Design Wall Monday

This is my design bed. 

The design wall is empty.

I have been obsessed with my Circle Of Jewels project.

So sometimes I have to spread all the parts out just to see!

Sunday I felt puny so I spent hours cuddled up in the recliner.

Movie watching and jewel basting.

It was a good day. wink, wink

I did finish this sampler quilt Saturday.

I wrote about it here.

Next up to quilt is this UFO,

 Carol Doak Twisted Mystery that was started October 2011

and has been aging since Feburary 2012.

I think it's been long enough.

Batting, backing, binding are ready.

Threads have been chosen,

quilting designs figured out.

Time to empty out this bin!

See fabulous design walls at Patchwork Times.

Sending lots feel better wishes to Judy L.

Slow Stitching Sunday

I've added to the Mother Ship (as Bonnie Hunter calls it!).

I am having a blast being obsessed with this new project.

I had to lay out all the parts to give myself the vision.

Now I will continue to make rosettes,

adding a few here and there. 

I definitely need more variety.

Since each of the charm packs that I'm using has extra parts to it,

I've decided to make scrappy blocks from them.

No need to put them in the scrappy squares bin

when I need so many flowers for this quilt.

Use 'em up and add more interest.

See other Slow Sunday Stitchers at Kathy's Quilts.

Another UFO Bites The Dust

It feels great to have this quilt finished. I really didn't like it. Not one bit! But Granddaughter Taylor did so I quilted it for her. Funny thing is, now I like it. This was a Quilt Along from 2010/11. I used old batiks to get them out of my stash. Then the blocks aged for a while. I pulled them out one day, ordered some sashing and border fabric from Thousands of Bolts and put the top together last spring at retreat.  Then it had to age a bit more. 

One day while Goodwill shopping, I found this 10 yard piece of fabric. Perfect backing fabric for a horse crazy teenager.  This quilt has been washed, dried and crinkled. Perfect for a cuddle on the couch quilt.

Now to pick the next UFO........

On The Needles (Hook)

Last week I was working on block 9, this week I'm working on block 11.  WOW! I do not see myself finishing this in time to be entered into the drawing for the big Stitch-cation Summer Challenge prize.  But that's fine, remember I'm trying to use up the yarn, not add to the stash. That's what I'm telling myself anyhow. So I will just crochet on and soon it will be finished and that yarn bag will be empty ready for the next project.

The blocks are simple and have been lots of fun to work on. Some of the stitches are new to me and after getting the hardest ones--that frustrating popcorn stitch!--done first, I haven't had any trouble except for my counting!!!

Check out other fabulous needle projects at Patchwork Times.  Isn't Judy's sweater fabulous!

Design Wall Monday

I've started quilting this batik beast.

The sashings and borders are done.

Simple stitch in the ditch in the sashing and

the border is just a continuation of the sashing with 1" rows.

The blocks are about half done.

I am challenging myself with different designs in each block.

Shirley showed up for her first quilting lesson.

Isn't she adorable!!

But mostly, I have been working on theses.

I have named my new quilt Circle of Jewels.

The triangle shapes are called jewels and can be found 

here at Paper Pieces and match the 1" hexies.

See what my friends are up to when they link to Patchwork Times today.

Slow Stitching On Sunday

I've named my newest hexi quilt Circle of Jewels. I wish I could just sit and stitch whenever I wanted but that isn't working out for me.  So I squeeze it in when I can.

I stayed with the grand kiddos for a few days this week so I had some good stitching time during movies on super hot afternoons.  Now that I'm back home, I have the need to be done things that are taking up my time. But today I plan to stay quiet and stitch.

See fabulous stitching projects at Kathy's Quilts: Slow Stitching Sunday.

On The Needles (Hook)

Not a whole lot of hooking happened this week.  I spent a few days with grandkiddos while their parents went on a short vacation. I took my crochet bag planning to work on my Stitch-cation blocks during movie time. On the first day, I get my bag, take out my block and no hook!  Darn. Crystal is a crochet-er (I was going to say hooker but that just isn't right!!!) so I texted to find out where her hooks are. No hook the right size.  Oh well, I'll grab it when I come home to check on the animals.  Nope, promptly forgot.

No crochet happened for 3 days. I was unpacking some things out of my crochet bag and guess what I found???  Yip, that sneaky little hook. Right there in the bag, almost in plain sight!

Now I am concentrating on some solid blocks.  I am loving the shells + front and back posts blocks.  It's a fun block to make and I'll make another solid block with that design with a different color. Maybe red or lavender.....I'm not sure. Maybe I'll blindly reach in and pick a color. Using the same yarns as the In Love With Color Throw, these blocks are so different.  I'm hoping I like it as much as my throw but right now, I'm having some doubts. But I'll keep working on it.

See what everyone is working on at Patchwork Times.  I love Judy L's cardigan!!!

Design Wall Monday

I started a new project.

I am spending a couple days with the grands so I took it with me to work on.

This is what we did this morning.

It's more fun than a puzzle.

I haven't just been hexing.

I marked this UFO off my list.

I got it out last November to work on it and promptly ignored the poor thing.

One good hot afternoon last week,

 8 more blocks were made instead of 6 like I had planned.

A couple more afternoons, it was finished!

See other design walls at Patchwork Times.

Oh and the latest kitty update. 

They have all found their forever homes.

A New Project Begins

You know when you see something and it just reaches out and grabs you?

That's what this post by Mickey Depre did to me.

Travel down her post to see what she is doing.

I LOVE her new project.

So I went to Paper Pieces and ordered myself some 1" hexi and jewel shapes.

I intended this to be my new project for my Wednesday Binding Friends group.

But you know how it is,

you have to try just one or more to see how it looks.

My jewels are going to be all alike since I have enough of this fabric in my stash.

(She says with fingers crossed.)

The flowers are being made from charm packs that I receive every quarter for Benartex.

I am a long time member of Mr. B's Preview Pack Club (shown on the right sidebar of their home page)

 and a new pack arrives quarterly and I need to use some of these that I have saved.

This pack is called Arabella.

I'm starting out combining fabrics just from the charm pack.

Each flower uses 4 different charms that have been cut into quarters, 3 squares from each.

The 4th square is put in a pile for centers and maybe complete scrappy flowers.

I haven't gotten far enough along to decide that yet.

They could just end up in the 2 1/2" square bin.

This is my travel bin with an extra charm pack, papers, needles, thread and threaders.

Along with my flower and jewel block fabrics ready to stitch and my Perfect Scissors for trimming.

I'm quite excited about this new project.

Thanks Mickey for the inspiration.

I'm linking to Kathy's Quilts: Slow Sunday Stitching.

One of these days I'm going to figure out how to make that rug that Kathy is working on! 

On the Needles

I've been sneaking in as much hook time as I can.

This is where I am with the Stitch-cation Summer Challenge project.

It's really hard to work on the squares now.

These guys have figured out how to climb up into mom's chair.

I guess I shouldn't have bottle fed them there.

Every time I sit in my chair they come running and crying for food.

They are now 6 weeks old and eating on their own.

2 days without the bottle was pure torture for me. 

All the crying and begging, broke my heart.

I gave in once but that was all.

Some times I close the bathroom door while they are in there just to have some quiet time. LOL

I did knit this week!

We went for a drive Saturday and I worked on another dishcloth.

I finished Number 10 while at Wednesday stitching group and gave it to my friend without taking a picture.

Number 11 is started.

See awesome needle projects at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

There is nothing on my design wall but a mess of threads. It's time to test out my new lint roller and get those cleaned off. I have all my rows pinned together for Cathedral Stars. I'm hoping to work my way into the sewing room today to make some progress on this. I haven't been in there for several days and I miss it.

We are going to have a few hot days this week so when the sewing room gets too hot, I plan to pin baste this quilt top. I want to play around with what I learned from the Craftsy class Dot To Dot Quilting. I printed this photo in black and white so I could play around with the block designs. I think this is going to be fun to quilt.

All this will happen after I cruise around Blogland for a while. See what's happening on Design Walls all over at Patchwork Times.

On The Needles (Hook)

Knitting has been put on hold. 

I am in full blown crochet mode right now.

Stitch-cation Summer Challenge has taken over.

As well as using up yarn so it doesn't become lost in the land of stash.

I decided to do the hardest for me stitch first.

The popcorn stitch was very confusing for me.

Not the actual stitch itself but the single crochet row.

I kept trying to pick up a stitch where there wasn't one.

I know I started over at least 4 times and ripped back rows several more times.

But I have learned the stitch so finishing off the last block will be a piece of cake.

Notice the granny block.

I needed something to calm my mind before starting popcorn block 2.

That will be finished this morning.

Each block will be made twice for this project.

This is the yarn left from my In Love With Color Throw.

In my mind, it makes this sampler project a freebie. 

Yes, that's the way I think.

My throw is finished and turned out so fun!

Just the right size for the recliner.

Also finished is the Lacy Market Bag.

I can't wait to use it! 

3 balls of cotton out of the stash!

See fabulous On the Needle projects at

Patchwork Times.

June-A Month of Finishes

Finish #1 

Quilt for the hunting club's picnic prize pool.

Finish #2

Mae's Grandmother's Flower Garden

 Finish #3

Lacy Market Bag

Finish #4

In Love With Color Throw

Perfect size for cuddling in the recliner.

What will I do in July?

I could finish the pair of No Purl Monkey Socks that are on the needles.

But instead I am starting on Stitch-cation Summer Challenge.

This is a crochet sampler afghan.

I will be using the extra yarn from In Love With Color.

I am also going to start quilting this Sampler quilt

while I continue to work on Cathedral Stars.