At long last - a post!

Hello world…….I’ve been gone for a bit. I’ve been dealing with some personal issues that have me stressed and I just wasn’t up to blogging. I’ve been reading everyone else’s but just didn’t feel like stitching or trying to be cheerful. Meanwhile, thanks to all of the rest of you for keeping me entertained by reading your blogs and seeing what you’re up to.

DH and I visited my mom and siblings back in Illinois for Mother’s Day last month. It was the first time in quite awhile that all of us kids were together with Mom so that was really nice. Sadly there are no stitching shops in my hometown anymore. I did however visit several cute gift and antique shops with my sister and managed to find a few things I could spend some money on. I picked up 2 nice antique needlecards – they’re in really good shape. I’ve been collecing a few antique sewing accessories when I can find any that are reasonably priced. I hope to make a shadowbox one of these days for my sewing room.


For some reason, I never seem to find much in the metro area where I live so there must be other collectors out there snatching all the good stuff up first! I see so many cute things on some of the French stitchers’ blogs – they must have some fantastic shops and flea markets but we don’t have a lot of that where I live - it's just not fair! Seems like any flea markets here are mostly selling stolen goods and not cutesy antiques. I also found this really cute plate holder below - it's made to hold small 4” decorative plates but I was thinking of stitching some cute items to sit in the available spots - maybe some of the Prairie Schooler Easter eggs or something? For only $10 I couldn’t resist it.

Mom has been cleaning out a storage place she rented and she had some great finds to give me. Here is the only vintage quilt that is in my family. It was made by my grandmother Lyda Virginia and from the fabrics it looks like she made it around the 30’s or 40’s. It’s totally pieced and quilted by hand – the pattern is Grandmother’s Flower Garden – seems like just about everybody made that pattern back then. I didn’t know my father’s mother very well because she was in her mid-70’s when I was born and she died when I was around 8 or 9 I think. I’m the only quilter in my family so I’m happy to be the caretaker of this. Thank you Grandma wherever you are - I will treasure it.

Then Mom turned up with my old Barbie doll trunk! Is this a hoot or what? I’m so excited to have it. The case is from 1968 and still in good condition. I sorted through everything – throwing out some of it that wasn’t worth keeping, then hand-washing the clothes. It’s funny how you don’t think of something for decades until you see it again and then the memories come right back to you. There are outfits my other grandmother crocheted and some that an aunt knitted. There’s even a Buffy and Mrs Beasley doll – does anyone remember them from Family Affair?
Here’s a pic showing a favorite outfit – my mom made matching dresses from this striped fabric for Barbie and me. I plan to have Midge modeling it on a shelf in my sewing room along with another doll in her “After Five” classic 60’s outfit “a la Audrey Hepburn”. :-)

All of this reminds me of many happy hours playing with my 3 childhood girlfriends – we’d pool all our stuff regularly for long play sessions with our Barbie Dream Houses (made of CARDBOARD in those days!). Now and then I’ll walk through the toy dept at Target just to look at all the cool Barbie stuff they have now.

I did manage to get in some stitching this past week. Here’s my progress on Miss Beatrix Potter – I just barely made my progress goal for the month but hey it’s the best I could manage. I used a Watercolors varigated silk called ‘Chili’ as the focal thread then pulled in some coordinating NP silks.

I still don’t have my Peppermint Twist piece finished – it’s almost there so hopefully within the next 2 weeks. I’m trying to get my stitching mojo back but it comes and goes. That's all for now folks!

Peppermint Twist update - on the final stretch....

I'm starting my last section of Peppermint Twist now - hoorah! I'm debating as to whether push ahead and finish it this month or lay it aside and work on Beatrix Potter. This month has gone fast - I was gone for one weekend and we have out of town visitors the next 2 weekends so time is limited. I'll probably stick to my plan of finishing this in May. I still am very happy with it - I had to rechart my initials as it wouldn't fit with the font given in the pattern. When you have 2 M's in your initials, it takes up a lot of room. :)

Here's a little pic of a hibiscus blooming in my yard for those of you still waiting on spring. It won't be long now!

I saw a great video the other day - "Religulous" by Bill Maher. I'm not always a fan of Bill Maher's politics but I really enjoyed this movie. Bill talks to people all over the world about different religions, questioning beliefs, holy books, traditions, etc. Parts of it are really funny. If you are truly a religious person it might offend you so see it at your own risk. On the other hand, if you have questions in your mind or can view things with an objective eye, it makes for some interesting conversation!

Quilt Camp!

My world has been mostly quilt-related the past 3 weeks. Whew! I've been busy.
My quilting buddies and I held a craft-related yard sale a few weeks ago -lots of fabric we've collected over the years and no longer want, unfinished projects, patterns, books, etc. It was great cleaning out a lot of old things and making room for new - and the best part - we made $852!! Wahoo! We're saving this for some kind of road trip this year. We sent out flyers to some quilting groups and were really surprised at the turnout but there were great deals to be had.

Last week I spent several nights getting projects ready to go on a quilting retreat last weekend. I look forward to going all year it seems. I cut and cut and cut some more until my shoulder ached.

I had 3 quilts I wanted to work on so there was a lot of prep work because you don't want to spend your precious retreat time standing and cutting fabrics. So I worked a half day on Thursday and then drove up to our retreat that afternoon. My shoulders didn't start unwinding from work tension until I was about 90 minutes from home. I was getting calls from work the first half hour on the road about a crisis, then my boss calls me to inform me we are getting a 10% pay cut for 6 months. During the course of that call I reached a mountainous area in the drive and lost cell service luckily. It took a while to get work out of my brain and relax for the weekend but I really enjoyed the 4 hour drive - weather was gorgeous and lots of desert in bloom until you reach the higher elevations. I saw a few patches of snow there under the pine trees but it's just about gone. I had to call in to for a meeting on Friday morning - so here I was with my friends all sewing and me on a conference call about something at work. Sometimes I really curse the invention of cell phones and Blackberries! You can't ever really get away from work with the kind of job I have. Vacation time seems to mean "I won't be in the office but feel free to call me". Grrrrr....

So I get to the retreat lodge about 4:00 pm - drag all my kit and caboodle from the car trunk inside and promptly set up my sewing machine - no time to waste! Well within 5 minutes my mood took a decided downturn when I realized I had forgotten the cord for my sewing machine! ACK!!!!! I was just sick at heart. I was in a small town so no way I could just go out and buy one at a sewing machine dealership. So I quick made some calls - luckily 2 of my friends were just leaving home and I was able to set up a rendezvous for my husband to pass off the cord to them so they could bring it with them. Hubby had to drive about 35 minutes to meet them at a McDonald's near the highway but the exchange was made and that evening I had my precious cord so I could sew. Poor DH is used to my calamities and forgetfulness. His first thought when I asked him to drive over to meet up with my friends was "I haven't taken a shower yet today". Like showers were of any importance at a time like this! I told him to put a hat on and make tracks! I now plan to buy an extra cord and keep it in my sewing machine case at ALL times.

At any rate, I did have a fabulous time. I've added a couple pictures of the big lodge we sew in. You can see from the photo above we had a great view from the balcony - lots of windows and great light. There were 11 of us just having a ball sewing and talking, doing some Kareoke and enjoying great food cooked by our hostess. The owners have recently added another smaller building (little cabin below) on the premises to house their applique business and longarm quilting machine. We were all terribly envious! This is a great retirement business this couple has created - doing quilting retreats at $175 a person (and they're always booked), plus selling precision applique cutouts and machine quilting.



I finished the top of a quilt for my sewing room although it's cut off at the bottom in this picture. It's called "Jane Street" and was a fun and easy quilt to make but I haven't decided how to quilt it yet.

I also got a good start on making half-square triangles for my Moda Heritage quilt - it's going to be king-size and I need over 700 half-square trianges! That's a lot of sewing, cutting, and pressing. Good thing I'm in no hurry to get this quilt done. I also worked on some applique blocks for a winter-themed quilt. It feels good to do a little applique again although I'm a bit rusty at it. While I was gone I visited 2 quilt stores in small towns and managed to contribute a little to the local economies. :) I picked up a magazine called Quilts & More because I want to make this slice-of-cake pincushion that's in it. It's just the cutest thing - I'd share a pic but Blogger is sputtering trying to upload any more pictures, so here's a link to her blog:
http://taylormadedesigns.typepad.com/
I saw them in person as the designer (Cindy Taylor Oates) lives in Phoenix and I must make some! Won't it be fun to have one sitting on a little antique plate in my sewing room?

They had some great old metal irons at our quilting retreat - wow they get HOT, and they're great for patchwork. Amazing that they're likely 30 or 40 years old and they still work great. How many products can you say that about? I love my Rowenta iron but let's face it - everything is mostly plastic these days and there's nothing like the weight of an all-metal iron to give you a nice firm crease. I had an eye appt yesterday and fortuitously there is an antique mall right near the eye doctor heh heh. So I popped in to browse a bit and found an old General Electric iron for $15. I tested it out before I bought it and in just 15 seconds it was already getting mighty hot. I will see what I can find around the house this weekend to clean it up a little better but I think it'll be handy to have around. Maybe it'll help get those darn creases out of linen as well (hey I can always use it as a doorstop if it quits working!)

So my stitching has taken a back seat lately. I did pick up Peppermint Twist for about 20 minutes at lunch today. I'm hoping to finish this by the end of May. I'm not a one-at-a-time person so I always have lots of different projects going. I plan to also put in some time on Miss Beatrix this weekend. I have Good Friday off so other than washing my very dirty car I will pop in some good movies and settle in for some good stitching time. We are going out to a nice restaurant on Easter with my FIL so no fancy cooking for me this year - yeah!!

We're all Irish today!

Happy St Patrick's day everyone! A friend of mine at work was wearing the cutest button today - "Roses are red. Violets are bluish. A leprechaun told me St. Patrick was Jewish!" My friend is Jewish and celebrates the more secular side of many of the Christian holidays so it's perfect for her.

Here's a few updates on what I've been up to. I finished my first house on my Pride & Prejudice neighborhood sampler – the Bennett sisters have a home! This house took a while to do and I could not go to bed on Sunday night until I finished it at 11:45 pm. You all know how that goes! You can see my finished "Longbourn" and a couple of the photos of the house used in the mini-series which I modeled from. I still have 2 of the sisters to stitch and then I will take a picture of the whole piece so far to share. I am just about finished reading the book - it's an easy read and I can tell that the mini-series from 1995 pretty much went right along with the book. The one thing I've learned though is that Lizzie (the main character) is spelled "Lizzy" in the book . Who would've thunk it? I already stitched in "Lizzie" in over-1 so now I'll have to fix it of course.

I cannot believe the month is half over already – I am so obsessed with my stitching lately that the days are flying by as I try to get my March goals done. At the beginning of every month I am wildly optimistic of how much I will get done but generally disappointed in myself by months’ end. I did finish up this little patriotic pillow on Friday. I stitched it one evening and finished it off the next night. It's very small - done over-1 and it was fun to get something done quickly for a change. I tried the matching buttons that came with the pillow but I wasn't wild about them so I replaced them with these flat red ones. I'm not a fan of shank buttons - don't like the way they stick out and wiggle around.

DH and I worked very hard this weekend in our backyard. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we replaced 5 plants, and spent many hours sealing all the flagstone surfaces we have. It took over $150 in sealer – ouch – but it is something that you need to do every few years. The sun here is so intense it really fades things and the sealer brought out some of the color again. However, I now look like I have some kind of awful skin disease. The label said “cleans up with soap and water” – NOT! I cannot get the stuff off of my hands even though I have washed them at least 70 times, scrubbed, rubbed, tried turpentine, tried nail polish remover and finally have given up. What was that Lady Macbeth said? "Out damned spot!" Remember putting Elmer’s glue on your hands as a kid and peeling it off? Well it looks like that but it just won’t come off. I guess it’s going to have to wear off gradually but right now my hands look like I’m about 80. As soon as this stuff comes off I’m off to get a much-needed manicure that’s for sure.

I think I was one of the few people who never have seen Phantom of the Opera – at least the modern version. So I put the Andrew Lloyd Webber version on my Netflix list and watched it Sunday night while stitching on the Bennett's house. Quite a disappointment I must say and apologies if it’s anyone’s favorite! I knew it was a musical but it is more like an opera with very little actual dialogue that is not sung. I just did not care for it but at least I can check that experience off my list and be thankful I didn’t pay a lot to go see the musical. Luckily DH was watching college basketball so at least I didn’t have to hear his complaints about the movie – he never would’ve lasted through it that’s for sure! March Madness is one of my least favorite times of the year because it's non-stop basketball on the television at my house. Normally DH goes to Las Vegas for the first weekend of the tournament but this year he is not going due to the darn economy. Luckily I will hide out in my sewing room as much as possible until the games are over – I’m just not into it at all. Gonzaga, Florida State, St John’s, Indiana, who cares?? I don’t understand being excited about college games when you never even went to any of the schools! And the worst thing is, as soon as it’s finally over then the NBA basketball playoffs begin and that leads right into the start of baseball season!

I’ve decided to make another new project start – it feels so deliciously decadent! I’ve got a bin of kitted up projects and some of them have been in there for YEARS. This is a sampler called Kona Coast by Ewe & I & Friends. It used to be a model in an LNS here that sadly closed up a few years back. I loved that little shop (sniff sniff) and they hosted an annual teaching getaway to Hawaii every year. Sadly, I never went to any of the retreats but I believe this sampler was designed especially for the year they had EEF teaching. I always wanted to stitch it and am finally going to get it started at least. I love houses and this is so cheery – beautiful tropical colors and special stitches although I probably will not stitch the wording on it. I need another start like a hole in the head but when has that ever mattered??

Finally - an ornament finish and some progress photos

I finally finished an ornament for this year! I'm way behind doing getting one done per month but at least I've got one now. This is a very old freebie I always had planned on stitching called "Santa in the Window". It's not available online.

I've been making some good progress on other projects. Here is Beatrix Potter and Peppermint Twist progress as of today. I do wish I could get the color right in my photos but you'll just have to trust me the color looks better in person. Also, I took these pictures in the evening and that always makes it harder to get the color correct.

Hope all of you readers are doing alright. I've gotten to the point where I don't even want to listen to the news anymore - too many depressing things! Sometimes it's better to avoid it and just keep on doing the best you can. Luckily we did our taxes and are getting a refund so that's some good news for a change. We've had several restaurants and small businesses close down in our area. It's sad. In the meantime I'll keep trying to spend at my LNS because we need it to stay in business! I haven't picked up much new from market except a couple of the new Prairie Schoolers. I think I have more Prairie Schooler than any other designer - I counted them and I have 54! Don't ask me how many I've actually stitched - but you know if you don't get them when they come out then you have to pay even more to get them on eBay or something.

I had a question from a reader about how I end the trim around my flatfolds. I usually make my own cording - I start putting the trim on using the end where the cording was folded in half when I made it so that at least one end of my cording doesn't have raw thread ends. I glue the cording all around to within a few inches of where it meets the starting point. I mark where it needs to be cut with a pin and I put some Aleene's tacky glue around the cording where I think I'm going to cut it. I let it dry, then cut it the cording where I need to - the dried glue helps it keep from unraveling as soon as you cut it. Then I glue a little more on the end and twist it good with my fingers and glue the end in place so that it meets the starting point. Hope that's clear - just takes a little practice and sometimes it comes out better than other times. If you have trouble getting it to look nice, start applying your braid or cording in a corner of the piece and leave plenty of extra before you start glueing it down. Then when you get back around just tie the ends in a bow at that corner. You can then knot the ends and snip them. That's how I did this little pinkeep edge.

Follow the yellow brick road.........

That song keeps going through my head as I stitch on one of my houses for my Jane Austen neighborhood. I am stitching yellow bricks as you can see from my WIP picture. I'm anxious to finish this house as it will be my first one complete on this piece - can't wait to get the roof and windows done so it actually looks like a house instead of a box. I have to make a trip to the LNS this weekend to get a few silks colors I need for the windows. Why is it no matter how much you have you always seem to need just a few more colors?

Since I started 3 fairly big projects in January, I haven't had many finishes. I did get this little flat-fold done this week - it's Happy Bunny Day by The Trilogy. I made this 2 years ago as an exchange for the SBEBB group and I really hated giving it away so I finally made a second one for myself. I had a little trouble with it - my iron leaked some hot water on it when I was doing my final pressing and it made the dark green overdye bleed onto the linen - eeeeeek! I quick plunged it into cold water and got some of it out with some stain remover but you can still see it a bit. Plus the cold water caused a bit of bleeding elsewhere. I was ready to kick something as you can imagine but at least it's for myself instead of someone else. Why wasn't I being more CAREFUL?!?!

I've been up late every night this week stitching as DH is out of town. (after all, what's more important - stitching or being tired for work?? ha ha) Trying to make some progress on Beatrix Potter and Peppermint Twist. Since I finished Mr. Bunny I am picking out another small project to start. I'm trying to do one small project a month to at least give me some finishing satisfaction. For March I'll be doing this little kit I put together probably a couple of years ago when I got the pillow on sale. Just a little patriotic piece that will be fun to put out this summer and it should be a quick stitch unless I screw it up like I've been tending to do lately.

Oh and I've been meaning to post a picture of this adorable pincushion my sister-in-law bought for me for Christmas last year. She got it on Etsy at a shop called The Daily Pincushion. Isn't it just too cute? I love it and and it matches my sewing room. If you ever need a pincushion or a little gift for someone, I highly recommend these. I have no connection to the seller but I think they're wonderfully made and I hope to buy some more! (not that I need them mind you.......but who doesn't love pincushions...)

Now back to stitching.....maybe I can finish the little snowman ornie I've been working on. I'm supposed to be getting one ornie a month done this year - well so far I'm at a big fat zero! Just not enough hours in the day. Until later............

Giveaway winner and Superbowl losers!

Well boo hoo our Cardinals lost a squeaker of a game on Sunday - it was emotionally exhausting! I'm really glad though that they even got to the Superbowl and gave their fans a thrill. I've always liked the Pittsburgh Steelers so I couldn't be too mad at them anyway. If someone had to beat us I'd rather it be a team I at least like. :)

Well as you can see, the names were in the bowl and I had the husband draw a name out early this morning.....and the winner is LAURA! Congrats Laura! If you will send me your address I'll get a little package off to you. I wanted to give everyone something, and couldn't, but I did decide to draw a second name for second place. I have another chart I will send on to MELODY - Melody please send me your address too. My email address is in my profile/about me. I will try to do some more giveaways this year. I'd like to do a few little stitched pieces if I can just get some time to make some things. So drop in now and then and hopefully there will be more going on. I so enjoy everyone's blogs - I learn so much, and fall in love with projects regularly so I want to be able to give a little back to the stitching community. I'd be lost without my little online world.

A little giveaway and blogging award :)

Hi folks - Barb over at "Stitching Again" kindly sent me the Fabulous Blog Award. Thanks Barb! It's nice to be noticed. As far as listing 5 of my addictions - well no problem with that!

- My stitching & quilting - definitely dual obsessions!
- Diet Coke - yes I drink way too much of the stuff but can't seem to give it up. I'm not a coffee or tea drinker but I get my sparkling caffeine this way instead. And no, Pepsi just doesn't do it for me.
- My computer/email/the internet - can't live without it and at one point many years ago I remember telling DH that I really don't need my own computer at home. So I blame it all on him, he's probably wishing he never set up one just for me. (not to mention online shopping.....) I feel disconnected when I'm not on a computer daily. We take our laptop on vacation with us - yes it's crazy.
- Amazon.com - Great service, good prices, and they have most everything. I love buying movies from Amazon because I like a lot of old ones you can't find in stores.
- Anything French - I'm a Francophile. I was there twice many years ago and loved it. Anything Parisian or French catches my eye. I love all the history and beauty of the country. Maybe I was a beautiful Marquise in Louis XIV's court in a former life, huh? LOL

I am passing the Fabulous Blog award on to the the following. I read tons of fantastic blogs so I'm grabbing 5. I love all the ones I list on my blog here and others I don't even have listed yet.

• Annette at Annette's Acre


• Hazel, Quietly Stitching


• Laura at Maude & Mozart


• Melissa from Daily Ramblings


• Amy from Amy Stitches

Now I have a little giveaway for someone. I have some charts I have duplicates of (yes I do buy things sometimes that I already have....). The charts are "Harvest Time" and "More Friends" from Prairie Schooler, and "Chocolate Box" from Little House Needleworks. They have never been used. There will also be a little surprise sent along that I haven't determined yet. Please leave a comment if you're interested and I will draw a name at random from whomever signs up.

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. I will pick a winner Monday night and put it up on my blog on Tuesday. Thanks!

Superbowl Fever and sore hands!

Here in Arizona everyone is fired up about the Arizona Cardinals going to the Superbowl! Go Cardinals!! It’s truly unbelievable as the Cardinals have never gotten much respect and been such losers forever it seems. We’ve got our championship T-shirts and will be glued to the TV next Sunday cheering them on with beer, pizza, and Superbowl snacks. LOL My heart is mostly with the Chicago Bears but I also support the Cardinals. That’s the case with a lot of people here – when you live in a city like Phoenix where most of the people are transplants from elsewhere, a lot of sports fans have dual loyalties – to their hometown teams as well as where they live now. I think there will a collective faint in the state of Arizona if the Cardinals actually win it! I’m almost afraid to watch it.

The end of January is rapidly approaching. I did pretty well on my goals for this month but didn’t meet all of them. I was supposed to get one ornament stitched this month and didn’t do it, and I was supposed to get some time in on my French Alphabet Sampler and that didn’t happen either. I have decided to lay off from stitching for at least 4 days this week so that is also taking time away. My hands have really been bothering me lately so I am giving them a rest. I stitched a lot more than normal the past 3 to 4 weeks and my hands hurt and are stiff so I’m assuming I’m getting arthritis. I’m on a computer keyboard at least 8 hours a day and that plus stitching in the evenings is taking a toll. I have been applying heat, massage, doing hand exercises, and taking Ibuprofen – hoping it starts helping soon. It’s kind of depressing me though – I need my eyes and hands to hold out for many more years!

Here is where I left off with my Beatrix Potter SAL. The light pinkish thread came out looking a bit lighter than I wanted it to, but I will only be doing a few medallions in that thread so I think that will be okay. I'm really enjoying stitching on this and not having to change colors so often like some of my projects. It won’t be picked up again until February.

I’m trying to pull myself up onto the ‘stash wagon’ – but it’s painful!

I certainly don’t need any more but it is so hard to resist. I try to shop at my LNS and local quilt stores to support them, yet the husband and I both want to try to save more money "just in case". We both are a nervous about possibly getting laid off especially when you see the news every day. When you work in Information Technology, at a lot of companies you are considered “overhead” – never good in tough economic times. Just the other day I saw news on Vonna’s blog about the new Blue Ribbon Designs that are out on the website – yikes! I love them all! Guess I will just keep adding them to my “buy list” that I keep. For now I‘ll be concentrating on my 3 new starts and stitching from stash as much as possible.

Froggie came a courtin'..........

Meet my companion for the last week! Yes seems I’ve been living with a frog recently as far as my stitching goes. For every 2 stitches I’ve done I think I’ve had to tear out 1. I started with wanting to change out a few things on some recent starts. I decided my neighborhood border had too many colors and the the pink would clash with some of my planned buildings, so I took out all the pink flowers which then necessitated re-doing some of the other flowers in order to make the two colors of flowers alternate correctly. I wasn’t happy with my Peppermint Twist project either. I purchased the Belle Soie silk conversions from my LNS but I just wasn’t happy with all of them. The cranberry color used for the pointsettias was way too dark, it was more of a maroon-shade. The more I looked at them, the less I liked them. So I took those out and re-stitched them in a brighter red from my stash. Then the butterscotch color for the stars didn’t show up on my shade of linen so I took out the stars and tried a few golds until I found one that showed up. Just when I thought I was making progress I noticed that my stitched reindeer was one thread off. I particularly hate frogging out stitching where I used a hand-dyed thread and completed one stitch at a time – it makes it so much harder to remove. I even had to frog this week on my little lunch project I just started. Nothing seems to be going right this week at all!

But……I am excited about 2 new quilts I’m planning. I went to a quilt show last weekend with a friend and we had a great time buying some more stash (unneeded of course) and getting inspired. We are making this quilt called “Winter Memories”. I wasn't able to find a good picture of it online, in real life it's a lot prettier.

My friend already had a stash of the border fabric which really makes the quilt and we are working on finding the rest of the required fabrics from our stash and a few small purchases. It is an applique quilt and should be fun – I especially like the snowflakes and the ice skates. Of course this quilt goes with nothing in my house but that never stopped me before!

Then we both fell in love with this quilt kit from Moda called “Heritage 1846”.
It’s a reproduction of an antique quilt and sold as a kit from Moda. Imagine my surprise when I noticed on her blog that Kim is working on it too! Here's a few pics of some of the stash I bought at the quilt show. They had a wonderful button booth with these button packs for $5 each, and I picked up some great rickrack that I plan to use on some stitched pincushions (uhh...that is when I get them stitched!) I also was able to make a very quick stop at a stitching store in Tucson (only got there 15 mins before they closed) and I picked up one of Just Nan's tin sets. I've been wanting to do one of these and this shop had some of the older ones from last year. I also bought my first ever punchneedle pattern - I've been trying to hold off from this but I couldn't help myself! I did not invest in a hoop or punchneedle yet but the sample they had on display was just irresistable. Just what I need - another hobby!!

Week one and off to a good start

I'm finally getting arount to my first post of 2009. Seems like it's been more than a week basically since New Year's. I really enjoyed my 2 weeks off work during the holidays. I finished quilting 3 lap quilts and finished off my Prairie Schooler trio of angels. I mounted them on a black taffeta ribbon. They weren't ready for Christmas 2008 but I'll put them out for next Christmas. That was the last stitching UFO I wanted to get done last year. (excuse the shadows in the picture....)

I started 3 new projects last weekend, - the Peppermint Twist SAL, Beatrix Potter and my Pride & Prejudice Neighborhood. I had so much fun finally working on something new! Here's my progress on my Neighborhood and Peppermint Twist. Haven't take a picture yet of Beatrix but I'm on my 3rd motif for that.


I made a few goals just for January and will see how I do. I haven't touched my French Alphabet Sampler in over a year so that's what I've chosen from the UFO pile to work on for awhile.

1. Pride & Prejudice Neighborhood – finish bottom and left borders, work on tree with Jane & Elizabeth under the branches
2. Beatrix Potter – finish 4 medallions
3. Peppermint Twist – finish Pointsettia block
4. Book quilt – finish Donna’s section, get started on Betty’s chapter 8
5. Complete page 3 of French Alphabet Sampler. Here's where it's at presently:

Happy Holidays to all!

Hoping you are all enjoying your holiday week and finding time to sit down with a hot cup of cocoa and do some relaxing. Everyone seems to be having bad weather - it is cloudy and dreary here in the southwest as we expect some rain to roll in tonite.

But I am ready for Christmas - I may bake a few cookies tomorrow but my shopping and wrapping is done which is unusual for me. Usually I am running out at the last minute trying to finish.

I finished up the 2nd of the 3 Prairie Schooler angel ornaments today. That leaves one more to do and I will try to get it done before yearend. These were on my UFO list for this year so I'm anxious to cross them off the list if I can. I'll be doing the finishing work to match the first one I made a few years ago. But that won't take long if I can just finish the stitching.

I wish you all happy holidays and a wonderful 2009 with lots of happiness, good health and time to do what you enjoy. Thanks to all who have stopped by my blog this year!

A little "celebration"

I'm counting the days to vacation this year - I'm off work from Dec 23rd to Jan 5th - wahooooo! I can hardly wait! Our company shuts down every year between Christmas and New Year's and with so many people taking additional vacation tacked on, work slows down a bit from now until the end of the year. I finally get time to do all those things I put off like cleaning up my email etc.
I was really busy last week getting ready for my Christmas luncheon last Saturday. Cooking, cleaning, making little table gifts, ironing tablecloths, putting the last of the Christmas decorations out - whew! I had the ladies from my quilting group over (9 of us) and some members of another quilting group we've got to know - 13 people in all. Everything turned out really well. I had DH take the doggies over to "grandpa's house" so we could have a nice peaceful time without the dogs barking, jumping on people, etc. The lunch buffet turned out well, we had a gift exchange, show & tell and just a generally great time.

One of the ladies from another group we've met rescued some old quilt blocks she found at an antique store that was going out of business. She made them into a quilt top and didn't it turned out lovely? The blocks were paper-pieced in the 1930's and the papers were cut from old newspapers and magazines from that time. Our friend has rescued several old quilts and quilt blocks she's found - isn't it nice to think that someone's hard work didn't go to waste. You wish that the original quilter who made the blocks could know that someone finally finished them into a real quilt. I always wonder if some day my UFO's will end up in a store or garage sale - scary thought!

This photo below is of a scrap quilt made from nine-patch blocks that our "sister group" exchanged. My group is doing the same thing -we've been exchanging nine-patch blocks every month for a year but we each still don't have enough to make into a quilt. It takes a lot of these little blocks to make something but isn't it lovely when it's done? I love scrappy quilts!


Just yesterday I finished up this little project below.

It's for a dear coworker of mine whose birthday was last week. She's a committed quilter and crafter like me and we've been friends for many years. I saw this sold as a kit and just had to make it for her. If you notice, it has a tape measure around the cake and the candles are made to look like spools of thread. Perfect for a quilter! She's coming over this week and we're both taking the day off to have a sew day at my house. It should be fun. She's also going to help me make her famous caramel recipe - I've tried it 3 times on my own and just can't get it right. Making candies can be tricky - I can cook most things but for some reason this just has me stymied. And I just LOVE good caramels! I'll let you know how they turn out this time - I'm feeling that finally this is going to be successful.

I don't have much stitchy news today. I haven't had time to stitch in over a week - I'm having withdrawal I think. I want to get back to my PS angel ornaments. You know, it was nice having my quilting friends over who were all amazed at all the cross-stitch I have up in my house. It makes a difference when visitors know how much work it is and can appreciate it. Have a great day friends!