One finished & another ALMOST finished too!

Hello my bloggy friends… Hope that October is treating you well!

Now that you have seen THIS SEASONAL side of me… How about this side too 😀

Can’t help but be a bit silly!!!  I am finishing up now my SECOND finish since my last post y’all!!!

It didn’t take long last Sunday until I finished all that hand stitching of the binding and got to this point!!!!

 I wash my freshly finished quilts on cool or cold with some regular soap liquid.  I bought the washer I have now just because it has this HUGE tub to soak my quilts in too… so I add a 30 minute soak now to new quilts in that cool water!!!  I will follow that with a drying session but find NEW big quilts need a second wash on warm if they will tolerate it based on colors used and a nice hard dry the second time to get the crinkly effect we love !!!  I use 80% cotton and 20% wool batting by Hobb’s Tuscany from Connecting Threads in all my bed quilts… We love it ❤

While it was washing I picked up the pillow top I am hand quilting to add to the bed. 

 My honey likes a snuggly little 16″ cotton fluffy pillow to sleep with but has very oily skin.  So he goes through pillows about one every couple years… this is the same pattern we have on the bed presently on his snuggle pillow but the other one is batik greys which clash with this civil war / reproduction style quilt colors we are going to now.

Once my honey was up and Molly, our shih poo puppy who will soon celebrate 4 months old, was being watched by him… I decided it was time to go back in the sewing room for a bit… while the washing and drying was going on for the second round and work on Roberta’s commissioned quilt project!!!

 Above I am outlining the completely machine quilted center… have I said how much I do not like machine quilting myself ??  I won’t accept any more big machine quilting projects…I don’t mind doing things for my Etsy shop… they are FUN!!!  But this.. was PURE struggle to quilt via machine… I am made for hand quilting personally. lol!  At least I now KNOW this about myself ❤

Soon enough I had to take a break… or several as I fluffed the quilt in the dryer because it is soooo big… 105″ square it finished up here…

 Here is a photo of the center….

 And here is my show photo!!!!

 And finally y’all!  I can share these photos of it on our bed 😀

 The pillow shams look great in their own design with the quilt too we think!!!  And the backing is AWESOME and COZY too 😍

I am linking this FUN FINISH to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday Linky Party HERE my friends… come see what others are sharing too in the slow stitching arena!!!  Kathy is located in Canada… while the USA commemorates Columbus Day tomorrow… they will be celebrating Thanksgiving there ❤  Share what you are thankful for no matter where you live!

What I am thankful for is the project I am sharing now… I am in the home stretch and may finish it today… or tomorrow!!!  It should be presented to the owner later this coming week I am hoping too!

This commissioned project I took on as a good deed for a sweet couple.  He is a Vietnam Veteran and she was in dire need for someone to quilt this flimsy into a quilt to snuggle or hang on the wall in her home… she can’t decide which it will be! lol 

So here it is with the edges basted and trimmed as I took this photo to decide how to quilt those outside borders …

 Soon I had an idea and got to work making straight lines coming out from the inner border using beige thread on top to match this outer border… I had used a very light grey on the center to match that… it was really almost a silvery white in the Aurifil 50 wt realm 🙂

During a quilting break I did this…

Then when I got home I finished the machine quilting of that border and while my muscles enjoyed the break out of the house… it was time to sew on the binding!!!  YIPPEE!!!

 Y’all… I have never been THIS CLOSE on a binding….

 That is only 1/4″… I had more of the fabric available to use … but when I made the binding up I thought I had left PLENTY of binding to have 6″ or more!  Was I WRONG!!!

So as I write this…

And here is the official label I will add backing fabric to and sew onto the back bottom of the quilt itself…

 Here it is rinsed and ready to press and sew then wash and dry whenever the quilt is finished and washed….

So today I will finish the long left side of this quilt binding… then focus on getting the label on and measure for and make the hanging sleeve for it using THIS YouTube tutorial from Bonnie Browning of AQS.  Then I can wash it ONCE  on warm with a towel in with it to make sure it gets good and clean (smaller quilts I always add a towel to the washing and drying to keep it from knotting up).  And dry it well.  Come back next week to see if I got this delivered… I will try to convince Roberta to let me take her photo with it ❤

Also I got my first ever “award” on one of my most often visited Facebook groups this morning…

 I got this from showing the photos under recent… but mainly my overabundance of love SHOWN TO ME on my photos of Hanover Stars completion during the week.

I did see this in this same facebook group as the focus on this weeks show and share was hand quilted quilts you had flying geese in… I would LOVE to make a bear paw with fun borders on it like this one is done!!!

 This is a cute pumpkin and that bird I have liked in florals … looks awesome in solid reading fabrics too ❤

 Here is my quilting label idea for Hanover Stars…

Maybe I will get that done this week using the same fabric I printed Roberta’s quilt label with now that my printer ink arrived yesterday (I was out of black!!).

We have several items up for sale right now in the vintage sewing world of goodies… do you sew vintage??? Feel free to PM me on Facebook or email me HERE if you need any advice or items for your particular vintage machine (1930’s to 1960’s) 🙂

We have bobbins of all kinds too in our stash of stuff…

Whilst I have been doing all this stitching by hand.. I have gotten back to Bluprint by Craftsy… Hoping to make this in the not too distant future and thoroughly enjoyed this class 😀

 Here is a nice example too made by a class member!

Here is a cute Christmas ornament idea if you are trying to get into the holiday season already too…

Overall I think this is what we really need… not more time watching tv or listening to music or even pondering things like politics… but time being positive & kind!

Did my opening photo make you chuckle a bit???  I hope so !!!

What are you thankful for as Canada prepares for all things Thanksgiving tomorrow and here in North Carolina USA we are watching the leaves start to change and some are already falling…

Share what you are grateful for… what kind deed happened to you or that what positive domino effect you were part of!!!  For me I will say finishing this quilt is a blessing and the kindest deed I have ever sacrificed over!!! hahaha.. sounds funny but it has been a struggle for sure y’all ❤  Now it is your turn to leave me a comment. 

Spread the kindness contagion and…

Advertisement

October 2018 is around the corner!

Welcome to the last day of September 2018!!!

It is just so hard to believe that TOMORROW will be October 2018!!  Fall is here in North Carolina too!!  Cooler temperatures here in the mountains and crickets in the morning and early in the eves too… leaves are starting to fall on some of our trees and a faint yellowing is present on others…. ooooh soooo exciting!  I will take some pictures as this becomes more obvious for you all not in this area of the world to see… but I am so ready for natures show!  Keep your face toward the sunshine y’all… and your glass half full!

On that note I have an ALMOST finish to share and I am linking all this slow stitching post HERE to my good bloggy friend Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching… binding is where I will be today 🙂  Come over and see what everyone else is linking up… Grab a cuppa and enjoy the show and share!!!

Above I finished the quilt close to bedtime and cut it off the frame where it has been pinned since May…  Molly (our shih poo puppy) immediately claimed it as hers to enjoy! lol

So Molly has become my official quilt inspector!!!  She loves quilts even more than our Daisy did… she is so darling with her love of hand quilted quilts too… more than the ones I machine finished (which are few)… she prefers the softer hand quilted ones!

Getting Molly to pose for a photo is near impossible… but after letting her leisurely lay on the quilt as I trimmed up all 4 edges to prepare for adding the binding…  She even posed with my honey for a shot!  SCORE!!!!

Zena has been tied up quilting a quilt … I unattached the quilt mid quilting for her to do a more important task as she is the machine that can use the walking foot most effectively… so now the Cotton + Steel Optical Black cotton fabric… my favorite solid… got sewed on early the next morning…

 I used all I had and had to substitute some other black I found in my stash … all together 11 strips of width of fabric it took to bind this big old quilt!  It is about 109″ square now… I will remeasure it once it is washed and dried in the dryer this week though 🙂

Here I decided instead of the thicker YLI to put the binding on with 50 wt Aurifil in black… I love how it sinks into the fabric too ❤

 I added a label but this quilt was a lot of collaboration between my honey and I and my bestie… in fact 2 of the stencils I used were mailed to me by my bestie!!!  So I think I will add a proper label to the back side bottom as well to document this cool quilt better.

 Here is where I am this morning as I type this….

Here was the flimsy before it got layered and added to my Hinterberg frame…

 Here was the beginning photo I shared on my blog and social media too!!!

 Here are pillow shams I made with the leftovers of the fat quarters and yardage this quilt was made from…

 Here is one finished… we are using them now though…

 And here is how I feel in life right now…

So in other news… as I was finishing the stitching on the quilt earlier in the week… I took a partial day break from the stitching to make this cute table topper…

 And I tried out this NEW TO ME pen ….

It did NOT fade with washing and drying…

I didn’t dry it hard and it did need a quick steamy press for the three dimensional pumpkin stems.  It is added to my Etsy shop HERE and a quite popular addition I must say 😀  And it was fun to make something on the fly of my own design with new fabrics in my stash !!!  It is machine quilted in the center with hand quilting around the edges in the black border ❤

My giveaway winner from earlier this month was Jill who blogs HERE … she chose a pencil pouch from my shop as her prize!

She is going to use this pouch to wrangle her slow stitching crochet hooks 🙂  I can’t wait to see a photo of it in use too ❤ 

Congratulations Jill … she let me know what she was using it for and was so happy to receive it last week and impressed with how colorful it was and how wide it opened to easily see her different hooks 🙂  I am so happy for her!!!

Finally I wanna share a bit about my next slow stitching project… well I guess there are 2… I have a little pillow I am stitching on whenever I am on the go in my “go bag”… it will become my main project and will be completed before my next blog post so I will share it then.  It is just a simple wholecloth pillow I am hand quilting for my honey to snuggle as he sleeps… he has one but it doesn’t match our new decor in the bedroom with this soon to be completed quilt… so I will finish the pillow and make an envelope opening in the back for easy washing of this pillow covering.  The backing will be the same wide back backing you see on the quilt… I had a tad left over!

Once that is done I will start on my Violet Craft  EPP Rooster Project.  I am adding Project to it’s name for the blog because look at this…

It is 8… yes EIGHT pages of cardstock templates to make this rooster via english paper piecing!!!

This will be a project!!!!  So I pulled out the project tote my bestie Connie made me several years ago for projects that need a place to be laid out and organized on the go…

I even invested in a spool of Bottom Line polyester thread to keep my stitches as hidden as possible.  Connie also sent me a video of thread basting the hexies but the author of this pattern recommends glue basting with fabric glue because the pieces are mainly odd shaped.  After seeing this … and the hexies in this project are a bit larger than what Connie uses too… I have the fabric glue and will use it.  The tape runner is the author’s remedy to hold the back side of the fabric temporarily to the template… she says it won’t stick to the fabric permanently and it is similar to her recommended type… so I should be good there… It was from my paper scrapbooking days! lol

The pattern can’t be used to make to sell… but after seeing how many pieces this will take for a 20″ square finish… I think I will be fine making one for us and having fun with it alone…

 I will also be sorting my “scrap users system” I adopted from Bonnie Hunter into colors instead of colors and neutrals then sizes … With my new endeavors I find I need colors specific scraps not size specific scraps more for my Etsy shop makings.  I have a big bin in my sewing studio that needs to be sorted so I will start there… and end with these boxes relabeled into colors with a could neutrals bins maybe … maybe one dark and one light neutrals… hmmmm.

 So my question this week is about this sorting I will be doing this week in prep for the rooster start after I complete the binding… that is my sole focus until it is in the washer!!!!!!!!!!

Do you sort your fabric scraps?  How do you sort them if you do??  Do you use any type of scrap users system???  I know Bonnie does hers by size AND color but as you can see from my photo above.. I don’t have the scrap volume Bonnie does… but I am heading there as great friends are sending me scraps for my making … so I need to get a handle on this.  Please send me a photo if you will to my email HERE or leave a comment explaining your system if you have one… Thanks All for visiting!!!

Happy Fall Y’all ~ A Giveaway Winner and Sooo Much More!

Fall has always been my favorite season and last night in the USA Fall began!  Leaves are beginning to fall here in North Carolina too… it has been 6 years since I have enjoyed a true fall!!!

 The above wall hanging was inspired by Bonnie Hunter’s string pumkins she did last year 🙂 

I had sooo much fun taking scraps from previous quilt making and from my stash and sewing them together to make pumpkins….

 This year is hangs in our kitchen over our little kitchen table…. we have a HUGE countertop level bar in our kitchen that we use regularly but this is nice too and cozy ❤

 Our weather is cooling during the night and early mornings and a heavy dew is present until mid day usually now… but the afternoons still get quite warm!  Waiting for that evening cool down to start as the trees are starting to lose their leaves with the wind blowing occasionally too.  What is your weather like where you live?  Is it comfy to be outside?? 

I have been inside mainly… working toward a slow stitching finish at my frame!!!

Since this collage.. I rolled the frame for the last time for this quilt…

 When I finish this row I will be cutting the quilt off the frame!!!  SEW EXCITED TO GET TO THAT POINT Y ‘ALL!!!

To the left are my quilting tools… and to the right I am ready for action with my thumble and thimble and a bit of electrical tape wrapped around my pointer finger to increase my gripability! lol

Here is the corner where I started on this row…

 And now I have a lot of wavy lines and black line in the ditch stitching to do … as well as basting that top edge…

I have truly enjoyed every bit of the 4 months this quilt has been on the frame … every stitch was added with love and devotion to me and my honey and our relationship… this quilt will next be shown (hopefully) off the frame .. bound… washed and dried… and on our bed!!!  Yippee in advance 😀 

Linking all this fun slow stitching accomplishments (including that Fall quilt I opened my post with as it is slow stitched too!) to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday link up… There my tribe is gathering today to share their slow stitching accomplishments… whether is it needle and thread like me or other slow hand accomplished work like crochet or cross stitch or embroidery or knitting!  Come see us all HERE!  Kathy even has a new blog header up with her latest finish on it… beautiful!

So everything else I have been up to has been LOTS and LOTS!

First I want to announce the

 Jill is the lucky lady I drew out of the coffee mug!  I have sent her an email… next week I will share what she chose as her prize if it is ok with her 😀  SEW EXCITED FOR HER!!!!

And here is a peek at what is new at MY ETSY SHOP!

Pencil cases for trendy students… mug rugs for any time but perfect for the season we are in and a table topper I hope will find a home soon when I get it quilted and listed as well!!!

And these sets of fabrics are for sale on facebook!

Wowee… I have been sooo busy this week 🙂

So what will I work on next you ask???

The rooster is an EPP project by Violet Craft… 

I have always wanted to try EPP but never found a project that I felt like inspired me.  So this darling rooster I will do in reds and blacks and greys with a tan background to coordinate with a wall hanging still left undone… hopefully I can show you all this stuff next week when I post a blog entry 😀

For now this is my wish for your all…. 

 Do you drink coffee???  Or do you prefer tea or water or something fun otherwise when you stitch???  I love sugar free sweet tea and coffee with a little bit of coconut creamer in it! lol  I would love to hear your favorite stitching beverage 🙂

Until next Sunday y’all…

What does your artistic voice look like?

What does your handwork voice look like?  Mine is very quilty and scrappy I think!  Linking this thought provoking post to Kathy’s Quilts… Slow Sunday Stitching linky party HERE… come see what all the slow stitchers are creating today!!!

Here is a picture of the first 2 squares completed on the last row of this quilt… I did this while watching Bluprint (a Craftsy subscription service) and listening to YouTube vids and music too!

Here are a couple of my tools of the trade I use when quilting by hand…

 And here they are in action!

 Notice I am using electrical tape on my pointer finger… it helps me grip the needle instead of rubbing a callous on that finger 🙂

Here is part of one block sashing border stitched and beginning the other side…

THIS is where you will find me on this rainy Sunday in southwestern North Carolina as Tropical Storm Florence moves very slowly up this state to the north eastern area.

Here is a view of all I have completed….

 And what I need to work on today so I can roll and mark my final borders on this quilt!!!

This is melancholy for me… I have been working on this since mid-May 2018… so 4 months of quilting so far and I am nearing the end of this arduous journey… I am excited to wash it and dry it and sleep under it and photograph it with the pillow shams we are already sleeping with… but not so ready that I want to rush the finish either! lol  Melancholy is the best word I can use.

As I do near this ending… I ponder my quilting voice.. and what it looks like… as you go back over the photos I shared of my slow stitching… I use small regular stitches and big stitches… I use regular weight quilting threads and large bore threads requiring different needles too… I use them in unison to make a patchwork artwork of sorts that is then very usable when complete!  THIS is MY voice… what is YOURS???  Have you pondered this ???  I would love to hear from you all about this topic!

Please leave me a comment today September 16, 2018 through September 22, 2018 EST USA… if you answer this question you will be entered in a drawing to receive a fun SNAP BAG made to order from me to you anywhere in the world too 🙂  This is NOT an advertised giveaway but I truly want responses and I love making these little snap bags.  Here are some and pics below show how they work and different sizes available…

So fashion a response to my question above for a chance for me to make you a snap bag in your favorite colors and your desired size too up to 9″ wide 🙂 

The drawing will happen Sunday 9/23/18 at 6 am EST USA and announced on my blog… so come back here next week to see if you win 🙂  You must sign in or leave your email with your answer to the question to be entered in the drawing!!!

I made my FIRST SALE in my Etsy shop this week too… the recipient of this product should get it Monday via USPS.  I added another couple sets of drink coasters to the shop too!!!

Molly got her first haircut this week and did well considering it was her first and she is only 3 months old and quite fiesty and rambunctious…

You can see her eyes a bit better but she wasn’t having much of a trim around her face yet… she likes being brushed and didn’t mind the personal and body trims but face wasn’t happening!!! lol  So we fought the battles we chose and followed the trim up with a bath and blow dry which she tolerated very well for her 3rd bath ever!!!

As I have been getting our Etsy shop up and running my honey and my friends Debbie…
and Connie have been MEGA supportive, helpful, and most of all very honest with me in my product design and delivery… I am very thankful for all of these people in my life!!!

 And they will ALWAYS be my friends I hope… they do know me so well… and they know so much!! lol  I love that quote regards to them and their helpfulness in all facets of my life!  Thanks 😀

So go back and read the middle… fashion your response and leave me a way to contact you… if you are a NO REPLY BLOGGER and you want to be in the drawing leave your email address in your response for me 🙂  Only those that can respond get added to the drawing next Sunday !!!!  Now go and ….

Opening an Etsy shop and slow stitching progress too!

That is right y’all!  designoriginalsbykc is now not just a blog and my personal signature but an Etsy shop too…check it out HERE if you are interested in the first few things I have listed!

My goal includes keeping it fun and affordable for my customers… and selling things through the holiday seasons I enjoy making with Gloria…

Our business card I designed to start us out 🙂

 Our stock initially includes these things…

Rounded corner drink coasters with acorns on them 🙂

Hexagon shaped coasters

Pumpkin square coasters too!

I even added a few “action” photos! lol

And a Snap Bag too… using Tula Pink fabric I have had in my stash!

 My honey helped me with some of these photos… even caught him red handed at the end….

But he took these photos before he thought of the above action shot for me! lol

See the snap bag opening by using the triangles 🙂

I also have a hand quilted wall hanging in our shop!  Come on over and take a look following the link I gave ya at the top of this post 😍Before I got the bright idea to actually OPEN an Etsy shop I finished these fun things ….

A fun snap bag to match the wallet I made for my darling daughter!

A proper bed to go in the basket we bought as a spot for Molly in the living room 🙂

 Molly loves her bed too ❤

 She just loves fabric though too… here she is as I create….

 Sleeping in the basket of fabric scraps waiting to be processed into my scrap users system! lol

FINALLY to some relaxing slow stitching now!  This I worked on while my honey had a doctor’s appointment… it will be a new pillow for him once I get finished stitching the design into this wholecloth pillow top….

 It coordinates with our quilt I am stitching too…

I finished this row of swirlies… then it was time for a much dreaded task… adding to the backing that for some reason … even though measured so carefully before loading it initially on the frame… is about 3″ too short!!!!

So I came to Fiona… my Morse 600 straight stitch machine and a bit more portable than my 301…

My honey got her out of her beautiful case to put her on a low sitting table beside my frame to add on a bit of fabric to the backing and I just had to take a photo of her to adore her a bit.

 And her hard at work without breaking a sweat…

 And now… just about 1 1/2 hours from the time I started tearing this quilt off the top of the frame….

 all back together 🙂

This quilt is now 86% complete!!!  Y’all with this backing issue now fixed I am on the home stretch!!  Linking this part of this post to my fave Sunday Stop with other hand stitchers… Kathy’s Quilts and her linky Slow Sunday Stitching HERE <<<  Come see what others are making with their creative fingers 💟✋

I am planning to work on the wavy lines in this blue row you see above… 😀

My LQS posted this photo Friday… I thought it was cute… so wanted to share it with you all too…

 Hope this LQS photo from Bless My Stitches in Murphy NC gives you a smile!

And now I am gonna get back to slow stitching… praying for a sale in my Etsy shop and working on a few things with eBay too… Have a blessed one you guys and…

A Slow Stitching Challenge Met and Other cool stuff!

Welcome Y’all from wherever you are reading this … to where I am in south western North Carolina I hope you are all doing well!  And I wish each of you a Happy September 2018!!!

I have made some fun slow stitching progress this week and am sharing a challenge from my favorite Sunday Slow Stitching blog linky over at Kathy’s Quilts HERE!  Kathy has a super fun challenge today so go read all about… then come back here to read how I am meeting her challenge in this post!

So here is a close up view of what I see every day when hand quilting at my frame…

 And here is the long view of all I can see from my frame view!  I LOVE THIS VIEW!!!

 Here is outside my windows….

 Here is the pond that was hard to see from the inside shots… it has crappie, bass and trout in it.  We feed them and invite friends to fish them… but we don’t! lol

 Here is a close up of the grist mill and water wheel….

Now back to slow stitching progress….

I got the view on the left done early in the week… then the view on the right done later in the week….

Now I am here… end of the row and 82% or more complete with this behemoth quilt for our bed!!!

 I love mixing big stitch and regular quilt stitches together on this project… I think that is “my style” now too 🙂  I have a nice selection of both kinds of threads now and add to it as I am able with each project I work on!

Then I went into the sewing room and look who was right next to me making herself at home!!!

Little Molly likes my fabric scraps and plays in them whenever I leave the door open to the sewing room or am in there!
Here was a photo op I enjoyed doing with her last weekend…

Now she is 12 weeks old!!!  Still working on potty training but she eats well and enjoys playing and staying under foot for sure!!!

This week we also said a short but sweet goodbye to a fellow veteran and US hero John McCain.  This was our tribute as posted on facebook…

Our flag and the post office just above us in this photo will return to full staff status on Monday after he has been buried at the Naval Cemetery.  I am glad he didn’t suffer long from the time he decided to quit treatment of his brain cancer.

This is STILL my view on my 401 where I am machine quilting a quilt for a friend… I wish I could force myself to work on it more!

 And I saw this meme this week… it is VERY appropriate so I thought I would share here with you all…

 Our post office lady is moving to another post office on Tuesday next week so I quickly made her a snap bag… a bit bigger than my last one but I thought she might use it for snacks or make up or something for her new job 🙂

 She cried when I gifted it to her and loved it very much… she said she loved the angel fabric and purple was her fave color too ❤  I love happy endings!!!

But my favorite thing… other than the hand quilting progress I made this week was this cool wallet I made for my daughter from THIS youtube tutorial and using these fabrics … some from stash and some from Walmarts fat quarter selection…

 Here is a bobbin race losing shot… I had half a bobbin of black 50 wt aurifil already wound so I figured that would be enough…

 Well I was 2″ or less short of my finish line !!!  So I unthreaded… wound another bobbin and finished it up properly… I usually win bobbin race games… but not always I guess! lol
Here you can see Glorious Gloria my trustly 301 from 1956.  She is a strong and hard working machine and my favorite snips… as well as my trusty corner poking tool… you can see the Precision Turning Tool better below… it works as wonderful gadget in my sewing space when making bags and such!

 Above is outside of the wallet with a change zipper pocket made for my daughter and below is the inside credit card slots and sewn in velcro closure of the wallet… plus a money slip that is plenty long enough 🙂

 Here it is all folded up on the velcro side:

 Closer up view but if you look above you see I have the same view from my sewing room of the outdoors as I have from my quilting frame 😀  I LOVE THIS VIEW!!!!

 And the back side of the wallet when folded up….

 And a fun compilation photo I made for facebook groups to see…

School started for lots of kids this past week too… including my nieces and nephew!!!

 Also 2 of my nieces won blue ribbons that competed in the Wilson County fair … the largest fair I believe in Tennessee!!!!  I am a VERY proud aunt too ❤

So take time to participate in Kathy’s slow stitching photo op… whatever kind of slow stitching you enjoy doing… and share what is going on in your world… I would love to read your post!  Have a blessed weekend, a safe Labor Day holiday if you are in the US, and a safe Labour Day holiday if in Canada… and make time to slow it down and enjoy the views!

Welcoming Miss Molly and MORE stitching done too!

Welcome to my blog and welcome Miss Molly to our family!!!

Molly  is a Shihpoo that came to us weighing a bit over 3 pounds!!!!  She is 11 weeks old today and will grow to about 8 or 10 pounds eventually!  These photos all show her cute little face well…

We drove to west of Huntsville Alabama to get her… quite a haul for us but worth it… she was dirty when we picked her up at 10 weeks old exactly !!!  

Soon as we got home she used the grass outside had a bite to eat … had a bit of a rest on a quilt I made that was clean and ready for her then into the bath she went for a good scrub down!

 Soon after this she was making herself at home in my scrap basket of fabric and finding some batting/backing for the Star quilt top on my design wall waiting to be layered up… she was running and jumping into the batting and it was soo fun watching her!!!!

Daisy Mae… had to be rehomed to my best friend Connie.  Rick was recently diagnosed with asthma and is allergic (we believe) to Daisy’s dander and shedding hair… none of this was helping so we dehaired the house as best we could… sent her to Connie as you can see below (with all her pillows and cage and stairs and bowls) and got a pup with no shedding /dander issues or at least minimal.. and I will do all her grooming/bathing whereas he did all of Daisy’s.

Daisy leaving with Connie at the “meet up spot”.  It was about halfway to our new pups destination and about halfway between our homes that we met.
Then a pic of Connie with Daisy Dog at her new home as Daisy Dog Combs!!!
She loves that she has people around all the time now and is rarely alone too 🙂

I am over 1/3 done with the machine quilting now….

 I marked my lines in a beige pencil on this photo… they aren’t straight in the center and in real life they are… they are wavy along the sides… maybe you can see better in this photo below!

Most of my quilting time has been working on HAND QUILTING though….

I am now about 80% complete with the quilting on this quilt… on row 11 of 13 rows in all!!!  SEW EXCITING … soon I will be seeing all the top !!!!

Linking this awesome quilty progress to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching HERE where my tribe of hand stitchers link… come see what everyone is up to… and as for Molly….

She found a home in a box Rick made a few years back for me to use…

Now it is being used to snuggle her as I quilt… she has become used to climbing into the box whenever I am over here at my frame which is daily for sure!!!

I am keeping my stencils under the box so she can’t get to them… she likes nibbling them and teething on them… so they underneath the box to avoid nibbles! lol

Here is where my Sunday will be spent … working on the right side of the quilt…. and potty training Molly and enjoying my honey too ❤

When my honey is able… still dealing with sciatic nerve pains down is right leg… he will be in his new recliner… the quilt you see on the floor is Molly’s for now until I get her a girlie cushion made!

 This Bonnie-ism best describes how I am feeling these days!!!

I will be slow stitching intermittently today and try to drag myself to faster stitching on the machine tomorrow… but mainly I will appreciate this home we live in and this life we are creating day by day for ourselves… how about you??!!

Slow stitching by hand and machine and MORE…

It has been a busy couple of weeks around here … since my last post 🙂  Unfortunately the sewing and stitching side of things is going slow… but still going so that is good!

For my slow stitching progress on Hanover Stars…

 Which makes my total progress…

 Above the photo shows the set in triangle stencil design drawn on…once I roll a bit down I can do that part… but first I need to get row #11 going 🙂

Here are some of my favorite notions for this job… and YES I use by Bose speaker!!! lol

 Here was the last blue block of row 10 marked prior to finishing that stitching too…

 Linking all this fun slow stitching to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Linky Party HERE… this is MY tribe!  Follow that link to see why I say that!!!

Also happening in the background when I can drag myself there is some machine quilting…

 I love this space and I love sewing on Zena … my 401a.  But I just don’t like wagging this 23 Psalm quilt around to stitch how I wanna stich… so this is happening very slow and just bits at a time….

I am about 1/3 or a bit more done with the stitching on this one.  This is my charity project for 2018…

Meanwhile my honey has been even more busy!!!

 Above he built me a ramp to get in and out of the garage door… he built it over the existing concrete stops and it works wonderful with a gradual incline only !!!  I need double knee replacements and am trying to hold off as I am only 52 years young… knees last about 15 years and I hope to only do this once in my life… also I am trying to take off some excess pounds prior to surgery … my doctor is awesome in helping support me in this journey 😀

Anyway,  Daisy loves sunning herself and supervised the building of the ramp for me 🙂

 Then my honey found this cool bakers rack on Marketplace for cheap and he decorated it with often used items….

 Then we had the teapot clock that didn’t keep time well… so when we couldn’t find clockworks to fit it we decided to add an inspirational saying for it….

 And this IS our Happy Place of all the places we have lived prior to here!!!!

Opposite of that is our cool secretary and bulletin board… with some cool decor items my honey hand picked to make it all cozy….

 Then we finally found a place for our stainless trash can!

And here is a view of the kitchen as a whole from the living room….

 NOW FOR THE BIGGEST NEWS!!!!

Our Daisy Mae is moving to Nashville to live with Connie… my bestie!

My honey recently was diagnosed with asthma… and I have lung disease as well…. Daisy’s dander is causing us both a bit of respiratory distress that is not getting better as she gets older but getting worse… so after long convos between my honey and I we decided we needed to rehome her and get a breed that doesn’t shed or have dander… so with the quilts I machine quilted a couple years ago here that got rehomed to Connie….

also goes also our Daisy Mae and all her stuff that is full of her dander…and her fave reclining chair she shared with my honey will be rehomed to the garage until we can find a pet friendly home that wants a nice recliner for CHEAP!

So what will we do for companionship besides drive each other bat crazy nuts???!!!

Get a dander free and hopefully shed free pup… Shihpoo is the designer breed (mix of poodle and shih tzu) we are looking at and this one that is just 10 weeks old tomorrow is our choice first….

 No name is picked out for HER yet… she is just weaned from mom so may be some crying to deal with initially as we bond with our new addition… thus the reason for this post… LOTS to share and Sunday we will be on the road to first drop off our Daisy at a halfway spot for Connie and us… then to go on to Alabama where this little one lives outside Huntsville.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that we will survive house breaking and bonding with this sweet bundle of love and that we don’t have shedding / dander issues with her.  She is currently a bit over 3 pounds and may top out at 10 pounds or so.  Naming will also happen once we get to know her and her personality a bit!  Mollie has been discussed but nothing is set in stone there yet.

Until I catch up with y’all again…

Stitching… Sewing… Traveling… Shopping >>> We are home!

This last week has been a bit on the crazy side!

My sewing room… as well as most of the house was a MESS!  And we needed to take a trip back to our hometown.  We had LOTS of loose ends and we both have health issues to address prior to and during the upcoming trip as well!

First things First… Clean up around here a bit!!!  Because I needed Gloria for a very important project!!!

With Gloria now ready for the task at hand… I cut out the pattern Sara Lawson wrote for this cross body bag in Large 🙂 … and Small for later use too!  But this was to be a surprise “big purse” requested by my dd for her 20th birthday celebration when we take our trip!

First I printed the FREE PDF pattern for this awesome bag HERE and used her accompanying video HERE and started cutting out pieces and parts … fabrics and interfacing… hoping what I was imagining would come into being in a cool way!  Sara also posts twice weekly shows on youtube and has a fun facebook group 😀

I used the last of the fabrics from a quilt I made my dd and some others from my stash that coordinated.

There is a handy 1 page list of necessities Sara provides to make this cool cross body bag come to life in either size so I took that shopping and started my gathering collection of bag making supplies! lol

Soon I was to my arch nemesis… the zipper!

 SCORE!!!!

Then the purse hardware called a twist lock… I ordered this one from a super fast shipping Etsy shop too ❤

 And sooner than expected… but just in time for our trip to Tennessee… I had the purse complete!

Here is a photo I like the best before getting photos with the recipient!

Meanwhile my honey was in an organizing frenzy in his man cave and in the kitchen!  Check this room out now!!!

It still has some decorating to go… a bit of clutter here and there.. but boy is it looking so much nicer now in our kitchen!!!

Then he got a surge of energy thanks to some medicine helping his back and hip pain and started working OUTSIDE on the bushes!  Here you can see from our front door to the right side of the Lazy Daisy…

 Just beyond these huge shrubs he is trimming is the Valley river and our land continues on above and beyond that until you get to some railroad tracks… they are only used occasionally these days tho!

 If you look at this close up you can see the building up in the top left of the photo… that is our post office for the town we live in… just below that is the rail road tracks and our property is this side of that then! 🙂

You can always hear the rushing of the river on the Lazy Daisy… we love that !!!

Then we got the new hard drive we ordered in the mail… for the one that became corrupted in the Dell laptop… we ordered a faster and more efficient one we thought… but not sure how fast… so it was time to switch them out…

Well let me just say Windows website and chat people were the most helpful place we went for help for free … we are neither one tech savvy… but together with their help and instruction we were able to download Windows 10 and upload it via a USB drive to the new hard drive.  I got frustrated at one section of it and walked away… but Rick persisted and soon he had a NEW and super fast working computer !!!

 It is faster than my new desktop in some ways even!!!

 So here we sit now side by side… his oil cans and our favorite lighthouse wood carving adorning our spots… yep still lots of clutter here too but that is okay… we  will find neat and tidy homes for all our “stuff” 😀

With ALL of this done you would think surely we would rest the day before our trip but no… Rick worked on MORE projects and I made my dd (darling daughter) Brandi a “snap bag” from THIS tutorial I found on youtube by Riley Blake designs.. but I rounded my edges and didn’t use the tape she suggests as I didn’t need it….

This cute bag stays closed unless you pull it open with the prairie points!  UBER CUTE and fast and easy to make.. I quilted this one and boxed the bottom corners too!  Each side of the bag is fussy cut for sea turtle cuteness ❤

Finally it was Friday morning… Rick had cut down Daisy’s big crate to make it Daisy sized and we loaded all we need for an overnight trip to central Tennessee…

And soon we were all at the hotel together and she finally could see all our hard work via iPad photos and vids… and then it was time to open her goodies we brought!

Soon our night was over.. but we did enjoy all waking in the middle of the night for some giggles… Rick is a real jokester and Brandi and I enjoyed his humor … esp at 2 am!!!

The hotel provided a nice breakfast then off to the airport so Brandi could meet with what she believes her destiny is in New York state!!!  So far away but she is 20 now and it is time for her to carve her own life.  I love you my dd!! ❤

We then visited for a good bit with my bestie Connie who came by the hotel after working all night!  It was sooo good to get a great big hug from her 😀

Then we were off to trek back to our home state of North Carolina.. and even though we had only been gone a day we missed it terribly!

We did pick up this cool tall skinny shelf to the left of the TV and quickly filled it up with vintage goodies….

 We found a light oak bread box too…

 and an oak and black shelf…

 That is sitting on our mantle for the time being….

 We also found a few clothes while we were thrift shopping our way home… and this cool quote on wood…

 Finally… to share my handwork during all this busy time I am halfway through the 10th row of 13 rows all together y’all!  I have also been working on Rick’s new pillow top too in the car and in the hotel 😀

 So that is what has been happening here and why I have been so quiet… My sewing room is straightened up once again and ready for the next cool project to pick up on again!  What will it be???Focus on the hand quilting I do believe!!!  lol

For now have a blessed rest of your week and a HAPPY HUMP DAY!!!!  And enjoy all the youtube links and pdf link I left you…

Tops are being seen Everywhere here… so much excitement to share!

Can you believe it is just 2 days until AUGUST!!!  Wow… this year is flying by for us… how about you?

This week I worked on some swirly bits here…

 And finished up a spool of DMC perle 12 cotton I was using to big stitch them…

 I finished up that much all the way across … rolled the quilt down just a bit and look at my view at 71% completed now!!!

I am now ready to star ditch stitching the upper part and adding in the wavy lines in the blue blocks… then when they are done just TWO that is 2 more lines of blocks to do on this quilt!!!  We will be sleeping under it before Fall is officially here I do believe!  Sew EXCITING 😀

Better late that not at all.. I am linking this great slow and enjoyable stitching progress to Kathy’s Slow stitching Sunday post HERE as I did work on this on and off all last week and this past weekend too ❤

I also have another top with progress…

Daisy’s Stars is a quilt for our pup Daisy to sleep under that will coordinate a bit with the some of the same fabrics I used in the quilt I am hand quilting for our bed… she sleeps at the foot of our bed and under a quilt I made early in my quilty career.. it is getting threadbare now and ready for trips and other jobs… not the foot of our bed! lol 
I know there are some that don’t understand why you would make a quilt for a dog… but our doxie is our kid and we love having her on top of the covers at the foot of our bed… but she loves to snuggle quilts too… just like us… so this will now waiting to be quilted.  I have some batting I found in my stash and a backing I found in my stash… the border was in my stash as was the center parts too… so it is a scrap lovers dream! 🙂

But let me share what I am most EXCITED about this past week to share with you…

 Above… my honey got the computer back up… long enough for me to pull ALL of my pics and documents off the hard drive… he just kept on messing with it on and off until he got that folder opened!!!  I was soooo excited.  Now we have ordered a new hard drive for this laptop to get it back up and running!  ((Hope we can get it installed and Windows 10 back on it!!!))

And then to make the week even more exciting … he decided I needed a sound bar just for my new computer!!!

So above is my set up now… he hung the sound bar with little bunge cords and some black chain he had in his stash as well as some cup hooks that go into the shelf above it all hangs from so no vibration as the bunge cords are rubber and absorb any vibration… it is an LG and was under $80 so a good buy… now my desktop has great sound for listening to Craftsy aka Bluprint and as seen here more Sara at SewSweetness here where I am learning to make bags… like this one I am about to make for my dd Brandi!

This is the Oriole Bag and the directions are via pdf with a pattern for free and a youtube instruction as well.. I will be adding an inside zipper pocket to the one for Brandi and I have a cute front open lock I ordered from Etsy.  Can’t wait to share this finish with y’all!  Then a great friend of mine wants one in the smaller size… so I will learn with Brandi’s and make one for my friend Debbie when her fabric choices arrive next!  Wowee 🙂 

 I saw this cute shirt on facebook this week…

I loved the layout of it… and it kept me up and sewing for sure!

I also saw this sweet memory bear… remember I bought a bear pattern a while back… well a friend wants some made… I may use some of these ideas… a pic of him on one foot.. his dates on the other foot and a sweet saying on the belly.  These are just ideas though… nothing firm yet… but wanted to share with you all here 😀

 And we had some neighbors come fish in our pond… and look what Johnny caught…

 This is about a 20 pound fighting … brown trout!  How he caught him we aren’t sure since he is so big!!! lol  All that daily or near daily feeding of high protein food and not many fishing our pond … makes for big healthy fish!!!

 My honey took him back to his house with his son and his magnanimous fish and watched Johnny clean and prepare the fish in the river for cooking… he wrapped it once prepared in aluminum foil for dinner that same night!  Uber cool we say!!!

I saw this little meme on Facebook this week and though how apropos it was to me and my honey:

 What are your adult goals!???

And a favorite Bonnie Hunter saying I saw just the other day… really TRUE!!!!

 Well that catches me up with each of you for this week.  Hope you have a blessed week.  If you made it this far please take time to say hello in a message below!  I love hearing from each of you ❤