Diving into the contents of the mailbox yesterday, I encounter a large envelop, hand addressed to me, in the middle of the junk & bills. My first reaction was "oh no, what now?" until I felt what I was sure was fabric, then noticed 3 beautiful stamps that said Danmark on them. The contents of the envelop, obviously from Norma, have me grinning from ear to ear. Norma sure is the queen of machine embroidery! A beautiful butterfly, a bright, happy mug rug of hand-dyes embellished with embroidery and 3 long pieces of beautiful rat-tail (I think that's what you call it), are lifting my spirits. The border of the mug-rug has this cording embroidered to the edge.

Thank you Norma!

A big "Thumbs up !" from here !

Norma/Ritzy, Staying with the troubles and frustrations with the ornery ones is how we develop the skills needed to make the ones we end up being pleased with. If we weren't willing to rip and redo we wouldn't learn anything. That's my philosophy and I'm sticking to it!

Uh Ritzy, that's a lot of problems to deal with. Sometimes when you have started to experience problems it just seems to go on and on and if you are as stubborn as me, you don't give up the whole thing. Instead you try hard to make it work. Anyway, you have my respect no matter what and I'm pretty sure that is the case with all reading this. You make stunning work and what is a wrong thread color? a design element? try to claim that

Norma--I have that same problem--it is sooooo bad that I made the first half of a lone star block--remember that(I made a mistake ) so I fixed the mistake and then made the second half. I don't know what happened(my suspicion is my printer ) anyway--it didn't fit the first half. So, to keep from running the rotary cutter back and forth over it, I put it aside(such self-control! ). There was a bit of time between when I put it down and my picking it up again. Reprinted the pattern and went at it again--use the wrong color thread and of course it shows. Sorry, but one of you dear ladies is getting it in a mug rug--hope you still respect me when you see the mess I made of it.

rehak wrote:
Absolutely the same message from me. Just take your time and enjoy the trip

Norma - Another beautiful mug rug! You are exceptionally talented!!

Geneva - No worries. Take your time. This is just for fun, so don't worry about it and just make one when it is convenient and fun for you. Hope the move goes well!

Norma's mug rug fabric is so soft. I noticed it right away. And now I know why! Great idea Norma. And beautiful work.

Also, Norma, the little birdie is so nice. Thanks for the extra prize!

It's been in the 70's here, sunny and perfect weather. Just no rain, so still a drought.

Norma and Nancy, I've been in a whirlwind of packing and sorting and haven't been able to get to your mug rugs. Tomorrow we head out in a big U-Haul truck for a day and half drive to Washington. (I'm the trucker babe!) So, never fear, I haven't forgotten about you and getting your mug rugs to you. I apologize for being so slow. Been in a slump lately....

Did everyone see Keith Dommer's quilt on the cover of QNM? Yay!

Have a good week everyone....

Geneva

We had a beautiful day yesterday. 70 degrees F. Had a birthday party here for 2 of my DGSs. Was glad of warm weather so the 16 kiddos could play outside. Some of them even went to the pond to fish. Wonderful day.
Today of course is different. 29 degrees. ICE, snow, cold, windy!!! I am so ready for spring.

It's what we had here today in East Anglia, England! I took a long walk this morning and even sat outside a bit this afternoon. Don't worry, it will be coming your way soon enough.

idaho wrote:
What's that?

Norma...you sure answered my question...and for sure add me to that same mode of working !! I think
the writing would some how alter the creativity. The all-cotton sheets are more common here than a
few years ago. They would be good for some things..if not too high a thread count...that makes them
hard to quilt in my experience. I'm anxious for good weather so I can make some more pretty stuff !!

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one. The suggestion on filming could be an option. I will think about that.
When I'm dying new colors I'm working very planned. I write my recipe before I start, I know how much fabric I will dye in the specific color and I have a journal where I put a piece of the finished fabric. It's just when I create with stamps, brushes and those sort of things, that I cannot recreate it. (or when things go wrong in all the planned details. That happens also)
Rita, the good news when you have a color you love and don't know how to make, is that you will be getting very good at guessing what to do )

Norma I am exactly like you. I always forget to take notes and then can't remember what I did. It's fatal to part stitch some applique and then go back to it after some time because then I can't remember what thread I used. But as for remembering what I did when dyeing fabric, I wish I had taken notes too because I made a lovely green fabric once and just can't remember the proportion of blue and green - or even which blue and green I used. Oh well, experiment, experiment.