The Blizzard Is Done!

Well, almost. I'll sew this up sometime this coming week:



Is this glittery or what?!!!! It sparkles so much, that it really is almost blinding in the light! And that's what I wanted. I'll post another photo when I get it sewn together.

I haven't decided for sure on my next project. I have a couple more purse blocks all ready to stitch on, a few cellphone pouches and a couple of Valentine projects. I just have to pick one.

And Scott said that my antique sewing machine is almost ready. He expects to have it completely done by the end of the weekend. I'm so looking forward to treadling! As soon as it's ready, I'll post a photo of it. He's done such a great job on refinishing the cabinet and cleaning up the machine. It's gorgeous! I expect you'll get to see in the next couple of days!

More Snow!

And not just on this purse! But I'll spare you my whining today! Ha, ha, ha!!!

Yes, I did a lot of beading on this yesterday:



The silver snowflake at the bottom right is a pin that I bought at a flea market back in November.

Scott drilled some extra holes in my big blue snowflake so that will be going on today along with more beads and more sequins.

It isn't quite blinding yet, but it's getting there!

My post tomorrow will be a little later in the day. Scott and I are planning on finishing up our Christmas shopping. We just have a little left to do. I will post an update on this purse tomorrow though, just check in a little later than normal.

Pearl Harbor Day - Ginger's Diary

I post this link every year on Pearl Harbor Day. Ginger was a 17 year old girl living at Hickam Field, Hawaii in December of 1941. Here you will find her account of the events of her life leading up to the bombing as well as an account of the actual event itself through the eyes of this teenage girl. It's a fascinating and interesting view of the historical "Day Of Infamy".

Ginger's Diary

The Blizzard Continues

I had quite a few hours to stitch on this yesterday:



It's really looking glittery! But it isn't blinding yet! Ha, ha, ha! It needs more sequins!

Ironically, they're calling for more snow here tonight. Oooh, I just can't wait to clean off the driveway again! NOT! Oh well, I do have more stitching time in the Winter. It's just too cold to sit outside. When the temps are in the upper 30's & 40's, I like to sit on the front porch for a little while in the afternoon. The sun (when we have it) is bright out there on the porch. Right now, it's too cold. At least Spring is the next season! I should probably be making a purse with palm trees and coconuts on it!

Don't forget, the 2008 Valentine Mystery Stitch-Along starts on January 3rd. I know it's hard to think of Valentine's Day at Christmastime but since we start right after the New Year, I had to plan ahead! You can find more information here.

Blizzard Purse

We woke up to 6 inches of snow this morning. I'll spare you the disaster photos! Honestly, is there a rock somewhere with some written law on it that says it HAS to snow in Northern Illinois in December? The news people mentioned this morning that they thought it was so pretty outside. Excuse me? Pretty is 80 degrees and sunny! This is a sloppy mess!

I can't say that I don't like snowflakes. I just prefer artistic renditions of them as opposed to having them in my reality:



I guess in some ways, this purse is kind of a poetic joke! It's no secret that I'm intolerant of Winter. The snow, the cold and the extra hours of darkness get to me. By the end of January, I usually have cabin fever so bad, I can't stand myself! I thought it would help to have a special purse just for that month. Calling it "The Blizzard Purse" is my sense of humor trying to make light of what I find to be the most annoying and inconvenient time of year. I will have a Winter house in Florida some day!

So on to what I did here. I used a combination of Carol Samples "Dream A Seam" Templates as well as my Waste Canvas technique.

The seam at the top between the two pieces of lace was one of Carols Templates. Once I had that stitched, I lined up a piece of waste canvas over the top to do the Fan Stitches. I have this thing about perfect fans!

Anyway, I used another of Carols templates for the Cretan Stitch and then I free-handed the Lazy Daisy stitches. The Buttonhole stitches were done with the templates and then the snowflakes and the fans at the bottom were done with Waste Canvas.

I really want to experiment more with the templates but that will come in time. For now, I'm doing my best to focus on anything but the weather. If you're interested in the Dream A Seam Templates, you can find them at Evening Star Designs.

I've been collecting snowflake sequins and buttons. I also have some flower appliques that resemble snowflakes so I plan to pull those out later and dye them in shades of blue. I'll probably add glitter to them too. I want this purse to be so sparkley that it's blinding to look at in the sun! If we ever see that again!

And speaking of snowflakes, I must tell you, I'm addicted to designing Biscornu's! I haven't stitched a-one yet but I absolutely love doing designs for them. I just finished a set of 4 Biscornu designs with snowflakes, each one in a different pastel color. I'll have those ready soon. In the meantime, I have to clean up the driveway. Argggggg........