Craft Room/Studio Craziness & Framing Too (Lots of Pics)

I hope that everyone has had a great week.  We've had a strange one around here - storms and an earthquake.  Crazy stuff.  I personally have had one heck of week, I'll tell you.  Have you ever gone through periods of time when you can't sleep to save your soul?  Well, I've had that kind of week, which has led to all kinds of craziness in the craft room.  Most nights I went to bed at 3:00 am and woke up at 6:00 am.  Last night - in bed by 12:00, up at 4:00.  Well, what do you do?  Invade the craft room!!!  One night I actually woke up DH.  I forgot to close the basement door and the sewing machine was whizzing and the music flowing!  BIG OOPS!  He thought I'd lost it!  Anyway, one of the things I'm working on is a total room redo.  No pictures as of yet, it's in the works.  When you work in a room for a while you find what works and doesn't work.  What you need and don't need.  The room is a disaster right now - projects thrown everywhere - things pulled apart - but some kind of fun finds at the same time.  Anyway, before I get into the fun, I have another piece of framing:

Margaret Pence

The Goode Huswife

Stained with Walnut Dye

Simple frame for a simple sampler:

Another one down for the Adam and Eve wall.  Yahoo!!!

I had another gift appear in the mail this past week from a dear non-blogging friend.  Well, I met her through my blog, but she doesn't have one.  I'm trying to convince her that she needs one!  I thought it was so sweet of her to think of me and send it along:

An ORT container made out of sampler fabric.  Is it not adorable?  I love it so much, Pam.  Thank you, thank you!!  Between the ORTs from quilting and ORTs from stitching, I definitely will put this to very good use!

I've done some stitching this week, but no pictures.  I'm so close to finishing Sarah Seifer you could put a quarter over what I have left to do, so I'll save that for the next post.  I tried to get it finished last night, but my eyes could barely see straight!!

Well, down in the 'ole studio I've managed to get a few things done, and found a few things too.  It's amazing what you find that you forgot about.  I'm finding so much that I think that in the next week or so, I'm going to set up a Sale/Trade Blog and get rid of some of this stuff.  Well, maybe more Sale than Trade because I don't need more things - although I could be tempted I suppose!  Then again,  maybe I'll just give some of these things away to my fellow bloggers.   Anyway, I'm sure that someone would love some charts, extra fabric, etc.  So stay tuned - I hope to have that up in a week or so.  

Anyway, this is what I've been up to:

Two more blocks down for my Women's Voices Civil War Quilt.  These were fun because they were both done with the same number of 1/2 square blocks but arranged differently:

Farmer's Wife Blocks completed and I'm all caught up - insert a huge Happy Dance here!!!  (of course, two days later July's installment showed up at my door - UGH!!!!).  Just a thought here - do you realize that July 4th is next weekend?  Where is the summer going???:

I haven't sewn the handle on the basket block (in the upper center), and the block on the left upper is a mistake, but I'm leaving it - the brown in the star was suppose to be the red fabric, but hey, it works for me!  LOL  Loraine reminded me about the Amish block thing a little while ago (the Amish philosophy that only God is perfect).  Seems that I'm going to have a few of those Amish blocks in this one!  Also one block came out so misshapen that I have to do it over.  I'll catch that up during next month's sewing.

Then I put together a little doll quilt (should have ironed this out).  I probably cut this out 10 years ago and never got around to piecing it, so one night when I ran out of things to sew, I put the pedal to the metal and cranked this out.  Insomnia is a good thing sometimes!!!  I think that I'm going to hand quilt this one since it's so small.

Then I came across another BOM that I had ordered years ago and only had one block pieced in it:

I had the top square pieced, but not the blocks underneath - so I pieced those together and then cut out the next round:

And this is what the quilt will eventually look like.  Lots of work - it's all template cut, but it's been sitting in a box for how many years now?  I guess it's about time to finish the baby off.

Then in all my rifling around downstairs one night I came across a pizza box labeled with something that was not what was in the box at all.  This is what I found:

Some stitcheries.  Didn't most of us like these little people at one time?  I actually still do.  I think that I must have been making this quilt for Catie when she was just a little peanut in me, thinking that one day I'd make the entire alphabet into a quilt and hang it behind her bed.  Well, I didn't get too far, did I?  So perhaps I should continue with it and make it for her daughter (she'd kill me if she knew I said that - she's at the age where the whole baby thing is soooooo gross to her - LOL)

And in that same box were these:

Now I have no idea what this piece belongs to.  I think this was my first attempt at wool applique and there is a whole quilt involved, but I'm really not sure where the rest of this quilt is.  More digging will be in my future, I think, and I may have to redo the block - I'm not crazy about my stitching on this one.

Then I finally found the rest of the fabrics and patterns that go with the "I believe" block.  I was looking all over for it.  This is another wool applique quilt, so now another thing to work on.  Me thinks that I've got my hands into too many things, don't you?

But you know what they say - you just have to take it.......

I found this little sign in the cutest quilt store and could not resist picking it up.  It says it all, doesn't it?

Well, that's been about my week.  Surprisingly I'm feeling pretty good with only four hours of sleep so I think that I'll head back to the craft room.  On second thought, I guess not.  My appliances are coming tomorrow - HUGE HAPPY DANCE!!  so I think that a good scrubbing of the kitchen is in order.  First request from the kids - cookies!  My old ovens burned the back of the sheet of cookies and undercooked the fronts and I'd always forget to turn the trays 1/2 way through.  Well, you can't remember everything, can you?

I've been a little behind on reading blogs this week, so I'll try to catch up.  Sometimes it's hard, especially when you're in the mood to be creative.  I've got another quilt waiting to be cut out - a Fig Tree Quilt, but I'm using some Moda Martinque fabrics for it.  I know I don't need to be cutting out any more, but what will I do if I run out of things to sew?  

I hope that everyone has a great weekend and the weather is nice and not stormy.  And thank you for all your wonderful and supportive comments.  They truly make me happy and I'm so amazed at all the wonderful people I've met through blogging.  I really feel blessed with all the friendships that I've made.  And just a heads up - I see that I'm close to making my 100th post and closing in on 300 followers - both of those facts absolutely astound me!!  So you know what that means - I think it's time for some giveaways.  Stay tuned!

Happenings at Chateau Roman

Okay, lame title, but you know, you just run out of snappy titles sometimes.  Actually not much is happening in recent days at the Chateau, so nothing real recent - like in the last week.  Spring always seems to bring a flurry of things with the kids and once again, I start living out of my car - so not a lot of crafting is accomplished.  And I'm so behind on blogs and emails - I'll catch up soon!

Anyway, it's a beautiful day here in Michigan - bright, sunny (oh, is that what that glowing ball in the sky is? - scared me for a minute), and it's warm - so warm that I had to take a walk this morning (after the grocery shopping, that is).  Going through my neighborhood is like a nature walk.  This morning I had my path crossed by a red fox (rather scrawny looking and leering at my thighs and licking his lips, and eight deer roaming the woods - one of them an albino deer which I had never heard of or seen before - definitely need to take a camera next time)!

In my own Garden of Eden around the old Chateau, we also have those two half-naked people in Paradise.  They've been finished for a week or so, but I just got around to the staining:

Margaret Pence 1781

The Goode Huswife

40 ct. Daily Grind (Walnut Ink Stained) and DMC Threads

This was fun, although once again, I can't stitch these smaller pieces without making mistakes.  Luckily they're not glaring. The only change I made to this was the date - since the date of her sampler was 10 days before my birthday, I changed it to my birthday.  I'm on to my next A and E and another project, although not much to show on either one of them yet so I'll hold those till next time.

I don't know why, probably because of Easter and it being spring, I always seem to get into some kind of sewing mood - not to do quilts or things like that, but to make fun things.  I went through the same thing last year, and that bunny, from Country Stitches, is now my header for Easter.  Anyway, I saw this pattern recently in my web surfing and decided I needed to make one:

She's meant to be a pincushion, and I'm still waiting for the base for her, so I have her sitting on one of my grandmother's antique egg cups.  And I just realized that I didn't put blush on her ears!  I'll have to do that.  Anyway, this pattern is Cottontail Pincushion by Under The Garden Moon, and she was a snap to finish up!  For some reason, I've fallen in love with pincushions and recently bought a few patterns to do. She's the first and was so quick - one night!  A couple blogging friends, Siobhan, in particular, has been trying to get me to stitch some seasonal things.  I so stink at doing that, but do you think that this qualifies???  I know it's not cross stitch, but.......?????

Here's another one that I made, but it was a year or so ago.  This was from Lori Birmingham:

I finally finished up my Bullseye Quilt, too.  Taken as a whole I really love it, but when I was working with some of those blocks, especially after you cut them in quarters and put them back together again, well, they offended me:

This turned out to be a lot of fun to do and not quite as wonky as I thought it would be.  I can't wait until I get it quilted and washed so that the edges of the circles fray.  I had a couple people ask me about cutting the layers away as you sewed the circles.  Since I can't really describe it without too lengthy of a description, I'll have to construct a block and take pictures as I go along.  But it's very easy to do.

With that quilt finished I started another one.  This one is a Civil War quilt called Women's Voices, but I only have a little bit of it put together.  These are the first set of blocks:

And these are the second set although not completely put together:

This was a BOM and included fabric to make two blocks in different colorways every month.  It will end up being a king sized quilt when I'm finished.  I was surprised at the size of the blocks - 15 inches each.  I am very proud of myself that these are from stash from a few years ago, and not some of the new goodies that I bought, although those have been really calling my name.  These blue and green blocks are called different things depending on how you lay out the fabric.  It can be called Underground Railroad, Jacobs Ladder or Trail of the Covered Wagon in Mississippi and the prairie states.  I love how each month there is a little history written about each block.

I have barely done anything on my poor rug since my class last Thursday.  My last class, I might add, and I'm going to miss it.  I hope that I can get involved with the Monthly group that Kris has.  This is all the progress I've made:

Not a lot of progress and I'm seriously of thinking about tearing out the white yet once again.  I don't like working with white anyway - whether it's in xstitch or now wool, and I can see all kinds of glaring mistakes I did, but Kris told me it looks fine and will look better when it's steamed.  And it's my first - a learning process - but still, it bugs me.  Part of the whole problem is that I haven't had a frame so it's been hard to get my loop length consistent while trying to balance a quilt hoop in my lap - not the best thing to hook a rug on.  But Mr. Postman - hero that he is (don't tell him that though, he's really a crank), dropped off the frame yesterday.  Was I home?  Of course not, so I'm high-tailing it to the post office now to pick it up!

Well, that's about all that's going on around here.  I don't expect to get too much done in the next week or so with all the kids activities, etc.  Plus I just realized that this is the time of year again for my annual Spring thrifty/antique store time.  Seems next week is about the only free week (knock on wood) that I see for a while, so hopefully the weather will hold out, I can get my Cafe Mocha from Mickey D's, crank up some tunes in the car and drive in pursuit of fun things.  Maybe!  Those fun times are always subject to change.

Thanks so much again for all your wonderful comments.  I loved the comments I received last time, especially those of you that shared a little fun fact about yourself.  Have a wonderful week and make it stitchy!!!

Change is Good!

Happy Friday everyone!!!  I don't know about the weather in your part of the country, but it's an absolutely beautiful day here.  Sunny, warming up, snow melting!  In the 40's all weekend!!  Definitely has to put you in a happy mood.  For some reason I keep hearing Martha Reeves and the Vandella's singing Heat Wave!  LOL   But it's also made me have Spring fever in the worst way, so I have barely spent a minute in the house the past week and when I have, all I can say is that you can see your reflection in my shower tiles - okay, maybe not, but they're clean!  LOL  I even tried to clean up my blog, but I'm not sure that I like it.  I'll just have to play with it some more.   It also made me clear out my change basket for some goodies, but I'll get to that in a bit (beware - a lot of pictures).

I didn't get a lot of stitching done this week.  Another night or two and this baby will be finished:

Margaret Pence.  I do love stitching on this, but once again, those danged frogs came out of hiding and were snipping at my tail all week!  I don't know what it is about these smaller pieces, but they are the bane of my existence.  My next piece will definitely have to be a larger piece.

Quilting is going slow too.  I've made a little bit of progress.  I went from this:

To this - kind of scary doing that:

To this:

Kind of crazy blocks, don't you think?  I have a hard time with combining all these crazy fabrics together.  As we all know, I'm anal - I like things to match up, coordintate, live in perfect harmony when finished.  This doesn't even come close - not even the circles match up because you cut them freehand!  So this is a real learning experience for me - learn not to be anal!  I hope to have the whole quilt pieced in the next couple days - that is if I stay home long enough to do it!

Yesterday, I had my rug hooking class, and I just love it.  Problem is that rug hooking doesn't seem to like me.  This is my progress or lack of progress.  Instead of going forward, I've gone completely backward.  In other words, I sheared my sheep:

Poor sheepie.  Thank goodness it's getting warmer around here because this poor thing is bare!  I don't hook high enough.  I seem to have the hang of it, but my loops aren't high enough, so I pulled the whole thing out.  I do love going to class though.  Kris is a great teacher.  Yesterday we learned about binding our rugs.  I think I'm a long way off for that!  But you may want to check our her blog.  She's posting a rug a day and her rugs are just beautiful.  So beautiful in fact, that I just had to pick up this baby:

This was the beauty that was staring out from the background in my last post.  I just have to do her, but like I said, I've got to get those loops higher!  I'm going for a make up class tomorrow, so more fun and more eye candy.

Anyway, Spring brings change, and I had a whole lot of it:

I throw all my change into this basket.  When it gets full, I roll it and start over again.  If there are a lot of quarters when this baby is full, I rake in about $100.00  I could get rich with the amount of change that my kids leave laying around, that comes out of their pants pockets on laundry, etc.  I also collect those bills that come out of pockets.  I don't keep anything over $5.00.  Unfortunately, I think my kids are catching on to my change snatching because I haven't seen a lot of it in the past couple of weeks.  So, anyway, I collect all the change, roll it, and hide it away.  But, of course, I'm not a rich woman because I go on road trips and spend it all on stash.

First stop was a quilt store that I had not been to before as it's quite a distance from my house, but near my rug hooking class, and well, you just have to kill two birds with one stone, right?  So I came home with this:

A bunch of patterns!!

And more patterns.  The fabric in the front are my first three installments of the Farmer's Wife Quilt.  But I needed the book before I can start on it, so had to pick that up along with the BBD book.

Then I had to pick these up!  Done in Civil War prints.  This store, Wendy's Simple Stitches in Howell, Michigan, had a whole room of Civil War fabrics.  Oh, be still my heart.!!! I have a funny feeling that I'm going to be burning a lot of that Goodyear rubber going out to that shop.

Then I had to make a couple trips out to my not so local LNS' to see what new Market goodies there were.  Now mind you, I wasn't going to buy a thing (yeah, famous last words):

Obviously the bad won over the good in this case and I didn't listen to me telling myself that I didn't need anything more to stitch.  And I'm still not finished.  Becky RAK'd me with a gift certificate to Down Sunshine Lane that I have to use and I did do a little bit of web surfing too.  I just had to have those scissors to add to the collection, and the sheep and tape measure just because, well, I'm a hooker now too.  And I love, love the BBD book.  So many great projects to do in that book.  I can't wait to dive into it!    Most of these goodies came from Stitches 'N Things, but I also picked up a few things at the The Rocking Horse  This store is a feast for the eyes, but the only thing lacking is that they don't carry the linens us sampler lovers love.  But here are a couple pictures:

This is the upper level (sorry for the dark picture)

Part of the lower level.  There is more behind me, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

This shop has a ton of things in it.  I forgot to take a picture of the Shepherd's Bush area, but I think you can see that it's full of eye candy.  Models are hanging all over the shop.  But they're not into the sampler things that I particularly like, but still fun to go to.

So that's been my week!  I definitely had Spring fever.  I'm exhausted.  All that shopping can really tire you out!  LOL  I do try to rationalize these purchases with the thought that my summer is really crazy with the kids and road trips are not something that usually happens.  So I need to stock up now!

Well, I'm off to catch up on everyone's blogs.  I've barely read anything in the past few days.  Tomorrow I'm going for a make-up hooking class, and I'm hoping that my sheep will look sheepy again.  And on Sunday I'm going to rest and play with all my goodies.  Okay, I lie.  I see a lot of laundry (oh, maybe more change too) and more cleaning in my future, but I can think about all the stitching goodies.  Maybe next week I can play with them - I'm not getting back in my car except for my hooking class if I can help it.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving comments when you do.  I do love hearing from everyone.  Have a wonderful weekend, and I hope that it's warming up in your part of the world too!