a crane hill finish!

We arrived at the B&B mid-afternoon on Friday, and we had a blast together! Here's the crane photo for this trip . . .

I'm not sure if he's decked out early for Christmas, or wearing last year's decorations! Whichever, he was looking festive and happy to see us!

I picked my spot first thing Saturday morning. Todd took his fishing pole and tackle box down to the water, but I decided this was the perfect workspace for me!

Especially when you consider the view I had all day long . . .

It was sometimes hard to not get lost in that view!

Anyway, I plopped down in my chosen spot to tackle the binding on Sawyer's quilt!

I actually would finish a side and then read a couple of chapters in the book I brought. Consequently, I finished both the book *and* the quilt this weekend!

Tah-dah! Finally! I don't know why I procrastinated so long -- it's really cute and will look darling in his bed, with the matching bumper pads and skirt. More than anything though, I hope it becomes a favorite blankie and is loved and used!

And, finally, I knocked off a Charming Girls goal (from July/August). Better late than never is what I'm sayin'!

And it was good to get away, but blessed am I that when I come home from my getaway at the lake, I'm coming home to our peaceful, getaway in the woods!

:)

hippity, hoppity, happy!

I do not sing the praises of my dear husband enough. He truly is my hero and champion! My darling man is one of the kindest, most generous, and thoughtful men I've ever known, and I'm so lucky to be married to him!

Not long after I started quilting, I had an idea about hanging pegboard in my workspace, so that I could hang my quilting rulers and tools and get to them more handily. Of course, when we decided to move from the house to the RV, I put the idea on hold until we were in our new space. Since the bunkroom was going to be our extra room, I had thought that the pegboard would hang nicely over the bathroom door in there.

Early on, we made a trip to Ace Hardware and bought the supplies. But the weather was cold and dreary, and didn't really lend itself to a project that would need to be cut and put together outside. So we figured it wouldn't be a big deal to wait for warmer weather. Of course, warmer weather came and so did the accident, which had us not even living in the RV for several months, and me not even really caring about quilting *gasp* for a bit.

Now that normalcy is returning and the weather is perfectly lovely for outdoor projects, I had started to make noise about getting the pegboard up to make the room more quilting-efficient. Yesterday, I came home to find the project in full progress!! Before the end of the evening, Todd had the pegboard hung, and I had dug through all my quilting stuff to get the rulers, hoops, and rotary cutters up. I need to get some more hangers, but I've got a good start!

This will give me the room/ability to get the rest of the quilting part of the bunk area in order.

The two cardboard boxes are photographs I want to get scanned. Egads! The two wide set of drawers are all quilting-related stuff. The skinny set of drawers down here is office supplies, ribbon, and stationary.

The skinny set of drawers up top is, I'm almost embarrassed to admit, full of candles. Jars, tarts, votives, and tapers. I'm a real candle-aholic!

This is my crafting/cutting/sewing table. All cleared and ready for a new project (or for me to finish an old project -- goodness knows I have enough of those)!

Bless his heart -- he'd spent so much time working on my project yesterday, his desk just got overwhelmed!

I'll have fun playing and organizing my space this weekend. This gets me closer to actually completely one of my Charming Girls goals!! Whoohoo!

Thanks, darling!!!!

:)

sewing party . . .

* * * Calling it a night! * * *

Well lucky me -- I got a text from my son late this afternoon, inviting DH and I over for pizza and time with the grandbaby. Ummm, ladies, time with the grandbaby??? Sewing was *all* over! I'll have some free time tomorrow and Monday to finish up and post pictures! And probably some Sawyer pictures, too!!

I so enjoyed your company today -- have a great night, filled with visions of sugar plums!!

:)

* * * Update * * *

Three o'clock and all's well!

I've got lots of things cut; some things pinned; some things I'm still thinking about. I *can* tell you that I'm doing a little something with this pretty little block, from Quilter's Cache. I hope perhaps I'll be able to take pictures of it later.

I'm *also* doing lots of playing with this darling little tutorial, found on Prairie Moon Quilts!

I cut, stitched and pressed my blocks for Lissa, too. I'll send those off on Tuesday!

I've also had my last cup of coffee (I moved on to pomegranate iced tea, which is red, so still in the spirit), eaten a fare share of my kettle chips, and only had a bite of my Hershey bar! I've been too intent on projects, if there's still chocolate left at 3 o'clock in the afternoon! :)

* * * Original Post * * *

I do love having choices and today I've got plenty!! I mentioned last night that I wouldn't be able to necessarily discuss details, nor show finished products, but I can show my options . . .

Today's Christmas sewing may involve a little of these . . .

Or possibly a little of these . . .

And maybe even a little of this . . .

And most likely a little of these . . .

But most definitely it will include this:

Now, go check out Charming Chatter and see what everyone else is up to today!!

HO HO HO!

:)

christmas in august . . .

It's time for a . . .

Check out the Charming Chatter blog and join in the fun!

To get in the mood, I stopped by the store on my way home tonight and picked up a few things to add a little life to my party! I got my salty chips, my chocolate, and plenty of coffee mate! It may not look like much, but the ability to share this fare over the cyber-waves is endless! :)

I even bought my *favorite* flavored coffee mate -- Peppermint Mocha is not just for holidays any more! That, and my pretty Lenox Christmas tree mug, are *sure* to put me in the holiday sewing spirit!

I'm not sure how much I'll be able to share about what I'm actually sewing . . . it is Christmas, you know! (I dearly love Christmas secrets -- especially when they're mine!)

:)

greens & purples . . .

My first trip into a quilt store in MONTHS! (Mainly because I could both actually drive and walk comfortably with a single crutch -- and I was in the area.) I didn't purchase a lot; mainly I went in because I wanted to GO IN A QUILT SHOP! LOL!

It was a fat quarter day . . .

The greens and purples (and it's purple, I swear, not blue) are for Patches for Lissa. I need to get those off early next week!

It kills me what my camera sees -- or what the flash does to color. They're such soft, peaceful colors, but the photography (or perhaps, the photographer) can't do it justice! I'll be happy to have these sewn up and on their way to a bigger project, to provide comfort and quilty hugs to a young woman who's been through so much.

While I was at said quilting shop, I happened upon this darling little pair of embroidery scissors. And though I'd just recently commented somewhere about the number of pairs of little scissors I already have, these called to me. They just did. I immediately answered. :)

In just two weeks, I'll be headed to Maryland, to meet up with this precious group of girls from way back . . . my beautiful sisters!! I'm the oldest on the far left. I love this picture, though it's always made me giggle -- we're looking in three different directions!

My folks are celebrating their FIFTIETH anniversary on September 10th, and we're going up to party with them!! Whoohoo! Something I'm much looking forward to.

August is quickly coming to a close. I have two more Charming Girls goals to accomplish -- but I think I'm not quite (physically) ready to take on one of them. But I'm determined to finish up the quilt!

Buenas noches!!

:)

a picture's worth a thousand words . . .

And today, you're getting the words. :)

It's been a nice, albeit quiet, day. I finished the last of the redwork blocks early in the day, so I accomplished one of my Charming Girl goals! Yay! After much thinking, I did finally decide on a name for the last block, but not without some terrific (and interesting) input.

For example:

Sawyer Writes His First Postcard (postcards are big in my family)
Sawyer Practices His Cursive Writing for Aunt Jocelyn
Sawyer Takes His ACT
Sawyer Writes, 'I'll Behave in Class' One Hundred Times

But what I finally decided on is, Sawyer Practices His ABC's. I like it!

Then I pulled out my Russian pillow and picked up on quilting it where I left off. Whoops! I got the corners done and am working on the sides, and then it'll be ready to stitch into a throw pillow! I take so long to get anything done -- I first started talking about this in . . . MARCH!

Let's see, I also baked a pan of brownies, to take to church tomorrow night. We are serving lunch to the teachers of the elementary school next door, and the brownies are actually for that. Can you believe school starts in less than a week? Crazy! This year has simply flown by, collectively, though some of the days have dragged a bit!

What else? My Jocelyn came by to pick up some fabric she's using to dress her classroom windows! And we talked about her nursery and crib sheets, and owls (which is how she wants to do the nursery) and burp cloths. And I showed her all the darling owls I've been finding to do a redwork quilt for the baby!

I also watched Sleepless in Seattle. Because I've seen it a million times and I can do handwork while I'm watching it and not keep my eyes glued to the screen. And because it makes me cry. And because I love that movie. :)

And all day I been hearing little birdie noises . . . like baby birds. And I wasn't sure where out back they were, but felt they were kinda close. And then, when I pulled the brownies out of the oven, I turned around and there was Mrs. Wren, hoping under the screen in the kitchen window, with a big, fat worm in her mouth. She was feeding her BABIES in my WINDOW! I do love the wrens! And as I sit here typing away, I can hear the chorus of baby birds singing, "Feed US!" Yikes -- they are really noisy and demanding! :)

Hmmm. I've also been thinking a little about October. It's only two months away and I hate to have it creep up on me and not be prepared when the question invariably comes, "What do you want for your birthday?" I think I know. I'm pretty sure. I want one of THESE! And maybe one of these, to match my car, which I hope to be driving really SOON!

Oh, oh, OH! How could I forget this?? I entered THIS giveaway on Little Pieces of My Life back in July, and I WON! The most darling, hand-crocheted edged PINK pillowcases! They came in yesterday's mail! With a cute little quilting pin, too! And it was all so prettily packaged, I really felt like I was getting a present in the mail! Thank you, Karen!!!

All in all, a pretty full and satisfying day. Think how dangerous I'll be when I'm on two, working legs!!

For now, I'm off to taste-test a brownie (just doing my duty) by placing it under some homemade vanilla ice cream and topping it with some whipped cream.

And for the record, this entry was worth 0.65 of a picture. Wow! I think that saying needs to be re-evaluated!

:)

charming girls update!

Okay, time to take a look at the Charming Girls goals I set for myself for July/August, and see how I'm doing . . .

#1: To accept that things are the way they are, and to graciously accept the help of others. I'm working diligently on this one. :)

#2: To ensure that birthday and anniversary cards are sent out in a timely manner, as well as thank you notes! Yes! I'm caught up on all my thank you notes (which accumulate quickly when I'm living up to goal #1) and celebration cards!!!

#3: To continue to withstand the call of the vending machine at work. It's been three months since I last fed that stinker any money, and I'd like to keep it that way! (There's absolutely nothing healthy in it!) Okay, lemme 'splain. Just one day I purchased something out of it -- we got caught short one day when preparing my lunch. So, I bought a bag of chips to supplement. But NO chocolate. The machine doesn't seem to call as loudly to me anymore. Whew! It also helps if I just don't bring my wallet into work. LOL! :)

#4: To put the final touches on Sawyer's quilt and get it to him and his mommy!

#5: To finish the redwork squares (there are 10) that I started today. I think this is within the range of possibility. I like having handwork to do in the evenings! Yay! I only have one more redwork square to finish -- I'll have pictures to post tomorrow! This is such a happy!

#6: To work on the degree of motion in my foot. It's currently at about 20 degrees; I'd like to get it up to 50-60 degrees before I start physical therapy next month! I'm actually proud and excited about this one. I go back to the doc on Wednesday, and I have worked really hard to get a good range of point/flex motion in my foot. I think I've got it up to about 70 degrees!! It's really come a long way in the last four weeks! :)

#7: To organize (or at least develop a plan by which to organize) my quilting area in the RV to make it more user-friendly. Clutter is very discouraging to me!

The two goals that I haven't made any progress on are two that I can't even start until we're back into the RV. Hopefully that will be next weekend, if everything goes well Wednesday!!

Go, Charming Girls, go!

:)

charmed, i'm sure . . . !

I don't usually blog twice in one day, but today I'll make an exception for several reasons.

The first is because I can't do what I *was* doing any longer, which was redwork! Yes, I've almost finished my first little redwork Sawyer, and I'll share a picture of him tomorrow. That is, *if* the power comes back on any time soon and I can see what I'm doing!

Backstitching by candlelight is not my thing . . .

The second reason is because I came across a novel idea in several of the blogs to which I subscribe. It's called the Charming Girls' Quilt Club, and it's hosted by Kelly, at Cotton Charm Quilts. You'll actually find it on her blog, Charming Chatter.

She sets up bi-monthly themes, and members post their goals toward this mark, share them on her blog, and encourage each other through the months! It's really a splendid idea, and I feel fortunate to have been included [whispering: because I was a tad late]!

So. The theme for July/August is:

This is a little ironic to me, because I've been receiving a lot of attention over the past two months, due to an accident which left me (temporarily) unable to walk or drive or do a lot of things that I took for granted prior to this! And it's been hard to be "taken care of" so much; I feel a little guilty and frustrated.

Well, now, if that's not fodder for Goal 1, I don't know what is!

#1: To accept that things are the way they are, and to graciously accept the help of others.

#2: To ensure that birthday and anniversary cards are sent out in a timely manner, as well as thank you notes!

#3: To continue to withstand the call of the vending machine at work. It's been three months since I last fed that stinker any money, and I'd like to keep it that way! (There's absolutely nothing healthy in it!)

#4: To put the final touches on Sawyer's quilt and get it to him and his mommy!

#5: To finish the redwork squares (there are 10) that I started today. I think this is within the range of possibility. I like having handwork to do in the evenings!

#6: To work on the degree of motion in my foot. It's currently at about 20 degrees; I'd like to get it up to 50-60 degrees before I start physical therapy next month!

#7: To organize (or at least develop a plan by which to organize) my quilting area in the RV to make it more user-friendly. Clutter is very discouraging to me!

There. A lucky seven. I don't want to over do it my first go 'round! Most of my goals are 'self-care' oriented, but some of them are quilt-project oriented, which is okay. One of them is both!

Deep breath. These are healthy, positive goals, and this is do-able!

:)