Time to move on

I'm moving my ramblings over to WordPress:

http://wolfiestitchin.wordpress.com

for various reasons. 

This blog will stay as it is for now on - no new posts, but the old ones will sit here with pictures and all.

So - Welcome to follow me over!! 

:-D Wolfie

Fruits of our labour

Hahha, that header is a bit of a duality, but I'm only going to tell one side ;-p

And I was going to show the YLI silk threads that arrived yesterday and - my first halting steps into the world of applique. But instead I show this:
At 7am I dragged my butt out of bed, made load if sandwiches while The DH made tea, packed us all (2 grown ups and two dogs) into the big car along with baskets, back-pack and extra plastic bags for a 45 min drive to "our" forrest and The DH's special place. And look, after a looooong walk we found the first spot and after that it only got better and better:

The DH's basket and Arwen on the lookout.

The dogs had soooo much fun; ran like crazy at RR top speed, chasing each other, wrestling and then off again. Impossible to catch on "film" but it make me heart brim with joy to see Fiona who turns 10 in a month, acting like a youngster :-D

My basket filled to the brim with autumn chanterelles and quite a few yellow ones.

After 2 hrs (with a nice tea break) this is the catch of the day - The DH is very proud and we had a lovely time together in the glorious Indian Summer weather. It got so warm that I could strip down to the camisole - heavenly :-)

OK it is fun to pick wild mushrooms, but cleaning them is another matter entirely.

Uncleaned.

Cleaned. At the end The DH gave up and chucked the tiniest one out behind our back fence. Ask me and I call that sacrilege LOL.
On the way home we dropped some of for my darling MIL. And at home we gave some to our neighbors.
Weighted  - 7.5kg!!

Right now my back hurts, so I do take a well deserved rest on my bed, but I need to get down in the kitchen to parboil it all and pack it for the freezer. Guess tonights dinner? "Lövbiff" (something in the vicinity of minute steak) creamed yellow chanterelles and garlic potato wedges = yummmm :-)

Tomorrow I might show some applique pictures. If I manage to get out of bed that is .....

In promptu light box and show me the blocks

I've taken the day of and had plans to apply for a new passport (mine is out of date), do some grocery shopping and then sew some more mini-blocks. Well - I won't go to the passport police cause I look like a fright. The entire left side of my mouth is swollen, mostly on the outside and a bit on the inside - I kind of look like a hamster :-( No matter steroid cream or heavy anti-allergen pill :-( :-( :-(

In between TV shows (British Masterchef and Navy CIS) I sat and transferred embrodiery designs to the blocks I already sewed. After tried to use the coffee table (frosted glass top) with a small but strongly lit lamp from IKEA last year with not satisfactory results, I asked The DH to make me a light box. But then I read somewhere "use glass topped tables or acrylic ones" it struck me that the extension table for the Horizon is clear acrylic and than tiny lamp would fit under it. Said and done and - it worked! Picture will be posted later.
Now I really need that floss and silken threads.

So far I have one large "9 mini-block-sewn-together" block and 9 mini-blocks that are single. All are lacking their embroideries and appliques, they just have the transferred designs and the parts for the apppliques in small zip-lock bags, pinned to each block. Now I wonder - are you interested to see the unfinished blocks or do you want to wait until they are completely finished?

Need to fold some laundry before I start my day in ernest.

Fun-fun

Yesterday was first a trip to IKEA; bought a new thin protective mattress for our bed, two sets of all white duvet covers for John (his own idea - the all white), a nice large basket for keeping the fabrics for my projects at hand and easily over viewed plus some lovely, fabric covered storage boxes - the same series as I bought earlier for FQs and notions.
So now my scraps are sorted in 8 different ziplock bags that fitted into the largest box:

Then I organized all the fabrics I have selected so far for the Butterfly Garden BOM into that basket:

And then - in the mail, my latest order from Fat Quarter Shop (got here in less than a week) with a collection of FQs that I intend to use in said BOM:

Know what? Gave up a happy whoop, since I think they fit right in :-)

Still waiting for the floss and silk thread though......

Glorious Indian Summer Day here in Sweden.

More on threads

The sewing machine dealer was closed and in their store
window was no longer YLI threads, but something else I don't know anything about.
But Gung Ho - there is eBay and some sellers had these nifty tubes each holding 7 colors of YLI's silk thread. Some at better price than others (Aussis are almost as expensive as Swedes :-O), so I went for two tubes with different colors, thinking these threads must last long enough to see me through a lot of applique work in the future LOL.

So while I wait for books, fabrics, floss and thread to arrive......maybe stitch the 9 mini-blocks together and do the applique and embroidery later?. S-t, I really am going to need an embroidery hoop and that soon.

Lovely sunny fall day here in Sweden. I'm going to take oldest son for PRAO (practical work place training) hunt after he finishes school. This term it's only 4 days and if you ask me, that a bit on the downside - how much can he accomplish and learn in such a measly time ????? Sometimes I found school things hard to understand.

Threads

OK, I fess up - I have never been that much into embroidery or applique ;-o, therefor I lack of tools to make them little mini blocks in the Butterfly Garden BOM. Like embroidery floss and a great one for sewing appliques. The few times I have worked with DMC floss, I never really cared for them - snagging, knotting sad excuses they are IMHO. But I've only read great things of Cosmos floss from Lecien, so after much searching I found an online store with a great range at great prices. And ordered some.

I know that the sewing machine dealership down at our very small mall (they sell mostly machines for industries etc.) are selling YLI threads, so I hope they have the silk ones - hopefully I need only one beige spool.

Needles I have and a small bottle of basting glue, but I don't have a really good hoop. I have one inherited from my Grandma, which puts it round 50 years or more and it don't hold the fabric firmly, so you have to re-adjust if ever so often. Then I have a small Clover all plastic one and that don't cinch the fabric tightly either, just make it slither around :-( In the latest issue of Vignette Magazine I read about a new hoop form Lecien, so I set my hope that I will be able to find one. Well I think I have, but there will be one to get closer to home, which will make it arrive here a bit faster.

Time to re-read "Applique, The basics and beyond" by Janet Pittman in bed, hopefully to enhance my knowledge of this art form :-)

Night from Sweden.

First selection

Here is the first selection of fabrics for the Butterfly Garden BOM:

and from that I made the very first mini block, very, very simple to make

Typical me, I forgot just to press, so it looks a bit wobbly. Hopefully I can press it into submission later ;-o

The first mini block will have an appliqued heart, I did cut it out only to realize that 1) I only own a very narrow selection (color  wise) of ordinary sewing threads and 2) they are all Gütermann polyester ones.

So I need to order a nice little selection of all cotton sewing threads too :-D I think I'm going to make all the 9 mini blocks and sew them together before I do the appliques and embroideries. This is fun!

It's a glorious fall day here in our parts of Sweden