Framing, Quilting and Misc. Stuff (Lots of Pics)

Happy Sunday everyone!!  After a taste of winter last Friday (one of the few that we've seen), it's a beautiful sunny day here.  Makes you realize that Spring is just around the corner!!

It's been a busy couple of weeks around Chez Roman recently.  Nothing earth shattering, but more that while trying to recuperate from this vicious bug, I took it easy - a lot of sleeping and a lot of sewing!  I've been so tired with this!!  But, I'm feeling much better now (thank you to all that left comments)!!  I know that I'm not the only one that has been hit by some kind of malady recently.

First, I finally took Sun and Moon to be framed and had it back in three days!!  That's record service.  It was sitting around here collecting dust and then one day a coupon for 60% off plus an additional $10 came in the mail, so there was certainly no reason to let it continue to collect dust! (Note: there is some white thing on the right hand cherub.  It's not there in real life but just may be a reflection of something - it's very bright here today).

The frame is just a simple one and slightly distressed, but I thought that it was perfect for the piece:

I managed to get a little more done on Ann Rayner.  I just have a little bit more of the four sided alphabet and the Greek styled border underneath and I get to the good parts!!

Because I haven't had a ton of energy (although it's starting to return now - just wish I could get rid of the plugged head and coughing), I decided to tackle a couple quilting projects.  One is a quilt called the Cotton Club that I had been receiving as a BOM:

Every month a blogging friend, Julie would tell me how she was caught up with the current month's blocks, and I was just staring at mine.  So I took action and cranked those babies out:

All 25 done!  I'm all caught up!!!!  But what do I see - Oh no, a problem block?  Do you see it?  Look on the lower right hand side.

Obviously I got a little over zealous in my pursuit to get these blocks caught up and wasn't paying attention to detail.  It's been fixed now!

Then I worked on the Farmer's Wife Quilt a little bit more:

Three more rows almost put together.  You'll notice that one row is shy of being finished.  That's because I have to redo a couple blocks which seems a shame.  One of the blocks looks almost perfect except that if I sew it onto the next row there won't be points on the side:

There's about 56 pieces in this darned block, but if you notice, the points at the bottom will be completely cut off when I attach it to the sashing that is between the rows of blocks!  UGH!!!  So I'm going to redo it.  I've been putting it off, but I really need to bite the bullet.  I've love to have this quilt completely finished.

Now that I'm caught up with the Cotton Club and because working on the Farmer's Wife consistently drives me up the wall sometimes (meaning I still suffer from Crafter's ADD), I picked my next project.  I had put this kit together last year and then got caught up in other things, so this is the next quilting victim:

I've already started slicing and dicing the fabric and I can't wait to put the pedal to the medal and start cranking this baby out!  I'm anxious to have this one finished before the nicer weather gets here.  I don't tend to sew much once the weather breaks and starts to really warm up.

Recently, I came across sewing article that is very much dear to my heart in one of the boxes I've been going through.  It's a sewing kit - owned by a WWII veteran.  That veteran was my father.  He was a Canadian (at the time - he later became a US citizen) and in the Canadian Navy.  I tried to find a picture of him in uniform, but they're somewhere buried in a box that I haven't gone through yet.

I do think that it's rather funny - if you click on the picture to make it larger, you will notice that the bobbins of thread and the large spool of thread are all made in the USA.  I suppose that I thought that they would have been made by a Canadian or English company.  Perhaps these kits were supplied by the US.  I guess that would be a good thing to investigate one of these days.

And last but not least, Nicola recently asked for pics of Fur Babies sleeping.  I didn't get around to taking pictures in time for her contest, but realized that I haven't posted pics of my Fur Baby in quite a while, so here are just a few:

The lion that roared at bath time (don't tell him I posted this - I doubt that he would love pictures during his toilette splashed over the internet - to be viewed by a bunch of stitchers):

Such a cute face.  And what a pink nose!!  Poodles and poodle mixes have a tendency for their noses to turn pink in the colder weather.  And notice those long eye lashes!!

Bailey with Catie:

And sleeping next to my stitching chair on his favorite old bedspread.  He's such a sweetheart and my buddy.

I know that there is a lot of talk about the evil word verification thing going on.  I've jumped back and forth about taking it off.  I think that it's off now.  I had turned it off and within three hours I got a lot of silly Anonymous comments.  I thought that they were actually appearing in my Comments section on my blog so I turned it back on.  But then I realized that they are being sent to SPAM so I've turned it off again.  If you comment and notice that it's still on, let me know and I'll make sure that it's turned off.

That's it for me.  I hope that everyone has a wonderful week!!  And again, thank you for all your comments.  I really love hearing from you!!

What Do You Do After Finishing Up a BAP?????

That is what I've been asking myself the past couple weeks.  What do I do after Ann Medd?  But first, I have to thank everyone for all the wonderful comments you made concerning Ann's finish.  I was absolutely overwhelmed!  All your comments made it so worth me finally finishing her up and I thank you so much for each and every one of them.  I was just blown away!  And I hope that maybe one of you will have your own Ann Medd adventure too.  Even though she's large, she was an easy and fun stitch.  I do have her back from the framers, but I can't get a good picture of her and will do that as soon as our crazy, overcast skies clear up and the sun's at the right angle!!   My husband, sampler enthusiast that he is (NOT) asked me where I was going to put her.  HA!  Do you know what I was thinking at that point about where to put her???  You probably do so I won't say it.  LOL  Seriously, she WILL be residing in the stairway with ATS.  Finally some company for ATS!!

After I was finished with Ann, I didn't know what to do.  It's just like reading a really good book, and you don't know what you want to read next.  I really felt like starting something new - I thought that I deserved it!!  Going back to a WIP for me felt like trying to get my kids to eat vegetables - I don't wanna do it. But I did and picked up Ann Grant.  She lasted a night.  I picked up Susanna Lane.  She also lasted a night.  Then I picked up Elizabeth Clayton, and she whispered softly and said, "Pick me - Finish Me!"  So I have worked on Elizabeth.  She's not quite done, but I'm getting to the fun part - Adam and Eve:

Not a lot of progress for a couple weeks - just a lot of wording and the borders.  But now comes the fun part - a little more lettering and then that fun couple in Eden and the scene around them.  Shouldn't take me too long (I hope)!

No sewing has really taken place, unfortunately, - well a little, but I've only completed two blocks out of the 16 required for my Civil War Chronicles BOM, and nothing on the Farmer's Wife.  But a little bit of antiquing has.  A while ago, Terri posted a little sewing machine that she had found in an antique shop.  This made me remember that when I was young I had a small Singer sewing machine, but didn't know where it was.  So the hunt was on.  Did I find it?  No.  I'm sure that it's packed in a box somewhere.  I thought it was in a couple trunks that I had brought from my father's, but I didn't have the keys.  I eventually found the keys stuffed in the back of my husband's workbench (where else?).  But no sewing machine - some cool vintage things that I'll show at some other time, but no sewing machine.  So during this time of trying to figure out where the machine was, I hit the antique store and score!!!!

Not in too bad condition and a good price.  The shop was having Thrifty Tuesdays and 20% off any purchase!!  So this baby came home with me.  Since that time, I've found three more through various places and I'll post those at a later date.  But I thought it would be so much fun to have a variety of these machines lined up in.....where else??  My sewing room!!

I also found another flower frog:

Another amber frog.  This one joins two others in my collection:

My husband just shakes his head every time I come home with another one.

The only other crafty thing that I've come across lately is some wonderful things I found on a blog.  The blog is Me and My Stitches, and the girl that makes these wonderful things is named Julie.  Being a sucker for anything stitchy or quilty, I had to purchase a couple of her things and I love them:

The pendant and earrings I bought for myself, and Julie, sweetheart that she is, sent me the scissor fob as a gift.  There is a link on her blog to her jewelry website and I know that she would love to hear from you.  She has some wonderful things and some quilt patterns too, so give her blog and website a look!! Julie and I have struck up an internet friendship of sorts.  She calls me Satan!  The reason for that is that now I have her on the hunt for little sewing machines!  With her living in Iowa, at least we won't be fighting each other at the antique stores!!

The only other thing that has been going on worth mentioning (you don't want to hear about all the errands I run all the time), is that my daughter finally has been able to give up her glasses (she had a lazy eye which was corrected with glasses) and got her braces off.  This was a monumental day for her because she feels that she is no longer - in her terms - a geek.  I think that she looks so beautiful (and way too old - sigh):

Ignore her attempt at trying to look like she's one of Eminem's possee!  Just look at the smile.  I think it's a gorgeous one!!  And one more picture of her and her favorite canine:

They are great buddies!  He follows her around like a shadow.  And he is looking much better now that his hair has finally grown out a little bit.

Well, that's all I have for now.  Not too much.  But thank you all once again for the wonderful comments you left me.  It really warmed my heart and I think it was because of some of you cheering me on, that finally got me to finish Ann.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!

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!!

On the 16th Day I'm Resting.

Happy Sunday everyone!  Well, the 15 Project Challenge is over and I don't know if I'm sad or happy to get back to some regularly scheduled stitching.  Quite frankly, I breathed a sigh of relief yesterday knowing that now I can just get back to stitching one thing.  Well, at least stitch on one thing for a little while - I am known to be a project jumper!!  LOL  But in going through my stash, I found a bazillion other things that I would love to stitch, so in a rather sick way, I wanted to keep going - adding new projects with reckless abandon.  But I decided to just stop before I drove myself crazy.  I have come to the realization that I don't need to ever buy another thing EVER (yeah, like that's going to happen!!!!!).

Anyway, here are Projects 9 through 15.  And again, before you chuckle over my miserable progress on anything just remember I have had a husband trailing me around and Mr. Bailey went for his little operation this week and is sporting what is known as the Cone of Shame (pic to follow).

Last Sunday, Day 9, was a new start - Sarah Esch - I just had to get something that was a realistic size into this crazy mix.  You know, something that I'd was sure that I could finish before the New Year rolls around again:

Day 10 was back to a WIP and it was Hannah Lancaster day.  I was suppose to be stitching this with Sandra, but in my true slacker fashion, I took a different road and went sight-seeing by myself.  Sandra's been barreling along on hers, and me - well, I've been driving in the slow lane:

Before:

After:

Again, not a lot of progress, but now that I have a little bit more color in this piece, I'm really loving it.  It seemed rather drab on the cover, but is so much prettier in real life.

Say 11 was a new start day and I picked Miriam Chilvers:

Now, I'm really on the fence with this one.  I have seen this sampler done on this fabric - Vintage Meadowrue, I think - on another blog, but I'm not sure that I'm going to like it.  It actually photographed better than what it looks like to the naked eye.  I may have to revisit the fabric on this one.

Day 12 was back to an oldie - Frances Eden:

Before:

After:

Okay, no chuckling here - not too much accomplished!!!

Day 13 was a new piece - Sovine Palphreyman:

I like this one a lot.  The colors are funky!!!  And fun.  On 34 ct. Cafe au Lait linen.  I just realized as I was typing that, that three of my new pieces are single women - not the traditional A&E's.  Hannah, Sovine and Miriam are all women alone.  I think that I'd like a wall devoted to samplers with just women in them.

Day 14 - well, I was suppose to go back to a WIP and finish on Day 15 with a new piece, but I decided to reverse that because I wanted to spend some time on my last WIP in the challenge, so I went to another new piece - Stories to Live By - Eve.  Another smaller project that should work up fast.

I think that if I had this one and Sovine on scroll rods I would have made a lot more progress on both of them.  Working on a hoop or in hand really slows me down.

So now we come to Day 15 and I wanted to end it with a bang - with the piece that I really, really hope that I can get finished this year - Ann Medd.  When I last took a good picture of her, she looked like this - like a darned bedspread:

Then I worked on her some more here and there:

And on the fifteenth day, I got almost the entire verse done on the left:

Doing the verse is actually a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, there are twenty six verses in total (I think) divided between both sides of the sampler - the first verse starts with the letter "A" and each verse works it's way through the alphabet.  This is "I" and the next one will be "K"  The letter "J" is skipped as it wasn't used in older samplers for various reasons.  This is going to be my focus piece for a while.  Poor Ann was my New Year's start back in 2006 so I think that I really should give it the old college try here.

On the quilting front, I didn't do too much so don't have pictures.  Which is unfortunate because another Block in my Civil War Tribute showed up this week.  UGH - I can't sew fast enough!!!  I hope to spend some time today and tomorrow, while I have a dog sitters around, to put the pedal to the metal and get some sewing done.  But I did add another stash project into the pile (thanks Loraine!!!!).  Many years ago, I joined a BOM for the Dear Jane quilt and then right after that life just got too darned busy and I stopped quilting.  These little bundles have been waiting for me for over eight years.  With the encouragement of Loraine, who is working on this with her mother and SIL, I'm biting the bullet.  No time like the present, right?

You would think after working on the Farmer's Wife quilt I'd be tired of little blocks.  Well, not so, and these are even smaller - 4-1/2"!  I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment.  But how fun this is going to be?

Well, with the aftermath of the past 15 days, this is what my stitching area looks like.  DH has raised his eyebrows a few time and DD asked numerous times what I'm pulling out now:

24 project envelopes full of Challenge projects, a couple new ones and few others that are WIPs (yes, Michelle, Provence is in there!!!):

And a huge mess around the stitching chair.

But now I'm breathing a sigh of relief!  But it's been a lot of fun and made me go through stash and, of course, I made a huge list of other things I'd like to stitch and quilt this year.  Although, truth be told, I'll be one happy camper if I can get through half the things that I've put into this challenge.  (Oh, and a note to my sister Cindy who I know stalks this blog - the Mermaid isn't part of the challenge even though I probably should have added it as one.  She's on her own and I haven't forgotten about her.   She is seeing some stitchy love too!!) 

On the home front - everyone will be out of my hair next Tuesday!  Ya Hoo.  Well, that is if we don't get a winter storm that they've been predicting for Monday.  Fingers crossed it misses us!  DH is doing well with his shoulder, DS is recuperated although still coughing to beat the band - he's had one vicious bug!!  The only caveat to this whole thing is Mr. Bailey.  He had his "little" surgery this week and is none too happy about it, but would you be happy if you had to wear this?

Yes, the Cone of Shame and it's driving him absolutely nuts.  This dog usually runs on high octane, but that cone has really hampered him.  But he'll be able to get it off on Wednesday.  I can only imagine how he's going to be when it's taken off.  He'll probably be bouncing off of walls!  LOL

I have to say that I've had a great time following everyone's challenges these past couple weeks and again, have only had time for a few hit or miss comments.  Hopefully, my life will return to normal this coming week.  But, it's been a lot of fun watching what things people have pulled out of their stash to do, and unfortunately, reminded me of things that I have in my stash! LOL  But that's a good thing!

I want to thank everyone for your wonderful comments to my post on first half of this challenge.  They truly mean a lot to me and do keep me going!!!  I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and can make great progress on their own Challenge pieces!

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!!