it's a good thing i married a firefighter . . .

Cuz y'all . . . yesterday I was HOT!!!!  I mean my sewing machine was SMOKIN'!!!!  My fingers were just a'BLAZING!!!!  I was setting fabric on FIRE!!!  

Okay, okay, enough with the imagery.  But I do have a reasonable right to be a little excited.  I got in four finishes yesterday!  Whoohooo!!  

First finish was my little Leaves and Acorns topper . . . 

Next I quilted the cute little hexie topper . . . 

I haven't named it yet.  I quilted around the outside, the stitched in the ditch around in the six, then offset stitched in the center hexie.  I'm very pleased with this sweet little project!!  :)

Then, on a whim, I rummaged through my sewing basket, found some very thin, black binding, and finished up my Winter's Shimmer topper.  

I was just a teeny, tiny bit concerned about how the black would look on the reverse side, but I shouldn't have worried:

I'm really pleased to have this one finished!

And then finally I quilted and bound my Theoretically piece.  

I'm really pleased with how this one turned out and it will serve as a great reminder for all the work I put into my Color Theory course!!  The button in the center is a nod to the last exercise of the last lesson ... where I had to "make do with what I had".  I quilted it with a metallic thread.  That's a nod to me.  LOL!

In addition to all that, I made breakfast, lunch, *and* dinner, did three loads of laundry, and got dressed -- which, before you laugh, is a pretty big deal in the scope of things!

And my final act of the day was to mark the next segment on my wholecloth quilt.  I know it's hard to see, but it's a circle of hearts.

I'm really excited about quilting this design, because it's one of those that's a continuous pattern.  You never have to move your needle.

Y'all ... this "finishing" is just so freeing!!  I feel caught-up . . . I feel complete . . . I feel accomplished . . .

I feel justified in starting a new project today!!

:)

it's beginning to look a lot like . . .

Well, autumn, of course!!  

I got four of my six leaves finished yesterday evening.  

I haven't pressed them or stitched up the sides.  I haven't even really finished completely getting the right sides smoothed out.  Maybe if I get in there and get the last two done, I can take the whole kit and caboodle to Joc's and work the hand work while Ellie's napping.  Hmmmm . . .

I finished up my Color Theory course!  YAY!  I actually turned my last lesson in (very late) Sunday evening.  I got word Monday evening that I'd done well and passed the course.  Whew!  And better than a whole month early, too!

This was one of the final assignments.  Matching colors to pictures.  I used a picture of the Mayflower.  I know I've talked about wanting to do a landscape quilt using this as the focal.  Now I'm that much closer!

Finishing the CT course means I'm also eligible for other classes offered on StitchMAP, because it's a prerequisite for every other class.  And there's a new redwork class that's coming up soon!  I am signed up for it, too.  Yay!

I'm finally on the upswing ... a cold, sinuses and just the general "crud" has plagued me for about the last two weeks.  Unfortunately, as is often the way, Todd's just starting to come down with it.  Poor guy!

Conversation between Sawyer and his stuffed animal, "Baby," overheard by Kim:

Sawyer:  Baby, are you excited about Baby June?
Baby:  Uh-huh!
Sawyer:  Do you love Baby June?
Baby:  Uh-yes!

How sweet is he?!  Precious little guy; he'll make such a great big brother!!  Kim says she's been spoiling him just a bit lately, knowing that in less than two months, her attention will be divided.  I remember being that way with Jocelyn, before James was born, too.  

I was over there yesterday afternoon, right after he'd gotten up from his nap.  I was getting ready to leave and he grabbed my hand and said, "Okay, I go with Neesey for ride."  Kim told him that I had to go, and that he could go on a ride with her.  I turned towards the door and he broke into tears . . . "I want to go with Neesey!"  Awwww!  I opened my arms and he ran right into them.  How could I refuse?  He came with me to the grocery store and Kim met me there a little while later and all was good.  Love my little man!

:)

design on a dime window . . .

Back out on the 'window' (and yes ... that's really a window under all that) are my guild 25th anniversary BOM blocks.  

I've got seven done, five to do.  I'd really like to get these blocks finished and the top assembled before the next guild meeting -- the 20th.  Yikes!  Better get busy!

I finished up my color theory lesson 4 ... and here's my Theoretically all pieced . . . 

I need to decide what I'm going to do about borders.  Probably red and brown.  I may practice some free motion quilting on it.  Make a true "lesson" piece out of it, from start to finish!

I also pulled out these autumn pieces . . . 

Two years ago I had made a darling leaf and acorn topper:

Last year I donated it as a raffle prize for the Camp's Jamboree.  I miss it -- it was a fun piece to have out, especially this time of year.  I'd already cut the squares to make a second one and now I think perhaps it's time!  I'm still working on the apple topper in my mind.  That's a dangerous place.  LOL!  :)

Linking up with Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times *and* with What a Hoot's BOMs Away!

Yesterday was a picture-perfect afternoon ... the weather was exquisite and I opened up all the windows in the RV ... finished up my color theory lesson 5 (yup, two in one weekend!) ... enjoyed the fall Tea Time issue with a fabulous pot of tea and a lovely conversation with my mom.

Speaking of whom, this is the perfect time to pay homage to my folks . . .

Today they celebrate FIFTY-TWO years of wedded bliss -- pretty incredible stuff, if you ask me.  Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad -- I love you!

Have a fabulous week!

:)

life is good ... and stash report #36 . . .

Well.  I sure did put a halt to my "no added stash" run.  Ah well!  It really doesn't hurt my feelings too badly!!  ;)

Used/donated this week: .5 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 28.75 yards

Purchased/added this week: 26 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 137.25 yards

Net used/donated for 2012: -108.5 yards

Don't ask.  What's the line?  Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies.  Hahaha!  As per usual, I'm linking up with Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times for the weekly stash reporting.

Now on to 'more funner' things.  Like this week's Grandmother's Choice block.  It was a real challenge for me and *very* much outside of my quilting comfort zone. It was curves, Y-seams, and templates.  All in one block -- the Amethyst.  

It's a gorgeous block, but really, the templates had me worried.  I've seen lots of quilts I liked, only to look at the pattern and see templates -- and high-tail it away from that quilt pattern as fast as I could!  I don't know why . . . especially after playing with them today . . . but there it is.

There was a lot of confusion (noted in both the comments on the blog and on the Flickr site, too) about the printing of the pdf Barbara had provided for the template.  I think--after pulling the same block up in EQ (by another name, the Priscilla)-- that I figured out what the discrepancy was.  I won't go into it here (unless you really just have to know, in which case I'll e-mail), but I ended up using the template to cut my center square as well, instead of measuring it out to the dimensions provided.  I think that was the best decision -- and my block measured a perfect 8.5" square, so I'm good to go.

I love how my two little blocks look together!  Only forty-seven more to go!  I also finished and turned in my stitcheries for lesson three ... almost finished with my "optional" fourth stitchery -- then I can assemble Theoretically!

Todd brought in the mail today and we had received a very *special* little squishy!

Awwwww!

Isn't that so sweet?  Blue seems to be his "go to" color!

It goes on the refrigerator.  Sawyer gets *so* excited when he visits and sees his artwork on my refrigerator!  It's almost as darling as receiving his special mail in the first place!

And a Happy Grandparent's Day to all of you to whom it applies!

This morning, after attending Sunday School at our church, we're headed to Courageous Church for their launch service.  

This is the church start that Jocelyn, Jason and Ellie are a part of and of.  They've put in a LOT of hard work and effort to be ready for this morning; should be exciting!

Happy Sunday!

:)

finish, win, win, tantrum . . .

No, that's not some bizarre take-off of "duck, duck, goose" . . . but an apt description of the next eight photos I'm going to share!

Finish:

I finally got the required stitcheries done for my Color Theory lesson.  Yay!

I still have one more to do, but it's one I chose to do for me, not for the lesson.  You can see, though, that I really did need a fourth one.  I'm going to call this Theoretically.  Haha!!

Win:

And what a happy win!  I blog hopped during the Back to School blog hop.  There was some fantastic blogs represented and some marvelous prizes ... not the least of which were this beautiful Kaffe Fasset book from A Quilt and A Prayer and my darling friend Teresa!  

Oh gosh, you should see some of the beautiful quilts/fabrics/patterns in these pages.  

And Teresa also included instructions for a darling tea pot block that she found and knowing my affinity for tea, thought of me.  What a thoughtful friend!

Win:

Another happy win!  I won this darling cat panel from Sarah Did It! and her Feline Friday giveaway!

I love these sweet cats -- I was telling Sarah how much they remind me of a set of cat nesting dolls I brought back for my mom from Moscow, several years ago.  I'll have to get my mom to send me a pic of them!

Also included in said package from Sarah were these delicious batik fat quarters, from her recent trip to the Adirondacks! 

This will kill my no-stash-added streak of the last couple of weeks, but I'm not complaining!  I love shopping vicariously through Sarah -- she's got terrific taste!  These are just scrumptious!

Tantrum:

This picture of my sweet little Ellie just makes me howl with laughter every time I see it.  Mind you, she's not hurt ... she's mad.  Really mad.  You want to know why?  Because Jocelyn had given her two little tastes of real whipped cream ... and wouldn't give her a third.  Rut roh!!  I love her and think she's precious anyway ... but you can bet this Neesey won't be withholding that whipped cream from her darling grandbaby!

Bonus:  If you get a minute today, please head over to my friend Paula's Initially PMS! blog ... she's a relative newcomer to the blogging world, but a kindred spirit and a fellow quilter ... and she's sharing a fabulous tour of her quilting/sewing room, as well as teasers for what promises to be a mega-giveaway!!  And don't worry -- the PMS is her initials ... not a commentary on her disposition!!  She's a darling!

I'm working on round two of Grandmother's Choice ... yay!!

:)

ooh baby, baby . . .

I didn't get a whole lot of sewing or stitching done yesterday.  Joc had an appointment to have a root canal done . . . ICK!! . . . so I went over to help keep an eye on pretty Ellie.  It was the first time I'd really had an opportunity to play with her in her exersaucer.

She's got this thing totally conquered . . . she loves standing in it and playing with all the fun noise makers!  I can't believe how much (and fast) she's growing.  Oh my goodness, she's just so darling!

A little later, I was playing with her with my glasses on ... and she promptly (and quite deftly, I might add) removed them from my face.  So I removed them from her grasp and allowed her to play with my cheapie stitching glasses.

It was the only way I could occupy her long enough to get this shot!

I love this look on her face.  Like, "Hey!  What just happened here?!"  :)

I managed to squeeze in a little stitching on part three of my lesson four . . . 

I've got nearly two of four done.

This is how they'll lay out with the blocks . . . 

It will be a fun reminder of what I learned in this lesson!

We had guests up here for dinner last night . . . 

It was nearing dusk, so the quality of the photo isn't great (not to mention I was shooting the pics through the tinted windows of the RV), but you can get the gist.  There were a total of five.  It's nice to see them up here again!

I don't know if it's all the cold meds I'm taking or what, but when I was able to sleep last night, I dreamed about my Wicked block(s) and the apple topper.  LOL!  Yeah . . . the ideas are up there!

:)

sparkly threads and birthday candles . . .

Yesterday was the perfect stay-at-home stitching kind of day!  I made good progress on my color theory blocks . . . 

And got the last part of the lesson traced out and picked my flosses and am nearly finished with the stitching, too.

I also got the spiral traced onto my pretty metallic batik for my mat.  One of my sweet bloggy friend, Cathy, made the comment that she liked what I'd done with it ... that I should let the fabric, "be the star".  And that got me thinking.  

Originally I'd thought that I'd quilt it in the silver or the silver shimmer.  But if the fabric was the star of the show, would the silver quilting thread compete?  Did I want the quilting to stand out or did I want it so melt into the fabric, so to speak?

There was only one way to find out.  Quilt a sample!  I took a section off the end of the FQ, backed it with some muslin and a leftover piece of batting, and pulled out six different spools of thread . . . 

You probably can't see the results as nicely as I can, but I'm glad I did it.  The first two it's hard to tell a difference between.  The first is a silver metallic tinted with pink then blue . . . 

And the second is the plain metallic silver . . .

The third is an opalescent shimmer . . . 

The fourth is invisible thread (I did double the lines in this one) . . . 

The fifth is the polyester silver . . . 

And the last one is the holographic shimmer, which I threw in just for fun . . .

It cracks me up how much green is in that one ... and the opalescent, as well!

As I said, I'm glad I went through the exercise.  I think I know what my preference is, but I'd welcome any feedback.  I'll probably let Todd be the one to make the final call on it!!

I also finished up my Magic Needlecase challenge a couple of days ago and wanted to share it:

Another one of my StitchMAP challenge projects!  It was fun to do.

Today?  Today we celebrate the 25th anniversary of my darling son's birth.  He's grown into such a handsome and godly young man -- not to mention he's a terrific husband and daddy.  I'm very proud of him!

Happy birthday, James!

And happy Tuesday to the rest of y'all!!

:)

what's NOT on the design wall . . .

I think I've got everything but the kitchen sink up on the "wall" today!  First of all, the storms came and went yesterday, leaving not much more than a few downed limbs and lots of rain in their wake.  Thank you to all who were concerned for us!  Today we've again got about an eighty percent chance of rain today, but so far, no severe storms are in the forecast!

All that being said . . . 

Happy Labor Day!

I plan on "laboring" the day away in the quilt bunk.  Here's what I've got going . . .

I need to put together lesson four of my Color Theory class.  Here's the EQ mock-up of part one:

It's playing with the different types of color schemes.  My fabrics are all cut and ready to stitch into blocks.  

This will go together fast.  I decided that I'd like to make it a piece I can actually use, hence the topper.  The second part of the lesson involves marking on my color wheel, which I've already done.  Then the third part is taking those same color schemes to a different design.  I'm going to use something similar to one of these borders . . . 

And use that to stitch onto the outside border of my topper (which I'll stitch onto a neutral, instead of the dark border I've got pictured in the mock-up).  Really pull the lesson into one project!

Next, I've got my fabrics mostly picked for my apple topper . . .

I decided to go ahead and keep the apples cores and the worms -- they do make it fun and whimsical and that's what I want!  I'm not sure how I'll do the cores.  At first I thought I'd just put them together as a single fabric . . . but now I'm thinking I might use the polka dot red at the top and bottom, and put a tonal white or cream in the center.  The polka dots help make it feel a little more whimsical.

And then I've got to find something to do with this piece of fabric . . .

Todd has mentioned several times how much he likes it, so I want to do something with it!  When I purchased it, I had something like this in mind (I mocked this up in Publisher):

Just a simple circle, spiral quilted with silver or opalescent thread, and bound in a solid black.  I make the background brown because that's what color our table is.

I had seen a simple, but lovely mat when traveling in Virginia ... I'd really wanted to buy it, but decided it cost so much that I could make it myself for much less.  And when I came across the fabric in the LQS in Maryland, I had an Ahha! moment!  Any thoughts?  I've got two FQs of it ... perhaps use one like this, back it with a different fabric, and save the other one for something else?

Okay.  That's it for today.  I really need to get busy if I'm going to get my lesson done today -- plus I want to finish stitching the leaves on my whole cloth project -- then I'll be finished with the center and ready to mark the next design!!  Y'all head over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times . . . that's where I'm linking up today and I'm sure there are bunches of Labor Day design walls! 

Have a GREAT day!!

:)