1st ever SRE

I had some silk ribbons, so I had to try! The ribbon is a bit too wide, 5mm - a 2 or 4 mm wide would be better at least in the beginning. There is not much design - the silk ribbon roses & french knots lie over stitching LOL. Anyway to me it looks great! I might have another opinion after a few months...

Recycling - The big green project

I have a big pile of green blocks, pieced using my green laces and embroidered motifs of old table cloths. This is going to be The Job for the winter! I really had lots and lots of unused old stuff, so I'm glad to have found a way of recycling them and finding them some use.

I'm going to sew a big cushion and a cover for a wooden couch in the kitchen. In the cushion I can use some buttons & beads, but not for the cover as I'll be sitting on it.

Here are a few samples of the blocks. They are all different, on some there are already some stitching done. I have been practising lately the French knot and the Cretans.

My pet Hani

It seems that many CQers have dogs, so I want to present my dog too. He's called Hani (a bit like honey), 4 years, a Belgian sheepdog 'Groenendael'. He is a keen gardener and always wants to lie down in my borders flattening my flowers! He's very energetic and keeps me and my husband running. Very healthy, except he suffers from epilepcy, very common with this breed.

Lace treasures

Yesterday I was dyeing old laces and doilies. They turned great! Here is a photo on the yellow laces. I have some golden & brown printed cottons to combine with them.

The green dye went on and on... So I got a lot of green lace & green cottons. I have so plenty of those now that I might quilt a monochromatic green big quilt!

Do you have any ideas what to do with thease treasures?

Lovely CQ books

In my eagerness I ordered 3 CQ books, and they have arrived now. This is a real hit, at least to me:
The Magic of Crazy Quilting, 2nd edition by Marsha Michler. I love the photos of the antique quilts!

Also this is good:
An Encyclopedia of Crazy Quilt Stitches and Motifs by Linda Causee
Very clear pictures on how the stitches are done and a good choice of stitch combinations.

I could have done without the 3rd book, but maybe I can get later some ideas out of it. It seems that SRE skills are a must to give blocks a more fancy look. But later, later!

Little gifts to garden friends

Gardening is my passion n:o 1 and it takes 6 months a year of my time. This year I grew pumpkins for the first time in my life and participated in The Great Pumpkin War. That means competition on who grows the biggest pumpkin. I did not win, my pumpkin weighed appr. 42 kilos, the winner's 120 kilos!

I patched a potholder for the winner and a seed bag/purse for the guy who has donated me rare giant pumpkins' seeds from the Netherlands. This guy was the only male participant and we ladies said we were eager to grap his seed bags. In Finnish it has a double, playful meaning. Anyway now we know where he keeps his crazy growing seeds!

Red roses on black background

This block looks almost sinful! I used to do dollhouses and roomboxes, and had a black fabric with small red roses left over from Ivan the painter's bedroom wall. I added some reds, blacks & golds - and a lot of beads etc. The block was mainly a bullion knot practice - I love and hate them!

I really don't have any idea what to do with blocks with these colors... Ought to give somebody as a present.

My 1st CQ block

I've been discussing with Judyth about colors. The colors that I dislike the most are pinks, most reds and baby blue. But it happened that I chose two of those to be my 1st blocks! In the Newbie Group there is a swap going on swapping Winter blocks. I was too late to participate but wanted to try nevertheless.

It takes less than 2 weeks...

...to build a serious addiction. I checked my e-mails and it was on the 11th when Helina posted me that fatal CQ message. A lot has happened since then:
- I've joined the CQ for Newbies Group
- patched my 1st CQ blocks
- learned quite a few stitches
- acquired 3 lovely CQ books

I'm afraid that I'm too talkative. Therefore I decided to start my own blog. We Finns are usually either very extroverted or very introverted depending on which part of the country we come from. I happen to be one of those lively and talkative Carelians whose origin lies near the Russian border.

So this be my heaven where I can talk CQ talk from the bottom of my heart!