rooting for a finish . . .

Phew! It's been busy.  Really busy.  I didn't get to spend the time in the Nook over the weekend that I wanted to, but I did sneak in there long enough to finish this topper I'd started earlier in the week:

And to make a couple of fabric eggs, (beware: if you click on the link, you'll be compelled to make them) which I'm totally in love with and plan to make kaboodles of.  (:

I finally found a use for these scrumptious fat quarters I purchased YEARS ago at Cindy of Custom Creation's booth at Paducah . . .

They make the most perfect, ornamental and elegant fabric Easter Eggs!

I was delighted, in my recent purge cleanup of the Nook, to find I had enough of the carrot batik to make the topper for me.  I'd made a couple (one each for the Merkel and Panter crews) three years ago, and had tucked the extra fabric away.  

Yay for me, because I totally love, love, adore this carrot print! In fact, if you look closely at the green and orange egg I made, you'll see I fussy cut a carrot on my Easter egg!  I had to make my topper a little smaller than the first two I made (and the template I made for mine is a little more rounded), but I live in a smaller space (and *I'm* a little more rounded), so it works out nicely. I'm glad I went back and read the post from three years ago when I originally constructed these. That's when I remembered that I'd used green felt for the 'batting' on the leafy stems, which enhances the look, in my very humble opinion!

Saturday we took One Accord out for the first time this year. It was sunny, but cool and WINDY. And I spent most of our day looking like this:

LOL! We were exploring some parts of Tim's Ford we'd never been on before (like, navigating by the map and everything), in preparation for our vacation in May. I saw a couple of homes for sale that would make great B&B or quilter/crafter retreat locations . . .

My favorite was the latter. Absolutely gorgeous location on the point. I did a virtual tour of the grounds and scrolled through pics of the interior - whooooeeeee! 

This week is busy with meetings/events/something every night.  I'm really looking forward to Saturday -- I have yet to try anything with that pesky block (besides trying to block/stretch it, which didn't work) and I want to get on it! Thanks for all the good ideas and encouragement -- I think I know what I'm going to try next.

Happy Wednesday -- have a great rest of the week!

:)

closing thoughts . . .

As we close out the work (and I use that word loosely) week, I thought I'd share a pic of one of the carrot table toppers in its new home . . .

Leia gives it her paw of approval.

Indeed.

I guess she's as happy with that as she is with anything else.  LOL!  Linking her up with the Feline Friday linky party over at sarah did it!

After doing a little research online, I've made a decision to eliminate gluten from my diet and see what happens.  To that end, I picked up a couple of magazines yesterday . . .

Both have a LOT of information and recipes.  But what really amazed me was the advertising for all these gluten-free products.  Wow!

I picked up a loaf of gf bread in the freezer section.  I wasn't sure it would taste like anything but cardboard, but I was wrong.

Of course, the homemade pimento cheese spread didn't hurt.

I'm still plugging away at my handwork this week. I'll slip a few more minutes (and stitches) in tonight, babysitting Sawyer and June (post-bed time, of course). I also sketched out my versions of the sweet little Cheryl Fall Easter egg embroidery patterns available on About.com, onto the wool felt egg pattern outline:

I can't trace ... I've really got to re-draw each design. Whew! I'm really digging these darling little things . . . and having a lot of fun 'reorganizing' the embroidery patterns to make them fit the elongated outline.  Hope they stitch as sweetly as they sketched!

And that's it for me, this rainy Friday afternoon.  TTFN!!

:)

positive progress . . .

Short and sweet today.  I did get in my (at least) 15 minutes of sewing each day this past week, I'm happy to report!

I'm pretty sure it really was just 15 minutes on a couple of those days!  But hey, it all adds up, right??

My stash report took a small step in the right direction, too . . .

Still a ways to go.  If I can ever get this pineapple quilt finished up, that will be a lovely chunk!

I have a couple of different projects lined up for my Sunday afternoon. I remember now why I put the pineapple quilt up.  I'd made a mistake in construction the last time I had it out.  I dealt with the front side, but now I'm having to deal with the back side:

Hand stitching up *both* sides of the strips that cover my zig zagged seams, where the blocks are connected.

If I get tired of that, I've got a new little project I'm working on that I can switch over to:

One side finished!  When they're all stitched, I'll whip them together up the sides and fill with stuffing. Voila, a pretty Easter egg!

Linking up today with the stash report at Patchwork Times and slow Sunday stitching at Kathy's Quilts! Happy Sunday!!  (Edited to add:  Also linking up with the design wall post at Patchwork Times, seeing as how these projects are my proverbial design wall!)

:)

farming . . .

Finally, finally . . . got moving and grew me some nice looking carrots!!  Haha!!

Isn't it darling?  I went with the "stitching right sides together" method so I could stitch the green tops into the seam.  I was so pleased with my creation, I went ahead and stitched up another . . .

(Please do NOT look too closely at my ironing board cover ... it's a mess!)  Then I promptly wrapped them up and handed them off to their new owners . . . Joc and Kim!  I handed them off in the parking lot of the Botanical Gardens, which is where we all met yesterday to play.  I had a little *seasonal* treat for the kiddlies, too . . .

Though Ellie was the only one who wanted to wear hers right then and there for any period of time!  Sweet little bunny girl!!  We had a fun time, hanging around in the sand piles . . .

All three--Sawyer, Ellie and June--had fun flinging sand.  When I sent the above picture around to my sisters, one was quick to send it back . . .

Water colored! Isn't that cool?  It's an app on her phone -- Waterlogue -- that does it.  I 'luff' it, as Ellie would say.

Sawyer and Ellie, taking advantage of the free wagon ride:

Sweet cousins!

Kim and June (who is sitting comfortable on Miss Olivia)!

We had a fun day!  Even if it was a bit blustery, it was nice to be outside after such a very cold start to the week of SPRING BREAK.  LOL!

Today I'm scanning more magazines . . .

At least my "to do" pile (on the right) is less than my "finished" pile!  Of course, I won't mention that there are about ten more *piles* to go through!

I've also pulled all the elements of the pineapple quilt back out.  I've got to cut strips to cover seams on the back of my center, and then next will be putting these elements together:

These will make up the borders and corners of the quilt. Once their done, I can start assembling it all.  I'm really not that far from a finish!

I'm offering up a feline flashback for Friday, in honor of the forthcoming Spring . . .

Sweet boy. Merlin's always enjoyed finding unusual ways to make his presence known!!  TGIFF!!  (Thank goodness it's Feline Friday!!)

:)

what's up, doc . . .

I've been talking about a carrot table topper/runner for the last month, now. I've finally pulled the fabrics, gotten them ironed, and started working things out!

That looks like a carrot shape, doesn't it?!  :)

I'm still trying to figure out for sure if I want to cut it out, sandwich it right sides together so I can sew it up and turn it right-side-out and then quilt it, *OR* sandwich it right sides out, stitch the outline, and then cut it out with pinking shears (no binding either way). Still deciding, but I'm leaning toward the former option, because I *know* how I want to create the green, leafy stems. 

Those I'm going to outline stitch stems across the width and then cut out the stem shapes with the pinking shears and stitch into the tops of the carrot shape. I'm sandwiching the stems with green felt since I'll leave the sides open . . . 

That way you won't see any 'white' in the stems ... just that darker green from the felt.  Linking up today with Esther Aliu's WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays!  Esther is scanning quilting magazines today (which I'm doing as well)!

In other news, I'm hoping that by introducing Spring into my interior decorating...

...it'll coax it into my exterior!! Y'all, we had SNOW flurries yesterday and temps overnight dipped down into the low 20's. I was so concerned about our daffodils, I culled about half of them and added them to the vase I already had going!

My vase overflowereth! Haha!! Get it??!  I'm so punny! :)

Thankfully today is supposed to be the last (last) day of bitter cold temps, but as the warm front and Spring move in, so does the threat of severe weather.  Out of the frying pan, into the fire?!  At least it's warmer in the fire!  LOL!

:)

cardinals, cats, and daffodils . . .

Ugh.  Last week wasn't a total loss, but I ended it feeling rather poorly, so my 15 Minutes report isn't looking so good . . .

*sigh*  On a positive note, I tidied up my sewing bunk room on Saturday.  It was in desperate need.  I'd come home from retreat (at the end of February) sick and things never really got put away.  I have a *really* tough time creating when things aren't in order . . . 

Everything's in its proper place now -- I'm just running out of space in which to put it.  Aye yi yi!  RV living.  :)

Fortunately, I didn't add to my stash this past week:

Unfortunately, I didn't use any of it, either!  Ha!

I did make it to our guild meeting last Thursday.  Our speaker was Kathy McNeil (of Audubon's Christmas fame) and I was SO looking forward to hearing her!  Once I got there, though, I just felt so worn and blah, I couldn't stay.  But I didn't leave before picking up a couple of things from her table . . .

The cardinals are my *favorite* part of her Audubon quilt!  And the DVD was a fun listen, plus it's got patterns for the entire quilt shown on the cover. Schweeeeet!

After church yesterday, we headed over to our old house to make sure all was well.  I got a little bonus . . .

The daffodils are thriving over there, so I brought home some so I didn't have to cut any of the ones here at the Camp.  Haha!  I do dearly adore daffodils -- they're just SPRING!

On the design wall this week is still the pineapple quilt (now that I have a solid supply of the Kona black) and the carrot table runners:

Not sure which I'll get to first, though . . . I've got some transcribing to get finished, first!

And finally, since I pretty much fell off the face of my blog since *last* Monday, Leia told me she needed to make an appearance . . . 

She doesn't want you to think that she's always growly/cranky. She sometimes (very rarely) can be quite docile and sweet.  Can't you see that?!?

Linking up to the stash report and design wall posts on Patchwork Times and Feline Friday on sarah did it!. Happy Monday!

:)

wall o' possibilities . . .

There are a couple of things I plan on working on this week . . . once I've gotten my bunk room tidied up, that is.  I came home from retreat sick, so things never quite got put back where they're supposed to be. Ugh.  I can definitely feel that the lack of order is stifling my desire to DO!

I found this darling fabric I'd purchased at the beginning of the year . . .

All People Quilt had a darling carrot table runner/topper pattern that I'd like to modify and use this for (solid top instead of stripped, with the quilting making the horizontal lines). I've got enough to do one for both sets of grandchildren!

And I'll work on my 'wattle' embroidery . . . I don't have variegated green floss, so I may make a trip into town today to pick some up.  

Or maybe I'll do that tomorrow on my way home from Ellie's.

And I have some wool that I'm anxious to work with . . . two things there.  The first is the flora around the Irish blessing and the second is a darling bunny candle mat.  Similar to this one . . .

This is my sister's darling mat -- isn't it precious??!  I just love the sweet little bunnies!  I'm thinking Ellie would probably enjoy stitching on this with me.

That should keep me busy enough this week.  Linking up to the Design Wall Monday post at Patchwork Times!  Be sure to stop by and check out all the marvelous creativity going on 'round the quilting blogging world!

:)