boxes, babies, minis, and linky parties . . .

Good gravy ... what a busy two days this has been!  It started off yesterday morning, with me headed over to James and Kim's home to watch Sawyer and June.  I stopped off at the post office on the way there (just in case) and sure enough, there was a *box* there for me!!

Traveling stash box #5 had arrived from Yvonne, of That's Sew Creative. YES! Only I didn't dare take it into the house, so I knew going through it was going to have to wait (note:  I did get into it finally, but will save the contents and its giveaway for a post of its own).  Ah well.  Ummm, and please pay no attention to all the 'organic' material on the floor of my car.  It happens, especially when you live in the middle of the woods in a campground!

Kim and James got home and I got to hear the good news that they're expecting baby number THREE on June 13th! WHOOHOOO!!!!

(I already knew they were expecting ... we just weren't sure *when* they were expecting!) They also know *what* they're expecting ... but I have to wait until the 31st when they reveal it!  

From there I traveled on to my regular weekly bookie job ... errr, *bookkeeping* job ... and from there I headed into town to meet with a friend for some Bible study.  I felt like we'd hardly gotten started when it was time for me to leave for dinner with my Stitchers' group before guild!

We had a local speaker for guild last night -- Barbara Black -- who blogs at My Joyful Journey.  Barbara gave a fabulous presentation on the International Quilt Festival/Houston.  

She did a great job and I learned enough to put the Festival on my quilter's bucket list!  ;)

I got home with just enough time to peek inside the stash box, print some documents for our board meeting, and go to bed.  This morning was all a scramble as Todd and I finished up preparations for our seventh annual board meeting for our ministry -- Restoring the Church Ministries.  Once we finished up there (great meeting -- we have a terrific group of men on the board), we headed back to the camp, but I was just there briefly before I headed out to visit a friend who'd just had knee surgery.  *Whew*  It's good to be home for the evening!

On to other things . . . I've (finally) been scanning through my Miniature Quilts magazines and stumbled upon this little (and I do mean little) hexie quilt gem that caught my eye.

Isn't it sweet?  I was really excited about it . . . until I looked at the hexie template for it:

WHOA!  That is the *tip* of my index finger -- the "full-size" template is just shy of 1/2"!  That means in each those 3-1/2" square blocks is a hexie flower that's 2-3/8".  Yikes!!

In that same issue, I also stumbled upon this little Calico Cat quilt...wouldn't this make a darling gift for a cat lover??

It's really quite precious -- and just as tiny as the hexie quilt!  I love the caption under the title, "Hand piece fanciful felines to frolic on floral fabrics."  Say that three times fast!

Another shocker of a template, right?!  I love that they always notate their patterns as "Full-Size".  I think it's for people like me who might be inclined to blow it up by about one hundred twenty percent!!

Ummmm, maybe an easier gift for your cat-loving friend (or yourself!) is to make them a set of note cards from a picture of their favorite feline!

I started with this fairly generic pic of my sweet (and sometimes salty) Gwenevere. I cropped it down to a super tight shot of her face and used some embossing features (found in most photo editing software *and* in EQ) and turned an ordinary pic into something really worthy of the front of note card:

Isn't that fun?  And boy-oh-boy, that pic sure did capture the spirit of our Gwen, too!  The embossing feature is particularly cool with cats because it catches the pattern of their fur...pretty neat looking!

Printed out on note card stock (which you can purchase at most craft or office supply stores) and tied with a ribbon, it makes a lovely thank you, hostess or birthday gift!

And speaking of birthdays . . . today is the birthday of my darling friend, Sarah, of sarah did it!!!  She's celebrating with *two* linky parties ... and *prizes*!!  So go on over and wish her a happy birthday and while you're at it, check out the HeLP for Hexie-aholics and the Feline Friday linky parties!!   Happy birthday, Sarah!!

And that about does me in will do it for me today -- but I'll be sharing *stash* box contents soon!!

:)

bunny trails . . .

Y'all . . . do you ever just get caught up in looking through old blog posts . . . of you own??!  I don't care if any other person pays attention to the "You might also like:" gadget at the bottom of each of my posts, but sometimes I am totally captivated by them . . . and can follow them for hours, just enjoying (not so) old pics of grandbabies and memories and quilts that are now UFOs I've completed. It's such fun and is always good for a smile or two!  Bunny trails.  :)

Today's design wall has the last five blocks...the LAST FIVE BLOCKS...of My Orange Crush!  I'm so glad that when I finished piecing each of the center blocks, I went ahead and set them on point and cut out their backs and batting.  Except I was short a piece of batting . . . I'm pretty sure I used it in a doll quilt! Whoops!

I finished the pear blossom design I started yesterday . . .

Yay!  So yesterday evening I got the last five blocks prepared for quilting (once I'd done some emergency scavenging to find proper batting for the fifth block):

Now to figure out which of the stencils I use for each block!  Originally I had thought I'd take these blocks to quilt retreat (in February) as one of my projects, but now I'm hoping/thinking I might be able to take it as my bed quilt!  Wouldn't that be something??!

The other half of my snowflake is also on this week's wall.  I figure if I do one triangle, every other day, I can have this finished and turned into something (wall hanging?  table topper??) before week's end or the next.

What's funny is that this is the only think I'm listing that's actually ON my design wall (window, actually).

And I had to choose which of the GC blocks would be next.  The next unfinished one on the list is Block 12: Little Boy's Breeches.

Hmmm, let's see.  Templates?  Inset seams?  Oh yeah, let's do it!

Today is arctic cold and blustery.  A good day for staying inside.  And sewing. And drinking hot tea.  And watching old movies. I think you get the gist of it!

Linking up to the design wall post at Patchwork Times!

Happy Monday . . . happy bunny trails!

:)

the pumpkin issue (part 2) . . .

Last week I *really* got my pumpkin craftiness on!  Along with a couple of other things . . . acorns and cauldrons!

It started with pumpkins and a visit to Ellie.  She was quite taken with the pumpkin mat I was stitching.  She studied it very intently . . .

She was bound and determined to take a stitch!

She did it!  She listened very carefully to me as I explained the process.  She was very pleased with her first stitch, too!  

I finished it up yesterday . . . (Slow Stitching Sunday!!) . . . and I did leave in Ellie's first stitch.  In fact, I think she owns this one--as a memorial.  It's only fitting, right?!?

We shook things up with a bit of acorn baking (again).  This time it was a recipe from the current issue of Tea Time Magazine for mini orange bundt cakes!

They were so yummy and turned out so prettily!

Then it was back to pumpkins as we grabbed this fun photo opportunity out in her front yard:

Isn't she just precious???!

From her house that night, I headed to Decatur and the Princess Theater.  I'd won tickets to see Menopause the Musical and took my quilty-friend, Kari, along with me to see it . . .

We had a marvelous time and the production was seriously hilarious!

The next day, I got a little Sawyer and June loving in.

Story time!!  And sweet grandbaby love!!

On Thursday I diverted one more time from pumpkins to do a little Halloween craftiness for my Sunday school girls . . .

I handed them out yesterday . . . they really enjoyed them (they were filled with treats)!  Not to mention my own handiwork on the poem (based on the good Word, of course).

Friday and Saturday, though, it was back to pumpkins!!!  I did three . . . two painted and one carved.  This year, I centered a whole theme around football and the Alabama Crimson Tide!

Ah, can you feel the pumpkin/football love???!

And when pumpkins are carved, there are pumpkin seeds to roast, too!

Todd and I made quick work of these while we were watching the football game (Alabama vs. Tennessee) . . . they were better than popcorn!  Ha!  I told Todd we may need to carve another pumpkin, just so we can get some more seeds!

My favorite moment, though, was turning on the lights for my display at dusk:

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

My design wall is not blank . . . know I've got one more pumpkin-y surprise up my sleeve for the last week of October!  But I hate to spoil the surprise . . .

I'll share the above (for now)!  For some real design wall eye-openers, head over to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.  And . . .

Have a marvelous week!

:)

summer stitchin' . . .

I started that crayon tinting stint two weeks ago and haven't been able to stop! I'd been stitching away on Mr. Owlie and then . . . I got an idea.

Do you ever get an idea that just takes up residence and won't leave you alone until you do something about it?  Yeah, it was one of those kinds of ideas.

Remember the sweet little quilt block stand I got for Christmas?  Well the only thing I've made for it so far is the little Count it *all* JOY!!! block that I did for the "What's in a Word" hop, back in January. 

Oh. Dear.  Yes, it was definitely time for a new block in my little stand!  I felt like I needed to do something summery ... and something with crayon tinting.  Like maybe a sunflower.  Yes, most assuredly a sunflower.  Crayon tinted and outline-stitched with lots and lots and LOTS of French knots to make up the center. Appliqued onto a pretty strip-pieced background and very simply quilted.

That was my idea.

This my final . . .

 

I do love it when a project ends up looking like how I visualized it in my head! That doesn't always happen, you know.  But this time it really did and I'm extraordinarily pleased with it!

I used a sunflower template that I found on a scrapbooking blog . . . i love scrapbooking, to be exact. Except I didn't bother tracing over all of the circles in the center!

And I wasn't kidding ... a LOT of French knots.  It took me longer to do the French knots than it took to do the whole rest of the project combined!

And I figured it's been too long since I included grandbaby pictures, so I'd better share a few of those. Waaaay too long.  Sawyer's headed to college, Ellie's getting her driver's license, and June's not too far behind her.

Hahaha! Just kidding, though it does feel like the days are flying by!  Sawyer gets taller by the minute (doesn't he look like a kid as opposed to a toddler?), 

Ellie--no longer a baby--is adding a million words a day to her vocabulary (most notably, to me, "Neesey"!), 

and June is in charge and on the move and loves hamming it up!  

They're all so darling and precious to me!

The question now is . . . what to play with next??!

:)

november's doll swap to me . . .

Looking for the Harvest of Rubies review and giveaway?  It's HERE!

I had an early surprise . . . my November doll quilt swap partner, Kim, is way ahead of the game and has already finished and sent her offering, along with a darling card that explained her piece.

"This pattern is called darting birds - I made the center block for my 6 inch block sew along and it was 1/4" too small!  So here it is in your doll quilt -- enjoy!"

I most certainly will!  It's perfectly darling and the fabrics are gorgeous -- I love the rich, luxurious reds!

She also sent along a blank card for my use and enjoyment.  She told me that it's a picture of a quilt made in the town next to Poughkeepsie (which is where she's from)!  I love note cards -- and particularly note cards that have quilty things on the front of them -- so this was a sweet happy! Thanks so much, Kim!!

I finally did something with my little pumpkin stitchery and just cut it down and set it very simply.  

It's quilted, but again, very simply and so that you really don't see the quilting, but it does rather give definition to the lines of the pumpkin.  A mug rug or something.  It just really needed to come down off the design wall.  LOL!

And then what kind of day would it be if I didn't share something with grandbabies in it???! There is no denying the familial relationship between these two . . . 

Right??  It makes me laugh how closely they resemble each other!  Right down to their sweet little frownie faces . . .

Although she definitely has more 'feminine' features, and he certainly looks like a little boy -- which is as it should be!

The campground is filled with the sounds of boys again this weekend -- I love their happy shouts!  It's a gorgeous, cool and sunny day -- perfect for all sorts of games in the woods and on the trails.  The group is with us through tomorrow -- so tonight should be a fun campfire night.

I'm still staying semi-quiet.  Keeping the foot propped ... most of the time. Alabama Crimson Tide football comes on at two-thirty this afternoon, so it's pretty safe to say where you'll find me!

I almost feel like I should say, "This post was brought to you by the color RED!"

:)

the morning after . . .

Gracious!  To say that I was overwhelmed by the response to yesterday's post would be an understatement!  Whew!  I've *never* had that happen before . . . what fun!!

And what a fun day it was, too!  The day started with lots of happy calls and birthday songs and wishes from my sweet husband, both James and Jocelyn and my sister.  Then, as we were about to leave for the day, a car pulled up and this pretty little thing was delivered . . .

Aren't they gorgeous?!  Look at all those pretty oranges and deep pinks!  What a wonderful husband I have!!

My daddy and I went to lunch at the renown Severn Inn, at the foot of the old Severn River bridge.

The food was marvelous.  I started with a crock French onion soup and then had a Maryland crab cake over fried green tomatoes and grilled corn salad.  

I'm not sure how well it photographed, but I can assure you it was YUMMY!!  Good thing I'd gone light on breakfast!  (And yes, in case you're wondering, there is a bite missing out of the back!)

Our view as we ate was pretty spectacular, too.  That's the Naval Academy you see across the river on the other shore.  It was such a lovely, clear day!

We'd made a stop at Teavana.  Oh.my.goodness.  I'd never been in one before (the nearest, I think, is in Chattanooga).  

I got two lovely teas (the two they were featuring that day) and a new tea strainer!  Aren't my tins pretty??  I picked these two because they reminded me of Dresden Plates and fancy applique!!  :)

Aren't these pretty?  This is a mix of Youngblood and Orange Blossom tea.  They both look like potpourri  . . . 

And smell heavenly!  They taste even BETTER!  This is an Oolong/Chai mix.  WOW!

And then there was a little trip to the local quilt shop, Cottonseed Glory, which just *happens* to be on the route to the rehab center where my mom is getting that knee back in shape.  Yikes.  Since it's right on the way, I see additional stops.  Rut roh . . . 

Another blown stash report, huh?!  But what can I say??  Buy 10 fat quarters, get 1 free!!!  LOL! I also got a little yardage to bind June's quilt -- along with some butterflies for one or two of the pendants.  Oh my, I had such fun!  Do you see that little owl at the top right?  You might be thinking he looks a little Wicked, non?!  You might be right!  I found a little Fairy Frost in pink, and another pretty batik with a *sparkly* thread running through it (like my gorgeous silver batik).  Actually, you probably wouldn't be surprised to learn that most of what I got had sparklies running through it!  LOL!!

So, all-in-all, it was a lovely happy JUBILEE birthday!!  And thank y'all for sharing it with me!  And if you haven't made it over there, my giveaway is open until Saturday the 20th, so please do check it out -- the more the merrier!!  

I'll leave you with the photo of the day that just melted this Neesey's heart . . .

Birthdays and grandbabies?  Oh yeah, I think that qualifies for a link up with Favorite Things!! 

:)