Mnday Goals

My day started with an unexpected visit.

Momma and her twins.

Then I began with laying out the Lace Cabins. I plan on adding sashing between the rows and a small border all the way around.

I decided on one and a half inch sasshing and worked on that later in the afternoon.

Next on the list is to prep the second of three Christmas wall hangings for my nieces' families.

They don't look like much yet. I decided to use a white "fur" for the cuffs. That means I don't have a place for individual names, but I'm still thinking about it. They may fit under each hat. I'll have to get further along before I make any final decisions. The points will be jingle bells. All the words will be embroidered.

In between steps, I took care of daily minimal chores and prepped supplies for dinner. While the dogs played in the backyard, I did some weeding and dead-heading so the beds don't look so unkempt.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity and productivity.

What I did with my weekend

Here's what I did with my weekend:

Saturday, I went to one of the larger garden centers for a make and take project. And I'm in love, it turned out so cute.

When I got home, Honey Do and I went into the garden. I added a couple of plants I rooted from my kitchen and we picked what was ready. It's not a lot, but it's getting there.

And while there, this beautiful moth landed on me for a quick photo-op :)

 

And my projects . . . 

This is as far as I got, but at least it's a start.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity and productivity.

End of the week . . .

Wednesday, my intentions were good but it was a rough day . . .

I fought a headache all day. It was humid and I couldn't get comfortable or settled. I persevered and worked on the snowmen wall hanging.

They got put together. Next up, borders and quilting.

Between prepping dinner, I put together my first loaves of zucchini bread from the Sunday pickings Honey Do did. I made them on Wednesday so I could take one of the loaves to Mom.

Honey Do was in Heaven with the fresh loaf after dinner. It won't last long. Good thing I have enough shredded zucchini for a couple more loaves and another squash yet to use. The plants are large and healthy and this is just the beginning of the season. The bread freezes well, so I'll stock up for winter.

Wednesday evening, after our walk, I looked over the instructions for my next embroidery project:

The Mystery of the Salem Witches' Quilt Guild

(Photo from Crabapple Hill)

My next step is to color before I begin stitching.

Thursday, Newton and I went to see my mom :)

After some basic cleaning, we went to one of three bedrooms. We've touched all of them in the last year, starting in the closets. Some purging has already been done, but it's an on-going process when you are trying to deal with years of accumulations. I grew up in this house, and Mom has lived her more than 40 years. That means A LOT of STUFF.

The smallest closet has shelves and Mom would like to store her yarn supply here. That's where we started. Helping Mom usually ends up being pretty beneficial for me :) And this time was no exception.

The wooden goose planter was a gift to my Dad. I got it from a co-worker who made them.

 

These linens are a dozen napkins and tablecloth. Mom started the project but never finished it. Now she doesn't want to. Both of these treasures became mine :)

Thursday, I got the borders done on the Snowmen Dozen.

Friday I quilted and bound it. Another UFO finished!!

Once that was done, I moved on to the Salem Witches.

This row is 45 x 18 inches. There are six witches and a wagon. Each figure is pretty detailed and it too me several hours during the afternoon to color this one. This is not a project for the faint of heart.

Once she was done, I moved on to another goal, the Christmas wall hangings for my nieces and their families. I drew off a pattern and the fusible web that I'll use to adhere the "hats" to the background fabric. I need a total of 18 hats. I would like each member of a family to have a different print. Two of the families have seven members, so I'm going to look for seven different prints to work from. I also need backgrounds and hat cuffs. That means another shopping trip in the next couple of weeks. I think I'm going to wait until school goes back in session to do that.

Thanks for stopping by, 

Wishing you a day filled with creativity and productivity.

Monday chores and catching up . . . Tuesday, this and that

Monday didn't exactly go as I had planned. I worked on my blog and pictures between loads of laundry. I pulled some weeds in the vegetable garden, made sweet potato muffins

and refrigerator pickles from the pair Honey Do picked on Sunday.

I worked on my menu and pulled together dinner supplies. It amazes me how busy I can stay in the kitchen and before I know it, my day has flown by.

I had hoped to at least do some stitching, but that didn't happen until well into evening after some more weeding, cleaning up dinner and walking. 

I did manage to get Snowman #12 finished.

With any luck, I'll have a little more sewing time on Tuesday.

And the icing on the cake, squishy mail.

I received all these lovely 9-patches from my friend, Dorothy.

Monday's efforts paid off because there was little to do by way of chores on Tuesday. My morning came and went. The afternoon was spent finishing up this adorable rag doll I found while visiting Kirtland with Susan last week.

 

The apron didn't have any stitchery on it, but it was just asking for something sweet. This is part of a larger "Jenny" pattern. Isn't it sweet? Just adds that finishing touch we all love to have.

I also finished the pillow case for my youngest great-nephew.

He LOVES dinosaurs :) This was one of the pieces I found last week shop-hopping with Susan. 

Wednesday will be spent working on the Dozen Snowmen wall hanging and Thursday is Mom's Day :)

See you Friday :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative and productive day.

Goal List Week Ending ???

Yeah :)

Here's my goal list that doesn't seem to be changing, but I've finally made some progress thanks to Susan's visit this past week :)

1. Christmas Pajamas

- Nine pairs seven pairs done

2. Santa Hats Wall Hangings

- enlarge pattern - done

- draw off hats

- cut out hats

3. Shoebox Swap

- review contents - done

- make shopping list - done

- make gift - done

4. Samaritan's Purse Shoeboxes

- assemble boxes - done

- fill boxes - done

5. Snowmen Dozen

- finish final three blocks - two of three done

 

6. Art with Fabric Blog Hop
- choose design - done
- choose fabric - done

Goals for the week of August 7, 2017

1. Christmas PJs
- purchase fabric for #8 and #9
- make pjs

2. Santa Hats Wall Hanging
- draw off design
- cut out design
- start assembly?

3. Shoebox Swap
- purchase final FQs

4. Snowmen Dozen
- finish stitching #12
- choose fabric

5. Lace Cabin
- review status
- continue assembly



Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity and productivity.

Autumn in the air?

It has been a busy and exciting summer, the culmination of which was Susan's visit. I was so excited Tuesday for her arrival. All my preparations were complete . . . menu and shopping done, laundry caught up, I made her room as special as I possibly could.

Wednesday I made time to work on my Growing up block. I chose my fabrics,

and red and re-read the instructions, made the templates, cut out and placed the pieces. And finally got it done!!

Susan arrived late afternoon and we had a great evening of sharing a meal and glorious, wonderful, non-stop conversation. We enjoyed each other's company so much there was no need for television or the radio. And my family came to lover her as well.

Thursday, Susan took us on a road trip. We went to Kirtland, the home of the first Mormon temple - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was  a wonderful and enlightening morning visiting the temple 

and original settlement. All the photos will be in a separate post. After lunch, we did some shop hopping.

 

Even Newton didn't mind too much :)

Friday, yes, a little more shop hopping. This time some of my favorite shops and even a little JoAnn's. I needed more brown for the lace cabin quilt.

Pins & Needles has an adorable set of RXRs this year.

They have three locations and each had a different section, which can easily be made into a separate wall hanging and they generously included enough fabric to accomplish this. We managed to get all three shops in over the two days.

Abigayle's is another of my favorites. These are such sweet ladies. I already collected this block but needed to catch up my Add-A-Block BOM and definitely found some additional stash builders and more of my FQs for my swap at the end of the year. I've managed to collect a total of 18, so only six more to collect. We collected Halloween prints everywhere we went and I found an adorable Kimberbell pattern (more on that later).

Lunch was Wendy's and dessert was from a local chocolate company. I picked up a birthday gift for Honey Do :)

Susan designed an adorable quilt block that you can see here and shared with me, while I prepared dinner. After dinner, Rocky decided he needed "me" time, so we chatted while Susan cut and sewed the pieces to make her first block. I managed to finished Snowman #10 and pieced to small ornaments.

Saturday, we spent most of the day at home behind our sewing machines. Susan worked on different blocks for on-going projects and I worked on Christmas pajamas.

Around 2 p.m., Honey Do said "let's go to lunch".

a wonderful Japanese buffet in our neighborhood.

We did more sewing and since we didn't have to make dinner, were able to continue stitching as we watched a Louis L'Amour movie ("Conager") and more wonderful conversation. Who knew we had so much to share? :)

Sadly, this ends Susan's visit to my corner of the world My hope and prayer is that she enjoyed her stay and will return sooner than later for another visit. My entire family enjoyed her company and time with us.

Sunday dawned cool and damp, with a light breeze. It feels like autumn. I'm definitely not complaining and should have made for a pleasant trip home for Susan. Packing done, Susan left about mid-morning so she could be home before dark (that would have been my plan also if I were travelling). Fair weather and God with her, we "let" her leave.

I spent the day doing the things we love, sewing and stitching. With lots of leftovers in the fridge, I didn't have to cook. My week will go back to its normal routine. Only two more weeks before school starts. Gardens need weeding and deheading, and I need to work on my goal list for this week.

Honey Do was in the vegetable garden Sunday morning . . .

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity and productivity.

New Week, New Goals

My day began with catching up my blog and setting my goals for this week. Most of July has been spent working on things other than sewing and stitching. I'm promising myself some creative, relaxing personal time.

July went way to fast. Two to three weeks dedicated to Vacation Bible School and another to my remodels - three rooms. Those projects, although very rewarding and satisfying, didn't leave much time for my sewing and stitching goals.

I spent Monday morning doing my usual chores and finishing up my reorganizing from the weekend. Newton and I had a meeting at noon for future planning. Now we wait for a letter telling us what's next.

Dinner, dessert, dishes. Breakfast and lunch and final clean up. Frustration becasue I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but I still did a lot.

I finally sat down about 8 p.m. to work on the Growing Up BOM. It's due this week !!!! I did manage to choose my fabrics and make my templates.

Thnks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity and productivity.