Deadlines Met!

If youve never seen one of my scrolls, here is the latest one ive completed. Its to be given as an award tonight for a friend in the SCA. The SCA, for those of you unfamiliar, is a medieval recreation group that does everything from fencing, heavy weapons, and archery...to embroidery, costuming, and weaving...we have metalworkers, leathercrafters, scribes, and even medieval cooking and cordial making! Its basically a bunch of history loving nerds that are rather fond of the medieval time frame. If you'd like to read more about the SCA, go to SCA.org and check it out! Anyways, handmade scrolls are made when folks receive an award of some kind...they can be made in many mediums, but i work in paint and parchment. The calligraphy and painting was done by hand, and was influenced by a manuscript from the 14th century. Its a surprise for the recipient, so i hope she likes it! I just thought i would share some of my other crafts besides quilting :) This is the first scroll i have made in over a year. Jordyn keeps me a little too busy right now to make any more than that, so it was fun to create this one. Im also including another quilt square photo that was made for Jordyn's Great Grandma...i mentioned the memory quilt in a previous blog...anyways, its a squirrel for her love of nature and the mountains. I thought it was kind of cute! Well, with my deadlines met, i can get started on the christmas gifts :) Hope you have a creative weekend!
cheers~
lisajo

Swap Goodies

Here are the swap squares i mentioned in my last blog...i participated in two swaps, the Christmas Swap and the Batik Jacobs Ladder Swap. I am very pleased with both sets and cant wait to include them with the other blocks i rcvd from previous swaps. I should have enough to make some decent sized quilts now :) I seem to be collecting a lot of squares, but havent put them into quilts yet...guess i better get started, or the squares will take over the house :) Didnt get any sewing done today...i had to work this morning and then we spent the afternoon collecting firewood for the winter...a never ending task! I have a few deadlines to make this week for some quilt squares and a scroll, so i hope to post more pics soon!
cheers~lisajo

a little sewing...and a lot of goodies!

Well, Thanksgiving was fun and we had a fabulous visit with family. We had folks here from Oregon, Oklahoma and Texas. There was lots of chaos over the holiday, but i still managed to get two quilt squares sewn today for a birthday memory quilt. Jordyn's Great Grandma will be 90 on the 28th, so i sent out fabric and specs to the family so they could design a square for the quilt. There are a few family members that dont sew, but wanted to be included in the gift, so i made these two squares for them...Goshen Star and Double Wrench (both patterns from www.quilterscache.com). I wanted to get these finished while the family was still up here so that they could sign their squares to include in the bday gift. Naturally i still have not made ours for her...and im also making one more for someone else...but i was happy to finish up these today. Nothing like being able to check one more thing off the list! whew!

Later i strolled up to the mailbox, to discover two squishies! :) One filled with Christmas star blocks and another filled with the batik Jacobs ladder squares. All of the squares are lovely and im glad i participated in the swaps! I plan to post some photos tomorrow, but since it is getting late and i have to work VERY EARLY in the morning, i guess i better call it a night :)

cheers~
lisajo

Snow!

We woke up this morning to a beautiful blanket of snow (about 6 inches) and a toasty 15 degrees. Not enough snow to worry about, but still, Im glad we wont have to travel in it tomorrow for Turkey Day! Our destination is accross the meadow, so all we need are snow boots and we're good to go!
Our house is in total disarray at the moment. We got inspired to work on both bathrooms at once...one is getting new shower tile and the other is getting painted and re-chinked (did i mention this was a 90 year old cabin...meaning...nothing is square, and no project is "small") :) So naturally dust and dirt has made its way throughout the house, and with the snow, the floors are now muddy and wet! I am soooo glad we are not hosting Thanksgiving :) As it is though, we are having guests randomly drop in all day tomorrow, so hopefully we can get things fairly cleaned up by then. The tile in the bathroom looks beautiful...but now the rest of the bathroom looks like crap! :) hehehe Looks like we made a clean spot, so i guess we'll be doing the rest of the bathroom soon! :)
Looks like any sewing will be put off for a few more days. Glad im all caught up on my swaps at the moment.
Well, dont know if I'll have time to post tomorrow, so Have a Fabulous Thanksgiving!
cheers~
lisajo
p.s. here is a shot of the new tile...by the way, it is now only 4 degrees outside...brrrrr!!!!

6th sentence meme....

okay Kate...ill play.....
Here's what you do: take the book you are currently reading and turn to page 161, then read the 6th sentence and share it. Now apparently you are supposed to "tag" your friends, but im not gonna do that...either participate or dont...i just thought it was kinda fun :)

I am reading Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. The sixth sentence reads, "He was easy to talk to, and very knowledgeable indeed about the uses of herbs and botanicals."

Have a fabulous Monday!
cheers~
lisajo

p.s. here is a picture of miss milk face...she has learned the results of making raspberry sounds with a mouthful of milk and then spent the afternoon doing just that!

November Bday Block Swap

Well, i finally attempted a paper-pieced block, and it was a lot of fun! Took me a while to wrap my brain around laying it out and cutting the right size pieces of fabric, but once it sunk in, it went rather smoothly. This square was created for Nell, or shall i call her Miss November :) Its for the Bday Block Swap, and her theme was all things nautical with teal somewhere in the block!

I had a different block all picked out, and sure enough, someone else beat me to it, so i had to choose another. I wanted to make her a lighthouse, but couldn't find the right size pattern for her (most of them were rectangles...or applique'...and I'm not quite ready to tackle applique' yet)....so i designed this one. I learned a lot, and i hope to design more in the future. Anyways, thats how i spent my afternoon! Hope she likes it! :)

cheers~
lisajo

Lun Opus Lion Fish

Saw this on Kate's blog so i thought i would give it a try. I tried to share my Lun-Opus-Lion Fish the other day, but our phone and internet were down for two days...doh! I can survive without my phone...but no computer...arghhh! Im lost without my internet...up here its my connection to the outside world! :)
Anyways, i am trying to find just the right block for the November Bday Block Swap (the one i was planning to do was already done by someone else), so now i am back to the drawing board....literally! I couldnt find what i was looking for, so ive drawn up my own paper-pieced pattern for Miss November :) Of course, i have never paper-pieced before, nor have i ever drawn up my own pattern, so we'll see what happens! Im rather excited about it though, and if all goes well, i may start designing more patterns. Ive kept the design rather simple, so hopefully it will go well. Wish me luck and ill post when its finished :) Have a wonderful weekend!
lisajo

p.s. Here's some fun......

10 things about me...

Once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird/random things, facts, or habits about yourself. At the end, you chose 10 people to be tagged, list their names, and why you chose them. Dont forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" on their profile and tell them to read your latest blog.

1. I thought the movie "Princess Bride" sucked, though everyone i know loves it!

2. Ive ridden in the Good Year Blimp

3. I can touch my nose with my tongue :P

4. Ive ridden in a helicopter...weeee

5. I lived in Idaho for 3 years

6. I used to go motorcycle riding in the desert when i was a kid

7. Ive never been on a horse

8. I used to be a tapdancer

9. Ive never been off this continent :(

10. My dream job would be to work for Disney/Pixar as a background artist :) though the job i have right now is pretty wonderful too! :)

im not gonna single anyone out....either play or dont.....but id love to read and learn more about you! :)
cheers~
lisajo

Projects at the Blackbear

So, I've decided to post a few photos of the projects I'm working on...normally i like to wait till they are finished, but since i have soooo many going on (with none of them near completion) i thought i would share my progress so far...to show there actually is some progress :) I'm also hoping it will inspire me to finish some of them, so that i may tackle the other ideas i have brewing inside me :) Unfortunately, i was hoping to have these in the mail to my sisters before Halloween, but i guess i can throw them in with their Christmas gifts! I wanted to try the carefree nine patch pattern, so i dragged out my Halloween fabric and made these...and decided to sew them into table runners. Originally i was going to make a small lap quilt, but then thought they might not look good together, so i made these instead. Now that i see them all laid out, they probably would look cute together, but i now have three gifts instead of one! I started machine quilting the witches runner, but I'm not sure if i like it or not...so ill have to come back to it later :)


Yesterday i completed 3 sets of Batik Jacobs Ladder Squares for a swap on about.com. This is the second round...the first round i rcvd 12 squares, and decided i liked them so much that i wanted to participate in another swap to make a larger quilt, so this is one of three color choices i did. I mailed them out today, from home, using a scale and the internet to determine the postage. If all goes well, i might do all of my mailing this way...i hate driving an hour to town just to mail off one envelope! Of course, if it goes well, i may be participating in a lot more swaps too, so look out! :) Well, now that those are out the door, i better get started on the birthday block swap square for November...she requested anything nautical with teal as the main fabric....anyone have any quilt square ideas? Would love to hear your suggestions!
Cheers~
lisajo

Trick or Treating

Another Halloween has come and gone...no Great Pumpkin, but lots of goodies just the same! There are only two children in this canyon...Jordyn and a neighbor boy named Blaine. The rest of the community are retired folks enjoying their golden years, so we thought we would pay them a visit, bring them pumpkin cake, and trick or treat. Justin worked from home this year so he could go out early to trick or treat with the kids. I was dressing up as a witch, so Justin decided to copy me... he came out of the bedroom in one of my dresses (which im sorry to say looked better on him than me) and we decided he would look better in the hat...so presto...two witches were ready to take their daughter out trick or treating!

Folks were sooo happy to have trick or treaters...its been over a decade since most of them had any kids come by, so this was a treat for them as well! Our costumes, as well as the kids costumes, were a big hit so we all rcvd goodies! Thats not to say that justin and i were out soliciting candy...i think his hilarious appearance warranted free candy is all! :) So we politely accepted! :)

Most houses were decorated with all kinds of Halloween fun, and because this is a small neighborhood, we were welcomed into each home for warmth and a nice visit!

Our last stop on the route...Jordyns Great Grandma and Great Aunts house, where more trick or treat goodies and some yummie dinner was awaiting us! Mac and cheese, broccoli and carrots, a glass of scotch for dad and a cold beer for mom...a perfect ending to a perfect holiday!! I love Halloween! Hope yours was wonderful too!
cheers~
lisajo