Two Finished Quilts

Our weekend weather wasn’t as bad as we expected. We received a few snow showers and a lot of rain. The temperatures warmed enough that we had minimal ice. Very strange as communities all around us had a lot of snow and terrible ice accumulation. The temperatures have dropped again but there hasn’t been any more precipitation.

I spent the weekend indoors, safe and warm, and worked on the last two quilts that needed binding.  All nine are finished now!

Witch’s Night Out by Fig Tree Co.

I had spiders and webs quilted on this one.

Let’s Go Camping by Pat Sloan.

The quilting is all things camping related.

I think I am down to three flimsies that need quilting. One lap size, one wall hanging and one table runner. But don’t quote me on that LOL. I’ll know more when I finish this huge organization project I’ve started. I’m going through all of my craft supplies and stash. There isn't any telling what I’ll uncover.

I hope those in the path of the recent winter storm didn’t suffer any significant damage and everyone is safe.

See you Friday with a cross-stitch and crochet update.

 

Floss Friday -- Valentine Finishes

Happy Friday, Friends!

The sewing machine has been humming a little recently. I fully finished three Valentine pieces. 

First is Sweetly Sayin’ Valentines Day by Primrose Cottage

I wanted a finish that was a little different and I think I accomplished that.

Second is Be My Valentine by Lizzie Kate

This is a small pillow for either a tiered tray or dough bowl.

I used a Love Letter fabric for the back.

Finally, Chalked Love by Rich Trent

I used the same Love Letter fabric for the back of this piece as well.

Love Letters is the theme for this year’s Valentine décor. I can’t wait to show you what I have planned.

We have a winter storm heading our way this weekend. Our weather forecasters are all over the place with their predictions. Doesn’t really matter to me as my plans for the weekend are to settle myself into a comfy chair and stitch, crochet or sew.

What is your weather forecast for the next couple of days? What are your plans for the weekend?

See you soon!

Fat Quarters by the Dozen QAL -- Release 1 Beams Blocks

Hello, Friends!

The first quilt along of 2026 for me is underway.

Fat Quarters by the Dozen is a book published by Its Sew Emma.

Fat Quarter Shop is hosting a quilt along featuring the blocks from each of the twelve quilts in the book. You can find more information about the quilt along here.

I grabbed a fat quarter bundle from Lori Holt’s Home Town Collection to start with. I may pull fabrics from some of her other collections as needed.

Release 1 are blocks from the Beams Quilt

One thing I would like to do this year is make bonus half-square triangles as I go. Let’s see if I can keep up with this.

I was able to add three more blocks to Four Patch Fun leader / ender project. There are now 5 blocks in each colorway.

Hubby and I made a trip to Fayetteville to get my main sewing machine from its spa treatment. It is “sew” much happier now.

Next up on the list is to finish the bindings for the last two quilts in the pile.

Have a great week and I’ll see you soon.

 

Floss Friday -- Cross-Stitch Update and Crochet

Hello Friends!

I mentioned in my last post that I had a cross-stitch start and finish last weekend. Be My Valentine is a free chart by Lizzie Kate. There isn’t a cover photo and I can’t show the chart but here is a link to it, if you are interested.

I stitched this on 28-count evenweave from Fortnight Fabrics. The color is “Pick Me, Choose Me.” (Those guys were creative when naming their fabrics.) I used my own thread conversion which was all Classic Colorworks floss.

I pulled two previously stitched pieces from the “under-the-bed-box.”

Chalked Love by Rich Trent

Stitched on 16-count Aida from my friend Fiona. The color is called Coral Beach. I used DMC B5200 floss.

Love You More by Anabella’s Needleart

Stitched on 28-count plain white evenweave by Zweigart. I used a combination of DMC and Classic Colorworks floss.

These three pieces plus Sweetly Sayin’ Valentine’s Day that I shared here will be fully finished soon. I’ve been preoccupied with yet another hobby…crochet.

I have several knitting and crochet projects kitted. And I have this tall basket filled with yarn that isn’t committed to a project.

I decided to take this basket of yarn and make one or two large afghans for our downstairs sofas. The first one will be one big granny square…

Another reason I’m holding off on fully finishing the Valentine cross-stitch pieces is that we pick up my main sewing machine from the ‘spa’ this weekend. It will be nice to have my regular machine back in its table, ready to make a pillow or two.

We had a little snow Wednesday night. This is what it looked like yesterday morning.

Have a nice weekend and I’ll see you soon.

 

A Weekend Recap

Hello, Friends.

How was your weekend?

We had a very uneventful one…and I’m not complaining. I took Mom to Asheville for an appointment on Friday and we stopped by our favorite antique store on the way home. I found a vintage dry sink in very good condition and at a very good price. It came home with me.

I look forward to decorating it seasonally. And the cabinets will provide some badly needed storage.

It rained most of the day on Saturday, so it was a good day to stay inside and do some decorating. I’ve decided that I am going to celebrate the USA’s semiquincentennial by decorating with patriotic décor all year long.

I started with a pencil tree that holds my White House ornaments as well as some odds and ends from Hobby Lobby. This tree will change throughout the year as I add some stitched pieces, and I’ll likely replace the existing ribbon.

Then I started on the tiered floor stand…

And moved on to the Hoosier cabinet…

This is just the bottom shelf of the Hoosier and it has already changed since I took the photo above. I'll show you more soon.

I also did some baking on Saturday and made some orange ricotta cookies. They turned out great. A ‘cake like’ cookie with an orange glaze…yum.

Here is where I found the recipe if you are interested.

Sunday was cross stitching day with my friends on zoom. I had a start and finish which I’ll show you on Friday.

Thanks for stopping by for today’s post. I hope you have a wonderful week.

See you soon,

 

 

Floss Friday, A Quick Trip to Florida, Knitting?

This week’s cross-stitch update and our trip to Florida last weekend go hand-in-hand. 

When we travel by car, I like an easy project to stitch that doesn’t require a lot of counting and something that I can do on Aida or evenweave.  As it happened, Primrose Cottage released their free chart for January the day before we started traveling.

Chart:       Sweetly Sayin’

Fabric:      16 count Aida, white by Wichelt

Floss:        All from my stash; Classic Colorworks and Cosmo

I’ve pulled some Valentine fabrics and will fully finish it this weekend.

Why did we go to Florida? Well, remember when I told you about the embroidery machine hubby gave me for my birthday here? I mentioned that I once had a machine that didn’t work very well. When we were in the process of selling our Florida house, I didn’t think my embroidery threads would do well in storage. I offered them to my best friend. We agreed that she would use them until I got another machine. If I never replaced the machine, then she could keep them. 

I did get another machine so...

I have almost every color of Floriani embroidery thread.

They are stored in boxes of drawers that are numbered by the Floriani chart.

Now I am ready to dig into my fabric scraps and start creating some fun projects.

There is one more bit of creativity that I haven’t shared yet.

Our town’s “Ice Fest” is scheduled for the end of the month. See my post here for a previous Ice Fest event.

Visit Haywood is an organization that promotes local tourism and small businesses in our community. Our local yarn store asked for volunteer knitters to make a scarf that would be sold in the Visit Haywood booth. All proceeds go to promoting Waynesville’s small businesses.

The yarn store provided yarn and the free chart. 

Malabrigo Rasta One Skein Scarf by Kaity Fraker

My contribution was completed the morning after Christmas…while still in a food coma. I used a skein of Malabrigo Rasta Super Bulky in the color 133 Reflecting Pond.
                                            

Other than that, I’ve been enjoying walks around the lake, as our winter weather has turned mild. The swans are back and entertaining as ever.

I hope you’ve had a great first week of 2026.

See you soon,