February TUSAL

February TUSAL

I didn’t feel like I got a lot of stitching done this month. I did get my stash room cleaned so that counts for something, right?

The Rules:Post 11 things about you…

The Rules:

  • Post these rules.
  • You must post 11 random things about yourself.
  • Answer the questions set for you in their post.
  • Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
  • Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them.
  • No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people.

11 Random Things about Me:

1.  I inadvertently caused a rules change at the conservative college I attended.
2.  I’ve always owned dogs
3.  More people know me as Stasha than under the name my mother gave me.
4. The only way I’ll eat peanut butter is if it’s mixed with something else like chocolate, chocolate ice cream, Thai spices, etc.
5. My favorite college classes were World Philosophy Symposium and Logic
6. I started working as a file clerk at age 11, processing medical claims at 16 and auditing at 18.
7.  I took my test for my driving license in my Uncle’s secretary’s car because my parent’s forgot about my appointment.
8.  I used to play cello
9.  My youngest child turned 16 last week.
10. My mother asked me not to learn to knit so my sisters would have a craft they can do better than me.
11.  That knitting thing?  I gave up trying to learn when my Grandmother told me it was too hard to teach a lefty and I had a shop teacher give me a refund and a gift certificate to drop the beginners class.

Questions for me to answer:

  1. What is your favorite movie? Casablanca
  2. What is the first movie you remember seeing at the movie theater?  Jungle Book at the Drive In
  3. Is there a type of movie or an actor/director that you refuse to watch?  Never made it through an 80’s slasher pic and not about to start.
  4. What craft or hobby would you try if money and time were no obstacle?  I would have a long arm quilting machine.
  5. Name your favorite kitchen tool. – – Henckel serrated blade
  6. What is your favorite type of trip/vacation? Active (like hiking), museums/history, beach, mountains, theme park, etc. – – Laying around the beach
  7. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?  I’ve never been to the Caribbean
  8. Would you ever seriously consider living abroad? If the answer is no because you now have a family, do you think you would have considered it when you were “young and single”?    If the circumstances were right I would live abroad for a few years, even with the family.
  9. If you could choose any profession other than your current one, what would it be?  Something allowing for research and analysis which paid good money.
  10. What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done? Let my kids make their own mistakes, and not bail them out afterward.
  11. When is the last time you felt really free (whatever that means to you)?  The first week after being laid off last summer.

Questions for those I tag to answer

  1.  Have you ever dyed your hair?
  2. What would you do if you knew you would never be caught?
  3. If money were no object, where would you be right now?
  4. What is your favorite song?
  5. Did you ever recover from your biggest life mistake?
  6.  How do you feel now about the event in #5?
  7. If you could tell your teenage self one thing, what would it be?
  8. What was the last movie you saw in the theater?
  9. Have you been to a live performance (symphony, opera, play)?  If yes, when and what?  If no, why not?
  10. When was the last time you performed volunteer service? What did you do?
  11. What’s the worst question you’ve ever been asked and expected to answer?

2nd Month of the WIPocalypse…

I have finishes, just not the one that I planned.  This month I had scheduled to work on FireDancer since it was a whopping huge 28 count fabric and I really didn’t think I could look at 40 count for another month.  This is where FireDancer was when I started this month..


And this is where I finished…But I actually did more this month, namely the Purple Jody ornament which I was going to work on starting 10/29/12 – 

Well I finished it.  Work enrolled me in a SharePoint class and the first day they had technical difficulties so we had down time where I got to listen to the instructor talk to the IT guy and since I’m not one to sit doing nothing and he would have heard if I played FaceBook games, I stitched on my ornament and lo and behold, it’s finished.  Well the stitching is finished it still needs to be blocked and then I need to find a finisher because I’m not giving anything to the finisher at my LNS until she finds the ornament she lost 3 years ago.

And that’s not all folks… Since I still had 4 days of class with downtime and I needed something brainless to work on which could be dropped at a moments notice, my alternate piece, Mr. Big Mouth, the final applique block for my monster quilt is finished.

Yes, you get him full size because he’s a big finish this month.  Now I need to find a new alternate piece and that slot the Jody ornament was in now has something else in it.  I didn’t add anything new to the rotation, just put Winter Carousel horse into an actual slot instead of saying I would work on it when I had time between finishes.

I did get some work in on a few other pieces too – My Purple/Teal stocking got the Purple Krenik finished on it since I needed it to come back to the Jody ornament and I did make more progress on Main Street, just not as much as I hoped…

  The next building arrived and I so wanted to be finished with this building before I got the pattern for the 2nd.  It didn’t happen but I did get a ton more stitching in than thought I would and I have 2 finishes this month.

Long live the WIPocalypse!

If you would like to learn more about the WIPocalypse, check out Measi’s blog.

Applique is a personal thing…

and before we even discuss the personality in an applique design, let’s talk about needles. All the women I’ve taken applique classes from each swore that applique only worked with a specific needle.  One swore by straw needles, one by something that looked like a #12 beading needle and another by what she called Size 5 embroidery needles (I would have called them a #26 sharps).  Personally, I like using a Roxanne #11 Between needle. Yes, I realize that some would say that’s a needle specifically for quilting but it works for me quite well for turning the edges of applique.

So back to applique – I took a class about 10 years ago when I first started quilting and the friend I took the class with a friend whose finished project is starting to wear out and here I haven’t even finished my quilt.  I have one block left to finish and it’s been years since I’ve worked on it.

When it comes to putting applique together again, it’s a personal decision.  I know many ways of tracing the patterns and each person I’ve talked to does it differently.  Some using fusing and iron on with either machine or hand seamed edges, or fuse the center and hand turn the edges.  I’ve heard many ways of using freezer paper – the way I was taught was to use the freezer paper as the pattern and trace on the front, another way I’ve heard but not seen is to use the freezer paper as iron on and then pull it out a slit in the back.  Then there is plastic template – but that gets expensive.

I’m not skilled enough to do fine thin work like vines but I do okay with big pieces.  I have the last of the 2 sets of nine monsters left to finish and then it’s just a matter of putting the pieces together.  So I’ve got 17 monsters – 9 iron on and then hand embroidered on the edges, 8 needle turned with one left to finish the monster was my alternate piece to work on during the WIPocalypse, just in case I finished anything and still had time to in the month.  However, I needed something that didn’t require thought which I could do while listening to a lecture and now, my final applique monster has part of his mouth and all the pieces cut out – I’m counting it as WIPocalypse progress and I’ll post it on the 7th.

Finished my Jody Purple Sampler ornament

Due to technical difficulties with my SharePoint class, I had 2 hours of uninterrupted stitching time at my desk (hey, they could have fixed the server at any minute) so I needed something small that I could work on without using frame.  My Purple Jody Sampler ornament was on the WIPocalypse list so I grabbed it.  And finished it – more to come on the WIPocalypse post but here’s a picture for now….

Jody Purple Sampler ornament

completed January 30, 2012