Monday, December 24, 2007

Organizing

Just spent a few hours organizing machine embroidery thread. It was organized once, then I bought more thread. I like to keep it by color rather than by number, so it required lots of thread moving to get things back in "order". I decided to order it by the color chart. Then I have an excel spreadsheet with box order and number order sorts so I can find a color by number. I now have almost seven boxes of Isacord, plus DMC (all or almost all of the colors), and several madeira colors for the Marine Comfort Quilt service logos.

One more light house done too.

Still can't find the handbag pattern I want to make again. Looks like it won't be a Christmas gift after all :(

Tried a new fish recipe tonight that was well received. This was a lot lower fat than my normal fish fry, sauteed onions, green pepper in a little bit of olive oil, added a can of tomato juice, some oregano, parsley and a little salt, brought to a simmer and added the fish fillets. Covered and let cook. Served with brown rice and green beans. I was requested to make it again :)

Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Beginning....

Why or why am I doing this? I an not that successful at journaling or keeping a diary or writing letters, except e-mail. So hopefully this will be more like e-mail than regular letter writing. Right now I am taking a break from embroidering lighthouses for a quilt that I have been trying to make for the last several years. Hopefully I can at least finish the lighthouses this year. Then turn them into blocks and attach them to the center of the quilt. This is a medallion quilt, not fully thought out yet, but the center is a Mariner's compass. It is almost done, the circle is, but it is not yet set into a square.

Why Crafts in my blogname rather than quilts, because I love all sorts of "crafts", at least useful (to me) ones. I have tried my hand at crochet, knitting, beading, jewelry making, sewing clothes, sewing quilts, embroidering (hand and machine), and counted cross-stitch. I also used to garden a lot, and still love to cook (although dishwashing is not one of my favorite activities!)

Recently I discovered the joys of handbag making. I am still not an expert, hardly even an advanced beginner actually, but did manage a couple of messenger bags for nieces this Christmas. I hope to follow this up with some usable handbags with lots of pockets!