My ongoing project of love

So this is what I have been up to for quite awhile now in the evenings, a Christmas Quilt. There are a group of us at work making them, originally we hoped to finish for Christmas 2010, but now it will be 2011 when I finally get to use this!

The blocks are appliqued and then I am hand quilting around everything on each one, double click the piccie to see this better. When it's done, I will have the whole thing hand quilted by the ladies quilting group who originally introduced me to this wonderful craft. I hardly ever sewed a stitch and never sewed an item before I moved to Oklahoma!

This is just the centre section. It has a border around this and then one more row of blocks on each side featuring Christmas style trees and then a Gingerbread Man in each corner, and then the bound edge.

I am just putting the finishing touches to my Santa row at the moment, eyes, noses and something to finish out the hats on the end, which I am still trying to decide on.

Although it's taking many months, I really enjoy quilting and the detail and design involved. We have now just started our next project, which is a Queen size friendship quilt of Cupcakes and plan to exchange our blocks in April. We hope to finish out our Christmas quilts in March sometime, so I have plenty to keep me busy on these dark, cold winter nights!

Do you have a craft or hobby like this you enjoy?

A visual feast of stunning beauty!

One weekend back in the Autumn, we had fellow blogger Pam OKC and her Brit hubby to stay and we all went sightseeing to Canadian, Texas.

We walk into this smalltown museum and art gallery and were gobsmacked to be met by the sight below!

(I am about to break my own 'not too many photo's rule', but I think you'll understand)

Please 'Double Click' pictures to see more stunning detail

The art gallery of the museum had an exhibition of Linda Leyendecker Gutierrez ballgowns, which quite literally took our breath away.

Linda says she has a God-given gift for designing the elaborate hand-beaded gowns for the annual Society of Martha Washington colonial ball held in Laredo Texas, and I have to agree with her!

The beadwork detail on these amazing dresses is just staggering and unbelievably gorgeous.

Each dress weighs approximately 80lbs, the girls who get to wear them are all teenagers and are the only women with the right tiny proportions to fit into one.

In 1939, on a suggestion of the local Monsignor in Laredo, a ladies’ Society of Martha Washington came into being, and the first 13 debutantes - known as “Marthas” - were presented at the Colonial Pageant and Ball.

The Ball has happened annually ever since and every year most of the local debutantes can trace their lineage back 5 or 6 generations.

The name of each “Martha” is called out as the double French doors on the stage of the Laredo Civic Center are opened and the girl appears with her escort. Local families will save for these dresses from birth and are fully involved in the design of the "Martha" dress for their daughter.

Everyone waits to see the grandiose costumes of the young ladies, supported by a lattice of hoops, the hand stitched elaborate silk, satin and velvet gowns are coated with beading, sequins, lace and ribbons from all over the world.

Linda refuses to dignify requests for the prices of the gowns with an answer, but estimates have ranged from $12-30,000 and having looked at them close-up I would say she earns every penny.

This was my personal favourite, I just adore the colour and style of this stunning gown. I only own one dress, just not into them, but I'm not sure any woman could resist donning one of these beauties just once!

I wish my waist was tiny enough to wear it, this could be just the motivation I need to diet!

I think Pam and I could have floated around this display for another hour happily dreaming and admiring, even our Hubsters were impressed for awhile.

My pictures don't even come close to doing these gowns justice, so if you ever get the chance to see them anywhere, do not miss it.

So which one would you want to wear?

A bit of 'Ye Olde England' in Okieland

One of the things I love most about England is the REALLY old architecture to be found. So as a teenager and into my twenties, I bought these little handmade David Winter Cottages. They were the first things I collected and I still have them to this day, including all their original boxes. I saved up to buy them with the first money I ever earned myself!

I toured the factory where they were made, watching the artists at work and learned that each one is based in some part on a real building. Inspiration for the cottages came from a variety of sources; old books, manuscripts, etchings and real buildings. But, the final shape and form of the sculpture comes firmly from David's imagination. He would sculpt the original, a mould was made by hand, the cottage was poured and then finished by hand.

Each cottage was a limited edition, came with an authenticity certificate and was numbered. Over the years I also managed to purchase quite a few signed by David Winter. Some are part of collections, the snow covered ones were the Christmas collection.

When I moved so far from England, I never thought twice about bringing all of them with me. It seemed like this was the reason I collected them all those years ago, because one day they'd be a precious reminder of home for me.

I have 21 in my collection. Although they don't hold great monetary value, they are priceless and a little bit of home to me.

Do you have something precious you collect?

Embracing the 'Native Indian' arts

One of the places we got to shop at on our trip to Oklahoma City yesterday, was the Cherokee Trading Post, a fave of mine. As the name suggests, they sell alot of handmade Native Indian items, ranging from gorgeous turquoise jewelry, clothing, collectibles, dream catchers and fantastic pottery.

I haven't mentioned this before, but handmade pottery has always been a favourite of mine to collect. So much so, that I actually took pottery classes for a year in my thirties. I made quite a few things, my mum has my favourite piece in her garden, a big glazed pot that was way too heavy to ship here.

As a consequence I am always really drawn to simple pottery designs and patterns. The last couple of times we made it to this store, I have loved this particular design and range, the artist is an Indian lady who signs them all. So yesterday I treated myself to one, with some of my Christmas money and I just thought I'd share it's beauty.

Living as we do in what was formerly the 'Wild West', both the Hubster and I like to incorporate some western touches into our home. We specifically chose this squat shaped pot, so it's safe from Bon-Bon the terror kitten knocking it over, as she has to investigate and prod everything we bring in!

Martha Stewart I am not!

But when I first got here nearly three years ago, knowing very few people, I decided to join a hand-quilting group to help make friends. Quilting is extremely popular in this area, one of the local schools even has it on the curriculum for boys and girls.

This led me to eventually take a quilt making course and the end result a few months later was this sampler lap quilt. For me this was a truly remarkable achievement, up until this point I had never mastered a sewing machine and chose to sew any repairs by hand as a result!

I found the process of piecing the quilt extremely challenging, especially the 1/4 inch seams everywhere, a few of mine were not that exact! I loved getting to select my colours and fabrics, then deciding which blocks to attempt, each week increasing how difficult they were.

My favourite and the most difficult of the blocks, was the Jacobs Ladder above. It may have caused me a few headaches but the end result made it all worthwhile. I learned how to bind it and even did the mitred corners, which is something many quilters leave to others. But I had an excellent teacher and she insisted we did it all ourselves, for which I am grateful.

The ladies in the group who taught me hand-quilting, actually hand-quilted this for me. I wanted them do it for two reasons; it would have taken me months and it made my first quilt more special, knowing my new friends all had a some stitches on it.

The satisfaction I felt at the end and pure astonishment that I had actually made this thing of beauty, are still with me today when I look at it. I have not had the time to piece another quilt since, but I have the fabric and may well take the time over the winter to make another.

The hubster, appreciating what a huge achievement this was for a former career girl who had no clue about sewing, gave me this quilt stand for my next birthday.

Just writing this piece has made me want to go and drag out all the quilting fabric I have and start work on another - be warned, quilt making's addictive!