Nothin' Shaking Here

It's been a pretty uneventful couple of weeks around the old homestead - busy, but uneventful.  A little stitching, a little quilting, and a lot of running.  The stitching....well, I'm going to save that for next week (fingers crossed) as I'm hoping that my oldest WIP (well, actually the second oldest) will finally be finished, released from its scroll rods and I can display the sampler in all its full glory.  But we'll see.....I'm not known for being the quickest stitcher.  So in lieu of any in progress stitching, I'll show you one that I picked up from the framers not too long ago:

The Apple Tree Sampler

Hawkins House

DMC threads and 36 ct. Buttercream Linen

This one was another fun one with the funky colors.  When I look at it I wonder why I can't seem to stitch more of the smaller pieces because it's so nice to have a quicker finish and then you can move on to something else.  But truth be told I do more frogging on a smaller piece than I do on a BAP.  I don't know why that happens, but I do!!!  

I did manage to get the last Farmer's Wife blocks done and probably just in a knick of time because I'm sure the next batch will be showing up any day:

Seasons, Rosebud, Railroad, Shooting Star 

That Shooting Star block was a real persnickety one and I'm not sure that I'm all that happy with it because my points aren't the best, but I think that I may be calling that one a wrap.  We'll see.

One of the things that has been keeping me busy this past couple weeks are all the errands and things that us moms (and non-moms, too) do.  One of those errands was to take Mr. Bailey to the groomers.  He's never been before. Probably not a good thing.  I didn't realize that a dog needed to be groomed as often as they recommend.  Live and learn, and this was a real learning experience.  But I had been holding out on taking him in because it was so darned cold around here and if that dog could, he'd spend his entire day menacing squirrels, birds, dogs, etc., outside.  So I held off, but it was time.  This is my canine dust mop before his grooming (holding one of his favorite treats):

Looks a little shabby, doesn't he?  I can't tell you the number of times I had to cut that hair over his eyes.  But he was getting difficult to brush and we had a rather warm day last week and he looked miserable, so it was time.   Unfortunately, I didn't recognize the poor boy when he was finished!  This is what I was shocked to see after his wash, cut (no color), manicure and whatever else they do at an appointment at the Urban Dog Spa:

Seriously, it this the same dog?  OMG!  I was positive that they had given me the wrong dog.  From going to a fluffy furball, to something that when he's standing, looks like a greyhound with a poodle's head!  Although as you look at that picture don't you get the thought that he knows that he looks pretty dapper and is ready to show his new coiffure off to the ladies in the neighborhood???  Either that or he's thinking, "What the heck did you do to me?"  Unfortunately, it's so short that I have to dress him in my daughter's sweaters to take him for a walk so his lady friends can't see his handsome self.  But seriously, it's taken me a couple days to realize he's my dog.  I know he is because he comes to the name Bailey, loves to chase me around with his toys and when my back is turned he's helping himself to treats in the pantry.  So I know he's mine, but it's just such a shock to see him!!

The only other interesting things that have happened around here was that I picked up a couple more pincushion dolls in the past couple weeks.  One was a doll that Terri had brought as an auction item for the Kindred Spirit's Guild annual auction.  Seems that whenever she brings one of these things for some of our different Guild events,  I fight other women walk away with it:

Isn't she pretty?

Then a couple days later I took some things over the Salvation Army to donate and for some reason can never withhold making a quick dash through to see what they have.  Imagine my surprise when I came across this pretty box:

And inside the box was this:

How could I pass it up?  The lace around its neck looks like someone replaced what used to be there with some more run-of-the-mill type lace, but somewhere in my stash I have some old lace from my other antique jaunts that I can put around it to keep it more authentic.  Anyway, a very surprising score from the SA!!

Well, that's about it for me.  It's been busy and not real crafty.  Maybe I'll have more time this weekend.  My son is off once again to Grand Rapids for the Business Professionals State Competition, and having one less body around usually means a little less hectic weekend.  Fingers crossed his team does well.

Thanks to everyone who leave such wonderful comments and a big welcome to some new people that have become followers.  I'm so glad you stopped by, and whether you leave a comment or not, it's wonderful to see you and to discover your blogs (if you have one).  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Friday Finishes (Lots of Pics)

No, this isn't going to be a weekly event - Friday Finishes.  I'd love to do something like that - like Kim's Thrifty Thursdays, etc., but in the real world, I'm lucky to get a finish a month or so.  But it so happened that this week I have Friday finishes - three of them!  Woo Hoo!!!!

First up, I finally finished one of the samplers that I've been working on here and there - not a biggie, a small one, but a finish is a finish, right?

The Apple Tree Sampler

Hawkins House

DMC Threads and 36 ct. Buttercream

I didn't know what I felt about this sampler as I was stitching it.  All I can say is that stitching the tree was a PITA.  I made so many mistakes on it and frogged so much that I'm surprised to see it finished.  But here it is.  I think I'm going to do something different with this one and make it into a pillow instead of framing it because it's not very large.  I'm still sitting on the fence about that.

The rest of my time has been spent putting pedal to the metal in the sewing room and trying to catch up those pesky Farmer's Wife blocks!!  And I'm all caught up!!   I really have to learn not to leave the trickier ones until last because they just about drove me nuts.  But I'm all caught up (at least until the end of the month when one day I'll open the mailbox and that crazy Psycho music will start up again).  The first batch:

If you blow the picture up, that block in the upper left - well, that one may be a redo.  When I was finished with it, it stood up like a cone!  AUGHHH!!  A lot of pressing got it to settle down, and it measures the right size, but I'll probably redo it.

Second batch:

The block in the lower right still is not completely finished.  I have to miter the points of the red strips, but that's hand work.  I tried to cheat on the machine and that didn't work out too well.  It's also the only block that I've paper pieced so far because the first one looked like a train wreck when I finished it.

All stacked up and waiting for the next month.  Only seven more months to go!!

Once those blocks were done, I felt like I had a huge load off my back and finally, after having a few problems with the instructions, whipped off my sister's quilt:

If the instructions hadn't been so poorly written this would have been done a long time ago.  But in my usual fashion, I got a little too frisky with this one and cut the striped border wrong.  The stripes were suppose to go lengthwise, not from center to edge.  But I like it so much more this way - I think that it gives the quilt more character (and I'm hoping my sister thinks so too - well, there's not much she can do about it now, is there?  LOL).  It won't be completely finished by the time I see her (next week), but it will be at the shop being quilted.

Then it was time to move to something else.  I finally started on the Bliss quilt and managed to get sixteen blocks done.  Here are just a couple of them:

This is a really fun and easy quilt to work on.  It will look like this when it's finished:

(courtesy of Cluck, Cluck, Sew)

I should have these blocks done in no time.  They work up really fast.  So, what should I work on next?  I picked a couple things and I hope that I can get them done.  But with my trip to NY coming up next week and the holidays, who knows.  But I picked one new and one old project:

The new project is another jelly roll project (I'm just loving these jelly rolls) with fabric by Three Sisters. This one should work up fast.

Then I picked another one that I've had in my stash for years.  This one will take some time, but I figure that if I work on one old project and one new project, then I'm not only having the joy of working with new fabrics, but I'm also cleaning up stash at the same time.  Years ago I made a Jinny Beyer quilt, Mirage, as a shop model.  It's hanging on my staircase now with the hopes that DH will hang in in our foyer (I'm probably dreaming on that one):

I think this would look much better hanging it's full length on the wall (someone poke DH for me please).  LOL  This is one of my favorite quilts - I love Ms. Beyer's quilts, so I decided to start working on this one:

I'm doing the pink version since that fits in more with the decor where I'd like to use it.  This one is going to take me a while, but it will be so worth it in the end.  I hate fussy cutting border fabric!!

And then I went back to an oldie stitching project:

Frances Eden.  I laid her down quite a while ago because the colors were just so wonky to me.  But I've been seeing this pop up here and there on blogs like Laurie's, and decided to give it a whirl because I love how hers looks.  

I have to thank everyone for your comments on my trusty assistant!  He is a handful.  But he did actually come downstairs the other day with me, plopped himself on the couch and asked me to turn on Animal Planet!!  No, not really, but I did and he seemed to enjoy it for a while until he fell asleep.  Good Dog!!

You'd think with the bazillion toys in the house that paper he found blowing in the yard would be the last thing he'd want.  But he's like a kid and toys - give them a paper box and they're happy!!

In other news that's not stitching or quilting related, my son got early acceptance to two universities!  Indiana University and Michigan State University.  He's still waiting for two more responses.  I'm thrilled, but secretly hope that he picks an in-state college (if U of of M doesn't accept him, he tells me that Green (MSU's colors), don't necessarily suit him.  He's a diehard U of M fan and he has all fingers and toes crossed in the hopes that they accept him.  But you know, mom and dad would love that In State tuition - more crafting money for mom!  LOL  No, not really, whatever he decides is fine - I'm just thrilled for him.  

Once again, thank you so much for all your wonderful comments.  They mean the world to me.  Hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!!  

What Happens When My ADD Rears Its Head

I have to give a shout out again to Valerie once again for winning my giveaway.  I'm so thrilled you won!  Actually I wish that everyone could have won, but I don't think I could find enough flower frogs.  Perhaps in the future!

I have made so little progress on stitching.  I don't know what it is - summer?  And I notice a lot of my blogging buddies are experiencing the same thing.  I know that I have a hard time sitting down at night.  But I got a little more done on my A&E sampler:

Not much since the last picture.  It's been too hot to sit under the Ott light even after the A/C was fixed.  I even started a new stitching project although there's not much to show - a non A&E!!  Hopefully, I'll have a progress picture next time.  All I have now is a lot of green!!

All this weekend, I had a song going through my head - Let's Go Crazy by Prince.  Not my most favorite songs by him, but I couldn't get it out of my head.  My intentions were to get into my craft room and clean out the closet for my sister's arrival so that we could put the shelving in.  Well, one thing led to another - resulting in a huge mess.  I know, my blog started off as a stitching blog, but bear with me - you just gotta go with the flow, right?

All the Farmer's Wife blocks done for the month.  The pink and green one at the bottom was the one I had to recut and piece over.  Now I'm caught up and awaiting next months!!

Next part done on the red, black and white quilt!!!

Two more Civil War blocks.  Although the one on the left seems to have a serious problem that I didn't notice until I went to iron it out.  I know what I did and have since ripped it out to resew, along with those blocks from my last post - UGH, I hate ripping things out.

Now this is where the ADD comes in.  Those pictures above were done here and there during the week when I could catch an hour or so. Then I thought it was time to get into the closet and clean it out for the anticipated shelving, but what resides in the closet?  Well, pizza boxes with quilts in some form of cutting, or finishing - along with a multitude of other things that catch my attention.  I've posted a picture of the infamous pizza boxes before.  They're just the right size for holding my projects.  Anyway, I start peeking into the pizza boxes (even though they're all labeled) and I come across projects all cut out and ready to sew.  I have a tendency to go through marathon cutting sessions so that I can sew to my hearts content when I have the time.  Now my mind is much more into sewing than clearing out the closet, so ADD kicks in and this results:

Four blocks from a quilt called As Time Goes By.  Aren't the colors wonderful?  Do you see why I just had to sew and not clean???  They were all cut out - calling my name!

And if that wasn't enough, more ADD kicked in and I decided to now start on something else.  I posted these blocks a while ago:

At the time I posted them, I had good intentions of moving right along with the quilt.  But I think that was when I painted the room and packed everything up.  Well, I couldn't find the blocks after.  Not anywhere.  Well, they made an appearance in the closet cleaning (in an unmarked box), so I started on the next section:

Nothing much to see here except 12 blocks in progress with the next row pinned on and ready to sew!  The quilt will look like this when it's finished although that will be awhile seeing as I have some kind of problem sticking to just one quilt at a time.  But variety is the spice of life, isn't it?

All this quilting craziness resulted in this mess - it looks like a bomb hit this chair:

Now surely you can see the garbage bag to the left side - I honestly was trying to clean - honest!  LOL  Well, it has been cleaned, but that's what everything ended up looking like when I was finished for the day.

And then to add to the craziness I had to purchase these - like I don't have enough going on, right?  I couldn't resist - I saw them on Amazon and had to have them.  Just love Amazon for those great prices:

I just love working on the Farmer's Wife quilt so much that I want more!!!  I think I have to be totally certifiable with the Nearly Insane quilt though.  I've seen it done in red and white fabrics.  Stunning.  I'd post a picture, but hate to snatch a picture from someone's blog that I don't know.  Just let me say, that my heart did a thunk when I saw it.  So in addition to starting on Dear Jane here in the near future, I'd say I'm set.  Or perhaps crazy!  Crazy is good, don't you think?

Well, that's been my week.  I'm off now to string lights into a huge (stage sized) piece of fabric to replicate a night sky for my DD's play.  I can't believe the performances are next week.  This summer certainly is flying by.  The next couple weeks are going to be crazy ones with my sister coming in and a small vacation, but hopefully I'll find time to keep up with blogs and maybe some stitching and quilting too.

Thanks again to everyone that entered my giveaway and to all the new followers - I was overwhelmed how many new ones I saw.  I'll be tracking down your blogs soon and  I hope that you'll stop and say hello every once in a while.  I love reading your comments!  Have a great week!