messing around . . .

I may <ahem> have mentioned before how much I enjoy playing around in EQ.  This past weekend, I was doing a little work on a particular project (I'll save the details on that for another day), and I came across a photo I'd saved so I could work up the block in EQ as a potential project.

Barbara Black—My Joyful Journey—blogged about this Scrappy Plus block she was working on.  

I actually saw the quilt (in progress) in person when I took one of her classes.  It really caught my eye because it's so striking, especially when you look at it as the collective quilt (shown in that linked post, on her design wall).

The two of us talked about it a little, and I told her I thought it would be fun to do in my favorite colors ... purples, teals, pinks, and greens. Which happened to be the colors of the focal fabric I was using the class . . . 

I love this print ... it's so yummy!  I used it here (the product of the class)—

With purples, blues, teals, pinks, and greens. Definitely my palette of choice (unless it's pumpkin season).

Seeing the copy of Barbara's block while I was playing around in EQ prompted me to throw it together and play with the colors.  Here's what I came up with . . .

But like I said, you don't really get the full effect until you see it in a quilt:

I'm just totally in love with this look. I even really like the secondary design you get with the hodge podge of greys! But what really caught my attention?  When I saw the thumbnail photo of the purple floral print, below the thumbnail photo of the scrappy plus quilt . . .

I know it's blurry (it's really pixilated), but you get the idea...a beautiful mess. The similarity made me decide I need to put this quilt on my to-do list of quilts.

Or just put the picture of it on my desktop and enjoy it that way. <wink> Happy hump day

:)

what a win-dfall . . .

Winner, winner! 

I know a lot of folks like to say, "winner, winner, chicken dinner!"  I just cannot bring myself to do that.  I served as a legalman in the USNavy.  Big Chicken Dinner was our euphemism for a BCD or Bad Conduct Discharge.  There's *nothing* winning about that in my book!  But I digress.

I won a lovely package from The Teacher's Pet!  This is the same shop from which I got the free patterns to make "Ewenice" (which I blogged about here)!  Anyway, let's check out this loot, because you know it's going to be good, when the sender labels the outside packaging this way . . .

Right away, I saw that beautiful bundle of wool—especially that multi-colored herringbone—and thought it was delicious!  And then I thought PUMPKINS!  

But there was so much more!  A sweet bundle of flannels, a cute bag, other fabrics, tea . . .

And a panel. This panel is SO cute!!  Check this out . . .

Right??  I see a quilted baby alphabet book for Ezra!!!  It was a fun win—the box really was stuffed—and opening it made my day!

Sometimes, when I can't (or don't want to) get into the Nook or into handwork, I like to pull up EQ and be fanciful.  Last October, Moda a block a day quilt for breast cancer awareness.  It was in their pink grunge line, and I downloaded the blocks.  But October is also down syndrome awareness month, and since I have a darling niece, Liesl, who rocks that 23rd chromosome, I wanted to do something using those blocks, but supporting her. I quickly decided that I did not want to make thirty blocks.  

I wanted something a little simpler.  So I picked two blocks that looked fun, found a way to put them together, and here we go . . . 

I do love getting lost in EQ! I could play with colorways forever. Probably won't have this together for this year, but looking ahead to October, 2022!!

:)

tried and true . . .

Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy binding?  I really do.  I love the rhythmic stitching motion.  It's soothing and settling. So I often volunteer to do the binding on group quilts.  (I dislike giving blocks for group quilts ... not because I don't want to give or participate, but because of comments someone once made about my blocks in a swap.  It hurt my feelings and I'm just afraid to stitch up bad blocks for a quilt someone else is having to piece. So I bind.)

I volunteered to do so for a quilt we were doing for a gal in our group that had breast cancer.  This is the third of these quilts I've bound in the last year for our Stitcher's group . . .

Binding is a great activity for the boat in the spring time, when the days can still be a little cool!

What I wasn't thinking about when I also volunteered to bind the guild's President's Quilt for this year, was the possibility that they might end up in my lap at the same time (figuratively speaking, of course)!

Whoops! But I made it work.  It really did provide some good boat projects this month.  Hahaha—win/win!

I got those two quilts finished and had the urge to do some things for me (or at least for my own) . . .

With a baby boy on the way, I needed something in blues!  I love this pretty pinwheel design (I reworked it up in EQ).

After getting Joc's approval, I pulled fabrics for it.  It was a super easy thing to do, now that most of my stash is in the storage room!  Whoop whoop!

I also pulled one of the UFOs I'd purchased last year from an estate sale, and got busy putting it together.

She had the individual 8" Flower Girl blocks pieced, and I put them together, stitched the sashing, and added borders.  I LOVE IT!  It finishes out at about 56" square.

There are enough leftover blocks to do a table mat, and maybe a smaller (single block) table mat.  Which would make this ensemble just perfect for our screened room . . . 

Right?!  The summer colors are just perfect!  I love it when a plans comes together all by itself!

I also pulled out this big boy . . . 

Now that I've got room to work, I went about adding borders.  I wanted it to be at least 72" square for the girls to use as a picnic blanket.  I think this will do it!

Then ... I did another thing.  April's been a really quilty month.  I took a longarm class, along with my friend, Gail!

One of our LQSs offers longarm rentals, but you've got to take an introduction class first.  It was a lot of fun!  I've got time scheduled soon to work on a quilt.  I need a LOT of practice!!  About the only thing I showed any promise with was quilting my name.  Baahaahaa!  So if I want a quilt quilted with my name in cursive, I'm in good shape. *insert eyeroll here*

I wrapped up the month with an evening with the girls.  I love our Thursdays together!  This night, mommy and daddy were the meeting hosts, so we all went upstairs for dinner.  The girls set a lovely table complete with a quilted table runner and a vase of flowers.  They called it a "peaceful and quiet" dinner!

How I love these sweet girls.  They are so precious ... I love spending as much time with them as possible.  I know how fast they grow up!  Memories. ♥

moving along . . .

So this morning, I did a thing.  I hid my blog.  Or rather, I made it private.  Who knows ... at some point I may go back and make it public again, but for now, I need the space to write and upload pics, without the need to field comments and return blog views. *Edit* 5/3/21:  I've taken it off private, but eliminated comments.  There, all better!

***Note to self:  DELETE the above, you selfish thing you, if you ever make the blog public again!  

We had a crazy week.  Snow flurries , threat of snow, ice, then real snow meant we had no office hours this week!  

Here's pictures taken Thursday (the morning after), Friday, and finally, this morning.  You can definitely see it fading, but still trying to hang in there!

The girls got some good snow, too!  I was so glad!  This county is so big, we often don't get the same weather.  Point in case, my parents, who live twenty-five miles south of us, got nothing but rain. Boo!

I love this pic with all the tracks in the snow.  NONE of which are human! Such fun! It's cool to see hard evidence of the little feeding station ecosystem we've created!  Ha!!

So anyway, coupled with a short day on the Thursday before Valentine's Day (staff lunch and enrichment), followed by a holiday Monday (President's Day), and I've not worked for nine days. (Okay.  I've not gone *in* to work. I have worked from home, just to be clear.)  Ten days including Sunday, before going back to work on Monday.  LOL!  Then I work two days and am off for the rest of the week to celebrate my mom's 80th birthday with two of my sisters!  We're piling up on my folks and reliving the good ol' days for the long weekend.  Should be fun!

I finished both Christmas table runners, hand quilted and bound ... one for Jules and one for Lar.  I should probably make labels for them, but I'm so lazy.

They're similar but different.  Have no idea which one will get which.  I'll gift them when they arrive on Wednesday; we're going to stop and have a sisters' lunch at Chicken Salad Chick before we head to the folk's house.  :)

I've also been slowly working on stitching down the wool on the Hospital Sketches blocks.  Finished the utilitarian stitching on this one . . . 

I know it needs some embellishment via fancy stitches.  It just *needs* it.  I'll get busy on that.  Eventually.

I also played around in EQ designing a foundational pieced kimono, for a friend, based on a pattern by Betty Blais. 

I just love these fabrics!  It's a blend of Asian prints and batiks. Yum! I upsized it considerably, to make it a wall hanging. It would be a pretty to display in the spring/summer!

I still need to get out in the Nook.  Time wise this would have been the perfect week for it, but it's just been too darn cold out there.  We have been able to get out on the sun porch, with the propane heater going at full blast! 

So glad we've been able to use this into winter.  I'd have hated getting it screened in late November and then not being able to enjoy it until Spring!

Enough for now.  We lost power last night and it didn't come back on until 10:30, so we lost a big part of the day!  Perhaps I'll make this a weekly thing ... to share pics and tidbits of life, so I can recall them when my memory struggles.  Bahahahaha!!!

:)

increasing my fiber . . .

Over the weekend I was very thready. I sorted through all the floss I've accumulated (some from the estate sale) . . . it was a huge hodge podge in multiple containers (or not):

A mess. And even after I'd sorted most of it out, I still had this unsightly tangle to deal with . . .

And I actually did tackle and tame it!

Now I just need to purchase more floss cards so I can wrap it (and it can stay relatively tidy).

I also picked up (when I ordered it online and it was sent to my po box and I had to go the post office to pick it up) some new Cosmo Seasons floss . . . some autumnal colors.

I do love these flosses!

In my last post I told you that Ellie requested a new stitchery and she specifically requested that it be a monkey, so I got that taken care of for her and delivered it Monday . . .

I couldn't find a suitable embroidery pattern, so I had to adapt a coloring page. She's very pleased with it and was happy to be told that it's made up of all back stitching. She told me, "I'm really good at back stitching, Neesey. It's my best stitch." You go, girl!

This is the time of year when I get the itch to work with golds and olives and plums and oranges.  I saw this darling pattern by floralsandfloss on etsy and decided I wanted to try my hand.

I love the look, but it's a little out of my wheelhouse ... very chunky and dimensional. I can't wait to see it finished!

I was going through one of the other estate sale cases ... the one with all the oriental prints?

I counted up the T blocks that were in it and found there were fifty-six (56!!!) of them. Fifty-six 6" blocks (finished).  

So I got on EQ to see what one could do with fifty-six T blocks . . .

EQ Mockup

With a seven block by eight block layout, add a couple of borders and you've got a nice looking little lap quilt finishing out at about 54" by 60".  I love it when a plan takes shape!

You may (or more likely may not) recall me mentioning some time ago that I have had a 'sugar' person.  Actually her name is Sharon and she had an etsy shop called Simply Baking Supplies which I absolutely loved.  She custom mixed a blend of sugar crystal colors for me which were perfect for autumn cookies and even into Christmas.  Plus, Ellie loved to sprinkle it on her popcorn!  I realized last week that I was running dangerously low on my blend and it was time for another refill (I'm a repeat customer).  That's when I realized Sharon had closed up her etsy shop.  Gasp! I shot her an email and we went back and forth for a bit.  She's very sweet and offered to mix my blend from her leftover stock for free, if I paid the postage. She also mentioned that she had some additional supplies if I was interested and I said, "Sure!" So I paid for postage for a medium flat rate box and look what arrived yesterday . . .

Is that amazing or what?!  Jocelyn, the girls and I are going to have a ton of fun playing with all the different sprinkles and jimmies and edible glitters and dusting powders!  It was so very generous of her ... I wanted to share my joy.  :)

I had another sweet win over the weekend. Diane Knott of Butterfly Threads had a giveaway on her blog. The winner got to pick one of her choice of Diane's pdf patterns, and I won! I picked the pattern Under the Mistletoe of which she shared the original at her trunk show when she spoke at our guild meeting last year.  

It's gorgeous and looks complicated but she's assured me that it's not! She's gearing up for a Celebration 2020 SAL on her blog right now and it looks like a lot of fun! You should check it out.

So that's what I've got.  We'll see what trouble I can get into this weekend.  ^wink^

Happy Hump Day!

:)

quilts, kids, and critters . . .

Still slogging away in the new un-normal.  I don't know about anyone else, but it all still feels so surreal. Work is normal (hours), so there's that, but nothing else feels the same.  Strange.

I've been working off and on in the Nook.  Our stitcher's group collaborated on a quilt for one of our ladies who's been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Everyone contributed blocks (á la Lori Holt), one of our very talented ladies (and one of my affirmation group besties -- Sarah) did the layout and made it into a marvelous flimsy, and another of our talented ladies quilted it. Then I got to do the binding on it!  I love doing binding!  The entire process is soothing.

Doesn't everyone stow their 'to be stitched down' binding like this?!  LOL! The quilt itself was scrappy, so I did a scrappy pink binding for it, which I'd never done before. I was really pleased with how it turned out!

And the quilt itself is a stunner.  I just adore this layout . . . 

My SASSY! group (Sweet Affirmation SisterS Yay! -- there are three of us; Sarah, Gail and me) is currently into sheep and lambs.  We share photos and videos of sheep (and all things Welsh & tea) and we're planning a field trip to local 1818 Farms to meet this pretty little thing . . .

Her name is Baby Girl and she was born this year.  So cute!! Anyway, one of us found a quilt advertised with sheep on it . . .

which (along with the heart quilt) prompted me to be inspired to create . . .

Bleating Hearts (EQ concept).  Coming soon to a Nook near me.  ♥

I'm missing my California crew.  They're able to get out and about a little bit.  Kim sent me this sweet shot of the kids berry picking . . .

I think they grow faster because I don't get to see them often enough.  Liv had her first tap recital this week . . .

Holy cow -- when did she turn 16?!?  She's a natural performer and I was able to see video from the show.  She stole it!! ♥

My local crew paid me a visit at work this week.  Since I knew they were coming, I was able to provide a little surprise . . .

Everyone loves petit fours, right?

Right!

Things have stayed very slow at the camp.  The majority of our summer bookings have cancelled, so it's been quiet.  On the human front, at least.  On the critter front, it's been pretty busy--probably because of the lack of humans?!  We've made friends with a grey fox couple (they mate for life), who visit regularly . . .

Aren't they beautiful? I want to pet them so badly.  They're my 'puppies'.  They have a den (or two) nearby, and I've seen kits, but they haven't brought them to the 'feeding station' yet.

We also see the raccoons pretty frequently, but this juvenile has decided to make himself very much at home.

LOL!  Brazen thing.  He spent three hours one afternoon hoovering up all the bird seed. In between rest stops.  Ha!

When he was finished, Mr. Squirrel came in as the clean-up crew.

I don't believe a single bird ate seed I put out that day.  #truth

Lastly, still working on my Peppermint Purple blackwork SAL.  I'm behind about twelve weeks, but still plugging along. 

I love the way the colors move through the designs; it's so pretty!

Keep on stitching!

:)