'nuff said . . .

As I so boldly stated:

The Pineapple Quilt is finished!

And the stash report reflects it!

Linking up to Patchwork Times . . . and heading home this afternoon!

:)

progress report . . .

:)

it's that time again . . .

Already sitting pretty at my favorite 'station'! The view is always phenomenal.

Pineapple Quilt or bust. See ya' on the flip side!!!

:)

busy, busy, busy . . .

Tsk, tsk . . . the working hours have changed again.  I'm working less hours, but over more days, and it's really thrown me for a loop! I see it in my ability to get in quilting time *and* to my ability to blog and read blogs.  I need to find a routine and get settled in . . . the first week was a doozy, filled with a lot of other activities, too!

The main one was preparing for our first Global Missions Conference, hosted by a local church!

We have just started the process (aka, we just got approval from our board and are now talking to the attorney) to change the name of our ministry from Restoring the Church Ministries to Church Strengthener, so we needed to get new business cards made and highlight a new ministry website. And, since this was our first conference to be a part of as a ministry, we weren't quite sure what to expect, but our display looked pretty good:

It was a terrific learning experience and we got some good exposure. We were a little late in getting into the game (so to speak), but we'll be ready in the fall, when another of our local churches holds a similar conference. One of the highlights of my evening there was being across the way from the Missions to Haiti table. He and his wife had served in Haiti for forty years . . . that is just so incredible and wonderful! He gifted us with some Haitian coffee and some Haitian vanilla!  Sweet!

Yesterday the weather was simply gorgeous - sunny and rather mild - and the Panter crew came up to soak in some sunshine and exhaust some energy!

Pawpaw is always a fun one to follow in follow-the-leader! Unless you've got rocks in your boots.  Olivia took it all in from her carrier. Mostly she just dozed . . . the warm sunshine was good for that, too!

My stash report remains unchanged from last week . . .

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  *sigh*  I'm still plugging away on the pineapple quilt.  I got all the handwork finished up on it, at least for the time being. I hope to get out into the Nook and assemble the borders (which involves piecing and quilting them) so I can attach the corner blocks to them and then attach the borders and hand stitch those seams down. Phew. Then all that will be left will be the binding! Whoohoo! Today, though, in my slow stitching time, I'll be working on a little mini weaving . . .

Isn't that cute?? It was originally a challenge from my StitchMAP group . . . I finished that one and am making several more -- they make great fobs!

Linking up today to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts. Y'all enjoy a happy Sunday!

:)

good, better, best . . .

Wow, what a week it's been . . . and I have bad news and good news and better news and best news. First the bad (so I can end on a happy note) . . . not only will the pineapple quilt not be a January finish, I didn't even work on it this week. Why, you ask? Good question and that brings me to my good news.

I'd finally gotten my act together and got the backing fabric of Pixelated to the quilter (who happens to be Melissa of I Am Beautiful Bee), and she (in a much more timely manner) brought me a quilted quilt while I was at work on Monday. WOW! She did a marvelous job quilting it, don't you think?

So *I* in turn hurried it home and spent a little time in the Nook and got some binding put on that bad boy . . .

And spent my evenings stitching it down . . . a Binding Blitz, if you will:

And here it is, fresh from the dryer:

Labeled and ready to go:

Whoohoo! How's that for better news?? I had no idea that this would be my first finish of the year, but I'll take it! Consequently my stash report looks pretty darn good:

I think this is the first time *EVER* in my stash reporting that I've been in the black!  Let's see how long it lasts, right?? 

My bestest news was all the time I got to spend with this little sprite over the weekend . . . 

We had a sleepover and did marvelous things, like watching Tangled together, taking walks and finding lots of sticks, and sleeping in late and watching cartoons in bed.  

Today?  It's back to this . . .

I'll take it.  My February finish, maybe? My slow Sunday stitching, anyway! Also linking up today to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts!!

Happy day!

:)

play it again, sam . . .

I'm beginning to feel a bit like a broken record . . .

Three weeks running now that my stash hasn't changed, for better or worse! And given the work that lies before me, my tune isn't likely to change next week, either!

But I have plenty to slowly stitch away on today. My favorite tools are assembled:

And I have miles of black seam covering to stitch.

Miles.  Times four!

I did finally get my Christmas put away. I had considered leaving it up until February 2, but I had the time and the inclination, so I went ahead and put it away. I used to think that it was pretty impressive that all my tree ornaments fit in a single, small box:

But then I got to thinking how impressive it was that I live in an RV and get to fill that whole box with tree ornaments -- and put that box in a forty gallon Rubbermaid container with the rest of my Christmas stuff. Wow!

So today I'll go sit in my freshly dusted and vacuumed living room, put a fire in the fire place, make a pot of tea, and stitch away the afternoon. Sound like a plan?!

Linking up with Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts.  Have a wonderful Sunday!

:)

stuff and junk and things . . .

The weather this week has been absolutely gorgeous, so far.  I captured this beautiful sunrise on Monday . . . 

I already shared it on facebook, but I like to cover all my bases.  LOL!  Today's forecast is pretty lovely, too:

Hard to believe we had snow flurries and ice, this time last week!

I did get to spend a tidy amount of time in the Nook yesterday . . . aaaaaaaah! I finished up the last few stitches on the POTC block I was working on. And then promptly forgot to take a picture of it. So I guess you really didn't need to see a picture of it!

I then pulled out the pineapple quilt and got busy on it. There were aspects of it strewn all over the room . . .

But the most important thing was getting it here:

So now the entire center is stitched together and what I have to work on now is stitching down the covering sashes. While I was at it yesterday, I did go ahead and cut, stitch and press all of those, so they'll be ready to go when it's time to attach the borders.  It's already a pretty substantial quilt and the borders will add 10" to all four sides!

It was a quiet day, spent in the company of me, myself and I.  Oh, and this darling little gal . . .

Isn't she sweet??!  She's my Nook "companion".  She never argues or disagrees with me and is a terrific listener! She quiet listens and smiles at everything I say. Very affirming. My Stitcher's Etc. pal, Sarah, made her for me, so I wouldn't be without companionship whilst stitching the day away! She needs a name. Any thoughts??

Did you know that today is Squirrel Appreciation Day?! It is! And to celebrate I found a darling royalty-free drawing that would make a very cute stitchery . . .

credit

Perfect for my neck of the woods (quite literally)! Just right click and save. It beats trying to 'hug a squirrel'!

Linking up today to Esther Aliu's WOW (Wips On Wednesdays) post!

:)

same song, second verse . . .

. . . my stash stayed the same and my busy-ness was worse!

Well, my stash did stay the same.  Nothing in and nothing out.  Fine.  And my week was very busy.  Our ministry held its annual board meeting on Friday, so the days I wasn't working, I was busy helping Todd get ready for that.  Except for Thursday night . . . Thursday night was guild, blessed guild night!

Our speaker was fiber artist, Molly Elkind.

Her work was incredible!  I loved her cardinal piece . . .

Plus she did a lot of work in cotton paper that was very fascinating.

She's moved all over the place in her mediums, from fabric, paper, and now weaving. She shared about a new type of organic cotton being grown that actually grows in colors -- green and brown. These are two pieces she wove using it . . .

Interestingly enough, when it's washed, it gets darker and darker, instead of fading. How cool is that?! Needless to say I enjoyed her lecture and trunk show very much! 

However, because of all the comings and goings, I still haven't spent a lot of time in the Nook. I got in there long enough to put bed risers under my cutting table legs:

Tah dah! Now, if I can just make it to Tuesday . . . I'll be able to spend a whole DAY in the Nook! Yay!!

In the meantime, I'm still working on this POTC block, stitching when I can . . .

Which will probably be in the car, to and fro tomorrow! I've only got two more units to attach to the block. And yes, that's tape on the units . . . I do that to make sure the units go together the way I want them to, which is especially important if you've been fussy cutting.

But on Tuesday . . . it's all pineapple quilt. Finally!

Like how I put it on hangers and hung the strips?  Makes for a gorgeous backdrop (if I do say so myself)!

Linking up in a couple of places.  First, HeLP for Hexie-aholics, over at sarah did it! It's her birthday weekend (Saturday, January 17) so go over and give her some birthday love!  Also linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts!

:)

a head-spinning weekend . . .

(First:  A very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! shoutout to my youngest sister, Laura!!!)

Whew . . . it's Monday and I'm *worn* out!  Not that there's too much I'd change about this last weekend, it was just so action-packed, it ended too quickly!  I just asked if I could get a weekend do-over.  I was told yes, in four more days.  LOL!

Thursday night a group of ladies from church went out for dinner and a movie.

We went to see Into the Woods, and it was fabulous!  It was quite fun and a musical to boot, which is one of my favorite genres.  It was a great pick for a group of girls ... the theater was almost empty and we giggled and sang through it!

I spent a good portion of Friday hanging out with the Panter kids! We had fun just playing around with blocks and toy cars and baby dolls.

Olivia was my baby doll of choice!

June pretty much stayed in/on/over my lap for the entire morning.  She's such a ham!!

Sawyer's gotten too cool for pictures (although he's not too cool to take a piggy back ride), but he obliged me with a selfie . . . and his unsmiling silly self! Such a stoic face!

Friday evening everyone met at Joc's house to celebrate Ellie's third birthday. WOW!  Where has the time gone?!?  I can only hope that Jason will share some of the pics he took, because I didn't take the first photo!  (What kind of Neesey am I?!?! One that's too busy holding babies of one sort or another to be holding a camera!)

Joc was kind enough to text a sweet pic of three-year-old Ellie in a new costume:

Ladies and gents, the famed Elsa of Frozen!!

Saturday was filled with errands and whatnot, then I headed to "Little Gym" for Ellie's friends party. 

The theme was Tinkerbell and Joc did a terrific job on it!  Again, very few pictures, but again my job was to hold wee ones . . . 

One that was not so happy to be held by Neesey!  Poor Everley ... though she's not looking too happy here, after mommy slipped in a quick feeding, Everley went right to sleep and slept quite happily in my arms, almost through the entire party, which was nice, because it allowed Jason *and* Joc to be with Ellie and enjoy the event.

My stash report is unchanged from last week . . . 

I really don't see a whole lot of change coming my way in the 'in' department. That's my plan, anyway!

My slow Sunday stitching was mostly done on the road, yesterday.  Sundays have gotten to be such busy days.  I'm helping teach the pre-school SS class in the mornings and then I'm teaching the ladies' discipleship class on Sunday evenings. Add choir practice and the probable meeting (or two) and Sunday afternoon is gone.  But we've got a thirty minute car ride to and fro and I've gotten a good portion of this POTC block whip stitched together . . . 

Because it was cut and ready to be assembled it's what I'm stitching.  I haven't had time to get into the Nook and get the strips cut and ready to stitch on the pineapple quilt.  Maybe this week??!

Linking up today to Patchwork Times (fabric report and design wall posts) and Kathy's Quilts!

Happy Monday . . . make it a great week!!

:)