November Update

Look, it's a new post! Wow, I don't even have an excuse. I have not been overly busy but I have become consumed with cross stitch. Did I need another craft? No but I have one.

I finished stitching Take Time.

I found this kit at Walmart.

I need to frame it and add the shells.

It will be displayed in the bus at the beach.

I learned to coffee/tea dye Aida.

I followed this video but paid close attention to time because my fabric was different from their's.

I really like how it turned out and can't wait to dye more.

Because bright white isn't necessary for everything. 

Then I started stitching this for the grands.

I bought the pdf chart from Aliton Embroidery Etsy shop.

I'm still thinking about pulling out the gold and restitching in a darker gold.

Next up is sewing news. 

I finally made my blocks for our quilting group Christmas party.

I'll show you those after the party.

I cut out and sewed a new knit shirt. 

I'd show you but it's sitting on the machine waiting for a hem.

I love mixing up the textures of knits.

This is a raglan top with the stripes for the sleeves.

I pulled fabrics finally for the new Quiltville Mystery Frolic.

It took me a while to decide on my fabric.

I'm using stash and I have almost no blues at all.

I have lots of purples so that's what I'm using.

I thought about using bright yellow since I have very few aquas.

Daughter Crystal and I went mystery fabric shopping and

I decided to buy 1 piece of aqua and use that.

I did add a few more purples and of course I had to add to my neutral stash.

These aquas were put back in the bin.

I'm happy with my fabrics. 

I have not quilted anything since Hawaiian Sunset 1845.

I've made backs and now need to have a basting party.

I pulled out some little Churn Dash blocks to use as leader/enders 

and decided to finish making up these blocks 

so I can get them turned into the top I have designed in my head..

Of course it's not fun until the seam ripper comes out. 

It seemed like everything I touched that day had to be taken out and redone. 

Farm News

Hubby decided he wanted to hatch out some chicks.

He put 22 eggs in the incubator and we now have 19 babies.

We had a raccoon problem and lost quite a few of our hens.

The kids have fun with the names.

In this group are Peanut Butter, Peanut, Peanuts 1-5, Banana Split, Turtle.

Honestly I only know Peanut Butter because she is the only red chick. 

Always fun on the farm.

Until next time........

August UFO Challenge Project

WaaHoo! August's UFO Challenge is finally marked off the list. 

This is Hawaiian Sunset 1845.

This pattern is still available as a down load from Quilters Newsletter.

It really was a fun quilt to make.

I was so afraid to quilt it so I put it away for 6 long years.

How sad.

When I pulled it out of the bin, I was stumped as to what to quilt.

And then it came time to choose thread.

I decided a nice gray was perfect. 

I can't wait to wash it and see if the gray hides a bit more 

but if not, I'm happy with it.

While pin basting, I decided it was so busy it only needs a meander.

I was shocked that it only took 1 day to get it quilted. 

I sure do love my Sweet Sixteen.

It is now trimmed and ready for binding which was in strips in the binding box. 

That will happen today. 

When Ernie asked who it was for I told him I had no clue and

 that I really wanted to keep it for myself.

You can read all the stories about it here.

Funny How Time Slips Away

I can't believe how fast the tie is going by,.

Almost a month since I last posted. 

Not because I had nothing to say,

I just didn't write it.

Here is another UFO marked off the list.

I sure love my new to me Sweet Sixteen! 

This is Friends and Companions Designers Sew Along by Marcus Fabrics. (2014)

Here is the link to Marcus Fabrics page about the quilt but I didn't go down the rabbit hole to see if the links to the designers leads to the blocks. 

I do remember it was a fun quilt to make. 

I was ready to quilt a smaller quilt so I jumped ahead on my Judy L Challenge.

I used flannel for the back. 

Daughter Crystal and I attended our retreat last weekend.

I decided to focus on this UFO designed by Judy L and the September project for her challenge. 

I did a quick search of her page and found it here.

I had the center complete and the framing pieced border was on and border 3 was pieced.

I cut fabric for all the other borders and made this my first project.

I took all the extra fabric thinking I could piece the back.

Wrong, so  I pulled out a new project that I can't share yet. 

When I came home at night, I went into the backing stash 

and found a 6 yard piece of flannel. 

That wasn't enough so I grabbed all my flannel that went with my flannel.

That was my project for because I wanted to pass it to my long arm quilter friend Jane.

I take a picture of this old snag at each retreat. 

I had a blast hanging out with my daughter and my friends. 

I love these gals!!

Today my dear sweat friend Pam (Hey Pam!) read me a text from a high school friend Ruth.

So here's a message for you Ruth.

Heeeyyyy.  I am so jealous of your planned trip. 

Thanks for reading my blog.
One of these days we have to get together! 

Cross Stitch Project(s)

Since I haven't cross stitched in 35+ years, why not start with a big project?

Janlynn Antique Sewing Room on 14 count Aida cloth.

It will finish at 12" x 12".

I found this kit on Amazon.

All the floss came on this card.

What a mess. 

I have a bunch of plastic bobbins so I sat in front of the computer watching floss tube videos

and wound the floss onto them. 

While I watched one video, she showed her floss on some card stock thingies she made.

Then showed how to pull one thread at a time with her needle.

I'll have to go way back through my history to find that video.

Sorry, I can't remember who it was.

The light bulb went off in my head,

I have card stock and these punches.

I got to work and punched out a bunch of rectangles 

and put the grands to work punching the circles. 

I'll use these on my next project.

So I decided to work on one quarter at a time but

had a full needle of black floss so I just kept stitching on the machine.

Then started on the thread cabinet.

I have learned I'd rather stitch without a hoop.

This is where I left off a couple nights ago.

I now have most of the spools back stitched.

It sure makes a difference when they are outlined.

I have a few more kits but I've not started another project yet.

I'm trying to stay focused on this one because I love it so much.

One other thing I learned all on my own,

with the not the best quality floss in this kit,

if I run my threads over beeswax, they stitch so much better.

Let's hope the chasing of squirrels has calmed down now.

I don't have time for anything else.

Dinner?  Go ahead and make us whatever you want.

Help Me--The Squirrels are Winning

The road to my crazy started with Sweet Adorable Clella.

That's not true, I've been a bit of a crazy for a very long time.

She wanted to learn embroidery. 

I found a cute little heart sampler for her and fixed her up a kit.

Then I found this on Facebook Marketplace and started researching on you tube.

The first video I watched was from Quilt Roadies.

I felt like I had found a long lost sister. 

I've watched every single video. 

Which led to some wool applique and a return to counted cross stitch.

So I went shopping. 

I bought this wool kit. I have it cut and ready to start.

I thought I should start with something small so I ordered this cut kit for my first attempt.

I'll write up another blog post about it.

After watching a few of the Stitch Roadies on You Tube,

I decided to return to cross stitch.

It's only been 35 or so years.

I partly blame my friend Dottie for the cross stitch--she told me about floss tube on you tube. 😉

I'll write up about this project in another post too.

So the squirrels are working overtime. 

I've acquired a few more kits. 

I've decided not to buy any more kits for a while.

Until I see one I can't resist.

June UFO Complete

Celtic Solstice (Quiltville mystery from 2013) was my project Judy L's UFO Challenge for June. 

The top has been done since February 2014.

In that post is this month's Challenge project,

Tell It To The Stars -a Judy L design, still available on her blog.

I have worked on it this month.

I needed to cut 4 borders and the binding.

They are all cut and ready to sew on.

The binding is cut and ready to make.

The left over fabrics will be for the back.

I'm having so much fun with my Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen. 

I'm so glad to have let go of that I'm not a good enough quilter to quilt my Bonnie quilts. 

I truly believe in finished is better than perfect. 

Here's my post about the chevron border. 

Neil Diamond was a perfect companion for my basting party.

Hubs was in the recliner, reading. 

I told him there would be singing. He rolled his eyes. 😀

Of course Miss Polly must claim her spot. 

I love this quilt and I'm so happy to have it ready to put on my bed.

But first I'll show it off at retreat next month.

Perfectly Imperfect Easy Street

I'm sew excited to have the quilting finished on Easy Street.

This is April's UFO from Judy L's challenge.

Today the binding will go on.

Why Perfectly Imperfect?

When I basted the quilt, I had the back the inside down instead of up.

I noticed it when I had it about 3/4 quilted.

I am not a perfectionist.

I just kept on quilting. 

No big deal, it's going on my bed.

Here is how embarrassingly far behind I was on my UFO Challenge projects.

Now I can remove the top 2 sticky notes. 

Today is stay home and have a binding and basting party day.

Doggie cuteness.

Just like kids, one will not give up her favorite spot

so the other makes do to get what he wants.

Win, win.

March UFO Moving to the Finished List

I'm working on my 2019 UFO Challenge list.

I'm behind, very behind.

So now I am going to work on catching up,

2 months at a time. 

It might be the excitement of my new to me Sweet Sixteen.

Who cares why,

I'm just excited to be quilting again. 

So the March UFO is quilted and Daisy approved. 

I'll head in now and trim it and sew on the binding.

It's always good when the binding is premade so the mojo keeps flowing. 

I have bobbins wound for April's UFO that is all basted and ready to go.

Easy Street is up next. 

Bur first I have to change the needle in the Sweet Sixteen.

Cross your fingers for me. 

Welcome To The Family Sweet Sixteen

I've been wanting to upgrade my beloved Brother 1500 machine to a 

Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen machine.

I've wanted one for a few years and lately started looking seriously.

I looked at new, 

I looked for used.

There are not many used machines on the market.

I looked in 3 states and recently found one 3 hours from me.

Yesterday we took a road trip to north western Washington to test drive one.

Who am I kidding, I knew I was bringing it home with me.

She is now set up in the living room.

I played with her for quite a while last night.

I watched videos and played some more.

I'm confident in my free motion and I'm ready to start quilting.

Today I had to put off quilting to get a couple of quilts basted. 

I am so behind on my UFO Challenge list that I pulled the 

March and April UFOs off the pile and basted them.

I'm about ready to wind a couple of bobbins and 

be brave and start quilting. 

I hope to soon be moving these and several others to the finish page. 

9pm Update

The learning curve is quite curvy but I'm having so much fun!

Family Fun at the Beach

 Crystal, Mike and kiddos came to the beach for a little vacation before school starts.

So much fun!

 Clella loves to cuddle with my little Jessie,

he avoids her if he can. 😉

But if I put him on her lap and she covers him with a quilt,

he'll lay there as long as she does.

Granddog Sadie refuses to be left out!

Tony dog found his spot too.

Clella learned embroidery and is now working on a stitch sampler.

I didn't mind at all when she asked if she could have some of my threads.

I did make her up a supply bag and boy oh boy,

she picked up the stitches so fast!

Big funny with these two.

It's all about the matching hats.

Kiddos take turns helping with the meals.

Corbin loves to help with breakfast.

He was so proud of how awesome his table looked. 

He id a great job.

Every morning is hot cocoa.

Most every evening is S'mores.

Sometimes if you are going home early,

 S'mores are for 2nd breakfast. 

When Gramma begs and whines,

Elliot caves and gives her the foot massage.

This man child melts my heart!

I love my just sitting back and watching everyone to their thing!

Lots of card games and Yahtzee.

The traditional family camping photo.

I think I need to print and frame this.

I cry when they leave but 

after a few minutes, 

I'm ok but

It sure is quiet!!!