design wall blitz and a winner . . .

Now that the urgency of finishing My Orange Crush has been satiated, all the poor projects that had suffered from lack of attention (due to my single-minded focus) can come back out and play.  For example, this would be a truly perfect week to work on my hexie-snowflake (considering temps are to dip into the single digits again this week):

And to play again (errr, for the first time) with my Little Boy's Breeches from the Grandmother's Choice blocks:

Plus I've added the CQ Valentine heart (which I did nothing with yesterday, because we started a new church assignment which I'm very excited about and were gone pretty much all day):

*OR* . . . I *could* get out the pineapple UFO (a BOM from....2007?!?) and start working feverishly on it.  Here's the finished sample front and back . . .

I have all the blocks completed and all the applique done (I did the center block in applique and embroidered the corner pineapple blocks) ... it's a matter of setting that huge center applique on point, and then assembling all the pieces of the quilt together. Hmmm . . . maybe before the end of February?!? Bahaha!!!

I'm also on the lookout for a pattern (or encouragement to create my own) that's somewhat similar to the one pictured on the sweet little dress here, from Well Dressed Wolf:

Kim would like an Easter dress for June with a similar motif on it.  Isn't it darling? Looks like it's time to put pencil to paper! I'm thinking this would be gorgeous with a sun filled with single strand French knots!  Any thoughts?

Linking up to the Design Wall Monday post over at Patchwork Times!

OH!  And before I forget, random.org generated the winning number for the traveling stash box. Congrats to Doniene from Now it's just quilts!!!  I hope to get this out the door TODAY!

Happy Monday!

:)

another chance for traveling stash . . .

Yup, I've got a second box (or rather, Box #1) of Traveling Stash . . . and I had a *great* stash report this week, too:

Getting My Orange Crush finished was a huge help ... plus I put in a little more than I took out of the first traveling stash box.  Linking up to the stash report at Patchwork Times!  :)

I'm sure you can guess where the majority of my 'fifteen minutes' were spent this week, too!

Yup,  MOC dominated both my reports!  What's the Valentine project, you ask?

It's a little CQ project I found online HERE and modified for my own use.  I didn't like the picture they used in the Vintage Vogue project, so I found one I liked better.  I'll use this afternoon to do some Slow Sunday Stitching, and once the fabric heart is in place, embroider my embellishments on!  Hop over to Kathy's Quilts to see other Sunday creations!

Okay, okay, on to the traveling stash!  This box was huge and was filled with tons of goodies . . . 

Lots of pretty fabrics, and some with decent yardage, too.  Fun patterns and bag full of assorted notions. Some nice spools of thread.  And I thought this was rather fitting for the day:

For anyone who needs a project for Slow Sunday Stitching, right?

And I loved this Thimbleberry's kit -- isn't that cute??

I pulled a modest handful of prints . . .

And again, if you want to see what I'm putting in the box, you'll have to win the right!!  I'd like to expedite getting this box on the road, so I'll leave it open through midnight, pacific time, today.  No hoops -- just tell me in your comment you'd enjoy having it come your way. Before you do, note: you must be an active blogger, you must be in the U.S. (it's got to be shipped priority), and you must be willing to abide by the rest of the rules and guidelines found HERE.

Good luck and happy Sunday!!

:)

two winners and a tribute . . .

The first would be Nann of With Strings Attached.  She had responded to my question about taking on a new skill with:

I'd love to be in the contest! New skill? Our guild's next workshop is with a local shop owner who is a certified Square in a Square instructor. For years I thought the SIS ruler was more work than it was worth, but this instructor did a trunk show for the guild a couple of months ago. Wow! Great design ideas. So the SIS ruler will be my next new skill.

And the number generator at random.org picked her!  Congratulations, Nann!  I'll be sending the Traveling Stash Box #5 her way, as soon as I hear back from her. And hey, if you're sad because you didn't win it? Lookie, lookie . . .

Yup.  I also won Traveling Stash Box #1!  I'll be posting the delightful contents of this big ol' box tomorrow with another chance for someone lucky!!

The second winner?  That would be . . .

ME!  Yay!!  I finally put in the last stitch and ran it through the washer!  I have to share, though, this poor needle.  I'd used it for assembling the blocks into rows, the rows into blocks, and stitching down the binding. But it just couldn't handle the pressure of the last 18 inches . . .

It *snapped* in half by my *fingers*!!!  CRAZY!  But I finished my sweet My Orange Crush, and Todd and I have even snuggled under it already . . . 

*Happy finished quilt sigh!*

I have three younger sisters and though we're spread out from Texas to Alabama to Virginia to New Jersey, we are very close and I count them as my dearest friends.  The four of us keep an ongoing text conversation going and I love that one (or all) of them is always just an iMessage away!

Of course, when one of us hurts, all of us hurt ... and so this Feline Friday is a tribute to Malachi, the sweet fur-baby of my beautiful sister Cynthia.  Malachi passed away this week leaving a definite empty spot.

He was a handsome, dapper fella in his mustache and tuxedo.

Her snuggle buddy.

I love that Malachi had a perpetually surprised look on his sweet face!  He reminds me so much of my own Gwenevere in this shot:

He was a good, loving and sweet cat who will be much missed.

Rest in peace, sweet Malachi!

:)

weather forecast = stitching . . .

It is a grey, cold, blustery day and as I look out the RV window, one minute it's sleeting and the next it's snowing. Hard to believe that yesterday's temps got into the 60's! Anyway, today's forecast makes it the perfect day to do this . . .

Two and a half strips sewn, three and a half more to go!  Add a pot of tea to the picture and we've definitely got a winner.  I'm already enjoying snuggling up in this quilt.  :)

Todd and I are headed to Hartselle, Alabama, this evening to speak about our ministry to the Women on Mission group at East Highland Baptist Church.  And while Todd is typically the public voice for the ministry, since he knows how much I love to speak to women, he's handed this one to me. Yay! Have power point, will travel!

Speaking of traveling . . . if you're interested in the Traveling Stash box, be sure to check it out HERE.  It closes tomorrow evening!

:)

a fulfilled wall and traveling stash . . .

There is no secret what's on my design wall (actually the kitchen slide out) this Monday morning . . .

Booo-yaaaah!!

I got all my rows assembled and I'm so tickled with the result.  All my cross lines match up so well!

I'll spend this week working on the hand-stitching part.  It'll be a little tougher than it was with the blocks -- it's hard to maneuver that bulk of fabric, stitch, and not catch the fabric on the other side.  But I will persevere!  And who knows, by the next Monday, this may be a finish!!  Linking up today with Patchwork Times and Design Wall Monday!

I also finished my new crochet homework . . .

Another baby doll blankie!  Yay!  I think this one looks much better than the first one.  Practice, practice, practice.  I wonder if I'm ready for a scarf?  Haha!

Lastly . . . I finally got to get into that box of traveling stash (Box #5)! There are loads of fun prints!

There's a darling Moda panel by Sandy Gervais and stripes and gingham and lots of pretties. And a healthy portion of notions and patterns, too!!

I pulled a handful of fun prints from the box to keep, along with a really cute cross stitch pattern/kit . . . 

And wouldn't you like to see what I put *in* the box ?!?!?!

You'll have to win the box to do that! But before you jump in, you must be an active blogger, you must be in the U.S. (it's got to be shipped priority), and you must be willing to abide by the rest of the rules and guidelines found HERE.

So, are you interested?  You wanna see what I've put into the box??  Something in there appeal to you??! Okay then, leave me a comment and tell me what *new* skill you've started working on, or are planning to work on in the coming weeks?  That's it!  I'll keep this open until Wednesday, January 22, at 10:00 p.m. central time and post the winner Thursday morning!

:)

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!!

:)

an odd conglomeration . . .

I'll start with hexies ... because I *thought* I was going to have a marvelous post with a finished hexie project, all ready for Sarah Did It! and her monthly HeLP for Hexie-aholics linky party.

I thought wrong.

I had high hopes of finishing up my little mini-hexi quilt . . . but I've only gotten as far as quilting the hexies.  I like the angle of this shot because the quilting makes the little hexie flowers dimensional.

I still need to quilt the border and bind it.  Hopefully I *will* finish it this weekend.  

So then I thought perhaps I'd pull a hexie project out of one of the Miniature Quilts magazines I lucked upon.  Do you know, out of all SEVEN of those magazines, there was only ONE hexie quilt project?  And that one was a cover feature (which Sarah noted and pointed out right away, from yesterday's picture -- LOL!).

It is cute.  Petit Noel.  (See it?  Down there in the bottom left corner, in the above pic.)

I love the instructions in this magazine.  And how there's no need for bulky pull out sections with tons of patterns on them.

Because the patterns are all so small, they fit on the pages!  Look at the "full-size quilting diagrams" up there in the top right of this photo!  

Anyway, that's all the hexie-moxie I've got this morning.  But I know Sarah's got a really cool hexie project up -- so definitely head over there and check it out!!

But wait ... there's more!  LOL!  I just like saying that (although there really is more I want to share).

Look what my favorite daughter-in-law in the whole world gifted me with . . . 

I *love* this stuff ... and now it's sugar-free!!!  Whoohoo!  Talk about kicking your holiday season off right!  :)

Todd and I had a blast last night.  We went to dinner at Logan's and both had steaks.  From there we headed to the Von Braun Center's Playhouse (at Huntsville's Civic Center) and to our very good seats.  

The adaptation from screen to stage was handled very well and required very little set changing (which is nice, because that can be really distracting).

The cast was marvelous and did a great job.  The actor who played George Bailey did a marvelous job, as did the fellows who played Clarence and Mr. Potter, respectively.  

It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed getting to shake hands with the performers after the show and telling them how great it was.  One of the benefits of local theater!

While we were soaking in culture at the theater, the kids were taking their kids through the Galaxy of Lights ... the walking tour.  I'd love to do that some day -- not quite up to it yet, though.  This year I'll settle for the driving tour!

This is going to be a magical year for Sawyer.  Look at his precious, sweet little face!!  He's totally captivated by the lights -- I love it!!  (June is in there -- she's snoozing in the back of the stroller!)

And I *adore* this picture of him with Santa!!  They didn't think he'd like Santa, but I knew he would.  He was so excited to tell Santa that he wanted a Buzz Lightyear!

Ellie, on the other hand, did not care for Santa very much . . . 

But this picture is totally precious, all the same.  I love the look on their respective faces!  A priceless capture, to be sure!

She was happier with the glow and twinkle of the lights.  And being surrounded by mommy and daddy was better, too!

I captured a lovely sight outside my sewing window . . .

Yesterday morning.  There were six or seven deer -- I know it's hard to see them -- they are well camouflaged (which, since gun season started this morning, probably works to their benefit!).   Can you see the doe laying down?  They were just passing the time, eating an acorn or two, nibbling on grass.  Can't beat a view like that!

One of the Traveling Stash boxes is up for grabs at Squares Around the Quilt.  There are some fun additions to it -- definitely worth checking out!!

Busy day today -- shopping for tonight (youth bonfire), tomorrow morning (our turn for breakfast at church again), the weekly groceries *and* Thanksgiving dinner!  Whew!  What's on your plate?

Have a *lovely* Saturday!!

:)