Sunshine and Lolipops!!!

After ten days of grey and several vitamin D supplements, I woke up to this in my kitchen!!!  Whooopeeee!!  I jumped right in the light and let my face soak it all in.  : )

 

I can't even begin to explain how this warm glow of the morning sun just soothes my soul and makes everything normal again!  As soon as I'm done this blog post I'm heading out to shovel!  But first I want to show you the progress I made on "Grandma's Cabin".  

excuse the warp - the canvas curls a bit so it doesn't look right until I tack it down flat.

It feels strange to work so diligently on the building and then sew trees over it  ; )  But that's what I had to do to get it right.  I broke a needle while stitching the foilage.  

 

Can you see it hanging there on the thread?  Not bad - it's the first one.  I can't seem to set my machine fast enough - or move the canvas slower.  When I do this, I put the machine on an applique / grass stitch and then free motion quilt with that.  

I tried to show this technique off in my postcard class but it flopped due to a bent needle (I figured that one out later).  I'm chuckling, wondering if anyone believes me that it actually does work!   : )  

the hedgerow

I can hardly believe that tomorrow is the last day of my exhibit at the gallery.  Sunday morning I take it all down and then deliver the pieces to the buyers around the city.  It's always neat to meet strangers who like my art.  Someone bought "Black Eyed Susan" for a gift right out of the gallery!  I never got to meet her to thank her.  The cheque was mailed to me and (here's the lolipops) she wrote a little thankyou note for me right on it.  SWEET!

And then I picked up the last pieces for the preschool quilt and got this card from the teachers!  (Lolipop #2)

It came with a pack of gummi bears which I ate on the way home.  hehe  I feel so young and so appreciated.  ; )  hahaha  Today I'll work on thank-you cards for everyone.

So there's the sunshine.  sigh

And there's the lolipops.  ahhh

They makes yesterday seem not so bad at all.  Thank goodness last week is OVER!!!

the icy blue darkness is real.  i didn't photo shop this.

Have a great day!!

~Monika

Sewing in sunny Saskatoon

Cabin Stage 3 is Done!

Whew! This was definitely the most tedious part!  Landscapes come naturally to me but buildings are tough.  The fun part is matching colors because it feels so good when the right one is found.  : )

many shades of grey

I managed to squeeze on the house number, but I don't think that "Hillgrove" and the family name will make it.  I'll make a label at the bottom of the picture before I set it under glass.  Check out how teeny it is!  

I'm so happy with the windows!  : )  Rails not added yet...

I started the deck rails by hand but didn't like the look.  SO I took it all out and stitched reeeeally slow by machine.  I added the railing and the front basement wall.  Done the house!  

whoopee!  I did it!

The next step will be to work on the front yard.  I will add the stone patio, the driveway, lawn, and the hedge.  I'll call it "stage 4".  Stage 5 will be the trees and all the things in the front yard.  How much should I cover this up?  There's a LOT of foliage to do still.  Stage 6 will be the final embellishments & finishing the edge.  

my stuff

I think I see the sky lighting up with sun, so I'm taking the rest of the afternoon off and heading to the park with the kids.   Gailanne, sorry about the delay!  I forgot that your package was in my purse when I was out yesterday and that is where it remains.  I'll take now to the post office.  It's just on the other side of the park.  I will blame my tardiness on the weather if you don't mind.  : )

later!
~Monika

Grandma's Cabin, Stage 3

Stage 3 (the building) isn't done.   But here's what I have so far. I have the siding and roofing all done.

The windows and doors aren't on yet, but I have the shapes cut out.  First I wanted to get the lower part of the deck built so I would place the doors and windows properly.  They all land between the major posts of the deck railing.  The problem was that I didn't have the right color of thread.  I started with a "close enough" color.  But you know, "close enough" never is.  So I took my awning sample book to find the right shade.

DARN those are handy!!  I have faux suede and taffeta books too!  I found just the right color - brick red.  And just 30 minutes before my son's birthday party, I dashed off to Fabricland before the 1/2 price thread sale ended.  lol  It's nice to live i n a small city because everything is close.  LUCKY ME!  I found the perfect match!

So I began the heirloom stitching for the lattice.  Of course, I picked the wrong size stitch and had to seam rip it all out - little 1 mm stitches!  What a pain.  I should have known better than to start without testing the stitch on a scrap.  After I got that right I lined up the drawing to match up the placements of the main posts.  I marked them with pins which helps a lot.

Before I finish the deck now, I need to stitch on and outline all the doors and windows.  After that I'll do the Stage 4 - the ground work.  

Slowly but surely...

: )

~Monika

...who is about to keel over and die if the sun doesn't make an appearance soon.  :(  4 days of ice fog & grey!  This is unreal!

'Quilt Until You Wilt' Tonight

Please email me at MySweetPrairie@gmail.com if you want to meet up to sew tonight at Judy's Studio on 9th in Saskatoon!  (Flo?  Brenda?  Angie?  SQG members?)  I never did make it there this week to check it out.  The space is available at 7 pm.  My plan was to work on the St. Nikolas Day quilt, but I ended up completing the applique last night.  It's looking good I think!

one block created by a 4 yr old

I need to clean up all the stray threads.  I used brown thread to applique it all which helps define the yellow shapes better.  Their houses are so darn cute!

6 of the 10 blocks for the quilt

I won't bring the "Grandma's Cabin" piece because there is too much fine detail and too many embellishments.  Plus, if anyone disturbs me while I'm in the zone, I might just have a little fit and holler, "will you keep it down already!?!  I'm trying to work here!".  LOL  That would probably not go over well.  : ) I'll leave THAT piece for my quiet nights and mornings at home. 

still building that cabin...

Sadly, it's the last swap for the PostcardCottage group.  They are disbanding.  I would take it over if I understood anything about yahoogroups and databases, but I do not.  I signed up for the "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" swap.  So that is what I will work on tonight.  I need to make four postcards with that theme.

I'm make them as pretty as possible!

I'm looking forward to tonight!  I'm going to bring a box of scraps that I plan to leave there.  It can be a give & take supply for when people are paper piecing or short on a section of binding.  I'll need a selection of teeny pieces for the postcards, so I thought this give & take box would come in very handy at the studio.  Hopefully it will also keep scraps from being tossed in the garbage.

~Monika

off to play at a friend's house now.