sloooooowly stitching . . .

It was a relatively slow week, stitch-wise.  Our church's VBS started today, and I spent a lot of the preparing for that!  I did get some stitching in, though.  Almost finished up the standing pilgrim on my Coming to America piece . . . 

I have about 90 minutes of free time from my last VBS music rotation to the closing rally, so I'll take this project with me and work on it each night.  Maybe I'll have all *three* pilgrims on the boat finished by week's (or VBS's) end.  

I am still unpacking and organizing things from the move . . . especially Nook things.  In doing some of that, I came across this little snowflake embroidery that was ninety percent finished . . . 

What in the world?  I started this in December, 2019.  I know this because I blogged about it, sharing this photo . . .

I was flummoxed!  It was SO close to being done. I'd pulled up the blog photo to see exactly which metalic flossed I'd used.  Once I'd found that, I began to stitch up the remaining gold spires.  That's when I remembered.  I had used a new product—Sulky's Stick & Stitch Stablizer. The project got too close to a hot iron, and it shrunk the stabilizer, so the pattern wasn't right.  I pulled out my new stitches and soaked the embroidery to get rid of the stabilizer. I left it out overnight to dry . . .

Not terrible!  I'd lost the pattern, so I "winged" it. (Not to fear.  I contacted Mary Corbet of Needle 'n Thread, from whom I'd purchased it, and she emailed me the pattern file today.  Thanks, Mary!!) I hosted a stitcher's group for my Sassy girls on Saturday, and finished up the stitching on it then.

It's not great, because my winging it wasn't great, but I'm glad it's finished.  I don't remember what my original plans were, but I've got some great metalic Christmas fabrics that I think I'll frame it with!

Another thing I found was a bag of HST pieces from my Christmas quilt.  Those weren't quite as old as the embroidery, but still date back a couple of years or so.  I laid them out a couple of different ways to decide how I wanted to stitch them together.  I came up with Harlequin Christmas, Jack-in-the-Box Christmas, and Pinwheel Christmas:

I'm leaning toward the Pinwheels, but all three have eye interest. It's a mini piece ... about big enough for a center table mat.  

In other news . . . more important news . . . family news:  granddaughter Olivia graduated from elementary to middle school *and* was awarded Student of the Year!  Pictured here with my James:

So very proud of her!!  Isn't she just beautiful?!

And finally, because we all know what a sucker I am for a sunset, here was the view from my balcony on Friday evening . . . 

It was pretty brilliant there, but to the south it was soft pink and blue . . . cotton candy skies! The whole western horizon was glorious!

I'll spend the rest of the week singing and dancing all our Magnified VBS tunes. Crooning!

:)

happy crazy busy . . .

The crazy busyness of the season continues ... and probably will right up until Christmas Eve evening! But it's happy crazy busy, which makes all the difference in the world, right?!  Wednesday evening Todd and I went to the staff Christmas party for Essential, the church where we're currently serving.

It was a very fun, laid back evening. Except for the 10 minutes we had in Target (where we went as a group to shop for our dirty Santa gifts).  That was hilarious!

Thursday lunch was the staff Christmas luncheon for my work (it was also my last day of work until January 6, 2020).  We met at a very nice restaurant and I forgot to get a picture. Silly me.  After lunch, I ran some errands, including running over to Patches and Stitches (our LQS) to check out metallic flosses for future snowflakes. I wanted some blues, purples, and iridescents. Here's what I came away with . . .

Aren't they yummy?!  They're Kreinik brand. And they make me anxious to finish the one so I can start another! LOL!  It's the story of my stitching life.

I had a couple of more things to take care of and then it was time for our guild meeting (where I did NOT forget to take photos). It was set up beautifully and we had a great crowd!

My mini stitcher's group (my affirmation sisters) were all there, so a trio selfie was in order!

It was a fun night with a fabulous spread of desserts, games, prizes, and camaraderie.  I ♥ guild.

Friday was Todd and my traditional Christmas vacation movie date day.  We went to see The Rise of Skywalker and it was excellent.  But kind of bittersweet, too, knowing it was the end of the franchise. We had lunch out and did a little Christmas shopping, then came home and I did some stitching and went through Christmas cookie recipes. I think these are what I'm going to make to take to Joc's house for Christmas Eve . . .

Chocolate Ganache-Filled Mint Thumbprint Cookies.  Only I'm going to color them pink and call them "Peppermint" Thumbprint cookies.  LOL! I've got some other baking to do as well, and I've got Monday and Tuesday set aside for that.

This afternoon I'll concentrate on some slow stitching. I've got a variety of things to choose from. I'm not quite finished my holly snowflake, but it's close . . .

So that's definitely an option.  I've also got labels to print, iron-on, and blanket stitch to each of the three Christmas quilts.  And then Saturday I got a wild notion to quilt this UFO from April, 2015.  

Good grief, right?!  LOL! I backed it with purple flannel, got it sandwiched and did some simple straight-in-the-ditch stitching in the center.  

And I'm hand-quilting unicorns and stars around the outside, in a very pretty rainbow thread. So I can work on that, too.  And I probably need to, because I hope to have it bound and ready to take with me to:

Yup, California, here I come!  And it looks like I'm bringing the sunshine with me.  Whoop, whoop! I can't wait to see my Panter crew! ♥

I'll leave you with this charming shot of my local girls, modeling for the Spring/Easter trunk show for Mary & Grace . . .

Aren't they beautiful?  They make my heart melt!

Linking up today with the Slow Sunday Stitching post at Kathy's Quilts.  Happy Sunday! 

And MERRY CHRISTMAS!

:)

snowflakes and snowmen . . .

Last week we had snow overnight . . . this week we had tornadoes.  Weather in North Alabama is always a bit crazy.  We were very lucky and didn't experience any storm damage, and we were able to ride out the warning in the storm shelter under the new cabin in the campground.  It's the first time we've needed to put it to the test since it was build this past spring.  And the first time in the ten years we've lived at the camp that we haven't had to leave the premises to find shelter!  Phew!

I haven't really had much time to do much of anything besides go to parties and wrap presents.  I know, poor, poor, pitiful me, right?!  LOL!  I got a couple of minutes in to stitch on my Christmas snowflake:

I can't decide if I like the Sulky Stick 'n Stitch stabilizer yet. It's probably user error.  Anyone have any experience with it?

I can say that I love this in the metallics!  I'm using DMC's Diamant metallic floss for this one.

I love the green and the red and the shiny!! It's eye candy . . . hence the candy bowl.  Purdy! ♥

Joc has lamented on the lack of 'homemade' ornaments of Edith. She's the only one that hasn't gone to/needed to go to preschool, where they do those things!  So I helped out a little . . .

These will look sweet on their family Christmas tree!  I love playing with the die cuts and the laminating machine!

One party I'm really looking forward to is our annual Christmas Dessert Social at guild! 

This is tomorrow night -- and for the first time in forever, since I'm not on the board, I just get to show up!  (The board members provide the desserts.)  Plus I'm planning on bringing the three newly finished Christmas lap quilts in for Show 'n Tell!  Whoop!

Finally, I have a winner from last week's snowman giveway!  

The winner is Barbara Black, who commented, These are adorable! I would love to add a snowman to my quilt-y tree. So she totally will get to add it (the pink one) to her quilt-y tree!  Thank you to everyone who participated and especially those who became Pearl's Pegs followers!  :)

It's hump day ... yay for that!  Have a great rest of the week!

:)

this, that, and everything in between . . .

Looking back, it's been a fairly busy week/weekend!  It started snowing Tuesday afternoon, and continued well into the evening, giving us a full inch of pretty ground covering . . . 

Coming into the camp.  It took me ninety minutes to get home from work on Tuesday evening!

It was still pretty the next morning, too!

Wednesday I finished up the binding on the last of the Christmas quilts . . .

Three little lap quilts, all with their binding neatly stitched up! Ijust need to pop labels on them.

Thursday we had our annual Christmas Open House at work.  I enjoy getting things set up for it.  We generally have a good number of visitors come through the doors!

My favorite table of visitors . . .

The Christmas tree always makes a great backdrop for this pretty trio of girls:

Does that not just deck your halls?!!

Friday morning we had several visitors over for breakfast al fresco . . .

And along with running some Christmas errands and lunch at a new restaurant in town with Todd, I tried my hand at this darling fabric origami hexi ornament:

Well, I tried my hand twice . . .

These whip up very quickly and make a darling addition to a gift!  Not Afraid of Color shared theirs in a recent Slow Sunday Stitching post and also shared the video tutorial she'd used to make them.  You can find it right HERE!

Saturday, was all about tea!  My mom, Joc, Ellie, Evey and I headed to Chattanooga for a Victorian Christmas tea at Polly Claire's!

Four generations!

We had a very lovely time.  :)

Over Thanksgiving weekend, Mary Corbet at Needle 'n Thread released a darling set of snowflake embroidery patterns.  SO pretty!  I'd been watching the sample pieces on her instagram feed, and knew which one I was going to want to stitch up first . . . 

I couldn't wait for Sunday and have taken a few stitches, but this will definitely be my project for some much anticipated slow Sunday stitching!

And I'm using metallic floss, so it sparkles.  ♥

Linking up to the slow stitching post at Kathy's Quilts--stop by and see who's doing what!  

Have you seen one of the latest ornaments on my tree??

Isn't this hand-painted snow fellow the sweetest?  If you haven't entered my 'giftaway,' and you'd like one like him, be sure to check out my Pearl's Peg post!

Happy Sunday stitching!

:)

excessive stitches . . .

I've got a couple of different hand-work projects in progress right now.  Because I can't focus on just ONE thing.  No, I have to have THREE things (or more) going on simultaneously. LOL!

In yesterday's post I talked about a dream quilt (literally, a quilt I designed in my dreams).  I (day)dreamed up another little piece ... a hexie mat.  I'd done one years ago for my mom (the pattern for it was in a magazine, but I don't remember which one--I blogged about here in 2012!) . . .

But I ran across some really cute teapot embroideries that I thought would be darling in a similar setting. They were from an older pattern called a Catnip Tea Party by Betty Alderman.  

It was a freebie I recently found on the AQS blog.  I printed out the templates and then reduced them by 70% so they'd fit in my hexies!

I'm trying something a little different with the hexie templates for this project (if you look closely at the hexie templates in blue, you might be able to figure it out) and I'll share more on that if my idea works out.

Anyway, I'm working away, stitching my hexie pieces together. 

Not sure what colors I'm going to use on the embroidery, yet -- maybe by Monday (I'm off for Veteran's Day), I'll be ready to start stitching on those.

I've also made some progress on my pumpkin . . .

I love this piece! (Though I haven't decided how I'm going to finish it out.) I'm waiting on a variegated floss I ordered to stitch up the leaves in the center which are unstitched. I want all of the center finished before I stitch the pumpkin outline, the leaf and stem.

Sometimes you just need to stitch Christmas stuff . . . 

I love these felt poinsettia pins!  These have been a go-to Christmas hostess gift for several years!  They are fairly straight forward and easy -- and you can keep them simple or glitz them up.  The pattern and tutorial can be found on the lil fish studios blog. I've shared them before, but it's worth repeating. Good stuff!

If you follow Mary Corbet of Needle 'n Thread on Instagram, you'll know she's been stitching up the most glorious snowflake embroideries!  I asked her about those and she told me they'd be available sometime around Thanksgiving.  I can't wait!

Linking up to Kathy's Quilts and her slow Sunday stitching post.  Happy Sunday!

:)

needs attention now . . .

You know how when you get an idea for a project and it doesn't matter how many *other* projects you're in the middle of, this idea is just begging demanding your attention, so you drop everything else and attend to it?

Like my starburst fabric and the hexie topper.  Why yes, exactly like that. I knew I'd have some down time (five hours, round trip) as we (Todd, myself and a co-worker) traveled to and from Rome, Georgia, yesterday, so I decided Tuesday evening that I'd do some hexi-prepping.

It served me well, because I was able to baste *all* of my hexies on the drive up.  I had to sight-see on the drive back (which may be why I navigated my husband to the scenic route on the way back)!

Yup, pretty pleased with this.  Now to whip them together and sandwich it.  I'm thinking quilted stars in each hexi . . . yes??!

I spent some time this morning using a snowflake die cut to cut out blue and white quilts from the challenge show.  I laminated them, because we'll use these on our Christmas tree (downtown Huntsville has a Tinsel Trail in Big Spring Park) on the trail this year . . .

I think we'll spray a little glitter on the shapes before laminating them.  Aren't they fun? With white and blue lights and a big blue and silver spray as a tree topper -- it'll be stunning!

This was our tree from last year -- the first year we'd entered a tree -- with the guild's 1st VP and President.  The die cut shape I used was an ornament (plus a few stars) and the photos were from all the place winners in our guild's show. It was a lot of fun!

Speaking of guilds, my July -- next to last -- article on A Quilter's Journey featured just that.  Guilds. It was one of my most favorite to write, because it was very personal. Well, you can figure that out for yourself if you read on . . .

To guild or not to guild?

It shouldn’t even be a question! But it is, for a lot of quilters. It was a question for me. Very early in my quilt journey, I was encouraged to join a guild; specifically, the Huntsville guild. That encouragement came from darling Mrs. Martha (who worked at Hooked on Quilting), and who had helped me in so many ways as a new quilter. But I have to admit that I pushed back on her push to visit a guild meeting. Why?

I’m an introvert. Mind you, I’m not shy (being an introvert doesn’t necessarily equate to shyness), but being in a large group of people (especially people I do not know) is incredibly draining; mentally exhausting, even. So heading off to a guild meeting wasn’t high on my list of quilting priorities. Except that Mrs. Martha kept talking about it and asking me if I’d gone.

In December of 2007, I bit the bullet, researched the meeting time and place, and showed up for my guild meeting debut. For all of my initial hesitation in attending, I was looking forward to it. I entered the building, was met and greeted by the hospitality committee, given a ‘ticket’ for the drawings, and sent on in. But December is the holiday dessert meeting – and since there was no planned, formatted program, just holiday fun and festivities, it seemed very overwhelming and a little chaotic. (A lot chaotic. A whole, whole lot.)

I think I may have looked around for about thirty seconds, before I decided that guild was not for me.

On my way out, I handed my ticket back to the hospitality committee member who’d given it to me, mumbled something about making a mistake, and bolted for the front door.

There may or may not have been tears. (Seriously, I was so overwhelmed and out of my element. And I’m a girl.)

As I hit the steps, the hospitality lady (who happened to be Charmaine L.) followed me out and talked me back inside. She introduced herself, found me a seat at her table, and introduced me to the group (which was largely made up of her stitching group). They made me feel welcomed and I ended up having a great time (it didn’t hurt that I won several drawings through the course of the evening). 

I made connections that evening that have stood the test of time. Over the next several years, I made friends. I joined a stitcher’s group. I involved myself in guild business and served on the board in a variety of positions. I encouraged other quilters I knew to come to guild. Through it all, I’ve learned so very much and grown and stretched myself, both as a quilter and just as me.

So, to guild or not to guild? Unequivocally, to guild is the answer. But let’s be on the watch for those who are first-time visitors, wanting to make a connection—let’s help them plug in. Let’s purpose to be more than an audience member (or even just a newsletter recipient). Get involved! Participate in guild events like workshops or community outreaches! Become involved with the board! You’ll find your membership so much more rewarding. I know I do.

My name is Denise and I’m a quilter. :)