brevity is not my strong suit . . .

This is going to be (relatively) short and sweet . . . I'm still in the wilds of Yellowstone, having a wonderful time with my daughter and her family!

I did manage to work out my next 3-yard quilt before I left. Fabric Cafe has a new pattern book out and it's BIG Block 3-Yard Quilts . . . for those quilts where you love a fabric so much, you want good chunks of it in your quilt!  

I chose this design, "Felicity" . . .

And these three fabrics . . . 

I'm sure you can work out what's going to go where!  I'll plan on working on this when I return. I got extra of the dark fabric because I like to make wider borders than they do. The finished quilt constructed by their specifications is 44" by 57", but mine will be a little bigger all around.

I also fully finished this piece . . .

So much for having it to work on during my travels! I'm really pleased with it, though, so I don't mind.  

I even love the back! It's really sweet and I'm also tempted to do a second.  I enlarged the template when I printed it, though, so I'll need to remember by how much I enlarged it!

I didn't bring my Mayflower project because it's so big, it's hard to carry around (and would definitely not be fun to work on while flying), so there's not a whole lot of change to it from last week. Besides, I caught an error that needs to be corrected before I can move on . . . so I probably won't work on it for month.  J/K!  

Sunday is a 'down' day for us . . . we've only got one walk *and* a 1.2 mile hike on our itinerary for today.  LOL!  I'll get in some slow stitching on my Spring Quaker project, hopefully!  Linking up with the slow Sunday stitching post on Kathy's Quilts!

I'll be back next week with fun pics from the trip.  Enjoy the Memorial Day holiday and have a great week ahead!!

:)

floss crossing ahead . . .

It's been a very stitch-intensive week!  I probably should've/could've been working on a 3-yard quilt, but I'm heading to Yellowstone this week and didn't want to leave a project in the making.  So instead I headed to my wool stash to kit the patriotic project I shared last week.  But I got distracted when I found this cute patriotic mini-Quaker cross stitch kit I'd ordered last year.  Squirrel!  

So I got busy.  Two days and two audio books later . . .

Yay!  It's pinned up (for now) next to this finish (another patriotic Quaker project):

I do love me some red, white & blue!

Evidently I also love small Quaker cross stitch projects, because this lovely little lavender project is also in process . . .

The Primrose Cottage designs make my heart happy!

I did finally make it to the wool stash and prepped this project to stitch on when I travel . . .

Isn't it cute??  I will really enjoy stitching on this!  

And finally, I did pull out my Coming to America project and got some significant work done on it.  

I mean, the ship is really showing up now! It's one of those I work on for five hours, and then I need to put it away for a bit.  I'm in it for the long haul (I'm using it for my Leap Year SAL 2024 to 2028 project on Facebook). 

Netflix just introduced a 35 minute documentary about a quilting prison program.  It was very good and I highly recommend it.  

I was so impressed with the work these men were doing!  Truly rehabilitating.  Worth the watch!  There was a bit of language in it, so be mindful of who's around if/when you tune in.

Finally, I'll leave you with this stylized portrait of me and the girls (and a few of my favorite things) that ChatGPT came up with for me . . .

I'd say it knows me pretty well! I know folks have mixed feelings about AI and how it could be misused, but ChatGPT has been so helpful to me over the last year. 

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts and her Slow Sunday Stitching post.

Have a great week ... me an' Old Faithful will be hanging out!

:)

lo and behold . . .

It's almost August! How did that happen??? July started with a bang ... pun intended ... with our July 4th holiday and a lovely day with the family on the boat!

This crew loves being in the water ... it's hard to get them back out of it when it's time!  Little man thought he was big stuff, hanging out in the Captain's lap. LOL!

Todd's surgery was scheduled for the 5th, so we came in early . . . unfortunately, the surgery ended almost as soon as it had started.  We knew the surgeon was going to use cameras to look around; what he found was additional cancer mets in new locations, so he closed Todd back up and sent him home. 

Then my sweet Scarlet up and died on us.  We've since found out that certain Ford models, including our Escape, have major issues and Ford has a class action lawsuit filed against them.  Well great.  

She's a goner and now we're kind of in limbo, car wise.  She sure was pretty, though!

I've been working with a lot of wool and cross stitch projects.  Here are some finishes . . . 

This Glory, Glory cross stitch from Shakespeare's Peddler was in the Summer 2021 issue of PNPS Magazine, and I just fell in love with it!  I like getting the digital editions of this magazine because I can save them for forever, print the pages I want, and don't have to worry about where I'll stash it in my limited space!

I've had this sunflower piece hanging around for forever.  I cut and fused all the pieces on vacay in June, and finally got down to the stitching process this month.  Very happy with this finish!!

Just in time to switch out my patriotic decor for sunflowers all over the place!  I adore the sunflower print I used to back it.  It makes me regret just getting a fat quarter.  LOL!  By the way, this pattern is Caitlyn's Sunshine, by Karen Yaffe.  

I'd started with the patriotic bowl fillers in my last post, but just got them finished in time for Bastille Day.  LOL!  They'll be ready next year, for sure!  This pattern is also by Karen Yaffe and was found in the Summer 2023 issue of Primitive Quilts & Projects. Again, I do the digital issue; so handy!!  I was really pleased with how these turned out!

Speaking of July 14th, that's the day I took an unexpected trip to the emergency room, and didn't come home for five days.  The diagnosis was ischemic colitis — which was a first for me.  I'll go back in September for a scope to see if they can determine what's going on.  My son made me laugh when he said, "[Mom,] if you are going to get sick.... let's try to be more original.  I feel like colon issues are a bit overplayed in this family atm."  He ain't wrong!  I did get some lovely art work out of it . . .

Gotta love grands!!

I didn't get to fly to California to see my dear Olivia in her ballet performances in Alice in Wonderland, but thanks to technology, we did get to stream it after the fact and enjoy it.

She danced as a teacup, a playing card, and a lobster!  She's not just a great little ballerina, she's so animated—it was such fun to watch!

Todd started chemo back up this week.  Five rounds between now and the end of September.  

They've dropped to one that was taking so much out of him, so hopefully he won't get as sick and fatigued as he was.

We decided to step back in serving as church missionaries, and will return to our home church for the time being.  We said goodbye and thank you to Lakewood Baptist, where we were currently serving, this past Sunday.  

It was pretty emotional for both of us.  Todd will continue to do ministry, but more on a consulting basis.  We're looking forward to some down time in our home church.

Two last things . . . I got a little surprise this past Sunday when I took the cover off the grill to cook some steaks . . .

I screamed.  Good gracious, did I scream.  Mostly because he caught me off guard.  Or at least that's what I'm telling myself. Todd pushed him off the ledge into the leaves below.  I hope he doesn't decided to come back!

And here's what I'm working on now . . .

I've got a set of 12 wool hearts that I want to gift next Valentine's Day!  I'm committed to finishing two per month. One is done and this one makes two.  I need to get moving!

Enjoy the last weekend of July . . . school starts here next month!  Egads!  Before you know it, it'll be Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas!!  TTFN!

:)

in with the new . . .

Do you know what happens when you make up your mind to back-post before you current post again?

Nothing.  LOL!

And the longer I put it off, the more daunting the task became.  So, here's what happened this past weekend:

I switched out my patriotic decor that went up in time for Memorial Day (and stays up through Bastille Day—July 14) . . .

For summery, sun-shiney sunflowers!

I love changing out my accent pieces for the seasons.  More and more, it's become mostly pieces I've made or been gifted.  I love that!!  Once I got everything out, I decided I needed a sunflower mug rug to finish it off, so I whipped up one in wool.

Makes me happy.

Makes my tea mug happy, too.

It was an easy stitch.  And my own pattern, to boot!  If you'd like to make your own happy sunflower mug rug, shoot me an email and I'll send you the templates and simple instructions.  Linking up with Kathy's Quilts Sunday slow stitching post.

:)

of guilds, gardens and guntersville . . .

We had the most FABULOUS guild program this month! Several of our members have taken the steps to form a Quilts of Valor chapter here locally; Liberty Piecemakers of Huntsville, and we had a QOV program at the meeting, including a very touching QOV award presentation.

Barbara Black, of My Joyful Journey, wrote nicely about it HERE.  Her husband was one of the QOV recipients. Some of our photos may look the same . . . I sent what I had to her so she could enjoy the program itself!

Pre-meeting gabbing!

The QOV regional spokesperson

Barbara, her husband Will, and April Goss, the head of the new Huntsville chapter.

The other recipient, David Aday, and his wife, Sharon.

The program and ceremony were incredibly touching and I think a lot of interest in the local chapter was garnered from it!

Thursday night guild means Friday lake day! We enjoyed a spectacular day on the lake; the weather could not have been any more beautiful!

For me, the sunset shot as we head towards the marina is always the money shot!

Our garden is starting to produce in earnest ... I love having a summer garden!

Tomatoes and green beans.  Yum.  Now to use and/or gift it all before it spoils!

:)

five day weekends are da bomb . . .

That's right.  I took Thursday and Monday's a holiday, so five day weekend. Bliss!

I've gotten a lot started and finished so far, too! I told you about my idea for an acorn mug rug, right? How that? Concept to actualization! It was a little tricky, but worth the effort. I'll probably make at least one more of these ... maybe two or three!

I was bullied into encouraged to finish the patriotic topper . . .

Really pleased with how this turned out, especially since I did use the pillowcase method to finish it. That's kinda hard to do and maintain your hexie shapes at the same time! I also really like that my stars created a secondary quilted hexie which you can see nicely on the back . . .

Pretty cool! I'll definitely have this out for Veteran's Day. :)  Thank you to those who encouraged! :)

And I continue to work on my pumpkin hexie mug rug . . . 

I wasn't outside, but this was my stitching environ last evening. Watching Saturday football! ROLL TIDE! (They did win, in a rather spectacular way; 51-14. How's that for a season opener?! I'll take it!)

I also started this really sweet embroidery, which I'd also like to use in an autumn mug rug, somehow:

It's from the book, Stitches from the Harvest:  Hand Embroidery Inspired by Autumn. 

Now if that isn't a book from right up my autumn-loving alley, I don't know what is! By the way, that embroidery shot was taken overlooking the *turtle* sanctuary . . . it's a pretty idyllic spot to stitch, with the birdsong and the waterfall! I've got a vague idea of how I'm going to do to incorporate into a mug rug.  Stay tuned.

And what long weekend would be complete without time with grands?

I spent a good portion of Friday hanging with these girls; we had fun playing with the filters in Instagram. Ellie's lost both of her top, front teeth! What a grin! I never seem to get a picture of Edith ... I think it's because I'm too busy holding her to snap photos of her!  ;)

The lovely thing is, I still have today *AND* tomorrow! Yup, bliss.

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday.  Have a great Labor Day!

:)