Things Just Hanging Around

Finally remembered to ask DH to hang a shelf I had for my sewing room. Then comes the fun of filling it. The Flying Scarecrow pillow is the handiwork of Kaaren (The Painted Quilt blog), which I was amazingly lucky enough to win about a year ago. I couldn't bear to put him away when Fall was over, so he has been sitting (or flying) in various places around the sewing room ever since. Now he has a good home. The wool hooked star pillow next to it was part of a wonderful gift from Gayle (The Middle Sister blog) when we finally met each other for lunch this past week. More on that in a minute.

Hanging below is the little rail fence quilt made from the leftovers of my Little Buds project. I just got my order from Ackfeld Wire, so as soon as I had this bound I got it hung. I have also hung the charm bracelet from the Charming program, made by Julie (Me and My Stitches blog). When it isn't being worn it should still be seen, IMHO. It keeps company on the same peg with a little necklace of a Singer Featherweight that DD#2 gave me. And on the far right is a little ornament made by Grace (citymousequilter blog) that I think is too cute to have stored away most of the year. : )

I've made a few more pineapple ornaments lately, too. I hung them from the shelf for the photo.

They will all be on their way to good homes come Monday.

And the last thing hanging around is this. I know you have seen it a lot lately, but I wanted to show you how it looks in its new place. I just got this hanger from Ackfeld Wire as well. Easter came so early this year, I am leaving the decorations up for a little bit longer to welcome in the warmer weather.

Now for a couple of things that aren't hanging.

I'm trying to get some Springy projects finished. This is one of my many versions of Temecula's Blessings Baskets SAL. Remember how I said it reminds me of the colorblindness tests in the old encyclopedias? So I've decided to name this Colorblind Baskets. This one has given me some grief while quilting it. Well, really I've created the grief myself, I guess.                                                      

Can you tell what happened from the photo on the right? The excess backing edge had folded back under the quilt and I hadn't noticed. There was a bunch of unpicking to do. While doing it I noticed that the feathers in the white setting triangles had awful tension. I had played with it in the beginning and thought it looked good, but upon closer scrutiny I can see that "white thread+white fabric+old eyes+late night quilting=disaster." I lost my enthusiasm for finishing it. I am trying to talk myself into unpicking the feathers. Will it ever happen? We'll see.

I mentioned earlier in the post about meeting Gayle. It has been something we have been hoping to arrange for over a year. We were both actually in attendance at a Jennifer Chiaverini book signing back then, but neither knew the other would be there so we didn't meet. She has been my mentor as I learned to repurpose wool clothing for quilting. She talked me through the steps of felting and Kool Aid dying. And she is just as kind and gracious in real life as she has been through email (no big surprise there, right?). She brought wonderful gifts--the pillow in the first photo, and this cute wool pincushion on the right in the photo below, along with a wonderful array of wool pieces from her stash. I think I am ready for anything now! Thanks so much, Gayle, for the gifts and a lovely afternoon. I hope there will be more opportunities to meet in the future. (I can't believe I forgot to get a photo--I had my camera in my purse the whole time.)

I'd planned to share more, but this is plenty long. I'll save it for another time.

So, until next time, 

Janet O.

P.S. Spring is finally creeping in around the Rockies.