A Rose By Any Other Name...

I present my latest finish. After the quilt show I decided I wanted to work on something that gave me a deadline. I have had this pattern for a little while and wanted to make it in time to take on a trip.

It is knitted and felted. The wool for the bag body felted so nice. The roses are beaded yarn (Tilli Tomas flurries). I then made it a lining (sorry no photo but very simple) and sewed it to the handle. I still need to hand stitch the roses to the bag so they don't flop around.

Michele

Quilt Show

Halloween weekend marked the Lake Norman Quilters second quilt show. We had a great turnout and an overall great show. Here is my winning patchwork pumpkin.

This is a quilt by Sandy Palmer. I just loved it.

The Sailing Under the Harvest Moon Challenge.

The Roots Challenge.

We had 244 pieces. That is an amazing number for only 57 members.

The pink quilt on the far right was Best of Show.

The Flights of Fantasy Doll Club display. I am also a member of this amazing group but I forget my doll to add to the collection.

All in all a great experience but a lot of work.

Michele

Halloween

As you can tell from an earlier post, Natalie was Dorothy for Halloween. Her costume was good (I found my own mistakes of course.) She did forget Toto for the parade.

Here she is with Daddy. He took his lunch early so he could be there. It was important considering he was in Talladega for Trick-or-Treating.









Here we are.

Michele

October Happenings

I've been waiting to upload all of the happenings here at Casa Gray Barn. My camera is MIA and I was using Jason's and couldn't get the photos downloaded. Anyway, success, so here we go.

Natalie really wanted to carve pumpkins, so thanks to Pop and his garden, we have FREE pumpkins.

Here she is getting ready. Of course, she did not do any of the actual carving but she did enjoy slopping in the seeds.

Here we are carving.

Natalie with pumpkin number 1.

And pumpkin number 2.

After we were done, I figured out it had been at least 15 years since I carved a pumpkin. Needless to say, I had fun.

Michele

Spooky Fence

I am definitely in the spirit right now. I've had this Raise the Roof chart for a couple of years and finally felt the need to make it. It is made with Weeks Dye Works thread and Just Another Button Company buttons. I'm seeing it as part of a quilted wall hanging but now I really need to finish my stuff for the quilt show.

Michele

Studio Tour

Welcome to my Studio! Here is Haley, the official greeter. My studio is located in the bonus room above our garage and it is approximately 250 square feet. When we built our house, the plan was always that this room would be mine while my husband has a detached garage for his "car things."

Here is the view from the top of the stairs as you come into the room. With the knee walls, I don't have flat space for a design wall. I use an easel and small design board. You can see the bluish piece in the background. Someone still hasn't hung my curtain rod.
I absolutely love these wire basket units. We got them in the closet organization section of Lowes. It took Jason 10 minutes to assemble each one. He hung the counter top on the wall. He did most of this work one evening after work. It took me longer to clean and then put it back. I will fill in the two spaces with drawer units.
A close-up of the counter. I love my pincushion from the Daily Pincushion. That is a matching emery in front. The set was my "welcome to your new studio" present to myself. I store brushes in old mugs.
He built me a high counter and then a low counter with a space for either a second sewing machine or my embellisher machine. The wooden box next to it is my lightbox. Jason built that for me. It has a great large top.
Here is an opposite view of the counter.
This is the far corner. There is a bookcase, some magazine organizers for my Australian magazines and a reproduction sewing box.

This is my grandmother's sewing machine and a spool holder that my dad built for me.
My messy sewing machine cabinet.
One of two steel tables someone was throwing away. It is a small ironing station or an additional workspace.
This is the nook next to the staircase. It is the paper station. There is another steel table. Next to it is my bookcase. There is a cube bookcase across from it where I have some UFO's.

Thank you for visiting.
Michele

Open Studios Tour

Cloth Paper Scissors is hosting an on-line studios tour on October 3. I know I just posted about my studio makeover but I'll take some new photos just for the tour.

Michele

Halloween Costume Part I

So what do you do when you can't find or don't like the quality of an available Halloween costume? Well, you make it. Can you guess what she wants to be? She already had the shoes, of course. She started with a pair of pink sparkly shoes which she wore out on the top and bottom, literally. Now, I just need the dog. I found some Toto/basket sets on Amazon but the reviews make me hesitant. We have baskets, so I would rather just find the dog. Stay tuned for further developments.

So, everyone needs a helper when they are changing out the seasonal decorations right? Well, I don't know how helpful she but she's so pretty.

Michele

Happy Fall Y'All

On this the first day of fall, I thought it would be fitting to show my latest creation, a Pumpkin Tablesquare. I call it a tablesquare because it is much smaller then a tablerunner, not quite 24". I used hand-dyed and felted wool on a brushed cotton background. I handstitched with some beautiful hand-dyed Valdani threads and needleturned the corduroy leaves. Finally, I pillowcased the backing. I may do some additional stitching once the next one is backed.

This piece is an original design, although how original can pumpkins be, but I didn't use a pattern. I had wanted something like this and couldn't find anything I like. The creative juices are flowing again thanks to the clean studio, so... It finished very quickly, less then a week, so the second one is already started.

As I was making it I realized it needed to be a gift. My neighbor helps me with Natalie whenever I'm in a pinch, which isn't very often but I still appreciate. So, it has gone to a new home.

Michele

Fabric Stamping

At today's Pandora's meeting we partook in fabric painting as scene in the lastest issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. The orange and turquoise pieces are mine. The photo doesn't due the turquoise piece justice. It has great background circles.

Natalie painted for us. She loves her some pink.

Here is Susan painting her cylinder . She was hoping to make a pattern like corn-on-the-cob with a lot of texture.

Here is our supervising critter, Max. He liked being in the center of the action.

Now to figure out what I can do with it.

Michele

Studio Makeover

I haven't done much creating in the last few months and part of that was because my studio was such a wreck I didn't want to be in it. I'd done some cleaning up but I needed serious help. So Jason offered to help with some permanent features.

This fabric on top is what I'm going to cover my chairs with. I bought it from a LQS when she still carried home dec fabric (which is long since gone). The middle photo is the valence I made for the window. Now on to the big reveal.



The first photo is the before and then the after. Jason put in permanent couter top and wire shelving that is primarily used for closets. There is a high counter and then a lower counter where I can put a second machine.



Again the top is before and then after. Notice my helper on the table.






I didn't do a before of this area, but I can tell you it was very messy. I had very little walking area. You can see it in the above before photo. My machine is in the back and then there is a great stainless steel table (someone was throwing away) that can be used for anything.

Here is the last set of photos. This area was particularly cluttered. Now there is a second stainless table. There is a cube system across from it that I can now get to. This will be a paper area.



I still have some work to do but I am happy to say I can at least get to it and it doesn't make me depressed when I think about going in there. Maybe once the valence is up I'll take some close-ups. I just couldn't contain my excitement any longer!

Michele