fickleness thy name is weather . . .

In trying to gauge a good pattern for posting, I've looked at several options . . . pick set days and post (whether I've got something to share or not) . . . set a number of times per week . . . or, perhaps, I could just post every time our weather changes!  That would have me posting consistently about every forty-eight hours, at least.  Sheesh!  When I last posted we had 70's and daffodils ... this morning we had frigid temps and snow flurries.  In between we had tornado watches ... and we've had flash food warnings *every*day* for the past two weeks.  Gracious. Anyway, I posted seven times in January, which wasn't bad for an overall number (maybe a little on the low side) ... it's just that they were clumped up and not distributed nicely.  I'll try and avoid that in February.  No promises!

Right now we have a wide variety of birds hitting the feeders ... cardinals, blue jays, chickadees, tufted titmouse, nuthatches, and green finches.  And before you go running for your bird books trying to figure out what the heck a green finch is, it's how Todd and I lovingly refer to our wintering gold finches. 

They turn rather olive colored.  Even the cardinal did a double-take.

(That's a very 'fluffy' cardinal, by the way).

It's hard to believe that our brilliantly yellow-colored summer birds are this drab in the winter!  Of course, the cardinals look much better in January than they do in May.  I guess it all evens out!

I spent the day with Joc and Ellie yesterday.  It was Ellie's second library visit. We spent an hour or so in the pre-school section.  

We didn't do a whole lot of reading . . . why read books when there are so many other things to occupy oneself?!?  Besides, the books come home to be read. That's what I did.  I figured I might as well check out the embroidery and quilting books since I was already there and all.

I got a nice stack to peruse (at home)!  Just to flip through and get ideas.  :)

Back at Joc's, Leia was waiting for us.

That's okay, Leia.  Don't get up.

Ellie's hair is getting long enough that she can sport the "Pebble's" look:

I know, I know ... the plant behind her makes it really hard to see, but I promise that there are at least 20 or so strands of hair standing straight up!  She's such a dear little dolly!

And I thought I'd share my Lesson Four finishes from the redwork course. . .

I loved, loved working the bonsai tree ... the stacked French knots are such fun!  At first I wasn't sure it was going to happen, but as I built the rows, I could see it taking shape and it was very cool.

Super Bowl Sunday is in sight!  Go Baltimore Ravens!  (Or, as the natives say it, Go Bal'mer Ravens!)  Sawyer is spending the night with me that night -- we're going to have our own super bowl party.  Anyone else have special plans?!

And don't forget -- book review -- Declutter Now! -- posted tomorrow with a giveaway!

:)

it's a stash [report #52] wrap . . .

I can hardly believe that this is report number fifty-two . . . the final stash report of 2012.  And even with all the mega sales going on, I'm not ending the year with a bang . . . but rather with a little *ding*ding*ding*.  I was lucky enough to score a sweet little bundle of fat quarters, from Barbara over at Cat Patches, and her November NewFO linky party!  

Isn't it scrumptious-gorgeous?!  And it's *purple*!!!  I've had to be careful not to drool all over it.  I already know how I'm going to put some of it to use, too! (Think *words* and blog hop.)  Anyway, that sweet little pile of fabric was all that came in, and none went out, so here are my final numbers for the year:

Used/donated this week: 0.0 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 50.5 yards

Purchased/added this week: 1.5 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 194.75 yards

Net used/donated for 2012: -144.25 yards

It's been an interesting exercise to keep up with intake/outflow.  I will definitely keep up again for 2013, though I still haven't decided whether I've got any particular goals for fabric for 2013.  I've still got a day or two to mull it over.  In the meantime, you be sure to head over to Patchwork Times and check out the rest of the stash reports for this week.  I understand Judy to say her last report was to be for laughs only!

And for this afternoon, slow stitching will definitely be my occupation!  I've been working away on my redwork course . . .

That's my bird -- isn't he rather dapper?  I've got a daisy scroll, a pansy face, and leaves on my tree to stitch up this afternoon, as well as an apple.  Then I'll try and finish up my butterfly and maybe even move on to a new bonsai tree and a sea shell.  (And that's all just in Lesson 4!)  I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts and Slow Stitchin' Sunday!

Enjoy the day!

:)

bits and pieces . . .

I think one of the saddest things I've heard (locally) about the tragedy in Newtown, was a comment made by a young elementary school student to his mom.  As she walked him into school, the boy noted that there was a policeman at the door.  The little guy looked up to his mom and told her he was glad that the policeman was there at his school, and he hoped the policeman stayed all day.  It makes me want to weep.  

On a happier note, June is doing much, much better - and again I thank you for your prayers, wishes, and for asking about her!  She's still got a nasty sounding cough, but the doctor said to expect that. 

As you can see, she's back to her normal, good spirits!  I think she may have even *giggled* at me yesterday!  She's seven weeks old today.  Gracious!

Can I tell you a secret?  I still have not done a lot of decorating in the RV (on the other hand, my Christmas shopping is done).  I've decorated outside, though! Inspired by a picture my sister sent me of the front of her house, I pulled out the deco mesh and got busy . . . 

I've always wanted an outdoor tree!  James brought Sawyer over the other day. Sawyer got out of the car, saw the tree and exclaimed, "Look, a tree! Neesey made it!" I have no idea how he knew that!  

It's *really* pretty at night ... I adore colored lights at night!!

I also 'spruced' up my gum tree wreath ... I added a big, green bow.  It really needed a bow, I think.

Now it looks extra festive (especially with all the red and gold glitter of the burrs)!

And finally I finished up Lesson 3 of my redwork course.  

Whipped and lacing stitches made up the last exercise of that one.  As you can see, if that was a stitch you were going to use, you'd want to mark your cloth a little differently!  I need to get Lesson 4 finished post haste.

More than likely, I'll be back later on today . . . I've got to get some posts in!

:)

whittling down the stash (report #48)

Short and sweet today . . . mainly because I added NOTHING!  Can you believe it?!  Good thing it's only fabric and not felt or floss I'm counting.  LOL!

Used/donated this week: 2.5 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 49.5 yards

Purchased/added this week: 0.0 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 172.75 yards

Net used/donated for 2012: -123.25 yards

I'm so pleased to have reductions two weeks in a row!  Haha!  Be sure to head over to Patchwork Times and check out where the stash *enhancements* happened this past week!

My "slow" stitching Sunday involves poinsettias, key fobs, and my redwork course . . .  

And I have to say a hearty ROLL TIDE!!!  I'm so glad the SEC Championship game is done -- it was a real nail biter!!

Now I can say bring on Notre Dame!

:)

two steps behind . . .

There was really no point in starting with "one step forward", because I'm not sure I'm not just continuously taking two steps backward!  Ever feel that way?  I am inundated and the next four days will be gloriously full (much as the past three days have been).  At some point I'll stop, catch my breath, and catch up. In the meantime, it is what it is:  DECEMBER!

I wanted to share a lovely, lovely win from the UR Priceless blog hop.  I'd stopped by Maria's blog, Personalized Sketches and Sentiments, to check out her sweet little purses (and she did a marvelous job, both with her darling purses *and* her fun presentation -- check it out HERE), and since I was already there, I entered her giveaway for a personalized monogram.  I was so delighted when she notified me I was one of her winners!  After chatting back and forth with her for a bit, I chose the name I wanted monogrammed and the font style and sent it off to her.

It came in Tuesday's mail.  I'd used Everett's initials -- I knew that would be something Jocelyn would enjoy -- and since I was on my way to visit with her that morning, I waited to open it until I got there.  Then I let Joc do the honors -- it's lovely!

And it's not just a monogram.  Check closely the lines that make up each letter:

Do you see it?  EVERETT over and over make up the "E".

And yup, SAMUEL is the basis for the "S".

And MERKEL!  Isn't it clever and beautiful?!  Maria did a fabulous, marvelous job and I'm so appreciative!  She does all types of sketches and is very creative. Definitely worth checking out!

While I was there, Ellie and I had some chat time . . .

Look how big she's getting!

Not a bad shot, considering I'm holding the camera!  Ellie couldn't quite figure out what was going on!  Look at her big, beautiful eyes!

And not to leave Leia out . . . she was most interested in my Redwork course exercises.  

She closely inspecting my satin stitches there!

Or perhaps that's her way of saying, "What hand work??  You came here to pet *me*!"  And though it's a day late, my week still wouldn't be complete if I didn't link up to Sarah Did It! and Feline Friday!!

On to the day's (month's?!) busyness!

:)

stash on the run . . .

It's time for the traveling stash to move on!  I stuck the numbers into random.org yesterday and now there's a new stash winner . . . 

Lisa of Squares Around the Quilt

who said:

The stash is headed to your house for a visit, Lisa -- I'll have the box packed up and to the post office this very day!

By the way -- I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude to Cherise of Sewingly Along.  She does an incredible job of keeping up with all the assorted traveling stashes and keeping bloggers posted as to their whereabouts and whatnot.  Thanks, Cherise!!  :)

In other news, I finally did finish my tree trunk:

I really do like the the way the stitching makes it look like the trunk of a tree!  One more exercise and I am finished with Lesson 3.  Whew! 

Also, as many of my fellow Americans will do today, I am heading to the polls and exercising my right to vote!  Regardless of your political leanings, it's such an honor to go and 'pull the lever'. 

                               Source                                                 Source

It's a hard won right and as a woman, an even harder won right -- which makes today the perfect day to go check out Barbara Brackman's Grandmother's Choice latest blog entry chronicling Susan B. Anthony's interpretation of the Constitution and her first vote.

Plus, don't forget that change is taking place all over blog land today.  

Change purses, that is!  The UR Priceless Hop, Day 2, carries on today and here's the line up:

Tuesday - Day 2 - Nov. 6th

The Crafter's Apprentice

Jane's Fabric and Quilts

Rosemary B

Why-Knot-Kwilt

Random Thoughts..do or "di"

Mary T.

Supermom No Cape

Lily Pad Quilting

.Quiltscapes.

Stitch, Stitch, Stitch

Rose Creations

The Treehouse

Gracie Oliver Arts

Quilting Prolifically

Stekje

Grammie Q's

Were you as amazed as I was at the fantastic creativity and diversity with these little purses?!  SUCH fun!!  Don't forget to come back here tomorrow to see my offering!

There's still a little time to get in on the giveaway of When Hope Blossoms.  That one ends at noon today.

I'm off to spend a little time with Sawyer and June . . . hope your day holds some wonderful plans, too!

:)

to be honest . . .

I could pretty much post the *exact* same pictures from last week's design wall post and you'd know exactly what was [still] on my design wall. What can I say? It was really that kind of week!  Unfortunately, with surgery coming up on Wednesday, I'm afraid this week will be no better.  *sigh*  I will continue to work on my Redwork course ... I've made some progress on my tree:

See how the stitching doesn't just fill in the trunk of the tree, but actually gives it bark-like texture?  I'm *so* enjoying this!

My projects are piling up.  I need to stop trying new things and finish some old things, already!  It's just that *new* things are such fun!  LOL!  It's a sickness, I tell ya'!  I'm sure if you head over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times, you'll find far more interesting design walls than mine!

One thing I *do* know for sure, though, is that today kicks off the UR Priceless blog hop! 

I've been seeing snippets of these darling little purses here and there and I'm *so* anxious to see what fabulous creations folks have come up with!  You can start with this fabulous of today's participants:

Quiltin' Jenny

Hill Valley Quilter

Loopy Lou's Adventures Into Handicrafts

Just Let Me Quilt

Lixie Makes It

Beaquilter

Sunshine, Handmade

Buzzing and Bumbling

ANNIEOFBLUEGABLES

Needled Mom

The Slow Quilter

A Quilting Sheep

I Have A Notion

Quilt-n-Queen

Me?  Oh yes, I'm participating!  My day is the 7th.  That date ring a bell?? Gracious!  Here's a little tantalizing tidbit . . . 

I was going to stick a photo in here of the quilting bunk room (which needs my attention bAdLy), but decided I couldn't handle the pressure of putting that mess out there in front of y'all.  ;)

Instead, why don't I wrap this up with she-who's-responsible-for-occupying-most-of-my thoughts/energy/time of late . . . 

Love me some Baby June!  Photo credits go to her daddy.  :)

The Traveling Stash giveaway will close at noon today, central time!  Click HERE to enter!  And if you're a bookworm, check out my review and giveaway of When Hope Blossoms, HERE!

Have a great Monday -- make it count!

:)

stitching and sketching . . .

I finished up everything but the French knots on this little guy yesterday. The more I stitched on him, the more I got to thinking about what I was going to do with this little grouping of stitcheries.

Since I'd decided to do the red fabric and the white embroidery, I thought it would be pretty offset with white squares. But with only seven blocks (I discarded the idea of pairing these up with the FQSQA blocks), it wasn't coming out nicely for me.

So I opened up EQ and started playing around with format. One thing led to another and this is what I came up with . . .

The red blocks with the hearts represent six of the stitcheries. The green block in the center I'll do the Christmas tree (which was week 5) on the green in white. And then I'll do green blocks on the four corners as well.

The only problem with this layout is that it leaves me with two red squares and the four corners without a stitchery design. Rut roh! So of course, I figured I'd pull out paper and pencil and see if I couldn't come up with something that might work. Of course, I didn't yet know what block seven was going to be, so it's a little dangerous doing all this conjuring work, but I'm a "live by the seat of your pants" kinda gal.

These are what I scratched out:

I love holly (almost as much as pumpkins), and the three-sprig of holly always makes me think of the Trinity.

I figured the holly would be pretty in the four corners, rotated and flipped appropriately.

Then the little melted down candle in the candle stand. This makes me think of Beauty and the Beast. And so I added a little holly. :)

I have the corner markings in there so none of my drawings would be larger than the drawings already done in the CSA. All the same, I may shrink this one down just a tad -- maybe by ten percent? Maybe a little more. I'll play with it.

Then lastly I did the church bells. And I know she's got words in all of hers, but I think if I mix these up nicely and perhaps take the words out of one or two of hers, it'll be okay

And I incorporated the snowflake things in all of the ones I drew. (They're really sparks in the candle drawing.) I'm not so sure about the lines on the bells -- I may have to do something a little different -- they make me too mindful of Charlie Brown!

I do have a backup idea for a drawing in the event that the week seven stitchery is too similar to anything I've done -- I'll add in a candy cane pairing (with a little branch of holly, no doubt). Fun stuff!

And speaking of fun stuff, the weather was right today for one of these . . .

Apple pie! And not just any ol' apple pie, but apple pie made with apples off our very own tree! Who cares what we have for dinner when there's apple pie -- with whipped cream *and/or* vanilla ice cream -- for dessert?!?

Joie de vivre!

:)