bustin' a move . . .

Y'all.  There's nothing like a deadline to get me *moving* on a project.  That's how I can come before you now and say I have not one, but TWO complete finishes (quilting, binding, labeling and sleeves) this week!  Whoohoo! And what's even nicer?  I'm two months in-a-row complete on the #APQresolution challenge.  This month they drew project number five . . .

Which for me, was the faux ruched flowers project!

It now has a name . . . Larla's Pocket Full of Posies.  A little birthday happy for my baby sister.

And I also finished the antique rose topper . . .

Which also has a formal name . . . Desert Roses After the Frost.  This one's a birthday happy for my sister who's joining me in the 50's this month!

Two finishes . . . sheesh, it's about time! Two that are UFOnomos!  :)

I also managed to get all the pieces cut for Evey's quilt . . .

This is going to be fun to work with -- and I'm thinking I'll either embroider or quilt an alphabet in some of the white squares, along with flowers or something.  That'll keep me busy for while! Between getting that cut and prepped and labels and sleeves for the finished pieces, my stash report is looking pretty nice this week!

Of course, I realized that I didn't have enough of the Kona white to use for the back of my blocks, so I'll be adding more in the relatively near future, but it'll go out again quickly, so that's okay.

If I get some slow stitching time in today, this will be what I'm working on . . .

My go-to project when I'm not working on other stuff!  I have three more 'pairs' to baste to the base piece, and then I'll be ready to start a new block. Linking up today to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts.

Our church is memorizing a passage of Scripture together each month this year. February's verse is one of my favorites and I made up a graphic for it.  Thought I'd share it with y'all . . .

Happy Valentine's Day! Feel free to right click and save it, if you'd like.  

Enjoy a blessing-filled day!

:)

stitcher-rific . . .

I made up that word, "stitcher-rific" . . . it perfectly describes my week!  I was able to take what I started last Sunday and finish it up on Monday . . .

That's a stack of houses!

Then Tuesday, I was able to meet up with my Stitcher's Etc. group for a fun evening of stitching:

This is such a great group of gals!  I so appreciate the camaraderie we share! That night I worked on sorting and grouping all the 'birthday chrysanthemums' I'd received last year.

Thursday I did some more quiet stitching.  Friday I spend getting ready for our first ever Camp MACOBA Special Recognition Banquet.  It was well attended and went well -- I was very pleased and proud of my sweet husband, too!

This morning, we headed over to Casa Merkel to celebrate FOUR YEARS with our sweet little Ellie!

I can hardly believe she is four (or will be tomorrow, the tenth).  Where have the last four years gone?  Joc, as usual, did a great job with the theme (pancakes and pj's) and pulling everything together.  Check out this cake:

Isn't it just darling??!  And it was absolutely delicious, too!  Todd and I grabbed a quick shot with the b-day girl herself . . .

Love that Ellie Pearl!!

Then, this afternoon, I came home and headed into the Nook, where I killed not one, not two, but THREE birds with one stone.  Rather, knocked out three goals with one quilt project!  I've been wracking my brains trying to figure out how to finish this Christmas Hexie UFO.  I liked the idea of finishing it like this hexagon mat, *but* I didn't like how putting it together that way distorted the outside hexie pieces -- by a 1/4".  But I finally had the **BRILLIANT** idea to applique the hexie piece to a piece of muslin.  

Then I put right sides together with my backing (and the batting on the bottom) and stitched all around the edge of the applique, leaving a 3" opening to pull it all through. The result was this . . .

I'm very pleased!  After a trim job and working with my "purple thang" and the iron, it looks pretty durn good!

All that was left was a little bippity-boppity-stitchity . . .

That ladder stitch really is magic when it comes to closing gaps in the seam like that!

Now I'm all set up to do some hand-quilting on this piece and wrap it up . . . my slow Sunday stitching, if you will!

I'll just stitch around the hexie centers with a simple little stitch-in-the-ditch. Nothing elaborate.

Aaaaaand . . . it put a little 'usage' dent in my stash, too!!

Three birds goals! UFO, slow Sunday stitching and stash usage. Yay! That's one stitcher-rific project!

Linking up with Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts! Enjoy the weekend!

:)

new thinking for a new year . . .

Happy New Year!!  A new year always feels so fresh and sparkly . . . a clean slate on which to start over (or press on) . . . a new opportunity to get it right!  But so much for a clean *stash* slate. Between spending time destashing and spending time shopping (and even spending some time stitching) my slate is already showing bigger overall numbers than it did for the whole of 2015!

Ha!!  How's that for a first report?! I really went through all my yardage with an attitude of, "Does it have a purpose . . . does it bring joy?"  If it couldn't be yes to one of those, in the to-go bag it went, to the tune of 48.5 yards. And I was on the lenient side. I think I'll give it a couple of months and then go through it all again. Since I ended the year with an accumulated total of better than 200 yards, it's obvious my stash needed some pruning!

I used up a half of a yard preparing all my EPP 'houses' for the Hexie Birthday Swap. It adds up pretty quickly, eh?  I have all of them (seventeen, including one for me and an extra one for Sarah) for the year cut and ready to be basted together (with the exception of several ladies who haven't made a color/fabric choice yet) . . .

And a lonely little Chrysanthemum for a late-comer to the club. Between those and this . . .

my poor, neglected POTC block, I should have enough to keep my stitching on a slow Sunday afternoon!

And then the purchase . . . I purchased more fabric in the space of one day at the New Year's Day sale at Patches & Stitches, than I purchased in the entire of 2015. CRAZY! But, to my credit, it's got a specific purpose! Our Stitcher's group is doing a block swap.  Six blocks (a 3.5" nine-patch) for sixteen ladies.  So 96 blocks (by June)! Here's the quilt the blocks are for . . . 

It's really lovely, but I'm not convinced I'll be using my blocks for that particular look. We're using all Civil War fabrics and a cream.  Here's what I picked up for my offerings:

Isn't that gorgeous??? Oh yeah, and those are some beads I picked up for 'snowflakes'! But back to that fabric.  I just loooooove it!!

Yup, it'll be fun playing with this stuff! The nice thing about going to the sale with a bunch of gals from the Stitcher's group . . . we didn't get the same fabrics -- lots of variety -- spice of life.  ;)

I've challenged myself in several quilty/crafty ways for 2016. For one thing, I've got way too many UFOs hanging around. Most are pieced and just need to be backed and quilted, but I've got an older one where the piecing needs to be finished. Anyway, I'm tired of them taking up space. So when I saw that All People Quilt was sponsoring a UFO Challenge, I jumped right on it! I printed and filled out my list of UFOs . . .

On January 1, I hopped over to the APQ webpage to see which number I'd be working on. Would you believe it?

Number 2! LOL! My Christmas Hexie Topper. I didn't realize how old this was.

Hmmmm.  The reason this is unfinished is because I've never determined exactly what I wanted to do with it! Any ideas?! Hahahaha! If this particular challenge is of interest to you, you can check it out HERE! 

My second goal is to complete a very modest two Christmas ornaments per month, for a total of 24 by the time next Christmas rolls around.  

I loved the wool snowman and the Christmas tree, so for January, I'll stick to one of each of them! This way, when I'm wanting to attach a little something handmade to a special gift, it's already crafted, and I don't feel the pressure of *having* to stitch into the wee hours to have something ready.

My third goal is to reduce my stash this year, in a significant way (hopefully a combination of use and gifting away anything I don't find appealing anymore) -- and not to purchase *anything* that doesn't have a specific purpose! 

And finally, I want to keep my Nook in better order! I spent the better part of a day cleaning/tidying/tossing so I could sit down and create. I am definitely one who needs order! And the Nook was rather chaotic (it's a small space -- it doesn't take much)!

So, what about you?  Any specific quilting/stitching/crafting goals for 2016?

I'll be linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts!  Enjoy the remainder of the weekend!!

:)