Small Works

My days this week have been so full that my sewing has just been bits and pieces. 

I have a couple of swaps that I am enjoying.  One is our Sewing With Friends group.  For this round we are doing mug rugs and this is my summer themed mug rug for Irene.  What says summer better than flip flops? 

Another really fun bee that I am a part of this year is our Gridster Bee.  May's Queen Bee is Rachel and her request is for paper pieced bees with a blue background. 

Many of us are also doing one extra block of each month's choice to keep.  I did my background in a neutral instead of the blue. 

Block Lotto blocks this month were potted cactus.  I made three to be donated this month.  This was a fun block to make.

My days have also been filled with feeding baby birds.  Since the parents were pulling their pin feathers, I removed them and have been hand feeding them.  Initially it was every 3-4 hours, but they are now on a three times a day schedule - much more manageable!!  They are growing nicely, gaining weight and cry when they see me.  Have you ever read the child's book, Are You My Mother?  I think I can relate to it.  They actually look like birds instead of little vultures now.

Before

Now...with feathers and full crops.  Their faces are starting to turn yellow with the orange cheeks. 

While the grands were here for Easter they found a monarch caterpillar on the milkweed.  They collected it for observation.  It was very much the very hungry caterpillar appearing to double in size each day. 

This week it formed its chrysalis.  We are now waiting for it to emerge as a "beautiful butterfly".

Still Alive and Kicking

I hope I can still remember how to do a post!  It has been so long since my last one.  There hasn't been a lot to SHOW these last few weeks as my camera messed up on me. My trusty camera got dropped, breaking off the battery/memory card door.  Thus it would not work so I purchased a new one.  I took pictures over the July 4th holiday and all that weekend.  Initially I could view the photos, but then it just showed giant question marks for each photo and then flashed "memory card error".  To make a long story short - the camera was defective and there was no way to recover my photos in spite of their best efforts with different recovery programs.  Such is life.  The party pictures are now etched in my mind - never to be shared.

There has been a bit of sewing done over the last two weeks.  I finished piecing my String of Pearls for Christa's quilt along.  It looks blue, but it is actually a mottled gray color.

I also quilted and bound my Halloween Schnibble that I pieced several years ago.  I needed a finish this month for the monthly tally at A Lovely Year of Finishes.  Slowly, but surely, these tops are getting finished. 

Mary was my swap partner for our mug rugs this time around.  She made me the most delightful mug rug and her work is just glorious.  The card that came with it matched perfectly.  As Mary said ... guess which came first. 

Aren't these such happy flowers?

Extra goodies she also sent are fabulous!

This was the mug rug that I made her for the summer. 

Trying to stay ahead on my Japanese x&= swap blocks, I made my August ones which are now ready to mail off.

As the U.K. (and the rest of the world) is on baby watch, we are also on baby watch here.  Our daughter is due to deliver any day now and we are all waiting to see what sex the baby will be.  I love being surprised - the old fashioned way.  They have two boys and a little girl right now. 

You may remember that a few months ago I got to play around with some Happy Town fabric from Jacquelynne Steves.  She is now having a wonderful giveaway over on her site so be sure to check it out and sign up to win. 

We've had such a delightful summer this year and the garden has been so prolific.  Needless to say there has been a lot of using and sharing going on around here.  It always requires a lot of time, but is so worth the efforts once winter sets in. 

Spring in the Garden

It seems that this is the time of the year that the garden beckons me outside more and more.  Other than the countless weeds that multiply faster than rabbits, things are really blooming out.  I have quite a few Cymbidium orchids that are always so pretty at this time of the year.  Many of them are plants from my father who has been gone almost thirteen years.

I love this little green one.

The cactus is also blooming.  I just love this plant with the giant flowers.

Other than the blog hops, I have been sewing some.  Months ago I participated in a Low Volume Swap and I have been playing around with them.  I am just sewing the blocks together as I make them to encourage random placement.   I think I will do eight rows so I am halfway there.

The blue dotted block is coming out because it really does not play well in the mix. 

I had a couple of the granddaughters over to make themselves some costumes for their spring show at school.

My mug rug for our swap is made and sent out to Linda (who no longer blogs).  Linda loves Doxies and has several at her house so when I saw this mug I knew who had to own it.

This is the gorgeous mug rug that Linda sent to me.  The tiny flowers are so perfect and so pretty.

I've had a lot of fun mail arrive lately too, including this wonderful package from Shanna.  I had won the charm packs, but Shanna send this entire box full of selvages since she knows that I collect them.   Between Shanna and a high school friend of mine, I am slowly getting close to starting my selvage quilt. 

Have you seen the lovely blue canning jars that Ball has come out with to celebrate their 100th anniversary?  Even if you don't can, they are wonderful for vases or tall glasses of lemonade.  Since I can, I am looking forward to using them.

I've joined my first ever Bee - Japanese Xs and +s.  I have enjoyed seeing this block and look forward to swapping some each month.

My goal for this month's Lovely Year of Finishes and Monthly To Do List was to finish all of my blocks for Easy Street.  I am happy to say that they are all done. Now I have to sew them all together.  I must have the last Easy Street completion.  I hope to finish before the next one comes out in December ;-)

 

 

 

 

We have grandchildren staying with us for a week starting tomorrow so I will have very little computer time.  I'll check in when I get a chance.

Time is Flying

Wow...where did the last week and a half go?  Life has been a bit busy here as I try to slip in a few bits of fun sewing in the quieter times.

We had three little ones for part of the week while Daddy and Mommy went to Northern CA for Daddy's big Sommalier test.  He passed...yeah.

So Grandma and Grandpa took three little ones to the L.A. Zoo.  What a fun day!  They had the sweet little chimp.  She had a little pink "Blankie" that she would wrap around herself and suck her thumb...soooo cute.

I love how the displays are low for the little ones to enjoy.

This little one did not think the linens belonged IN the drawers.  I guess they look better on the floor.

There was one day to clean and do laundry before our #4 son and his family arrive for the weekend.  Then next Monday and Tuesday we have #2 son's children while Mommy is in her nursing classes and Daddy is off to Washington DC and New York as a chaperon for the 8th grade class.  Unfortunately, the White House is closed as well as the Statue of Liberty.  Guess it's the wrong year for THAT trip.

I did manage to get two more Easter outfits made for the girls.

Two of our sons opened their newest restaurant this week so we had the opportunity to attend the VIP opening.  I love the decor and colors.  These pictures were taken as they were doing the final paint touch ups.

My mug rug arrived from Sunny this week as well.  I love the springtime look to it.  Nothing says spring like bright and cheery blossoms.  It has been such a fun swap with great swap partners.  I really hate to see the year come to an end.

My other big adventure was my first visit to Ikea.  OMGoodness......what a fun shopping adventure.  All I came out with was a small pillow, but I can't wait to go back.

Thanks for all of your votes on the Easter table runner.  I ended up donating the floral one and it sold in the silent auction for $245.  I was happy to see that.

I wish all of you who celebrate Easter a very blessed day.

Easter Sewing

The last few days I have been managing to sneak away into my creating space and work on some Easter outfits for the grandchildren.  I love making clothing for wee ones.  It's hard to imagine that Easter will be here in a few short weeks.  I tried to get some outdoor pictures, but the winds would not allow for it.  Mind you....the winds are warm winds this week with our crazy temperatures back into the 80s.  (Love it too.)  These are my creations.

I won't show a picture of my sewing area after these projects because it would terrify all of you.  Are you the type who keeps it all neat and tidy or do you make a disaster and THEN clean it to begin the next project? 

I can also show you a picture of the Easter Mug Rug since my swap partner has already received it.  This has been such a great group of talented quilters to swap amongst.  I do hope that we can continue with another project when the year is finished.

Okay....off to clean the disaster and frost a birthday cake as we have a grandson turning nine today.

Enjoy the daylight savings time (if you are lucky enough) with the longer evenings.  I love them myself.

Seeing Old Friends

Did you ever work on a QAL and stash the completed blocks safely away only to become reacquainted with them a year later?   It’s like meeting old friends again.  This week I finished blocks #96-100 of the Just Takes Two QAL and I met my old blocks all over again.  I remembered working on them throughout the year – hand appliquing some as I sat on the beaches in Hawaii and slaving over other new techniques.  What a fun year it was and here is the end result.



I really did not think I would finish the top, but once I got going I couldn’t stop myself.  I am linking this finish up with A Lovely Year of Finishes – one down and eleven months to go!!!

Blocks # 96-100

I took a couple of projects along with me on our vacation.  It was lovely to have something to keep my hands busy.  My granddaughters have loved the lacy scarves that I have been knitting and they are snatched up as quickly as they are made.  These were all claimed immediately upon returning home.

My cross stitch stocking also made so great progress.  I love to see it change along the way.

Before

Now

There have been a lot of Churn Dash blocks on blogs lately.  Thearica has a Churn Dash linky and although I did not make this unique Churn Dash quilt, I promised her that I would post it.  It is a vintage quilt that is not particularly well made, but I love all of the scraps used in it.  This was done before all of our fancy tools, rotary cutters and beautiful scraps.  I am sure it was a utility quilt made from scraps. 



Be sure to check out the beautiful red, black and white blocks that you can find at Pigtales and Quilts and see her Churn Dash Sew Along..
I had several fun packages arrive while we were gone.  One was from Mary at Quilt Hollow.  She is downsizing in getting ready for a move and was looking forward to getting rid of some of her scraps.  You have never seen such a full box of all sorts of fabulous goodies.  I told her she can come pack for me anytime!!!  There are many wonderful bits, blocks, hsts and all else.  Why is it someone else’s scraps are always more interesting that your own?



Another great package came from Maria.  We belong to a mug rug swap and she was my partner this month.  Look at her beautiful mug rug she sent me.  I love the darling hearts that she embroidered on it and the fun little extras that she included.




This was the mug rug that I made for Maria.



Our warm weather has switched to rains overnight which are very welcomed here.  The weekend will be busy so there will be no sitting around and enjoying the good rain.  I hope those of you in the bitter cold will get your warming trend.  Spring is just around the corner.....right????