linques design speaks

almost october

Wow, tomorrow's October! Thank you to everyone who has voted for me on the HOTLIST! I appreciate it. I have a nice big bead shop visit planned next weekend, so I'll soon be back into jewelry making mode. For now it's sewing, knitting, and embroidery though. Here's the bag I mentioned before. It's from Bend the Rules Sewing. I (gasp) don't use Flickr, so I haven't posted any of my projects from the book into the photo pool.

I love the bag, but had no idea it would be so big! I brought it home last weekend, and my sister loves it, but wants her version to be smaller. I can handle that.

And here's the weird dirt in the corner. It might be from my car? Anyway, should come out in the wash, but I have been too lazy to dump out my stuff and stick it through a cycle.

Today was spent doing the great Fall switch. It's so sad for me when I have to put away my summer clothes! I love fall colors, but do not really like the layers that come with it. Or socks. As I was hanging up the fall stuff, I noticed a hole in one of my marino sweaters. Kind of sad, because I love the color. I thought about just wearing it with the hole, but it was kind of obvious. So I felted it! And pretty successfully, I think! (This is my first good attempt. If you might remember, my first attempt was to felt "wool", and only after 3 runs through the washer did I realize it was a wool blend that is made to prevent felting.)

Aww so cute. Here's the hole. I thought felting might make it smaller, but it got humongous! Good thing I felted it. Wouldn't want a big hole at my back!

I have no plans for this yet. Maybe flowers? A bag? Who knows.

-LMH

Hot List!

I've been nominated for Cleveland's Hot List! Am I one of the Cleveland area's best businesses? Sure! (Even if I don't have a store front!) I haven't received my login information yet, so I haven't updated my online profile, but you can still vote for me!

-Go to myfoxcleveland.com
-Find the HOTLIST icon (it's in a red box)
-Go to jewelry designers
-Click on Lindsey Marcella
-Once you process your vote, you will receive an e-mail
-Click on the e-mail confirmation, and you're done!

I appreciate everyone's help with this! It's a great honor; I'm not even sure who nominated me!

I've got a few projects to share, but haven't had time for any pictures. And of course one of the bags that I've made has a stain on it...

free shoes

I have to admit, my job is pretty great. I like it, like the people I work with, Love my car, like doing e-mails, you get the idea. I also like the awards they have. There are normal ones that we can get nominated for, but they also reward us when we're doing well with day to day things. In July, I received a $100 gas gift card, which was wonderful because I was able to use it for the Florida trip. In August, I received what was supposed to be a $50 gas gift card, but ended up being an American Express card. I Could have used it for gas I guess, but I had just filled up. After much deliberation, I decided on some new shoes. And these are what I found. Thanks, work!

Pillows, finally

Long overdue. I had made my brother mark one of these pillows when he was here in July, and promised the matching one soon. Then we went to FL, and other things, and I just didn't do it. So I fixed that this weekend! Here's pillow #2 for him, which he'll get this weekend. He's a lot younger than me, 15 1/2, and I love that he gets so excited for handmade pillows! Especially ones with a dalmation print. But he really loved the first one, and was happy to hear a second one was coming. Not many sophomores would say that, especially boys.

I had also bought flannel to make my sister Katherine some pillows. She is 14, and got a fun New York print. I love these, and I hope she will too.

So my dad's birthday is Friday, and he's always a hard one. I couldn't really think of anything I could make to send him, so I decided on some pictures of me. (weird? i think he likes that because he doesn't see me that often.) I was going through my photos..and I do not have pictures of myself! I mean I do, but I'm not like my sister who takes 20 photos of herself a day! And I wanted a recent picture-but guess what most of them were from the summer? All of my crazy hives! Hands, feet, face, but no "Me". I finally found two, but I think I need to teach Cosmo how to take a picture.  Or I guess I could just learn how to use the self timer.

Another Finished Quilt!

Am I going to need to make a "quilting" catagory now? This quilt top had been sitting in the corner of the front room...for a long time. Remember this post? This was from January 3. I have an excuse though. I have always been taught to make the quilt sandwhich and pin it together with safety pins. I did that. But I was not excited about quilting it and removing all of those pins. So the pins sat there right in the sandwhich for all those months.

But then I made the lap quilts, and used my flower pins, that are nice and long and sharp, perfect for me and lots of layers. So I removed all the saftety pins last Sunday, made a new quilt sandwhich, bought some black fabric for the binding, and finished the quilt! I was so motivated that I finished the quilting and binding all last Sunday, in one day. I stitched in the ditch for my quilting, and I only got a few puckers. That's using a regular sewing machine foot, so it's not too shabby. And I tried quilting thread for the binding, which I liked better. So you get lots of pictures, because frankly I'm proud of this quilt. It's not huge, but the biggest one I've completed.

The backing is mostly the black print, but I did a corner in the white print.

The binding alternates between the large flower print and a mostly black print. Although it was supposed to be a "spring" quilt, this has found a nice home on the couch.

the dress i hated but now i like

Do you remember this dress I talked about that was a tent? It's been sitting on the back of a chair since then. I love the fabric so much, so I decided to finish the hem and just wear it. I wore it to work with a black cardigan, and it kind of reined all the fabric in a bit. Maybe I was a bit too harsh though. I made Derek take a picture, and it's not THAT bad. If I made the pattern again I would make the neck ties smaller by about half and add some fishtail darts. It would still be roomy, just not humungeous!

I think the shorter length helps too. The pattern said it was 'short', but I cut off about 6 inches! I am only 5' 1" though.

Here's Cosmo right before the photo shoot. He loves the sun on the balcony, and runs to it when he hears me open the blinds in the morning. We haven't had a lot of bugs, so I've let him sit out there for a bit with the door open. He kind of freaks out if I close it and leave him there by himself. That chihuahua toy is from Taco Bell years ago. He still talks too! Cosmo loves him.

Playtime

Couldn't you just eat this pup up? Meet Nutmeg, Derek's aunt and uncle's new little girl golden retriever puppy. We visited them on Friday to meet her, and Cosmo came to meet his "cousin." Cosmo usually doesn't like little dogs, but gets along well with big ones. We now know that he does NOT like puppies!

She's playful, and like all puppies does like to nip. Such a sweet girl. Being 2 1/2 yrs though, Cosmo was not having it. She tried to bite his fluffy tail, and he growled at her. Ever see the crazy Chihuahua on Caeser's show? That kind of mean growl. He was scared; and it's our fault because Cosmo had plenty of puppy experience during puppy school (all 3 sessions, he's a college grad), but he was a puppy at that time too. Since then he really hasn't been around them and doesn't know how to deal. So anytime she would run to him, he would either hide or growl. He spent most of the night on the couch with Derek, while I played with Nutmeg. He wouldn't even look at her!

I think Nutmeg thought he was a fun toy since he was smaller then her. Even when she tried to bite my earrings I still loved her!

orange you glad?

Best find! I finally found a K Mart near us, and went there for Martha dish towels. It seemed silly to order those online. While there, I found these dishes. They're not Martha, but I Love them. They're porcelein, even though they seem like they would be plastic. And guess how much? $12 for a 16 piece set! Less than $1 a piece. And I wasn't even sad when one of the large plates was chipped! Can't do much better even if I would have thrifted them. I got 2 sets because that's what we have now, so I'll do a full replacement rotation. Our other dishes are Martha, and they're a little worn from so much use.

Aren't the mugs cute? I was at Anthropologie today and they kind of remind me of that. Next to the mugs are bowls. They're really shallow, but we'll give them a try.

The trip to K Mart was a story...best to be saved for the dish towel post!

vacation crafts 5

  Last round! Just some little doodles. I think most of these were from the same Japanese book I mentioned before.

vacation crafts 4

Ok, I won't torture you and drag this little display out much longer! Here are some more little embroideries from The New Crewel:

And this is the one I'm working on now. I think I'm using the hoop upside down, but if I have it the other way I tangle up my thread on the back!

And another picture of Cosmo, just for good measure!