A Little Slow Stitching and Even Some Stash Enhancement :)

I can't believe it is December already!!!!  However, I suppose I've been in the "winter" mood, because I happily picked up several new tree ornaments during our travels last week between Nashville and Charlotte :*)  I've also done a little more stitching on my current Winter Wonderland block....

The tree is now done - those spindly tips were pretty darn fiddly! - and all that remains to finish up this block are the birds and snowflakes -  woohoo!!!

I was a VERY GOOD girl this past week, not even stepping foot in Mary Jos!  I know - I deserve a medal, right????  But when my husband offered to stop in Crossville for a quick rest on the way home, not one word of refusal was heard to pass my lips :*)  Little Blessings Quilt Shop is one of my favorite shops!  They have such yummy BLUE fabrics there, along with much, much more! :*)  And that is where I found these perfect fabrics for this quilt.......

It even says "Winter Wonderland"!!!!  And "Snowman", "Sledding", "Flurries" ..... of course, I had to have it for this quilt, although I really don't know how it will fit in just yet.  I think I will want my main border to be darker, but perhaps an inner border?  It would have been awesome for a backing, but there wasn't enough on the bolt.  Hmmm..... I wonder if I searched for it online...  I could get in lots of trouble here!!!

I also picked up these marvelous stripes to go with it.

Only one of these will make it to the quilt, but right now I can't decide which one works with it best.  It will probably come down to much later when I am actually doing the piecework for the quilt.

I couldn't resist a few other stash enhancers as well....

Plaids can be SO hard to find, and of course these bright oranges and hot pinks and yellows caught my eye!

And these two were in the childrens' prints, but I think they have a definite modern appeal and will make great stash additions!

I'm adding every cute gray I can find to my stash -
- and of course a little aqua had to sneak in the bag too ;*)

As for the ornaments I purchased?  Here are a couple I picked up at Cracker Barrel which I thought you might find fun.....

Snowmen are always a favorite of mine -
- and this one has yarn balls for a body and knitting needles for arms!!!
How cute is that I ask you?????
..... not to mention that cute little buttonhole-stitched heart.
Oh yes, there was never a doubt he was coming home with  me!!!

And how could I resist this wonderful ornament?
This adorable little sewing machine reminds me of my new Featherweight .....
..... maybe I'll paint it red?  Hmmmm......
It's totally cute, but it is really, really heavy!

And this isn't an ornament, but rather a small knick-knack....

Jim Shore!!!  A Cardinal!!!  On Sale!!!
I would say my friend Joanne is going to be SO jealous, but I imagine she already has this little treasure :*)

Hopefully it is not too very cold where you are, but I can assure you that it is plenty cold here in Nashville my friends!!!  December is a reality here by more than just turning the last page on the calendar!  Before we know it, Christmas will be here; our little Cooper will be born; and then the New Year will be upon us once again!!!!  I plan to take time to enjoy the season rather than just complain about the cold like I usually do....  This is the (Season) that the Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it!  I hope you will too :*)

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Linking up with:
Kathy's Quilts - Slow Sunday Stitching
Patchwork Times - Stash Enhancement

Sunday Slow Stitching

I've been hard at work getting ready for Runaway Retreat this coming week, so very little Slow Stitching has been going on.  I apologize to some of you who have left comments and I haven't yet found time to reply. Your comments make my day, so I try to make it a point to always reply!  I'm really hoping to spend a little "blog" time today.

But I did manage a few stitches here and there.....

My Winter Wonderland birds now look more like cardinals!  I switched up to the bright Christmas red floss, and now they sparkle!  I like that much better than the floss I started with and showed you last week.  You might also notice that the DMC floss is a little thicker than the Sulky 12 wt.

I thought the blue tint in the Turkey Red floss would go well with the blue used in the rest of the piece, but really - I should have known better!  Cardinals are very smart and totally cool birds, so they would never let the "turkeys" get them down - am I right???  LOL!!!

Thanks also to some of you who suggested putting that little triangle on the birds' heads to give them that distinctive cardinal shape :*)  I really like the difference!  Being the total ditz that I am at drawing anything, I had some trouble getting that little triangle to sit at the right angle on their heads - my artist friend Joanne had to come to my aid, but we eventually got them to look right.  They were pretty funny at first with their little crowns tilted all askew - LOL!!!

So just so you know, I won't be blogging next week at all.  I plan to relax, unplug, and just enjoy stitching with a lot of friends that I only get to see once a year.  I'm also teaching a class this year, which I'm totally excited about!  Wish me luck!!!!  Now, I've got to finish getting my projects ready.....

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Sharing this post at Kathy's Quilts.....

Slow Stitching & Stash Enhancement!

I've been trying to follow my friend Barbara's (Cat Patches) lead by getting outside each morning to sit on my side porch and putting a few stitches in Winter Wonderland to give my day a great start.  Of course, there have been a few mornings that I just didn't have time, but I think I made it about 5 days - not bad!  One of those days I knitted on Dreambird, but that's still slow stitching to me :*)  

Here is my progress on this block so far.  I have the little Snow-people done.... tell me, do you think the adult is a mom or dad?   or maybe an older brother or sister?  It's hard to tell gender here ...

I decided to give this pattern a little Zzzzzing by doing the birds in red to honor my favorites, the Cardinals.

But I am not really happy with this red color.  It's too drab - I need it to shine brightly in the background of all that blue and white.  I used a turkey red thinking with the blue in it, it would play nicely with the blues.  But maybe that's the problem, maybe it plays too nicely and just blends right in.

So I think I'm going to take it out and try a nice, bright Christmas red...

The spool of Sulky 12 wt is the turkey red I used on the current bird, and the DMC floss is what I am going to use next to see if I like it better.  You can really see the difference in color and brightness with the two flosses side by side.  Hopefully, this will brighten that little bird right up!  I really like the Sulky one-ply threads, but I couldn't justify buying a new spool when I have this perfectly good skein of DMC already, and I don't need that much of it for the entire project.

This is what I have left of this block to do...

......hopefully by next week I'll finish it up and start a new block!

And I promised you some Stash Enhancement, didn't I?

Well, this week I have some FUN fabrics to show you!!!  First, I stopped into a LQS (Lebanon Vac & Sew) to pick up some stabilizer for Genevieve's quilt, and Jan showed me this new fabric she had just gotten in....

The background is a little off - this is a white fabric with black lettering and some grays

 Everywhere you look, there are these hilarious articles....

Of course, I had to have a yard of it, although I have absolutely NO IDEA what I'm going to do with it!  But, someday a project will present itself, and I just know this fabric will be the perfect solution for it :*D

Selvedge info in case you want to try to find some for yourself.  It really doesn't give a lot of info.....

Then I spied a great sale at the Fat Quarter Shop advertised on Facebook one day for these fun fabrics - at 50% off!!!  You all know my love of text fabrics and bright, fun designs, so I'm sure it's no surprise to anyone that these fabrics called my name - loudly!!!  Half-yard pieces simply jumped into my basket....

Won't this be a fun selvedge with the letters running down it?
Makes me want to start another Selvedge Box right now!!!

Be sure to check in with Kathy's Quilts to see how others are Slow Stitching this Sunday, and with Judy's Patchwork Times to see how others are using their stash  :*D

Today is the start of the Sunday Football season,

so you know where you'll find me this afternoon!!!

Hopefully our Carolina Panthers can put together a decent season.....

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Lessons From a Teacup....

Sitting on my side porch in the early morning drizzle and stitching on my current Winter Wonderland block...
            Life is Good!!!

As always at these slow-stitching times, my mind quietens, leaving room for my Lord to speak gently to my soul.  This is the lesson I heard this morning as I lifted an almost empty teacup to my lips and tasted...

"When your cup is full to the brim with a fresh supply of delicious, steaming hot tea, it takes a while away from the hot burner before it grows cold and tasteless and unworthy of its name.  But if that cup is running on empty, and you've neglected to fill up on a fresh supply, it takes no time at all away from the heat before it becomes that most despicable of all things... Cold Dregs!!!  It is the same with you and Me, my Daughter.... stay filled up with My Love, My Word, and My Presence, and all will be well with your soul!"

Indeed!!!  

This current block of Winter Wonderland is coming along very nicely, if a little more slowly than I would like.....

I am thinking I will adopt my friend Barbara's (Cat Patches) habit of stitching a little bit each morning before she starts her day.  Otherwise, it will be another lifetime before this project is done LOL!!!  And it is a good time for me to sit and reflect quietly on the day ahead and "fill up" with all that I need in order to face it :*)

I'm linking up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching today....and praying for her and her family as they go through the loss of her beloved brother ..... life can also sometimes be very cruel.....

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Slow Sunday Stitching

It's a gorgeous Sunday here in Music City Tennessee!!!  I'm looking forward to some slow stitching this morning.....

Remember Winter Wonderland?  With all the knitting I've started lately, my embroidery has suffered, but I did manage to get a little in while at my daughter's house.  This is my third block, and it is coming along nicely.  I just love these little snow-people!  And there's nothing like a gentle embroidery project to work on while thinking about things of the Spirit on a beautiful Sunday morning!!!

Later on I plan to start work on Genevieve's Live-Love-Laugh baby quilt.  I have quite a lot of planning that has to be done before I can put needle to fabric, so I'll work on that for a few hours.  Then I'll grab my knitting and sit with my hubby watching the Bridgestone Invitational golf tournament the rest of the afternoon.  Yep, it's looking like a perfect day!!!

Oh yes, and I almost forgot to show you a picture of my completed Lone Starburst blocks in AQUAS....

There were not many scraps in my AQUA box, but there sure were some fun ones!  

I love that flower in the bottom left :*)

Linking up today with Kathy at Slow Sunday Stitching and SoScrappy's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Back in the Blogging Saddle!

Gentle reminder.... Google Reader shuts down tomorrow!  

If you have been following by GR, I'd love for you to switch over to Bloglovin' so I don't lose you as a valuable follower!!!  Just click on the link on my sidebar to continue following along ♥♥♥

I got home late yesterday afternoon from my "world tour" - aka, visiting a few days with my daughter and then at the TVQA Spring Seminar in Murfreesboro for 3 days :*)  It's always such a delight to spend time with Christy and Emma.  I don't see them nearly enough now that they are three hours away from us in Savannah.  During this trip, I got a special treat ---- Warning!  Serious cute alert coming up ....

Brand new baby kittens!!!!

Adelaide ("Addie") with her newborns =^..^=

 Emma's cat Addie gave birth to these little sweethearts while I was on the road to their house.  Four shiny new faces greeted me upon my arrival!

Sweet little baby face!

Who can resist a newborn baby kitten?  Mama's got a protective paw over this little fellow

Addie is only about a year old herself and this is her first litter, so we were really happy to find that she is an excellent mother and doing a fine job with no help at all.  The proud papa, Harry, is not so sure what is going on, and he's pretty sure he's not happy about it because his playmate is not coming out to play anymore.  So he's finding other ways to keep himself occupied, like playing with my scraps as I was trying to iron them LOL!!!

He's such a ball of energy that it was hard to get a picture that wasn't blurry!

After I left Christy's house, I headed off to Murfreesboro TN and the TVQA Spring Seminar.  I took 4 classes in 3 days, and it was truly a blast!  Actually, I feel a little "blasted" this morning LOL!!!  Pooped and just plain worn out!  But I learned a lot and had so much fun!   I'm sending a shout-out to my friend and great roomie, Lisa!  This was our first time rooming together for anything, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to get to know her better.  She's such a great person and wonderfully easy going!  We got along famously and very quickly came up with a routine that allowed us both to enjoy our stay and each other's company - so lovely!!!

I'll share pictures and adventures from my classes tomorrow for Design Wall Monday.  For today, first up, I just have to share this wonderful fabric sent to me by my wonderful friend, Cheryl who blogs at Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting.

OMG!!!  Cheryl said she saw this fabric and just knew that I would LOVE to have a piece of it because of my love of text fabrics - was she ever RIGHT!!!!  Oh my gosh, I squealed when I opened it!  Not only do I love text fabrics, but I also love crosswords - any kind of word puzzles are special favorites of mine!!!  Cheryl, I can't thank you enough!  This will go in a very special project, something I can look at often and think of you!!!  =^..^=

I also want to share my Slow Stitching Sunday progress and link up at Kathy's Quilts - one of my favorite blogs!  This is a Ta-Da moment for me.....(pardon the wrinkles!)

Yay!!!  I finished the final block for Promises & Borders!!!!

Yes, indeed, my friends, all my whining about these blocks is now officially over!!!  =^..^=

I'll look up my pictures for all of these blocks and try to post them together sometime later this week.  I'm so excited to be done with these stitchery blocks, and I can't wait to trim them down to size, sash and assemble all of these lovely blocks and make them into a wonderfully inspiring quilt!!!

Since I knew I was very close to finishing P&B, I traced off the 3rd block for Winter Wonderland in case I needed another handwork project while I was traveling.....

I also took along my socks, but somehow never got around to working on those.  I understand there was an amazing Knit Shop right around the corner from where I was staying, but I never got a chance to get over there.  I have to find my yarn for the Dreambird Knitalong with Judy and Denise!  (You can go Patchwork Times or Justquiltin with Denise Russart to check that out if you're wondering what I'm talking about.  They both have links to this KAL on their sidebars)  I'm thinking a day trip with my friend Joanne is going to be in order very soon :*D

In closing today, I'll reward you for sticking around to the end by showing you some pictures of stash additions - very little actually - I'm quite proud of myself!!!

First, I found a good-size bottle of Best Press in the Unscented version in Hancocks....

Several of you wondered if the lavender scent in the smaller bottle I was using was bothering my allergies.  That particular scent did not bother me, but then I tried using the peaches and cream scent, and that one did bother me!  It really did a number on my lungs and I began coughing quite a bit.  I also didn't like the hair-spray-type sprayer on those small bottles, so I was happy to find this bigger bottle with the super-duper sprayer and no scent!  Now that I'm home, I'll be continuing my Stash Washing Adventures.  Thank you to so many of you who offered great suggestions and ideas for helping with that - you're the best! - and I will be trying each and every one of them !!!

And now for the Stash Enhancements you've all been waiting for

 - and very patiently too I might add  =^..^=

Pat Sloan had a box of half-yard cuts for $2.50 on her book table, a great price I couldn't resist, especially with some of these lovely colors and prints!

Aren't they wonderful?  Totally irresistible!  Fortunately, I did manage to resist all other fabric offers... unbelievable, I know!  Especially when Hancocks had an entire wall of fabrics in every color and print imaginable for 50% off!!!  I only picked up two pieces of solids in the remnants bin there for peanuts....Yes, I'm good :8)

Be sure to come back tomorrow for some pictures from my classes at Spring Seminar!

I hope you all have a lovely Sunday ♥

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Sunday Goolash

When we were small, there was a three-year period of time when my mom was divorced and raising us kids on little income and no child support.  Meals were creative, to say the least!  Sometimes on Sundays, she would dump all the leftovers in the refrigerator into a big pot, add some other stuff (God alone knows what!), and let it simmer on the stove for a while.  She called it Goolash.  I really can't remember what it tasted like, but it must have been pretty good because we ate it up :*)  I know a lot of your moms did the same thing, right?

So what made me think of Mom's Goolash?  Because today I'm dumping lots of leftover stuff from this week into one post and calling it Goolash!  I hope you find it as tasty as we did our Mom's Goolash :*D

And since it's Sunday, let me share a Sunday miracle with you all....

This morning I got up to find our table where the laptop usually sits cleared off and the laptop sitting upside down in a spot of sunshine on the floor!  What in the world?!?  My husband had been surfing the Internet earlier and had dumped an entire cup of coffee into the keyboard!!!  Yep - the whole cup!  With cream no less!

But now a few hours and lots of hair-dryer action later, I'm typing up this blog post on that same laptop!  Now is THAT a miracle or what???  I'm really thankful too, because I have a lot of pictures and downloaded patterns on this laptop that had not yet been backed up, not to mention a lot of work done on a Guild project that is due soon!  Oh yes, my friends, God is Good!!!!

So, now, back to the oh-so-tasty Goolash ..... =^..^=

First, I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for some Slow Sunday Stitching!  I finished my second block in the Winter Wonderland series... I just love this sweet little snowchild making snow angels :*D  I'll trace off the next block later today.

Then I got a little bit more appliqued down on my latest Blue Collection vase.  The top part is not completely stitched down yet because I still need to add a few pieces under it.

From this next picture, you can see what I have left to add - a few more sections to the vase and the handles.

I'm really getting excited about getting this close to having these blocks finished!!!

On the Needles, I have almost finished my Shore Thing scarf.

All that is left to do is the ruffled trim at the bottom of one end.  Isn't that a pretty ruffle?  It was really, really simple to do too :*)

The pattern says it takes 2 balls of thread, but this is all I had left after the first ruffle.

Fortunately, they still had more of this color at Joann's, so I went ahead and picked up another ball.  Maybe I'll make a pair of hand warmers to match the scarf :*)

As for the Stash Enhancement Report, I finished up my Rainbow Pineapples this week.  WhooHoo!!!  I'm not sure how much yardage to count for it since it all came from crumbs!  But I would guess about 3 yards.  I didn't add anything new this week, but I must confess a few half-yard cuts of Kaffe Fassett Aboriginal Dots will soon show up in my mailbox from Canton Village Quiltworks ....=^..^=

Kaffe Fassett prints available at Canton Village Quiltworks

.....today is the last day of their sale on Kaffe prints at 8.25 a yard, so go by and get it while you can :*)  The way prices are going up lately, I'm trying to add stash items that will be good blenders when I find good prices, you know what I mean?

Now I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Sunday!  

Wishing you all a glorious day!!!

Hugs & Blessings

Teresa

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Slow Stitching Sunday ... and Some Major Stash Enhancement!!!

Since I have been traveling for the holiday, I was able to get in some sweet hand stitching!  I finally finished up the 7th block in my Promises & Borders quilt.  I only have 3 more blocks to finish this up.

I also got a lot done on my latest Blue Winter Wonderland block.... just a few snowflakes left to finish this one up.  Lots to go before this quilt will be finished though :*)

I always so enjoy the gentle pace of hand stitching and look forward to my time with needle and thread :*)  I'll be linking up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching linky party, so be sure to go over and see what others are slowly stitching up!

I can't wait to get home (driving all day tomorrow!) and get busy on some really fun projects going on!  Bonnie posted the first Easy Street clue Friday and all I could do was LOOK!!!  I am just itching to chop up some 2" strips with my new die cutter and get busy making those cute little 4 patches!!!  And Jenny at Sew Kind of Wonderful posted the newest Curve It Up QAL block - a curved rail fence - sweet!!!!  Look for some fun project posts SOON!   =^..^=

However, my week was not all spent in traveling, visiting family, cooking, and eating lots of this...

Yes indeedy - that's a 24 pounder!!!!  Just before he went in for his last browning :*)

I also managed to enhance the stash quite nicely!!!!

I always try to go by Mary Jo's in Gastonia when I am in North Carolina, and it worked out perfectly for me to drop in last Tuesday.  I even ran into Mary Jo herself!  I'll do a post next week on my visit and share some of the pictures I took at the shop, but for now I'll just share some of my goodies....

Some of these luscious lime/apple greens will be added to my Easy Street stash!

Love these aquas!!!
These will not only be used on Easy Street but also on my aqua Jamestown Landing (someday!)

This yummy aqua batik was only $7 a yard so I had to bring home some of it - wouldn't you????

This is the gray I decided to use for Easy Street - I like it much better than the one I had in my stash.

Two more fat quarters for Easy Street!

I'm hoping this happy orange polka dot will work with  my Curve It Up QAL fabrics

There are always so many batiks to choose from at Mary Jo's, but these had to come home with me!  I love the rich blues and I'm thinking they will work well with my Butterflies quilt.  This picture does not do the multi-colored one on top justice - the picture below is better....

This is a better shot of the multi-colored blue/purple batik - WOW!!!  It is a gorgeous piece of fabric!

So the Stash Report for this week is.......

Stash Enhancement Report - November 25, 2012 

Used/Destashed this week:  0.0 yards

Used/Destashed YTD 2012: 222.75 yards

Stashed this week: 14.25 yards

Stashed YTD 2012: 269.00 yards

Net Used for 2012: -46.25 yards

Be sure to go over to Patchwork Times to see how others are doing at managing their stash!

Hugs & Blessings!
Teresa
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