What Do You See?

I want all of you to look at this quick snapshot of a project that I have been working on and tell me what you see. Obviously it is a work in progress, some of the blocks have been stitched, some still need to be trimmed, but you get the idea. It will be 9 blocks that measure 8 inches each. Once the blocks are stitched together there will be very little space between the flowers. I have a simple border planned, but it might not go any further than it is right now.

Opinions please?

This is my design for a floral fabric group from Timeless Treasures that features a flower design for each month of the year. They asked me to come up with a plan, and I thought several different ideas would be appropriate. This project is just one of them. After all, we don't all celebrate our birthdays in the same way. I think consumers would like an assortment of projects to choose from. The other reason I thought a variety of projects would be appropriate is that a the prints that you don't see here have a white background, they look silly on the black base fabric.

I think that the large flower template is the perfect place to show off the individual prints. I like the way that the black background blends in and the flowers "pop". I also think this would make a great table topper, perhaps even on your patio table... maybe in a few months, because this is what my patio table looks like now!

I want all of you reading this to give me your honest opinion of this work in progress, post a comment. What do you think of this design? The reason I am asking is that I sent the working photo (above) to Timeless and they told me to put the project on the back burner because to them, it looks like snakes. - snakes! Question marks, I can see..... snakes?

Have I been snowed in for too long or does someone in New York need therapy?

You decide.

I can take it.

6 to 10 inches???

Meet my snow removal crew.

Otherwise known as my husband and son. These guys aren't professionals, which explains why they waited until the snow stopped falling before they started trying to remove it.

Our local weather people predicted that we would be getting somewhere between 6 and 10 inches of snow with this latest winter blizzard. I wasn't happy about it, but the truck and my guys can handle 6-10 inches.

We woke up today to TWENTY TWO inches of snow and no power. Opening the shop was out of the question for several reasons. The most important one is that we couldn't GET there.

That probably seems reasonable, considering the volume of snow on the ground, but we live NEXT DOOR to the shop! It is a mere 650 feet from the house and as you can see from the photo, we own a plow!

Today I learned that you can't plow 22 inches of snow. It is just too much. We also live on a hill, so there is the question of exactly where do you plow it to?

Starting at 6am, my snow team began plowing and salting and shoveling and scraping their way to the bottom of the hill. I offered to help, but the third shovel was at the shop (remember, the power was off and there wasn't much else I could do). After much deliberation I trudged over the hill to the shop to check on things (heat, lights, etc) and shoveled my way back to the top of the driveway. That's my path - just one shovel width wide - that you see in the photos.

It is now TEN hours later and my snow team has almost cleared the driveway and they still have the entire parking lot to deal with.

Thankfully, tomorrow is Sunday and the shop will be closed. That gives us a whole extra day to deal with all of this white stuff. The bad news is, they are predicting snow for Wed., Thurs., Fri., AND Sat.

I hope they are wrong!

Sewn

All work and no play makes Karen a very dull girl. It also makes me cranky. Lately my job has been 99% computer and paperwork and 1% sewing. I love my job because of the sewing, not because of the paperwork.

Today after I caught up on overdue to-do list I decided that enough was enough. I designed, stitched and wrote the instructions for this bunny pillow, the newest addition to our Button Pillow series. The carrots are actually buttons and the carrot tops are a row of green ball fringe. Remember ball fringe from the ...... 60's? Our local customers can expect to see the pattern and kits for this project in the shop very soon. Once I create the UPC codes the patterns will be ready to ship as well.

This project started last fall at Quilt Market as Debby and I were selecting the lacy trims to embellish our romantic crazy patch project. I spied the bolt of green ball fringe and something clicked. I insisted upon adding a bolt to out order. Deb thought I was nuts. The idea for those carrot tops has been brewing for several months now and I am happy with the way it turned out. It is just what I wanted, a quick sense of accomplishment - geez that feels good!