Wednesday, August 31, 2011

WIP Wednesday #42

This past week was exciting and quick paced.
I can't believe it's been another week.

Sheesh.

I blinked twice and I missed it.


I am officially caught up with the Birdie Stitches Stitch Along. At least until tomorrow when the new block design is revealed. LOL



I also managed another 6 blocks in my Farmer's Wife QAL. (Pics aren't the greatest, but I did my best with the light I had when I remembered to take the pics. You know how that is.) I now have a total of 23 made. My little lap quilt is coming along nicely. See...

I'm only showing 20 of the blocks here. I have to figure out which ones I am missing pics of and get them on here. I like the green triangles and off white sashing. We'll see. I may even change my mind and go for the BIG quilt...

Well, that's it for this week. Between work and evacuating for Irene, I think I did okay.

How did YOU do?


Wednesday, August 24, 2011

WIP Wednesday #41

It seems as though lately I have been saving my posts for WIP Wednesdays. I am falling into a pattern of sorts. I suppose. I am okay with it. It leaves me more time for actually getting the WIP's worked on.

This past week was another good one. I am almost caught up with the Birdie Stitches QAL. I have 7 of 8 blocks embroidered AND ALL of the blocks pieced together. I have designed a block for June. Just need to embroider it. It WILL be done by next WIP report.


August


March


April


Blank Canvases just waiting for MORE color.


Here's the layout I have in mind. Basically the months in order. (No brainer there!) I am thinking about a grey background. To sort of mellow out all of the bright colors a bit. I might also add cornerstones. Wadda ya think?



I also made the second postage stamp block for do. Good Stitches. Popping that in the mail at lunchtime today.


I also worked on: (but don't have pictures of:)

 - the Big A Granny Blanket. It's as big as it's going to get. I am now contemplating the border.

 - my 3x6 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee blocks.

 - my Farmer's Wife Quilt blocks.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

WIP Wednesday #40

Ah, I love WIP Wednesday. I love thinking about all I have accomplished in the previous week, and I love planning what I would like to get done in the week ahead of me.


This past week has been a pretty productive one for me. After coming out of a very busy-away-from-home week, I was able to get much done.



I made one of the two blocks for do. Good Stitches. I'm in the Grace group. Soon, I'll post a bit more about them. But until then you can head over and check it out. This month the quilter wanted postage stamp blocks. I love this as it uses smaller pieces (scraps) and looks great no matter what the fabrics are. Somehow they all come together in harmony. I can't wait to see the finished top and quilt.

***



I finished my swap blocks for Hive 4 in the NuBee's {A Block Swap} group in flickr. I finished them Sunday and have been admiring them for a couple of days. Now it's time to package them up and pop them in the mail. Probably tomorrow. Or Friday.

***



I embroidered the March block in the Birdie Stitches Stitch Along. I also finished sewing up the rest of the blocks for it. This makes 5 out of 8 blocks embroidered so far. You can check out lots of other Birdie blocks on the flickr group. I have two weeks to get caught up. It's a self imposed deadline. Don't worry, the embroidery police won't come after me. (I can run pretty fast if they do.)

***



My greatest accomplishment this week can't be claimed by me directly. My two oldest daughters (teenagers no less) approached me (YES, they came to me) and asked me to show them how to do needlepoint. Gee, I'm sorry. I should have made sure you were sitting down for that. I know, it's wild. Two teenage girls asking their mom for directions!!! I know I'm glad I was sitting down when they asked. I am loving that they are finally taking an interest in threads. They are both making a little coin/card purse kit. This is a teaser from the middle daughters work so far.

***




I also added a few rounds to my Big A' Granny Square Blanket. I'll post pictures of the whole blanket when it's done. I'm thinking it'll be done for next Wednesday's report.


Well, that's it for me this week.
What have you been up to?

You can see what others have been up to at

Sunday, August 14, 2011

OPUS GLUEI CHALLENGE # 111 - Oh I Do Love To Be Beside The Sea and All Things Fishy

Gini is our wonderful hostess this week on the Order of the OPUS GLUEI. She wants us to pay tribute to the SEA and all things Fishy.

All of the Poobahs have whipped up fantastic creations. You really should head over there and investigate them all.

I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do, so I sea-sawed for a while. Finally I decided that I would make a little piece of Art for my youngest daughter's bedroom. She is my biggest fan and supporter in my artistic endeavors, AND we share a common birthmark in the shape of turtles. Which was my inspiration for this piece.



I haven't made anything Zentangle in a while, and then I spotted a black and white drawing of a turtle in the newspaper. This piece was MEANT to be.

The initial version wasn't cut out. I made an error in the size of the turtle. He was supposed to be head straight up, but when I put him in the frame, his head got cut off, SO I trimmed around him and slanted him between the two plastic pieces AND got perfection. This is one of those cases wherein a mistake turns into a masterpiece. I LOVE that you can see around him.

Melissa requested that I paint the frame green. Megan wanted to paint it, so I said yes. I am hesitant to say NO when Megan wants to do ANYTHING. She is a teenager and rarely wants to do much that doesn't involve keeping watch on the couch.

And there you have it. My ODE to the SEA.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

WIP Wednesday #39

This past week has been very full and active. I did manage to get a teeny, tiny bit of stitching done. A couple of nights in the hotel. Since it was so hot, I felt it was only fair that I finally completed the January Birdie Stitches block.

Please excuse the bad photo and cropping.

My girls and I went up to Washington D.C. and toured around a bit. We spent last Saturday with Rosemary and David. And we shopped. Rosemary is an enabler. I felt the need to warn you. She took us to 2 money sucking shops. Right next to each other too. I plopped down a few pennies at the Seminole Sampler on some fabric for me and a bunch for my girls. I am loving that they want to buy fabric and make things. :-D Then we went next door to the stitching store, whose name escapes me at the moment, and plopped down the rest of my pennies.



I found drawers FULL of these little beauties. 24 of them are now MINE, MINE, ALL MINE. Plus the girls got little kits to make different projects. Again, I am lovin' that they are getting into this obsession of mine.

Anyway, back to the progress, or lack thereof from this past week. The Birdie block was IT. Nothing else got worked on. (Unless you count adding to my stash as progress.)

I am linking up to Lee's weekly accountablity report:


I am really enjoying linking up here each week. I love seeing what everyone else is working on AND seeing what I am working on.

So, what are you working on this week???

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

WIP Wednesday #38

It's Wednesday. Again. Already. How in the heck did it get here so quickly?!?!

Last week I mentioned that I HAD to finish something. Anything.

It. Didn't. Happen. Que Sera, Sera.



Here's what DID happen:


I finally got the templates right for a 12.5 inch (unfinished) block for the NuBees swap I am in. My first block came to only 11 inches unfinished. It's cute, but too small. Sometimes I overthink things and this time it only caused me grief. But I persevered, and got it right. Whew. Easy peasy from here on...





I tried my hand at hand quilting. My stitches are BIG and UnEvEn. At least I was smart enough to mark the lines, so they are pretty straight. I loved making every single stitch. I will most certainly do this again.





I added more rounds to my Giant Granny Square Blanket. I am now up to 39 rounds. I'll stop when it feels big enough. Or I run out of yarn.




I am linking up to Lee's WIP Wednesday #38 over at Freshly Pieced. You should too.

It's a great way to see how much you have accomplished.

Or not.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Friday Fill-Ins on a Tuesday???


1. Summer is my 2nd favorite season.

2. My weight is unchanged. Still.

3. Aargh! (See #2)

4. My hair is very entertaining in the morning.

5. Seven: best day of November.

6. 'Bout time I did one of these again, don't you think?

7. And as for the weekend, this Friday I'm looking forward to touring around Washington D.C. with my girls, Saturday our plans include meeting up with Rosemary and Mr. Rosemary and eating and shopping and laughing and having a grand old time, and Sunday, we are heading home after breakfast and shopping at IKEA. Yeah baby, it's going to be a knock-down, kick-tush kinda trip!!!


You can find more Friday Fill-ins HERE.