It's done!

And --- whew!

I just put the final stitches in it, and stuck it on the wall for a celebratory photo. Now I have to find a framer who is experienced with needlework.

One more bug and I'm done

All of the background is completed. Now I just have 37 dragonfly patches and it will be finished. I probably need to put it away for a little while. I used all that waiting time with the plumber this past week for applique and I'm a little burned out.

The status of the dragonfly

Here is the new picture as promised. You can see two small patches basted in place above the left wing. I've been sewing this morning but decided to stop for a while and thought I'd go ahead and photograph it anyway. I have around 20 background patches basted to the freezer paper foundations and awaiting applique, which will cover about a third of the remaining left side, wrapping around the top dragonfly wing.

I keep thinking I've made great progress, then unfold the piece and go, "Well, uh, not exactly." This piece swallows great hunks of time effortlessly. In case you, dear reader, have forgotten how far I have left to go, here is the illustration of the completed picture:

When you start something like this, you are either optimistic or crazy in the head. Haven't decided which yet.

Dragaonfly applique

Just a quick update - I've completed the first dragonfly and have cut out and basted (frezer paper applique prepped) about 15 green segments above it. I'm halfway done! WOO HOO!

Pictures later.

How time flies!

Was my last post really August 14th? Wow, the last nine days just flew by! A lot of stuff going on here, not much of it sewing until yesterday, unfortunately. The cat went through another bout of stomach problems, like she has twice before. A vet visit ($264.00!!!!) and ten days of medication later, she's like new, but mercy, she's well on her way to becoming the six million dollar kitty! We, including the vet, don't know what brings this on, but it's like little kitty gastritis, and if you catch it early enough while she's in the merely thowing up stage (you can imagine what comes after that but you really don't want a description, trust me on that) and dose her with steriods and ten days of Flagyl, she straightens up and doesn't get dehydrated. If it goes too long, there sub-cutaneous rehydration and anti-nausea medication and lots and lots of misery for everyone.

She has had the sub-q hydration twice before, in which they inject saline beneath the skin where it's absorbed into her system, in lieu of putting in an IV. Much easier on the kitty, but she looks like a fur-covered hot water bottle. I'm sure it's not painful or perhaps even uncomfortable, but she acts so put-upon that I can't tell how bad it really is. Luckily we caught her condition before she got to that point.

I saw a couple more houses, and the short answer is - no, nothing will work for us. One broke my heart: it was advertised as 2138 sq. ft., so we drove by to take a look; it had only one short step at the entrance, a beautifully landscaped yard, and it was gorgeous. So far, so good. I called my realtor on the quick and set up a showing. Unfortunately, the listing agent not only fibbed about how big the house was, her listing information gave me the ability to look up the house plan on the Frank Betz design firm website and find out that it's only 1750 sq. ft. Hey, what's almost 400 sq. ft. between friends???!!!!!!! Makes me so mad I could spit.

This was a killer because in all other aspects it was perfect, a beautiful house, and if it were just a little larger, I would have made an offer. The finishes were top drawer, the layout was good, it was just wonderful. Thanks to the Frank Betz website, I copied the floor plan into a drawing program and arranged and rearranged scale models of our furniture, but it wouldn't work. What with his home theater (as my mother once commented, "Why is your living room all about the electronics?") and his computer room and my home office (which I am not willing to part with!), and all the furniture his father built that we don't want to get rid of, there simply wasn't enough house.

We saw another house under construction in a small town about 15 miles away that was still small but closer to the right size; however, we didn't want to move that far out of the city and give up the conveniences to which we have grown accustomed. I may have some problems about where our house is located, but you can't beat it for proximity to everything you need.

And, the builder who wanted so much for his house (the barrier-free design that fit us to a tee....except for outrageous price) keeps calling and calling, even after we told him it was just too expensive and we couldn't go that high. I don't know exactly what's going on with that, but I have an idea.

His houses were fairly unique in the area, on flat lots and without steps, and because barrier-free design is so rare here he was able to charge a premium and get it. Then the housing market slowed down, and his new subdivision isn't taking off the way he expected. He doesn't build on speculation; most of the houses are contracted before they're started. Without a ready market of people lining up to pay oodles and oodles of money, the subdivision is languishing, and that doesn't look good. He may not be hurting for money yet. But he wants the front of that development filled up and successful looking to lure more buyers. He has figured out we are a prime candidate for his houses and keeps pursuing us.

Of course, if he were to lower the price to a reasonable cost per square foot comparable to the rest of the builders, he might well make a sale - and to us, too. As it is, he continues to try to charge the premium amount in a slow market, and it's not working. It seems like he's willing to do anything except bring his price more in line with the local market. Oh, well.

I also saw a terrible townhouse which was in such bad shape it immediately sent a prospective buyer scurrying right back out the door. It had a pot-sized burned spot on the laminate kitchen countertop that the seller hadn't even had bothered to fix. When I say burned spot, I mean a 10 inch circle of laminate melted all the way through to the particle board! Combined with the scratches and dings on the cabinets, the state of the walls, the cheap carpet, the laminate flooring where there should be hardwood at that price, it was a horror.

So.......we have pretty much suspended the house search. It ain't gonna happen. At least not this year. Rats.

One the quilty front, I completed a little more of the dragonfly applique. One body and one wing done and part of the second wing in process. It's slow, but nice to be back on track.

And I bought a quilt kit. Now, that is so NOT ME. But I saw this design in the July Fons and Porter magazine and had to have it.

Dragonfly progress

Or rather, lack of progress. Eight patches and some basting does not progress make. But I have been doing a lot of everything except sewing this week.

You can see how the dragonfly body pops off the background. There's one small wing segment there too. It's going to be great, if I can ever get back to working on it.

Dragonfly applique project

Here is my dragonfly applique panel. It's been about a week since I started, and I thought it would be interesting to post pictures at intervals chronicling my progress.
I know right now it just looks like blobs of green. You can see the black area where the first dragonfly body will be inserted. I have four more green patches to add to the right side, and then I will start on the wings, which are made up of smaller patches and will be easier to handle.

All in all, I'm happy with the progress. I think I might rather have picked my fabrics myself instead of using those from the Keepsake Quilting kit, though, if only because the weight and texture of the different fat eights included vary so much. Some are very easy to applique, and some are harder to turn under tiny points and sharp curves because they are thicker. Not all are true batiks. Two of them are printed and have a tendency to show the actual white color of the greige goods on which the pattern is printed in areas around your needle holes if you pull your stitch tight and distort the fabric's threads. (I didn't quite know how to explain that, but you probably get the drift.)

Anyway, it feels good to be actually making this, and it will look great in the living room. But lest I get too cocky, here is what I have left to finish:

A little daunting, isn't it?

The dragonfly is flitting along

A few interruptions the last several days - my neighbor passed away, so I had food to prepare and deliver, and memorials to attend, and the rest of life just got in the way - but I am back on the dragonfly. I have twelve patches completed (one of them is 2" x 11", roughly, so that's a lot of blind stitching) and seven more ready to applique. I will post a photo when I get enough done that it doesn't just look like a random green blob.

BUT - I got really curious as to how many patches there were, so I nabbed a piece of white tissue paper from my gift wrapping drawer and used it as an overlay to mark off patches as I counted them on the picture. Prepare yourself - there are 160 patches on this thing!!!!!! OK, I'm humbled, and really really scared. Twelve patches -- pfffft! It's gonna be a long summer, readers.

Oh, also - the longarmer called and said my butterfly quilt is done. I'll have pictures tomorrow.

Now to something not scary - do you have a gift wrap drawer? It is possibly the coolest organizing idea I ever had. I took one drawer in the tall chest in the guest room, added dividers to segregate rolls of wrap, tissue paper, ribbon, folded wrap, enclosure cards, bow maker, and voila! Ever so often if I see a really great roll of gift wrap or wonderful ribbon, I add to my stash. I have all occasions covered, so if there is a last minute gift, no worries about wrapping - it's all there. And - my opinion - I don't usually like gift bags; you should have to rip into the paper!

Now I am going to collect a greeting card stash - I hate having to run out to the store for a card at the last minute. Several months ago I ordered a box of embossed pineapple design small foldover notes, about 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", that make wonderful gift enclosure or flower enclosure card. I was hunting for dragonflies but couldn't find them. The pineapple as a symbol of hospitality was even better, or at least more comprehensible to most people (I guess not many have a thing for dragonflies like I do). For kids' gifts, I bought a set of bright lime green small note cards with envelopes.

As you can see, I love love love the Crane's stationery website!

That dragonfly applique project

Well folks, I have only one thing to say: NO ONE could possibly make that kit per their instructions. I did a test run and even with the freezer paper fused to the back of the black fabric, and only cutting out one area at a time, by the time I had three pieces reverse appliqued, it was a stretched-out mess! The bias pieces being inset got all squalled, the thin black bands got distorted, it looked terrible. So I stepped back, thought a minute and decided, "I can applique on the top, but there's no way in heaven this is going to work."

So I peeled the freezer paper off the back and junked it. I cut another black fabric rectangle, used my dressmaker's carbon paper to mark out the design on the wrong side, and started cutting up the freezer paper for templates. I've finished sewing three segments on already and it will be a breeze. It's big, but I imagine that if you added all the projects completed since the first of the year I have already appliqued an equal area.

Having the black fabric on the top and the colors inset into cutouts would have been neater, but -- ain't no way!