Finished At Last!

Well actually almost finished but I now know what we owe on our taxes. The scourge of being self-employed is the bloodletting at the beginning of the year. Very hard to truly estimate how bad the blood bath will be. Well we owe so off to work we go!

The bad thing between working on taxes and the flare-ups I keep having due to our constantly changing weather, I have barely gotten near my sewing room, or my embroidery cart. Now that I don't have the pressure of spending 'free' time working on taxes, perhaps I can get some sewing done and clean up the mess in the sewing room. Perhaps I might get caught up with laundry and the dishes too?!?! Probably not to the last one.

I had been hoping to be able to post more off of my laptop when we got the WiFi, but our internet explorer wouldn't let me into blogger to write up the posts. I tried to upgrade as the little message boxes told me to, but when I did, they said this computer couldn't be upgrades. Wonder why as it isn't THAT old? Well I had to have hubby install Google chrome and I can once again post from my nest upstairs, so I hope that means more blog posts.

Tonight was a night to relax after working for hours on those taxes and one of the things I did was go to one of my favorite Pinterest boards, Hand Embroidery, and studied the samples of stitches and projects taking my time to really look at them and absorb the work. When I'm pinning things, I usually am going fast and will pin whatever catches my eye. Later taking my time, I'm glad for what I pinned. I know I pin a lot onto all my boards, but that is for me how Pinterest should be working, as file cabinets to hold all our ideas. I've seen some ladies mention that they try to not pin too many things so their followers don't get overwhelmed. I'm posting first and foremost for myself as a way to capture great ideas after years of seeing neat things and unless you owned the book or magazine that you see them in, they are lost to you forever. Now that no longer holds true.

Would love to hear how you folks use Pinterest and what is your favorite board that you especially like of all of your boards. If I'm not already following you, I would love your Pinterest url so I can see what you are posting.

Definitely time for bed!

Pinterest

I have just discovered yet another reason to love Pinterest!  Prepping your taxes. We run two businesses on top of lots of other stuff and finishing the first business I declared a 15 minute vacation to go see what was new on Pinterest. I have never yet been disappointed when popping in there. Always something new to see, something new to inspire and to awe you. Most of my Pinterest boards have to do with sewing or needle crafts of some kind if you would like to visit.

Now for a little supper and to decide if I want to do more taxes tonight or put the rest off until tomorrow. I think I know which I'll give in to -- a good book!

Hand Embroidery

Sunday night I was able to finished embroidering this pillowcase which shows 2 bluebirds in a nest. The design came from some old Workbasket magazines that I had gotten at a yard sale long ago that I took all the embroidery transfers out. So a vintage embroidery design that was stitched in 2014!

My husband took the photo and did the photo manipulation so it looks a bit brighter than it really is and the one detail that I was most proud of doesn't show up very well. I had managed by manipulating the colors of embroidery floss to make the tree branch rounded looking by doing dark on the edges and building up to a lighter brown on the top and it gave the optical illusion of a round branch. I used both DMC embroidery floss and DMC pearl cotton in the design.

I enjoyed trying out some different techniques and stitches on this pillowcase. Since they will probably never be used at the same time, with the other pillowcase that I already have stamped I will be using some more different stitches and techniques. I just bought this book Embroidered Embellished which has some interesting different embroidery stitches and ways to use them so I will be using it for inspiration.

Hexa-Go-Go: English Paper Piecing 16 Quilt Projects

I don't know why I do this to myself! To relax before bed I was reading this new book I bought on making Hexagons and hexagon projects. I'm really starting to build up a collection of pieced hexagons in 4 different sizes and really need an idea on which way I should head. Well this book, Hexa-Go-Go: English Paper Piecing 16 Quilt Projects  has ideas by the dozen, not just in the book, but in the ideas that blossom in your head while reading the book. Ideas were exploding in my mind to the point that I couldn't sleep last night as I was designing projects in my head and figuring out how to make them work. I definitely have a better idea of what I want to do with all my different hexagons now. And I know this is not a book for bedtime reading.

This book has great full color photos. Most projects are made with very modern prints which I don't go for, but my stash of flowery fabrics and scraps should do very well when being substituted for the modern prints. While I thought making hexagons would be tedious and difficult, I have found them to great to work on while watching TV. I don't go out much so I don't have a portable package of hexagons to work with currently as the author suggests, but I will certainly think about putting a little kit together for extended waits at doctor's offices and waiting for prescriptions to be filled at the drug store. If you have been hesitant to try hexagons might I suggest you give them a try.

You can dip your toes into the water with a couple of quick hexagon projects in a free class at Craftsy 2012 Block of the Month class. I've done all but the last two blocks at this point. The foundation piecing had gotten the best of my dyslexic brain, but when wide awake in my sewing room, I have been trying to push myself along. You would think I would push myself a little more as I can't (my own rules) start another project until this class is finished and cleaned up. Of course making the hexies doesn't count as I do them in front of the TV instead of in front of the sewing machine. Hard to believe it is March already as I started this class last year while my sewing goal was to learn and perfect new techniques.