sloooooow stitching . . .

Slow stitching is appropriate.  It feels like it took me *forever* to finish this piece, but finished it is!

I had to take some "staging" pics, too . . .

Heh. So I'm a stitcher, not a photographer. I think one of the reasons I took so much time is that this really was a new style of stitching for me. I'm still not sure if I'd choose to do it again. I like the dimensional aspect of it — but it's all big stitches with six strands of floss ... no delicate stitching for detail. Though I do love the French knots!

On another note, I got a stack of happy in the mail this week:

Meet Moda's Arboretum.  Isn't it yummy?!?? I'm thinking I'll use it in Diane Knott's (Butterfly Threads) mystery block of the month quilt!

For today's slow stitching, I think I'll play around with these . . .

Fun EPP shapes, don't you think?  They make cute hearts.

Right? I don't know what I'll do with them, but I have the desire to stitch up some hexie-like things, so that's how I'll roll.

Warning. This next photo is not for the feint of heart. Travesty of all travesties.

You can't have nuthin.

Not sure what happened to Mr. Pumpkin, but when you hang with foxes, deer, possums, raccoons and who know what else, this is to be expected. *sigh*  ;)

Enjoy the remainder of your Labor Day weekend!  We're taking off on the boat with the kids tomorrow to enjoy the day on the lake. Yay!  

Linking up to Kathy's Quilts and the Slow Sunday Stitching post!

:)

pluggin' along . . .

I've tried, I've tried, I've tried.  And for the most part, I've been successful.  I've continued to work towards at least 15 minutes of something stitching/quilting/crafting related.  Between work and church and the camp and family, there have been a couple of days where I've slacked. Ah well.  I'll keep plugging away! :)

You'll notice the Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop button on my sidebar!  I'm participating in the hop--I'm SO excited!  

My day will be October 10th ... if you know me well, you might understand why that day is significant for me.  There will probably (definitely) be a ♥ giveaway ♥ involved! Stay tuned!

We celebrated Labor Day weekend in high style. Todd and I took the boat out on Friday and fished our way up and down the river. On Saturday and Sunday, we put the 'labor' into Labor Day weekend and worked on finishing up the remodeling on our church's new building (Saturday) and then moved into said building (Sunday) after our morning services.  Whew!  On Monday, we celebrated by taking the family out on the lake for sun and swimming and a picnic lunch.

What a fun afternoon!  Heading back, Gilligan shanghaied the Skipper's seat (or his lap, rather) and demonstrated she's the cutest first mate ever!

I've continued to work on the Hospital Sketches BOM in wool . . .

I've traced onto freezer paper all the pieces of the eight blocks that have been introduced to date, and prepped block for half of those. I'm really enjoying working on these!

We celebrated Evey Jade's FIFTH birthday earlier this month . . . 

I can't believe this beautiful, charming and precocious little sprite of a girl is already five years old!  She celebrated her actual birth date in style with her favorite Disney character . . .

PIGLET!  Please note that her piglet was also in tow (because he goes EVERYWHERE Evey goes).  Yep, they're in Disney World, living the dream! She had her birthday breakfast with Piglet and later told me it was the best time, EVER!!!!  Live it up, sweet girl!

I also got a fun happy in the mail this past week . . . 

Yay!  I participated in Mary (Quiltin' Grandma's Designs) blog-o-versary early in August, and my name got selected for this treasure!  Mary is a very talented and prolific quilter.  You should give her blog a visit!

Finally, I took some time yesterday and pulled all the summer (and--shhhhhh!--a Valentine's thing and a snowman that still hadn't gotten put away) decor and put out some autumn things.  

I'm really pleased that this was all just things I'd made ... I didn't pull out any of my purchased squirrels or pumpkins.  Just quilted mug rugs, table toppers and wool. 

Since I handled, between putting away and putting out, all these crafted projects, does that count towards my fifteen daily minutes?!?

:)

how in the world . . .

. . . did it get to be September already?!?  Did we even have a July/August?  Hello!

I guess it's time to look at my stash and NewFOs from August then, huh?  All in all, my stash enhancement was pretty darn well balanced, for me:

Used/donated this month: 15.0 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 35.25 yards

Purchased/added this month: 12.5 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 83.75 yards

Net used/donated for 2013: -48.5 yards

Not too shabby ... finally some decent usage there, which also brought my net used numbers down.  Jolly good show!

As for NewFOs, I had several jolly good show starts as well, including my Christmas Twisted Hexies . . .

My strip quilt . . .

I had some darling help with that one last week.  They do say that two heads (and one full, furry body?!) are better than one!  Really it was rather appropriate ... it is, after all, fabric from the Dr. Seuss of Cat in the Hat infamy line!  ;)

The silhouettes project with pumpkins . . .

Fooling around with new dimensions for the spirograph (finished) . . .

And of course, my pretty little September block (finished) . . .

Todd and I sat outside yesterday evening, in our screened room we put up next to the sanctuary.  It was the perfect situation for a little handwork.  

I had forgotten about this little 'jewel'--somehow it got lost in the hustle and bustle of the summer--and decided it was time to whip all the pieces together.

I really love the look of it!  Perhaps this evening will be just as lovely and I can finish the hand-stitching part up while sitting outside.  And speaking of the sanctuary, please welcome our newest turtle guest . . . 

Merry! Which really does fit her (I'm pretty sure it's a 'her' because of her dark eyes) -- she's really rather spirited! 

I'm also working out some quilting ideas for Pixelated.

I have a general idea of what I'd like, but I'm still not sure.  It's nice to be able to print a copy from EQ and doodle things onto the printout.  For now though, what I'm busy repairing August's damage to the quilting bunk, so I can inflict September damage to it!  Seems a somewhat fitting way to spend Labor Day Monday!!

Linking up to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times (Design Wall Monday and Stash Report), Kathy's Quilts (Slow Stitching Sunday), Barbara Stanbro's Cat Patches (August NewFO Linky Party) and last, but FAR from least, Sarah Did It! (Feline Friday).  Whew!!

:)

what's NOT on the design wall . . .

I think I've got everything but the kitchen sink up on the "wall" today!  First of all, the storms came and went yesterday, leaving not much more than a few downed limbs and lots of rain in their wake.  Thank you to all who were concerned for us!  Today we've again got about an eighty percent chance of rain today, but so far, no severe storms are in the forecast!

All that being said . . . 

Happy Labor Day!

I plan on "laboring" the day away in the quilt bunk.  Here's what I've got going . . .

I need to put together lesson four of my Color Theory class.  Here's the EQ mock-up of part one:

It's playing with the different types of color schemes.  My fabrics are all cut and ready to stitch into blocks.  

This will go together fast.  I decided that I'd like to make it a piece I can actually use, hence the topper.  The second part of the lesson involves marking on my color wheel, which I've already done.  Then the third part is taking those same color schemes to a different design.  I'm going to use something similar to one of these borders . . . 

And use that to stitch onto the outside border of my topper (which I'll stitch onto a neutral, instead of the dark border I've got pictured in the mock-up).  Really pull the lesson into one project!

Next, I've got my fabrics mostly picked for my apple topper . . .

I decided to go ahead and keep the apples cores and the worms -- they do make it fun and whimsical and that's what I want!  I'm not sure how I'll do the cores.  At first I thought I'd just put them together as a single fabric . . . but now I'm thinking I might use the polka dot red at the top and bottom, and put a tonal white or cream in the center.  The polka dots help make it feel a little more whimsical.

And then I've got to find something to do with this piece of fabric . . .

Todd has mentioned several times how much he likes it, so I want to do something with it!  When I purchased it, I had something like this in mind (I mocked this up in Publisher):

Just a simple circle, spiral quilted with silver or opalescent thread, and bound in a solid black.  I make the background brown because that's what color our table is.

I had seen a simple, but lovely mat when traveling in Virginia ... I'd really wanted to buy it, but decided it cost so much that I could make it myself for much less.  And when I came across the fabric in the LQS in Maryland, I had an Ahha! moment!  Any thoughts?  I've got two FQs of it ... perhaps use one like this, back it with a different fabric, and save the other one for something else?

Okay.  That's it for today.  I really need to get busy if I'm going to get my lesson done today -- plus I want to finish stitching the leaves on my whole cloth project -- then I'll be finished with the center and ready to mark the next design!!  Y'all head over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times . . . that's where I'm linking up today and I'm sure there are bunches of Labor Day design walls! 

Have a GREAT day!!

:)