because it wasn't enough . . .

You know how creating begets creating? That's often how retreat is for me. I spend four or five days immersed in the craft, and when I come home, I just want to do MORE. So I got home, August was knocking on the door (and it's here now!) and I decide it's time to take out the patriotic decor of the RV and move to a more summery theme.  For me, that's sunflowers.  And I'd seen this really darling sunflower pillow done in wools.

So I did it.  And decorated around it.  Haha!  

Really, sunflowers are a thing for me . . . I didn't realize how much so until I took stock of how many sunflower themed pieces I'd created!  :)

Then on Saturday, I took a Boho Bag class.  It was a ton of fun ... and the class was filled with a lot of the gals I'd been on retreat with ... just seven days ago!

This was the second time I've taken a class at Sweet Home Quilting.  They've got great space. The instructor was teaching her own pattern, so that's always a plus!  It's a very out of the box project, so I struggled with it a little . . .

Front.

Back.

I have a better idea of the general idea of it now.  Free motion quilting is hard for me, so that didn't help! But it's a cute bag, and fun to make!

I also got the baby quilt quilted, so you know what that means . . .

Say what you want ... but that is the easiest way to keep control of that roll of binding!

The end is in sight!

And just because you need a little splash of Edith in your life . . . 

Of the four group pictures Joc took of me and the girls, one garnered a decent smile.  The rest? What can I say?  She's the youngest.  For now.  

:)

always changing . . .

Not a whole lot going on to show here today. I managed to change up the design of my class quilt (again) . . . 

Here's my EQ layout. It's a respectable 60" by 60" now, so I think I'm done changing things!  I added the four corner blocks (which are just a tad different) and increased the width of the sashing and borders.

The blocks (laid out here in the order I planned to stitch them together) are now sashed and ready to have the borders stitched on.  I'd like to have that done before class on Tuesday!

I worked on it yesterday, until I had to leave to help with our guild's New Member Tea.

We had a pretty setup for our finger foods and tea station, and a great crowd, too!

It was a fun day!

I know what I said earlier in the week about what I might stitch next, but I got to looking through my rather extensive collection of files on my laptop (close to 4,000) and came across this heart . . . 

It's actually a coloring page I downloaded from Don't Eat the Paste.  Coloring pages really lend themselves to double as embroidery designs! I thought it might be fun set on point, in a crazy quilt-like patchwork block.  Plus, it looks easy to transfer. LOL! I'm thinking I'll use cotton perle and stitch out a pierced backstitch.  

That's enough from me this morning.  Linking up with Kathy's Quilts this morning; be sure to check out all the Slow Stitching that's happening this Sunday and have a terrific day!  Happy Groundhog Day!!  (I'm banking on an early Spring ... what about you?!?)

:)

french knots and hearts . . .

It's only appropriate that the embroidery that I put together for our road trip weekend . . .

Was finished just as we entered the last mile into the camp!

Full circle (full heart?), I'd call that!  Here it is in better lighting . . .

I still need to spray out my markings and decide what to do with it now that the stitching is finished.  Heh.

Several of you have asked about where I found my pattern.  It was a vintage freebie from French Knots.  If you've never visited their website and you're an embroidery enthusiast, oh yeah, you really need to!  They have tons of sweet vintage embroidery transfers for all occasions.  That being said, the one I just stitched (saved about six years ago), isn't on the site any longer, so the owner must rotate designs on and off the site. So if you see something you like, download it now!  Just click on the design you want to save, right click on it, and choose 'save image as'.  Presto!  Then all you have to do is print it off and transfer it to fabric!

This is the transfer from which I got my design.  If you'd like it (since it does say free on it), just let me know!

The owner also has a selection of vintage crochet, quilting patterns and applique patterns to peruse.  It's a fun page to wander around through, but the embroidery part is my favorite.  Hop over and find something sweet to stitch up!   

This is what I plan on putting needle and floss to next.  Yummy, right?! I love lazy daisy stitches and French knots! Plus the transfer process is so much simpler. Have I ever mentioned that transferring designs is my least favorite embroidery task?  LOL!

On a quick quilting note, I had my third quilting class last evening. We talked about the sashing, cornerstones, and borders. Here's a tentative of how mine will look (though I will probably rearrange blocks a bit) . . .

It's fun to have your class in a quilt shop where if you don't like the fabrics you have, you can just go pull something different and actually audition it before you buy it!  I did like the way mine looked, but I think (after seeing works from classes past) I'm going to add four more blocks -- with four patches in the corners instead of HSTs -- and put those in the four corners of the quilt.  Then add the sashing, cornerstones, and borders. Whew!

All rightie then . . . it's hump day (but it's really my Thursday).  So onward march towards the weekend!  Enjoy!

:)

degrees of done . . .

I had a lovely, productive Monday off ... I love extra long weekends!  First of all, I made scones from scratch. Here they are ready to go in the oven . . .

They are a bit of work! But I made additions and adjustments to the basic recipe I have on file and they were worth the effort.  Cranberry Orange Pecan & Cardamon Scones.  Delish.

I short baked ten of them (it made twelve) and froze those, so I could bring one into work, pop it into the oven, and have it with my afternoon tea at my desk.  Again ... delish!

Then I got busy in the Nook.  I had everything prepped and just had to sew, trim, and sew a bit more.  And now look what I have . . .

I got them all done, plus my bonus three!  Yay! I've been playing around with different settings, trying to determine if I want to finish it exactly as the class sample is finished (well, plus the extra row).  I still really haven't decided.  But I've got time ... and the fabric.  *wink*

In the evenings I've continued to work on my Snow Sampler.  Look what I did:

I *finished* it!  LOL!  I believe I'm going to back this with batting and frame it.  It would look cute on my snowflake mat with a jaunty little snowman figurine, or a white snowflake candle (or both!), don't you think?!

Yeah, I think so too! ♥  I'm also thinking I probably should have participated in The Winter Blues blog hop!  

That's it for me.  Today's my Friday and Todd and I are headed south to a missions conference this weekend, but I'll be back with some slow stitching to share on Sunday.  Have a great weekend!

:)

productivity . . .

It's been a productive week and I've gotten in some quality time towards my crafts (and I use that word in the highest sense of its definition) almost every day, thanks to some lunch time stitching.  In the class I'm taking we started to put together our first block, which I was able to finish:

It's a small class this go around, which is nice ... everyone gets the one-on-one if they need it. I'm learning some new things, too, which is awesome!

I decided to go ahead and make a fabric spreadsheet, to help me keep straight which fabrics were going where . . . 

I love organizational stuff like this; I daresay it's my forte! 

I also decided to go ahead and add another row of blocks, so it'll be 3 by 4, instead of 3 by 3.  I input it into EQ, just to get an idea of how much more fabric I'd need (if any).

The only print that's actually from my quilt is the focal/border fabric.  The rest is just pretty close. Close enough to give me a fairly good representation.  The only thing I needed more of was the focal, and that's only because I fussy cut my center blocks.

Our Stitcher's Etc. group had a stitch-in on Saturday.  That allowed me to get everything cut and prepped!

I like production/assembly work, so now everything I need to construct each block is pinned together and I can focus on stitching them together.  We also discussed our 2020 block swap at the stitch-in . . .

This should be very fun and very scrappy happy!  We have 20 participants!

I went home and took my stuff out to the Nook.  Since I was already there, I went ahead and made a  second block.  

Yeah, I'm loving this one!  I have Monday off, so I'll be out in the Nook at work on the rest of the blocks! Our class homework was to have four to six blocks finished. But we don't have class this week, so I will try to have all twelve finished. Since two are done and everything's prepped, I feel that's *very* doable.

If you visited last week, I talked about my owl and pussy-cat scissors and alluded to a bigger story.

I posted about it here, just in case you're interested!

My handwork is coming along, too!  Last night I finished the final block in the piece. 

I had left this one until last because it looked the most difficult, but it was so much fun to do those cross-hatches on the scarf!

Now all that's left are the border stitches.  I hope to make that my slow stitching for this afternoon!  :)

I really do need to finish this one up ... because guess what came in the mail on Friday?

LOL!  I can't seem to help myself!  This is another Kathy Schmitz sampler.  Isn't it cute?  ♥ Viva l'amour! ♥

Linking up today with Kathy's Quilts and her slow stitching post!  Have a happy Sunday--and if you're off tomorrow, enjoy that, too!  

:)

back-up beeps . . .

I realized that before I could share more about my quilt shop adventures, I had to have pics of my purchases, which I haven't taken yet.  Mainly because I've been going pretty much non-stop since I got home from California!  Then I also realized I wanted to share my quilt-related Christmas haul, and that I could also share some quilt finishes (of which I had FOUR in December)! So let me start with those . . .

All three girls were super happy with their Christmas quilts! They're so sweet! ♥ 

Leia even got in there and tested its catability. It passed with purrrrfect marks!

I did all the labels the same . . . the names were changed accordingly. *wink*

This is Olivia's finish . . . 

I can't believe I didn't think to get a picture of her with it. Doh! She was thrilled with it, though!

I really like being able to print a label, press it on, and blanket stitch around it.  

Here's my Christmas morning haul . . .

Didn't my family do good??!  I was thoroughly tickled!  There was one more book, which came in late, from Todd. 

It was Art to Heart's I Believe.  I love those Art to Heart books! 

He also got me the updated All-in-One Quilter's Reference Tool on Kindle.  This is a fabulous tool for quilters and I'd consider it a "must have"!

Then there was one more quilty-gift.  A class!  My mom has talked about taking a beginning quilting class for a year or two and I told her I'd take it with her.  Todd gifted me with that!  The class is taught by Barbara Black, who is a sweet friend, and I know that I'll pick up some good tips and learn a lot!  This is the quilt we'll be making . . .

Our first class was on Tuesday, and she walked through supplies and fabrics.  And then we shopped.  Tough class, eh?!  Baahaaahaaaa!  So we were supposed to pick a focal fabric, a fabric for the sashing, a background fabric, and fabric for the inner border.  Then were were to pick three groupings of colors with a light, medium and dark value.  Then we needed a "pop" color.  So here's what I ended up with:

This is my first four.

Here's grouping one:

Here's grouping two:

Here's  grouping three:

Here's my groups with the 'pop' color ... it's pretty easy to spot, eh?!

And here they are all together!

I think this will be a fun quilt.  It finishes at 49" square, if you leave the borders as is.  Not sure what I'll do yet.

I also saw this darling folksy animal print and decided I *needed* to have some of it, too. 

It reminds me of a Hungarian Camp MACOBA scene, with all of our little animal friends!

So there it is.  Not sure what this weekend holds.  Our guild (the membership committee) is hosting a New Member Tea that I'm helping with, but we also have severe storms/tornadoes/flooding in the forecast for Friday evening and Saturday.  It's been such a crazy winter here in North Alabama!  I do hope to get in some stitching time, though!

Have a terrific weekend!

:)