Wonderful Work!

I've just spent part of my Thanksgiving Day enjoying all the beautiful pictures you've been posting. You've made such wonderful quilts! I look forward to seeing how things finish. I've enjoyed learning to know some of Dorinda's descendants a little, too. What a terrific heritage!

I guess this will be my 2012 mystery, too! When I got involved in buying the house, I spent several months not stitching, and now I can't catch up with it all. I will work on that through 2012, though, and if the blog stays up, you will see the way I finish my Civil War version. I expect I'll leave out a few techniques that don't fit the era, but there will be a finish. I've really enjoyed this year's project, even though it's so completely not done.

Is there a plan for a 2012 project of some kind? I would love recreating an antique quilt with others of like mind.

MIA

Yes, I'm missing in action, but don't count me down yet. Between buying a house (closing in August, no date yet) and my "part-time" job becoming almost full-time (and I'll be quitting at the end of August!), I have NO time. I have things printed out to put on the book shelf, and that was what step? I'm not sure, but I have 6 pieces hanging on the wall, and it's the unfinished one of them. LOL. I WILL get back to it - probably in September, and work on catching up - that and everything else!

In the meantime, it looks nice on the design wall.

Still here

Still around and trying to find some time to sew. My life has been intense the last month, and looks like there will only be a brief lull before another round of intense, as my son says he's moving this way to finish school. Working part time is really deceiving, because I wind up trying to cram full time fun into half-time, with all the house work, the car maintenance, the errand-running, etc. I can't figure out what I did when I worked full time and had little children - other than there was never me-time and almost no sewing time, either. I've gotten selfish in the last 6 years, and it's hard to readjust! And now I have a Primary calling on top of the rest.

Desertsky Susan - Rule 5

Or at least, I think it's 5.  I have taken a part-time job, and I'm losing track of everything as I try to catch my balance.  Here's the block on it's own:

Here's the circle and the freehand stitching, both abominable:

Here's all five steps, as far as I've completed each one. There is still work to do on the CQ block and the block on the bottom with the flowers.

I may turn rule 5 so the dark is to the outside, depends on what comes next on that side.

A lot of catching up to do

I was sick all this week.  I, who am never sick and am absolutely the worst patient in the world, was really, really sick.  So Rule 5 is done except for the embroidery part.  I had a hard time with this one because it didn't seem to fit the Civil War theme, but I think I've figured out something that makes it work okay.  We'll see when I finish it in the next couple of days and get it posted.  No ink yet, because I was sick, but I'll catch up everything, and hope rule 6 doesn't throw something at me that I have as much trouble with as piecing circles - definitely something I've never desired to do and hope never to do again.  LOL!

Desertsky Susan - Rule 4

I can only go this far until my printer has ink, which won't be until after the first of April - no joke.  So here's the block, minus pictures of Lincoln and Mary Todd in positive-negative frames on either side of the flowers.  I chose a fabric I thought might resemble the wallpapers of the time, and made a bookshelf across the block.  The vase is needle-turn applique and the flowers are broderie perse with a small machine blanket stitch.

<center>

Non-functional

I'm enjoying looking at everyone's blocks, but mine isn't started yet.  Something is non functional here at home (no, not me!) and until its functioning again, I can't do my block.  And today is such a perfect, rainy, cloudy, cold day to stay indoors and do the block, too!  However, I thought I'd at least post a second teaser, about the +/- part.  Hint, this goes with the president.

I'm late! But I'm here.

Here's my teaser, and it's late because I knew what I wanted to do, but wasn't sure exactly what to use.  So this is part of it all.  That's all I'm saying.  Except the finish will probably be late, too.

Desertsky Susan - Rule 3

It took forever, but the last stitches are in!  The entire strip is embroidery.  The color I don't use often is the gold.  I found just *one* skein of 20 lengths of this thread, and that's it!

Because the theme of my block is Civil War, I wanted to do something that might have been done in the time.  I had decided on a bit of William Morris fabric to copy when someone (I, sadly, was so excited about the pattern, I forgot to notice whose blog I was on.  If anyone else finds it in their looking, please let me know!) posted this design in their blog to download.  It was perfect!  I lengthened and broadened it to fit the space.  I love the way it looks.  It was done in perle 8 Sassa Lynne thread, using backstitching, which is not my best stitch.

Note:  Thanks to Lynne for finding the source for me!  It's http://www.needlenthread.com/2006/09/free-embroidery-pattern-scrolly-border.html  Mary Corbet's video stitches site.  I remember being on there now, and noticing that she has patterns as well as the videos of stitches.  Yay!  Mystery solved.

Here's what the three blocks look like together.  They are NOT sewn together, because I still have only one seam embroidered on the crazy quilt part.  I want it to be wonderful, and that takes time!  It looks like there's something on it, but there isn't.  Just the photograph, I guess.

Full Block #2 - released officially 10 minutes after midnight!

EST, but still, it's after midnight, so it's the 28th! Friday's going to be a busy day, so you can wake up to my block. I love, love, love the way this turned out. I plan to fancy stitch it, just haven't had a chance yet. I hope you like it, too. The photo is an authentic civil war picture of a woman of the times.

Desertsky Susan - Rule 2

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's . . . well, what is it, anyway?

Desertsky - Block #1 - Civil War Theme

First, I made a really elaborate design, drew it all out on graph paper, marked lights and darks and mediums, marked sizes and how many, outlined tricky parts in pink highlighter so I would remember what the unit was. Second, I took it to the sewing room and started to look at fabrics for cutting. Suddenly, I said to myself, "What is wrong with you? Are you completely crazy or just trying to be?"

Third, I put away the drawing for another day (when I've lost all my good sense, I suppose) and decided that with a theme of Civil War and being a traditionalist, I needed to make a traditional block which was around during the war. I dug around and found a fabric which had a nice piece I could fussy cut (without losing half the fabric) and found this Quilt for a Cause from the first line of that name, several years ago. Technically, it isn't Civil War reproduction fabric, but the designs fit right in, so I use it interchangeably. This bird fabric, particularly, is very CW chintz-like. With that as the center, I used another in the line for the lights and a Thimbleberries from their Cover Story line, bought on the same day as the others, to go with them.

Here's what all that thinking produced:

Susan Signing in - Desertsky

Or sometimes referred to as Dezertsuz because of my gmail. I'm not a Dorinda. But I love the idea of what they are doing, not just this mystery, but the Dorinda quilt.

My theme is Civil War. I've wanted to do something to mark the sesquicentennial of the start of the war, but I wasn't sure what. This should fit the bill nicely! Thank you so much for a great idea for an anti-mystery quilter!

I will be using fabrics from my civil war fabric stash, and a lot of that is brown (more is in storage in CA, but I can't get there from TN right now!), so I guess I'm going to have a very brown and red quilt!

I can hardly wait until we start. Now I have to go add this to my January calendar schedule - my attempt to get myself organized for the year!