what to do . . .

I've been thinking a lot about my posting frequency.  I love my blogging community and I've made some dear and wonderful friends ... LIFEtime friends, even ... through this medium.  But honestly, I missed *me* when I wasn't blogging.  I love flipping through old posts and reading what I was up to, scrolling through the photos, reminiscing and getting all nostalgic.  I really enjoy writing and this has been my best outlet for that for years!  So frequency . . . 

Weekly would serve me best.  Life is so busy, and because I tend to write about life (because the good Lord knows I don't do enough quilting/stitching/etc. to write a post monthly, much less weekly), weekly posts would be great. Just not sure if I can keep up with that.  Writing a blog post takes time, effort, and energy!  But I think that will be my *goal*.

All that being said, what a week! Tuesday evening was Ellie's band concert.  It was a fabulous evening of fun music.  Ellie is first chair clarinet.  It's fun to hear her each year and appreciate how far she's come.

I brought Edith home with me, and while she was there, this photo came up on my screensaver . . .

That was about six months ago.  Edith and I decided to recreate it for comparison . . .

Starry is a BIG girl kitten!!  We had to laugh!

Wednesday I had some work to take care of at the Camp.  I've got one last Eagle Scout project that I'm managing:  the deconstruction of the turtle sanctuary.  The RV and the Nook have been moved.  It's the first time I've been out there since that happened, and it hit hard . . .

But it's all good. Taking a walk, I spotted a little toad.  I've still got the "eye"!

I had lunch at a new-to-me (and I think, relatively new to Huntsville) restaurant, Tupelo Honey.  It had a really cute vibe, and the food was fabulous.  But what really made me happy was the water glass . . .

Yes, they do sell them, and yes, I did come home with one!

Thursday evening was the end-of-the-year program for the girls' homeschool community, Classical Conversations (which Jocelyn directs). While they'll continue to do math and reading through the summer, their Thursday CC days are done for the summer!

The program was terrific and it was fun seeing each class do a presentation, showing off all they'd learned.

Friday night was a Trash Panda night!  I love baseball games . . . the atmosphere is fantastic!  

And we live less than ten minutes from the Trash Panda Stadium, so we try and do a couple of games during the season–especially on a Friday or Saturday night, when they do fireworks!

Today I hosted a mini stitch-in for my inner circle stitchy girls. I totally meant to get a selfie of us, but got caught up in the cameraderie and it slipped my mind.  Not necessarily a bad thing.  I continued to work on my Coming to America project.  I think I've made good progress!  

This will be my slow Sunday stitching (see the lineup at Kathy's Quilts), if I'm able to do any!

I downloaded and proceeded to 'thumb' through May's Primitive Quilts and Projects, and came across this darling wool project:

If I have time this week, I'll kit it and get started! 

A very Happy Mother's Day to all who celebrate! ♥ ♥ ♥

:)

fun days . . .

Not a lot going on in the Nook these past two weeks.  We've got Campers on Mission in the camp for their annual work.  This year they've been working on a new bathhouse for the camp.  It's so exciting watching it come together . . . 

Isn't that great?!  They've worked so hard for these last two weeks.  I am so excited for the benefit this adds to the camp! ♥  Speaking of the camp, one of the COM wives knew I sewed/quilted, and look what she made me:

Awesome, right?  That was so kind of her to remember me that way.  :)

Last week we attended the end-of-year program for the girls' Classical Conversation group, and they were so darling!

I'm so glad we're close to them and can attend things like this.  I miss our California crew (pictured here, camping in the wilds) . . . 

They're coming to visit at the end of June and I can. not. wait!!!

I had a GREAT Mother's Day!  We went to church and one of the gals I mentor gifted me with this beautiful bouquet and a lovely card.

Isn't that sweet? I was so touched! After church we stopped by and visited with my folks.  Then we headed back to the camp for a BBQ lunch with Jocelyn and her crew.

It was a lovely afternoon, and they all gifted me so well!!  Joc got me a new 60 mm ergonomic rotary cutter and a book of botanical embroidery patterns which I've wanted for a while . . .

And Todd got me THESE!!!!

Are they not just PERFECT??!  He knows me so well!  And, well, I got myself this sweet little wool pattern from Sentimental Stitches . . .

I mean, a girl's gotta do!

And for the cherry on top, I was a winner!  Janet, over at Rogue Quilter, was clearing out some patterns and I am now the proud owner of some very cute wool patterns, perfect for my little stand!!!

Am I right?!?  Thanks so much, Janet!  :)

So, that's it for what's going on here.  I hope everyone enjoyed as lovely a Mother's Day as I did.  Oh yeah, and I meant to say ... I have turned off comments on my blog.  It's just easier for me this way. ♥

:)

may day, may day . . .

It's been a very busy Spring! I looked up and realized if I didn't post something here, May would go by (along with the bottom two-thirds of April) without a word from me. Heaven forbid!!  ;)

Our guild strives to be active in community-oriented events.  One of those events is Panoply, an annual arts festival held in downtown Huntsville's Big Spring Park.

This year at our booth, we went interactive! We had hexies prepped and ready to baste to engage passersby!  

Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, over 200 people, adults and kids alike, basted up a hexie!

We'll whip the hexies together (after allowing members of our guild to participate) and it will become the #HEXIEquiltthatHSVbuilt! Go Team Hexie!

I also found a new-to-me LQS -- Hook & Bobin.  Cute little place ... this fabric *immediately* caught my eyes . . .

Isn't it marvelous??!!  Cat-finity!  Tah-dah! At this point I have absolutely no idea what I'll do with it, but I don't mind waiting until it speaks to me. Sometime in the summer of 2011, I fell head-over-heals in love with Moda's "Dragonfly Summer" line.  Bought yardage in several of the fabrics and a layer cake.  Once again I had absolutely NO idea what I was going to do with it all.  In fact, it's still sitting in my stash, nearly eight years later!  But it finally did speak to me . . .

This will be a picnic quilt -- 80" X 90" -- for Joc and her family. Whew! It's a very simple design, but I think it works for a big utility quilt.  Anyway, maybe I'll have something figured out for the cat fabric by 2025?

The older two local grandgirls had their end of the year ballet recitals!  They both did so well!

This was Evey's first year and she was the epitome of grace!  Edith wanted in on the picture, of course.  She's already gung-ho to start ballet and dances with her older sisters every chance she can!  

Joc and her crew were at the beach for Mother's Day, so we celebrated this past Friday.  Jocelyn set a lovely table and prepared a feast for our "Ladies' Lunch"!

Delectable, non?!  Everything was so pretty and tasted so yummy!  It was a fun treat. After lunch, they spoiled me with presents!

A little bit of something representing all my favorite things!  A book on tea that doubles as a tea diary, a pretty owl spoon rest, two wooden trivets that look like they were EPP'd, and Kathy Schmitz's book, Stitches from the Garden.  I have the other two books -- Stitches from the Yuletide and Stitches from the Harvest, so it feels nice to "complete" my set!  In fact, I think Joc has gifted me with all of them!

I'll leave with a photo of the girls and me . . .

They're growing so fast . . . and more beautiful with each day!

Linking up to sarah did it! and the HeLP post!

:)

mid-week musings . . .

Happy Wednesday!! Aren't you glad we're mid-way through the work week? That only stands true for me first thing in the morning on Wednesdays, seeing as how I work four ten-hour days! That means tomorrow is my Friday and I get TWO Saturdays! LOL! I'll stop now . . . !!

Before I headed out to the Nook on Sunday afternoon, Todd and I tooled around the camp for a bit. I'd mistaken "deerberry bushes" for mountain laurel a couple of weeks ago, but found that the mountain laurel was finally blooming . . . 

The flowers look very similar, but the leaves are quite different! I love that after seven years, I'm still discovering new flora up at the camp! We also fed the fish at the pond and caught a quick couples selfie.

I do love our life together!

Then I got busy in the sewing nook. I finished one of the ornaments (but forgot to grab a picture), finished up one of the dress tabs . . .

I should have taken a picture of the back side of the tab, which is remarkably blank, a fact of which I'm quite proud of. I took great care to stitch without catching the back side of the fabric! I can't wait to see the girls decked out in their sweet dresses!

I also traced out some alphabet letters and have gotten A and C stitched, and D is traced and ready to go.

These are going to be such fun -- I love the diversity of the letters! Plus they're fairly straight forward, but just fanciful enough to make you smile.  :)

I'll continue to work on this every spare moment (like lunch time and evenings). I still have two quadrants to finish.  Eeks! Linking up today with Esther's Quilt Blog WOW (WIPs On Wednesday) post.

Our Campers on Mission group continues to make fabulous progress on the deck and the other improvements they're working on. I'll do a comprehensive post on all their work soon, but here's a glimpse (I lifted from my Instagram) into our time with them, which included some campfire time last night . . .

The weather has been outstanding and we really enjoyed hanging out last night! Their work is top notch! I can't wait to show it off!

Y'all have a great rest of the week!

:)

blasting through the weekend . . .

First things first . . .

Whether your babies are little or grown and have babies of their own or are fur babies, Happy Mother's Day to you!  I pray your day is filled with laughter and love!

I got a little stitching done this week.  I finished a second quadrant of Evey's quilt and realized I'd better find something to put in all of those white squares!  After a quick search online, I found this darling alphabet by Sublime Stitching . . . 

Aren't they fun??  The letters were way too small for the 5" blocks, so I enlarged them (by about 250%) and made them singles (and laminated them to keep them safe - haha!)--

I'll start sketching tracing these out in the next week or so and get busy stitching, stitching!

I stitched up my two ornaments for May at my Tuesday evening Stitcher's Group. One was a yo-yo wreath, that still needs a bow and a cord for hanging.

The second was a mini-poinsettia.

I've never thought about using the poinsettias as ornaments, but I think this will work nicely! I still need to find an appropriate sized button (the one pictured is a tad too big) and stitch it together and add the cord. I've got twenty-three days! LOL!

I've got a sweet little stitching project to work on this afternoon.  Joc had some blank tabs for one of the girls' dresses that she wanted to pizzazz up with something patriotic/4th of July-ish. So I worked up a couple of designs . . .

And she picked one . . .

And I'll stitch it up!  I'll use metallic red and blue floss for the firework and silver floss for the stars (which I'll satin stitch).  They should be very cute!

My fabric use has (again) been nil.

But it won't be long before I'm ready to quilt the quadrants of Evey's quilt and I'll need more fabric for the backing. Of course, the goal is to have it go in and right back out again!

It's been a very busy weekend!  Ellie came home with me on Thursday evening and we had a marvelous time doing all the things she wanted to do. Watch movies, color, play with buttons and drink tea.

She has very simple, specific desires which totally match my own! Thursday evening was very cool and we bundled up to take a golf cart ride:

On Friday morning we had a "Neesey and Ellie" date and went to Jacks for breakfast.  Evidently they make good pancakes.

And evidently, Ellie's quite the model. She had a little 'ham' with her pancakes! Silly, fun girl!

Friday evening and Saturday I spent in ESL (English as a Second Language) Teacher Training. It was fascinating and I hope to be able to put it to good use!

Saturday afternoon, I raced from ESL TT and put my hat on and headed to Emma's Tea Room, for afternoon tea with the Wears Chapel ladies!

We had a lovely time with lots of yummy goodies!!

Don't laugh, but from there, I raced back to the camp to join Todd for a fish fry he did for the Campers on Mission! The Campers on Mission have been very busy bees this week!  Check out the progress on the new back deck . . . 

We're so excited to see it come together!! I can totally see a group of rockers on this deck, facing out, filled with ladies doing handwork! This group has been such a HUGE blessing to the camp -- they are incredibly hard workers and love the Lord. Todd and I are hoping that the Camp can be added to their annual calendar. What fun!

I'm headed to church this morning -- I have both my preschool Sunday school class *and* preschool church this morning, so I've loaded up with double the Mother's Day crafting to do!  From there, I think I'll do my slow stitching on the front porch this afternoon.  Aaaaaah!  Linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts. Y'all have a blessing-filled day, and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

:)