too.

I pieced the foundation with some of my favorite fancies, with no color theme at all. And then I embellished it with just embroidery stitches since it will get handled a lot.

After it was embellished, I hand stitched it to the wallet, and voila, or voilett, I have a place to keep needles, scissors, etc., for traveling about.