Busy Fingers!

I wish you could smell these heavenly narcissus blooms!  These are really confused little bulbs!  They should not bloom until after all the other daffodils here in Mississippi have bloomed, but a few brave little clumps are strutting their stuff this first week of January!  This little pungent bouquet is indeed a special and unexpected decadence from the bountiful earth!

The Dallas Cowboys are playing the Seattle Seahawks tonight, and I am too nervous to watch.  Gordon is energetically talking to the television screen from his off-site-mental-telepathy coaching position.  Annie the Westie Rescue is curled up behind my knees where she is safe from hyperactive Dallas Cowboy fans!  *grin*

Let me show you what YOU have been inspiring me to do lately!  (If I mention a project to you or even show a photo of the process, I feel quite obligated to hurry up and finish!  That is an excellent, but unexpected, benefit of blogging!)

First, here is the finished hand-made ornament for 2006.  I wrote earlier that I decided when Gordon and I married three years ago that I wanted to make a special ornament each year for our Christmas tree!  (Now, after our third anniversary, I am finally getting to this little project.  HA!)

The 2006 ornament symbolizes a number of favorites for us at this point...renovating my grandmother's house here on the farm in Mississippi, some of the happy yellow fabric I am using in the renovation, and the heirloom roses on the farm.

I embroidered over the fabric design, front and back, and I really had not intended to do so much embroidery...just a little embellishment here and there.  When I got into the project, the embroidery was so much fun and surprisingly fast that I just kept playing stitching.

But folks, the next time I decide to make a box edge (or whatever it is called), especially around something with as many twists and turns as the state of Mississippi, someone please shoot me and put me out of my misery early!!  *grin* 

Once completed, however, I am rather pleased with the outcome.  Yes, I see a number of things I would like to do better or differently, but that is part of the adventure of whipping up a design from the picture in your head.  I adore the journey and the challenges!

So yesterday, I started on the ornament I never got around to making to represent our married life in 2005.

Back in the summer of 2006, the Mississippi Quilt Association sponsored a two-day class with national applique artist, designer and quilter, Mary Sorensen.  Folks, if you ever are near an applique class with Mary Sorensen, RUN to sign up.  Do Not Walk....RUN!  This woman was funny, talented, challenging, experienced in the industry...just wonderful!  She will be teaching on some quilt cruises at the end of this month and in the Fall of 2007.

(Gee, I would love to be on one of those cruises, but not this year.  We will be on a "renovation budget" all year.  *grin*)

The class I took from Mary this summer was itty bitty applique, Needleturn Applique.  We were doing skinny little stems barely larger than a match stick and little circles the size of English peas! I ADORED it! The rest of the ladies in the class were long-time quilters and veteranns of the many classes MQA sponsors throughout the year.  I was the only newbie in the class, I think, and My Goodness, I am thoroughly enjoying learning from these very talented, helpful and nationally acclaimed quilters in Mississippi!

So, to combine my new love of itty-bitty applique and my ongoing fascination with heirloom monograms (back when monograms were embroidered by hand), I decided to applique our intertwined initials!

In 2005, leading to our second anniversary, we were continuing to learn how to be married, thus the symbolism of the intertwined initials.  (This is a first marriage for each of us.) 

First, I sketched our initials on scrap paper, freehand.  Then I cut out the initials and traced them in pencil onto the background fabric, editing a bit as I went along.

To make the letters, I cut bias strips from several fabrics.  Cutting bias strips has always been fun. I have this "thing" about working with bias.  Some folks complain about it, but I love it! Then, using the bias strips and Mary's techniques, I simply started stitching the applique.

My first attempt is on the green background. Today's attempt is on the violet polka-dot fabric.  As you can see I am not finished, but I do like the F in the bolder yellow.  It stands out better...to represent my new last name.

As you can see, I trimmed the bias fabric too tight to make the triangular flourishes that I intended to make at the ends of the letters.  (I was too busy visiting with Mama in the big house both days, and I was not paying enough attention to what I was doing! *grin*)

So today, I just did some fussy-cutting and appliqued curved triangles on the ends of the letters.  Actually, I think I like the  multiple-fabric version better than my original plan.

The "S" does not yet look like I want it to look, so there will be at least a third version before I turn this into an ornament for 2005.

Decidedly, there will be more Applique Monograms in my future!  This is FUN!

Now that you have seen my unfinished project, I am even more motivated to finish it and show you that I CAN do an intricate and tidy job!

I must soon show you the new "Woman Sewing" porcelain brooch I finished this week. thanks to the mold-making and casting talents of my husband and Uncle.  The first "Woman Sewing" brooch is in the kiln tonight!

If you have appliqued letters or monograms, let me know.  If you have taken a class from Mary Sorensen before, I'd love to hear from you.  If you are interested in the learning opportunities in 2007 from the  Mississippi Quilt Association, just drop me a line.  I love your emails!

What a fun, refreshing day it has been...sunny and beautiful.  I helped Mama update her address book by calling some of her friends, letting them enjoy a good chat.  Unc has puttered diligently on some wood-working projects and a joint project for the blog (another "Blue January" decorating project that harkens from the past.) Gordon has stayed busy with the phone (yes, orders come in on the weekend!), porcelain, computers, walking the dogs, and now football!  The dogs have worked extra hard shadowing all of us!

Poor Gordon is about to have kittens just seconds from the half and a couple of yards from a Cowboys touchdown!  I'd better help my husband and Tony Romo score!

Fondly,
Penny

Comments

[Natalie Herndon Howard]

Hi Penny,

Beautiful embroidery work! I myself am doing needlepoint now and was wondering, did you take any lessons or did you learn your stiches off of the internet? Oh, and where are good places to buy needlepoint kits (and embroidery kits)from?

Thanks so much,

Natalie