Freshly Picked Table Runner, Upcoming Plans and A Bear

Hello, friends!

It has been just over two weeks since my last post. We returned from a fabulous time in Philadelphia and I just got busy with work and real life.  There hasn't been any cross-stitching to share and the sewing projects I have are retreat gifts. Those things have taken up much of my time. I'll share them in a future post when I recap the retreat.

Speaking of the retreat, I mentioned in a previous post that I am donating a table runner for the charity raffle.  I finished the runner last week.
                                            
Freshly Picked is a project from a Fat Quarter Shop Sew Sampler Box. I was a subscriber many years ago. Most of the Sew Sampler projects that I knew I would never make were sold on a destash FB page a long time ago. I saved a few favorites for myself and charitable donations.
                                            

                                            
The focus fabrics were from Good Life by Bonnie & Camille for Moda. I did the quilting on my embroidery machine using a design from Designs by JuJu called Vines and Flowers. The overall measurement is 19.5" x 57". All fabrics were from my stash.

I'm also donating a lap-sized quilt but do not have any good photos of it yet. I may try to get a photo with the raffle winner at the retreat.

We've been in our NC mountain home for 3 years and 4 months. We frequently have deer and turkeys on the property. Last week we had our first bear visit.  We've had them on the road but never in our yard...much less our garage. Hubby was cleaning the upper patio deck furniture. He left the back garage door open as he went in and out. A bear came from somewhere, entered the garage, drug out a bag of birdseed, made a mess and then left. It was so cute how he walked down the paver steps to our lower lawn.  I'll try to attach a video at the end of this post but if it doesn't work, you can find it on my Instagram.

My goal for this week is to finish all of the things I have to do for the retreat which begins on September 10th. I'll be driving to Montgomery, AL on the 9th. Also, my Mom bought a condo so we will be helping her pack and prepare to move. The timing on that is dependent on when the flooring people finish. She's had a lot of renovation going on since she purchased the property. While I am thrilled for her, the timing is awful. I'm committed to the retreat but also want to be here for her.

During my two week break, I've missed visiting my favorite blogs. Hoping to do some catch up reading over the next few days.

Enjoy your week ahead and I'll see you soon.

If you've followed me for any length of time, you know I have been discouraged by linky parties. But, since I've started following Melva, I'm encouraged to give her Sew & Tell a try.

Making Progress

On a roll may be a bit too optimistic but I have been able to stitch a little each evening this week.  I would love to either sew or knit every day this year but we all know that isn’t going to happen J

This week I completed two more blocks for Sherri’s A Quilting Life BOM. 

I have three more blocks to go along with the sashing, corner stones and border. 

It would be nice to have this ready to go to the long arm quilter on the 13^th when I take my 2009 Saturday Sampler.  If you missed it, you can see it here.

Carole at From My Carolina Home is collecting blocks for quilts she is making and sending to the Ventura Modern Quilt Guild.  The guild is donating quilts to victims of the Thomas Fires.  You can read more about the effort and get the block pattern here.

My blocks…

Thanks Val for introducing me to this effort.

This weekend will have me taking down all of my Christmas decorations and cleaning.  Fingers crossed that I can sneak in a little more sewing.

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

Have a lovely weekend J

Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2017

H2H 2017 has come to an end and I am happy to have had the opportunity to participate.

Here are the quilty hugs that are on their way to Happy Chemo…

Kitty Cats

Ladybugs

I have been obsessed with polka dot binding lately.

Tumbler

I made this one last year and stashed it away…almost forgot about it.

Many thanks to Sarah for her hard work and dedication to this very worthy cause.

Please visit Confessions of a Fabric Addict to see some really amazing quilts that have been donated this year.

Have a great weekend everyone 😊

Hands to Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2017 - Progress

Good evening, friends.

Just a quick check-in to share my progress on the H2H charity quilts.  You can click here to visit Sarah’s linky party and see how everyone else is doing.

The ladybugs have been pieced and just need to be trimmed, pressed, quilted and bound.

The kitty quilt is in the piecing stage.

Both are on schedule for being finished in about a week and a half.  I won’t be sewing this weekend as I’ll be at Disney with my daughter 😊

So, I will leave you with an early wish for a happy weekend.

Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2017

Sarah from Confessions of a Fabric Addict has announced the kick-off for this year’s Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge.  This is her 7^th year organizing this wonderful cause and my third year to participate.

Click here to read more about the challenge and the charities that will benefit from it in 2017.

Right away I know that I will make at least one quilt to be donated to Happy Chemo and these are the fabrics I pulled for it today.

Won’t you consider joining in the fun?  You can sign up over at Sarah's (link above) and be entered in a nice little giveaway, too!

Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2016 Link Up

This is my second year participating in the Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge coordinated by Sarah who blogs at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

There are a record number of quilters signed up for this year’s challenge so I am sure Sarah will receive a record number of quilts.  Many quilters donate more than one or two so I am excited to see the final number.

Please visit Sarah to read more about the challenge and see the link ups for some quilty inspiration.

My contribution this year is a simple child’s quilt that will go to Happy Chemo.

These are the fabrics I selected.

The fun giraffes and yellow fabric came from Stephanie’s stash.  Stephanie Dunphy is writing some wonderful tote and quilt patterns which you can find  at ConnectingThreads.

The green is a Gail Kessler for Andover fabric and the Little Elephants fabric is from Michael Miller.

The easy strip pattern is one I found many years ago.  It was on Mary Johnson’s website.  This is a perfect pattern for a child size quilt.

I would like to thank Sarah for the opportunity to participate.  She is a very special person with a huge heart.  I look forward to next year.

Hugs,

Reminder...

My husband gently reminded me this morning that I am a blogger.  I took it as a subtle hint that I should post an update, so here it goes…

March 4th was my last day in the office.

It didn’t really seem that strange for me, maybe because I was ready.  I was so busy right up to the end, mostly getting things packed and trying to do a few things for my boss before we left.

There were several farewell events, lunches, gatherings.  I have some very generous friends and co-workers. 

One of the gifts was a basket containing a couple of bottles of wine and two cruise gift certificates.  I put those to good use, my husband and I booked a 10-night southern Caribbean cruise.  We depart very soon J

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My daughter came home on the 3^rd and stayed until today.  It was her spring break from college.  We kept busy all week.

Her first request was that I bake her Miss Lou’s pound cake.  Click here for the recipe.

We tried a “new to us” Hibachi restaurant.

We ate ice cream.

I am trying to get back into the swing of cooking again.  I brought out the slow cooker one day and made pulled pork for sandwiches (another of my daughter's favorites). I can’t believe I only took a before picture.  It didn’t last long once my husband came home from work.

I also used the slow cooker to make a lemon poppy seed cake.  That was a new one for me.  I found the recipe in the Spring 2016 edition of Better Homes and Gardens Slow Cooker magazine.

 

 

It actually tasted pretty good.  Next time I will add more lemon zest and make a lemon flavored icing rather than the vanilla as suggested in the recipe.

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I started walking / running 3 miles every weekday morning.  You can’t tell from the cooking and baking but, for the most part, I have been eating and drinking pretty healthy. 

Once we return from the cruise, I will start working out with a trainer until I figure out what I am doing.

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This is the finished block for my friend’s memory quilt that I told you about in my last post.  I sent him a picture and he asked me to machine embroider his Dad’s name in the sand.  Sorry for the poor photo, the thread matched the denim perfectly. Maybe clicking the photo will enlarge it so you can get a better idea.

His mom really liked the block... I was so relieved!

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Nothing happened on the sewing front but I am taking classes at my LQS two days this week. Hope to share before I get too busy shopping and packing for the trip.

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You may notice a new button on my sidebar for Hands 2 Help 2016. Please visit Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict to learn more and consider signing up.  This will be my second year participating and I look forward to it.

Y’all have a blessed week J

My New Old Cedar Closet and Slow Sunday Stitching

This old cedar closet was in my grandparents house long before I came along.  

My Mom had it in her house until yesterday.

She asked me if I wanted it.  

Of course!  Perfect for storing quilts. I need to research (Pinterest) some cute hangers.

How do you store quilts?

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This is my collection of yarn bowls.  

All made by local artists.  One person made three of them.  I love her work.

This will be my choice today while I take advantage of Slow Sunday Stitching.  Working on another helmet liner for Operation: Warm & Fuzzy and watching football, of course.

Check out Kathy’s place to see what everyone else is doing for SSS.

What are you doing today?

Slow Sunday Stitching and an Update

Forgive me friends for it has been 49 days since my last blog post.  (sounds almost like a confession)

LIFE exercised its ability to remind me that I am not always in charge.  I have had some good things and some not so good things taking up my time and keeping me from being creative.

I’ll share a few of the good things and we’ll just forget about the not so good things.

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My daughter moved into her first college apartment a couple of weeks ago.  I made her a throw pillow and hand towel to match her bedroom ensemble.

I’ll have to get a picture of her room another time.  We had a great time shopping and preparing for this next big step.  It was fun to work with the embroidery machine again, too!

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My friend and I drove over 350 miles in 10 hours one Saturday to visit 10 quilt shops that are participating in Florida’s Row byRow Experience.  (Click the link to learn about RxR, if you are not familiar)

This was what I brought home that day.

I have since procured a few more rows from other shops.  Candace from Squash HouseQuilts also sent me a pattern from a quilt store she visited while passing through Idaho.  Huckleberry Patches looks like a really cute shop. 

I have completed one row so far.  

This row is from Fabric, Fabric, Fabric in Rockledge, FL. 

It gave me an opportunity to practice using the blanket stitch on my little Pfaff sewing machine.

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Unfortunately, I have not been able to keep up with the Farm Girl Fridays sew along.  Lori, Bee in my Bonnet, has many followers that are doing a tremendous job with their blocks.  These are the last ones that I completed before things got crazy.

Kettle's On!

Kitchen Window

Mama Hen

Milking Day

I’m not sure when, or if, I’ll get back to this project.  I was learning a lot about scrappy quilting and making small blocks but I get frustrated when I can’t stay current with a sew-along.  I finished enough blocks to make a cute sampler or even a nice collection of pot holders.

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We are experiencing a rainy and windy day here in south Florida but no complaints since it is better than having a hurricane.  I am going to sit back and enjoy a little slow Sunday stitching on another helmet liner. 

The helmet liner project is in full swing.  If you are new to my blog, you can read more about Operation: Warm & Fuzzy here.

Visit Kathy's Quilts to see what everyone else is up to on Slow Sunday Stitching.

What are you creating today?