I made a bag, finally! :D

So, last night I was going through my Reader and ran across the post by Karen, at My Favourite Things. She had bag eye candy to show off. And I just was so excited when I read her post! I have been buying fabric to make bags for the past few months and just have not done anything with it. There was a great tutorial for a cute bag too. So I copied the list off, and plan to go and get the materials I need to make one :) I made a small bag for my son last night, just kind of winged it. It isn’t perfect, but I think it turned out pretty cute. My husband says it is kinda girly with the polk-a-dots, but I disagree, for there isn’t any “girly” fabric on it! :D I am making my daughter one next with pink polk-a-dot fabrics. So there :P

I went out to dinner with my girlfriends after I had made this little bag, and when I got home I started stitching a bit. I made some good progress on The Four Seasons. I know I have other things I must be doing this month, but I just can’t! I want to work on The Four Seasons, so while I am in such a mood to work on it, I had better right? :) I got a lot more of the holly done on it. There are so many color changes in this chart, it’s crazy. That is why it’s so pretty though, so I carry on.

The Blue Angels are in town for an air show, and they’ve been flying over my work yesterday and today practicing. We plan on going to the air show tomorrow, I can’t wait! I love air shows :D The Blue Angels are just so loud, it’s amazing to me. The kids are just as excited to go too, so it should be a fun day. I hope you all have a really nice weekend, be sure and get lots of fun in of course before we all have to go back to work :D

Charts to trade!

Anybody want to trade? :)

I have several charts that I would like to trade! I am interested in the normal “Heather” stuff, like Shepherd’s Bush, Homespun Elegance, Lizzie Kate, Bent Creek, Little House Needleworks, Blackbird Designs. I have a wish list, if any of you have stitched the charts there and want to trade for the ones below, then perfect, or if you have others that is great too! :D :D Here is what I have to trade:

These are all chart only!

Waxing Moon: Harvest

JBW Designs: Country French Apple

Little House Needleworks: Berries (chart only)

Little House Needleworks: Pure in Heart (chart only)

Little House Needleworks: Plant Kindness

Little House Needleworks: Plums (chart only)

Lizzie Kate: September Block (chart only)



They are linked to the pictures of my finishes of them :)

I have stitched all of these, and don’t plan to again, it’s hard for me to stitch things more than once because there are too many out there to do! :D

None of my charts are marked up, I make copies of them and mark the copies when I use them. Just comment if you are interested.

Four Seasons WIP, and another “finish”

This week is shaping up to be quite alright, Monday wasn’t bad at all :) Some Mondays I just can’t handle. It must be because my hubby is back home! It seems normal again. Last night we watched the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I haven’t watched these movies for a couple of years! I have all of the extended editions of the movies, I just love them. I love the books even more :) So, since that movie is SO long, I got quite a bit of stitching done on The Four Seasons.

I am working on the holly and the basket now. After this motif is done, I only have 4 small ones to do! :O And then I’ll be all done with this big chart. The end is looming near, I can feel it.

Also, I had finished this Sweetheart Tree chart last year, and just “finished” it. I didn’t have time to do it with all of the others, so here it is:

Now I’ll have some fall/Halloween stuff, yay!

I am still working bit by bit on the LHN: Stars & Stripes chart here at work. It is coming along, I won’t post a picture until I have it done :) I want to start another BIG project, but won’t until I have Four Seasons done. I have the will power to wait… I really do :P

A Finishing Extravaganza :D

I got bit by the finishing bug *finally* and went crazy last night! I finished 5 of my small ones, 3 into wall hangings, one into an ornament/fob and one into a cube-it.

JBW: Pumpkin, made into a cube-it. I love this way of finishing!

Shepherd's Bush: Love heart, into a small wall hanging

Shepherd's Bush: Summer is Waving into a wall hanging

The Trilogy: Family into a wall hanging

And a small kit called Pumpkin Seeds into a fob/ornament!

It felt good to get all of these finished off, it has been on my mind for quite awhile! Some of these are going into the mail soon for PIF gifties, but I won't reveal who will get what *wink,wink*

My husband is finally home for a few weeks, I am so glad! We have missed him a lot. We went driving in our old 1929 Mercedes car today, it was lovely. We have to take advantage of the nice days here in Portland, because it rains most of the time :P

Have a nice weekend!!!!

Work in Process…

I have a progress picture to show of the Four Seasons now :) I stitched on it the past few nights. There are some little birds now. I love this piece, it’s just so big… I will persevere and get it done though!

Before

As of last night:

So, I have also started a biscornu. I got a freebie by Perephia designs called Alegria. I decided to use my new dinky dye silk called Daydream on it, and the linen is 25 count mint green. The silk is so nice to work with, it’s so smooth! I love it. Here is the top of it, I am not sure what to stitch on the bottom yet.

I hope to get some quilting done tonight, we’ll see. I have been too tired lately to quilt, I just have wanted to stitch, it’s easier :) The weather here is amazing and warm. I hope to spend the evening outside tonight! I have to take advantage of this weather before it starts raining again.

July Review, August Goals

July Review
Stitch the July Bent Creek Snapper *yes*
Stitch two (I’m behind) Shepherd’s Bush ornament’s for the SAL *nope*
Put stitches in the Mermaids *nope*
Put stitches in The Four Seasons *yes*
Put stitches in Harbor Lights *finished 7/19/07*
Finish the Jayne’s Attic RR and mail it off (this is the last one!) *yes!*
Get backing/batting for cousin’s quilt *got the backing*
Get backing/batting for my wave quilt *nope*
Get fabric for my grandma’s log cabin quilt *yes, and have started cutting it*
Make top for Carpenter’s Star quilt (for Grandma Wagner) *yes*
Finish Rowyn’s Neighborhood Round Robin, and mail it off to Von. *yes*

Also stitched and finished, Shepherd’s Bush: Summer is Waving kit, Oh Say kit, and Brave One kit. Made a new tablerunner for my living room.

I got quite a bit done this month, this list sure helps!

August Goals

Stitch the August Bent Creek Snapper *yes*
Stitch a Shepherd’s Bush ornament for the SAL
Put stitches in the Mermaids
Put stitches in the Four Seasons *yes*
Get backing/batting prepared for wave quilt, and cousin’s quilt, and mail to the quilter *yes*
Work on Grandma’s log cabin *yes*
Complete teal/brown Carpenter’s Star *yes, 8-25-07*
But batting and thread to finish log cabin, and complete this quilt.
Pick out chart to stitch for NRR *yes*
Make another Carpenter’s Star, and finish.
Work on my Block of the month quilt. *yes*
Make 2 birthday blocks *yes, made 3*

My mom will be here for 3 weeks, 2 of them in August. I am hoping she will help me tie quilts while she is here! :) I have to put her to work right? LOL! If she can help, maybe 3 quilts can get tied. I have 3 Carpenter Star quilts to make, one is almost done, the other two need to be cut and pieced. They are all for gifts! I can’t wait to make them. They are all so different. I just love this pattern.

Horses are good for the soul

Horseback riding really made me feel a lot better yesterday. I have been an ornery girl lately. I needed the love of horses to help me feel better :) For those of you who love horses, you know what I am talking about! We rode for about 3 hours last night. My friend’s horses are very good with little kids. We’ve been riding with them for about 3 years now, and Jessie has been around them since she was 2, so she is not afraid of them one bit. She rode by herself a lot, and trotted around the arena over and over again. She loved it! It was so cute because her legs were already spread so wide on the big horse, and she was kicking her legs as hard as she could to keep the horse trotting.

I started the Little House Needleworks: Stars & Stripes yesterday at work, it should go pretty quickly. I like this little design. :) I’ll show a WIP pic when I get more done.

I just finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory. It was a really good read. It had quite a bit of scandal and such, which was over dramatic and some of it I did not enjoy… but the story just kept you sucked in. It was a historical novel about King Henry VIII, and his marriage to Anne Boleyn and the tyrant he became, and the tyrant Anne was. All in all a good book. I liked Harry Potter better though LOL!

Oh Say Finish, and such...

Thank you for your comments on the two round robins. They really were fun to do. I am sad that the Jayne’s Attic RR is going to be over now, but I am excited to receive mine back :) I am thinking of how to finish them already! I still have the NRR that will keep me occupied for the next 18 months, so I think I am set :D If any of you haven’t done a RR, I recommend it! The Jayne’s Attic RR was my very first one, and we would mail them out monthly, the NRR is every 2 months, so we get a longer period of time on it.

I have been doing all of these little bitty finishes lately. I have quite a few little Shepherd’s Bush kits that I have been itching to do… so, I did another one :) I stitched up Oh Say last week, it only took me about 4 hours to do in total I think. This was using all silks from the kit. It it so teeny, I love it :)

Now the question is… how do I finish it? I was thinking I could collect a few more of these little sheep kits and then do a small wall hanging with them all? Not quite sure. I’ll have to see what ones they have, maybe a 4 seasons one. This one would be summer.

We had a fun weekend! I have been doing a block of the month with a group of friends at church. We finished our 12th block this month. So we did an excursion to Fabric Depot to pick out our sashing/borders/backing for our quilt. It was a lot of fun to go with all of them. We ate lunch at the Olive Garden afterwards. I found a few good finds on clearance too. I was also able to buy the backing for my cousin’s trip around the world quilt. I hope to find backing for my wave quilt too, so then I can mail them out to get quilted very soon. I can’t wait :) After shopping with the girls, my family and I all went to the county fair. We watched the rodeo and ate giant corndogs and elephant ears. It was so much fun. We ran into some friends we hadn’t seen in a long time. Before we moved into our house we lived out in the country, and our friends had horses we’d always go and ride on. So, we are going out there tonight to ride. I am so excited. I am such a horse crazy girl :) I can’t wait!

My husband has been traveling so much, it has been a bit stressful for me. I am getting through it okay. He is gone all of this week now. This makes 4 weeks in a row where he has been gone for more than 4 days at a time. I am so glad I have my “hobbies” to keep me occupied at night after the kids go to bed. Otherwise I’d be bored stiff.

I worked on The Four Seasons a little last night. I’ll continue to work on this for several more days. I will be trying to finish up a few quilts too. I borrowed my friend’s quilt frame. I hope to get a few tied with it soon. So many things for a girl to do!

Here are a few pictures of the kiddies!

We are growing sunflowers for the first time, and I keep thinking the flower will come out, but it keeps on growing up and up! They are huge :)

That was a lot of talking there :) Thanks for visiting, and I hope to get to all of your blogs soon. I have been reading them, just not good at leaving a comment. I am sorry for that. You all inspire me!

Round Robin Goodies :)

I have been steadily working on two round robins this past week. I have my final round robin for the Jayne's Attic board that I completed. This is Edda's RR. She had us all stitch 4 letters on the Prairie Schooler farmer's alphabet :) I think this is adorable. I did U,V,W,X. Here it is:

I should be getting mine back in the next few weeks, I can't wait :D

Then, I worked on Rowyn's NRR. I had asked you what to add to it, and you all suggested birds, I wanted to make a crow or raven, but I didn't have any charts with those birds... so I used a bluebird from another Prairie Schooler chart I had. I think it fills the space pretty good since it's bigger. So, here it is ready to mail. I really liked making a house for this, I am so glad I am doing this NRR :)

More to share, but will save it for later. Have a nice weekend!!!

Summer is Waving

I worked on this for a few days and finished it today:
Shepherd’s Bush: Summer is Waving kit

It is on 10 count fabric, so it is big! It called for 3 strands of floss, and had this honkin’ embroidery needle in there. A bit of an overkill, but it worked :) I think it is cute. What do you think I should finish it into? I was thinking a flatfold, or a wall hanging. What would you do? Hmmm?

The weather here has been so weird. It is very humid, overcast, and rainy for the past week. I want the sun! This weather is for winter time! The humidity is what is so annoying :P I am whining… I shall stop to spare you all.

My next project to work on at work will be another Shepherd’s Bush chart, my ornaments! I need to get cookin’ on them if I want all of them done for Christmas :) I have all of these new SB kits just waiting to be stitched… so I better get going.

Harbor Lights Finish :)

Hi everyone! I have been bad about updating, my husband took the camera out of town with him last week, and I couldn't show you a picture of my finish! So I decided to wait until he got home to post this.

I finished Harbor Lights on Thursday night, I love it :)

Hinzeit: Harbor Lights

Stitched on 28 count Confederate Grey Linen

Used recommended CC & DMC threads

A closeup of the sailboat charms, I think they are so cute.

I also finished my July Bent Creek Snapper, I can't believe I am keepin up with it, woo!

I have been working on my Jayne's Attic RR and will hopefully finish it this week, to mail it to Edda, then that RR will be complete for me! I have really enjoyed working on this one. :) I am still working on my grandma's Carpenter Star quilt. Hopefully the top will be done this week too. All of this depends on how fast I get through the new Harry Potter book, it is excellent so far!

I hope you are all having a great weekend, thanks for visiting.

NRR WIP, and a new quilt :)

I wish my weekend was longer :) I shouldn’t complain, since I had a 4 day weekend previously. It just seems the days fly by! My husband was out of town for the weekend, and that meant I had lots of time for my projects :) I got quite a bit done! It was nice.

I started working on the Neighborhood RR, I have Rowyn’s currently. I decided to stitch part of the Little House Needleworks: City Stitcher Country Stitcher. I love this chart anyway, and thought it’d look cute on her RR. She is doing a village. This girl and the rooster just looked too cute! I am adding a big sunflower to the left of the girl. What kind of bird do you think I should put up in the sky? I am not sure.

I also started working on another quilt. I hope this doesn’t surprise you, I like having a million projects at one time! I am crazy… I am doing another Carpenters Star, this time for my Grandma W. (it’s a surprise) She loves the teal/blue colors. I thought this would be perfect for her. I have been able to sew the rows together since I’ve taken this photo. It’ll be a beautiful quilt.

Curren took a picture of me this morning, I look tired! :D He took a picture of my backside as well, but I’ll spare you LOL! :D

I have two more Carpenter Star quilts kitted up to make, one for my Great Aunt, and one for my little nephew. I am giving myself the deadline of November to have them all done, for Christmas gifts. These quilts are so simple to make, so I am sure I’ll be okay.

My other Grandma S. has asked me to make her a quilt, a log cabin quilt. I had such a fun day on Saturday! My girlfriend and I were really wanting to go to the Sister’s Quilt Show, but we couldn’t make it due to my husband going out of town. So instead we got together and worked on our quilts, then went to two new quilt shops! It was so much fun. I bought some fabric for my Grandma’s log cabin, and a few other things. I am really excited to start the log cabin for Grandma. It’ll be a really pretty one. I’ll show pictures of the fabric when I get all of it.

Alright, off I go, I hope you all have a great week! Thank you for the comments on Harbor Lights. I would say I have about 70% of it done now so I am getting close. I have enjoyed it. It is a simple chart to follow.

New stash... woo!

I received my order from One Star's Light earlier in the week. I couldn't be more excited about it :) Jenna was so helpful, she special ordered me this chart that I've been dying to get my hands on, plus got all of the thread together for me. She is awesome :D

I got Valentine Stitchery: The Cape, with the WDW threads. Also the Pineapple threadpack. I also ordered some various Dinky Dye silks, I've been wanting to try out silks for a long time, these just looked so pretty :)

Lisa was selling some fabric a few weeks ago, so I took advantage of that and bought some from her, I got such a nice selection. I am set on fabric for a good long while :)

Here is my progress on Harbor Lights. I really like this pattern a lot!

Jessie had to model it for me :) Man, my kids are growing up so fast!

Hope you are all enjoying your summer, it's been great here so far. I had a great time with my friend, we went shopping, ate lots of yummy food and had a lot of good laughs. I miss her already, but it was wonderful to see her again.

Log Cabin Quilt Top is done!

So, after Wednesday, when I was able to get the rows sewn together, I had time today to finish the top. I love how it turned out! It is a lot of fun isn't it? So happy looking. I plan on tying this one, because I want extra puffy batting in it so it'll be warm.

My girlfriend is here, we've been good friends since high school, it's been so great to chat with her again, I am really enjoying having her around for the week.

I got some progress made on The Four Seasons, I have started on the big winter motif with the birdies on a basket.

I watched Freedom Writers last night it was excellent, I recommend it!

Off I go to bed, I hope you all have had a nice weekend!

Progress Report :D

I hope all of my American friends had a wonderful Independence Day celebration! It was a beautiful day here. We had a pancake breakfast at church, which was a lot of fun. We then went home and worked in the backyard for awhile. After lunch we took off for the beach. We went to Cannon Beach again :) I told you we like it there. Our friend’s were there hanging out too. We stayed for a long time. We had so much fun. I look like a lobster now, but hey… fun in the sun right? :D

I got some progress pictures to show! I worked on my blue and yellow log cabin yesterday for awhile. I got all 10 rows sewn together, here they are on the ironing board waiting their turn to be ironed :) It is turning out so pretty. Mark really likes this one. He asked who it was for LOL! I said US! He replied “well it’s about time!”

Here is my WIP of Harbor Lights. I am moving right along on it. I didn’t realize that the brown outlining on the words was only supposed to be one strand. I used two. But I like it just fine, so I won’t worry about it. I love this one!

Yesterday so felt like a Saturday, it’s weird being at work. I am so tired! Time to play catch up :) Have a great day!

June Review/July Goals

June Review:

Stitch the June Bent Creek Snapper *done on 6/5/07*
Stitch two (I’m behind) Shepherd’s Bush ornament’s for the SAL *nope*
Put stitches in the Mermaids *nope*
Put stitches in The Four Seasons *yes, and finished the border*
Finish the Jayne’s Attic RR and mail it off *yes*
Work on my cousin’s trip around the world quilt, try to get the whole top pieced *yes, got top together*
Stitch and finish the 4th of July Exchange for the USEBB ship by June 22nd *yes*
Work on my wave quilt *yes*
Work on Neighborhood RR when it comes in. *haven’t worked on it yet*

*stitched Shepherd's Bush: Brave One, started Harbor Lights, made two quilts for charity through my church, made a new tablerunner, started cutting out fabric for Carpenter’s Star quilt for Grandma*

This was a great month for me!

July Goals

Stitch the July Bent Creek Snapper *yes*
Stitch two (I’m behind) Shepherd’s Bush ornament’s for the SAL
Put stitches in the Mermaids
Put stitches in The Four Seasons *yes*
Put stitches in Harbor Lights *finished 7/19/07*
Finish the Jayne’s Attic RR and mail it off (this is the last one!)
Get backing/batting for cousin’s quilt
Get backing/batting for my wave quilt
Get fabric for my grandma’s log cabin quilt *yes*
Make top for Carpenter’s Star quilt (for Grandma Wagner)
Finish Rowyn’s Neighborhood Round Robin, and mail it off to Von.

This is a ridiculously huge list, there is no way I’ll do it all, but it keeps me focused on the things I need to be working on!