Gone Too Soon

Janet Lea Thompson

May 21, 1952 - May 23, 2013

 

"It is a sweet thing, friendship, a dear balm.

A happy and auspicious bird of calm..."

- Shelly 

Busy Doing Everything But Stitching

      I've been keeping myself very busy these days. Much of my day is spent in my gardens tidying up the beds after the long winter rest. I have much weeding to do... so please pardon the dandelions... I'll get to them soon.

I hope my Garden Frog keeps the Stitchin' Frog away this Summer.

I installed a new pine bark path to create a mud-free walking path.

          I recently inherited my paternal grandmother's treadle Singer sewing machine. 

It's been a few years since it's been used and I'm looking forward to seeing if it's still operational. 

      I finished the basic blocks for my Snow Globe quilt and now comes the decision  as to which background fabric to use.

Emma's made her fabric selection.

Owen would rather take a nap and leave the fabric choices up to me.

       
      I did spend some time in my stitching chair... but it wasn't much!

Rachel Howells - The Scarlett House

Sarah Pain - Scarlet Letter

        I was also the winner of a giveaway on Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year

A lovely book on the textiles at Sulgrave Manor and a Victoria and Albert 1840 commemorative thimble.

  Laurie

A Beautiful Weekend in Wisconsin

        Emma and Owen wanted me to thank you all for your Birthday greetings. They were less than thrilled with me when I left them here on their birthday and took off for Wisconsin for the weekend. 

Sorry pups... you know I'll make it up to you!

      Last weekend I headed to Wisconsin to attend my stitching guild's Spring Retreat at Sinsinawa Mounds. A last minute decision had my truck heading towards Madison, WI for a stop here:

          The Scarlet Letter had some of their sampler models and antique samplers on display at Lynn's. I wanted to see The Manifesto model in person as I'm participating in the Manifesto SAL. Glad I didn't see the model before I signed on for the SAL because I may have been scared off by the size of this beauty.

The Manifesto

      Hannah Carter moved to the top of my 'must stitch' list once I saw the model.

Hannah Carter along with other Scarlet Letter models.

      I was also delighted to see The Lady and the Castle as I'm stitching The Lady for one of the door panels on my 17th Century mirror surround.

The Lady and the Castle

       Imagine my surprise when I walked into Lynn's and discovered that a group of stitchers from the Chicago area were also shopping at Lynn's. They had planned a weekend away at the Country Sampler's Second Story. Read all about their adventures on Laura's blog, maude and mozart. Laura has wonderful photos of Country Sampler and all the lovely goods on offer in their shop. You'll even find a photo of me!

        Part of the pleasure of guild retreat weekend is a stop at .... you guessed it....

 That's my truck parked right at their front door. I didn't have far to carry all those great purchases. 

Lincoln

Colfax County

             I didn't come home with the kits for either the Lincoln quilt or the Colfax County quilt, but I do have the patterns. I think my collection of red French General fabrics are going to look lovely made up into the Colfax County quilt. 

         I did come home with the quilt kit for the Nottingham Star quilt.

Nottingham Star

      Next stop, Sinsinawa Mounds, for a delightful time with the Guild members and lots of time for stitching.  It's always tough deciding what to bring along to work on during the retreat. I find that projects on larger count linen works best as my traveling light/magnifier isn't quite up to the task of assisting me with stitching on the higher count linens. 

   So I started two new projects. The first is Esther Charlton. Esther came kitted with 25 ct. linen and fine English wool. I've stitched two samplers with the GAST Simply Wool and enjoyed both projects. The fine English wool included in the kit was thicker than Simply Wool and I had to take care not to shred the wool while pulling it through the linen.

The Esther Charlton Sampler - The Scarlet Letter

I also brought along Freelove Hazard. Most of the stitching on Freelove is done over one, but the border and the capital letters of the verse are done over two. I thought I could stitch some of the border while at the retreat. I'm stitching the sampler on 29 ct. Glenshee linen with  AVAS as charted. I did do a little of the over one and thought I could use a tent stitch rather than a full cross, but changed my mind. I'll have to go back over the leaf and add a full cross.

Freelove Hazard - The Scarlet Letter

      On Saturday night we had our gift exchange and I was the lucky winner of Barb's handmade stitching pouches, mouse pincushion, stitched floss bag holder and spool scissor holder. I was thrilled to be able to bring these all home with me.

 

       The pups were happy to see me when I picked them up from the kennel and couldn't wait to get home. Thankfully they forgave me for putting them in 'prison' for the first nice weekended, weatherwise, that we've had in 2013.

      Since coming home I've spent a lot of time selecting fabrics for my next quilt - Snow Globes by Tula Pink. Way back in 2005 I went on a quilting tour to France and purchased some cotton fabrics at the factory we visited that manufactured quilting cottons. I also purchased some Dutch chintz fabrics at the International Quilt show we attended while on the tour. Snow Globes is the perfect pattern to feature my special fabrics. I'm pairing them with shot cottons. Decisions still have to be made about background fabrics.

Snow Globes - Tula Pink

      I've been stitching too and I'm celebrating a finish this morning. It's not  finish finished and I am planning on doing my own finishing on this little beauty. Be looking for that finished finish in a future blog post. I used the over-dyed cottons as charted on 40 ct. Vintage Light Examplar.

Needleworker - Little House Needleworks

 Laurie

Happy Fifth Birthday Sweet Pups

Emma - My Little Diva

Owen - My Shy Boy

BFFs Forever

I Heart Tula Pink

      We were celebrating a finish on Sunday morning at Corgi Cottage... but it wasn't a stitching finish, it was a quilt top finish. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have recovered my quilting mojo. I have Michelle and Tula Pink to thank for my return to the wonderful world of quilt top construction. Thank you ladies!
         Drum roll please.... my completed Field Study by Tula Pink quilt top.

I Heart My Frog Prince!

No quilt top is considered complete until approved by the Head Quilt Top Inspector. Emma gave the quilt top her two paws up sign of approval.

      It wasn't all about quilting these past couple of weeks... I also worked on Rachel Howells. I'm building Rachel's house and I'm almost finished.

      There was a lot of prep work to be done on the Mermaid Treasures tutorial project. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that I've basted more that 5 feet of linen for the project. Now I'm ready to start Lesson 3 and the 'fun' stitching.

      
       I also couldn't resist adding to my collection of Tula Pink fabrics from her earlier collections.  I want to have a variety of fabrics to chose from when I create the blocks for her new City Sampler quilt.

 I love the way the Etsy shop owner, Making Stuff Up, packages her fabrics. It's a pleasure to receive something so beautifully presented. I bought one bundle of fabrics and was glad to return to her Etsy shop and order more!
      Please check back on Friday, April 26th, as we celebrate a very special day here at Corgi Cottage.

Laurie

False Alarm... It's Really NOT Spring

            I was so hoping that Spring has arrived in northeast Iowa... but it only lasted about 36 hours and Winter returned with a vengeance. I woke to a light coating of snow this morning after days and days of cold, chilly rain accompanied with thunder and lots of lightening. Owen and I did not care for the late night thunderstorm. Emma slept through the entire storm.

        I worked on Rachel Howells and completed all the leaves in the border and the border met... Yay!

            I was a bit distracted when a package arrived in the mail. Amy Mitten sent the Mermaid Treasures kit for her on-line Tutorial.

 

      Look at all those lovely goodies we received in the kit! We've also received the first two lessons. Nothing exciting to post photos about yet... just lots of basting on the two pieces of linen so we'll be all set to go on to the more interesting stitching.  If you aren't familiar with Amy's Mermaid Treasures check out her website photos of the pieces we will be creating. Mermaid Treasures Tutorial

     I think my quilting mojo has finally returned... and it's about time! It's been a very long time since my rotary cutter and mat have seen the light of day. It felt good to iron quilting fabric and start cutting today. I did make a couple of Ooops... but I'm not going to be too hard on myself... after all my skills are a bit rusty. I'm sure it won't take long to get back up to speed. 

    My frog prince will help me over the rough spots.

   

      Despite the never ending wet, dreary weather the pups and I have been getting out for longer walks in the morning. Emma crashes on the couch the moment we get back home!

 

      Emma and I would like to wish you all a wonderful weekend. We hope you have time to do those things you love, spend time with the people and furkids  you love and maybe even a few minutes to spare for a well deserved nap.

     Until next time.... 

Laurie