Project Progress

Here is a little peek at a large embroidery project I am totally lovin' workin' on. Yesterday I went through my embroidery basket and found this little lady. I think I have some other characters that match... but maybe I will just use her on her own. Um... not sure yet, which probably means she'll end up back in the basket. Nah! I gotta use her ...soon.

Do you remember these cuties?

The one on the right has hair and a name now.
Here she is... Gemma.

Now she just needs a skirt.
Ah... there she goes.
Now she just needs a test wash and she's ready for a new home.

Chasing Spring

The crocus have bloomed! These little beauties are the first plant to bloom in my garden every year so they hold a certain excitement even though they are diminutive and unassuming.

I adore the soft blue, it reminds me of white linens rinsed with bluing.

Two days ago my garden looked like this...ugly, very UGLY but beautiful to me.The snow is melting and there is plant life poppin' up all over. The Crocus from above are just to the right, outside of this photo, they are there... believe me. They are very small.

This morning my garden looks like this...

Just a slight set back ;-(

To combat the disappointment I took a few photos of my "inside" garden.

The tomatoes are incredible.

Tomato flowers...

Biker Billy Pepper flowers...

I hope your April has been greener than mine.

Perfectly Patriotic

Hello all,

This week I have been preparing the Pasquali Rumpus Shop for Independence day . I guess Mother's Day and Memorial Day are our next holidays, but I feel like getting a head start on the 4th of July so I need to get busy now!

I had cut out these 3 1/2" squares last week...and they inspired me to make this perfectly patriotic pillow. My favorite part of making any patchwork project is the "arranging", deciding which square goes where (hey, that rhymes;-) is the highlight and then the work begins.

This is the finished pillow in all it's Glory, both sides are handquilted with white embroidery thread. I think it belongs on someones front porch, maybe sitting on a white porch swing in Americanaville U.S.A.
We have added a few flag waving Tie Dyes too! These two are currently For Sale in the shop ...

but this one I kinda messed up...

I dribbled some blue down at the bottom. This may become my Independence Day shirt. I am thinking of reconstructing it into a more feminine shape, we'll see.

I have almost completed an embroidery project that I cannot wait to show you but right now I need to build a fire it is freezing in here!

OH Boy!!!

Look what I found this morning! Yipeee!

I can already taste the summer fruit we're gonna have. ;-)

Still Freezing

As you can tell from the photo above we are still freezing here but inside my FloraLight it is warm and very green. My tomato plants have dozens of sweet little yellow flowers that will soon become juicy tomatoes. The plants are pressed up against the light bulbs and I can't raise the lights any higher.

My cabbages are the size of soccer balls...

and look a pumpkin flower!

I saved some seeds from our Jack-O-Lantern on Halloween and planted it, I have never tried to grow Pumpkins before. I really don't live in the right climate for growing squash but I adore the way the plant spreads, it is such a gorgeous viney plant. I don't really care if I actually get pumpkins or not.

Here is a shot of the flower before it wilted. Don't you just love the color?

Today is going to be a warm sunny day so I plan to work on digging out my garden, 'cause my plants need to move out!

Hope you are having a sunny warm day. :-)

April Showers

April showers? Showers of Snow that is!Easter Sunday Evening was a very stormy and we were blessed/cursed with a few more feet of snow. While my hubby spent his Monday relocating the white stuff

I made this...

I can't believe how sore my fingers are from pushing and pulling that thick thread through the three layers. I love the hand quilted effect but I am really bruised now. I have an assortment of thimbles but I can't seem to get used to using them. The fact that I cannot feel my finger tips forces me to avoid the thimble and I end up using other areas of my finger, defeating the purpose entirely.

I will have to find a different project to work on for awhile, but I want to make more. :-(

So today I am doing this... and this.
I think I will cut out squares until my wrist aches and then maybe let my sewing machine do the work for awhile, I am on a roll.

Maisie and Wonderland

Have any of you seen "Alice in Wonderland" yet? The new Tim Burton one I mean.

I had the privilege of seeing it this afternoon and I loved it. Johnny Depp was fantastic, of course. The make-up artist should be nominated for an Oscar...Oh! and the Costume Designer. The sets were amazing and I don't even know how they did the live action/animation thing. The young woman who played Alice was believable and very much looked the part.

I highly recommend it.

I have a funky bright new doll to add to my shop. I have named her...

Maisie.

Her body is made of a lilac hued cotton speckled with fish and her festive striped stockings/legs peek out from under her Dark green dotted skirt which has a waistband of grape and the hem is trimmed in rainbow ric rac.

Maisie has some wild pink and orange dreadlocks. Which I totally envy.

She will soon have company, I have finished a couple more rag dolls but I haven't found the perfect hair for them yet. Kevin is calling them both Sinaed. I am thinking...Telly ;-)

Baby Granny Afghans

Today I have put up for sale in my shop a couple of crochet blankets. They started out as random Granny Squares and ended up as sweet little stroller afghans. I made them out of acrylic yarn and they washed up so soft.

This one isn't as wonky as the photo implies...I don't know what happened there.

This Rainbow Bright Afghan is the one I would pick. I feel happy just looking at it.

I can't wait 'til the snow is melted and I can use my lawn to take photos.

I never found a better backdrop than this plastic grass. At least the sun is high and warm so I can take pics on the deck in the natural light.

I hope you have a sunny day;-)

I'll be wearin' Green

Happy St.Patrick's Day!

Things are changing around here. Spring is most surely on its way. The day is twelve hours long now and it hasn't snowed in several days. The highs have been in the low 50's and the lows... about 28. Pretty soon we will get to have a night that doesn't freeze and then we are on our way to my favorite time of year...Summer. AHHH, I can just imagine how warm I'll be working out in my garden. I can't wait. The tomato plants we have started all have tiny little flower buds on them which will soon be flowers that turn into tomatoes. Yummy

Today I am celebrating St. Patrick's Day with our usual menu, Corned Beef ( already in the slow cooker) with cabbage, Pea Champ and Soda Bread and just like every year we will watch "Far and Away".

I love this movie so much, although Tom Cruise is not as charming to me as he once was. I don't know what happened to me and Tom, I lost my love somewhere along the way. Nicole Kidman ,however, I could watch her all day. I need a new St. Pat's Day movie, do you have any suggestions? I was thinking "P.S. I Love You" would be a good one but I always cry hysterically when I watch that flick. Every other "Irish" movie I can think of is too violent or depressing to watch every year. For today I am sticking to "Far and Away".

There are many projects underway here at Pasquali Rumpus and I don't want to post about them 'til I am finished. I have a new Rag Doll completed and once I get her washed she will be available in my shop.

OH! Guess what... Josie sold!

She was the first Doll to go up for sale in my shop and now she is on her way to a new home in Michigan.

Well... I guess that is it for now. I better go get my green on, don't wanna get pinched. ;-)

I guess I should explain why I put that photo above...

The woman on the left is my Great Grandmother Nellie Murphy...she is one of my connections to Ireland.

Have a very Lucky Day!

Facebook or Flickr?

I was wondering today why it is that I enjoy playing with Flickr.com so much more than Facebook.com. Several friends and family kept pestering me to get on Facebook so I tried it out...I am not impressed. I didn't think I would be and I was right. It is useful in the sense that I can keep in constant touch with some people who I otherwise wouldn't hear from but I don't enjoy spending time reading about the mundane things folk do, such as feeding their cat, going to the gym or doing their laundry. Nope, it just isn't interesting to me. Flickr however is a whole different thing. I am having so much fun posting photos and looking at other peoples photos. There are some amazing photographers out there.

There is a group on Flickr called "The Secret Life of Toys", I looked through it a few days ago and found myself giggling like a school girl so I took a few shots myself. Here is one of them...he he

I need help with creative captions. Can you help me?

Yeah...I am not interested in the boring things people do but playing with toys is fun!