so much to say . . .

Do you know how long it's been since I've submitted a stash report??  About the same length of time it's been since I had anything to report!

Isn't that sad?!?  But finally, I do have a little something to throw out there, so there it is.

I finished up my wool apple stitchery . . .

And it's just fitting perfectly in its little spot.  

Glad I got it finished in time to give it a little 'air' time before moving to the big guns . . .

Which, who am I kidding, the pumpkins have already started making a pretty strong showing . . . 

Tea (which a sweet friend brought back from her trip to Gatlinburg, TN, for me).

Creamer (which my sweet husband spied and brought home).

Even my coloring sheets! Do you color?  I adore coloring -- it's so relaxing and fun!

Here's a fun freebie I pulled down off the Dover Samples.  I subscribe to their weekly samples, not just because of the coloring -- in fact, that's secondary -- but because of the potential *stitchery* and crayon tinting patterns!!  Always thinking, this one.  ;)

My coloring has taken a turn to Bible art journaling, which I'm loving.

I'm working my way through the Book of Proverbs (part of a challenge for a Bible study I'm facilitating, Lysa Terkeurt's The Best Yes).

Todd and I spent a good portion of the past two days over at our house, clearing out the painting supplies, touching up trim, and thoroughly cleaning it all . . .

I'm so ready to be done with this house!  Hopefully the market is at a point where we can successfully sell it. I do not want to rent (ever again) it, if we can help it. Anyone out there wanting to move to Alabama?! It's got a GREAT room for quilting! Haha!

And it's the land of cotton!! Bahaha!  

Anyway, as we were leaving, I snagged up some leaves from the magnolia tree out front.  I've always wanted to make a simple wreath from magnolia leaves and saw one a couple of months or more ago on [I *think*] the Better Homes & Gardens website.  For the life of me I couldn't find it again, but I had the picture in my mind pretty solidly, so this is what I came up with . . .

Have mercy, I think it took me longer to pick the leaves than to make the wreath! I already had the ribbon, so that was nice, and I actually used cardstock for my 'base'. I sprayed the finished piece lightly with a little gold glitter. Yay! The Nook's door needed a little something something!

Speaking of the Nook, after I finished up the wreath, I used up some of  that stash fabric . . . I made a simple little pillow cover for my love seat. 

I've been meaning to do this for a long time -- and eventually want to do something a little more involved with some quilting -- but this will suffice for the time being! I love the colors in that purple. It's hard to see, but it's burnt orange, purple, brown, and just a tad red. It's true autumnal fabric to me. One look around the camp's Serenity Pond and you can see what I mean . . .

The sumac trees are always the first to start changing and gosh, they are just beautiful right now!

And finally, look what Todd brought in to me yesterday morning . . . 

A new turtle hatchling!  They're so darling when they've just 'broken free'!  And not shy in the least little bit!

Time to hit the road to church this morning . . . linking up to Patchwork Times.  Have a wonderful day and thanks for indulging this longish post!!

:)

late-breaking stash reporting . . .

I've been wanting to share this stash report for ages, because there was such a decent (for a change) use of fabric!  But I couldn't say why until now, so I've patiently waited . . .

Whoohoo!  There was a big purchase in there for the backing and binding. But I turned right around and used it up.  So my numbers are again moving in the direction I'd like them to! (Going ahead and linking this up to the Stash Report at Patchwork Times.)

The quilt finish is one I've worked on (procrastinated on) for a LONG time.  It was a memory quilt for a sweet friend whose father passed away.  I'd asked her if she had cotton shirts of his to make a quilt from. What I got was a box of interesting shirts . . . but a LOT of rayon and poly blends.  It took me a while to come up with a design and once I did, it took me a while to realize I needed to use stabilizer in order to piece the top. But I think the overall quilt finished up nicely:

The center was a bit of a bugger . . . almost all rayon! And notice the quilt is hanging on a clothesline?! Yay! My sweet hubby hung it for me.  I've even already used it for hanging clothes to dry!

Our mutual friend Ronda had offered at the get-go to quilt it for me/her and she did a *spectacular* job of it!

Isn't it beautiful?

I had enough cut squares to make a matching pillow, too:

And it's reversible (the pillow, I mean) . . . 

Because I am totally in love with the flannel backing -- it's a nice feminine counter to the front!

There was a bit of a delay before I could deliver it to my friend, but she was finally home yesterday and I was able to drop it off.  I hope she enjoys it!!

:)

nine hundred ninety-nine posts on the blog . . .

Wow.  I can hardly believe I've written 999 posts.  It's really weird to see it in writing, too.  And it's my last post of the year . . . post number one thousand will hit the stands at 0:00 on January 1, 2013.  And with it will come a GRAND giveaway and thoughts for the new year as well as a startling revelation. But enough about that . . . today's post is about the past.

In December of last year, Joy, of Joy & Comfort, emailed me to say she'd won a giveaway over at Cat Patches ... a charm pack of Little Apples.  Joy had found the contest from a link on my blog and decided to share her winnings with me.  True to her word, a couple weeks later I received a squishy package of Little Apples! Subsequently we decided to make something and share . . . we decided on a swoon block, which was very popular and showing up on lots of blogs at the time.  We set a date -- early in March -- to come back and share our projects, and set about to craft our projects.

I took mine to quilt retreat and put together my top.  

I posted about it HERE.  And I'm linking it up as a design wall from design walls' past at Patchwork Times.  LOL!  :)

But knee injuries and grandbabies and gardens and LIFE happened.  And so we didn't post our dual posts in March.  Or April.  Or May, June, July, August, September, October, or November.

And then we were ready!  Another December ... a year has passed ... and we're both ready to share!  Here's my sweet little project . . .

A plump and cushy little swoon pillow.  I'm not sure where it will end up yet . . . I like the idea of paying it forward!  And when I do, I'll pull the pillow form out and do a special, personalized embroidery in the center.

And so you should *definitely* check out my benefactor's project . . . Joy worked the same block, but with a different outcome and it's beautiful and go see it!

:)

stash report #20 and happy mother's day . . .

Ah.  Stash report time.  Do I have to include fabric for diapers?  I didn't buy it, it's just in my possession.  I'm thinking ... No.  I also purchased a high thread count flannel sheet to back Joc's quilt.  Don't give me a hard time about this!  But the question is, do I include *that* in my stash report?  Again I'm thinking ... No.  So, for this week: 

 

Used/donated this week: 0.5 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 12.75 yards

Purchased/added this week: 4.0 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 60.25 yards

Net used/donated for 2012: -47.5 yards

 

As ever, linking up with Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times for the weekly stash reporting!

 

My itty-bitty usage came from this little piece:

It's a companion to this piece:

The Grand Hands Quilt I made for my mom several years ago.  When she only had TWELVE grandchildren.  And then my youngest sister decided she needed to make it a baker's dozen, which meant I had to come up with something creative to get a thirteenth hand in there.  Hence, the matching pillow - which is my mom's Mother's Day gift (I gave it to her, all pieced and appliqued before she left on Thursday, then took it back so I could finish it).  

 

Oh, and don't get me wrong ... my youngest nephew, Fowler, is quite the charmer and definitely worth the effort!!

And before I sign off, let me just warmly wish a Happy Mother's Day to all!!  

I plan on coming home from church and quietly stitching my afternoon away!

:)

happy and bright . . .

So another hodge-podge post from me today. Since that's rather like my life, I guess I shouldn't be surprised! First I wanted to do a little housekeeping (so to speak). I had a number of lovely comments on my Holly Jolly Topper tutorial post and quite a few requests for the pdf of the template, which pleased me *greatly*! But several of the folks who left a comment requesting the template were the dreaded "noreply" bloggers. I can't tell you how badly I feel when this happens! So just in case any of you are reading, I wanted you to know that I didn't ignore you, I just had no way of contacting you! If you are: astitch, rwallis6, or whistlebet57 (Elizabeth), please e-mail me at denisepanter (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll send that template off to you right away!

Next, I wanted to share this little gem:

This is the 'happy light' I referred to in yesterday's post. My sister got this for me for Christmas. It's AWESOME! I tend to struggle with SAD (seasonal affective disorder) in the winter months, particularly in January/February. I know how much I need LIGHT in order to feel ... effective. That's tough enough during the winter months with it's short days and gloomy skies, but even tougher in the RV with its tinted windows. My happy light is just the thing I need to boost my spirits and give me that sense of 'bright' I need!! I'm really loving having it!

You know what else brightens my spirits? Freshly painted toes!! Joc and Jason gave me some lovely peppermint foot scrub and cream for Christmas and I put it to use last night. I scrubbed to my heart's content and then lathered up with the cream and put my socks (and boot) on before tucking in for the night.

This morning my feet were so smooth and nice, they definitely deserved a fresh painting in my favorite hot pink! You'll just have to trust me that the toes on my right foot are as pretty in pink as those on my left foot. LOL! And the hot pink Tweetie Bird pj pants are a gift from Todd -- the perfect thing to wear on a quiet, stay-at-home, chilly day!

Guess what? ANOTHER bright spot! When Todd brought in the mail the other day, there was a sweet little package ... for ME!

C. Joy, from Joy & Comfort, had won a giveaway from Cat Patches' Occupy Your Sewing Room giveaway. When she won, she e-mailed me to say that since she'd learned of the giveaway from reading my blog, she wanted to share her prize with me!

It was charm squares in this darling Little Apples print by Moda! Is that not the sweetest thing? So very generous and kind! I'd found a cute little pillow on another blog ...

Little Bluebell. Isn't this darling? I think the Little Apple charms will work quite nicely in this cute little pillow top!

You know what else brightens my day? The thought of starting a new quilting project. Or projects!! Barbara, over at Cat Patches, had the brilliant idea of a creating a challenge where you started new projects ... dipped into your quilting bucket list, so to speak!

I've been thinking about some things I want to try and here's the list I've come up with so far:

1) A tee-shirt quilt (for my niece).
2) A rag quilt.
3) A faux applique quilt.
4) I want to do something with photos on fabric.
5) I'd like to do a piece that's artsy.
6) I have a darling pattern for a quilted football I'd love to make in my favorite team colors! And I'd really like to make several of them to giveaway!
7-12+) I want to design a table topper (preferably in EQ) like my Candy Corn and Holly Jolly Toppers, so I have a different one for every month. This would be about nine different quilted toppers I'd need to create!

I know there are other processes out there I'd love to try, but this will do for a good start! I'm going to link up with Barbara on her What's on your 2012 NewFO To Do List?. Be sure to stop by and check it out ... you may even want to play along! I understand there are some fun prizes for participants!! (And that's a day-brightener for sure!)

:)