New start

I know this blog has been neglected so I've decided to make a fresh start. You can now find me at

Under Random Stuff

New Bracelets

I've been into jewelry lately, or should I say that what seems to get finished. Anyway, this first one is Tropics that I got from Fusion Beads. The lampwork bead in the middle I got from Etsy.

This one is a little blurry (I'll try to fix that). It is a floral wreath bracelet. I made the beads and then strung them to the copper rings.

This was actually the first one. I wish you could see the focal pendant but again only one of my pictures actually came out. I stamped a flower onto a piece of hand-dyed fabric. I then attached it to a brass circle and covered it with diamond lacquer. This was very easy. I made it in about 2 hours.

Enjoy,

Michele

We now return to our regularly scheduled program

So, yes, I've been missing. It simply comes down to that I didn't have anything to show. Natalie has been keeping me very busy and I've been working on stuff but nothing show-worthy.

Until now...


Monday was my Pandora's Meeting. Unfortunately we were missing three of our favorite people but Alisan and I met, and did some fun stuff with UTEE and Lutrador.

First we painted our Lutrador and let it dry. We did one where we wetted the Lutrador and painted and one we left dry.

After one was dry we used a melting tool to burn holes and what not.
This is my piece. Very random.
This is Alisan's. She signed hers. Neat tool. It has many different points and melted the Lutrador like butter. (Feel free to giggle at the SNL reference.)

We also took a piece of velvet, painted it with Gesso, and then put on several layers of UTEE. After the last coating we applied a stamp. Once it dried we used Lumiere to accent the design. The pink one is mine. The glare from the flash is a little harsh but you'll have to see it in person.

This is Alisan's. We used gold UTEE as her last layer and we should have used more. The Lumiere really brought out the design.

Fun, fun.

Enjoy,

Michele

Knitting Away February

February was a little crazy around here. The racing season got under way and Jason spent five days home all month. So, since Natalie wants an audience and that leaves little time in the studio, I've been knitting. These are my second pair of socks.

This is a knecklace. It is very delicate and crys for beads. I'm working on it.

This is my first pair of socks. I tried to tackle socks last winter and just couldn't get it right. For whatever reason, this time worked.

Enjoy,

Michele

Felted Bag Progress

Here is what I've been dealing with the last few days. Lots of this white crap they don't know how to deal with in North Carolina and a five-year old with cabin fever. This photo is from Saturday. She went out twice that day. Sunday she went out once and hasn't been out since.

Here is the finished market bag I've been knitting. It is much bigger then I thought it would be.

Here it is felted. I was hoping to work on the flowers but I don't have the appropriate size DPN. Since it doesn't look like I'll be getting out anytime soon, I may substitute the next size.

And I just had to share this. This was a belt when I was in high school. It was in a box next to catnip. Haley is enjoying herself. What better fun on a snowy day but to get your cat high!

Enjoy!

Michele

Eleventh Hour Cowl

So remember the yarn from the last post. Well, here is what I made with one of the skeins.

It is a free cowl pattern I found on-line. I've actually had this finished for a little while but I want to make a polymer clay button for it. I didn't like the first one I made so I'll be making a new one.

I went on a retreat this past weekend and had a great time. Didn't finish anything, but had a great time.

Enjoy,

Michele

Yarn, Wondrful Yarn

So I'm nothing if not unpredictable. My friends say I'm eclectic. Whatever, it could be worse, right? Anyway, I needed a change of pace so I went back to a knitting project that I started around Thanksgiving and put down because it called for something new and I needed to concentrate and didn't want to. So I picked it up again. But I needed a quick, instant gratification project so...

I came across a project on-line for a neck scarf (which I seem to be wearing a lot of lately) and needed a bulky weight yarn. Off to the Needlecraft Center in Davidson I go and came home with these bits of lovely. What a wonderful, warm place! I saw a friend from quilt guild there and even got invited to the sit-n-knit on Monday. Stay tuned for the results.

Enjoy,

Michele

The Latest on the Cardinal

Here is the latest on the cardinal. I've now completed the left side of the pattern, very exciting! I'm very pleased with how he's coming along. Usually I stay seasonal, so I would have typically put him away by now but not so much with this project.

Enjoy,
Michele

Sunday, Sundae

Here is an update on my WIP. I figure if I'm accountable to the blogging world I'll finish it in a timely manner.

My next recipe. I made a Shrimp Corn Chowder I saw on another blog I follow. The Sampler Girl posted this and I thought it looked wonderful. It was!!!! Too bad I'm the only one who eats it (not really).

I haven't posted a cat picture for a while. Here's my sweet girl, Haley, trying to hide behind a quilt no less.

Enjoy,

Michele

Things I've Made (of all sorts)

Here's a WIP that I've been working on in between the Christmas ornaments. It is Blackbird Designs Tis the Season to Be Jolly. It is done with Crescent Colours Belle Soie silks and it is absolutely yummy. Sewing with silk is like sewing with butter. That is cardinals tail and he is surrounded by holly. The saying is in French. You could do it in English but I didn't want to.

So what do you do when you're tired of holiday leftovers and it's really cold outside? You start cooking. Yesterday I made a Garlic Chicken Stir Fry (sorry no photo). Really good, even Natalie liked it. I think it could rival take-out.

Today, I made a Slow Cooker Beef Stew. It had a bit of prep work but it was all worth. I seved it with some Corny Corn Bread. Excellent! Thanks to allrecipes.com for the recipes.

Enjoy,

Michele

Catching Up

Over the holidays I needed portable projects so I finished several Christmas ornaments. Sorry I'm not going to rearrange them. We start with Six Geese A-Laying.

Five Golden Rings...

Four Colly Birds...

Three French Hens

Two Turle Doves...

And a Partridege in a Pear Tree. These are from Cricket Collection. The plan is to finish the remaining six before next Christmas.

This is Birdhouse Mitten, also from Cricket.


Michele

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