Gorgeous, busy Monday . . . Tuesday . . .

Where to start. It's Monday :) It's absolutely gorgeous out. Overnight temperatures went into the low 50s and the high today is only mid 70s. Can't ask for better than that. Sun shining and a light breeze. It could stay like this year round as far as I'm concerned.

It's been a busy one.  We started with these precious little things.

 

It's dark outside the first time we visit the backyard first thing - about 5:30 a.m. I can barely see the dogs let alone anything else. This morning, I heard a scream. I finally got the dogs to come to me and once they were secured in the house I grabbed the flashlight and went to investigate. I found the first one and went to check if there were any more and found the second. They were still breathing, so I just left them alone. I hope "Mama" comes back for them soon. I'd hate to see them perish. We have lots of squirrels, but these are just babies and need their mama.  The pups are none too happy that they can't run through their own yard - they'll get over it :)

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So, what have I been up to.  Once I got Honey Do on his way, I seriously debated about just going back to bed. It's Monday afterall and who really wants do chores?  

Please, don't misunderstand me. I love a clean house, laundry caught up, a well-maintained yard. Do I necessarily want to be the one to do all that?  Absolutely not !!! At the same time, I don't want anyone else doing it either. It's that A-type personality. We're control freaks. Consequently, the list. The To-Do list. I started it yesterday and it just kept growing this morning.

So after my Bible study, I got started. No, I didn't go back to bed :(

This is kind of where I started -the mess. I had piles of paperwork to put away, magazines and old mail to dispose of, dusting, vacuuming, dishes, laundry and lots of other odds and ends.  It also interfers with the creative process. I hate clutter and I'm the biggest culprit in my house. I'm always stacking things to put away later. I'm always doing something, so later is good until later gets here and I can't move around the mess.

I always feels so much better when the house is clean and I can just sit down and start working on my projects. Things get let go when I get stressed out. It's like my system shuts down. Added to the stress that I'm already living with is an upcoming visit from my father-in-law. He'll be here Tuesday evening and staying for a month. I don't really mind the visit, but it will be a change in my normal routine. I'm as ready for the visit as I can be. Room is clean and ready. I hope he enjoys his time here with us.

By noon my cleaning was done, tomatoes cooling to go in the freezer and the laundry has one more load to wash and dry, then it will be caught up for at least a few days.

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My afternoon was spent reviewing the Sunday School lesson for next week. I ordered my copy requirements and just needed to organize my notes. Tuesday I'm starting a new, in-depth study of Moses at another church. I'm going with a friend, so I'm really looking forward to it. My own personal study is on Esther and it's hosted by Love God Greatly. Esther is only for eight weeks. The Moses study will go on through the school year. I found out during registration that this organization has over 1,000 locations that are conducting the same study. So matter where you are, there may be one close to you if you are interested. The organization is Bible Study Fellowship International. You are linked up :) Hope you check them out.

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So on that note, I will check in when I can. Not sure how busy Pops and Honey Do and I will be over the next few weeks. More importantly, how much will I get accomplished. We'll see.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

Saturday Finish

I was really hoping to get this done on Friday Night With Friends, but I wore myself out and didn't.

Bethlehem Block 9 - finished.

This block was difficult to come up with those extra special touches, so they are little like this star . . .

 

there's quite a bit of metallic thread too. If you've ever worked with metallic thread, it's not fun or easy, but the end results are nice.

First week of September and I've got a finish already. So heppy.

Hope you all had a fun FNWF and got lots done.

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Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

It's Friday !!!

And what better way to start the weekend than with friends? It's first Friday, so get your projects out, put your feet up and join us for some stitching, crafting, quilting, sewing or whatever you enjoy doing. You are in VERY good company.

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As you know, I signed up for my very first swap this week. I'm still pretty nervous, but it's time to try something new and get my feet wet.

These are my initial fabric choices. The large brown print is the basis the swap is being based on.

These are my choices so far. That's not to say I'm going to use all of them and as I get going, I may change my mind completely. Most of them were in my stash, but I needed yellow so I picked those up this morning. I was very pleased with myself because I didn't take the large brown print with me and just went with it.  The yellow at the top of the photo is a tonal with a white swirl and pin dot. The foreground as you can see is a dot also :) The yellow flower in the large brown print - yup - it has a white dot in the print :) VERY happy that I chose so well :)

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While I purused the store - I don't allow myself frequent trips because I think I have to have someofeachie (some-of-each-ie) and can spend a whole pay check without even batting an eye (and that is definitely not in the budget) - I found these little sandwhich baggies.

If you look closely, you can see that two were 50 cents each and the other one was $1.00. So for $2.00 I thought I would see what I was getting.  Let me just say - I'm not sorry I made the investment.  

Here's what I got:

The first 50 cent pack included these four print, two fruits and two dots. Don't you just love dots?  They rank right up there with tonals, very versatile. the largest piece was 9x17, the dots were 10.5x6.  Not too shabby !! I'm thinking this will make a really cute pin cushion or hot pad.

This one is saying needlebook . . .

Large print is 10 x 17, smallest is 5 x 7.5.

Only 50 cents !!

And this is what I got for $1.00 !!!

The largest piece is 17x45.

The small solid pieces are 6x7.5.

The biggest piece of large dots is almost 10x12.

I'm seeing a new tote bag out of this one.

I'm thinking next time I want a new little project or just stash builders, I'm going to go see my local quilt shop - she's only about 10 mins from home :)

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I'm very pleased with the progress I'm making on Bethlehem Block 9.

He's my Friday Night With Friends project.

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Nina says it's too hot to do much of anything today - 90 plus !!! So we are going to spend a fair amount of time going in and out. Soak up some sun, soak up some a/c. Should make for a pleasant afternoon.

Thank you for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

One of those weeks

After finishing August strong. . .

After having a fairly productive long weekend . . .

I feel like I have no motivation :(

Honey Do went back to work on Tuesday. I spent the morning out and about. First stop church. I am now the head teacher of our 3rd and 4th grade Sunday School department. This is the second time in a year the position has openend up and I stated my interest in the position. I'm giving up the leadership in the craft department for Vacation Bible School and of course, I can't let sleeping dogs lie. But I wanted this position and felt led to take it. So I was working on getting my supplies together for Sunday.

Next up, I went to the library. If you've followed me for a while, you know that I have internet and a laptop at home, but my main computer is a desk top, but it got a virus from Pinterest (you have to be careful) and it's the one I used to do my printing. So I can't print from home. Hence, the library. That also means more projects :) Not that I'm complaining.

Block 13 of The Lord's Prayer was published on Monday. You can get it here. 

I haven't started it yet, but have most of them prepped for stitching.

There's a few other projects on my list:

Block 2 of Wendy's Stitch-A-Long has been published. You can get it here.

Block 9 of the Myster BOM has been published. You guessed it - here.

And lest I forget, I'm participating in my first swap. Printed off the pattern on Tuesday.

You can get all the details here.

One more thing - 

Friday's coming - in case we ned it - one more excuse to spend time stitching/sewing/etc. with friends.

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Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

August Goal List

August Goal List:

1 - Bethlehem - Block 8

2 - Little Quilties - DONE

3 - Quilt Doodle BOM

Block 4

4 - One Christmas/Birthday gift (new)

5 - One item for myself (new)

6 - Rag rug (new)



Yes, I finished another one :) And believe it or not, I have enough fabric strips to do one more. I think I have enough now that I can give one away :)

7 -  UFO

A set of pillow cases.

8 - Snowmen block (new) - Block _?_

9 - Tilda quilt (new) - Row 3

Row three has been added (it's the top row).

Odds and ends:

 

Both quilt tops from the squares kids made at Vacation Bible School.

All in all - not a bad month.

Don't forget to check out these links:

http://desertskyquilts.wordpress.com/press-on

http://sewitsfinished.blogspot.com/

http://quiltdoodledesigns.blogspot.com/p/bom-2014.html

http://www.littlemissshabby.com/quilty-stitches/

Something old, somethings new

Something old . . .

I borrowed this book from the library months ago (probably one of the reasons they are changing their borrowing policy - oops :) . . .  anyway . . .

I have several pages marked and someday, I'll just purchase the book and go from there. But for now I'm in love with this little angel.

They are called "Teaspoon Ladies". I attempted to make her - I guess I just don't have the patience for these teeny miniatures. So I'll just scrap this project for now in favor of something I already have started. :)

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Something new :)

I finished this miniature today :)  If you haven't gotten your's yet, you can from Ms. Wendy at Sugarlane Quilts. It's a weekly stitch-a-long (SAL) that will make up into a table runner (unless your creative self comes up with something else). I'm thinking of making several to give as gifts this holiday season.

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Something else new :)

I've joined my first swap. Getting my feet wet. Thank you to Ms. Susan at Dessert Sky Quilts for the invite and encouragement. I'm a little nervous because of course it's something new to me and out of my comfort zone. But I'm getting lots of positive encouragement, so here goes nothing. I understand it's not too late to sign up, so here's your link :)

I still have to add the button to my side bar, but doesn't it look like fun? I love the colors and the theme:

Quilter's Garden.

I think we can all relate to that one :)

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I can't believe it's Monday already. Honey Do and I have spent five very quiet, relaxing days. Hope you have all enjoyed your weekend and if you were fortunate enough to have a long weekend, all the better.

Thank you for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

Enjoying a Long Weekend

Enjoying a long weekend at home. Honey Do took a couple of days off for the holiday and his birthday. Feeling blessed. We spent some time shopping at Sam's Club - I know, but we needed dog food and when you can get twice as much for the same price as other retailers it's worth it.

Honey Do thought this brownie assortment made a pretty good birthday cake :) I'm good with that if it makes him happy and it did.

We enjoyed a relaxing dinner at his favorite Japanese restaurant so that he could have oysters - it's all I can do just to sit at the same table. Not sure how people eat them. Can you tell I'm not much for seafood? :)

We spent some time relaxing in the backyard  while the dogs played. We also shopped the garden. We are being abundantly blessed with this year's harvest.

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I managed to carve some me time, too.

 

The second quilt top for VBS is done. Don't you just love seeing linens billowing in the breeze on a clothesline? I do. It's an absolutely gorgeous morning. With the storms that ran through here the other night the temperatures dropped. It was just 50 overnight and this morning is pleasantly cool. Enough to wear denims when we've been wearing shorts and capris. Autumn is most definitely in the air :) I'm excited for the change of seasons. Each season brings it's rewards and things to look forward to.

I've also bee doing some "me" and "gift" sewing.

 

This one is the gift. I'm going to save this one for next year. BFF loves aprons. I thought I would make one per month and give them to her. What do you think? This one is for March.

 

This is a Daisy Kingdom fabric that I've had for more years than I care to admit. I have always loved this line of fabrics. I decided to make an apron for myself.

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This is Nina helping me make dinner. Actually, she's just hoping I drop something. She gets in between the cabinets and me, so it's difficult to work and how she manages to get rewarded. Of course, I really don't mind.

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Thank you for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative weekend.