WELCOME banner

This is all crumb piecing.  What FUN to sew it all together and have it end up kinda cute!  Didn't take long and I DID concentrate on these colors, all from the trash basket.  There is hand quilting around the letters.  The letters are outlined with black machine blanket stitches.  On the back corners, I sewed triangles into the binding, and inserted a short little dowel for hanging ease.

Renovations, and Crumby Blocks

I am moving forward with much-needed small bathroom renovations.  Best part is new shower, this time with beautiful Onyx walls and same material for counter top.    The shower is in a corner, not huge, but serviceable.  Yeahhhh, no longer looking like a cave.  I'm just featuring "the mess".  If you've done construction or remodeling, you know. 

I ignored the necessary mess and changed direction, and tried making crumb blocks, taking throwaways from my trash basket.  Yes, it IS great fun!  I kept it geometric and stayed with the pink purples, turquoise, light greens, and then I added the black with polka dots to spark it up a bit.  Didn't quite know what to do with the blocks when I was finished, but made 3 or 4 blocks, each about 9 x 12 in., then decided to make some letters and fuse them onto a WELCOME banner.  So far, so good!  That FUSING always ends up conFUSING me, as well as occasionally reversing letters, but it ended up OK.  

 Some letters looked a little pale so I did some blanket stitching around them in black.  I've had this machine for over 15 years and never used that feature!  LOL  Looks OK to me. 

 I think I'll chop up the leftover crumb blocks and make a border around each side of the banner.  That leafy pink blue strip will likely have to "go".  This is all experimental, but I'm having fun.  The letters are about 4 inches tall. 

A ROCK

Folks in my town are "finding" small rocks here and there, some painted, some decorated, some with words, etc., not sure how it started, but I found one at the Dr., another at H & R Block, just setting on a table.  The finder may keep, pass along, take home or whatever.  It kinda means "I'm thinking of you, whoever you are."

So today, I opened the door and saw "someone" running back to her car and off she drove.   I was pretty sure I recognized her.  I had run into her weeks ago, unexpectedly, and she hadn't known about my husband's death, but I had told her about his dear note to me, "Make Every Day Count" and ever present dorky Smiley Face.  I looked around the front porch and this is what I found, now on the counter, next to DH's note.  

One Step At a Time

This is a current project - bargello method of construction, and little bugs and fireflies are on/in the fabric.   Top only, so far.   The checks are on the top and bottom - photo was turned wrong way.

 Below is the REPAIRED hole in the Studio wall.   (Previous photo of HOLE was in prev. post.) I had planned to do it myself, ever hopeful, but real fears of running the drill thru my hand or falling off the table and breaking some part of my old bod, and wondering how to hold the drill, and hold the screw at the same time , and still hold the piece of pine block behind the plasterboard without drilling thru my hand/finger, brought common sense to my old noggin - I called the MAN.    My walls are lathe and plaster - thicker than expected.  He did one beautiful job, needing to come and go several times to recoat the plaster or skin coat or ?? , then sand it.  I repainted that area - no one would ever know.   DONE.  Thank you so much,  Heath!!!  Another step FORWARD.