Winding Down

It's just about the end of another year, and this year started out as a doozy with a broken ankle, putting our dog down and having a close family member find out he had cancer all within the first month!!  Thankfully, ankles heal, broken hearts do too, and with an excellent team of doctors our loved family member has tested cancer free for the past few months. Even so, I'm ready for this year to be over and to start fresh with new dreams and goals to look forward to.

I got all the Christmas things put away today - mostly because our daughter has a friend spending the night, and in a 700 square foot house, every spare inch is needed!! But also because I'm ready for getting the clutter cleaned up. House work, minus the laundry, is just about caught up after the Christmas craziness. It was a wonderful Christmas too. Lots of visiting family and some quiet time just for the 3 of us. We got our daughter some board games as playing games has become an almost nightly time for us to come together and talk and laugh. We are finding this more and more important as our daughter gets older:)

I had a fun time with my sister-in-law yesterday. Our local needlework store - Hearts Desire - has a year-end sale and we hit the sale with gift cards in hand that our mother-in-law gets us for Christmas every year. I bought both the Summer and Winter Snapperland series from Bent Creek, 'Bunnies Galore' from BritterCup and a fat 1/2 of 32ct natural light linen which I'll use a bit of for the Winter Snapperland.

Tomorrow I will be doing a post on all the Sals and Challenges I am hoping to participate in for the new year. I even have one I am going to try and host. A 'Something Old, Something New' Sal. Hope you can join me:)

NewFO Challenge

I've been spending some time here lately looking into what kind of challenges and Sals I want to get involved in next year and decided that I would like to work on my quilting skills in the coming year. Now, don't get me wrong, there will still be lots and lots of stitching as well, but I have been following a few quilting blogs for the past several months and they have inspired me to learn more about quilting.

 
The 2014 NewFO Challenge is run by Barbara of Cat Patches. Barbara blogs quite regularly and is always showing off her beautiful quilting skills (and incredibly witty kitty cats:). It is always a joy to read at her blog!!  The goal of this challenge is to start a new quilted piece each month, create a blog post the last day of the month and link up to her 'party'!! What's great is that there is no pressure to actually finish the quilt in any particular time frame. And it doesn't have to be a full sized quilt either. Your project can be anything from a potholder or mug rug to a wall quilt or full sized quilt. That works great for me!!! :)

As part of this challenge we are to post some of the quilts we would like to start this year. Barbara has her whole year planned with pics of each of her planned quilts. I'm really a beginner quilter so most of mine will probably be fairly simple, patchwork and the like. But I want to stretch myself on a few of these as well. I would really like to incorporate some embroidery on at least one of them too:)

So here are a few quilts I'd like to start this year....


Winter Wonderland

Merry Merry Snowmen by Bunny Hill Designs

 

 

Hope Valley Quilt found at Diary of a Quilter blog

 

This last one I would do in other colors but I like the look of it overall. There are a few more quilts I found that I couldn't link up to and give proper credit to the owners/designers, so I'll just wait until I've started them and link up another way. I do like some of the modern quilts and would like to do one hexie quilt as well. Hmm, lots to think about and plan over!! Really getting excited about this challenge:)

 

EDIT: OOPS!! I forgot to add that if you want to join and win a prize as well, go over to Barb's blog right NOW!!! and join in. At midnight tonight (12-21-13) the contest will end:)

Pay It Forward

I have a sad confession to make - I forgot all about the Pay It Forward promises I made this year. I was so nicely reminded when my Pay It Forward package came in the mail a couple weeks ago. Carol, aka Beulah from Sowing Stitches so nicely gifted me a lovely notebook cover, complete with a notebook in it:) I had so completely forgotten about Pay It Forward that it wasn't until I opened the notebook and found this friendly note inside that I finally figured out why I was getting a gift in the first place.

So I will re-commit to sending out my Pay It Forward gifts to the 3 people that responded last February. Lynn Cockrell, Deborah Burke and Eusebia Blumenstengel. Please understand it will be after the new year as I am still working on Christmas gifts right now:)

And Thank You!!!! to Carol of Sowing Stitches for your kindness and thoughtfulness in sending me this sweet gift:)

December WIPocalypse

A day to two late:) Not much to show off this month, and that's really sad since it's been a couple months since I've blogged a WIPocalypse post!! Right now I am working on the first of what will be two blocks made from the same pattern. This is for LoveQuilts and is for a young man who's father is a police officer, of course this means the young man is very interested in the police theme too:)

I rearranged the moffits for this block because another stitcher also signed up for this pattern too, but it wasn't noticed until after we both had the pattern in hand. So I said I could play with it and make it look a bit different. The second block I am going to make with this pattern will have just the words placed randomly. Sometimes we have a hard time finding suitable patterns for the kids and need to make some changes so we can make sure to have enough blocks for each child's quilt.

I have been busy here lately with other things too, but most of it is Christmas gifts, and since I have a pesky SIL (Marianne) who sometimes checks on my blog, I can't show off what I am making yet:)  As soon as I get the Christmas things all done and gifted to their rightful owners, I'll show off what I've been up to.

A New Fur Baby

Actually it is my daughter's fur-baby. She is just so cute!!

Her official name is Nikki (according to her papers), but my dd liked the name Nutmeg better, so that is what we are calling her. She needs some extra work and special cuddle time as she is still pretty jumpy, but dd is really doing well with her and she is coming along nicely.

Nutmeg will eventually be introduced to this handsome fellow...



Fargo:)

We are keeping them completely separate right now as Nutmeg isn't quite old enough to be a momma, and Fargo is just a wee bit too eager to meet her!! We are hoping for several cute babies from these two to build up dd's collection for showing for 4-H.



Finally Got It Done!!!

I have a real problem with finishing my projects. I guess you could call me a Super Serial Starter!! :) I love to start new projects, some of them I only get just a bit done, a few I will stick with until I am around 3/4 of the way done, then I sputter out and start something new. I start many more new ones than I finish:) BUT, I did finally get one all stitched up that I started around 3 years ago.

I originally did this one for a friend's daughter's wedding. I ended up getting them something else since I knew I wouldn't get this done in time. So now I need to decide what to do with this one. I really like how the colors worked together with this, so I may end up keeping it myself:)

Now I get the fun of searching through my basket to find another older project to try to get done.

Still here!!!

Well it has been a busy autumn so far this year!!! Lots of activities and paperwork on my part dealing with the beginning of the 4-H year and working on getting our Secret Sister's group up and running for the year. It's a lot of fun once the planning and organizing part are done, but it does make for a busy and a bit stressful beginning of the year. But dd loves both of these groups and does help to make them run smoothly.

On top of that, my dd has her other activities. She is in her second year of working the nursery during our local MOPS meetings. They have had up to 17 crying babies in the room at one time!! Thankfully that is only twice a month:) She also has Youth group 2 times a month. And she found her favorite activity now too. I finally call our local zoo and she is volunteering 2 mornings a week with them.
What is nice about it from my point of view (besides that she is doing something she really enjoys) is that it gives me 2-3 days a week to go to the gym (we live about 30 min outside of town, so unless we are already in town, I don't go to the gym) and almost all her activities are in the morning/daytime now. That means we are home when hubby is home!!!

I haven't just been running around like crazy though!! I've gotten a bit of stitching and crocheting done as well. I finally got my dd's crocheted blanket done....

You can't see it very well, but this (cotton) yarn has sparkles woven through it as well. I started it almost 2 years ago and had promised it as a birthday gift that year, but, well, she just got it last week!!! Actually everyone in my family knows that I procrastinate lots and lots, so this was expected. I have a cross stitch I started for her about 8 months ago that she may never see again:)

I have been working on the Mary II Sampler from Plum Street Samplers, and I'm currently trying to get caught up on it. Should be about there in a day or two. I also have another cross stitch finish just within reach, maybe by the end of this week I'll have a picture to show on that one:)

I've started seeing a few challenges and SALs for the New Year start popping up here and there. It seems weird that we are really that close to the end of this year!!! It always seems to go by faster and faster each year:)

Well, back to some stitching for me!! Hope you are all having a wonderful day.

Finally - A Finish!!



 You've seen the 'Girl in Blue with Flowers and Butterflies' before - okay, I'm made up the name, not sure what it was originally named. :)  It was one I did for the Flower Blog hop. The second one I changed the colors on a bit as the girl had on a red dress, but I wanted her to match so I made it blue. I think these are very sweet!! Still need to make a needle case out of them, but I'm glad the stitching is done!!

And I finally found where one of the patterns for these are!! I found a finished pic of the other too, but can't find the pattern for it. Not a surprise as Frimousse has over 600 freebies on her site. And it's in French, so umm, yea - I can't read it. My internet connection speed (and the connection itself) is hugely flaky, so using the translator doesn't work well either. I looked for it for hours, but no luck. I'm sure it's there though, so if you really want the pattern you can look around for it:) Here is a link to the girl in the veggie garden. And HERE is a link to the picture of the girl with the butterflies.

I may have another finish in a few days!!! Actually it's not all my stitching, but my part of it should be done:) It's the last section of a round robin I've been part of this year. So hopefully I'll have that to show off in a few days. I'm also waiting on a pattern to come in the mail for a couple blocks I will be doing for Love Quilts. It's been a while since I have stitched for them and I'm pretty excited to get back to it!!

Christmas Mystery Sampler - Part 2

I decided to do option 2 on this. So far, other than placement I haven't seen any differences. I think Paulette said there would be a bit more stitching on option 2, so maybe next week:)

I am really enjoying this mystery sampler. Just enough stitching that it is exciting to see then next part, but not so much that you have to work super hard to get it done in time:) Hoping that I can keep up in the weeks ahead!!

Christmas Mystery Sampler - Part 1 DONE:)

I am super excited about the Christmas Mystery Sampler that Paulette from Plum Street Sampler is hosting/designing/giving away:) I decided to do Sampler II and below is Part 1 done!! I am doing it 2 threads over 2 on 36 ct Pearled Barley by Lakeside Linen. I made one small change already:) I thought Joseph's robe looked too much like a dress, so I made it not so full and shortened it just a bit. I can't wait until next Sunday to see what Part 2 will be!!!

 

My dd's first day to volunteer at our small local zoo was today. She was super excited and just a bit nervous this morning. I can always tell when she's really looking forward to doing something when she gets out of bed without having to be told 500 times. This morning only took one time of my going in and telling her it was time to get up:) She got to go to a pre-school and help with a 'meet-an-animal' program and then back to the zoo for a 'behind the scenes tour' and to clean out the deer pen. She said one of the deer was super friendly and kept licking her!!

While she was busy, I had a couple hours to myself, though I had to stay in town because the drive is a bit long to go back and forth. I spent most of my free time at the library working on lesson plans for next week. But I went to the grocery store for a few things as well and found these pretty flowers on sale. $1.99 for this very pretty bouquet:) I hardly ever buy flowers since I usually kill them within a few days, but for that price, I figured it'd be okay.

 

I actually tried to hand them to hubby and told him I bought him flowers, but he didn't think that was as funny as I did. :) 

Have you heard?

Yes, it's been awhile, that's all I'll say about that:)

What I really wanted to say though, is 'Have You Heard?' About the freebie? The Christmas sampler?

If you are into cross stitching and you haven't heard about this yet, then you must have been hiding under a rock!! :) I have seen it everywhere lately. But then again, I do visit many stitching blogs and Yahoo groups, and Facebook pages, and.... Yes, I may have a problem with a stitching addiction!! :)

Anyway, just in case you aren't quite as obsessed as I am THIS is what I'm talking about...



Paulette from Plum Street Samplers has designed a FREE Christmas Sampler for all to have!! There are even 2 options to stitch and another option for if you'd like to do it on black fabric. But it is also a mystery:) Each Sunday, starting today, for the next 9 weeks she is releasing a portion of the sampler on her blog. I already have my fabric and floss out and have started the first few stitches in it:)

I'm pretty excited, this is the first new start I've had in a while (not that I NEEDED a new start!!), and I'm eager to see how this turns out. Maybe you'll join along?

'Pin It' Blog Hop - It's My Turn!!!

 

I am having so much fun with these blog hops. Once again Madam Samm has come up with a fun theme for us to work with - PIN Cushions!!! Kristin over at Meadowbrook has been cheering us along - sending daily messages of encouragement!! It has been great fun to work with her for this blog-hop!!

 

The one thing that I really enjoy about these blog hops is seeing what others come up with. It gives me new ideas and stretches me as a crafter to try new things. The last blog hop was all about hexies and I really chickened out, however I found a small project that I didn't have time to get to for the last hop that was perfect for this one!!!

 

 

I love how this turned out, and that I finally got over my fear of hexies!!! The whole front, minus the middle sock monkey part, is made from hexies. The tan colored part is kind of hard to see, but those are hexes too. The middle piece is fussy-cut (something else I had never done) and then sewn on. And I LOVE the sock monkey fabric!! My daughter helped me to choose the fabric for this project and I think she got it spot-on:)

I didn't actually get it all sewn up though. You may be able to see the pins on the bottom of the back side of the fabric? WELL, I was putting the finishing touches on it tonight and couldn't find my batting. So I stuffed it with odds and ends, pinned it up and took pics. I have the walnut hulls I will use to weigh it down, but will have to wait until I can get into town and pick up some batting to sew up the last little bit.

Thanks for coming by and looking!!!

Here is a list of everyone else who is hopping today...

September 13
Quilting In South Carolina

Negligent Style

Debby Kratovil Quilts

Sew Many Yarns

News From Bear Hollow

Around The Homestead

Living with Purpose

Buzzing and Bumbling

Colorpoint Quilter

Scraps of Life

Daisy Days

Stitchduchess

Life @ RuffHaven

AnnieOak Designs

Grandmama's Stories
Suebee's World
Handmade by Mama

 

Photo session with cats, aka Sept. TUSAL

I think I've mentioned the poor lighting in my house before. It makes taking pictures of my projects while indoors pretty much useless. Sometime (umm, most of the time?) I don't get my projects done until it is already dark, the night they are due to be posted, so I don't have a choice but to take crappy pics.

Today I decided that I... 1. would actually participate in this month's TUSAL and... 2. take pics of my TUSAL project during the daylight hours!!! GO ME!!! Okay, so I took my jar of strings and other bits and pieces with me out to the front porch, decided that it wasn't TOO windy if I took the pics fast and kept my shoes on so I could run after the strays. However the front porch was covered in cats, and that always makes for a fun photo shoot!! :) Here were the results...

They were all walking up to me at this point.

This one is very proud of his tail end:)

This is 'Paws', he is the spoiled one who spends a good bit of his time indoors. He is the only one that gets to do that. Actually, he is currently sleeping on the computer desk next to me right now:)

 

Really I'm only showing you all the pictures with the cats to distract from the fact that even though I haven't shown pics of my TUSAL in a few months, I still don't have hardly anything to show off!! I've been being 'creative' in ways other than stitching here lately, though I have done a little sewing/stitching/crocheting too.

 

If you don't know what TUSAL means and you want to get in on it, go to Daffycat's blog to learn more and join in!! 

No longer in a drought :0)

In my last post I mentioned that my dd and I had been stuck at home for about a week a few weeks back due to flooding. We got more rain within a week than I think we have gotten in the past couple years all together. We had been in a pretty severe drought before this. The first day of rain brought 7 inches within about 4 hours and the ground was just too hard to absorb all the water!!!

 

This was just the beginning!!

 

These pictures don't show nearly how bad it ended up getting. Do you see the two power poles way in the distance? Yes, one of them leans over a bit:) That is the end of our driveway. It was completely underwater. And I ended up having to move the car once the water got past the bottom of the hub-caps.

While the water did get higher than we've ever seen it out here, flooding across our driveway isn't uncommon in years of normal rain as all the fields around us drain into our yard and then under the bridge across the road as it heads for the river, it just usually doesn't last very long. And this time we had water within a few feet from the front porch and it actually got into the metal shop building, but not so much to hurt anything.

Unfortunately, my hubby was at work when this all started. I called him to come home as I was pretty sure the road was under water (it was). By the time he got home, the road was partially washed out. It took him about an hour to find a way to drive the last mile to the house. All the roads to the house are dirt and 3 of the 4 ways in had roads that were washed out. So he took his little car and 4-wheeled it down the only road that was super muddy, but not under water. He ended up having to park in the road at the end of our driveway and walk up to the house as the water was knee high and flowing too fast across the driveway.

All would have been fine after that, but my hubby decided later that day to go ahead and get the car up  the house. The water had decended some, but not enough!! He sucked up a bunch of water into the air intake and shelled the engine. So guess what he got to do this past weekend? He 'got' to put another engine in the car!! :)

All-in-all, we needed the rain, and while the flooding can cause some headaches, it is nice to have the wildlife back that comes with the rain. I don't remember the last time the grass/weeds and trees were still green in August/September. We even saw fish swimming 'up-stream' across our driveway!! The bullfrogs could have deafened you, and I wish I could get a picture of the tiny toads that are EVERYWHERE!! Some of them no more than a half inch or so long. They must of come from the river as well.  My hubby said he didn't understand why anyone would live in town when you can have all this fun!!! (he can be a bit sarcastic sometimes!! LOL)

A Friendly Visit

I finally had a chance to visit a friend a couple weeks ago. It was so nice. We used to live not even 5 minutes from each other when our kids were smaller. We used the same curriculum for them and often ended up at each others' houses by the end of the week or day, whichever was most needed:0)

She is my best friend, but over time we have (literally) moved away from each other and our lives and responsibilities have change and we find ourselves going longer and longer with out having a chance to see one another or even talk. We only live an hour away from each other now, but I'm usually only able to make time once every few months to go see her - she has 3 kids still at home plus 2 she is fostering and I live in a 700sq ft home, so coming to me is a bit harder!!

A couple weeks ago we had planned to start school, but the weather the week before had been so wet (as in flooding) that my dd hadn't been able to play outside much and we ended up stranded at home for the whole week. We did start school that next week, but instead of starting on Monday, we waited until Thursday. We went to a movie, shopping and out to lunch one day, had a day at home to finish up planning for school, and...

FINALLY had a visit at my friend's house:0)

It is amazing how we can go so long without seeing each other, but as soon as we're together, it's as if we had never been apart. We just pick up the conversation and the time flies by. She is a wonderful friend and an incredibly giving person. I have to admit that when she went into respite/foster care, I was jealous. I wanted to do that too (for various reasons, it isn't possible right now) and as she talked about it and planned for it I was struggling with trying to find my place to help.

In the end I did decide what I could do that might bring a little comfort to the little ones that go in and out of the program she works with. I could make blankets. It's a small thing to do, but something that I do have time for in my life right now, so that's what I'm doing.

I wanted to have the 2 blankets done that I had been working on before I went to visit her, but I wasn't quiet done with the second one. Thankfully I had time to work on it while I was at her house, so I was able to give them both to her that day.

The second blanket that I finished, a girly one:)

Both the 1st and 2nd blanket. One for a boy, one for a girl.

She's not sure yet who will receive these. I told her to do whatever seemed right to her. I had also hoped to get more of these done this year, but I have another in the works, and am hoping to do at least one more before the end of the year:0) It makes me happy to know that even though I can't do something big to help out, like being a foster parent, I can do something small like this.

Queen Of Hexies (Not I!!!)

 

Another wonderful blog hop idea from the BLOG HOP QUEEN herself... Madam Samm. This hop has been hosted by Debby, who has done a wonderful job of encouraging us and keeping us all organized!! Thanks ladies for all the work you do!!

 

Okay, on to my project. I have to make a confession here. I chickened out big time with this. I had a big project in mind for this. I even went out and bought all the materials that I would need for it. Then I waited and waited. The hexies scared the 'hex' out of me:) In the mean-time I found a cute little 'cheater' project that I wanted to try out.

 

Found inspiration for this project at THIS blog.

 I really liked this idea, but when I went to check it out on the owners blog, I couldn't read anything on that blog:) I'm not even sure what language that is. So while it looks like the original was made with fabric and sewn on, I really cheated and used felt and glued it on. You can't see it, but the white has glitter in it and it is so cute!!! I did sew up the ornie and added the ribbon.

 

Way too late in the game (like this past weekend) I found another little hexie project that I figured I could give a try. I knew I wouldn't get this one finished in time (actually it'll work for the next blog hop, so I'll be showing off the finished project soon), but I did want to show that I figured out how to make the hexes and that I actually enjoyed doing it. Now to start sewing them together!!! We'll see how that goes:)

 

Thanks for taking a look:)

 

Here is the line-up for the rest of today's bloggers...

 

We Shall Sew  

  

Life@RuffHaven

Pieced Brain  

   

Den Syende Himmel 

   

Creatin’ in the Sticks 

   

Meadowbrook 

   

Sandra Kaye Designs  

   

Let’s Patch it Up 

   

Sew Many Yarns  

  

Around the Homestead 

Sew Mollie Sue, Quilt Much

 

HO HO HO!!!

Oh, how excited I am to show off what I've been working on this past month. First a HUGE thanks goes out to Madam Samm of Sew We Quilt and Carol (she was our Christmas 'Carol') of Just Let Me Quilt for working with us and coming up with these wonderful and fun blog hops!!!

My project was another Pinterest find. This pattern is free for the taking (or the making) and can be found at Red-Brolly. The designer is Bronwyn Hayes. It is such a cute and simple design, and easy to put together too!! Also, take a look around this site because there are SOO many free designs and they are OH SO CUTE!! :)

I chose to take on a learning project for me this time. First I wanted to do something with embroidery as I am just learning to do this. I have to say that I really am enjoying my embroidery projects. It is so nice to pick up some needlework and not have to have the chart nearby.

Then I wanted to make sure I learned a few new stitches. This project had the running stitch that I had been using, but also had straight stitches, satin stitches, blanket stitch and herringbone stitch. I'm pretty sure I didn't do the satin stitch correctly. I couldn't get it to look right without outlining it first, but I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm also pretty sure I didn't get the corners right with the herringbone stitch, but again, for my first time with it, I'm happy:)

This project took me a bit more time than I figured on so I just finished sewing on the patches tonight. My intent was to make this into a wall hanging for the holidays, and I had just enough time to finish it up, but then realized that I left the backing fabric in the bedroom and my hubby had already gone to bed:( Oh, well!! I made sure to fold it over so that it would look just like it will once it's made into a wall hanging so you could see what it will look like all finished up.

Please visit all of today's HO HO HO bloggers...

August 7

Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio

From This to That

I Like To Quilt Blog

Leah @ L3designs

Sew Mollie Sue, Quilt Much?

Just Quilt It

Meadowbrook

Peanut’s Patchwork

Around the Homestead

Feathered Nest Studio

In The Boon Docks

MO Broker, My Creative Side

August Monthly To-Do List

Wow, the month of July just flew on past. The County Fair has come and gone, and what a long but fun week that was, and school is just around the corner. I really didn't get much done this month, again, so I will need to refocus and try, try again to get my goals completed!!!

Here is what I got to last month...

1. Got the quilt top all put together.

 

2. Took dd to one extra activity each week. We've gone to a public pool, a water park, a movie and a whole week of the county fair.

 

Umm, well, that was all:) 

 

My goals for this month are...

1. Finish and post Ho Ho Ho blog hop projects.

2. Start, finish and post Queen of Hexes blog hop projects

3. Sandwich and start quilting on my patriotic colored quilt.

4. Stitch and sew up a couple ornies.

5. Finish the embroidery on my 2 birds piece.

I should probably stop there as I'm sure I won't quite get all this done as it is:) Here's to hoping I can stay focused and get some of these projects finished up!!!

Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop has started!!!

 

Yeah!!! The Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop has begun!!! Go over to Sew We Quilt  or to Just Let Me Quilt each day to see the list of very creative ladies participating in this hop. Today isn't my day to show off what I've been working on (my projects are just almost done!!!), my day will be next Wednesday. But it is first day of the blog hop and I thought I would show you a sneak peek at what I am working on:)

 

 

Wool felt all cut up and ready to put together. The great thing about this project is that it will be used as my first present all ready for Christmas time:)

 

And this one is turning out SOOO cute!!! This will be my first embroidery project that I will have completely finished. It will also be my first applique project:)

 

Both of these will have links as to the websites I found the free patterns on, so you can make them yourselves if you like!!!

July's Friday Night Sew In

http://sugarlanequilts.blogspot.com/p/friday-night-sew-in-fnsi.html

This month the Friday Night Sew In is being hosted by Sugar Lane Quilts  and I am super excited to see this Sew-Along come back!!! My goal this month was to get my quilt top finished and I DID!!!  I started out with the quilt top looking like this...

 

4 strips already sewn together, 16 more to go. I started early yesterday as I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to get this done and not be stressed about it. If you've read my FNSI posts before you'll know that I'm not super friendly with a sewing machine. Short periods at a time keeps me happy:)

However in the middle of the day I realized that I need to go into town. We were out of bottled water (our water is icky and our purifier needs a new filter, so bottled water for right now), and we were out of cat food. I trip into town is never a quick thing, so 3 hours later we were finally home.

 

 This meant that I was up much later than I would have been to get this done. BUT, I did get it done!!! I am super happy with how it looks and I can't wait to have it all the way quilted and finished so I can have it on my bed!!!

 

Here is a close up of the fabrics I used in this quilt. I'm planning on using the blue flower as my backing and binding as it is my favorite print of them all:)

 

Next month my goal will be to have the backing pinned on and maybe get the quilting done. I'm planning to machine quilt a simple diagonal line through all the blocks. Nothing fancy, but maybe if I keep it simple this quilt will actually get done!!! 

Happy Mail!!

Remember the exchange piece that I finished a week or two ago???

The one that was cross stitched, but not finished off into anything???

The one that had 'Christmas' written along the bottom and had pretty red flowers on it???

No?? 

Well, shame on you!! :) 

Okay, so you probably don't need to see it again, but here it is...

 

And, of course, everyone who sent one, received one. This is what I found in my mailbox!!! 

This is a snowman teapot, and I LOVE the colors and the huge carrot nose!! I received this from 'Molly' off of one of the stitching Yahoo groups that I'm on.

It is so much fun to do exchanges and get happy mail. I have another one of these I'm doing on another group, but I haven't picked out what I'm going to stitch for my exchange partner yet. I better get that figured out!!!

Daybook Entry for July 15

I haven't done one of these for a while, so here I go...

Outside my window...It is cloudy and blessedly cooler than normal. Today topped out at 82 or so and was super muggy this morning. Then we got some RAIN!!! :) Not much, but it has been sprinkling off and on today so that at least everything is damp. And the rain made it even cooler. So happy and thankful to be having this kind of weather in the middle of July.

I'm thinking...That this summer hasn't had nearly enough 'stay-at-home' days. Dd's schedule just continued on without skipping a beat:)

I am thankful for... My hubby. He has been working so many hours lately and spending some extra time with his parents and he is so tired!! But he has also been trying to do things with us as well, so long as he doesn't fall asleep first:0)

In my kitchen... I had a fairly productive day in the kitchen today. I made myself a huge pot of cheeseburger soup for lunch (and dinner, and lunch and dinner, etc for the next week or so). I say it's for me because my hubby has a thing against eating soup in the summer and because it has lots of onions, peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes. Yum!! But dd won't eat any of that. I also actually have dinner ready and did up most of the dishes as well!! :)

Creativity this week included...I have so many things I'm working on right now!! Lots of fun things, and I'm making sure that it's all a little different from one another. A little quilting, a bit of sewing (hand and machine), some crocheting and lots and lots of stitching.

I am going... We have a few places to go this week. Dd has swim team practice several times, we have a rabbit project meeting for 4-H (County Fair is next week!!!), a Sunday School picnic, and we are going to a water park!! I think I need a nap:)

My reading indulgences...I was given a chance to review a book from a new author about a month ago and I'm just now getting to reading the book. Really good so far, I'll post a review of it soon.

Around the house...I'm pretty sure there should be a rule that if you are crafty/creative then you are exempt from needing to ever clean the house:) It's not clean, it's not gross either but my mother would get after me if she saw it!! :0)

What's going on with you this week?

A FINISH!!!

Not one that I get to keep though. This project is for a Mystery Exchange that I participated in on a Stitching Yahoo group that I'm in. We all got to pic up to 5 themes that we were interested in (like certain holidays, seasons, or other things) and then the person who gets our name chooses from those themes to stitch up a block (unfinished in this case) and mail it off to us. The person I got choose Christmas as one of her themes, so this is what I stitched for her...

Christmas 2010 by Glory Bee, found in 2010 JCS Christmas Ornament Issue

I did this one over 1 on 25 ct. cream Lugana. This was a quick and fun stitch and I may need to do this one again for myself:)

July TUSAL

It seems like I haven't done the TUSAL in the last month or two, so my pile of orts is a little bigger than usual.

 

I took this pic outside and had to chase after the threads just a bit:) Silly wind doesn't ever want to hold still!! I only had one cat out to help this morning, so that was better than the last time I took a pic of my threads outside.

If you want to know what the heck TUSAL is, follow the link over to Daffycat's blog and find out. It's not to late to join in!!

July YOTA update

I guess I'm not going to be posting everyday;0) I will be happy, though, if I get a post in every other day, so that is what I'm going to aim for. As for today, I have a YOTA update. YOTA stands for 'Year Of The Acronym' and is the creator's (over at Pull The Other Thread) way of making fun of all the acronyms we stitchers use:) The point is to take one of your WIPs (works in progress) or UFO (unfinished objects - usually an older project) and take the first Saturday of the month to work on it. I choose a project that I hadn't worked on in a long time and make tiny bits of progress on it through the year. And by the way this is going, I can plan on using this project for my YOTA piece for the next several years!!!

I haven't had a chance to work on my YOTA project for the past couple of months. This is where I was in April, I believe...

Four Seasons by Marjolein  Bastin

 

And a really bad pic of where I am tonight. I finished the shading around the bench and wanted to finish up the birds as well, but there are 2 thread colors that I am missing and need to buy before I can do that. Once the birds are done, the bench area is completely finished. I moved on to the mushroom that is under the bench so I could do something with some different colors in it. Turns out I am missing a couple of the colors for it as well, but I was able to get this far. I really love this design!! 

OOPS!!

That must be some kind of new record for announcing that you are going to blog every day this month and then missing the next day:) LOL Well, it was a holiday so it didn't count, right? 

 

I hope all my fellow American readers had a wonderful 4th of July (and all my non-American readers too:). We had plans to have some family over for a BBQ and then head over to a neighboring town to see the fireworks, but it was not to be. DD came down ill with a fever and aches and pains Wednesday night and slept most of yesterday away. Dh went ahead and smoked the pork roasts that we had planned to have and he and I spent a nice quiet day watching movies. Dd is starting to feel better today though she is still a little puny.

 

Since I had some quiet time, I finished my part on this Round Robin piece. This one is much different from the others I have stitched on as 'Murf' choose really different colors for her piece. I rather like it and dd said it was her favorite of the bunch so far. This one will be mailed off tomorrow for the last stitcher and I should be getting the last piece that I need to stitch on before getting my own back!! I can't wait to see how mine has turned out!!!

 

Live Laugh Love by La D Da

NaBloPoMo

I decided to join in on July's National Blog Post Month over at BlogHer. I've been slacking off on posting on my blog and I'm wanting to be more active here, so I thought a little challenge is in order!!

So how this works is that you sign up over at BlogHer and then post on your blog every day for the entire month. Last time I did this I didn't get through the whole month, but I came really close, so we'll see how I do this time!!! :)

FIRE!!!

Around here it is harvest time. We live in an area where wheat is all around us (yes the very wheat that I'm allergic to:). I love how pretty and green it is in the spring and the golden color it gets to be when it's ripe and ready for harvest. 

But the one thing about living with agriculture all around that has always made me nervous is once the crops are harvested, how dry the land is. Fire is a huge concern this time of year, usually it is fireworks we are worried about right about now. We have never been directly effected before this year, this weekend was the first time we had a close call. We took a day-trip on Saturday and when we came back home that afternoon, we noticed lots of smoke. Farmers often burn off their wheat stubble, but this day was very windy and we thought someone had a field get out of control. This first fire was about 5 miles from our house, so not a direct concern for us, but we drove around to see what was going on.

We first realized it was not a controlled fire when we saw that one of the fields being burnt was uncut wheat, about 200 acres of it!! We then saw that along-side the highway was a camper that had been burnt to the ground and some people standing around a truck that was also partially burnt (just the back of the truck, no one was hurt). That's when I noticed that there was another fire closer to our place, so we drove home, hoping that it wasn't as close as it looked. The second fire was directly north of our house, by about 1 mile, but thankfully the train tracks and a paved road kept it from jumping across and getting any closer to us.

All in all, around 600 or so acres burnt, but no one got hurt. Only 2 houses were in danger, and only bits of their yards ever caught on fire, the houses were all safe. I think this year we will skip doing any fireworks at all as we've had enough fire for the time being!! :)