Stumbling across a WIP

Once, there were two adorable Dutch salt-and-pepper children who loved to play outside.  One day they stumbled across a needleworker’s work-in-progress:

They started looking around to see if anyone was watching them because they were afraid that their calf that had tagged long might have soiled that piece of expensive-looking linen:

But the kind needleworker told them “no harm done”, and was glad that they stopped by to visit!  The end.

Thank you for stopping by today, my bloggy friends!  I hope you have had a great day so far!!

Decorative Details: Part 2

(Subtitle: How does a dish-aholic incorporate what she collects in her home decor?)

4. Plates

Plates in china cabinets:

Plate on the wall:

Plates on window sill:

Plates on kitchen counter:

Plates on bathroom counters:

Plates just as equally important as books in bookcase:

Plates on fireplate mantel:

Plates atop doorway:

Plates on wall sconces:

The top of the piano definitely doesn’t escape the sprinkling of plates from the dish-aholic (even if it’s just a silver bread plate!):

And… what does the crazy dishaholic lady do with the extra plates? Why, she uses them as receptacles for jar candles (of course!):

Plates, plates, plates everywhere – such is the motto of a dish-aholic’s decorating style!

p.s.  Click here if you have missed part 1.

Challenge-within-challenge!

I think I got carried away when I was designing the “Family Tree” quilt on Electric Quilt! The design on the monitor screen looked fabulous at the time I played around with inserting different blocks and fabric swatches for different visual effects! Well, things certainly often present themselves much easier on paper (monitor screen in this case)… I hadn’t anticipated the “challenge within challenge” situations that I have encountered in making this magazine quilt. Shown here is part of the design I see on my monitor screen:

1. Nine-patch within nine-patch (after the fact!):

It was really not that hard except for the fact that it was a bit tedious. The challenge came when I had to pull out “customized” tricks in getting the finished size for each individual square to be 1″. Things tend to get a bit tricky when one is dealing with something that small in size. So, I had to experiment with moving my needle positions, squaring up the pieces for every seam I sewed… time quickly added up for those 25 blocks I had to make!

2. Pinwheel-within-pinwheel:

As if step one wasn’t enough in trying one’s patience, I quickly discovered step 2 is even more challenging, especially for the smaller pinwheels. I tried changing out those pinwheel blocks with other blocks in the software, but they just didn’t look as good! Even my artistic consultant (aka husband) agreed. So, I was stuck slugging it out for them pinwheels.

You can see a snippet of the quilt top where some of the pinwheels are now incorporated in the quilt top. I have to say they look pretty good :)

I think I am ready to complete this “challenge within challenge” quilt. As soon as I am finished with this plus two other magazine quilts this month, I am ready for something easier and doesn’t require any thought – LEISURE – as shown on this Delft plate sent by a friend from Holland!