éirinn go brách . . .

I've lost a bit of my mind . . . I had a book giveaway posted last Sunday and forgot to draw a winner!!  I let random.org do my *dirty* work this morning and it came up with lucky number three, which was:

Gwynette in NW Arkansas who said, "The mystery and intrigue of Paul ..... Fascinating. Always eager to find a good read!!!"

Yay for Gwynette!  I'll get it off in the mail to her lickety-split!

Spring is definitely "springing"!  My daffodils have gone crazy!

In honor of the day and St. Patrick, I'm working on my 2015 March mini-quilt stand piece:

After I finish this and the carrot runners, I'm going to start working on fall stuff. It just makes so much more sense! And I won't feel like I'm always working *behind* -- LOL!

I also decided, in honor of the day, to sketch out my next hexi-crazy quilt block.  My first block is the "me" block . . . 

But my second block chronicles my trip to Ireland . . .

I have a couple of charms I'll add to it and I need to work on my seam treatments. The center square is the Irish flag, which I'll piece. I did kiss the Blarney stone while I was there, though I never did find that pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow! I went ahead, pulled out the crayons, and added some color to this block. 

Please tell me I'm not the only one who re-arranges the crayons in the box so they're more color oriented?! Haha!!

Linking up today's post to the design wall at Patchwork Times and to the HeLP for Hexie-aholics linky party over at sarah did it!

Todd's dad continues to do better.  He's off all the machines now and is able to sit for extended periods. We're expecting he'll be moved out of ICU and into a room today and that they'll have him up and walking. Yay! I so appreciated all the kind words, prayers, and comments!

Happy St. Patrick's Day -- go green!

:)

wonderful wednesdays . . .

Today is a happy day . . . today marks FOUR YEARS that Sawyer Graham has been a force to reckon with in this ol' world!

He's king of the hill . . . but also holds great sway over this Neesey's heart!  ♥

We celebrated our March birthdays on Saturday. Sawyer wanted a "dinosaur and snake" cake.  Yup, he's all boy.

Luckily, he's got a very talented mommy who was able to create just what the birthday boy asked for!

Blowing out candles was fun . . .

Even though he *was* holding is ears because we were all singing too loud! Ha! That's rich, I know! Ellie is there just in case he needed some help.  :)

I think his favorite present of the evening may have been . . .

The pirate costume!  He had to put it on pronto, and you can just see he's beaming!  Sweet little swashbuckling boy! Happy birthday, Sawyer!!  (And a happy birthday shout out to my niece, Alison, who was gracious enough to share her day with Sawyer -- only she's turning fifteen!)

Ellie and I had a lovely day together, yesterday.  The weather was so gorgeous, we spent most of her awake time out in in . . .

Sweet and sassy!

I had gotten a lovely package from Jean over at Jean Creates.  She sent me a pile of books . . .

You see the theme of most of them??  Right up my crazy alley!

There was also this darling tea-themed wall hanging pattern . . . 

And fabric!

A lot of *purple* fabrics!!!  Such a sweet and thoughtful package! So I had asked her what I could send her in return and when she replied, "A mug rug," my wheels started churning.  And this is what I sent her . . .

I had such fun creating this little piece!!  So there's the mystery mug rug!

And what I'm working on now?

I got the bunny mat cut out and glue basted.  Now I've whip stitched the leaves and the bunnies down.  Still have the flowers and their centers to whip stitch and then I can begin the decorative embroidery.

And I got my 'waffle' piece started . . . 

A couple more leaves to fishbone stitch and then some feather stitching and I'll be able to start adding beads. I had a crazy thought when it comes to this piece . . . how fun it would be to create it Andy Warhol style. Hmmmm.  More on that later.

Spring is springing up at the camp . . .

Unfortunately, temps are dropping as I type and we've got a last blast of winter weather heading our way. Hope my daffodils can weather the weather!

Linking up to Esther's Blog and Works in Progress on Wednesdays!!

:)

wrapping it up . . .

I spent my fifteen (plus) minutes of stitching time on the mug rug project, Monday and Tuesday.  Today it hits the mail, so it's new owner should have it in the next week or so.  Once last 'back side' teaser . . .

Haha!  At least it's not just muslin this time, right?? Since it is a crazy quilted piece, I strongly debated on whether or not to do any quilting on it.  Crazy quilts generally do not have quilting, or have very little.  

But if you look closely, you can see I went ahead and spiral quilted the hexi center, where the 'mug' sits.  I used clear thread just because I didn't want the quilting to distract from the print in the front, which is the focal point!

Ellie *requested* that I bring buttons with me yesterday, so of course, I obliged. She happily played with them for quite some time, dumping them out and then picking them up.

She seems to have an appreciation for their individuality and enjoyed inspecting each one. 

Next time I'll bring them in a tea tin and add to the experience. Yesterday evening Joc texted me a conversation she and Ellie had after I'd left . . . 

     Ellie:  Where Neesey go?

     Jocelyn:  Neesey had to go bye-bye.

     Ellie:  And the buttons?

Ha!  Always leave 'em wanting more, right??!

:)

design wall dilemma . . .

I'm not sure what to put on my design wall.  I've got a lot of finished tops that need to be turned into finished whole projects.  And I've got the mug rug that lacks just a few embellishments before it's ready to be finished . . . 

Haha!  Don't study the back too closely -- I *definitely* did not do a great job of making my back look as neat as my front.  I guess since I knew it would be covered with batting and backing, I didn't sweat it too much.  LOL!

I had a run of new things in February (it always pleasantly surprises me to see what new things I tried during the past month):

My little heart spool quilt for my stand.

The mug rug, of course.

My Celtic Garden Hexie piece (which should be finished this week).

And the wedding quilt scraps topper I whipped up over retreat.

So . . . design wall . . . maybe back to Grandmother's Choice blocks this week?  I also have a baby quilt (Olivia Mae's!!!) I need to be thinking about.  Whoa!  

Photo Credit:  Moda Bake Shop

Kim loved this heart quilt "Candy Hearts" by Gigi's Thimble, found over at Moda Bake Shop.  Isn't that a sweet one?  We were both intrigued by the ruffle around the edge. The hearts are made from a charm pack of Plume.  I adore it!  :)

All right then . . . maybe I just needed to write it out to determine where I needed to go from here.  A sounding board, so to speak!  What are y'all working on this week??!

Linking up with the Design Wall Monday on Patchwork Times and the NewFO challenge linky party at Cat Patches!

:)

short and sweet . . .

That's what today's post will be . . . mainly because I've not had the energy to do much of anything this past week, as is evidenced by my 15 Minutes report . . . 

Nothing but hand work on the Celtic Garden, which I'm very happy to report is finished (at least the stitchery part):

Yay!  I'm so pleased with how this turned out and really enjoyed the process as well as the final product.  I know I'll make another of these.

My stash report is unchanged from last week . . . 

Although I will admit that I was wandering around on Craftsy and found a HUGE deal on a 20 FQ bundle of Kona solids and so next week's report will not be so dull.  [insert cheesy grin here]

My slow Sunday stitching is back to the secret mug rug project . . . just a bit more stitching on this before I'm ready to turn it into an actual mug rug.  Wanna little sneaky-peek again?

I've had a lot of fun playing with this piece, too!  Can't wait til it's safely in the hands of its new owner and I can share it in total!

Linking up today with the stash report at Patchwork Times and the Kathy's Quilts Slow Sunday Stitching linky party!

This is the day that the LORD has made ... we shall rejoice and be glad in it!!

:)

where i've been . . .

So, evidently not only did I leave my voice at Grand Oak Retreat, but I brought home a case of walking pneumonia, as well.  Which, in a weird way, makes me feel a little better about my lackluster performance (what I worked on) while I was there.  I was so tired the entire time . . . now I know why!

I also realized I hadn't shared hardly any fun pics from my time with Ellie, the three days prior to retreat! We had such fun together!  She was very intrigued with my bin of *embellishments* . . .

So much so that I had to pull some BIG buttons together for her to play with while I stitched with bitty beads. It was so darling to watch/listen to her play with them.  

She'd pour them on the table and say, "Clean up, clean up!" Scoop them back into her cup and pour them out again.  I got a good sixty minutes of stitching in while she played the button game!

We also made teacup cupcakes!  Oh my gosh, these silicone teacup holders are so precious.  Kim had gotten them for me for my birthday . . .

Ellie enjoyed helping make them, but she *really* enjoyed eating them!  They were a big hit -- I need to get another set of four, I think!

We also spent some time on the playground . . . girlfriend can swing all day!

I loved the way she'd throw her little head back and shout, "Wheeeeeeeeee!!!"

And we watched a movie together . . .

This was during a particularly suspenseful part of the Little Mermaid.  Look how grown up she looks!

I did get a few things put together on retreat, but not nearly as much as I'd wanted or hoped to.  First thing out of the box, I did up the two starstruck blocks for our guild swap . . .

The theme for this month was red and white.  Sweet!

Then I stitched up this little table topper . . .

Recognize the fabrics?  I wanted to get it sandwiched and quilted, too . . . I'll save that for another day.

I did get a Grandmother's Choice block pieced . . .

I like the "T's" in this one!

And I did a lot of handwork, both on my Celtic Garden and on my secret little project (of which I'll share just a tiny corner):

Actually, I spent a LOT of time on the little mug rug project.  Hand work was my favorite!  I've spent a lot of time this week working on my Celtic Garden.  The Colonial knots are finished and I'm almost finished knotting the light green French knots in the center hedges.  Then on to the flower gardens!

And of course, what's a retreat without a tee-shirt?!  

This year's offering -- great colors!

And I enjoyed some spectacular sunrises.  I took one panorama photo.  Simply stunning!

It's not compressed, so when you click on it, it'll be full sized.

We had a total of fifteen women . . . all chit-chatting and oooohing and aaaahing over each other's work.  I love this group of gals . . . 

And of course, the "can't-do-without" gag shot.  Some of us are better at this than others!

I hope to be back in full swing by next week, but I admit, I'm still dragging a bit.  I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!!  I'm ready to usher in health *and* Spring!!

Happy Friday!!

:)

design stone wall . . .

Since I'm not home this week (with the exception of overnight Tuesday -- less than twelve hours), my design wall is a bit challenged . . . I'm in limbo now, staying with Ellie for the first few days of the week . . . and I brought some handwork to keep me occupied while I'm here (early mornings and nap time). Still (still) plugging along on my Celtic Garden Hexie (on which there are very few changes from yesterday):

And working on my secret hexie mug rug project.  Since it's a secret, I'll just show you the back side . . . 

Hah!  Do you think it's coincidence that both these projects involve hexagrams??

Or that I'm seeing hexies everywhere, including on the floor of the Embassy Suites?

Todd took me out to dinner on Saturday -- Ruth's Crisp!  It was *SO* good!  And as a bonus, they had their floor tiled in my hexie-lovin' honor.  There is hexispiration *everywhere*!

Ellie says hello . . .

We had a girls' night -- we watched movies and played with each others hair!

Leia growls, Get out of my house, woman!

Sigh.

Linking up today with the Design Wall Monday post at Patchwork Times and HeLP for Hexi-aholics over at sarah did it! (which will be tomorrow, due to the President's Day holiday).  :)

Tomorrow's the last day for the book giveaway posted HERE!

I don't care what Leia says . . . I hope you have a *fabulous* Monday!

:)