éirinn go brách . . .

I've lost a bit of my mind . . . I had a book giveaway posted last Sunday and forgot to draw a winner!!  I let random.org do my *dirty* work this morning and it came up with lucky number three, which was:

Gwynette in NW Arkansas who said, "The mystery and intrigue of Paul ..... Fascinating. Always eager to find a good read!!!"

Yay for Gwynette!  I'll get it off in the mail to her lickety-split!

Spring is definitely "springing"!  My daffodils have gone crazy!

In honor of the day and St. Patrick, I'm working on my 2015 March mini-quilt stand piece:

After I finish this and the carrot runners, I'm going to start working on fall stuff. It just makes so much more sense! And I won't feel like I'm always working *behind* -- LOL!

I also decided, in honor of the day, to sketch out my next hexi-crazy quilt block.  My first block is the "me" block . . . 

But my second block chronicles my trip to Ireland . . .

I have a couple of charms I'll add to it and I need to work on my seam treatments. The center square is the Irish flag, which I'll piece. I did kiss the Blarney stone while I was there, though I never did find that pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow! I went ahead, pulled out the crayons, and added some color to this block. 

Please tell me I'm not the only one who re-arranges the crayons in the box so they're more color oriented?! Haha!!

Linking up today's post to the design wall at Patchwork Times and to the HeLP for Hexie-aholics linky party over at sarah did it!

Todd's dad continues to do better.  He's off all the machines now and is able to sit for extended periods. We're expecting he'll be moved out of ICU and into a room today and that they'll have him up and walking. Yay! I so appreciated all the kind words, prayers, and comments!

Happy St. Patrick's Day -- go green!

:)

mad dash to add stash (report #41) . . .

Hi.  My name's Denise and I'm a fabric-a-holic.       Hi, Denise! 

Used/donated this week: 0 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 36.75 yards

Purchased/added this week: 4 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 154.75 yards

Net used/donated for 2012: -123 yards

I'm not even going to try and defend myself.  Except to say that it was all for (the most part) intended projects.  Check out what the other fabric-a-holics quilters have to say about their own stashes over at Patchwork Times!

As I'd mentioned, Julia and I made a quick stop in at the Annapolis quilt shop on Friday.  They had a darling little acorn print I'd not seen before and I picked up some Kona Snow, too.  For stitchery.

Yes, the acorn print does have a gold glint to it.  Yes, glitter and metallic call to me.

But I digress ... the whole point of me going back (under the guise of sharing the shop with my sister) was to pick up some of this . . . 

Isn't it darling?!?!?!?  I fell in love with this batik the first time I was in the shop, and let me talk myself out of getting it.  I should have known better.  It kept whispering to me to come back for it.  This is *so* cute that I imagine I'll include a fat quarter of it in my giveaway (which is still open and can be found HERE).

Julia and I did a little window shopping yesterday that ended up with her purchasing a wreath kit to take back to the rehab center.  We organized a little occupational craft therapy for my mom's Saturday afternoon!

Isn't it fun?  She did a great job with it.  We asked if she wanted to leave it in her room, but she wants it hanging on her front door, so it is . . .

It was a fun "girls" afternoon and a nice distraction, to boot!

While Julia and I were wandering, I saw this darling snow fellow wreath in A.C. Moore (we don't have one of those in the Huntsville area, to my deep sadness).

He's a delight!  I definitely see me making one of these.  So easy!  Just a simple wreath form, covered--and filled--with the deco mesh.  His features were all simple felt.  I might try and fashion a top hat for him.  I also found some fabric crayons.  Another blogger had mentioned using them with tremendous success and I wanted to give them a try.

Perhaps that's why I bought the Kona Snow.  LOL!

Today, after church, my sisters and I are headed out for brunch at a favorite restaurant of the locals.  I'll look forward to sharing more on that!

Make today a happy one!

:)

dis 'n dat . . .

Lots of busy work yesterday.  Sadly, a darling friend's dad passed away yesterday morning.  She isn't just a sweet friend, she's also my pastor's wife . . . which meant their family wasn't at church last night and so Todd stepped in to teach in our mid-week service.  He did a fabulous job -- he's such a great teacher!  But I spent a good portion of the afternoon helping him prepare.

I did get my flosses picked -- I think -- for Mr. Owlie . . . 

Unlike the Crazy in Color piece, where the floss was supposed to match the color it was outlining, in Mr. Owlie, I want the flosses to accent it, as well as outline some of it.  

In essence, the floss will lend color and depth and dimension, instead of just being a border.

I also got most of part three of a StitchMAP challenge completed. 

It's a "magic needlecase".  I've got it on good authority that it's really a fun finish ... but since you don't get the next installment until you've posted a picture of the finished current installment, I don't know yet!!  The challenges of StitchMAP are a lot of fun ... and not as intensive as the classes, but still aimed at teaching; whether a skill or a process.  I have it on good authority that a redwork class will be offered soon!!  I'm telling you - this group is one of the best I've ever been involved with!

And you may have noticed a little piece of flannel above, here's a better shot:

Well, it's as good as it's going to get for now, anyway!

I probably won't get a whole lot of stitch work in today, since I'm off to Jocelyn's.  I get to play with my Ellie-belly-baby . . . 

I'd take her over Mr. Owlie any day!

Have a great day . . . college football season starts TODAY!! 

:)

whooooo knows what i did yesterday . . .

Played with my little Owlie project yesterday.  But before I could, I realized I had to get myself some new crayons.  All I had were the jumbo crayons (hey -- I've got a toddler grandson!) ... and I might have chosen to give those a shot, but there's only EIGHT stinking colors in that box!  Forget that!  I need more color!  So I stopped by the store and went to the crayon aisle.  Guess what I found?

Look at that big ol' box of colors!  When did this happen?!  

Last thing I knew, the biggest box on the block only held sixty-four colors ... this one holds NINETY-SIX!  And some are metallic!  Crayon heaven!

But I digress.  I got my colors home and started playing around on Mr. Owlie.  A couple of things I learned in the process ... taping the fabric down was good, but I should have taped it to something I could move around a bit.  I should have pressed (and set) the micron marker marks before coloring.  And ... when you start coloring a drawing like this, start at the top and work to the bottom instead of the other way around.  Because otherwise you end up with color on the front of your white tank top.  Ooops!

It didn't take long ... look how fun!  You can't tell from the pictures, but I did find and use those metallic/glittery crayons.  Oh yes I did!  

Then I covered it with paper towels and me and my trusty Reliable iron pressed away!

You can see where the excess wax from the crayons is absorbed into the paper towel.  

You're done when no more wax melts off onto the towel.  The final product is a little lighter, but still pretty vibrant.  I like how his eyes kind of glow!

Next step ... stitching!

:)

a motley crew: owls, cupcakes, and swings . . .

What a happy day yesterday was!  I got backings prepped for several pieces and got my mini-fence rail piece sandwiched and ready for quilting.  I also decided on the drawing I wanted to try out the crayon art . . .

It's all traced and ready for me to color!  I was inspired by seeing Judy's (Gramma's Quilting Room) finished, stitched piece, which was gorgeous--you really should click over and take a look!  I've had this pattern for a while (haha, let's be honest -- I've had a LOT of stitchery patterns for a while), but seeing Judy's stitched out in color made me really fall in love with it!  I'm going to try a combination of crayon-coloring and then stitching in the details (similar to the faux applique, I guess) and see how it turns out!

I also made this happy find . . . 

A pretty little stand to hold my Kindle upright!  I love to use it as my recipe book -- it takes up less room of my [incredibly] precious counter top space.  Oftentimes, if I've got a written recipe or one I've found online, I'll convert it to a pdf and send it to my Kindle.  I also trimmed up a ziplock bag to slip over and protect my Kindle from any spills or drips (or flinging batter when my beater goes crazy)!

A couple of weeks ago I came across a marvelous Kindle freebie on Amazon, Cupcakes for Two.

It's not a freebie now, unless you're a Prime member, and just want to borrow it, but if you're an empty-nester or small family or living on your own, it's well-worth the $2.99 they're listing it for now!  [Edited to add:  if you're a Kindle owner and Prime member, you'll have to go through your Kindle to "borrow" the book from Amazon.  Thanks, Penny, for letting me know!]  We had Kim, James, and Sawyer coming over for dinner and I wanted to make some cupcakes ... and there's not point in making a box mix which leaves me with two dozen cupcakes for five people (which means five cupcakes get eaten and nineteen cupcakes get left for me to figure out what to do with).  And homemade is so much better (and better for you)!  These recipes are perfect for such situations and SOOOOOO easy!  And with normal ingredients, too! 

I doubled the German Chocolate cupcake recipe and made the milk chocolate frosting and ended up with six cupcakes. Just right. Joc had tried a recipe earlier in the month and said it was great, too. It's nice to be able to just make two cupcakes ... and have them be fresh and wholesome!

We had a little play time before dinner was ready. I need to brag on my darling hubby here. Not only did he bring home the fish last Friday, he also cleaned them, cooked 'em up for us for dinner last night, and cleaned the dishes afterward. What a guy! And his fish fillets are the best!

Anyway, while we waited for the fish to fry, Sawyer took us out to the playground where he hit the slide (with a little help from daddy) . . .

Enjoyed the swings . . .

Just look at that precious, happy face!

And pretty much just enjoyed the space and freedom to RUN!

After dinner (and a session of family frisbee up in the big meadow), we finally got to the cupcakes--much to Sawyer's (and consequently, my) delight . . .

I have Aunt Jocelyn to thank for this shot.  ;)

I think the cupcakes were a happy hit.

:)