Take It Further Challenge - June

Sharon B. has posted the concept and color palette for the June Take It Further Challenge. I must admit, I'm going to have to stretch my imagination again for this one!

The concept is stash and stories that are and the stories that are possible regarding stash.

Does my stash have a story? You betcha! And I was recently reminded of it while reorganizing it. To be honest, I have way more than I will ever use. But I won't go into too many personal details. I seem to be on a path of self-actualization here and am discovering all sorts of interesting things about myself. Many of them, I don't care for. But it is what it is and all I can do is accept it and move on.

With that said, I have no idea how to execute the story of my stash. The only thing I can think of is to load up my block with everything I have but the kitchen sink! There is a pun in that statement that you'll get if you hop over to Sharon's blog and read her post on this months challenge.

In the meantime, I've matched the DMC floss colors up to Sharon's palette:



This one was a tough! That last gray color is not exact. It's the closest I could get based on DMC's floss colors. This is really just a guide to help other's who joined in on the challenge.

As always, my medium is crazy quilting and my block will be 9 inches square. At the end of the year, I intend to sew my blocks into a wall quilt. I doubt I'll have time to sew this block up right away. I expect it may have to wait until next week.

My father is still doing very well. He's walking only with a cane now. He asked me to take him up to WalMart today so I did. It'll still be a few more weeks before he can drive so I'll continue to do errands for my parents as well as my own and I'm still in the process of cleaning out closets and cupboards.

Silk Ribbon Embroidery

I've been in and out of my car constantly for the past few days. I haven't had the energy yet to start on my mom's new cellphone pouch. Maybe later today.

In the meantime, I used the term "SRE" in my last post and was asked what that meant. It stands for Silk Ribbon Embroidery. You can see some on this cellphone pouch:



And also on this purse:



I made both of these projects last Summer. In fact, the black pansy purse is the one I'm using at the moment!

With Silk Ribbon, you can make 3-Dimensional flowers that look quite realistic!

Click on the images to go to my Flickr site where you can see a larger version.

On a final note for today, I still have 2 packs of cross stitch fabric from my mom's stash in my Etsy shop. These are nice fabrics, Evenweaves & Linens. I just dropped the price to get them out of my way. If you're a cross stitcher, please take a look.

My Next Project

As I mentioned in my post for yesterday, my mom asked me for another cellphone pouch. She would like something more simple to wear around the house. My mom is visually impaired and my father, as you know, recently broke his hip so Scott & I insist that mom has her cellphone on her at all times.

This piece is ready for stitching:



Now most of you know that simple is not my style! So this will be a challenge for me. This is the last cellphone pouch that I made for mom:



I'll be in and out of my car most of today so I don't know if I'll have the energy to start on this later or not. I am eager to stitch on this one so I am may at least pull some lace and trim out for it.

Button Block #24 Completed!

I had yesterday to myself but have been working on really cleaning out closets, drawers and cupboards when I have time. I did manage a wee bit of stitching time yesterday afternoon and completed button block #24:



The large button is a Victorian hand-painted button that Scott's mom sent to me a few years back.

If you would like to see this one along with the others I've done, click here.

My mom asked me if I would make her a "plain" cellphone pouch. She would like something a little more simple for at home. I told her I don't do "plain" and she laughed! She asked me to try. I'll see what I can do! I'm thinking something with SRE and some buttons. I have a pink one that I sewed up a few months ago so I'll pull that out later and get it set up.

Red Hat Society Lady

Janet recently sent me this photo of her aunt:



Janet had ordered the Red Hat Lady purse that I made as a gift for her aunt. Janet graciously gave me her permission to post this photo on my blog. Thanks Janet!