Spring has sprung....and Week 10

The back yard is a buzz with blooms and bees

The critters are not so helpful with paperwork.

Week 10 hoop progress

A little gif fun

Using a hobonichi weeks to keep track of my hoop do's

Treated my self to some stitchy goodness.

Variegated perle, silk perle and ribbons, floche, needles, threader...ahhhhhh

Although the weather is getting warmer, I felt the need for a batch of cinnamon rolls.

They were fab and disappeared super fast.

My granddot loves getting facial from her momo (auntie)

I really want to sew but I have a few things in the boring, regular world to get done first....then I am freeeeeeeeeeee!
My #1yearonstitches hoop will have to suffice for now.

What's on your spring to-do list?

#1yearofstitches...week one

A big hoop makes it look like little progress, but progress it is!

Day One

Day 7

It's actually a 14" quilting hoop. I thought I needed the room for 365 days of some kind of stitching. I am pretty sure in 6 months I will wish I had a bigger hoop, but then I can start something else...many something monochromatic or themed. This is just freestyle. 

Of course my first emblem would have to do with star trek...heeellooooooo

I may take a break from Our Lady and do some bubbles and puzzle pieces. My Granddot was here and that's what we played with. Yes, I am making the grammy face.😊😊😊 (oooooo new feature...insert special characters)

On the Cutting Table

First up, a little Easter bunny. She is going to be for an upcoming bloghop. 
She will not be all that traditional and I hope my granddaughter likes her.

Speaking of my little ray of sunshine.......my first little girl outfit in quite sometime.....A little tiered dress with a border fabric. 

After I make a cute little Easter dress out of cherry fabric, I will be practicing the new skill of sewing with knits. I will start with a nightgown or two then move up to leggings and maybe even a t-shirt. As long as it isn't super stretchy, I should be okay. A cover stitch machine will be my next purchase if I start sewing knits on a regular basis, but until then, twin needles and a rolled lettuce edge will be my friends. 


The little princess herself...............

Yep, I am sooooo making the gramma face!

"Sammy" Time

Been working on a little table runner with Lucy's Crab Shack fabric.....I like it!

It's a good size, this is a full size bed and it goes almost all the way across.
It's laying on the backing fabric.....all names.

Got a few other things in progress too.....the baby boy quilt is still slowly being hand quilted and a book review for embroidery. So far, the patterns that come with it are worth the price of the pdf....even without all the other stuff.

Progress, slow and steady

First off, I went with the Bokhara(n) stitch. Looks better from a distance. lol But it did give me the look I wanted and I used nearly half a skein of floss for a tiny little area.

Grocery bags....7 of them. I am not showing the pretty parts...mwah ha ha

A few are for a swap and I want to keep a little mystery alive.....but only a little.

Also got a few more squares of the baby quilt quilted. I am afraid I may run out of the blue precensia perle before I am done. 

What are you doin?

The Sweet Taste of Progress...

I am in a blog hop this month called "Stitch Me Up" 

Here's a little peek at my progress....


My color palette and my background fabric. You can kinda get a sense of where I'm going with it without totally giving it away. 

My background is done, but showing that would have been a dead giveaway. lol
You will have to come back on March 20th to see the finished piece and to see a whole bunch of other great embroidery.









I am making pretty good progress on my baby quilt too. Trying quilt at least two squares a day...that will put me on track to be done by the end of the month......eeeeeee......progress feels great!!!

W.I.P. WEDNESDAY

I am afraid I haven't got much stitching done of late. The hubs took the opportunity to use up last year's vacation days and I spent most of my time hanging with him or being his minion while he worked on a few house projects.

I am slowly, but surely getting napkin 3 of 6 done. It's a royal coachmen fly.

My progress...so far.........

Not sure I like my add lib on the wing. I may take it out. 

It just didn't look feathery enough to me,  ya know?

I stopped counting after 50 french knots. 

I have several other projects that I WANT to do so I better get this sucker done asap. lol  
Two blog hops and a possible swap are in my immediate future. Not to mention that I so want to make a shirt and jammies out of my Trek fabric.

What are your crafty plans?

Quilting Progress

Well, since I started hand quilting this baby, it's gone pretty fast. I am a lot farther along than I thought I would be. I will definitely be done before my estimate of two weeks if I keep up this pace.

Another 14" section done!

I feel like the 'pinwheel' needs a little somethin-somethin in the middle....mmmmmmm

I have a few  threaded needles here and there. The hoop does get in the way but it holds the fabric so nicely....I don't mind....as long as I remember where there are. If not, yeeee-ouch!

Kinda hard to tell, but it looks about half way done.

The stitching isn't as nice as the front, but I am happy to say, 

it isn't as bad as I thought it would be!

It's not perfect, and I kinda like that about it. 

That's a big step for me because I am a little anal at times. lol  

I can't wait for it to be done because it will be the second quilt I have quilted all by hand.

Next pics will be in the finished files!!! woo and hoo

Big Stitch Quilting

Some of my more purist quilter friends might cringe at the thought of using pearl cotton and only having 3-4 stitches per inch, but I don't care! LOL I have always preferred fewer stitches to the inch.....11 pin-dot sized stitches might show off some serious skills, but I just don't care for it in most quilts. Art is so subjective, no?

Hand quilting with pearl cotton is something I've seen in the last few months (maybe even a year) and I fell in love with the look. I finally decided to try it. I am WAY out of quilting practice and it shows, but I really like how it's turning out. I got quite a bit done in only an hour.

I am free handing the design. Not too shabby.
I'm using a 14" hoop, a size 24 chenille needle and some pink size 8 pearl cotton. I tried using my thimble and the traditional rocking motion.....hahahahahahha  I pulled those stitches out right quick. Where is my hand quilting instructor when I need her? Didi McElroy.......find me...pleaseeee

If I work on this for an hour every night, I could be done with the quilting in less than two weeks. 
It will feel so great to have a finished project under my belt and I hope it motivates me to finish more projects!!

Have you tried anything new lately?

Quilt top done!

I started it awhile back, then the baby came early, then I kinda got into other stuff, but I decided I needed to "get 'er done." Sooooo me and  Lily-bit went to work.


The progress:

Miss Lily was not much help. Every time I got up, she hopped up. 

That table top is super clean because I had to wipe it down a whole bunch. LOL

Now, to get a cute backing fabric and sandwich away. I am machine quilting it for ruggedness and I am pretty sure there will be a fair bit of free-motion design involved. It'll be a surprise to us all. LOL

Started the nightstand in the Big Bedroom Redo

Finally, I am getting started on my bedroom redo. My inspiration was a red bedroom in Country Living Magazine.

 
I've never painted a piece of furniture ......ever 



My sojourn begins.....


















The first project is my nightstand. See my daughter's lovely sharpie scrawl? It's been there for y e a r s

 First, I took all the removable pieces off

The I started sanding with 100 grit sandpaper. Just a light sanding is all that is needed (or so the hubs told me) As I was sanding, I noticed a crack and some minor dents. The hubs said it gave it character but I decided I needed to learn to patch things

So I filled this crack and a few of the leg dings.

 

Tomorrow, I finish sanding and put on my first coat of......BURNT PEANUT RED.
I will miss having my nightstand for a few day. I guess a chair will have to do for another day or two. 
My next projects for this room will be to pick a wall color and make a padded headboard with a removable slipcover. I saw one online somewhere (before pinterest) with buttons going down both sides but I can't find it again....drat! I'm thinking toile like the foot stool???

Have any of you got any diy tips????

Closet progress......Already? I know, right!

I just sucked it up and did the big sorting today. I was dust covered and NO spider bites!!!

I can now rest easy until after the mil visit and then start doing the detailed sorting. 

I still can't believe the transformation!!!!

        The left side before                                                             The left side after

         The right side before                                                                    The right side after

 1 Large bag of garbage and a few boxes of donations

4 Bags of fabric and notions that will be donated to my daughter's school's home ec department.

Some fashion fabric yardage, but mostly quilt fabrics for their charity projects.

 I still can't believe it was all in that small closet!! In October, I can start the process of parting with stuff I like and stuff that is in boxes on the upper shelves. Parting with patterns will be hard, but I can do it!!!

Maybe I should do this to my bedroom closet......a January project for sure!!!

I may just get to sew tomorrow after all!!

Tuesday Updates

Maybe Tuesday Updates can be something regular, who knows?

I can't really get ''good'' pics of everything, but here is a little of what is going on.

 I wake up to a hungry cat. Yes, he drags his bowl around and sits in it until someone feeds him. 

You just never know how far it will be from his eating area.

 

I am stalker mom, hear me roar!!!! 

My daughter and her first ''real'' boyfriend. 

If I went around the fence, she would've seen me, I was in stealth mode. LOL

 

Tuck in for my Flirty Apron Swap. I can't show the other side, it will sooooo give it away!! LOL

The dress form all padded out for the bride

Sparkly organza for the top layer of the long skirt

The structural part of the dress with final tweaking all marked 

The back of the structure

Close up of main fabric. Ivory satin with glitter

12 yards of organza for the skirt

The slip portion of the skirt

 

The skirt for the ''party'' portion of the mullet dress in the pretty fabric.

  

I just love that word.......orrrrgaaaaaaaan-zah

Fun word, fussy fabric.

Time to make some progress, final, final fitting for hemming is this Friday and delivery a few days later!

I will post pics of the bride after the wedding!! Sorry, you'll have to wait until May Day!!

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