Special sister time

Where do the weekends go?  I spent a wonderful afternoon with my twin sister.  We took a boxwood tree floral class today.    If you water them fairly regularly they will hang around until Valentines Day.  We'll have to see how successful I will be at keeping this fresh looking.  I think the success rate will be better if I leave it in the kitchen.  So it is starting to feel a little more like Christmas.  I wish I had a picture of her tree too.  Here is picture of mine....

I also did a bit of shopping at the floral shop too.  Since I was under the weather during small business Saturday, I thought I would do my part today.

Aren't these little hedgehogs sooo cute?  They are hanging out in our little tree.  There is a third one hiding in there somewhere.

 And this just had to come home with me too....

Have a great week, everyone!

Back again

I think I'm finally back on track and hope to be blogging more regularly.  I've been nursing a cold since Thanksgiving but now appear to be on the mend.  I had committed to make two more RARE bears and succeeded in completing that task today. WoooHooo.  They really were fun to make.

My task is to make these flat guys and to send them on their way to California.  It's someone else's job to turn these flat guys into chubby, cuddley guys.  So what do you think?  It's hard to see, but the guy on the right has inspirational messages on his soon to be chubby tummy just like his friend has.

I also have been working on the sew along that Temecula Quilt Shop has been doing for their "We wish you a mini Christmas" sew along.  I am a bit behind..I have 7 of the 12 completed...

These guys are 2 and 3/4" square.  I love little quilt blocks.  They are just too cute.  Catching up on those will have to wait for another day.   

Hope you are enjoying your day.....

All about kids

This was my sewing for kids weekend.  I recently joined the RARE Bear Army.  The RARE Bear Army supports RARE Science, Inc. which is a non-profit organization that helps find cures for kids with rare diseases and supports programs for rare disease research.  I don't know if this really counts as a random act of kindness, but my goal for this year was to be more mindful of others and to to "perform" more acts of kindness.  I am truly blessed in so many ways and feel the need to share the wealth.

As a member of the RARE Bear Army, I have volunteered to "help make one-of-a-kind bears for special one of a kind kids- kids that suffer from a rare disease.  My first bear is ready to go in the mail tomorrow.  He's a flat bear at the moment.  My job was to make a bear to send back and someone else will embroider eyes and stuff him.

The soles of his feet say RARE Science and he has a numbered tag on his back which is his ribbon of authenticity. They send you the fabric and tag when you sign up to make a bear.  pretty cool huh?  Each quilter will receive a picture of the child that receives your bear.  I think that's kind of cool too.  I hope to make a bunch of these.  Now for part two of my sewing for kids session...

Lily's favorite vet tech is having a baby, so I spent the rest of this weekend making a baby quilt.

I fell in love with this pattern at the International Quilt Festival in Houston last week.  Aren't they the cutest little foxes? They were so fun to make.  It just needs backing, batting, and binding and then it will be good to go!  

Happy Sunday, everyone....

Weaving Weekend

I just got back from a fabulous three day workshop at the most wonderful little weaving school -Vavstuga in Shelburne Falls, MA.  My sister introduced me to this idyllic little spot some years ago and she and I have had such fun spending time together taking various classes there. 

The workshop we just attended was a backstrap weaving class given by Laverne Waddington.  This particular class was on Andean pebble weave which is done by weavers in South America.  Laverne is a fabulous teacher and very talented weaver.   She has a wonderful blog that you really need to check out (www.backstrapweaving.wordpress.com).  Here are a few pictures of some of some pieces that she brought to share and inspire.....

Aren't they just wonderful?  I haven't made tons of progress on the bands that I started weaving in the class, but I did learn quite a lot.  I have to admit that most of my learning was done in the process of "reverse weaving" and re-weaving the bands that I was working on.   But I really love this type of weaving and am so excited to do some more.  Here are my first attempts....

Aren't they sweet?  

Hugs and kisses

I spent last weekend working on a baby quilt for the music director of our church.  She shared the wonderful news a couple of weeks ago.  I'm just a little slow in sharing this cute little quilt with you.  I love making baby quilts....I had such a wonderful time picking out novelty prints.  I tried to find fabrics that would be special to the new mom and dad.  For instance, they have several furry family members so I found very cute dog and cat fabric and the cutest baby rock and roll fabric since mom loves music.  I have a bunch of fabric left over so I'm on the look out for another pattern to use them for in a 'worry not' quilt.

I came across a quilt pattern for a baby quilt in a magazine a while back.  The blocks were X's and O's to represent hugs and kisses.  Isn't that just perfect for a baby quilt?  I took that idea and added the notion of an I spy quilt. I have very fond memories of spending "quiet time" with my kiddos pointing to pictures in picture books.  So what could be better than a giant cuddly picture book.  And to take that idea one step further I used each of the novelty fabrics to construct one hug block and one kiss block.  So the quilt can be used to play a matching game too.

It's not quite finished yet...I still need to put the borders on.  Here's a couple of close ups so that you can see those cute fabrics....

 Aren't they fun?   My hope is that it gets thrown on the floor for play time or on the grass in the yard or at a park for picnics.   It is meant to be used and loved and for making memories.  Hopefully that goal will be achieved.

It all started 34 years ago

It all started with this...

And she said yes!

On this day 34 years ago, hubby and I tied the knot.  It was a day very similar to today...we had beautiful weather.  It was a fabulous fall day which was a really good thing since our wedding reception was to take place outdoors at Mom and Dad's home on Lake Pawtuckway and we had no plan B.

I have many vivid memories of that day.   I remember standing on the back deck looking across the lake with my hair in a towel.  Just freshly showered looking out over the lake.  It was such a pretty and pieceful place and it still is.  All of the tables outside were ready for our guests.  The tables were covered in peach colored tablecloths that were made from the stack of cotton sheets that we brought back home from my Grandma's house and had dyed to match the colors that I had chosen for our big day.  The floral centerpieces that I had made were all in place.  My BIL brought our wedding cake from CT.  It was made by a family friend if I am remembering that piece correctly.  How courageous was that to schlep a wedding cake from out of state?  The tiers were divided by wine glasses that contained flowers "under glass".  My cousin Brad was nominated to be our photographer.  He's not a professional photographer...he just took really great pictures.  I made all of my bridesmaids' dresses and I wore my mom's wedding dress.  It truly was a homemade affair and everything went off without a hitch.

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life.....he follows my blog (giggle)..here's to a bazillion more!

Slow stitching Sunday

I've been enjoying some slow stitching today.  I've been having difficulties getting into "creative" mode this weekend.  Perhaps this is what writer's block is like?  It is more likely that I'm just plain worn out after a really rough work week.  Whenever I find myself in this sort of mood I tend to default to some handwork project that I have in process.  I only have a bazillion of them going so finding something is not a problem.  I don't need to make many decisions except maybe "which one do I grab?" since these projects are all underway and have been pretty much planned out already.

I think that is another reason why I enjoy using one of my many hand stitching projects as my default "go to" project.  All I have to concentrate on is enjoying the process.  It doesn't matter if I complete anything....just that I enjoy the process.  It is soooo therapeutic for me.  I managed to add another finished POTC (patchwork of the cross....by Lucy Boston) block to the pile.

Here are a few more.....I have 20 blocks completed.  I need a total of 56 for my quilt top.

and I'm working on a few hexie flowers too. 

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday!

Lovin' Sunday Stitchin'

I'm hoping we'll have a nice long Autumn.  Although it was a bit overcast and rainy today, I did enjoy a bit of sewing time out on the porch.  It would be so nice if we were to continue having such lovely temperatures for a while.  It never gets old.  I've been putting off doing a bit of weeding and other yard chores so the rain made it such that I could even sew guilt free (giggle).  I'm still working on my Jamestown Landing quilt from several posts ago. I ran out of 1/2 square triangles so I spent the afternoon building up a new supply.

I need over 800 of these little jiggers.  And I'm not sure how many I've already made or how many I have here in this batch.  But it's a good amount any way so that I can make a bunch of blocks.  These all came from fabric from my scrap basket.  My scrap basket is actually a repurposed laundry basket and it is overflowing.  I do love scraps quilts (good thing...LOL).

So I'm off to tame a few more of those scraps before it is time to call it a day.....

Puppy Ponderings

My MP3 player died last week.  I walk daily with Marvin and Lily (our rescue pups) and enjoy singing to the tunes as we go about the neighborhood.  Although I do have to remind myself that only I can here the music, so when I come across passers by I do lower the volume of my singing voice.  Carol King or Taylor Swift...I am not.  Although when you have a dog at your side you can get away with a lot (giggle).

Because I am MP3 player-free at the moment, it has left me time to ponder.  I have come to realize that our "puppies" remind me daily of those life lessons taught to me by my mom and dad as a child and their words of wisdom shared in my adulthood.  And I have challenged myself to work on some things that I may have let slip as of late.  Marvin and Lily have reminded me to take time to smell the fire hydrants or the garbage cans and don't be in such a hurry for the future to happen...don't wish your life away.  You only have one so you better make the best of it.  My job has been very challenging lately for many reasons and the fun factor is almost nonexistent.  I am so looking forward to retirement and being able to spend my time doing so many fun creative things.  So I feel that I have lost sight of living in the now and am somewhat wishing away some of the precious time that I will not get back.  So I am now challenging myself to look for those things in my job that are fun and focusing on them.  And to enjoy the free time that I do have to enjoy my creative life.  I have come to realize that the job I have is one that allows me to do the fun creative "stuff" so I need to look upon it in a more positive way as challenging as that can be. (This post will also remind me of that)

Technology and analytical methods in the environmental world are constantly changing and "new" compounds are being found that have adverse affects on human and ecosystem health (not a great thing, but at least we are working on correcting the issue). So my challenge is to focus on learning new "stuff" and bringing the fun factor back into work until retirement time is here.  I am relying on Marvin and Lily to remind me of that.

And speaking of my creative life, I have been quite productive this long Labor Day weekend and have completed "worry not" quilt #1.  It is a pattern called Dancing Nine Patch (designed by Bonnie K. Hunter - Quiltville.blogspot.com)

Machine quilting is a skill I am trying to improve upon ( and I think photography needs to be added to the list (LOL).

I'm really happy with the vine of leaves in the borders.  Scrappy quilts are my friend....they are great for learning new skills and hide many of my flaws until I have them better perfected.

Until we meet again.......

TGIF

I am soooo looking forward to a long weekend of play time.  The only problem is I can't decide what to do.  Do I finish quilting Worry not quilt #1?  The plus for that project is that I actually have a chance of finally finishing it.  Do I work on one of the many applique projects that I have underway?  Or perhaps do some EPP?  And then there are my adorable Pin loom squares to add to or the tablet weaving project that I have been dying to get started on too.   Hmmmmmm......

Hubby is spending mucho time on the golf course this weekend.  I know.....what a surprise (giggle) and he is going to the Deuschebank after his round tomorrow, so I will have lots of time to create something creative.

I'm currently sitting in my comfy red chair enjoying an Angry Orchard Apple Ginger which is quite tasty on this crisp almost Fall evening.  And I'm working on a few more hexie flowers.  I need 30 for the quilt I am working on.  I have shared some of these already in a previous post but the pile is slowly growing.

 I hope you are doing something fun on this fabulous Labor Day weekend.  ENJOY!

Sunday Stitchin'

Where did the weekend go?  Here it is Sunday evening already.  Marvin, Lily and I had a grand old time out on the back porch.  They people and critter watched while I sewed and listened to "The cuckoo's calling".  It is the debut mystery written by Robert Galbraith (a.k.a J.K. Rowling).  It is a very fun "read". 

 I managed to get a few more rows of my "Worry not" tumbler quilt done while I worked on my Jamestown Landing quilt.  I have 12 of the 30 star blocks done.  The stars are a bit difficult to see here.  

 

I hope that they will show up better once I get the other units constructed.  The fabrics for this quilt are from my scrap basket and many of my fabrics are medium values.  So I think that is the likely reason that my stars are not popping as much as I would like them to.  But ya know, it really is quite alright. I'm learning a lot about how these fabrics play with each other.  I've never made a true scrap quilt before and am really enjoying the process.  I think they are pretty even if they don't look like stars (giggle).  

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Saturday in the garden

I spent today working in my flower garden.  Flower garden quilt that is.  As much as I would love to have a beautiful flower garden, quilt garden's are the only ones that I can keep blooming.  The other kind of gardening is something I hope to dabble in when I retire.  Maybe I'll be able to get this black thumb of mine to turn to at least a murky green.  

This is the center part of the quilt so I just have the applique borders to go.  The yellow centers of the flowers really pop in this picture.  They are bit tamer in real life.  I can hear the giggles now...it is quite a bright quilt.  The colors were inspired by my hubby's wardrobe.  This is his kind of quilt.  The brighter the better.  And yes he really does have golf attire that is as wild and bright as these flowers.

These are just the tip of the iceberg (giggle).  We find inspiration everywhere.😎

Parched painter

I just got back from a fabulous time at the Parched Painter.  I really enjoyed being able to spend some time with my dear, dear friends.   As much as I try, I don't see painting as an art form for me.  I did not get the "painting" gene from my Grandma Graham.  She was quite the artist.  I think that gene skipped me and showed up in my kiddos.  All three of them really have a knack for that painting, drawing, and cartooning sort of thing.   I read recently that the latest stress reduction trend is to take up coloring.  And there are gillions of coloring books every where you look that are geared towards adults.  Now that I could get into (giggle).  But I think it will only be good for stress reduction if you don't get too hung up about staying within the lines..  My painting is starting to grow on me.   But maybe it's the glass of wine I'm enjoying and the fact that I am sitting across the room from where it is currently perched.....

National Dog Day

In celebration of National Dog Day, we treated Marvin and Lily to a morning at the spa (aka a visit with our favorite groomer and dog trainer Rachel).  Rachel is so awesome and Marvin and Lily just love her. She treated them to a wonderful shampoo and pedicure. Don't they look wonderful?

Here is lovely Lily 

And his royal highness.....Marvin

Sweet Sunday

Somehow Sundays have a way of speeding by.  That wouldn't have something to do with Monday being the start of another work week would it?  Again we had an off and on misty kind of day.  But perfect weather for sewing out on the porch again.  I picked up where I left off yesterday.  I now have 30+ of the first unit for my Jamestown Landing quilt completed and 4 rows done on my Worryy Not tumbler quilt.  I love Bonnie Hunter's Leader and Enders (for more info on leaders and enders go to Bonnie's blog....quiltville.blogspot.com). It is a wonderful way to make twice as many quilts.

I did have company out on the porch today.  Lily thought today would be a good day to lounge around and hang out with me.  She typically hangs out In the doorway of the porch patiently waiting for the next unsuspecting chipmunk, bird, squirrel, rabbit ( I think you get the idea) to wander by.  On occasion, she has been known to chase them into the house from outside.  My preference is that she play with her friends outside (giggle).  Her brother (Marvin) is still trying to figure out her fascination with those little creatures.  They don't seem all that interesting to him.

Happy Sunday!

I Love weather like this

It's been a bit overcast and cool here in New England today.  I just love weather like this.  It almost feels like Fall is trying to creep in.  I love Fall but I don't think I am quite ready for Summer to end.  No fear of that just yet since we have some lovely summer weather still in our forecast.  The basement of our little ranch house is the usual place of my pieceful ponderings but today I "spilled" out onto our three season porch.  It has great natural light and gives the sensation of being out in nature with all the breezes flowing, crickets chirping and birds singing.  It is quite peaceful out here and very conducive to creative productivity.

I've been spending my day working on a couple of things.  First being the units that will become my "Jamestown Landing" quilt.  This quilt pattern is from Bonnie K. Hunter's book....String Fling.  You can find Bonnie at Quiltville.blogspot.com.  I just love her designs.  

I'm also participating in Bonnie's Leader and Ender project for the year.  Bonnie's Leader and Ender for this year is a tumbler quilt.  You can get the lowdown on that at Bonnie's blog too.  I hope to make several tumbler quilts and add them to my stash of "Worry not" quilts.  I am truly blessed with the most fabulous family and friends and really feel the need to "give back".  I know people who quilt for various causes and often call their quilts "charity" quilts.  For some reason it just seems not quite the right name to me.  So I've decided that the quilts I am going to make are going to be call "Worry not" quilts. As in "worry not for you are in my thoughts and prayers".  We all encounter situations like a friend who was just diagnosed with breast cancer or just lost their spouse.  There really are no "right"words to say what we would like to convey.  I hope when I send a "worry not" quilt that when the recipient wraps it around them that they will feel that quilty hug.  A hug that says more than words ever could.  Here is the start of Worry Not quilt #1.

Happy Saturday!

Friday Night Hexies

I've acquired a real fondness for English Paper Piecing.  Fondly referred to as EPP.   My focus this evening is to work on my hexie flowers.  I've got 10 done...only 22 more to go.