Sunday, July 30, 2017

RSC in Blue

A little late for the link up but I did get to play with my sewing machine this afternoon and finished the 6 spring blooms for the month. These pretties were added to the collection. The link to this free pattern from Canuckquilter is here.


Linking up to the RSC Challenge - head on over and see all the lovely blues that were out to play this week.

Slow Stitching Sunday

Kathy has been encouraging us to slow stitch for over 5 years with her wonderful linkup and words of encouragement. I plan to hand stitch a few more blue baskets today. I didn't quite get one per day done like I had planned but they are all prepped and will get done one slow stitch at a time!
Here are the baskets completed so far this month


and this is one that will get worked on later today.


I picked up a cute blue leaf print while in Vermont and I think that will be the border triangles for this little quilt.

Linking up with the other Slow Stitchers over at Kathy's Quilts. I'll do a little picking up and cleaning this morning as the kids are finally off to Grandma's. Then I plan to get reacquainted with my sewing machine on a very rainy day in Florida.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Slow Sunday relaxing...

I seem to be up at the crack of dawn this morning! The house is quiet of the humans sleeping in their beds. The temps are a wonderful 54 degrees (I am enjoying wearing a sweater!). The sun is coming up and sparkling like diamonds on the water as I watch the fog roll off the lake.
Lake Elmore 7/23/17 6:15AM.
The birds are chirping their happy morning songs and the wings of the hummingbirds as they come to take a drink from the feeder make me feel happy. The perfect time to sit and relax with a few slow stitches on the porch enjoying the wonder of nature. I think it might be time to risk waking people by starting the coffee maker.......

2 inch trip around the world hand pieced - starting row 23.
Linking up with the other Slow Sunday Stitchers at Kathy's Quilts.

Saturday, July 22, 2017

RSC Baskets vacationing in Vermont

I have made 4 baskets this week - only 3 pictured as the 4th got finished off after I took the photo!  I forgot my neck light and the lighting is not the greatest here at camp. Of course... if I would get off the computer and stitch instead of playing Gardenscapes or cookie jam I would have plenty of time! 
Linking up with the RSC Challenge. 

My week:
Saturday - the kids played and had fun exploring the woods and water at camp. My oldest brother and SIL came out in the evening to visit.
Sunday - all the rest of the siblings and familys came out (2 sisters and the other brother) for a BBQ and visiting. 
Monday - I think we just hung out around camp - the kids had a bit of a down day after all the visiting the day before.
Tuesday - I went to work for the day while the kids stayed at camp. my niece Sarah came out to keep them entertained for a few hours.
Wednesday - I went to work again and left the grandparents in charge. Everyone was alive when I got home so we went out for pizza for dinner.
Thursday - I took the kids to Stowe to give Grammy and Grandpa a break for a few hours. We found Laughing Moon Chocolates and the kids watched them dip the homemade caramels. This is the Bear outside the Mercantile in Stowe. We ran into our neighbor Pam who offered to take a picture for us with me in it! We also did the Lake Elmore Bingo that night - we didn't win but my sister Terri, niece Sally, nephew Charlie all won and Sally won again at the end.



Friday - after a lazy morning (did I mention I was up at 6AM to leave by 6:45 to get to work for 8AM those two days?) we headed to my sisters house in Marshfield. My niece Sally snapped this of me in my sister Terri's hammock at her house on Friday. The kids had fun gathering the eggs from the coop, visiting her pond and river, playing with the guinea pig Ms. Penelope and the dog Mia. We headed a few miles up the road to their cabin in the woods and visited the outhouse... but did not use it! She has offered to take them for a sleepover so sometime they will go home with her and hang out with their cousin Sally (almost 16) and Charlie (almost 14).


Saturday - We went for a paddle in the kayaks this morning. Emily in the green one, Aidan in the yellow and I had the red one.



I declined to pull mine up and headed back out so the kids jumped into the paddle boat and decided to 'tow' me in! Silly kids.


I did snap a picture of the kids and Grandpa R while Grammy went in to town to get groceries. I think this was before the pontoon boat ride around the lake. We are enjoying our time up here relaxing and hopefully we are not driving the grandparents too nuts! 



Almost time to get dressed and ready to head into Montpelier to watch a ball game. We will go see the Mountaineers play ball... rather than heading to Burlington to see the Lake Monsters this year. Ball park food tonight for dinner. 
Hopefully I will be able to do a little more stitching this coming week.


Saturday, July 15, 2017

RSC Saturday in Vermont....

Alas.... I completely forgot to take a photo of my completed blue baskets I have done this week before I left home. There is a pretty nice stack of them in my sewing room. You can picture them... right? No? Ok, this is the blue basket I will work on today... once I find the background in the other bag upstairs (yup, my pt person is not going to be happy with me - too much walking yesterday and now stairs! My foot is not happy with me today either.) I will venture down to the swing by the lake you will see in a picture further down in this post and stitch this little baby up later today. Linking up with the RSC Challenge.


We travelled yesterday up to Vermont on a direct flight to Plattsburgh NY where my brother was kind enough to pick us up.
A ferry ride over to Vermont and then a drive out to my family's camp on Lake Elmore to see Grammy and Grandpa. Stole these pics from my brother on Facebook. Ignore me in the background... up at 5AM and a 3 hour flight sitting between these 2.

 The kids promptly deposited their luggage to their rooms, gave hugs and then went out to the woods despite the cool temps (in the 60's compared to our Florida weather) and the drizzle of rain. We all slept great at camp (4 bedroom house on a lake) and the kids are up and out exploring the woods again this morning. When we did get them inside, they had to pull out all the toys - even this one from the attic! Grammy even got down there to play with it! Never too old to play with toys!


This morning they went outside by the lake. Grandpa is supervising them 'fixing' the stairs to make them more stable. The kids have since changed into swim wear and are down there in the 60 degree temps! Silly kids. Time for me to get dressed and pop into town to grocery shop. Need lactaid milk for Emily and fixings for lasagna tonight and a family gathering here tomorrow. Enjoy your Saturday.




Sunday, July 9, 2017

Sunday prep day....

In order to do hand work, there must be prep work! Today I have spent a bit of time prepping some hand work to take with me on my vacation to Vermont later this week.

I drew the lines onto the backing of the fabric for back basting of the last 9 border blocks for the 1857 Album quilt. The last two corners and 2 sides have already been back basted and are ready for some needle turn appliqué.


Then it was basket time. I cut out the rest of the 6 inch backgrounds. (finish at 5.5 inches - weird size I know!) Then it was time to pull the rest of the blue fabrics and trace out the basket, trim it and add to the stack.


2 weeks away from my machine... and 2 flights of 3 hours each to get there and back.....

I think I might pull the red and prep a blue dresden plate for hand quilting... you know - the laptops - work and personal - need something to keep them cushioned in their bag =)

The hand pieced trip around the world quilt might get packed too.... we will see. I know I have a baggie with the next 2 colors prepped already. Maybe while the blue is out I can find a length with enough to make the next round of 2 inch squares....

And yes, I will pack my crochet hook Mom. You  will get some new kitchen towel tops made while I am up there!

Linking up with Kathy and the other slow Sunday stitchers.  I think I'll take a break and watch The British Baking Show while I stitch a basket.....

Saturday, July 8, 2017

RSC blue baskets.

This month is all about baskets! I have 7 baskets all hand appliquéd down onto their dotted backgrounds.

I need to cut out some more backgrounds and finish prepping more baskets for the rest of the month. I really should go do that so I can stitch them while resting on the couch and watching the British Baking Show on Netflix this afternoon.

We went fishing this morning with the kids and another family from boy scouts...almost 3 hours in the hot this morning. There was a horrendous thunderstorm and downpour on the way home around 11AM.... lets just say when we stopped at Zaxby's we ordered our food to take home... but ended up staying in to eat as it was POURING outside. They even lost power for a good 15-20 seconds right before our food came up. It did let up a bit after a while so we could get to the car and head home.



Right now - I think there are 3 people sleeping in my nice quiet house. I should be in the sewing room.... but some down time with hand stitching will happen instead.

Linking up to the RSC Challenge. Head on over and take a look.

Monday, July 3, 2017

Monday design floor.....

Gay released the last set of the 1857 Sampler blocks on Saturday. It has been a 18 month journey that I have tried to follow along with. I believe 68 blocks were released in total but I am stopping my journey at 36 and adding the border. It should produce a 72x72 quilt if my calculations are correct.

It looks like I have one block needing peels and 13 border blocks to go before I can sew this one together into a top.


It sounds like she has a summer sew along starting that is piecing and then another appliqué one planned for January. Head on over to sentimental stitches.net to find out about them.

Sunday, July 2, 2017

Slow Stitching Sunday....

Blue is the color for the RSC Challenge this month. I have lots of blue in my scrap bins and stash. Knowing I will be traveling for 2 weeks this month away from my sewing machine, I decided to make 31 hand appliqué baskets this month in blue.

I made a template last night and made my first baby blue basket. It was the first blue I pulled from the scrap basket. I might add a circle or heart onto some of the baskets. We will see. I can see I need to make a template to better place it in the middle on the next one.... and make sure I can see the right basket edge better for turning.  This was a free pattern from sentimental stitches a few years ago - called baby basket. It originally would be a  4.5 inch finish but I enlarged it to finish at 5.5 inches.

Joining Kathy and the other Slow stitchers at the link party today. Head on over and see what others are slow stitching today.

Edited: I pulled some blue from the scrap baskets and prepped the next 6! I think some blue peels might just get prepped while I have these scraps out =)


We have kids today. Grandma is taking them tomorrow afternoon for her city's holiday celebrations in the afternoon and fireworks in the evening. She'll return them Tuesday for a pool party and BBQ at our house with the grandparents.  I hear bowling is on tap assuming there are lanes free. I got the kids a summer pass so we need to use it a bit over the next two weeks. With feels like 100+ temps -  inside things in the air conditioning are good to do.

Saturday, July 1, 2017

RSC in BLUE!

I am sew excited blue is finally here. Slightly bummed.... as I will be away from a sewing machine for 2 of those weeks but.... I think I have a solution.

I printed off this cute free basket from sentimental stitches a few years ago. It would finish at 4.5 inches so I made it a little bigger (120% scaling) and it should make a nice 5.5 inch square with a blue basket in it. I am thinking I have at least 31 blue fabrics in my stash and scrap bins.
so one per day this month should give me a nice little stack of baskets in blue.

While I have those scraps out I'll cut my 4 inch squares for the blossom blocks, the 2.5 and 1.5 inch squares for the bow ties and then we will see if I have time to make some of the friendship stars in the next 2 weeks before I fly up to Vermont.

What are your plans for blue this month? Head on over to the RSC Challenge and see what blue plans are happening this month.

Happy Canada Day to those up north! I used to live about 20 minutes from Canada before I moved south to Florida. I really miss the CBC news... where they reported news and things that were happening around the world.

We took a little holiday to the beach for a few days last week. Some pics for my Mom of the kids =)


Aidan at Mambo's for lunch Sunday.

My view from the balcony

A little volleyball.

Crabbing on the beach

My sunrise on Monday

Kids on the beach Monday

Family walk Tuesday before we headed home

I think someone was tired on the ride home Tuesday!