Sunday...

What a whirlwind of a week! Thank goodness Kathy reminds us to slow down and try and relax and breathe on Sundays. Later today I should be able to get a few more stitches into this. I've been too tired this week to work on it in the evenings. I did get a little stitching in on it during a  1 hour power outage during the day Tuesday when I did this instead of my programming job. No noise, no power just a quiet house running some stitches through fabric. So relaxing. I have about one side left to stitch and then I can trim and make the binding.

Thursday the kids had a soccer game. They played great - actually saw my kids run! We tied a very good team and get to play them again next week for the last game of the season. This will be the makeup game from the Hurricane delay last month.  We got their soccer pictures... can you tell they were taken on a really hot day after practice!

Friday night I was able to go to my cooking class club with Pampered Chef. One of my co-leaders with girl scouts sells it and needed one more slot to fill so I took it. I have found some really good recipes to make. They can be found under the pampered chef website under healthy recipes. 

Margherita pizza

Chicken bruschetta pasta

I actually made a version of this last night for dinner with leftover roaster chicken. So yummy and easy to make. So nice to go out to the garden and pick the basil for this one!
Bruschetta pasta recipe
Margherita pita pizza

Linking up with Kathy Quilts. Head on over and see what others are relaxing with today.

Wednesday..... stars anyone?

Well, since I was able to finally print out my parts for the hand working lemoyne stars last week I did get to stitch a few together. I really need to print the background white squares and quarter triangles out soon so I can actually finish these blocks.... but at least I am making progress and these are fun to make.

Yesterday we were invited to the 3rd grade honor roll ceremony. Someone got all A's on his report card! Dad and Mom were both able to go this time. 

Today I helped out in the 2nd grade for their in-school field trip on the Temecula Indians. The kids all had a great time and this year I got to do the rope twisting and knot's room instead of the animal fur room.  Emily just finished up her diorama on the Arctic tundra so it can be turned in and she'll have the weekend to continue practicing her presentation. I think she'll do well. School sure is a lot different from when I went - I don't think I ever did presentations until high school, if then!

A new project.....

I know, I have plenty of UFO's that need to get finished but.... my nephew and his wife have a baby on the way in a couple of months and I have yet to make a quilt! They are not revealing if it is a girl or boy on the way........ so I think a version of this quilt will work out well.

I was very lucky to have this pretty quilt pattern available to me that I will be stitching up in the next two weeks after I pull some fabrics from the stash. Star Steps is designed by my blogging friend Joanne Kerton who blogs as canuckquilter.com. You can purchase this pattern from her under the wholesale patterns tab.

I can't wait to see how this quilt comes out with my scraps.

Slow Down Sunday.....

Oops, was I to slow down today? Well, it was a stress free day anyway. I got a little programming time in today for some analysis and a quick menu change then  worked at the store for a short day. Tonight I have been enjoying some slow stitching as Emily has been finishing work on her diorama on the Arctic Tundra. She just needs to practice her paragraph of facts a bit this week before the due date on Friday. The animals need to get added and a little more tundra and one more of the northern lights on the other side and I think she'll be good.  I turned this corner and have moved the hoop once already. I hope to move it at least once more tonight.

Emily's project as of tonight.

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Sunday Slow stitching.

RSC Saturday....

Boy, what a difference a week makes! I think I'm back to my even keel of normal life after a couple weeks of hectic and stress.

My FIL came through eye surgery great and is able to see in that eye. A little blurry still yesterday but that was expected. So happy for him. Last night my safe halloween trick or treat as my Avon booth went really well. Hopefully I'll get some sales from the 20-30 brochures that people took to look at. The kids had a great time going through and then helped me hand out candy and mark off our number on the sheet. My kids enjoy handing out the candy more than trick or treating! They also had a great time with all the other activities they had for the kids - games, bouncy slide, food and music.
Emily was Cinderella again this year and Aidan was a scarecrow.

Aidan finally went to bed really good last night after a rough week with him not settling down and being up past 9 each night. Hopefully this will keep up so we don't drive out Grammy and Grandpa when they come visit next month!
I got some diamonds printed out Wednesday afternoon to hand piece these at bowling this week. Felt so good to get something done.

I also got all my parts prepped for making some birds in the air blocks. They just need to get sewn together into some 6 inch blocks.

Emily had bowling and Aidan had scouts this morning. This afternoon is working on Emily's diorama for her school project. Arctic Tundra for her.... might have something to do with Dad having lived in Alaska for 4 years and been to Antartica for a few months. They are adding the northern lights to the top of the box now.. then will work on the rest with adding the landscape and animals. She has taken notes of her facts and answered the questions and done her research the last few weeks. We just need to get that into a paragraph. The reward is Yamato's for dinner tonight to celebrate good report cards that came home yesterday. 

Linking up with the RSC Challenge today for yellow/orange.

Mid week and still surviving!

I realized I never posted Sunday so after Saturday's (Thursday actually) post you might be wondering how I am faring.
Emily got sick at the soccer game Thursday night before they started to play so was home last Friday with me. She was fine that day but after her tummy issues that night it was safer to keep her home.
Kid are in school today after two days off - Yea! I have an IEP for Aidan's FLAME class today. He loves it and is doing great with his teacher one day a week.
We hired someone on Saturday for the store so I only have to work Friday and the next few Sundays .... can't wait for Nov 11 =). Kids went to grandma's Monday and Tuesday during the day - a big thank you to Grandma for taking them so I could get my working programming hours in without the kid noise in the background.

Pumpkins got carved at girl scouts - I have great parents who stepped up to help with the knife work while I baked off some seeds for the girls to try. Aidan also went (Dad was working) and he directed the craft for the girls after they had cleaned out the pumpkin and drew their faces on for carving. Pumpkins out of old tp rolls. Thanks Jill for taking the pictures since I somehow left my phone (with camera) at home that night.

I did sneak in a little yellow and background cutting time and sewed a few triangles.... for my birds in the air blocks. Hopefully I can squeeze in a little more sewing time here and there and get a few birds sewn together. I also loaded the new printer cartridges and have the fabric cut for printing out some more of the inklingo shapes.... they might get printed out this afternoon! Just need to iron on the freezer paper to the front and print them out.

***Edited - kids were rolling coins and I got these printed out!!!!! That should keep me busy for a while with hand work!

Off to work....

Some Yellow Sunshine....

I got a little bit of sewing in on Sunday and have yet to see the sewing area since! Good thing I was successful.

Five sunny houses were added to the neighborhood. I guess it will be time to start adding the tilting frames to them next.

I have two more dresden plate blocks completed in yellow and black. The brown is added to the background so I just need to pull all the blues and browns and create the squares to border the last 4 blocks.

I think the birds in the air will be next on the list to create... but that will be for another day.  Hopefully with my new schedule I will get some sewing in cause I am really going to need the de-stressing that sewing provides me!  (Got to love when employees just stop showing up for work... I get to fill in at our store... and still work my part time programming job while juggling kids and their schedule - such fun! NOT! The next two weeks should be real fun with kids off school M+T, pumpkin patch with girl scouts Sunday and carving pumpkins on Monday night, soccer practice Tues, soccer games Thurs, bowling Sat, cub scouts Sat and my FIL is having eye surgery next Thursday so hubby will be with him for a couple of days while I cover his hours at the store Thurs/Fri. Thank goodness for Grandma to help out at the store and with the kids. )
On a brighter note - the rose bushes that were cut back to the stumps last month are all green and pink and in bloom out front.

It was finally cool enough for the kids to go out and ride bikes yesterday after homework was done! In the low 80's with a breeze and the humidity is gone hopefully, for the next 6 months! See the house being built next door - entertainment for the kids to see any work done while they are at school.

Other good news... Mom and Dad are coming down for a visit around Thanksgiving and will be here for my Dad's 80th birthday! So happy to be able to see them again this year.

Linking up Saturday morning with the RSC Challenge. Time to get ready for my bowling this Thursday morning and then I'm helping out in Emily's classroom for the last hour of school. 

Sunshine Sunday....

For all my Canadian friends - Happy Thanksgiving. Here in the US is is Columbus Day. For some reason.... my kids have school all this week but are off next Monday and Tuesday. Very strange schedule.

Well, as yesterday did not turn out like I was thinking.... today will be puttering and doing a little bit of this and that. We stopped at our store yesterday on the way to visit my FIL and help pick up his yard after the storm. One of our employees was sick (low blood sugar) so we sent him home and I got to stay and work. Greg and Emily continued on to help Papa and take him out for a mid afternoon meal. They picked me up after and we headed home in the evening. I had promised Emily we would sew.... so I cut some triangles out of her two fabrics and she sewed most of them together. I'll press them later today and trim them to the same size for her to do the next step - design!.

With everyone gone from the house for a bit (Aidan had a Grandma sleepover last night and Greg is taking Emily there now) I think I'll try and clean. Hey, this way it will stay clean until the kids are returned this evening! I also see some weeding in the garden happening. Some sewing with the sewing machine and maybe a nice afternoon movie with some slow stitching. I am on the outer border of my fireworks quilt (yes Mom, the dark is a navy blue).

 I do love stitching this stencil. After 6+ years waiting for me to learn to hand quilt I can see the finish in sight in the next couple of weeks. To whomever mentioned using multiple needles when hand quilting, a big thank you! As you can see I have 4 working with this stencil - one for each line and it does make it move along much quicker.

Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what other slow stitching is happening today.

RSC Saturday... the calm after the storm

All safe and sound here on the west central side of Florida. A beautiful sunny day with temps in the 80's. We were very lucky and just had a little rain and 21 mph winds where I live.
I hand stitched the yellow dresden plate down last night so I would have something to post today! I should be able to pull out some yellow strips and cut my 28 squares to go around the outside of this one later today. This is the pumpkin craft Emily and I made yesterday. We also tried the Monster Cookies from Jo's Country Junction. They are pretty darn good! I added the link to my recipes page.

 

Emily has bowling this morning. Scouts was cancelled for Aidan so he will head over to Grandmas this morning for his sleepover. A trip over to Papa's house to help with any stick clean up in the afternoon (Aidan gets to help Grandma with hers) and I should have a little time to play in the sewing room this afternoon. Emily wants to make a doll quilt and has picked out 2 fabrics for it.

Head on over to the RSC Challenge and see what other colors are being played with this week.

Friday.....

We are all hunkered down at home today due to the ts warning we are under on the west central part of Florida. It is looking like we will just get a rain storm with some minor wind here - right about 21 mph now so not bad at all. Thank goodness it tracked to the east and is not going to hit the coast. Now we just need to keep an eye on it and see it it decides to come back for a visit again next week.

The kids are going nuts inside (one is worried but he won't admit it and is has been acting out all morning, poor Daddy is not used to it). Emily cleaned up her room this morning and is working through some homework. We took a break (I worked for a few hours this morning and hope to get  a few more hours in this afternoon) and made a pumpkin craft. We made our lunch and then she did  a homework worksheet on nouns. I cooked up some play dough that she measured out and she is now busy kneading some red food coloring into that. I'm back to the computer to work for a few hours. Hopefully Aidan will clean up his room and then he can get a batch of play dough made for him to play with.

Do you think I'll get any sewing time in today? I sure do hope so. I have plenty of scraps that need to become something.

Design wall Monday....

Yesterday was a much needed me day. The fence got put up around the garden with a little help from hubby. Lets hope the rabbits are not able to dig down that far to get in! I also had some time to relax with some stitching and prep work. I modified my stencil and have two of the rounded parts together in between the diamond. It worked for the size of 2 of the 4 sides. How I am off by one inch on the other two, I do not know but I winged it and drew in a smaller circle on those sides to make it fit. I also had drawn the pattern on the back of some fabric for the 1857 border blocks. I had cut a couple of the purples and got them back basted yesterday too. I just need to trip them up and then can needle turn appliqué them. Sometime you just need to settle in with some slow stitching to relax and prep for another busy week.

First weekend in October...

October already ..... how did that happen? Time to regroup and see what needs some rounding out with my RSC projects. The colors selected for this month are a pretty yellow and orange - a perfect sunrise or sunset.

I have two more dresden plates that need a middle attached and added to the background - Yellow and brown. The black and three blues need their squares added to them so they will end up like these. I have not decided if I will hand quilt these blocks or machine quilt them. Either way... that will be for next year's RSC Challenge each month. I think the middles will get hand stitched on today... and maybe the background square cut and prepped so that is an option for hand stitching to the background as well.

I have all my Row by Row blocks sewn together into rows. Oops, looks like I got a couple too many of the pink/green combo! It soon will be time to start sewing them together into a top. Decisions will need to be made... that is the part that always holds me up. Do I add a solid color in between them all? If so, what color? Do I just sew them row by row together? Did I mention I hate decision making? Oh well, that can be put off until the last row of blocks are released and made this month.

I know my birds in the air blocks needs yellow, black, bright/light green and brown added to the mix. Maybe some Yellow ones will fly out of the sewing room this month?

Then there will be some houses added this month too. I believe I have 37 of them so some bright yellow will need to be added to the neighborhood. I was thinking 48 of them would make a nice setting (6x8)..... but maybe after adding 4-5 yellow the last blocks might have some trees instead? November will be time enough to think on that idea.

Today is Sunday though... so some slow stitching will happen at some point today. I do need to go dig in the garden before it gets too hot. The green beans are up and there was a bunny in the back yard just waiting for them to get a little bigger. Time to get that fence up to keep them out! I also have a quick meeting with a co-leader of girl scouts today to hand off some planning things as she just got a full time job and needs to back off some things. Kids are at Grandma's.... so I see some slow stitching later this afternoon in the nice quiet house.

I need to mark the blue border on this wall hanging for quilting.... so that I can start on it today! So exciting to see the end in sight!

The stencil I was thinking of for the white border was too big. I was too lazy to create one so I just looked around and found a ruler that had a nice curve to it. I used that and a blue marking pencil to draw the curve in the space and was able to stitch that up this week in the evenings. I have two stencils that would work for this last border... I think I will use the one I did in the Hugs and Kisses border... but maybe add a double line on each side? We will see how it looks after I mark it. I can't wait to get this one done so it can go in the dining room wall hanging rotation for the patriotic holidays! Of course... then I can bring out the colorful trip around the world top for hand quilting next!

I also need to pull some fabrics for a few more of my 1857 blocks.... and then change out the ink in the printer and finally print out some more parts for those lemoyne stars. Plenty of choices once I finish getting that prep work done! I need to prep some little purple circles to add a group of grapes to this little basket of fruit. I am changing the original design a bit since I am only using 3 fabrics and it is limiting me on my choice of fruits for the basket.
I did get one of the blocks finished in the car line this week. Progress =)

Linking up with the RSC Challenge and Slow Stitching Sunday as well as Oh Scrap.