short update

It's short because it's all the stitching I've done in two months!  I finished up the first of several projects that are being provided with our Casket of Curiosities project. This piece is small, maybe 2 inches by 2 inches and is going to be a pin pillow for my box. The colors are marvelous but I hate the silk fiber that is provided and it's supposed to be the basis of the stitching. I'm almost 100% certain at this point I'm going to try to match these colors to Vikki Clayton silks.  I like to work with hers better and they are so much more affordable.  While I love the color and gloss of the finished project, this is already costing me thousands of dollars and I don't have enough cash to spend more in silk thread.  I'll make do with substitutions. 

I'm way behind on my casket project - Tricia has provided four or five small projects to date and this is only the first one (each one teaches a different skill and lets us try out the products before we spend major funds).  My design progress came to a screeching halt when I decided to convert all the designs that I was interested in to PDF format so I can move them around the casket blanks and recolor to my hearts content.  So I had to go buy a digitizing tablet plus Adobe Illustrator.  Still learning how to do the basics. 

I've also been spending hours and hours in front of my sister's long arm quilting machine.  We have manged to master the basics of the machine and the computer program that controls the quilting and are taking at least two quilts off the frame a week - I even managed two small ones alone last night!  It's her year to provide the family with gifts and she wanted to gift at least 10 and we are almost there.  I've even been able to sneak in a couple small quilts for me and I'll take photos and post them as soon as they are bound and washed.  I'm proud to say that not only am I a piecer, I am a quilter.  :-)  It's great to have total control of the entire process.