The Goods

Rick will be getting his birthday goodies today, then we’ll be heading off into town to catch a movie.

On the bottom, the large memory foam chair cushion he’s been wanting, and two sleep pillows, filled with homegrown hops, lavender, cedar and sage. The one with the dragon initials is for when he’s in Gladstone, the other for home.

The backs of the sleep pillows. I did a snap closure on both, so the filling can be replaced when necessary.

A 2.5″ X 3.5″ acrylic painting, using some beautiful plastic swarf Rick brought home for me some time ago. It’s for him to have when he’s away.

The Full Quilt: Stripping

Just sewing strips of 12 bricks end to end right now, then sticking them up on the wall to keep them out of the way (I just tacked some low loft batting to a wall).

Bruce lends a skull

I spent some time last night photographing Bruce’s skull, and this is the position I’ll use for Skully Rat.  Now to translate it into something I can embroider…and, that wasn’t too difficult. At least the drawing bit.

Skully Brewmaster

is done.

A Better Hop

I was not happy with the way the hop strobile was going on Skully Brewmaster, so I ripped it all out and went with my first impulse, to use variegated thread. The DMC variegated 94 worked beautifully. Much happier now.  And the hops are now finished. Yay and all that.

The Full Quilt

I told Rick some time ago that I’d make him a quilt – a proper one, the kind that actually keeps a person warm. Seeing as his birthday is coming up, I figured I could at least get a start on it. Rick did the cutting and I did all the margin marking, finishing up all the bricks today. We’ll get a quilt wall next week, so we can lay it out prior to sewing.

Birthday Business

Busy making stuff for Rick’s birthday, which is coming up soon. I’ll be occupied with it for a while yet. I have one thing finished, but can’t show it because he checks my blogs, so it’s just a teaser.

Hopped Up

Getting a start on Skully Brewmaster. The Barley wreath is done, using DMC S676 and DMC S712. Five different shades of green are being used for the hops. The main part of each leaf is comprised of one strand each of DMC threads 472, 3819, and 3348. The pale, papery top sections are DMC threads 165 and 3047.

New Tools

A Gingher retractable seam ripper and a pair of Gingher embroidery scissors. Shiny.

Chef Done

It’s a Skully Chef! About time – this one took a while. Onto Skully Brewmaster now.

A Cook, A Brewmaster and More

Currently working on Skully Chef. Last night, Rick asked whether or not there would be a Skully Brewmaster. I blinked and said “there will be now.” So, got the design for the brewmaster done. There will also be a Skully Rat (of course), using Bruce’s skull as a template. There will also be a Skully Dragon. One of my most favourite miniatures that I’ve painted is Kaladrax, a skeletal dragon from Reaper. I’ll use that as a template for a Skully Dragon, with flames and dice for the crosspieces. So, business as usual, too much to do and not enough time to do it.

Skully Chef

Skully Brewmaster

All Geeked Out

Another Skully done. Moving on to Skully Cook next.

Getting my geek on

Okay, one more Skully before I get back to A Different Grail. Skullys are like potato chips, can’t do just one. :D Skully Geek is up, and this gives me the opportunity to use my favourite variegated thread, DMC 115.  The meese will be red and purple, of course, given that this is also going to be my ‘Imma old broad’ quilt too. If I have the time, I’ll see if I can fit in one or two  D & D dice in between  the meese, for two good friends of mine.