surprise . . .

Backposted (because how ever many years from now I'd regret not having posted these pictures along with their stories)!

Back in December (way back when), I participated in the Advent blog hop — which is one of my favorites of the year!  Since I do participate, I'm also faithful to visit all the other participants.  Because it's the nice thing to do!  Anyway, one of the participants, Elfin Stitches, featured the most beautiful, hand-beaded ornaments in her post, and she had a give away, and I won one!  They came all the way from Australia, so it took a little time.  But when I got home from retreat, guess what was waiting on me?

It was like Christmas all over again!  I took my time opening it.  It was so worth the wait . . .

Isn't this beautiful?!?  Her bead work is stunning.  I couldn't wait the twelve months to next Christmas to hang it, so it's hanging at my desk where I can enjoy it daily!  

She asked us to specify if we wanted lightly or heavily beaded trees.  I chose heavily.  It's just stunning.

:)

i'm a winner in so many ways . . .

First -- quick question . . . I've noticed that the 'search on this blog' feature is not working on my blog and several other blogspot blogs.  Has anyone else noticed this?  Anyone know why it's not working?

Now onto the good stuff -- my stash *enhancement* report this week reflects some happy little wins!  My first win was a *sweet* bundle of Happy Town fabrics (by Jacquelynne Steves of The Noble Wife) . . . compliments of my darling bloggy friend Teresa, from A Quilt and a Prayer!

Isn't this the cutest line??!  What happy, bright colors!  And the little scenes are just precious.  Teresa's doing some fun things with it for her little grandson.  I can think of another grandson who'd enjoy it, too!!

I also had a fun Facebook win from Shannon Fabrics -- a giveaway they did in conjunction with APQ.  I won a super-soft and cuddly strip quilt kit in Dr. Seuss fabrics!

I can't wait to stitch these strips together.  But I'm not sure where it will end up! Perhaps it can be the 'snuggle quilt' that Neesey keeps here, for curling up together and watching a movie or after a cold ride on the golf cart?!  Haha!!

So those two wins constituted my only additions this week ... and nothing in the 'going out' column, so here we are:

Used/donated this week: 0.00 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 10.5 yards

Purchased/added this week: 6.5 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 37.0 yards

Net used/donated for 2013: -27.5 yards

Linking that up with the week #9 stash report at  Patchwork Times!

I had one more non-fabric win this past week ... a $25 Amazon.com gift card from a promotional giveaway Cross Reads was doing!  I do love Amazon!  I had fun perusing my choices, and here's what I came away with . . .

A rather eclectic grouping, to be sure, but that's how I roll.  I'm really looking forward to delving into the pages of A Christian Woman's Guide to Hospitality.  It came highly recommended to me by my dear bloggy friend Melissa, of The High Altitude Tea Duchess.  In fact, her blog post today contains a reference to said book! The Clever Banners, Panels & Postcards book is filled with some darling motifs that will make perfect quilted postcards . . .

Aren't they fun?  The "cream tea" motifs are the most fun ... wouldn't it be cute to invite a special guest to tea using one of these?!  I know I'll find lots of uses for these over the years to come!

I've been busy working on my CQ course ... I finally finished up all the required bead embellishing on my thread roll-up . . .

The dragonfly (which I'm really proud of -- those wings take more than a little patience) and the button cluster finished up my exercises in lesson six and now I'm on to lesson seven -- ribbon work!  Now I'm *really* out of my comfort zone. I've never, ever done any ribbon embroidery work, so it will be interesting to see how this pans out.  First I've got to get my silk ribbon in ... then I can proceed with the lesson!  Still, it looks like I'm definitely in good shape to finish off the course before the end of March!

I also whipped up a cute set of coasters for Jocelyn -- they match the napkins that we made for her a couple of months back. 

I think I was supposed to make six of each, but for now there's two -- that'll tide her over!

And yesterday, for the second time this week, I got to spend time with all three of the grands under one roof!  Aunt Jocelyn and Uncle Jason took Sawyer to dinner and his first movie theater movie last night for his birthday!  Kim came over to drop him off and play with Joc's Cricket -- and I came over to watch Ellie while her mommy and daddy were out.  It's so funny to seem how they all interact with each other . . .

Sawyer is the doting big brother and love his "Baby June" -- but I'm not sure what June thinks about the attention, based on her expression here!

Ever the clown.  How does he do that with just one eye?!?  (By the way, he was thrilled with "the biggest TV screen ever" and especially the POPCORN!  Score one for Aunt Jocelyn and Uncle Jason!)

Ellie's already wanting to share with June -- so sweet!!

Yup -- I'm blessed three times over!!  

:)

spiders, webs, snow, and stitching . . .

What a fun weekend!!  Saturday, since Todd was on shift, I spent some time with the young Panter family.  June and Kim were out and about, so James, Sawyer and I went to lunch at Burger King ... 

And then I went back to their home and spent the afternoon and evening.  Such a fun little family!!

I can't get over how quickly June is growing!  She's such a happy, bubbly little thing -- and she's definitely got her daddy wrapped around her little finger!

I shared pictures of a promising spring at the camp on Friday ... today I have pictures of a winter wonderland!  At least, what passes as winter wonderland in North Alabama in March:

The flurries were non-stop from Friday evening through Saturday, but we never saw more than a dusting on the trees and a bit on the ground where the leaves were.

Still, it was very pretty and sure did make Sawyer smile!  He sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" all day long!  

As I drove out of the camp on Saturday, I noticed that the snow was sticking to the spider's webs in the little trees along the drive.  It's hard to see in the picture, but it sure was gorgeous and lacy!

I wish I could have gotten a better capture!  And how timely it was ... I'd just finished up my beaded spider on my CQ block . . .

And I've got the beading finished on my matching pin cushion, too.  I hope to have lesson 6 finished up today.

Boy, there is a LOT more to bead embellishing than I'd have imagined.  When I first purchased the beads I've got, I thought they were SO small.  Little (pardon the pun) did I know!  I definitely need some teeny-tinier beads to do the things I want to do!  My fabric stash may not get too much more enhancing ... I'll be too busy enhancing my collection of embellishments!!!

And speaking of beaded spiders, I think Ellie may already have caught the embroidery bug ... she's definitely showing great interest in my stitching . . .

She's a tactile person, like me, and loves to get a sense of something by touching it.  She rubbed all the metallic flowers and made little 'oooh' and 'aaahs' as she did.  I love this one as she pulls my stitching up close, for true inspection:

Oh yeah, we'll be getting her started at an early age!

After being so ambititious with my March goals, I decided I'd better go ahead and get the hoop out and get working on the wedding quilt.  For starters, I just plan to stitch-in-the-ditch around each of the blocks.  I don't know where (or if) I'll go from there.  So far I've got four blocks done . . .

One forty-six more to go!  Who knows, I could actually finish this up this month! Bahahaa!!

The theme for this month's doll swap is 'animals'.  My swap partner loves cats and cardinals (just like me)!

Since I already have that beautiful cardinal print, I thought it might be fun to use it.  And since it is March, I figured that an Irish Chain block would be the perfect setting!  I'll have to go through my stash and see what I can do to put this EQ mock-up into being.

I also have been wanting to do a table topper piece for Cindy, the owner of Grand Oak Retreat, to match her gate (my design--see HERE and HERE).  

These two are my top favorite colorscapes.  I really did want to include the bars from the gate -- and so the openings are blue.  I think I prefer the batik over the other, but I haven't quite decided yet.  Any thoughts?

So that's what's going on here ... I should do a stash report (because I do have stuff to report!) but I'm not ready yet, so perhaps I'll update with that on Wednesday! Today I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times and Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts!

:)