FNSI

It's been a month and time to join some wonderful people stitching, sewing, crafting and whatever fun things they can get themselves into. Slide on over to Wendy's to see who all the attendees are and check out what they are doing.

My Friday night began before dinner with cutting out these "stop signs" for my Sunday School lesson on Sunday. The children will write in permanent marker

S top

 T hink

O bey

P ray

Then they can use them as bookmarks in their Bibles.

After spending my morning balancing my check book, paying bills and grocery shopping, I had no motivation to cook. I still needed to put groceries away and help with bulletins at church. Honey Do sweetly suggested sushi for dinner :)

Not my favorite, but his. I was perfectly content with leftovers since I didn't even know what I was hungry for. Makes clean up very easy and quick.

 

This is the latest flower to adorn my picket fence.

And my "pickets" are starting to fill in and show some color as well. I'm very pleased with the way this is turning out. Very feminine :)

Honey Do really needs new denim, but refuses to purchase because he's having trouble finding good fit and comfort. So I'm mending these again. I had a little help from my friend.

I'm spending the rest of the evening watching a movie - haven't decided which one yet - and working on the picket fence.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity.

S - L - O - W . . .

That's how my week is starting.

I don't have much motivation after all the fun stuff I did over the weekend. But I know as the week moves on that will change :)

I started embelisshing my "picket fence" last week. 

It really didn't look like much until I started adding the leaves. 

It will continue to evolve as I move along.

I'm not very good at free-style or making my own designs, but I'm going to continue to try.

By the end of Wednesday, this is what I accomplished. 

Mind you, there were all kinds of interruptions in between stitches, but I'm very pleased with the accomplishment.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity.

Late to the party . . . no invite :)

Sunday, as I finished up my "Betsy Ross" blocks, I decided to prepare some Christmas themed 9-patches to be sewn later. These are mostly fabrics leftover from the Gnome for Christmas quilt I did last year and finished in January. The fabrics were purchased specifically for that project and I had no other projects lined up to use up the fabric . . . so 9-patches. And I always feel like I'm behind in meeting my obligations for the swap.  

Anyway, that process created more scraps. Those, of course, need to be dealt with as well. So why not make a scrap block?

I'd started sewing pieces parts together a few weeks ago and set it aside because it was taking time away from something else I was working on. 

I have found out several things about me as I went through this process. I LOVED it !!!  It was fun to see how it would turn out. It's very freeing being able to use up my scraps because I hate throwing anything away that has any size to it at all.  Some of the scraps were even already sewn together because they were leftovers. It doesn't really matter if things match or line up because they will eventurally. I was pleasantly surprised how nice it came out. I did have to do some trimming and squaring up as I went, but not a lot. And I got two 12 - 12.5 inch blocks out of the process. For me, this will make it more managable down the road when I go to put them all together.

Then I ready Susan's blog . . . 

It has a name !!!! 

Imagine my surprise?

This is Susan's "Scrap Vortex".

I am in love :)

She's been doing this for awhile because she makes TONS of quilts. 

I learn a lot from her and she is very generous with her time and knowledge and I am forever grateful for her friendship.

Not only that, but she provided me with several links so I could check out other bloggers.

http://www.butterflythreadsquilting.com/search/label/Scrap%20basket

http://wombatquilts.com/2015/07/24/a-low-volume-scrap-vortex/

http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/2015/07/scrap-vortex-finish.html

http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/2015/07/oh-scrap-scrap-vortex-quilt-top.html

http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2015/06/scrap-vortex-qal-week-one.html

They all have beautiful quilts or quilts in progress.

I'm definitely going to keep working on mine.

So I'm a little late to the party with no invite, but I'm staying and going to enjoy myself.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity.

Relaxing Sunday

I try really hard not to "work" on Sundays. I'm not always successful, but mostly I am.

After Sunday School, I came straight home. We decided on homemade tomato soup and biscuits for dinner - Tomatoes were in the freezer from last summer. This year's harvest will be non-existant. We did not have a very good growing season and my heart just wasn't in it.

Anyway, that pretty much freed up my afternoon and evening, which I took advantage of. . .

I finished embellishing my "Betsy Ross" row and sewed it all together. I also linked it up to DOD Mystery Blog. I really wasn't sure how I wanted to finish the blocks, but I'm pretty pleased with the end results and especially that the goal was accomplished.

I went on to prepare sets for more 9-patches. These will be Christmas themed. They make great leaders/enders.

And something I've never done before . . . 

I was REALLY pleased with how these turned out :)

It's 8 a.m.

Load #3 is in the washer . . .

Load #2 is in the dryer . . .

I'm on my way to Bible Study.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity.

It's a good weekend

Back here I let you know that my computer would be out of commission due to a conflict between Rocky and the adapter.

I immediately shopped and ordered a new adapater and was blessed with its arrival in Saturday's post. I didn't realize how much company Netflix was while I stitched and sewed and worked at the dining room table during the day :)

The weekend forecast was for rain and much cooler temperatures. Highs during the day are mid 60sF and the overnight lows are in the 50sF. We are LOVING this weather. Rain was forecast for Friday evening, all day and evening Saturday and cool (mid 50sF) and overcast on Sunday.

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with this weather. In fact, I relish in it. It is the perfect excuse to stay home and indoors to do what I love.

Friday evening I cut out all the pieces parts for the Americana row.

Yes, Rocky helped with sorting . . . 

and plenty of distraction. He's a comical little fellow and I love him beyond measure :)

Saturday . . .

The three blocks of "Betsy Ross" aka Sunbonnet Sue were pieced.

Once I got over the initial confustion I seem to have with every paper-pieced block, they went together quickly and smoothly. All three were accomplished on Saturday. I still have some detail work to do, but they are done !!!

And personally, I think they are adorable.

As leaders and enders, I worked on 9-patches.

I managed to only get 10 done this time, but that just means the blocks were easier to do. I should have a nice little inventory of them . . . I'll have to check.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend, too.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity.

Autumnal previewd

As I sit this evening and write my blog, I'm also reflecting on my day. 

My day starts at 5:30 a.m. with Honey Do getting up and getting ready to head out for work.

I put on coffee, take the dogs out and pack his lunch.

It's still fairly dark at 5:30 a.m., but I always look up to see what the sky has for me.

This morning it was clear and full of stars.

After the sun comes up and Newton has left for school, we head back outside again.

This morning I noticed this bush of teeny "mums". I had cut them back a few weeks ago because they were all brown and not very pretty to look at.

Imagine my surprise this morning coming upon them all grown up again and in full bloom.

It's amazing how you can walk past something everyday and not notice it. 

I wasn't expecting them to grow up and bloom again.

This evening as I was working on my spring row, I looked out my dining room window. There on my flag pole was this beauty enjoying some time in the sun. I just had to capture a photograph of him/her. It stayed there until the sun no long shown on the pole, assuming it got too cold.

Our overnight low was in the upper 50s, so it may very well have gotten chilly.

I on the other hand, enjoyed these cooler temperatures immensely. It was a perfect day for a drive and visit with BF. The high was only in the mid-70s. A perfect day in my opinion. 

I love autumn because of all the beauty it has to present. Cooler temperatures, Visitors like this moth and the beautiful spider last weekend. If you watch the signs, you can see the changes coming.

BF and I didn't really plan or feel much like doing anything at our meet today. She brought Christmas cards to punch down to repurposed into gift tags. I brought my various finished projects to ooh and ahh over :)

I found an adorable enamel canister at a local consignment shop that I purchased for her and a piece of "watermelon seeds" print for a table runner project we were supposed to work on.

She offered opinions when I shared my concerns for the spring row. How do you like the floral print on the bottom?

I am absolutely thrilled with it. It adds some brightness and color that my color choices don't offer.

 I went on and drew some "canes" from which I will stitch and add "flowers". I made a little progress before I just got too tired.

I pulled out a floral embroidery book to help me along.

In an attempt to "sharpen" his computer skills, Rocky has chewed the death out of my laptop adapter and unfortunately now my computer does not hold a charge. It works fine as long as it's plugged in. I think he shorted out the battery. I'm sharing Honey Do's until the replacement I ordered arrives. So it may be a few days before I can blog again.

So I hope you all have a safe, healthy and productive weekend.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day(s) filled with creativity.

New school year

The beginning of the school year not only brings changes to students but to families and their routines as well.

For me, it means getting really organized and making good use of my time. My changes come a couple of weeks after school starts. Tuesday was my Bible study workshop for all the leaders, those working with adults and children.

Working with the children means I have to prepare a lesson following the guidelines, learning songs to sing with the children, activities and I also have to do my own study for a leaders group that is part of the weekly meeting and training. We met on Tuesday because Monday was the holiday. Going forward, the leaders will meet on Monday and Tuesday will be the actual group dates for non-leadership. So it will be two full mornings each week dedicated to meeting at church. The rest of the week will be finding good blocks of time to study and prepare. I've chosen that time to be when Honey Do leaves for work. Then the rest of the day is mine. 

By noon Wednesday, all my household chores were done, I met with the gas company to check my gas meter to make sure it was in proper working condition.

So once the daily chores were done, it freed me up to start working on the Spring Row-Along.

There are lots of little pieces for this one.

In keeping with the theme that I have limited time these days, I made my Wednesday very productive. In fact, I got way more accomplished than expected.

I never expected to get the entire row completed !!!

I still want to do some embellishing with embroidery and possibly beads. We'll see. I also want to look at the original design again because there are some applique pieces I haven't incorporated yet. However, the row is considered finished.

Going back to my "pick-a-pile", I finally have a tree on the first spring row.

I've been wanting to do this for some time and am finally getting around to it. I still need to do the embroidery, but it will be done by week's end.

September is off to a very good start. I checked my ShoeBox and only need two more fat quarters to complete the main part of the swap. Now I have to figure out some "surprises" for my partner. Very excited to have so much accomplished on that particular project.

Thursday, BF and I have plans for a meet. We are planning on starting a new table runner. She's been working on needlebooks for Christmas gifts. A new project for herself is in order. I've selfishly been finishing up projects for me :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity.