Monday....

It was a very slow Sunday. I rented the movie Oceans 8 and sat in my recliner and stitched all afternoon. I would have finished the last bit last night while watching the Red Sox win.. but my finger needed a break. Just one last seam to stitch to attach the top 8 rows to the bottom 8 rows.

The kids are off school today and due to some talking back they did not get the trip I had planned. So, I am working this morning like normal and they decided 72 degrees was cool enough to go out back and work in the woods on their trails! We will see how long they are out there...... so far over an hour!

Slow Sunday.....

I sure hope it is! Yesterday wore me out just a bit, but more on that later in this post!

I should work on the baby hearts which has not been touched... but will probably work on the green tumblers. I have 5 tumblers left to add to the last row, then just need to hand sew the bottom half of the quilt together. 5 long rows to sew by hand and it will be a top! It has been a fun hand piecing project. Now to find the seam ripper and take apart that green print and green.. which is not correct! Must make 1 more tumbler as well, either I counted wrong or one ran away never to be heard from again!

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Stitchers. 

I have visited the links, however I am unable to leave comments on blogs where the only option is google for some reason. Sorry. The ones with the name and url option - I am able to comment on once I fill that in. I'm not sure what changed in the last month or two but I found out that my comments I though I was leaving.... were not actually posting for some strange reason. 

Now, why I really need the rest today!

Saturday started with a tea party with Emily from 11-1....put on by a girl scout troop trying to earn money to go to Georgia - Juliette Gordon Lowes birthplace. They did an awesome job as their first event they put on - some 12,13 and 14 year olds with their leaders. We had 3 from my troop attend and 3 from my co-leaders daisy troop.... that pretty much has been meeting with my troop (a few younger sisters and a couple of new girls).

A few people there mentioned a Fall festival later that day.... Emily wanted to go and I asked Aidan... who said sure! Very unlike him to change plans and do something on the spur of the moment. Dad of course, opted to stay home in peace and quiet. So... I took them to Brick City Adventure Park  - a local playground/park across town with a track that had tables set up all around with a little game (lots of pallets used to do toss games) and then you get a candy. Russell Stovers donated 1800 pounds of candy!

The kids had fun.... despite it being hot...in the upper 80's yesterday. Lets just say we enjoyed the 1/4 of the track that was in the shady area! We did about 3/4 of the way around and then decided we were done. Emily wanted her face painted... so we stood in line for that. She got a cat... and Aidan got the sky with a sun.

We hit a Hardees after for dinner (Dad had already had dinner as it was after 6). Aidan was waiting to order something and an older gent put his hand on his shoulder and asked him 'Are you ok?, you're looking a little blue!'. All the people up there burst out laughing!

I need to pick up the house..... I admit, it probably has not been vacuumed since before I went on my business trip to Vermont. I'll spend an hour or two taming the house while Greg takes the kids to his Moms .(must remember the next house needs to be smaller... or I need a maid!). Then some relaxing sewing!

Monday.....

Three posts in 3 days? Wow...yes, I found the sewing room on Sunday afternoon. I feel so much better now.

I made 3 of my Squared Away blocks in blue for the RSC Sampler. Blue was the color for September. I had cut out parts for 2 blocks.... was laying them out and figured out I made a boo boo... so just used those mistake half square triangles for the 3rd block I needed and recut the star and medium blue hst's. It worked and I got another month of blocks done! I just need to make 3 pink ones and the 3 dark green ones from this month and then it will be time to figure out how to put them all together! A big thank you to Angela and Mari for designing and leading the way on this fun sew along.

I realized that my 2 rulers I use the most are really showing their age. I have had them for over 20 years I think and it is high time I replace them. Thank goodness I have birthday $ coming in next month so I think I'll pick up these 2 and replace them. The 6 inch bias square is great for trimming up the hst's and I use that to draw my 1/4 inch on my hand stitching blocks. The 6x24 ruler I use all the time to cut my yardage and fat quarters.  It will be so nice to be able to see the marking/cutting lines again. It has completely worn away in places on both rulers.

Sunday.... Save the Bee's block.

Well, I technically joined in the Save the Bee's quilt along that Jacqueline Steves is hosting.... but have yet to finish a block!

The first two were applique... I did start the first one but it is not finished. I have the stem sewn down and back stitched the big part of the flower.... that's it!

I have a feeling block 3 will be the first block completed. I picked 8 yellows earlier this week and made my template and marked the sewing line.

 I am sewing these together by hand, then will turn the edges under (maybe basting like Kathy W did) and then will applique that to the background.

I had cut the 8 squares out... and then just did a scissor cut of guessing 1/4 inch. Yup... should have used the ruler to cut that but it worked.

I got 7 sewn together... and for the life of me I can not find the 8th one! I cut another one out this morning and marked it... so you know it will turn up shortly!

I plan to attach the last hexagon today and while in the sewing room later will use the iron or the herra marker to turn that edge under so I can hand stitch it to the background.

First... I need to run to the girl scout store and purchase a few badges. We took the girls to the Fire Station for a refresher on first aid, emergency situations... and what the fire house guys really wanted.... to play with the water and fire hoses! Each girl got to hold the hose and spray water.. then they put the one from the top on and got almost all of us soaked! Yes, we knew it was coming and had prepped the parents and girls.  This is what it looked like! We are in Florida... so the temps were still in the 80's or upper 70's that evening while we were there.

We will finish up their badges tomorrow with a little more review, making a first aid kit and reviewing the last couple of things for them to earn their badges and pins.

Emily was in charge for a minute - a big shout out to Craig and his crew at the Fire station for inviting us over. We went 2 years ago and I hear there was some pouting since we didn't go last year... =) We scheduled him right off to make sure we got a chance to go over there this year.

Sharing a photo I snapped this week after dropping the kids to school. Yes Mom, I pulled over to the side of the road to take the photo!

Linking up with Kathy and the other slow stitchers.

RSC Saturday....

 I finally have something in the color of the month! Dark and sage green was selected for October. I have been working on a tumbler quilt since this summer and have just the last 2 rows to hand stitch.

I used a 5 inch square and made a template into a tumbler using a piece of card board... probably from the board they put into a fat quarter from Joann's? I figured I wanted a nice throw size - and think this will be about 72x72 with 20 tumblers per row and 16 rows. I used greens and creams from the stash wall. This was originally my 'hand work' project to take with me up to Vermont for a couple of weeks this summer. I actually did get a good amount done on it up there and it was a nice take with me to gymnastics with Emily for an hour. Little bits of time here and there do add up.

The first 8 rows are all stitched together by hand. The next 6 rows are into rows of 2. It takes me about an hour to stitch one row of 20 tumblers together by hand. So... just a few more hours to go in this quilt and it will be a top. Maybe this weekend? I see some nice relaxing slow stitching on this tonight and tomorrow for Slow Stitching Sunday.

Ollie and Peanut are making sure it doesn't move!

Linking up Saturday with the RSC Challenge and Sunday with the Slow Sunday Stitchers. Also with Oh Scrap on Sunday.

Frustration.....

I am not sure what is going on again with blogger. It stopped sending my comments to e-mail again (hopefully I got that fixed yesterday) and now I am finding that comments I though I was leaving on people's blogs are not actually being left! I'm not sure what the issue is.... but it is probably something with Blogger and Google + not meshing. I activated Google + again... although I know that caused issues last time. Any advise?

Almost makes you want to just stop! (Might be the head cold talking and lack of energy all this week).

Sigh....

I got 4 towels stitched up Mom.  I don't use a 'pattern' so they are not the same length. I'll add the buttons on in the car line and maybe start another one - the turkey ones. 2 car lines today - one for Aidan at 2:20 ish and one for Emily at 3:15. She is in an after school club every other Wednesday. I hear it will be twistie treat today in between the two. Aidan and I hit the scoop shop a couple of weeks ago. Giving him a little Mom/son time is always good since Emily gets so much Mom time with girl scout events. I plan to mail these out tomorrow on my way to bowling Mom. Look for them in the mail early next week.

Sunday..... taking it slow

Kathy reminds us it is ok to take breaks from projects.... however I find that if you don't work on things at all.... they don't get done! Imagine that =)

Such is the progress on the baby quilt I am hand quilting. All the inside blocks are hand quilted but I have all the edge blocks to go. Poor baby is already 2 months old and I am still working on her quilt! I think I'll pull it over to the chair today, thread a needle and make some progress on it as I am trying to take it easy. My goal is 3 blocks a day and it should be done in the next 2 weeks.

I'll also grab the crochet hook and yarn and add the crochet tops to the kitchen towels I am working on for Mom. They will have to get shipped up in a bit... with the buttons attached.... as they did not get worked on last week and the plane rides were for reading instead of hand work. I also watched Father of the Bride part 2 on the way home.

I flew home Friday from a business trip to Vermont where I did lots of visiting after my working hours. I arrived at my house around 10:20 PM Friday night and all 3 cats greeted me and smelled all the luggage. Emily got a hug and kiss in her bed and I got a 'Mommy!' and told her to go back to sleep. Yup - she doesn't remember at all! Aidan got a kiss and he didn't budge at all. Both climbed into my bed  Saturday morning 7ish... with the cats. 

It was a go, go, go day yesterday. Took Emily out first - to the Tack Shack sale to try on and get some riding pants, then to the mall to find a birthday gift for a pool party today. I just dropped her off and will pick her up in a couple of hours. We also grabbed some cat food... they were pretty much out when I fed them in the morning. Home for lunch and a visit with Grandpa A. Then a quick inventory of the fridge and I took Aidan to Lowes to get his plants he wanted to put in the front bed and then Aldi to fill up the crisper and get dairy products. He grabbed a salmon on a cedar plank for dinner... and I got out of cooking! I was not hungry and Dad had a headache so the kids enjoyed their salmon on the grill with baby potatoes and I cooked up an acorn squash recipe they wanted to try. Yup - I was exhausted by the end of the day and sleeping by 10. 

The sore throat I have had since Tuesday or Wednesday is not disappearing during the day like it has been and the voice was a bit off this morning. I am hoping a day of rest will make it go away besides the energy level is about nil. A movie/catch up on the recorded programs from the week it will be! Warming up some Progresso Chicken with pearl pasta is my version of chicken and stars from childhood. Hope the energy level is back to normal tomorrow - as I am back to the normal busy week schedule.

Linking up with Kathy and the other slow stitchers.