every little thing . . .

I can hardly believe we're already halfway through the month of November.  Where did the first half go?!  Well, actually, I have a pretty good idea . . . I have a lot to show for the last two weeks!

First off, I do enjoy decorating my doorway, so when we moved from October to November, I re-staged my front door accordingly . . .

It makes me smile every time I come home!

Lots of stitching.  Ellie has been working on ornaments for her table at Advent Market next week.  Originally she thought Everley would be able to do half, but Evey is still a new stitcher, and I think it was overwhelming to her.  So I offered.  At first I did the three snowmen . . .

And then I took on the trees, the snowflakes, and candy canes . . . 

I've got one more candy cane to finish.  Phew!  I'll wrap it up with some slow Sunday stitching.  :)  I'll deliver these tomorrow, and then Ellie will do the work to finish them out as ornaments.  She's so clever!

I took a class last weekend for this super cute turkey . . .

Isn't he darling?! The tail feathers (and the body) use the Petal Pop Acrylic Template by Sugar Bee Quilts.  It took about a day to complete and was a fun project to kick off the Thanksgiving month!

Ellie and I decided we liked working on tandem projects, so we picked up a couple of cross stitch patterns to stitch in anticipation of Christmas.  We're going to work on this Primose Cottage Stitches pattern first . . .

It is Merry & Bright! We're working this on 25-count mocha linen, two over two.  

I've also joined along with Mary Corbet's latest SAL, Twinkle,Twinkle. I even got the kit.  It's so pretty!  And the blues—*swoon*!  Plus it has beading.  I've finished the first two steps . . . 

That fishbone stitch was a first for me (and it shows), but it was such fun to work! 

I also got the components cut out for the quilt Sawyer asked me to make for him when he visited in July.  He picked the fabrics, then helped me decide on the pattern.  It's a three-yard quilt, but I'm going to put extra borders on it to make it a little bigger.

I have to still stitch up the strips, and then all the components will be ready for assembly!

Again on the machine front, I got my sweet little wool bowl warmers finished up!

I would have put them in a bowl, but this cornucopia (that you can't see for the pillows) was begging for filler.  Voila.

Every time I get on my machine, Celeste feels the need to come snoopervise my work.  

I finally got out my foot pedal so I could use my hand to shield the needle from her little paws!

And speaking of cats, they had an 'ears' competition yesterday . . .

They're both so stinking cute, I can never declare a winner!  They are such good, sweet, and playful companions.  I'm really grateful for them.

I'll close with some select sunset captures from the last two weeks.  I think I've mentioned that my balcony is west facing, so I see the sun setting in all it's glory, and we've had some interesting ones. I also will include a beautiful shot of the northern lights in our skies!  I had to go to the front of our building to get that one.  Haha.

Have a great week! I'm headed to Las Vegas to meet my James for the F1 Grand Prix next weekend, and then headed back with him to spend Thanksgiving in Temecula.  So Happy Thankgsiving to my 'Merican friends!  Only thirty-nine days until Christmas!!

:)

more utility (love) stitching . . .

Yes, I do have to qualify that utility stitching for my grands is definitely *love* stitching!  Ellie's 8-year-old "blankie" needed some attention.  Seriously, I should have taken a before pic! I reconstructed it for her, making it a quilt, of sorts . . .

  

Hopefully it will get her through (to adulthood)!  :)  It made her so very happy to get it back, my heart was happy too.  

I am struggling with allergies again. I'm sniffling and sneezing and coughing ... the very thing people do NOT want to be around right now! So I'm self-quarantining. Add the fact that I'm immunocompromised, and it just makes sense that I stay put. So I spent yesterday in the Nook, finally getting around to binding my wool pumpkin piece . . .

I'm really pleased with the final piece!  I'm especially glad I waited on binding it until I found the right black for it. I felt like a solid would be too harsh for it and I think I made the right call!

Sawyer turned TEN this week!  I could cry...it's so hard to believe this boy is already in the double digits!  I so wished to be able to spend this special birthday with him. His mama's is the day before and Kim & James's anniversary is today (twelve years)!  One year I'll make it there for all three!

Sawyer told me he was so excited to spend his birthday at LegoLand and especially to go to the pool there (they were spending the night).  They pretty much had the park to themselves on Friday, but the park made the decision to close on Saturday, so he didn't get to swim.  But he was okay with it.  They did get to overnight in the hotel and he enjoyed that!  Sweet boy!

I was going to show off my weeks 10 & 11 of my Peppermint Purple SAL, but when I went to grab the photo, realized I'd only completed through week 10!

So I guess you and I both know what I'll be working on this afternoon!

I'll also be working on a little utility work that Joc sent home with me Thursday, on behalf of Edith (this time).  LOL!

Sweet little baby doll frocks need fixing.  Neesey will take care of that! Linking up with Kathy's Quilts today ... be sure to hop over there!

Y'all stay safe ... stay calm ... and stay well!

:)

eclectic collection . . .

It's been a busy week, which means I wasn't able to get in as much stitching as I would have liked, but I got some in nevertheless. I did make some progress on my heart:

But put it down to work on the Peppermint Purple SAL. 

Week 8 was made available on Wednesday, and I had it finished on Thursday, along with a good majority of the box outlines for the entire stitchery!

It's easy, soothing stitching and I'm enjoying it very much.  

Thursday was guild, and I struggled to go, because by the end of my work week--especially when it's been a busy one in the evenings--I just want to go home.  But I went and I'm so glad!  Our speaker was Diane Knott, who was just delightful!  I really enjoyed her program.  Then as a bonus, I won a $20 gift certificate to a local quilt shop!

Yay me!

Saturday I did some utility work on a sweet little bubble of Edith's . . .

This is the after pic. It's challenging, but you can just make it out in the center of the photo. It had a tiny tear so I used a square, white cotton patch and fused it.

This is the back side. If you've never used this fusing stuff, you should give it a try. 

Especially for applique and wool applique! But also for fabric tears. It is very pliable and soft when the fusing process is finished. Very nifty to have on hand!

I also prepped and stitched a block from the Grandmother's Choice BOW.  I actually did go to the last entry and finished up block 49.  

I think eight years ago I may have been afraid of the curved piecing. It didn't phase me in the least in 2020! LOL!

So progress is progress, right?! Still not quite to the halfway point.  The gap in row two is starting to bother me, but it *is* a block that's giving me pause. I may whittle this bad boy down to a six blocks by six blocks quilt and call it done.  If that's the case, I'm MORE than halfway through!  Ha!

While I was in the Nook, I came across a project I'd started late in November and because I'm a squirrel chaser . . . well, need I say more?  Heh.  Anyway, I decided I wanted to finish it up and get it to guild for show 'n tell next meeting.  

It really doesn't need much. I need to stitch the vines, then add the leaves, and then quilt it.  I'll spend my slow stitching today working on it.

After all the rain we've had in the last MONTH (!!!) I did take advantage of the sunny Saturday (brisk as it was) to take a slow stroll around the camp.  Things are starting to green up just the slightest and it makes me happy to see it.

The trees always make me smile.  This one in the center is just the perfect cone shape!  Enjoy!

Linking up today with Kathy's Quilts.  Have a super Sunday!

:)

bits and more bits . . .

It's been a lovely weekend so far.  Todd surprised me with a "gourmet dining experience" on Valentine's Day.  

It was a privately catered event and the food was excellent!  The chef classified his style as 'sophisticated southern.' We were served a four course meal which included a deconstructed Southern Greek salad, seared scallops, braised short ribs, and for dessert . . . 

Red velvet cake with a cheesecake center, topped with white chocolate ganache.  YUM!

Backing up a bit, I spent Thursday evening with the grandgirls and gifted them with their Valentines.

Edith was particularly enthralled with hers and went through her 'goodies' very carefully, several times!  ♥

I've gotten some stitching in, too. I worked up Block 40--Art Square--from Grandmother's Choice.

It went together fairly easily, and I should probably do more than one of these every couple of weeks if I want to actually finish it!  I've got SO much of the fabric.  I really need to do something with it!

I played around with the new Kathy Schmitz heart printed embroidery I got earlier this week, too . . .

This is really fun to stitch on!  For some reason I first thought there was just outline or straight stitching on it, but there are actually quite a few different types of stitches to work out, and I like that!

Finally, I've continued to work on the Peppermint Purple Blackwork SAL piece.  Since  I had finished week 7's block, I decided to go ahead and work out the block outlines for the rest of the year.

Nine rows down and four rows to go; then I need to decide on borders.  It's fun, easy stitching and probably what I'll work on this afternoon for my slow Sunday stitching!

Wrapping it up ... be sure to head over to Kathy's Quilts to check out what other slow stitching is happening today!

Happy Sunday ... I hope you get to enjoy a holiday Monday--I know I sure will!

:) 

heartily stitching along . . .

I've had to work all four (10-hour) days this week.  It's been long!  LOL!

I made just a little progress on my Love Sampler project.  It's really so sweet to stitch on . . . 

But not as much progress as I had planned. Scrolling through Instagram on Sunday, I stumbled upon a Blackwork SAL hosted by Peppermint Purple, and I chased that squirrel down.  I have been fascinated by blackwork for some time, but hadn't ever tried it.  This seemed to be the perfect opportunity to give it a go.

At first I though starting six weeks behind might be a problem, but it stitches quickly and I'm caught up through week #7.  

Go me! (It was really easy to catch up.  Each block represents one week.)  I'm using Cosmos Seasonal floss (1 over 1) in 8056.  I really love the subtle movement of color!

In other stitching news, I got some happy mail . . .

Kathy Schmitz was running a special:  spend a certain amount and get the heart stitchery free.  So I got the birdie stitchery and the black floss.  

They're really cute.  Pre-printed ... you just outline stitch in black and frame!  Voila!  I thought it would be fun (and now I have two to play with)!

Been having fun getting Valentines together for the local grandgirls. They stopped by for a quick visit at work yesterday . . .

They're so fun!  And they all MATCH!  Even mama matches!  ♥  I found some really cute vintage cards to gift the girls . . .

And made some heart-themed baskets filled with goodies . . .

Just simple things.  But sweet!  And speaking of sweet, look what *my* Valentine sent me!

Aren't they beautiful!  Gives me lots of reasons to stop and smell the flowers!

Signing out ... have a great weekend and a Happy Valentine's Day!

:)