Back in the groove again

Whoa! Can’t believe it’s the middle of July already – summer is flying by. It’s been awhile since I updated my poor neglected blog. I had my arthroscopic shoulder surgery in mid-April and am doing well. The surgeon removed 2 large bone spurs and cleaned out my whole shoulder joint making twice as much room in there as there was prior to the surgery. It was pretty painful the first 2 weeks but after 2 months of physical therapy I’m almost back to normal now. I can stitch and sew again finally – yeah!! I just have to not go too long at one sitting or the shoulder gets sore.

I have been busy the last month. I took a wonderful class in early June with Jane Timmers. It' was the "Madeira Tin Set". We lined a Moda jellyroll tin and made matching smalls. I love Jane’s patterns. She is so nice and brought wonderful things for us to see and patterns to purchase. Here is my finished Madeira Tin Set below. It includes a pinkeep/needlebook, biscornu, and folding ort jar. I loved learning how to make the ort jar - it's not included in the pattern but she was able to show us how to do it. I’m amazed at how creative people are. It twists up and looks like a little pyramid when closed. The set also included a pattern to make a tote bag and a cloth scissor fob. I didn't make the tote bag and decided to do a stitched fob instead using some design motifs from the other pieces in the set. In the front of the tin is a photograph of a matching sampler that Jane stitched. The whole set is just darling and it's one of the most fun things I've done. All the pictures are clickable if you want a closer look. Jane will be publishing this pattern maybe next year but for now it's just a class piece.

I also have been busy catching up on the “book quilt”. This is a quilt my friends and I are designing to go with a book we all read called “Like Water For Chocolate”. I got behind on the monthly assignments when I couldn’t sew for awhile. This was my month to present a design and I’m so glad my assignment is done. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. Here is the quilt so far. It's been fun doing something a bit different and seeing the different color palettes each person used. Everything in the quilt pertains to something in the book so of course you wouldn't know unless you've read it but it's interesting anyway.

I haven't been doing any exchanges yet this year but just signed up for the fall sampler house exchange on SBEBB so I can get back to exchanging. While my shoulder was healing I had my sewing room painted and am doing a bit of redecorating in there as well. It used to be decorated in "primitive" style but I am trying to do a bit of shabby chic now. I hope to get some pictures up on my blog soon. Other than that I have a severe case of cross-stitch start-itis! I've been holding myself back trying to work on my UFO list but it's hard. I promised myself I'd get half of my list done before the end of the year and I've still got a lot to do. There are so many wonderful things calling my name though from my stash drawers! I'm convinced that many of you don't sleep - you just stitch all night. Either that or you have the Keebler Elves coming over to help you!

Getting my last stitching & sewing in for a bit.....

Tuesday I get my shoulder operated on so wanted to post what I've been doing lately. I won't be able to do too much for awhile depending on the extent of the surgery. I made this bag this week from a kit I picked up at a quilt show in January. The pattern is "Charm Party Tote" by Penny Sturgis. I just love it - the pattern was written so you could use the charm packs everyone is selling these days but of course you can cut your own squares just as well. It was fun to do - I did it all except the buttons last Saturday. I'm a big fan of pink and love the combination of colors and prints that were in the kit. It has a quilted lining and 2 nice inside pockets. For those of you still having a bit of winter, maybe the flowers will cheer you up a bit - we are having wonderful weather - today was breezy and about 80 I'm guessing. We're enjoying the last of "spring" as it starts to get hot sometime in May.


I also picked up a UFO the past 2 weeks to work on. This is "Sampler Gameboard" by The Drawn Thread.

I probably shouldn't say this....but.....this was my project from an RR a couple years ago - I only really had the bottom 2 rows of the gameboard to finish when it came back to me. HOWEVER........once I got it out to take a good look at it, I was dismayed about the quality of some of the stitching. Mind you, most of the piece is looking great, it was mostly one row that had a lot of problems and a few other spots here and there that needed a touch-up. I don't expect things to be perfect but I just could not leave in some of what I found - I'm talking knots, totally wonky stitches, missed threads, going over too many threads, I even found sections where the stitcher must have used the wrong color and then decided to just stitch over it in the correct color so there were 2 layers of stitching! Now I can see doing this for a random stitch or two but I'm talking about areas that were like 1" square. I plan to have this framed and just could not have lived with it like that. So I have been frogging like you wouldn't believe. The problem areas are very hard to take out because of all the problems - I just keep snipping and pulling and snipping and pulling....... I am down to the last square on the row I'm removing - it's actually not too bad and could probably stay in, but since I already removed the rest of the row I might as well be consistent. I will be re-stitching that whole row and I also already fixed up several other problems. I don't know....I've had some good RR's and some not so good. It seems like so many times there is some kind of issue with someone dropping out and not communicating, keeping people's projects, taking forever to do their parts (like 8 months for a few evenings of stitching!), doing poor quality work, etc. I have no problem if someone needs to drop out for personal reasons, everybody has things that happen in their lives that are unexpected. But just tell the group and mail the pieces back - that's all that is required. I have been in groups where we begged, begged, and begged some more to get pieces back. It's really frustrating. I just can't understand why anyone would treat a fellow stitcher or quilter that way. Anyway, at least I'm finally getting this done. I always did love this pattern and look forward to completing it and having it framed and hanging by the end of the year. The little blocks really go along pretty quickly.

I made a quick trip to the LNS this week to pick up the latest Loose Feathers pattern and a few others of course! I bought this nice scrap bag - I've had one for years but when I saw this one made out of the Moda sampler fabric and in a color I like, I just had to have it.


I also picked up a pattern from my wishlist called "Peaceful Garden" from The Stitching Parlor. I love the medieval look of this piece and especially the castle. I noticed after bringing it home that it uses 48 skeins of Crescent Colors over-dyed floss. Yikes!! I'll have to think about whether I want to invest that much in cotton floss or perhaps just convert to silks. However, the overdyes look really nice in the picture (of course!).

I'm happily anticipating the season premiere of "Deadliest Catch" on Discovery next week. That's the show about Alaskan crab fishing. To me it's amazing anyone can do that job - makes me less likely to whine about my own! I watch a lot of shows on Discovery and A&E. Now if '24' would just hurry up and come back on - can't believe we have to wait until January. I don't really watch very many TV shows so I really miss my favorites when they're not on.

Closing with a couple pictures of my 'kids' out playing in the yard today. Abby is the little one and Buster is the Sheltie. Thanks for stopping by my little world. :)

Another UFO bites the dust.....(and a few rants)....

Well things are still chugging along here. I have been fighting a case of bronchitis for over a month which caused me to have to reschedule my shoulder surgery to the middle of April. I'm on my second round of antibiotics and finally starting to feel better.

On the good side, I finished up another quilting UFO. This is a scrappy strip quilt which I made for DH's car - he likes to keep one in the back which serves a multitude of purposes. It was fun to do and I like it. I have been trying to finish off at least one UFO per month and this was #3 so I'm on schedule so far. (That's the husband's feet peeking out at the bottom - I made him hold it up).


I also finished off the last of the Shepherd's Bush (2003!) monthlies, so I can wipe out 2 UFO's on my list. This week I picked up Brenda Keyes' "Plymouth Sampler" and did a bit of stitching on that but I haven't gotten very far.

The husband and I have busy doing some work on the yard. We had 3 ficus trees die off the winter before last because we had a bad frost here in the southwest where a lot of trees are not frost-tolerant. We had them taken out last fall and then built a raised area in our yard. We planted 3 new trees (frost tolerant ones!) and I have a place to plant flowers which is nice. Here is corner of the yard in 'before' state showing the dead trees, and now the 'after'.


It sure looks a lot better! We also are putting artifical "pet turf" in the area on the side of our house that are dogs use. We had real grass there first that wouldn't grow (not enough sun), then we tried 2 different kinds of rock. So this is our 4th incarnation of the area and I think the doggies will be very pleased to have something grass-like again. Supposedly this turf is pet-friendly, very durable and drains well. (Maybe your'e wondering why our dogs aren't using this nice patch of grass in the picture? Well that's in our backyard and our dogs can't go out there when we're not home because we have an unfenced pool. Even though they both swim great, we don't need the worry about an accident or having wet dogs tromping through the house all day!)

I decided I'm going to sound off on a few of my stitching pet peeves today. These are not huge issues in my life, just little annoyances. Maybe these bother some of you as well, or it could be that I'm the only one! I'm not going to name any names because this is not meant to bash anyone, I love stitching and the designers. I have no creative sense myself so I'm amazed at the things they come up with. But....sometimes I just get a little bit peeved......

• Certain designers need to move on a bit. When they have a successful theme run of designs, they seem to keep it going too long. Am I the only one who notices this? For example, they'll have Spring Tree, Winter Tree, Summer Tree, Autumn Tree, Valentine Tree, Christmas Tree, Blue Tree, Red Tree, Teacher Tree, Nurse Tree, ad infinitum. Know what I mean??
• I'm not real fond of patterns you have to buy in pieces. In the quilting world, this became popular several years ago - once one designer tried it, everybody else started doing it. You would often have to buy one block pattern per month, so that you ended up frequently spending upwards of $100 to just get the pattern. Now of course it's a free world and they can market their work any way they like, but I really don't want to spend that much on some of these projects, let alone the cost of supplies and framing. After all, I can buy a book from some designers for $25 or $30 and get several great designs in it!
• I wish patterns would list the alternative thread choices like Homespun Elegance does. Of course it's up to me to check it out myself I suppose, but I've had a lot of patterns where they used an overdyed floss for like 6 stitches! Great if you have it already but not really worth buying just for that. I know that this generates sales of thread which is good but it would be nice to have the alternatives listed for you.

Thanks for stopping by - can't believe more than a month has gone by since I blogged. I don't know how some of you have time to keep yours up so often!

Getting my mojo back..........

I went on a fabulous quilting retreat last weekend with 11 other friends. We couldn't have had a better time although we had to drive through a snowstorm to get there. Actually I quite enjoyed the snow as I was driving up in northern Arizona and the snow was beautiful in the tall pine forests. I stayed up past 2:00 am three nights in a row, and sewed and talked and sewed and laughed and ate well all weekend. It was so invigorating for me - I've been in a bit of a slump lately and it was just what I needed to get my sewing and stitching energy back. I worked on making scrap quilt squares (68 of them!) which I am going to sew together into some quilts to keep on my couch where my dogs like to lie all the time. That is just mindless fun sewing where you don't have to pay a lot of attention or read any directions. :) Here's all my finished blocks waiting to be sewed up.



While I was there I worked on an old quilting UFO. I hand-appliqued this entire top and finished it about 5 years ago but never got the quilting done. I finally sat down and basted it all together so I can start hand-quilting it. I would love to have it finished by Christmas this year - I put so much work into it that it's a shame I haven't finished it. It's titled "Welcome to the North Pole". Excuse the wonky picture, I just had it hanging on some drawers in my sewing room.


I also started another quilt from a beautiful pictoral fabric I got on sale years ago,and began another quilted bag. Neither of those got done though. It was depressing going back to work last Monday and I had a very busy week. I finally sat down today and did a bit of stitching -first time since January. I finished up another on of my little Shepherd's Bush monthly pieces. I'm getting them done slowly but surely but it seems like it's taking forever.


I want to get started soon on my PIF's but I need to sit down and decide what I'm going to make. I made a trip to my LNS yesterday for the first time in a long time. I looked at all the goodies from Nashville market but I wasn't all that tempted by too much. I am still debating on the Shores of Hawk Run Hollow - I like some of it but not all of it so I didn't purchase it. I did buy a few patterns that weren't new that I had been wanting by LHN, and I got a half yard of a gorgeous Colorscapes linen - it's the most wonderful mottled sky blue and it was my favorite count - 36. This picture doesn't do it justice at all!


I didn't know that LHN had published a pattern honoring my LNS - Attic Needlework. Of course I had to buy that one! I also picked up Cherry Hill from Country Cottage, Country French Rooster from JBW, and a couple of Loose Feathers that had been waiting for me at the LNS for awhile. I was so inspired by the Rooster pillow that Mary Kathryn made - it's awesome! I love French toile fabrics so would like to make somthing similar.

I was strolling through Fry's Electronics while my DH was buying some computer hardware, and I came across some little lighted magnifiers. I've been wanting something small I could take to a class with me - this is a 30 diopter magnifier with a little flap on top so you can use it just as a light or as a lighted magnifier. It was only $30 - called a Mini Mag-Lite. I love it. The field of vision is smaller of course than my big Daylite lamp but it will be great to take places or when I want to sit out by the TV and don't want to take my big lamp with me. Unfortunately, I can rarely stitch anymore without some sort of magnfication - age has gotten to me.



My orthopedic surgeon has decided it's time to get my shoulder fixed so I'm having arthroscopic surgery on March 7th. Not sure how long it'll be after that before I can stitch again, hopefully not long. I'm looking forward to eventually being pain-free!

Wahoo! First 2008 UFO done!

Well you know what they say about the ‘best of intentions’ – that goes for blogging too! I’m being pulled into all sorts of crises at work lately and haven’t had hardly any time to think much about stitching. In fact, I haven’t stitched a minute since about January 3rd when I finished my Frosty Friends exchange. I did however get a UFO off my list which is a quilt I started back in 2001. I don’t know why it took me so long to get it done. At the time I made the blocks for it, I was working on it with some friends sharing all our red, white & blue fabrics. We got so carried away making blocks that I had enough for 3 identical quilts. I donated one to my quilting group so they could raffle it off for some money, and gave one other one to a friend at work. Of course the one for myself never got to the finish line! So here it is finally, only 7 years later. I had no one to hold it up for me today so just draped it over the couch. These kind of quilts are fun and easy to do with a collection of themed fabrics or colors. So finally it will join the other stack of quilts in the closet that I don’t have room to display. I really need to get a quilt ladder so I can put out more of my quilts – there’s only so much wall space you know.



I also haven’t been stitching too much because of shoulder pain. I have a bonespur in my left shoulder and it flares up about every 6 months or so. In fact today I am going back to the orthopedist. I’ve already had 2 rounds of shots and don’t know if they will continue to give me those or whether it’s time to have it removed. I am really tired of the constant pain and thinking maybe having the arthroscopic surgery to get the bonespur off would be welcome at this point. Bonespurs in the shoulder rub on the rotator cuff muscle and affect just about anything you do with your arm.

So far this year I’ve stayed away from stash buying and that’s good. In just 9 days I’ll be going on a quilting retreat weekend with some friends. We can’t wait! We’re making scrappy strip quilts and we’ve been cutting up fabric that we don’t want anymore. I’m sure we’ll have more than enough as we’ve done this before and that’s what usually happens. It seems that those fabric strips start multiplying once you put them in a box! If you’ve been a quilter for many years you know that you accumulate a lot of fabric and looking back you wonder why you even bought some of it. That and your tastes change over the years and you don’t love what you once did. So this is a great opportunity to use up that unwanted stash. I keep a quilt on top of our family room sectional as it’s a microfiber fabric that collects dog hair like crazy. So I’ll be making a scrap quilt to fit the other side that isn’t covered right now. It comes in handy with 2 dogs laying up there all the time and the quilts can be whisked off hurriedly when somebody stops over!

Hope to get back to stitching soon. There’s no way I can get through my whole UFO list this year but my goal is to at least finish off one UFO a month.

Beautiful Frosty Friends Exchange Received!

Look what I received from Hazel in the U.K.! Isn't it gorgeous?

Hazel stitched "Winter Pocket" from Beardie Designs -and she did a fantastic job! I made a similar one with an Autumn theme a few years ago and it was a lot of work so I know how much time Hazel put into it. Her stitching and finishing are just great. I love it and have it displayed in my sewing room. She also sent me a cute snowman pattern from Just Nan from my wishlist - "Snow Faces" , a freebie chart I don't have, and beautiful "frosty" accessories - pearl pins, and frosty colored felt and floss. I want to make the Just Nan pattern into a pinkeep for myself. :) Thank you so much Hazel! Also, Hazel just became a mom for the second time about a week ago and to think she was stitching this exchange and getting it mailed about a week before her delivery is something special. I am humbled! Congratulations Hazel!! Here are some closeups of the Winter Pocket.

Below is what I stitched for Vonna - it's by Heart in Hand and the pattern is titled "Winter Fobs". Instead of making this piece into a needleroll, I made it into a doorknocker. Vonna says she likes so I'm glad as I had fun making it for her!

A new year and new plans!

Happy 2008 everyone! It’s good to be back. Had a very busy break in December with the holidays, my father-in-law’s 80th birthday party, and guests staying with us from Chicago. I had no time for stitching except doing my Frosty Friends exchange piece which went out in the mail today. I will share pictures as soon as the recipient gets it.

I was disappointed that I didn’t get my Prairie Schooler wreath ornaments done for Christmas. I got 4 stitched but not the 8 I had planned, and only 2 were actually finished into ornaments. I got a wreath on sale and plan to complete that little project this year so hopefully next year they’ll be hanging up instead of sleeping in a Ziploc bag!

I am just now getting “organized” for the new year and taking a look at what I want to accomplish. I inventoried my UFO’s and combined my quilting and stitching into one list. It’s scary. I’m sure I have a few other small things lying about like unfinished quilt blocks but those are minor and not of real concern to me. I posted my UFO list in my sidebar and tried to arrange it approximately in date order – oldest UFO’s at the top. I had to guess at most of it as I really don’t know how old most of them are but I do know which ones are REALLY old and which ones are more recent. There’s no way I’ll get through this whole list during the year, especially the sampler BAP’s, but I should be able to make a dent in the list at least. Most of the quilts are completed tops that need to be quilted and finished up. The trouble is several of the quilts need to be farmed out to longarm quilters to be quilted and that always costs money. A couple of the appliqué quilts I had wanted to hand-quilt myself and that really takes time. However, this is a starting point at least to keep track of things. Any progress is good progress in my world!

Then I thought about making another list of all the projects I’d like to start, but I decided that would be just way too much to contemplate. I did start a quilting wish list several years ago and there were around 55 quilting projects on it so you can imagine what it would be by now and then including most of my stitching stash as well. It might give me a heart attack just looking at the whole list of things I need to do! I haven’t decided how I will manage UFO’s and new projects but I do want to try to complete a few UFO’s and then alternate with some new starts. You’ve got to allow yourself to start some new things now and then to keep the momentum going – otherwise you don’t enjoy being held hostage to your UFO’s. Sometimes I feel like my UFO’s are like the chain that the old ghost of Marley had to carry in A Christmas Carol –

“I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link and yard by yard.”

I need to start breaking those links off to lighten up the chain!