Back to Business (Lots of Pics)

I can't believe that it's been almost a month since I posted a stitching update.  But I haven't stitched much in the past month, so maybe having the Accquilt giveaway was a blessing in disguise.  It's been a busy month (when isn't it busy?), but I have gotten a little bit done here and there.

I've been working on Sun and Moon:

Sun and Moon

The Scarlett Letter

Not too much accomplished for a month, is there?  I have to tell you that this sampler has been giving me all kinds of fits.  I was going to take another picture and put arrows all over it where I've made mistakes, but then you wouldn't be able to see the sampler!  Seriously!!  It's been one mistake after another - like putting that border in on the left five times!  Yep, five times and it's still not right.  Well, I know my limits and I'll just do some fudging somewhere along the line.  Like I've said before - small samplers and I don't play well together.  I just don't know what it is.  I've been also working on the Mary Allen sampler, but it's just more words and just words are boring for a photo op, so I'll show a picture of that next time around.  And no mistakes on her so far - but she's a bigger sampler.  I don't understand that!!

And I've been doing some quilting - and - I FINISHED THE FARMER'S WIFE BLOCKS!!  Ya Hoo!!  Here are the last ones in all their glory:

Whirlpool and Windblown Square look suspiciously similar, don't they?  Well, they're the same block just different fabric.  I don't know why there two of the same pattern, but the quilt is big enough that you'll probably never notice them.  But, do you know how excited I am about this?  At least 18 months in the making and they're finally finished.

I was so excited that I snuck down to the sewing cave and started putting them together.  I couldn't wait (helps that the weather is hotter than Hades around here and it's cool down in the cave). This quilt is going to take a long time to put together, but this is how far I managed to get:

Four blocks pieced out of 111.  Yes, 111 blocks!  And you know what?  I want to do another one!  Sick, I know!!!  This quilt is going to be huge - well, maybe not huge, but Queen sized!! I can't wait to get this one finished, but I have a funny feeling that it's not going to be until fall sometime.

Other fun things that have happened is that my son came home from Spain.  He had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back again (hopefully, on his dime)!  And sweetheart that he is, he brought me back some goodies:

Three pair of scissors from Toledo (the tape measure is an antique find)!  Was I excited?  You bet!  I only asked for one pair, but he knows how much I love scissors so he brought me three.  He also brought me a Matador spoon:

I don't collect spoons, but if my son is going to become a world traveler, I guess that I will!

The same day that Nick got home from Spain, a dear friend came into town - Robin.  We met up last year and decided to meet up again.  Her mother lives up in my neck of the woods, and she drives all the way from Maryland to bring her daughter up to stay with her.  We had a great time quilt shopping and antique shopping, and in my usual fashion I forgot to take my camera, but I did get one of her with my cell phone:

Not the best picture Robin!!  Sorry!  But we had a wonderful time and she came bearing gifts:

A vintage spool holder, a jar of vintage thimbles and Stitcher Girl socks!!  Love them all, Robin!!  We did have a great time and she'll be coming back up at the end of the month and is going to bring her daughter (who is 6) to see the play my daughter will be performing in - Suessical The Musical.

Anyway, we had a great day together, but I didn't find anything antiquey, although Robin came out of the shops with her arms loaded.  I wish I had taken my camera - she got some great things!

Last weekend, I spent a wonderful couple of days in Chicago!  I had the best time!  Unfortunately, no real pictures here either.  Well, there is one with me in it, but I'll spare you - I looked like something the cat dragged in - it was a hot day and my hair goes all beserk in heat and humidity (you get the picture), so I'm not going to show that one, but I do have one of this - All Saints:

Not the best picture.  I had heard of this store in New York, but had never seen it, so it was fun to see this one in Chicago.  Hard to get a good picture with the sunshine!  You know any store with a lot of sewing machines in the window will grab my attention.  And you're probably thinking I've lost it - with all the beautiful things in Chicago - like the shoreline and parks - I take a picture of sewing machines!

And speaking of sewing machines - I found another cute one a couple months ago at an antique mall that I had never been to before.  I keep telling myself that I don't need more than a couple....but, well, you know.....they're like potato chips and I couldn't pass it up - I love these little things:

A little nicked up, but I had to bring it home.  The needle is still in it and an old spool of thread on top.  

The big antique find recently was a new flower frog.  I had gone to an antique market a couple months ago and saw it and wanted it so bad, but the price.....well, it was a little high and I couldn't justify it.  But all I thought about after was that darned flower frog.  The market comes around every two months, so I woke up bright and early to be there when it opened last Saturday (envision one of those Christmas commercials with the women with their noses pressed against the store door waiting for the sales saying OPEN, OPEN, OPEN - that was me).  I found the booth, but no frog on the tables.  I was so disheartened.  But it pays to ask, right?  So I asked the woman who ran the booth and she told me she had sold it.  Again, my heart fell.  But then I asked again, trying to draw a picture of it.  A smile came over her face and she said that she did have it, in a bin, under a table.  She didn't have enough room to put it out because it was large.  So she went through the bins and in the very last bin there it was!!  COME TO MAMA!!  

LOVE!  I also found the tape measure for a mere $2.00.  But can you say LOVE???  Now I won't use this for scissors, although I probably could.  The frog is in two pieces:

The larger bowl measures about 14" and the frog itself measures 8" and both pieces are stamped on the bottom "Made in England".

So I could use it for scissors:

Or use it for it's intended purpose - Flowers:

I think this will be used for flowers!  Maybe!  

Well, that's all that's been going on this month.  I'll start posting on a more regular basis soon!  I have a lot of blog reading to do and hope to catch up with everyone soon and visit the blogs of my new followers.  I love finding people with the same interests!  And I want to thank everyone who entered the Accuquilt contest.  It was fun to have it and I was thrilled that Blu won (although I wish I had one for everyone who entered).

I  hope that you're having a wonderful weekend and if you weather is anything like ours (HOT!), you're inside stitching!

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!!

Two Timing Ann (Lots of Pics)

Yes, it's true.  I've been two timing Ann Medd.  Two timing her with another Ann.  With all the market things that came out, I couldn't resist - just blew my resolution to stitch only WIPs this year with a reckless abandon.  I picked up a few things from Market and had a real dilemna as Ms. Medd was constantly calling me, but I finally blocked my ears and started another Ann - Ann Grant:

Beautiful Ann Grant.  The colors are so pretty.  Unfortunately I can't get the best picture of this loveliness because it's so miserable with rain and overcast skies today, but trust me - the reds, the pinks - beautiful!!

Ann Grant

Shakespeare's Peddler

32 ct. Vintage Sand Dune

 Silks as called for

This is really a joy to work on and I've gone out of my element with this one.  She's stitched on 32 ct. which I haven't touched in years, and with all the recommended silks.  They are so wonderful to work with.  So wonderful, in fact, that I think that I'm hooked.  Not a good thing.  But so hooked, I kitted up two more -

The stunning Susan Rambo - love those reds and greens:

And the wonderful Elizabeth Mears.  I saw this on Ellen Chester's site finished and I swooned.  

The only bad thing about these projects is that they're all BAPS!!  Why can't I pick something small?  Why?  Anyway, before you think that I've abandoned Ann Medd, I have not.  I have made some progress on her and she will be picked up again in a day or so.  I just needed a slight break from all that fill in, but I do want Ann Medd done - it just won't be by the end of March.

On the quilting front, I've gotten a little bit done.  I wonder where the hours in the days go sometimes, but I managed to get nine of the Farmer's Wife blocks finished (six from last month and three from March's installment).  Four more and I'll be caught up for the month.  And then - only three more months to go!!  I can't wait to put all the blocks together.  But these are the blocks I've finished this month so far:

All these blocks were fun and went together without a hitch, but in my true fashion I left the harder ones for the end.  Why do I do that?

Other than that - as I said - I don't know where the time goes and there isn't much more happening around my neck of the woods.  I did make another acquisition for my craft room yesterday.  Purely by accident, mind you.  I ran into Joanne's for a new rotary cutter.  Mine is on its last legs and I'm afraid that I'm going to slice and dice myself one of these days.  But I had a little time to kill so meandered around the store and found something that I had to have.  Why?  I already have one, but what's another one:

Yep, another mannequin.  I actually walked out of the store with my rotary cutter in hand and started to leave, but I couldn't leave - I had to have it!  What's one more, right?  

I took some pictures of my room now that it's coming along a little better - still a work in process, but since I don't have much else to talk about, I'll show you how it looks going full circle around the room.  Behind the door - the shelves are finally getting full.  Although the vast majority of my fabric is still in Rubbermaid bins in the workroom (which DH needs to clean out so I can get to them).

The cutting and work table (ignore the glare off the door jam - I'm not the best photographer).  

Part of my antique findings and gifts and giveaway wins from fellow bloggers:

The sewing area and all the junk stuff I put on the shelves:

The baskets on the top shelf hold my BOM projects - the extra fabric and blocks as they're made.  I'm going to reline the baskets with a pretty red polka dot fabric and put garden tags painted with chalk board paint on the baskets so that I can write the names on them.  The jars hold selvages, pieces of scrap fabric I may be able to use, fabric for my hexies and batik squares that my friend Diane gave me for my own Batik hexie quilt.  The boxes hold some of my threads - Gloriana's, etc.   And another view:

Looking down toward the closet (which I left closed because it's a mess in there).  The quilt rack is suppose to be hung over the other mannequin with my recently finished red and white quilt, but when my son and I tried to put it on the wall, we discovered after we got the anchors in that the wall was bowed in the middle, so we have to come up with some creative thinking (probably building up the wall with wood on the two ends) to get it up.

My bookcase area - still a work in process.  Most of my books and charts are in two cabinets in the workroom which is probably where they'll stay unless I commandeer the other basement bedroom into another work area (which is going to become a reality I think).  At some point the bookcase will be removed and I'll get one of those huge hutches from Ikea to fill the entire wall.

And then the sitting area - this chair definitely needs a slipcover or something but I haven't been able to find what I want.  Either that or I'll take it out and put up my other sewing machine.  Time will tell.  Right now it kind of gets the brunt of what I'm working on - like the quilt slung over the back and my cross stitch chart filing on the footstool.

So there you have it.  I can't think of a week that goes by where I don't think of something else to drag out and put in there.  But I love having things I love around me.  Maybe when I finally get the hutch I can display all the flower frogs there.  

I hope that everyone has a great week and weekend.  And I have to apologize that as of late I've been really bad with commenting on blogs.  Too many things going on - like emergency room visits for my daughter, my son being sick - AGAIN -  and not a lot of time.  I don't want to miss a thing so I lurk but don't comment.  I'll be back to doing that soon!!  I love seeing everything that you do!!

Framing and What's Your Definition of UGLY??

I don't know about where you are, but it's colder than a witch's broomstick around here!  A great weekend to hunker down and get some crafting done.  Which is exactly what I did.  A great weekend for it - too cold to venture out (at least for me), and football games on to keep the boys occupied.  So I got busy.  But first, I picked up some framing recently.  Excuse the pic - I'd take it outside for a better shot, but like I said it's cold out there:

Sarah Seifer

The Goode Huswife

36 ct. Pearled Barley and DMC Threads

I just love the frame for this and would like to use it again on something else one of these days:

Not the best pic with the flashback, but you get the idea.  

While in my craft cave this weekend, I think that I finally came across my definition of ugliness.  I spent some quality time whipping out some quilt blocks this weekend, but this block offends my senses:  

Farmer's Wife Quilt

Four Winds Block

Now, I should have realized when I started sewing this block that my first mistake was not paper piecing the thing because it has 64 pieces in it - and it's only a 6-1/2 block.  But I'm not the biggest fan of paper piecing (although Dear Jane will probably be paper pieced), but I think that the block warranted me doing that.  But this block is UGLY!  Maybe my fabric choices are wrong, I don't know.  Maybe because one of the striped pieces leans to the left and doesn't quite line up right.  I tried to tell myself that it was okay - I like the color brown, but not in this combination.  I tried to talk myself into liking the block by saying that the light color looked like an old shirting material, and the striped fabric was like a pioneer's dress material.  I tried to make up a story in my head about who would wear those types of fabric back in the Civil War days.  I tried to talk myself into liking this block.  But I don't.  And I think that at certain points members of my family heard me blabbering to myself - not a good thing!!  So maybe I'll redo it - maybe I won't.  Not all blocks have to be beautiful, do they?  And in the whole grand scheme of the quilt, no one will notice, right?  Probably not!  But the darned thing will probably laugh at me every time I look at it - so maybe I will.

But I did have some successes:

Civil War Chronicles

BOM - Month 1

Oh how I love this block!  Love, love it!  I could have made many more of these and loved every minute of it.  Love the fabrics, love the design (and Yvette, it measured exactly what it was suppose to - a shock to me!!).  I can't wait until Month Two arrives at my doorstep.  Probably soon.

After I finished that one, I went to the next BOM.  Chain pieced a lot of triangles together:

Then I whipped up this:

Civil War Tribute BOM

Month #3

I don't have months One and Two yet - the shop started me with #3 and #4 followed a couple weeks later.  I haven't gotten around to cutting out #4 yet.  Anyway, the CWT block is just one of four that I have to make for the month's requirements - 2 -18" blocks and 2 - 16" blocks.  I was going to work on those and have the whole month complete, but I realized that the Farmer's Wife monthly blocks were going to be showing up any day, so I started working on those.  The UGLY block above was the last one that I did on the FW quilt.  But before that, I did these:

I still have one more block to go in this month's BOM, but it is a pesky thing and as the UGLY block was a little too pesky in it's own right, I called it a day.  Hopefully, I can finish up the last block today.

On the stitching front, I have going full speed ahead on Ann Medd!!!  I flipped the page over the other night and what do I see???  The bottom of the chart.  OH HAPPY DAY!  Of course, before I let myself  get too excited, I realized that I still have a long way to go - that center portion has a lot of fill in, but just the fact that I saw the bottom made me giddy with excitement.  So I worked on her the past couple of nights and now only have two more lines of verse on the left and I'm into the middle again!!!  I'll post a picture in my next post.  Just seeing a lot of verse and a little bit of the center that I did wouldn't be too exciting at this point!

Well, that's about it for me this week.  Stay warm and safe.  Hopefully, it's a little bit warmer in your part of the world.  And I understand that the East Coast is in for another storm!  I can't believe how much snow you're getting there!  Stay save and warm.  And thank you once again for all your wonderful comments.  My body may not be warm lately, but your comments do warm my heart!!

First Finish in 2011 and Challenge Follies (Pix Heavy)

Happy New Year everyone!  I wanted to do a day by day posting of projects this week, but things have been a little hectic around here.  DH is recovering from shoulder surgery and following me around every minute (What are you doing now???) so that has cut into my blogging time, and then DS has been terribly sick with something that has required two doctor's visits and is still running a fever after six days!  I think another trip to the Doctor's is warranted tomorrow.  So I never got around to posting every day or commenting on blogs, but here you have what's been going on in my neck of the woods with stitching this week.

I started off the new year right - with a finish!  And then promptly started something new for a New Year's start.  Then I kept going and before I knew it, even though I said I wouldn't, I joined in on the 15 Project Challenge, or as I call it the 15 Project Follies, but with my own twist on it.   But here's my finish:

Mary's Best Handwork

With Thy Needle and Thread

30 ct. Parchment and DMC Threads

I started this piece when I was in Utah for the Shepherd's Bush retreat and can't figure out why it took me so long to finish it!  It was a really run stitch.

Now comes the fun part and the follies.  I decided to do the challenge my way, and the further I get into it I'm wondering what the heck I was thinking.  But here are the first eight days with before and after pictures (where applicable).  And on days the progress was quite pathetic have pity on me - with DH and DS home, well, you probably understand!  LOL

Day 1 - After finishing Mary since she was a WIP, I went to something new - Elizabeth Sheffield by the Scarlett letter.  She was my New Year's Day start.  I love working on this one:

Elizabeth Sheffield

The Scarlett Letter

DMC and 40 ct. Mystery fabric

Day Two - I picked up And All Was For An Appil.  In looking at my notes as to when I started it - well, as I hang my head here - it was my New Year's start last year!!!!!!!:

Before

After

Okay, let's keep chuckling to a minimum here!  Not too much progress - but I'm a slow stitcher on 40 count fabric.

Day Three - A new start and one I wanted to start last year - Ann Rayner:

Sad, but a start.  Again on 40 count fabric.

Day Four - Back to a WIP and this one I did get some progress in - Susanna Lane - I love this sampler a lot and it will probably be my next finish:

Before

After

Day 5 - A start and a disaster at the same time - Jane Atkinson by the Scarlett Letter:

Not much stitching on this one.  The light thread so closely matched the fabric (again 40 ct and I have to ask myself what I'm thinking with all these 40 ct fabrics)  that I was having a hard time seeing it, so I decided to start filling in the flower and then do the lighter color.  That's when I found that I had made a mistake in outlining the flower with the lighter color.  As you can see, I was working it in a hoop to just start it.   Not a big deal with the miscount - I hadn't gone very far, but when I took it out of the hoop I realized that I started on the selvage edge and not the top edge!  UGH!!!  I called it a night and it will be revisited later - on scroll rods - and stitched in the right direction.

Day 6 - A WIP - Angel Song - again, not much progress:

Before

After

Day 7 - A new piece - LHN's Traveler's Companion:

Is this not pitiful or what?????  But again, I don't think I sat my rear end in the stitching chair until almost 9:30 or 10:00 some nights and I go to bed about 10:30 - not much time to stitch!

Finally Day 8 - I actually got a lot of things done yesterday.  I decided to hide out in the craft cave and get some quilting things done.

Worked on a WIP - cut out this month's Farmer's Wife Blocks:

Started a new Project - cut out the first installment of Civil War Chronicles (love, love, love the fabric):

Worked on another WIP - put the next couple borders on the Red and Black quilt and cut out the next set of borders:

And started another new quilt - Civil War Tribute:

So now I'm faced with this - Piecing Happiness!!!

Later in the day I literally ran out of steam - unfortunately I think that I'm getting what my son has - finger's crossed that I'm not - but I did get in some stitching on Elizabeth Clayton:

Before

After

Again, not much stitching, but a little bit.  

So there you have it - the first week of the challenge.  Only 7 more days to go.  I'm not sure what new ones I'm going to add into the mix next week.  I find that having all these projects going on at one time has been a real challenge to organizing!  But the one great thing about all this is that I haven't bought anything new except for a few fibers to round out a project.  That's a beautiful thing.

I've also enjoyed watching what people have been doing with this challenge and the projects that they are coming up with.  Some I had forgotten about and some I've never seen before.  I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I seem to have made quite a list of projects that I'd like to do in the future.  In the far distant future!  Very far distant future!!!  LOL  I think I have enough on my plate right now, and we're barely over the half way point on the Challenge (or Follies).

I hope that everyone has a great stitching week whether you're doing the Stitching Challenge or not.  While I haven't left many comments this week, I have been doing quick glances into everyone's blogs to see what they're doing before DH comes in and asks "What are you doing?"  LOL  He goes back on the 18th!  I love him dearly, but.................the 18th can't come soon enough!!

Have a great stitching week!