not quilty....

a brief trip back in time to march of 1961....this little miss joined our family....and fast forward to today, her birthday....she has had a very tough go for over a year with lots of serious medical issues, admittedly some due to her own stubbornness, but even so, things that would knock many down for the count.  with 12 years between, we haven't been awfully close as siblings but she's important to our family....happy birthday dear sis...hang on tight and struggle like mad!

monday design wall

seven up!   almost current with this mini sewalong....block 8 (leopold) needs to be constructed, then next saturday is the last...

if you saw the pile of scraps, you'd think a whole lot of fabric got busted, but of course not!  did get to use some of the pretties being "saved" for a someday project.  ***  first thing this AM got these 2 wall quilts basted....so quilting the fairies will be tackled first.....

and last but not least, a photo of our birthday girl celebrating with bro #1 and his wife....she looks fantastic!

playing with scraps

after picking this up at the bookmobile the other day....

was itching to play with my own kaffe fabric scraps....so after working on some necessary sewing projects, opened up the blue plastic case that is jam-packed full of explosive color...

before long had cut all the tiny triangles for the next phase of this project, a legal UFO so nothing new...

omigosh, this is uber-colorful!  gonna really look wow on my institutional beige everything walls....and if you see OUR beauty today, wish her a happy birthday...it's my wonderful mom....

she says she doesn't feel a day over 25, but she's really.......

done!

another 6.5 yards out of the stash....and this is finished....not quite twin size but size ok for me...and yes, there ARE 2 different greens in this quilt....no matter....channeling some antique quilt maker...lol!   a small quilt has moved into the hoop for perhaps another finish before march roars in....we'll see!

snow day sew day

whereas 2-3" of snow is enough to shut down most everything, the arrival of 6-8" is a proverbial maryland blizzard....no problem for a sewist tho...had a very successful sewing day.  first thing, now we are 5, that's blocks for the brackman sew along...

while i like these star blocks a lot, looking forward to the last 4 and to get them off my plate.  block 8 is due out saturday and might just get 6 and 7 done before then, we'll see.  ***  so what else got sewn?

1.  finished the cross-stitch fairy top and now ready to baste and quilt; also prepped the binding for it.
2.  finished applique on another wall quilt that is also ready to baste and quilt.
3.  more on the amish churn dash that will see the finish today...that's the plan anyway.

plus baked an applesauce cake and a few household things rounded out the entire day.  spent every minute in enjoyable pursuits....is that good?  i think so.....

royal sewing

with the cold finally abating, able to do something else today besides blow my nose and pop tylenol...LOL!  first up, a project for my own princess....the cross-stitch diva....

her very delicate and precisely stitched fairy blocks....all it needs is side borders and then baste/quilt....they are adorable and she has already reserved a place for this....and betty was in a sewing mood so progressed to block 3 in the barbara brackman sew along...

am way behind on this with 4 blocks to get caught up, but maybe by next week...with only 9 total it'll be a quick finish...a great short SAL giving me the opportunity to use some really nice fabrics from the stash...and february half over???  impossible!!!  spring is coming tho as just this morning the sun was out and birds were chirping in the trees....

happy valentine's day!

The world may know my words, but it has no such privileges with my heart - Jane Austen 

day 4....

of the head cold that is slowly resolving....and with it return of my quilty mojo, again slowly....but last week before it hit, got this to the flimsy stage...

so it now resides in "the pile" to be basted and then quilted....and with the amish churn dash quilting done, this got put into the hoop as the next lucky quilt to be quilted...

it's "cabana daydreams" and a complete 180 from the dark amish solids.  a good project for spring that'll be here in a month or so.  it'll be sidelined once the cross-stitch top is done for a basting blitz day.   would like to finish the "fairies" by the end of february as DD has been so patient for its completion.  the only other must-do is the QOV top that should be ready by march in order to get it quilted and bound and ready for june award....all this WILL be done once the drippy nose and sneezing are history....

slow stitching sunday

up early this AM and quilting on this...only 3 blocks to go plus the setting triangles, so it'll be a February finish for sure. 

there will be machine time as well...DD is an expert cross-stitcher and asked me to make a wall quilt from some adorable fairy blocks she did.  she picked out the fabric last summer from the stash and has been waiting patiently for other things that needed to come first.  now it's her turn!  she has already selected space for the wall quilt in her home and the ball is in my court.  maybe it too will be a february finish!

RSC II

month 2 of the RSC sew along and all is well here....actually had to cut stash to get the needed strips as the shoebox had only a few.  after these got finished, worked on a few other things and confess did a bit of lollygagging around outside in the 70-degree weather.  am so ready for this to come and stay....even my mom in maine got a reprieve from bitter cold.  it's the january thaw just a tad late but better than never!