Morning Glory Studio

scrapping...

On April 15, Kayla spent the day and we worked on her birthday party scrapbook. She selected the photos and papers (I'd bought an album kit for her) and I printed and trimmed while she pasted and worked on the journaling. We had fun and she left with the album and pages not quite finished. I'm eager to see her final product.

On Saturday, I surprised myself and printed photos for my OLW Feb page...I'd just not found any photos I wanted to use...now not only is the page done I also learned a little more about using my printer and PSE8 to print photos for scrapping!

 

The photos are: 1) the surprise shot of the moon I saw after an afternoon walk on a cold and crisp Feb day; 2) I particpated in LOAD211 and this is one of my favorite scrapped pages I completed ~ it represents my renewed interest in  scrapping; 3) and 6) are my OLW (one little word) - accomplish - that resides right on my desk - front and center always; 4) the fronts and collar of my sweater that I'm knitting (I'm actually much further along -finishing the buttinhole band but this photo represents where I was in Feb); 5) Christian's  quilt - finished - I thought I'd wrap up in it for the photo shoot;  7) another scrapbook page I made to track and document one of my goals: walk at least 3700 steps, outside, daily; 8) on my walks I see a lot of interesting and unexpected sights - like these sculptures in someone's front yard - a little bit of serendipity; and  9) a snippet of the Marriott notepad with a print of a bucket I made several years ago ...

April is near over, as in tomorrow. Looking over the month, I'm thinking I've made some great strides. I'll share more later. I'll have lots of time Sunday to review and reflect on the month and my journey, thus far...more to be revealed, later. Enjoy the weekend.

Cheers~

a february start...

Honoré here:  It is February! and this month brings all sorts of goodies and activities on my plate, per usual. I started brainstorming what I want/hope to accomplish this month. Already I am  up to #24, uhmm...

You may recall that I'm taking (thanks again to my friend Mary) the One Little Word class (check it out, you can still join).  Our one little word prompt for this month is to take pictures of our word, both literally and figuratively. Interesting challenge. But, I'm up for the task and share with you one photo: Christian's quilt. For all intent and purposes, it is done! Binding's added  and all that I've left to do is add a label, clip some stray threads and send it off. I just couldn't resist a photo of me wrapped in the quilt...

and here is another close-up with the binding...

One quilt for Christian -Accomplished! Sweet.

And our girl Kayla celebrated her tenth birthday...

...Saturday with a sleep-over at a hotel,  joined by six of her little friends. I don't envy her mother one bit; I trust she's recuperated by now.

Well, guess if  I'm going to accomplish other items on my list, I'd best get movin...time waits for no one and February is a short month! 

Cheers~

weekend learning...

Honoré here: Friday [9/10] was such a lovely day to be outside so I decided after my walk that I'd just stop putting off the dreaded weeding chore ...and I did. Look!

I must say the area looks a sight better than before and with a little more attention, it'll be ready for some bright mums in that barren spot. I must also say that I am a little worse for the wear. Yesterday, it took all the strength I could muster to move, go up/down the stairs, sit down, get up. I was sore, stiff, achy and my knees really didn't want to cooperate. Lesson for the day: don't overdo. Today, I am a little more mobile and dare I say, agile,though I'm still quite cognizant of the fact that I have knees.

Christian's quilt...

...all packed and ready to go to the long-arm quilter. Hooray! Hooray! Tomorrow it gets delivered.

This is my first full sized quilt. It may possibly be my last. When I first started quilting I always said I didn't intend to make b-i-g quilts. Now I know why. I am glad I had the experience and my appreciation for everyone who makes or has made a b-i-g quilt has increased exponentially. I think that if I had a proper studio - like a loft - equipped with tables and walls and sewing machines that can handle b-i-g quilts or with enough space to have a quilting bee, I might be more inclined to tackle others. Until, I intend to stick with wall hangings and lap quilts or smaller... My lesson: you won't/don't know until you've tried though my instincts were pretty much correct.

Have a great Monday.

Cheers~

to school...

Honore here: Good news - our girl Chris is definitely on the mend, tho' she had a minor setback, another reaction - a rash -  last week. That was the bad news. The good. Easily reversed with a strong dose of benadryl and a creme to tamp down the itching. etc. I'm sure you can hear our collective sigh of relief.

I took this picture of her and her new MacBook's hot pink cover after the trip to the doctor last Thursday. She's smiling alot because she's reading email from her soon-to-be college roommate. 

Saturday, she goes off to school (fingers, toes, arms, legs crossed xxx)...

Yesterday, Monday, was back to school for Missy Kayla. I've been greeting her on her first day at school since she first started at age four in the Montessori program (I think I need to do a retrospective of those years). This year, she's in the fourth grade. Kayla loves school and is delighted to be back. Can you tell?

I'm happy to report that at 5:25 pm last Saturday (8/21), I finished sewing all 36 blocks of Chris' quilt together. It's big (78" x 86") - too large to quilt on my machine so it's off to the long-arm quilter next week. With luck,Chris will have the quilt mid October. Said quilt top was also too large for my design wall, which is prompting me to add another panel. I'll share how I make a quick and relatively inexpensive design wall panel in my next post. And with that said, I'm off to make the panel.

Cheers~

...the week that was...

Honoré here: On Sunday, August 15, at 4:55:07 pm, I completed the 36th block of Christian's Quilt. This is block # 3 - I really like the fact that the center piece is so much bigger - a great size to showcase the Make Life fabric.

Time to celebrate, especially after the grueling week Christian, her mother, grandmother and I had.

Christian contracted a staph infection on her forehead...and that was painful enough, especially since she had to have two shots at the infection site. [Shudder]. Just as it appeared she was getting better, she took a turn for the worse: she ached, lost weight, etc. She was in/out of the hospital emergency room and the doctor's...and just when we thought she was on the mend, her temperature shot up to 104 degrees. The doctors, stumped, admitted her and put her on IVs to hydrate her, feed her and medicate her and tried to figure out what was wrong.

Hematologists were called in and who knows what other specialists. Finally, they determined the cause of her fevers: her body was rebelling against the antibiotic prescribed for the staph infection. She was released from the hospital this past Friday and is slowly regaining her strength, thankfully. We are all so grateful that the cause for her illness was determined and now, we're playing catch-up  as she goes to college on the 28th! And of course, there's much to do.

But, we'll get it done and if not, that's OK, too. Her mom's going to be there the weekend of Sept 10 and I'm sure she will take more "stuff" on that trip. As for me, I'm proceeding with the quilt, squaring up the blocks so they are all approximately 13.5" x 13.5" and then, I begin to assemble the blocks. My goal is to get the quilt-top to the quilter by the end of month/first of Sept.

It's really becoming a reality...truly to be continued.

Cheers~

quilt blocks, books and bubbly...

Honoré here:  The "block party" for Christian's quilt continues...a preview of Block #2  (that purply color is really pink!)...

Five down, seven to go and then, onto Block # 3. Aim to start it Wednesday; we'll see.

My reading stack from last week....

...and a little bubbly to wind down this day....

Cheers~

proceeding...

Honoré here: Thursday, my friend Nora (whom I met in Sisters in April and who is in the area for the summer, in order to escape the hot AZ weather - ha!) met in a classroom of a retail fabric store to have a stitchin' get-together. She worked on some of her pieces using the techniques we learned in Sisters at our Intuitive Color & Design workshop...

and I, proceeded with tracing templates onto fabric for Christian's quilt...

This weekend, I've been sewing blocks...so far, I've completed seven. Only five to go and then, all of Block #1 will be complete. I have been trying to time the stitching of a block...just to get a handle on how much I can accomplish in a given hour - 75 minutes. Barring any interruptions: telephone calls, breaks, time out to eat, and machine thread jamming, it has taken me approximately 60-75 minutes per block. At least I have an idea of the amount of time I'll need to devote over the next couple days to complete the twelve Blocks #1.

Each block has 21 pieces and I have to iron each seam as I put the pieces together. I've set up a production line: block pieces to my right ...

and an ironing station on my left...

I just swivel my chair from one side to another; cuts down on jumping up and down tho' I I still need to get up occasionally to trim a strip. The exercise is good.

My mother was always a good one for plotting out a project timeline; she would make a sample to see how much time was required as well as to figure out and practice on whatever she was creating. She used the same approach for writing an annual report for work, creating a piece of weaving, or painting the entire interior of her house, which she did, alone over a period of two - three months. I always admired her for that approach and wished I had adopted it sooner.

Here's a preview of the finished blocks...

...and a close-up of one with a Make Life center...

I'm eager to see how this is all going to turn out but I've a ways to go...to be continued.

Cheers~