Ta da... the peacock!

Well almost.  I still have to clean it up… trim a few loose threads, remove all the lint, and the excess water soluble stabilizer residue, and of course bind it, but the peacock mural is finally assembled!

It measures 45 inches by 24 inches, and is stiff as a board with two layers of heavy duty (I mean some seriously heavy duty!) stabilizer under all the embroidery.

This is probably one of the most fun projects I’ve ever done.  The directions were quite thorough, and there wasn’t anything at all difficult about creating this, although applying all the satin ribbon over the joins was rather tedious.

I used quarter inch Steam a Seam 2 double sided fusible webbing to fuse the satin ribbons down.  The braided trim I first glued down with Elmer’s school glue, then stitched it down. 

For the quilting, I simply stitched in all the joins and around the border.  I haven’t yet figured out how I’m going to hang this, so the binding will likely wait until I decide.  The arched top makes it a bit more difficult.

I’d highly recommend this project if you like this.  It’s called “Picturesque Peacock” by OESD.  You can download the .pdf file prior to purchasing the design pack and read the directions ahead of time.

Last night we enjoyed one of my favorite chicken dishes, “Chicken Paillards in Lemon Brandy Sauce”.

It’s quick and easy to make, and tastes wonderful with steamed broccoli or asparagus for a light meal.

I ordered two new packages of bees to be delivered in May, ours unfortunately died off last year.  And I believe I’m going to go ahead and get some more chickens, as Jim will not being working in New Orleans anymore (YAY!) or only very sporadically…, so I obviously won’t be joining him down there in the RV either!

No storm, LOL

All that excitement, and it passed us by mostly!  We got just a bit under two inches, which was still lovely!  Some places south of us (what’s up with that?) got six inches!  I think Little Rock got quite a bit of snow.

Jim said the roads were very icy and I-40 was one lane only, it took him fifty minutes to get to work this morning, normally a fifteen minute drive.

I finally got the next row done on the peacock, having spent yesterday washing and ironing all my curtains (ugh), so it took me longer.  I rinsed the Solvy off of the last piece in the row this morning, sewed it on and…

I screwed up the coloring on that section when I was changing it in the software!  To make matters worse, I thought it would blend in okay, so I went ahead and sewed that section on.  Does this look blended to you?  Eep!  So I’m restitching that piece out, and I hope like crazy that I can rip out the attached piece without the one it’s sewn to falling apart… velveteen is not the most stabil fabric!

My house needs rescuing!

This week has flown by!  I can’t believe tomorrow is Friday already… Jim will be home and OMG the downstairs looks like a tornado went through!

When I made the new pillow covers I got a wild hair to completely redo the downstairs.  Our bedroom is already done in black and ivory, I started to do the rest that way, but changed it midway.  As a result, it’s been a rather ugly mixture.  Yesterday I began pulling everything off the walls, tables… you name it, if it could be moved it’s been moved!  Fresh slate!  Might as well do some heavy duty cleaning while I’m at it!

I’ve been spending more time creating and dreaming than cleaning though… hence the war zone.  Some new coasters in coordinating fabrics, along with a temporary table runner that I’d made out of embroidery samples a while back… it won’t be staying but for now it’s helping me think about my color palette.

I just love those criss cross coasters!  I have made so many of them and they are the best coasters ever!  They wash and dry beautifully, and since I put a layer of batting in mine, they always absorb any liquid without soaking through to the table.

I’m trying something totally new to me and it’s so fun!  I’m creating an embroidered wall hanging, that’s stitched in sections.  Each section is then trimmed and sewn to the next section with a zigzag stitch.  When the entire mural is done, satin trim will cover all the joins, and then batting and a backing will be applied, edges bound.

One section shown, then the next picture is two sections, and finally, the last one is what I have completed so far.  This is a new design set by OESD called “Picturesque Peacock”.  It took me most of a day to recolor it all, and I hope I’m going to like the end result.

I’m sewing it out on velveteen, and even with a layer of Solvy on top, the stitches are still sinking in a fair amount and they’re hard to see, because the design is fairly open.  But I think it will be okay when done.

For Christmas, my parents gave me a beautiful wall sconce/urn, and I ran to Hobby Lobby for some greenery and flowers, and put together an arrangement for it and hung it on the wall.  It’s going to be perfect with my new color scheme!  Flower arranging is not my forte, but I think it turned out alright.

I’m in the zone… and all I want to do is create right now.  But I think I better find some willpower and go downstairs and clean up the unholy mess I’ve made!

I'll miss him tomorrow...

Jim left for New Orleans again this morning, and by tomorrow I’ll be sad that he’s gone, but today I am over the moon at being all alone!  A week of company, the mad dashing around of the holidays, and I was so ready for some down time!

I did do laundry all morning long, but other than that, I’m being a complete bum!  I have tons of leftovers in the fridge, so I don’t even need to bother (not that I mind) cooking for myself.

In between laundry, I finished the last of the pillows.  Well the last of these particular pillows.  I have one or two more ideas floating around in my head that I’d like to do.  Probably later.

These were all done on regular quilting cotton, and I fused Pellon fusible fleece to both the front and back of each, and put a simple zipper in them so they can be washed of course.

I am going to remake the first one, it’s the one on the left that says Home at the top. It’s just not quite right, but I’m very pleased with the other two!

When we first moved into this house (nearly three years ago now!) I started decorating in black, ivory and beige.  Then I decided to go with more of a country look, and started adding color, based around the Moda Chocolat line of fabric.  Even my braided wool rugs have those exact colors in them.  But black, ivory and beige are my colors of choice when it comes to both my clothes and my home decor… and so I think I’m going to start over!

OESD released a new machine embroidery design pack this month that I’m seriously considering purchasing and creating in neutrals on a black background.

With the arched top though, I’m not sure how to go about hanging it?  Any suggestions?

I had recolored Hatched in Africa’s gorgeous peacock in neutrals a couple of year ago and stitched it out on a black background.  Those are pretty much the same colors I’d like to use on this wallhanging if I do it.

I think it would be stunning, but would love some feedback!  Sometimes it’s difficult to take something with so many colors and use just a few neutral shades, but I am not a big fan of “color”.  

Now, if I only had a cup of coffee, my day would be pure bliss!