tons of tidbits . . .

I have so *much* to share ... but so little to show. Hmmm . . . that's a conundrum, isn't it? I'll try to keep it kind of brief -- but that may be tough -- especially since I totally missed my Monday post!

Things are getting busy. We are seriously considering/praying about an April 28th retirement date, so Todd can apply himself full-time to the ministry. Wow. I mean, WOW! It would mean a huge leap of faith, but we both truly believe this is the direction that the Lord is leading us. 'Nuff said, right? Whew!

We've also signed up for some specialty training for Mission Service Corps (MSC) missionaries. The training is about a week long and will take place in the Baltimore/Washington DC area in the coming months. More on that later ... but it's a course on self-funding. The preparatory work for the course is pretty thick, so that will occupy a good bit of time in the coming months!

We celebrated Sawyer's birthday this past Saturday ... no surprise that the theme was Buzz Lightyear!

Sawyer had a blast and was totally enchanted by the life-size Buzz balloon!

I finally F-I-N-I-S-H-E-D June's pennant quilt . . .

I'm so pleased with it!! My friend Melissa (I Am Beautiful Bee) did the quilting on it and I love it! I delivered it to Baby June yesterday and she was totally thrilled with it! Yay!

Kim exchanged me some fabric for the quilt . . .

Haha! Happy me -- it's not mine! It's for June clothes! So I get to play with it and don't have to add it to my stash report! LOL! Speaking of which, I do have a little to report for last week:

Used/donated this week: 0.0 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 12.0 yards

Purchased/added this week: 1.75 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 38.75 yards

Net used/donated for 2013: -26.75 yards

This was from the fabric I picked up at the guild meeting last week. I'd already reported the use of the pennant quilt, so no 'used' yardage this week! I was kind of curious as to how I was doing compared to last year, so I pulled up Stash Report #11 from 2012:

Used/donated this week: 0.0 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 4.75 yards

Purchased/added this week: 0.0 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 31.75 yards

Net used/donated for 2012: -27.25 yards

Yeah. So not a lot has changed, huh? This totally made me laugh!!! I guess old habits really DO die hard! However, I can say that if retirement and full-time ministry is truly ahead, we'll be really living like missionaries in more ways than one -- I'll take that "purchased" right off the added line!

I've accomplished three out of five of my "get 'er done" for this month . . . and one is almost finished. I still need to get that pineapple quilt center finished up. Mostly what I've been working on is the Wedding Quilt . . .

I've put a nice dent in it. It's so funny ... we've had the perfect weather to snuggle under a quilt to do some hand stitching -- it's been cold and grey and snowy. Our high today *may* hit 45.  Average temps are in the 70's.  Who cares that we're a week into spring??!!  I think we're experiencing an April Fool's joke a little early. Hahaha!

I received my DQS in the mail on Saturday, too . . .

Isn't this darling? Check out the hand-stitching:

Aren't they sweet? She did a marvelous job - I'm thrilled with it! I'll get hers off by the end of the month and then I'll be taking a little hiatus from the doll quilt swaps for a bit.

Okay, enough for now, I've got to run! I'm having lunch with a friend and then I'm spending the evening with June and Sawyer. So much to do and not nearly enough hours in the day to accomplish it all, right? Linking up today's post with the Stash Report #11 and Design Wall Monday posts at Patchwork Times and the Slow Sunday Stitching post at Kathy's Quilts.

Ciao, baby!

:)

what i dragged in last night . . .

I never seem to come home from our guild meetings empty-handed.  That was *especially* true last night!  I came home with stuff.  Lots of stuff.  Piles and piles of stuff.  Okay, well maybe that last bit is an exaggeration, but I had a lot.  I had this little piece delivered . . . 

I was so excited that I came home and got the binding all ready to be hand-stitched (which I love, love to do).  YAY!  Can you guess what I'll be doing this afternoon and evening? June will have her quilt very soon!

I got this beautiful thing . . .

Not sure what it is?  Truthfully, I'd have had no clue if I wasn't told beforehand--I'd never seen one before.  Todd said he'd have had NO idea what it was if it he hadn't read the label on the metal tag.

My darling friend Sarah (who was my tablemate at our Stitcher's retreat) had it from her mother.  It's at least twenty years old, but looks brand new.  Neither Sarah nor any of her sisters have a desire to do any smocking, so Sarah decided to sell it and buy something for her youngest sister's soon-to-arrive baby.  Then it would be like getting a gift from her mom.  Isn't that sweet?  It rather makes me tear up.  Sarah also gave me the notebook her mom had saved with all the templates for different smocking patterns!  FUN!!!

First thing I did was post a picture on Instagram.  As you can see, Jocelyn was pretty excited about the whole thing . . . 

Hahaha!!!  Sarah also gave me some fabric that her mom had saved.  

The orange check is darling -- a cute little smocked dress, right?  If nothing else I can use it for practice pieces, too.  And the great thing is, since it's not quilt stash, I'm not counting it there.  That's not cheating, is it?!  LOL!

I also won this tidy little pile last night . . .

I love blues and yellows! And yes, I *will* be counting that in my next stash report! And there were some fun patterns in the book ... but I may be turning that around. Anyone interested?

And ... I snagged this off the "freebie" table (there was a LOT on the freebie table last night):

The little quilt in the top right corner, above the fireplace, caught my eye!  I'll probably offer this one up free to a good home, if anyone's interested in it.  So ... quite the haul from a guild meeting, don't ya' think?!?

On the other hand, I did NOT bring home this box:

Box o' cat! Anyone who knows Leia would understand the irony of her paws showing up in that particular statement. Especially at feeding time. If that's not *paws for thought* ... [insert rim shot here].

Joc and her hubby have put their house up on the market ... in fact, they have their first showing this morning.  WOW!  Anyway, Joc had bought a new trash can (with a lid) and Leia got the box.  Silly cat!  Linking her up with the Feline Friday linky party over at Sarah Did It!

And then, strictly for my viewing pleasure . . .

Little Miss has figured out that she can escape.

And she's quite pleased with herself!

And Little Man has figured out that cucumber ... well, I'll let you see for yourself:

He was pretty pleased with himself, too!

Happy Friday and happy weekend!

:)

drab design wall . . .

I got nothing for you this morning.  Nothing I can show.  My mini-hexies quilt is still being quilted . . . I've got gifts I'm working on (no peeking!) . . . a hop pillow I'm working on (Holiday Lane Pillow blog hop begins Wednesday!) . . .

a couple of swap quilts I'm working on . . . and June's baby quilt.  I guess I could show a picture of that . . .

I *did* convert the bear paw block to a 3.5" block in EQ ... so it's ready for mini-quilt construction (some day)!  

I think this is the setting I've settled on.  This was inspired by Judy's design wall last week.  It probably still needs some tweaking, but I decided I really like the darker sashing, especially with the lighter strips offsetting the bear's paws in the blocks themselves.

I've got another wreath I want to make.  I've got all the materials, so perhaps soon.  This one, that I saw in the craft shop in Maryland . . .

Only with a hat.  He's calling me pretty loudly (I think you can probably see why).

The sewing bunk room is still a mess and that tends to crush my will to be creative.  I need to do something about that (other than take pictures that I'm too embarrassed to post).  

But being on my feet for too, too long has been something I've resisted over the last two weeks.  The stitches are coming out of my foot this morning, though, so perhaps this week will be the week!  (Yeah, because tidying the sewing bunk room rates right up there with my Ellie day, taking Sawyer to the fire station for dinner with Paw-paw, and getting ready for Thanksgiving.) 

Maybe next week?

Maybe I need *more* inspiration . . . so I'm heading over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times to look at other design walls.  If her internet has been up and working.  If not, maybe it's all a SIGN!  

Happy Monday!

:)

works in progress . . .

Got down to business on June's quilt yesterday and got the pennants cut out and placed them and got the names and the heart penned in . . . 

Isn't it darling?  Except the extra butterflies have to fly away -- Kim told me last night that she believes in butterflies in moderation.  The ones on the pennants are okay, but the additional ones need to go!  Still, I think it's just darling.  Now to tack it all down and get ready to quilt it.  Worthy of a WOW = Works in Progress link-up! 

As I was sitting in the kitchen working on the quilt, a little movement out the window caught my eye.  I turned to give it my full attention and what to my wondering eyes did appear?

A not-so-little brown bunny, so sweet and quite dear!  Made me feel like I was looking out my window at the camp.  :)

To the sweet little bunny's contrast, out the front window I see this:

I had to laugh.  Those huge, black spiders are too funny!  For some reason, even though I had a nasty run in with a brown recluse spider a couple of years ago, big, black spiders make me laugh.  Although I'd be hesitant about walking up to their front door . . . especially after dark!

When Dad and I left the rehab center the other night, the sky was heavy and dark with rain clouds. But up above us there was one little break in the sky where we could just see a higher, cumulus cloud, well above the rain clouds, that was reflecting the light from the setting sun.

It made for a gorgeous picture!

And finally, what I'll be working on today while I'm hanging out with Mom at the rehab center:

Yay for hexies!!  I have an idea for my October doll swap quilt that will put these sweet little things to good use! 

I got the first three put together as we surfed through the channels last night, flipping back and forth through the debate.

I love working with hexies ... my hands just work and work and work and I'll look down and there's a pile of hexies ready to go!  I'll also be linking up to Sarah Did It! and the HeLP for Hexie-Aholics linky party!  Be sure to head over there and see what other fun hexie projects are in the works around blogland!

:)