Sunday slow stitching....

I have a couple hand work projects that I am working on.

I finished the embroidery for the Happy Little Things block. Time to pull and mark the rest of the block for hand piecing this week.

I started a new project - The Ella Marie Deacon Quilt along over at Sentimental Stitches. 4 blocks a month released mid month for the next 21 months. I think I will hand piece mine in scrappy blues from my stash. This is the first block I hand pieced - well I just need to add that shape all around. I'll prep the other 3 today.

I realized I had $25 over at bluprint that had to get used by the end of the month. I went looking around and saw they had bamboo knitting needles and they were on sale! I had broken the tip on my favorite size 8 that I use for dish cloths.... I got 2 sets of them in a 9 inch and a few other things and it arrived on Friday! Woo hoo - one pair will reside in the car but instead of the console - where it can get broken while taking it out! - I will put it in a zippered cloth bag with some dish cloth yarn (sugar and cream) and it will live in the passenger seat! I'll transfer my current pink dish cloth in process and that will be the first into the bag.  I also picked up a water erasable marking pen, a number 11 bamboo needle (hey, you never know when you might need it!) and Aurofil mako thread cream in a 40 weight I think. I believe I had 7 cents to spare! Not bad.

I did manage to 'fix' the batting on the frame last week and I am looking forward to watching Hocus Pocus (don't judge - I love watching this movie in the fall, and yes I have it on DVD!) this afternoon while adding some hand quilting onto my colorful trip around the world. I tend to work left to right on the frame (cause I'm silly like that!) and will be finishing the purple section today and moving onto the teal. I got a good amount done on it yesterday in between kids coming in to 'check on me'. I had to hit the pause button... a lot.... I was watching Bad Moms which is not kid appropriate.

Sophie the cat was supervising.

The kids made us a chocolate cake for our anniversary yesterday - complete with chocolate hearts they piped with a bar of baking chocolate in the pantry! Not bad for a 10+11 year old.... and with a little threatening they even cleaned up the kitchen pretty well after. Did I mention there was some threatening to never be allowed to bake again if they (one in particular) didn't help clean up and do all the dishes? For some reason they put candles on the cake - a 13 for our 13th wedding anniversary!

Linking up with Kathy and the other slow stitchers who are sharing what they are crafting in slow, methodical stitches this week. I wish I was in Ontario, Canada.... I'd join in on her slow stitching Sunday retreat Oct 6. I'll just join in, in spirit from Florida.

Saturday in Purple!

I was able to sew a little purple this week!

Since I have so much hand work time - I started a little 16 patch and got 2 of them done in purple to go with the one in pink. These are made with 2 inch scraps.

I also played with a new to me block... I just have to get past the problem I have with one section. Completely user error as the instructions are great, the person making it..... well I keep turning something wrong!
I have 2 of these blocks in purple now, well almost, that  I think are becoming a new RSC block collection =) Joanne at Canuckquilter sent me her pattern for the Variable Starburst. Thanks Joanne!

I really like playing with 16 patch blocks and since I have not been making any this year like I had planned..... I'm starting in September with some! These are from 2.5 inch scraps and were machine pieced.

I added the one block I have been consistent with this year -the  umbrella! After checking Joy's blog it seems I should have 38 of these as we are in week 38 of the year. Lets count... 38!

Linking up with the RSC where you can go find lots of pretty block collections being made from scraps.

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. Greg is off to clean up a pool this morning. I'll drop Emily to the barn to help Liz with the horses for a couple of hours and Aidan is getting dragged into the overgrown garden with me to help try and tame it for fall planting in Florida. We were heading to the villages to take my FIL out for his birthday which is tomorrow - but he called off this morning not feeling well. He will be 84 tomorrow!

Ella Maria Deacon Quilt.....

I'm blaming Chris! She just had a blog post about the Ella Maria Deacon Quilt along over at Sentimental Stitches. It started a few days ago on the 15th and looks like Gay will be releasing 4 blocks a month (love that it is mid month to mid month!) for the next 21 months.

I managed to make 36 of the 64 blocks for the 1857 quilt along I did a few years ago. It finally got to a top stage this month. It is nice to have a quilt finished before starting a new one.... Oh yea, I finished a basket quilt recently. Guilt gone! 

We will see how this one goes. I think I made a decision that this will be a scrappy blue and cream quilt instead of the original green, maroon, brown on a cream print. There are 3 piles of blues to pull from (we won't even think of the amount in the 3 scrap bins!) and a good amount of creamy white on the shelf. I'll try to remember to grab the cream ones instead of the white on white. I'm thinking the softer cream is the look I am going for. Wish me luck. Not too late to join in on the fun. She has a facebook group you can ask to join to feel things out first if you'd like. The one for the 1857 quilt was very positive and friendly.

Tuesday 'brella

This little guy has been added to the umbrella collection of blocks. Aidan ordered a yard of this fabric with his extra $ from Blueprint. There was a scrap hanging around from his project that worked great for this.

Playing with Purple....

I saw this block over at Joanne's blog Canuckquilter last week. I loved it and thought it would look so pretty in purple! I was right. Thanks so much Joanne for the instructions to make it. This is 12 inches finished and I am debating on making a bunch of them in purple for a pretty scrappy purple quilt... or make a rainbow of them.

Linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Sunday.... a day of rest.....

I hope! The kids will soon be on the way to Grandma's house. Greg made waffles this morning. I helped Emily finish up her nails (marble nails) this morning while breakfast was being made. The nails were painted white last night and we tried one nail to see if it would work. It involved taping off the skin, using a little bowl of water and dropping nail polish into the water, then swirling it then dipping that finger in. The blue nail polish must have been used so she went with red and purple instead of blue and purple.

I plan to play today with fabric and prep things in a kid free house. The kids are in route to Grandma's house to play with Scruffy today.

The latest Happy Little Things block is all prepped for embroidery. I hope to get this done today so I can pull fabrics to finish off the block - hand piecing in the car lines this week. I'll use the same floss as the first one. I decided to mark with a thin permanent marker this time instead of pencil. The pencil was hard to see.

I'm finally going to 'fix' the batting on the frame that the kittens tore up last year. It has sat in timeout long enough. I have just a little to hand quilt before I get to remember how to turn it for the next section! I believe some time will be sitting at the frame today adding some hand quilting stitches in. I need to figure out a way to roll that batting and keep it safe... I may need to find a pool noodle or 2 and some little tie downs to create something with a muslin protector.... so I don't have to deal with this again!

One of the guilty parties.... on the cat and mice quilt I had draped over the frame but removed for the photo's. Wonder if he thinks those are real mice to catch?

I really, really wanted to have the cat and mouse quilt prepped for hand quilting by now... but I saw a backing I loved at Connecting Threads in the catalog. I thought about it all week......and this morning I ordered it along with some in purple for the backing of the 1857 quilt and a queen wool batting to try out for hand quilting (either the green irish chain or the Joanns Fabrics Y2K sampler quilt). I remembered I had $100 in birthday money still tucked away from last year for my splurge!

Linking up with the other slow stitchers at Kathy's Quilts today.

Purple parasol anyone?

It has been a busy week and I finally got my little purple umbrella completed just in time for the Saturday link up of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

I did manage to sew these blocks together last Sunday. It is now 72x72. This is a subset of blocks from the 1857 sampler album quilt along over at Sentimental Stitches a few years ago. It was all hand applique for me. I am not sure if this will be hand or machine quilted. Thoughts? I like how the darker tan background frames this one... my son, not so much! 

-Monday was working and kid pick up (and quick grocery run to pick up things for scout meeting that night) We did the brownie snack badge - made Pico with chips, energy trail mix and berry smoothies. I finally checked my phone about 9:30 that night (guess it rang while I was supervising chopping) and I got to log into work that night too!

-Tuesday I drop off both kids (I normally drop Em for 7:15/20ish and Greg drops Aidan for 9) and start work an hour later. Tonight was Emily's horses. She nixed my taco Tuesday thoughts and we did quick chicken chili and corn bread in between me having to go get the boy from school and making dinner early. Greg picks Em up Tuesdays so I can get my 5 hours in.

-Wednesday was working again and then kid pick up in the afternoon. Early taco dinner with a stop to get chili powder which someone could not find while making the mix. I had my taco meat over a salad with some chips on the side....before running out to my GS leader meeting. Seems one event is filling up fast.... lots of fb posts on our private GS troop page and I got another 4 indicating they really wanted to go. I had payment from 3 already.......

-Thursday - day off thank goodness! Dropped Em to school then drove 15 minutes to drop off our form and money for 7 girls and 2 adults to the Wizarding Event next month. Phew - got us in and it closed at capacity a few hours later! Then home to do the prize fund lists (which I kept putting off!), a quick shower and off to bowling. Rushed morning means I did not bowl well and the average went down! Oh well, higher handicap right? Stopped in at Sams to fill up with gas (going through lots more with kids in 2 schools!) and picked up a roaster chicken for dinner. Yup - you guessed it we were running again tonight. After picking up Emily - putting away stuff and looking at papers I got to go get the boy (20 minutes away). Got home to see his papers and then eat quick before everyone jumped in the car to head back to Aidan's school for open house! We went through his whole day.... in 10 minute increments with 4 minute walking. It is a big campus for a middle school! I got my steps in as I missed my walk this morning with errands! Hey - I got 10,000 steps (T+W) and within 500 steps of it (M+TH)! That morning walk after dropping Emily to school and before work actually happened this week!

-Friday - back to work today. Did keep the boy home from school - he was off today and a day of rest hopefully will help. I have cooking club tonight - Emily needs to clean a guinea pig cage after reading her book for 30 minutes (She LOVES her language arts teacher this year. She is actually reading by herself every day!) I found out Em's open house was rescheduled..... for when I am gone to VT! Figures. I had to reschedule her IEP as it fell on that week too. Sigh, I have yet to meet her teachers as Dad took her to the meet the teacher before school started and now gets to take them to her open house. The good news.... her speech has improved that we will probably be putting her in 'check' status so she won't get pulled back to back days from science this year. Aidan's IEP check for gifted is Monday. Dad gets to attend both this year and see what I have been doing the last 6-7 years with them!

-Saturday - You would think it would be a day of rest right? Not! Emily is doing community service with her KCL (Kindness, Community, Leadership) club at school. I think they are reading to animals? I'll drop her in the morning for 1.5 hours. The boy has a birthday party to go to with a friend from his school last year from 2-8. Depending on the weather and how Em feels at pick up mid morning - I might drop her to the barn to help Liz out with horse care for a couple of hours..... we will see. Me - I'll be in the sewing room playing with fabric in between running kids here and there!

Hope you are not too tired if you read this far. It was a very long week!