June Take It Further Challenge Completed!

I just finished up on my June Take It Further Challenge block a little while ago:



I don't think I accomplished my mission here to pile it up with stash though. My story is, I have quite a lot but I need to keep these all working together and this one, at this point, works perfectly with the others so I will let it be now.

My stash consists of a wide variety of do-dads so I tried to use some unusual things on here such as the peacock feather. The millinery flowers and velvet leaves are vintage as are the earrings on either side of the flowers. The tatting is also vintage.

To read my first post on the June block regarding my theme for Sharon's concept, please click here.

I haven't decided what to do next. I have gobs of things I want to do including some ATC's. Will have to do some treadling for those!

June Take It Further Challenge - Day 4

Well, we went back and looked at that piece of property that we found yesterday but it didn't feel right. We found another area that we liked so we'll go back and look at that again next weekend. I have a feeling though, that the first one we found back in May is the right one. That popped into my head earlier today, many times, the first one is the right one. But we'll see.

I was asked where we are in Northern Illinois. We're on the northeast side of McHenry county and we like it here so we're looking in our current area, just a bit more north of where we are now. Ringwood, Richmond, Johnsburg, Spring Grove area. There's still a lot of farmland here and we like that.

On to my Take It Further block for June, I did do some more beading on it yesterday:



I'm trying to think of some of my more "unusual" stash items that I can add to this. I want to fill this one up to convey the fact that I have more than enough stash for this lifetime and the next! I do however want to keep within the same arena as my other blocks. They all have to work together to make a nice quilt. I guess we'll see where it goes.

I mentioned yesterday that my mom bought me a kit for making Artist's Trading Cards. Scott & I went to Borders this morning to look for books but they didn't have one for fabric & fiber ATC's. I really love collage art but I'm not into the the really spooky weirdo stuff. I like the vintage look a lot. I know that Quilting Arts has one out but Borders didn't have it. I might have to order that from Amazon. In the meantime, here's a Flickr group with Fabric/Fiber ATC's. Lot's of pretty ATC's to look at here!

I also wanted to mention that I started a new group over at Stitchin' Fingers for Collector's of Vintage Iron-On Embroidery Transfers. If you like to collect and stitch from those like I do, hop over and join! Here's the link.

A Few More Tags

Scott and I just got back from driving around and looking for property for sale. We want some acreage. We want peace & quiet, privacy & seclusion. The subdivision we live in now has become extremely noisy in the past few years. It was quiet when we bought our house, but now it's nothing but screaming kids, barking dogs, dirtbikes, motorcycles, loud radios and any other noise you can think of. I don't even open my windows anymore. I just keep the A/C on. We don't spend much time out on the deck anymore either. Anyway, we kind of think that we have to start somewhere so the best place to start is to look for property. We found a nice piece that we're going to go and check out again after breakfast tomorrow.

In the meantime, I know my blog hasn't been all that exciting lately but I try to offer something interesting as often as I can. I haven't stitched yet today but I'll be turning into a pumpkin (shorts & tee shirt) in a few moments and parking myself in front of my television with my June Take It Further block.

For now, I thought I would offer you two more tags for gifts or cards:





No, I'm not in the mood for Halloween yet but this one came out in oranges and reds and Halloween was the first thing I thought of! These are Fractal images with a few other cool filters.

Click on the images to go to my Flickr site where you can download the large version.

To thank me for helping them, my mom bought me an ATC (Artist Trading Card) kit. I've been talking about ATC's for years now! Anyway, the kit includes precut ready to embellish cards, envelopes and a rubber stamp for signing the back. I am itching to play! I can see all kinds of them including tiny CQ's! I expect you'll be seeing a few here in the near future.

Ok, I'm off to turn into a pumpkin and stitch!

June Take It Further Challenge - Day 3

Well, I didn't get too far on this yesterday and I'm a little tired today so I haven't stitched but I thought you'd like to see the beading I've done so far:



I did work up a couple of tags for the handmade cards that I do so I thought I would share those with you as well:





Click on the images to go to my Flickr site where you can download the large version. Just print them on cardstock, then cut them out and use them on packages or cards. Of course, you add glitter to the edges like I do!

Yesterday, I mentioned our Victorian dream house. I know I've shared this photo before but I thought you would like to see it again:



I've dreamed of having a Victorian style house since I was 8 years old. Back then, I didn't know the style was called "Victorian", I just know that was what I liked. Anyway, this is our house. It's the most beautiful house I've ever seen!

June Take It Further Challenge - Day 2

Thank you everyone for your kind comments regarding my dad's recovery. I truly appreciate the support that I've had from my readers over the past few months. I know things have been a bit slow here and I've lost quite a few of my daily readership but things should be a bit more consistent now.

I'm still working on closets and cupboards. As you know, my husband & I intend to have our Queen Anne Victorian style dream house built. The Universe hasn't shown us the way yet but our current course of action is to get our things in order. If anyone feels like sending out some prayers or positive energy to the Universal Mind for our intention, it would be so much appreciated!

I did some more stitching on my Take It Further block for June:



The seams are covered so now I can start with some beading. And I'm off to do that until my husband gets home from work!