Sewing Sewing Sewing and Raining Raining Raining!!!

It has been raining every single day here folks!  Wow… the Valley River runs through our yard and we are concerned that at this rate the constant slow rain may make it overflow it’s banks!  So to not think about that I have been Sewing and Organizing!!!

Here is a photo of Holli, my friend who has a farm in Kentucky and is a military wife as well… so she dreams of retiring to her daddy’s farm there while they are about to move to Washington DC!!!  She is excited for her husbands new post… and their plans… she may even take this banner she requested with her to keep the farm nearby while 11 hours away!!!

Once I figured out how to make this banner for Holli… personalized as she specified (she sent me a charm pack of her fave fabric and answered some questions for me… I got it together…

 And before I knew it … a bit at a time… it was all working out!!  I even found a needle in my stash…

 meant for elastic threading … that I used to thread the red ribbon in the lace at the top of the banner pieces 🙂

Then I finally mailed it… & she received it on her 3 year quilting anniversary 😀

Isn’t Holli just glowing in this photo… the first photo above of the banner was in my kitchen on a mocked up window… now it hangs on the fireplace at her farm… it may go to DC before it lands in the windows of her sewing room at this same little farmhouse !!!  Glad I made it durable!! lol

So this is one start and finish in the same month for Julie at the Crafty Quilter’s UFO/WIP Link Up… but anyone that follows me knows I have a major UFO that got finished this month as well!!!  I will show this one to Julie as my finish for this month…

Stars Among Us was pieced and borders taken off and redone and quilting plan revamped SEVERAL times before it was a finished quilt… now it hangs proudly in our kitchen on the hanger my bestie brought to us on a visit last fall!!!  See Julie’s Link Up HERE!

See my pages that keep me in focus this year here…

Today I am focusing on organizing and slow stitching …

My first slow stitching focus will be to sew on this new hanging sleeve onto my bulls eye wall hanging…

 We had it hanging on the wall in Florida with a skinny pole and I (for what unknown reason) made a skinny hanging sleeve on this quilt… so now it is time to get a proper hanging sleeve on it… it is made and pinned to the top evenly ready to stitch down as soon as I finish this post.

I spent a good bit of the last of the week organizing my sewing room…

 By Colors!

 See all the organizers from the dollar store I got… and I had to get more to make this work right…

The last photo shows all the scrap reorganizing I have done… and the bit left to do as well.  Much of that is donated scraps from my friends and batting though… this last part will be a true joy to go through ❤

I had all my scraps organized by size … 5 ” 2 1/2″ strips and scraps too… I redid ALL that to color family instead… I had to divide the blues into 3 containers… light, medium, and dark!  I also have a full shelf of blue on the boards I organize with in the closet!!!  I will show you all my closet in next weeks post but here are some of the boards of luan that my honey cuts for me and I wrap fat quarters and larger on…

And here is a whole stack of those boards… 96 to be exact as I keep running out so while I napped one day my honey cut a whole big board of luan into little boards for me 😀

These are now in the sanding process to make sure none of my sweet fabric gets splintered 😀

Each quilter is different when needing to organize… I am glad I have a mentor like Connie who lets me do things my own way and find out what works for me through school of live and learn for yourself! hahaha… she helped me organize like a well known quilter suggests… only for me to realize over time THIS WAY may be better for my kind of quilting.  We will see!!!

Here is my newly recovered ironing board hanging by a hook on the back of my sewing room door … safely hidden until I need it again!

 Here is a little bitty pair of pliers we got in a lot of things the other day… my honey said I could have them for my bag making supplies!!! AWESOME… posed here next to my small gingher scissors so you can see how small the pliers really are!!!

 Waiting patiently is the quilt and fabric for the 14″ outer border to be cut and fit…

 And our sweet Molly in her crate in my sewing room … watching and sniffing all the fabric as I sort it! lol

 She got a name badge with my phone # on it for her collar this week too… we found it from a nice Etsy seller very affordably 🙂

Next up is my awesome progress on the Spiral Log Cabin quilt on my frame!!!!

Taking pointers from a fellow quilty blogger… I turned OFF the lights and lightened this photo up some using my phone camera options….

 I think that shows off the quilting better than I was able to get it before for y’all!

And our fireplace has kept me warm on these not cold but cool and wet days… will it quit raining y’all???

After consulting with Connie… I decided the center would be best with an overall design like I did the stars quilt… except this time I wanted something a bit looser so I decided to go with a “baptist fan” design…  Here I am marking baptist fans on the center…

 I made my template with quilters template plastic I had and a hole punch (regular size) at 1 1/8″ from the starting hole.  Then put a pin in the starting hole as in the photo above to let the template swivel without moving the fixed beginning hole.  Then I mark the 5 holes above (odd numbers are recommended for this template)… I got most of my information for this template making HERE. And look how it turned out!!!

 Here I am already rolled and working on the second row…

 Here you can see WHY I chose the green chalk to mark with.. it shows on all the colors in the center of this quilt…

 And here is a good photo of where I am at this moment…  I will be back here later today when the hanging sleeve is on the quilt and it is all being washed 😀

Here is a look at my shangri-la spot in this home… this and my sewing room… okay the whole 1 1/2 acres is my shangri-la spot!!!! hahaha  But this ranks in one of the highest areas in our home I enjoy…

I am linking all this slow stitching progress to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching party HERE …. and
Wendy’s Quilts and More Peacock Party HERE for lovely hand stitching and photography from down under too!  Please take time to follow the links to each.  They should open in new windows so you don’t lose your place here… then come back .. I have a few more things to share!!!

I think last week when I was sharing our home renovation plans I didn’t well explain what we were doing… here is the kitchen reno that occurred this week…

And a video of Molly figuring out that my honey is really making those noises coming out the end of the 12 foot tube left over from the vinyl we put in the kitchen!!!

and the finished result …

Transitions between the vinyl level and the laminate level still to come but we got oak 1/4″ boards for that 😀  Soo excited to see this kitchen all coming together!!!!

Here is a Singer Sew Handy Model 20 sewing machine we have up for sale this weekend too… it certainly is a beauty and the case in such nice condition is a rarity to come with a working sewing chain stitching hand crank Singer…

We have a Sew handy similar to this one in our collection already… and it has the case just like this one… we love using it and it is such a conversation starter when we have company too!!!

I am reading this book now a bit each day too…

 So as we prepare for my honey’s upcoming surgery (hip replacement on the 27th if you can send up happy thoughts/prayers they would be appreciated) you can see we are staying busy busy busy!!!

Stay in love with your life though and you won’t falter in your plans to succeed 🙂

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A Finish and a Beginning… and lots in the Middle too!

I finished and washed the throw quilt last week… and it became a wall hanging!!!

My honey loved it soo much he wants Stars Among Us hanging on the quilt hanger in the kitchen 🙂  So here it is!!!  The colored chalk was completely gone after my traditional first TWO washings… when I took it out after the first there was a bit of pink chalk still in it… but I had used pink pounce AND pink cartridge chalk on marking the center… so back in the washer it for 1 more wash and all looked great… dried it and look how wonderful the texture turned out… we are soo pleased ❤

One day is all I could handle having empty nest syndrome…..

This is my Spiral Log Cabin quilt flimsy that has been fixed (the outer border was waving too much!) and is now became one with the frame and a flimsy no more on the Tuesday!!!

The rest of that day was spent at doctor appointments for my honey’s upcoming surgery for his hip replacement.  It is our first joint replacement in this house so we are starting the prep work in earnest now!  Keep reading you will see 🙂

Then Wednesday errands for prep and more doctor appointments for both of us locally… then it was Thursday!!!  Happy Valentine’s to me from my honey…

This expensive chocolate is our tradition for him to get me… I got him a bit of chocolate this year too and he loved the new tradition of getting some himself 😀

Here is hoping you had a great Valentine’s Day… if you celebrate where you live!

We also put this cool little Singer sewing machine up for sale on Valentine’s.. it sold out quick too!!

It is special because most of the metal parts are black.. this is called a “blackside” finish on those parts made around the 40’s in wartime to preserve the best metal for war time needs.  This machine was actually produced according to our information… in the mid 1950’s… but with parts in the 1940’s primarily on it … and sketchy records kept during this time on these machines anyway… it makes it more valuable… but it is on it’s way to a great home where it will be loved and appreciated ❤

Finally Friday rolled around and we were rested and I took a few photos and made some progress on this project…

 After assembling the tools I would use I did some stitching… this was the initial look… I knew it needed more depth though…

 So I phoned my bestie Connie and she had some perle 8 in a light brown… PERFECT  for this quilt… she said she would pitch it in the mail for me… well Saturday I got it to my surprise!!!

 And I made headway with it earlier…

 I have the bottom border mainly marked now… you can see the blue lines of what will be a natural YLI thread stitching…

 And I took a photo to include the new ball of perle in this beautiful color ..

 And here is a photo I shot this morning 🙂

I don’t have any plans for stencils on this quilt… but the center is yet to be decided… do you have ideas that strike you when you look at this photo for quilting the center inside the black border???

Linking the quilting in this post to:

Kathy’s Quilts… Slow Stitching Sunday HERE

& Wendy’s Quilts and More … Peacock Party HERE

Along with the 2 spools of thread was a surprise….

 Connie made us this most BEAUTIFUL doily to go on our wood shelf… you can see this wall in our kitchen below houses lots of vintage stuff and a while back I had asked her if she could crochet us something for this long shelf…

 I think it turned out perfect too ❤ 

I mentioned last week that a friend asked me to make something for her sewing room on her farm.  The girl in the photo below on the far left is Holli… she is standing with her hubby who is a Chief in the Navy…

 Holli is such a joyful friend… that is rare these days too!  So when she sent me a charm pack of her theme fabric I was thrilled to play with it and make her a banner bunting personalized for her…

 Here I am sewing on my Singer 319w… boy did this baby handle all that thickness like a dream!!!

I got to use this special applique foot too… and I see why people love it now… and I love it too for applique to look more professional… I think I could use this on bags too!!!

So that bunting is about 2/3 done or a bit more… and we have a “mock up ” area in our kitchen set up so I can hang it when finished and custom fit it to her windows where this will be hanging 😀  YAY!!!

Finally … what I am most excited about!!!!

Yesterday this happened!!!  My honey was out in his man cave building and came in to tell me he found a drawer that matched our kitchen.

And the day ended with the floor removed on this part of the kitchen proper… 

 And another view…

 And here is the bar top marked for removal…

The sample just to the left of the demolition line is a 12 foot by 8 foot piece of vinyl thick flooring we have had about a year… waiting for the opportunity to move the bar out and change about the kitchen… well that is happening NOW! lol

This prep for surgery is taking on lots of angles for sure… Rick understands as the day for surgery gets closer that he will be recuperating for A WHILE and unable to get down and up so much and learning new ways of doing things so he doesn’t make his new joint pop out … oh my!

Meanwhile the weather here has been mainly rainy but that took a hiatus yesterday and we did a ride about on the golf cart… things are starting to bud out a bit… I am getting excited that during Rick’s recuperation we may have the windows open at night again… I sure miss that about winter… I am not wishing away the seasons .. I love each one.. but this has been a very cold winter and we haven’t gotten the worst of it for sure!

I hope this post has brought you thoughtfulness about what you could do to shake up your own life .. or at least brought YOU some joy in reading about our escapades this week! lol  Take time to evaluate and be in love with your life my friends <3… every minute of it too.. if not make changes so you are!!!  No time like the present 🙂

Binding My Finish!!

I can’t believe what a week we have here in North Carolina… it was warm… now it is cold again!!!  So I stayed busy and decided it was time to empty the frame and yesterday I got to this!!

 I started the week looking at this…12 columns to stitch and the center would be done!!  Linking my progress on this project to Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy’s Quilts in Canada where she is stitching away in the cold weather they are getting HERE!

Soon enough I was on to this and chipping away at the finish!!!

At finally it was time to trim the quilt, decide on the binding, figure it and cut it and make it one long piece… then to sit down at Cleo and give her a chance to sing as she sewed down the binding 🙂

 My favorite accouterments for binding…

 And getting it started with a tan 50 wt Aurifil thread 🙂

Soon I had made my way around the first corner and down a bit and got a picture… I am sure not all my corners will miter so nicely but this one turned out nice I think… as did my label 😀

Linking all this to the Peacock Party Wendy is having HERE!

Also this week was continue to remove and replace the bottom outer border on this quilt flimsy… it is next to go in the frame….

Here is a close up of what a properly pinned border left me with… you see I placed this length of fabric border on here in a rush and measured down the center but somehow miss-measured the borders when I cut them… AND they are also set in place with miters too! lol  I can’t make this redo job easy on myself now can I!

Anyway this was taken off the bottom.. so I decided I best check the top better too so I pressed it and sure enough it waved back at me … so I took it off in the photo above you see a bit less left but still quite a chunk of fabric was removed as I removed and replaced these borders.

I will share my plan for hand quilting this wall hanging next week 🙂

My honey has been busy working on tiling this tile we have in our kitchen in 4 separate areas…

That fruit tile is Italian maybe in the bottom left???  Well didn’t suit our river mountain home anyway so in his stash my honey found and figured how to utilize some tile left over from our Florida home… that is  the bottom right.  Then properly grouted is the top photo… the glass tiles really took on a deeper color once grouted 😀  

Does he get to count this as hand work for these to linky parties this week???

The background tile was roughed up as it is very shiny and white… next week I will share a photo of our kitchen with all 4 areas fixed to forever hide this fruit that just didn’t go with wood cabinets and all… I am excited to see it all grouted myself !!!

We got a little Singer Sew handy #20 Sewing Machine in Case this week… it sold within 5 minutes on Facebook too ❤  So nice to see this go to a home where it will be enjoyed.. and it works too !!

Today our sweet pup Molly is 8 months old!!!  Hard to believe !!! 

We teamed up and gave her a haircut and bath this week (the middle shot on the right above was before her haircut and bath).  She needed both!!!  She sure enjoys me taking quilts off the frame… she jumps right on them so it was good she was all clean!!! lol  She likes playing with sticks and wood outside, playing fetch though is still a favorite!  And she will do anything for a treat!

Last week I said I was going to keep the same closing until we got fresh flowers… well I found this quote this week (thanks to Bonnie Hunter) and investigated and found this… we live in the mountains with water beside and behind us so what could be better!!!  I quote by Jack Kerouac for you from me will be my closing until we get some fresh flowers and some new inspiration this year!!!

 

So take time to evaluate how much you are in love with every bit of your life I pray!  Life is short and we need to make changes as needed to be all we can be…

Happy February … Working towards a Finish Here !!

As we welcome February in I have been quilting by hand quite a bit!!

I want to invite you to look at all my photos and visit my bloggy friend Kathy and consider doing her scrappy football sew along mystery.  Read more about it HERE on her blog today is a link to that blog 😀

I started off the week of snow and very cold temps looking at this…

 And before i knew it is was ready to roll!!!

 Once rolled the left side got marked and started on…

 The pond is now unfrozen and the sun is out and we are back to doing things outside but it is a tad muddy ! So I am careful…

 This morning I took this photo for you…

 And a closer up of where I am… see my bronze thimble there on the quilt??  That is where I am this morning on the quilting… my last swipe of it going across the center part 😀

 So yesterday I pulled out this wall hanging that has a ruffly bottom outer border and started the slow arduous process of taking that border off… repressing it all and sewing it back on… mitered corner and all y’all!!!!

I added these corners without pins or measuring … do not do as I do but learn from this photo… 3 went on fine but one did not and needs removed… I will finish this today during Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and the Peacock Party too right HERE!!!

Are you watching the Superbowl today??  We may or may not … we have no vested interest in it and I go to bed early so I will say I probably won’t ! lol  How about you though… tell me if you are rooting for one team or the other… I do look forward to seeing the stadium in Atlanta that this competition is happening in 😀

I am curious… are you making anything for valentine’s this year?  I hadn’t planned anything… well I did but other things got in the way.  So now it is near and I have nothing made! lol

I did get a photo of the ironing board cover I sent off to my good friend Debbie for her birthday last month!!!

It looks so good and fits so nice to only have general measurements… she loves it and I loved getting the photo!!!

I am anxiously awaiting a charm pack to make a gift requested by a different friend.  She is decorating her sewing room and wanted me to hand quilt her something… but the more we talked we narrowed her real need down to a window dressing across 2 windows that are right together and she looks out of all the time over the farm she lives on when there with her dad and kids too ❤  I will make her a special something fun for that window to dress it up using the 30's charm pack she has in route to me as I write this ❤ 

More to come in a couple weeks… oh but she wants to be surprised so all the info will be happening behind the scenes y’all!  Sorry!  Keep me and my imagination to properly finish this project in your thoughts please… I hope to have it done and delivered before the end of the month!!!

This happened here this past week …

Or can you see it better here ….

I am sharing it  both ways via blogger’s video and directly under that so you might see our SNOW!!!

We live in North Carolina in the southwestern tip of it and had a good bit of snow but not nearly what other’s had!!!  While I was quilting above… my honey was fashioning a return on the chair rail and finishing the pantry he started…

 Here is the pantry… waiting for the tv that will sit on top…

 Here is the whole area so you can see better how important the return on that chair rail was for him to do so nicely 😀

 And after we went to the grocery store and stocked up!!!  It held all we bought and we bought more than usual ❤

After a lot of wondering and shopping about we finally decided a 24″ smart tv from Best Buy was our best bet to fit nicely without looking squished on this pantry… Rick will be able to use his iPad on it or not… and we had have news and such playing in there or casted things from the iPad too while cooking or just hanging out!  It will be as a kitchen should be… the heart of our home as he continues to make little changes … stay tuned 😀

I got this book in the mail this week..

So many of my bloggy friends are joining in on sew alongs that have started and other plans… as for me I will read this book for a sew along that will follow Ask Sara of Sew Sweetness on Tuesday evenings on Youtube!  I am looking forward to this fun read… she has 6 different books in the month planned but this is the only one I have agreed to do… more info coming up on Feb 12th on her show.  I had to get the book from the UK but it looks like the perfect read for me and my honey to enjoy as he recuperates from his hip replacement… so that is what will happen with this book I think 🙂

Meanwhile we are wondering about the outer border for Appalachian Delight… a wide (14″) border is now replacing all those littler borders I had planned.

 We decided this taupe print might work best… so later this week we should order this to go own…

What do you think?  The bottom is what we have left from making the cornerstones in the center of the quilt… we want a little something different and are planning to make a fun design hand quilted in big stitch quilting threads on this wide border that will end in the burgandy solid binding 🙂  This will be on our bed when the current quilt isn’t … this will give us 2 quilts at this point… and then I have more things planned for my time at this moment 😀 lol!

I look forward to hearing from each of you and hope you are each living a life you love … I sure am!

Is remains my sign off as we wait for those hyacinth or some buttercups to emerge… but with the frigid cold we have had… it may be a while yet! lol  Kathi

Finishes and Progress to Share … YAY!

Welcome y’all!  Thanks for stopping in and thanks for all your uplifting comments to last weeks post 🙂

I did not make this and I do not have this cute little hanger but both are doable… look how the quilter used little clothes pins to hold up this cute patchwork! 

But I did make this…

And you will see this photo over at the UFO& WIP link up Julie is doing HERE !!

It was a fairly easy sew.. but I had to prod myself to do it! lol  First I disassembled the old one and used the old padding to determine the size of the top of the ironing board… I laid that out on a big counter with my new fabric washed and ironed and pretty side DOWN with the old batting on top.  Then cut out leaving about 4″ all around 🙂

I replaced the batting and added another layer for a fresh topping on my ironing board because this had just been added a year or so ago and was ok still …

Next I decided this cover would have 1/4″ braided elastic to hold it in place… my last ironing board I had used cording with cord locks… didn’t care for it not staying tight consistently… I LOVE THIS FINISH!!!

I first zig zagged the edges then  pressed them down about 1″ all the way around and went back and straight stitched it down… leaving an opening do deal with the elastic.  You can do this a number of ways actually and I snipped a hole in a zig zagged section I fashioned like a button hole on the back side of mine.

All of this stitching you are doing will be hidden underneath but keeps it washable too !!!

Then get out a nice sized safety pin and guide the elastic around from one side all around til it comes back out the same hole … then pin them together so they won’t go in the hole while you form fit it to your ironing board… knot and trim off the tails and poke the knot inside the hole you used… all done and ready to press your next block or iron some clothes! hahaha   I jest there right??!!!  Actually I do iron a bit of our clothing … but not often! lol  I even made another for a friend for her birthday!!!

Next I will turn this 5 yards of vintage fabric into ironing surface covers… 

more on that process next week when I have done it 3 times! lol

Before I even started on the ironing board covers though I I put Cleo my Singer 319W to work sewing on binding to the front of the finished wall hanging I shared a pic of last weekend!

 Here you can see how I measure how much tail to leave between my staring point and ending point to have room to make a perfect join….

 I open the piece I cut off and use it as a measuring device 😀

Then in no time I had the binding hand stitched down on Monday and my honey with his stronger fingers pushed in the corners to hold in our wall hanging in the tobacco showing basket we found 🙂

This is a big part of southern history and this vintage piece is perfect for it’s center in our bedroom 😀  This is my link up for Julie’s UFO and WIP link up I linked to with the ironing board show off.  You get 2 entries to win something fun!!!

I have been watching my list and marking things off…

While one list is full.. it IS getting marked off little bits at a time. 

My hand stitching finish above is also getting linked up with Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday… without her link up I wouldn’t have pulled this out and finished it !!!  HERE 🙂  Come see her free form stars she is hand appliqueing on circles and the circles on squares… all very fun looking to me!!!

Also in the hand quilting progress arena is this…

 Friday I had over a star’s width to stitch the overall design on… well I buckled down knowing this weekend was coming up quick and stitched and stitched and stitched until…

I was ready to roll!  And roll I did and you can see in the lower of the 2 above photos 🙂

This morning I woke with itching fingers to mark and stitch… so I did…

 I use the pink pounce to mark the overall design on the center with my stencil then go over it with the chalk pencil you can see below found on Amazon by Allary company as it is hard to see on it’s own…. Below it is now half marked 🙂

As a note… I did use some of this same pink chalk pencil I have been warned may not come out completely … on the rustic wall hanging border and all came out!!! Now this quilt is holding the chalk longer than that wall hanging did … but I have faith that with soap and warm water and soaking a couple rinses too… I should have a clean and ready to share quilt when done… we shall see!

As you can see also in the photo above… I thought I would have 2 more passes after this one… now I am thinking 1 and a bit more than I can fudge into 1 more pass left so I am now hyper focused to work on this… also

The quilt I have been piecing is now stalled at this point… approx 78″ square!

We have decided… after auditioning SEVERAL borders… 

That we need more of this fabric in 1 wide border… 

This fabric was used in the cornerstones so it is not foreign to this quilt and it is a civil war blue and wheaty tan color.  Have a few yards laying around by chance?? lol  So it waits and marinates for more sewing to happen to it…

I did get a new scissor fob in the mail from my favorite Etsy fob designer … Lauren of Mountain Laurel Designs HERE 🙂

She made this fob short at my request… everything was just to my liking actually… I ordered from her in the past so she knows my style too… I ❤ it 😀

Here is some eye candy I found on facebook this week too…

 And a non traditional take on valentines coming up but I love it!

I also wanted to share a new “personality” I found on YouTube thanks to a friend in my facebook group… HERE is  her take on 3 ways to make the Economy Block… take a watch it will open in a new window so you don’t lose your place here too 😀 

Now aren’t you glad you watched some or all of that .. she is sooo entertaining and informational at the same time!!!

My honey is beating the pain he is dealing with by building us a new and built in pantry in our kitchen… our own design and his own knowledge… here are some photos in process…

Still needs the bottom cross members and doors… those may come today or he may rest and watch tv for a bit today 🙂  He has been working on this the last 2 days leaving me to my own devices like stitching!!!

So where ever you are HOT or COLD weather prevails… is there anywhere it is just nice relaxing weather I wonder???  Australia is very very Hot… North of the Equator we are very very cold all compared to regular weather patterns for this time of year so be safe and careful and watch your pets!

Have a blessed one and thanks for visiting and don’t forget to check out ALL the Links I left for you this week as I …

Winter Blues Remedy Needed…

Y’all I am suffering from a terrible case of the winter blues mixed with the remainder of the flu bug I had last week.  Antibiotics are finished… steroids are done … but I have no get up and go!!  I am a glass half full girl though… so I pulled this from the archives and it is my motto today… gray skies and all!

So as I battle the January blah’s (I lived in Florida for the last 5 winters!  I don’t remember this being an issue there!)  I am trying to stay busy each day.  I spent some time with Gloria this past week sewing on Appalachian Delight!

 Last Sunday I got it to this point!

And over the week I sewed together all those half square triangles I had made as I made the Bear in the Cabin blocks…

I was giddy when the sides measured out exactly right !

I pinned them in place and sewed them on … adding top and bottoms in place too…

Tah Dah!!!!

Now don’t look at the mess underneath this quilt top in the making… that is part of my issue with winter time blues! But isn’t this looking spectacular so far!  Just like my pattern I had drawn out that I shared last week.  These Bear in the Cabin blocks look so nice framed by the burgandy with the blue diamonds at each intersection… My honey is not a lover of scrappiness like I am but he is liking this too… thank goodness since this is for our bed! lol  With all this progress on this quilt I want to link to my friend Wendy’s Peacock Party HERE!  Come take a look at her post… she did her own thing putting together the blocks of Bonnie Hunter’s latest mystery quilt… I LOVE her original take on this!

The pages I shared last week for you to print off I filled out while I have been trying to get my get up and go to get up and go…

Julie did a great job designing this list… as you can see I used mine for crafts AND quilting… I can list out what needs to happen and am already dating things as done on the borders of Bear in the Cabin… aka Appalachian Delight!  Wonder how I will get things marked off when this winter blah leaves!!!

I did do a bit of organizing amidst the knee pain I am dealing with and low energy issues…

This organizer I found very affordably ($20) from Target.com… ordered it one morning and it was delivered the NEXT DAY to my home via UPS.  We live very rural and no big stores like Target are near us… I have ordered from them before but never have I had such wonderful and fast service!  I look forward to buying another one of these organizers … they are made my closetmaid… and while not top quality for the price the organization and adding a few screws to their product adds the stability needed… I love it … all my bag making supplies are now organized on the back of my closet door where I keep my fabric stash in the sewing room!  SCORE!!!

I pulled this off facebook.  A girl made this sweet iPad cover from a pattern…. isn’t it precious!!!  Inspires me to want to do some applique and some embroidery too!!!

 That make by her encouraged me to finally make a cover for my honey’s spool table he designed….

My honey’s first initial is in the center… he didn’t want it puffy or pieced… he wanted a plain wholecloth design and he loves the finish… it is civil war fabrics left over from the quilt I am making now 🙂  He chose the fabrics that went into this make.  I made it washed it and dried it … no ironing needed even!!!!

Finally I want to share where I have spend some of EVERY long winters day this week… slow stitching on this never ending quilting project! lol

 Above is the start of the bottom of the 5th row of stars… and below is the middle of that row.

 You can see that wooden holder on my quilt… that holds my cell phone so I can watch youtube and Bluprint videos as I stitch… sometimes I listen to Pandora music instead… but this is a contraption I wanted and my honey made for me last year that I love!

 Here was my view this morning as I close in on the end of the bottom of the 5th row on my quilting frame!!!  Progress is real here y’all!

 So I continue marking some and stitching those chalk markings… then marking some more!  I am linking the slow and steady progress to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday post where other like minded stitchers gather… come see what everyone is linking today HERE 🙂

Here was a fun item we got in this week and sold and mailed to it’s new owner…

 This little sewing machine was a child’s hand crank from the 1950’s… this one is an oddball as it has blackside parts all over it .. not only is it painted black which is a common color for these machines… but uncommon is the black metal it is made of.  This was common in the 1940’s due to war time efforts needing the silver so they made the metal black where possible.   Rarely do you see this carried into the 50’s.. wartime was over and remaining blackside parts got used here and there… so we were able to sell this to a collector of items like this… nice to see it go to a home it will be appreciated for it’s unusualness though!

Early last week when it was raining non-stop we noticed in the warmer wet weather we had some buds coming up next to the front door….

 Well they went back down into the freshly laid mulch now as the winter cold and wet has hovered so long they decided to wait to be identified but a friend of mine thinks this could be the beginnings of hyacinth blooms… we sure hope that is what they are!  This flower bed held hostas and they had overtaken the bed.. so we may find surprises in beds like this one around this property we now call ours… will keep you posted!

Please keep me and this winter blues issue in your thoughts and prayers… just by identifying it finally I am feeling better already.  If you are suffering a similar issue… talk to others about it like I have or call your doctor … get out and seek sunlight and healthy foods… I am doing all of this already.  But talking about it here is surely helping and your thoughts and prayers will help me have a better week I just know!

So make sure you make time to take care of yourself and to…

2019… in like a lion !!

In North Carolina we welcomed in the new year with rain and storms… many had flooding too!  I got a mongo chest cold as well which sent me to the doctor’s office last week praying for relief!  In like a lion…

Despite how I was feeling as 2019 dawned into existence…. I found this cool watercolor to depict how I wish I felt! lol

And a little messenger pic moment about midnight on New Years when I couldn’t breathe much so I wasn’t sleeping either!

Now to look back on this past week… with antibiotics, steroids and breathing treatments all under my belt it has been fairly productive even with being sick… we sure didn’t get out too much! lol  We were sick after all and didn’t want to spread the germs!!!

We got Christmas all put away.. even our cute snowman got dried off finally to store until next Christmas season!

Gloria and I spent some quality time together….

 We webbed this top using THIS Quilt Cam tutorial by Bonnie Hunter as a reference to remember some of the finer points…

 In order to do this well I had to reset my 1/4″ seam guide… I use my clear ruler and roll the needle down to the scant 1/4″ area on my ruler once the seam guide is generally in place….

 As you see from this view looking more down on the throat plate….

You cannot count on those measurements on the graduated throat plate to be accurate… use some sort of seam guide to assure your 1/4″ seam .. this is MY favorite style!

Here is a reminder of the Bear in the Cabin quilt I am sewing together the center of just now…

I don’t use any fancy stuff to graph out my quilt designs.. I use graph paper and pencils and colored pencils and pens to guide me and fabrics laid out … for instance in this photo I thought my cornerstones would be yellow… but in reality … we chose a confederate blue color for them! WOW 😀

I am linking this fun progress to my friend Wendy’s Quilts and More from New Zealand… Peacock Party Link…
HERE… she is having a party this year to celebrate 5 years of blogging and who knows what else but mentions prizes for linkers… I am all for a good New Zealand style prize! lol  And I love Wendy’s quilting both hand and machine like me she has it all together!!!  COME LOOK and her cute table runner she is sharing and link up too!!!

Whilst I have been recovering from this chest virus… I have been surfing blogs and enjoying this process of planning my attack on projects when I feel better… part of this process has been organizing myself with a list I found on another blog too at Julie of the Crafty Quilter HERE …

Now if you notice at the top of my page I have “Quilts” added below UFO and WIP List for 2019.

Well the reality is… my sewing room is doing multiple jobs these days with crafts, Etsy shop, quilting, bag making… wowee!!!  So I need to fix it up to work better for me and in the meantime I have been stockpiling things for non quilty projects in this room too… I need to list them out.  Like that wristlet I want to make that I mentioned last week… none of that is on here!!!  But for now this is a good start… until this cold is officially finished and steroid haze is out of my system 😉

I hope you find Julie’s page easy to print off to organize yourself… but maybe you don’t have so many projects going on… 

You may like to then focus on my favorite Sunday stop… Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitchers.  Kathy has 3 slow stitching goals for this year to share… aside from getting my top into one center piece and start figuring out the hst border that is next… I will be wholly focused today on my hand quilting project by the fire place…

Here was my view New Years morning….

And my view yesterday!!!!

 Finally feeling like getting it done…

 And I finally got it rolled !!!!!

I can see the top of this little quilt… that seems large right now as the quilting is slow going on this one… lots of seams to deal with!  And so much other stuff in the path! lol  So come on over HERE before you leave to Kathy’s and read about her goals for 2019 and see what other slow stitcher’s are linking up to 🙂

All of the links I have shared here should open to a new window so you don’t lose this information while browsing around.  Hope these links are helpful and found interesting by you 🙂

I hope you are each enjoying this crazy weather we are calling January here in the USA and that you are staying safe no matter where in the world you live… I have heard down under while we are having unseasonably warm and wet weather they are having hot and humid weather !

Thanks for stopping in… thanks for taking time to leave a comment too if you do… it is much appreciated and adored to have the honor to chat with you for a minute ❤  

How did your 2019 come in??? Like a Lamb or a Lion??  Meanwhile comment and tell me your motto for 2019 as well if you have one… I am sticking to this one this year for now 😀

Happy Christmas Eve Eve ~ December 23 !!

Hope you are having a wonderful December and are all ready for Christmas! 

My bloggy friend Kathy who blogs HERE and has my favorite Sunday linky each week is hosting today as well with a giveaway open for all that link up !!!  

She is preparing for Christmas and so am I… making MY stocking finally!!!!  All my snow girl was done with hand stitching…

The buttons that make up the face and the tatted pink lace wreath  came from my friend Connie.  The thick watercolor paper with my name on it I harvested from my friend Debbie’s Christmas card backing! lol  I think that is my bag with 2 straps made of green DMC floss 🙂

I stuffed each section as I “built” this snow girl… even giving her silvery grey hair like me!!!  She has 2 jingle bells on her neck scarf too!  The hair bow, gloves and neck scarf ends are all 3D in make.  I hope to show this better once it is finished and hanging 🙂  I am hoping to fashion this stocking front into a full stocking later today… so it can go with the other two I have hanging already…

Kinda like Santa over there who is quilting away to finish a project…   

Do you have any projects you are still working on this Christmas?!!

Otherwise all our Christmas making and shopping is DONE!  We are loving enjoying this holiday season too!!!  Here is the cool waterpaper cardstock card my friend Debbie made me (that I harvested the backside paper from for my bag on my stocking)!

It came with a big box of fabric scraps (and big chunks too) that Debbie no longer wanted to keep around.  So I am her recipient of choice 😀  I love being that for her as well as GREAT friends!!!!

I have made some progress on Stars Among Usthis week… Here is an overhead view… showing my phone holder on the right side of my frame too…

Here is a view from the side that I liked better…. where my green thumb thimble is … is my spot to start back at when I focus on this later today for Sunday’s stitching time!

And here is my view from a bit further away… when I stitch early in the mornings I put on those head phones to keep things quiet for my honey and our pup.  I get up very early most of the time and don’t want to wake others up during my quiet morning stitching time 😀 

Of course I am thinking of THEM and not my own selfish need for quiet quilting time! lol

We got freshly redesigned (since we moved almost a year ago… haha) business cards finally!

 Using this cool shot!

I gathered 2 machines from our collection and some accessories we use for decor items these days… plus our latest item we are selling and most possibly the coolest machine we have ever had the honor of owning temporarily.  Here is our sale at for eBay…

The link to our ad is HERE…. if you would like to see all the photos we took and read more about this 1900 Victorian era chain stitching sewing machine that WORKS!!!

I made 4 bibs for our post office dude’s baby girl who is 8 months old… They loved them he says 🙂

 I made one more dog socking for my best friend Debbie to celebrate the season with her poodle dog Ma-lady.  I checked how I did the spelling with her and she sent the fabric in the BIG box 🙂  I sent her back the stocking already but likely mail is running slow and she will get it after Christmas.

 Our favorite thrift store ran a sale on their purses and bags… I harvested these 3 for under $7 all together!

 I am excited about the possibilities of each one too!

I also got some fabric as part of a attachments bartered for fabric trade a customer offered me.  This is many yards of quilt shop quality quilt fabric from her expansive stash I picked out and she mailed to me for a cool vintage set of attachments in a cool tin we mailed to her!  We are BOTH happy with this 🙂

Here is a table my honey is making from pieces and parts harvested at Lowe’s and put together to look like a big spool (wire holder)…. 

Here is it with red mahogany stain on it waiting to dry then be varnished several times…. it will match my desk and shelves and coordinate with his recliner which is where it will be… we love the rubber wheels it is on too !!!

And then Rick also got some tools he had been wanting that were on sale while we were there… then when we got home I ordered him this hat from our eBay PayPal funds remaining 😀 

He is mega excited to get this Australian Akubra hat by new years or so eBay says…  He tried one on when we were shopping and we both fell in love with it on him and it is waterproof make of European rabbit fur in a 6 week process (yes he found a YouTube vid on the process of making this hat type!).  It is sooo soft and not furry… this picture is from eBay so next week I hope to have a pic of him wearing it! 😉  We shall see as he is definitely camera shy!

Many of you know he has been dealing with severe severe right hip pain.  He finally got a steroid shot as a step before surgical intervention and he is feeling relief in his overall pain … now he is back to whistling and singing again 🙂

Well, I got a stocking to finish and a few things around the house to do so I am signing off for now… Hope you leave me a comment about your holiday plans and what you have left to do before Christmas.

Don’t forget the real meaning of Christmas… Sing Happy Birthday to Jesus on your 25th!!!  God sent us such a massive gift for this Season 🙂  And remember to …

Enjoying the Christmas Season ~ 2018 is coming to a close!

I am totally enjoying this Christmas season… 

Are you slowing down and enjoying the season we are in???

We now live in an area with 4 distinct weather seasons in southwestern North Carolina and I LOVE IT!!!  We have had cold weather, heavy frosts, minor snows and now it has warmed a bit and we have had rain… overall though it has be thoroughly delightful here 🙂  To clarify this love… previous to this for 5 years we lived in Florida … warm or hot that was it… no 4 seasons just 1 or 2… but we had a glorious beach we lived not far from… so all was not sad.. and my arthritis loved the warmth… but my personality loves the season changes too ❤ lol!

And no… I am not alluding to just the weather but the season we are anticipating with Christmas coming!  A time to remember my faith and my Lord’s birth… a time to be kind and soak up kindness from others where it is found… I am finding some too … are you???

So since my last post I have been busy but not so busy I didn’t have time for kindness and helpfulness… and I have gotten so much accomplished… come on I will share with you!

Last Sunday I finished this cute little tree for my darling daughter (dd) and her boyfriend to enjoy this year…

 I found some paper in my tiny leftover paper collection and made an envelope for a gift card to Walmart … and hung it in the center of the tree 🙂

 She currently didn’t have a pillow so I sent her a pillow with a case I made from MSQC’s pillowcase tutorial 🙂

She loves to draw and create future tattoos for herself and her friends so I had a composition book I found when I was cleaning my sewing room that had graph paper in it… I took her fave fabric that I got 1 yard of and made her this cool cover … both above and below I did on Cleo and she rocked these projects!!!

 If you recall… here is the magnetic snap closing wallet I made my honey last month from cork….

 Well… he decided he really wanted it flatter than that magnetic snap allowed it to be since I didn’t buy the flat kind but chose the less expensive thicker kind (live and learn there bag people!!)… So I made him another and sent this one to my dd’s boyfriend to have 😀

 I love a happy ending… so far he loves that one… and here is the one I made for my honey ….

 Notice how I was able now to put my label in his new one!!! Yes 😀

Me and Cleo rocked the remake too… I was a bit nervous that I wouldn’t remember exactly the steps but we did it!!!!

We also decided to give his stocking (I made it in 2011 – our first year together ) a new hanging tab as this one is definitely worn…

Here you can see the new tab as it hangs off the mantle of our fireplace 🙂
I watched this stellar video on how to make stockings with a cuff HERE by Lisa Capen Quilts on Youtube… I looked on Pinterest for some pet stocking inspiration then and finally went to the sewing room with my phone on Lisa’s video and made this….

Cleo did a great job with her satin stitching around all these paw print parts 🙂

Then added my own little bit of extra fun BY HAND with jingle bells , ribbon, and some creative hand embroidery on felt in the shape of bones!!!

 While I was hand stitching all this I realized that the wonderful thermometer magnet I had gotten from Sonya in my box of goodies from down under last week would stick to my speaker over my computer screen!  YAY!!!  A bit of her is right here where I am now…

 After sharing Molly’s new stocking with my bestie who had taken our Daisy Mae as her Daisy Lou over the summer… I got her color desires to match her stocking in pink and white with this cute stocking…

 And finished it up a bit differently with a bow in festive glittery ribbon and hand embroidered name and year she adopted Daisy Lou into her family 🙂

 So back to our house finishings for the season… I needed a stocking and can’t even find a picture of my beachy Santa themed felt stocking I had about 1/4 of the way assembled and just could never find the time to finish or focus on that kind of detailed work… so back to Pinterest and Google I went looking for ideas for something not Santa but maybe snowman or reindeer related that would coordinate with the fun of Molly and Rick’s stockings yet be all my own…. and I found this big snowman…

 Soon I was back in my sewing room at the ironing board cutting and drawing and came up with a snow girl idea…

 And this morning I am slowly hand stitching and stuffing each section of this cute snow girl…

And best of all my bestie has in the mail to me some bitty baby buttons in black for her mouth and some possible better buttons for eyes… so we shall see… the head with hair attached to the head is not sewn on… waiting on Connie’s package for that! lol  But the body and arms and cute gloves are all on.  The gloves are 3d and will come off the stocking once it is a stocking properly… come back next week to see that finish!  So this is some of my slow stitching focus today!

You will find me slow stitching and enjoying this Christmas season approaching and taking all my own advice as I like to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching party HERE… come see what she is chatting about and what others are slow stitching if you need some inspiration!!!

Meanwhile… I have been working also a bit each day most days hand quilting Stars Among Us… and just rolled the quilt from this…

 To this with this as my view!!!

 Here is a close up…

 And here is an overhead of just saying goodbye to the halfway mark on this quilt!!!!

I am sew excited to be making progress… so if I am not stitching on my snow girl stocking front today… I will be stitching on this lovely little quilt 🙂  How about you??  Go on back up to that link to Kathy’s and see what all the Sunday stitching fuss is about and link up yourself too ❤

This week we got in a 1890 to 1910 piece of sewing machine history in this little bitty Foley and Williams Automatic Sewing Machine with box, screwdriver, instructions and soon also the clamp to hold it in place!!!

 This is what they used back in those times to make clothes and things with.  It chain stitches too!

The instructions were in sad wrinkled shape…

 But my honey and I found a frame that fit pretty close… and with LOTS of patience and time and help from our neighbor with advice… we turned those directions into a work of art!

My honey used those instructions to know how to thread it and adjust it to get it to sew a nice even chainstitch too… he has oiled it and we even took a vid of it sewing and shared in a tiny vintage machine group on facebook!  They are as wowed there as we are here 😀

Do you have any bits of history you enjoy collecting or just admiring in your home?  We will be putting this up for sale later in the week.  I will be sad to see it leave our home but happy it will hopefully find an appreciative home to go to !!!

The pinking shears I showed you last week finally found an owner by the way… they are on their way to a home where hopefully they will be used and enjoyed… they had so much life left in them.  My hands just couldn’t operate them properly due to arthritis and the handles being metal.  So it is a win/win!

We are completely decorated in the kitchen now too… while waiting for those instructions to relax… we did a bit of thrift shopping (a favorite pastime for us)… and found the shelf with the heart still in the box!  We brought it home and my honey put it together  and added some shelves we had been looking for places to hang all together in a pleasing arrangement…

 Nice to have a place to hang our keys now…

 We didn’t want them right next to a door going outside as that is easy for a burglar to find and take… but here they are decorative and handy for us as we often are grabbing a drink on our way out the door and this is right beside the refrigerator 🙂  Handy!

On the newer shelf is our latest find… this cool aqua blue painted vintage sewing machine and a sock darner and a cool vintage screwdriver we got in with osme other stuff…

On the peg underneath that shelf is a heart made from shirts of my best friend Debbie’s late husband.  I love having her handiwork and his presence in our home.. they are a great couple of friends for sure… she comes to us as a package deal carrying her husband with her everywhere!  I am honored she gifted me this heart and 1 more that is on our Christmas tree too 🙂

Then this tall skinny wood shelf has vintage treasures on it too…

 It is right beside the doorway heading into the laundry room and pantry storage space.  Then of course that big clock is a favorite of ours… we like big clocks for some reason… there is one over the fireplace in the living room as well! lol

So time to get back to slow stitching… but please … take time to smell the roses of the season… whether you celebrate Christmas or nothing at all this time of year… whether you weather is warm or cool… take time to slow down and appreciate what makes your corner of the world unique to you and yours.

Until next week and my next post…

A busy and festive time of year !

As December deepens and the end of 2018 looms closer each day I feel an urgency to complete a few things that have been on my “to do list” through the year and just haven’t gotten done for one reason or another… do you do this … feel like that???   So today I am focusing on slowing it down… and even though it is gloomy and cold outside I am going to follow a good friends advice…

That friend also requested to send me a parcel and start a penpal relationship of sorts 🙂  I said yes!

She lives in Tasmania, Australia and travels avidly as well as gardens and sews as well.  She sent me this lovely package of fabrics and a rain hat and a button and a card of interesting things from her area down under.  I am now curating a package for her in return… this is SO FUN!!!  I love enhancing friendships and learning more about others cultures and ways of being as well 😀

At the start of the week I was very focused on bringing Cleo into the fold of my machines.  I shared the waiting for her with you last week…

 And here is my first photo of her… before her paint got touched up and she got a nice once over and polish by my honey….

Cleo is short for Cleopatra… such a dramatic name… and one I want to research more but Cleo she is for certain!   I went onto Singer’s website and found the W beginning serial #’s… and there she was… one of 1.5 million made in 1954.  I also read there were 1500 workers in this Connecticut plant of Singer’s … it was originally a Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine making plant!  Sew interesting!!! 

My honey rewired her as she had had that done wrong… changed the pedal to one I requested … cleaned off excess oil and oiled places he found that had been missed and greased the cam stack she has in place… ooooh … she is soo awesome!!!  We got some automotive paint in gloss black and he touched up a few boo boo spots too!!!  I am soooo blessed y’all!!!!

Here is her first photo with her in her new dress… a trapezoid Singer case…

 And a view of her top half and her excellent decals…  the decals led me to naming her too ❤

 And because she is a 3/4 machine she is a few inches short of fitting.. so my honey took some wood and make a little shelf in there… it is the perfect place to store her bobbins and a pin cushion 🙂

 I rearranged my sewing room as well before she was brought in… my honey helped me as he is really the decorating sense between us… and I am slowly moving some decor on the walls around as well…

And here is a photo I plan to hang in the blank spot over Cleo….  the 2 that got together to surprise me with this smooth stitching machine !!!! 

Here is the back of the finished wall quilt I machine quilted on Zena as her final act of service for me.

She is now stored safely in a closet of our home waiting for her next purpose in life… helping my daughter learn to create when she is ready!!!

The binding is the diagonal striped fabric I shared a swatch of  last week.  It came one day and this little quilt was hanging the next day!  Here is the photo of it hanging behind our little Christmas tree 🙂

 And a few photos of our Christmas tree…

 And a final side photo to show off the trapuntoed quilting I did on the wall hanging.

 Now before I move on… let me tell you… if you ever get a chance to sew on a Singer 319w… DO IT!  This is the most powerful yet gentle and even keeled sewing machine I have ever stitched on!!!  One stitch as a time or fast and furious… she can do it all!  Thick or thin… I love it ❤

Her next job will be to make my honey a new wallet as the wallet I made him a few weeks back is going somewhere else to be re-homed… he requested a few revisions for his personal taste… so I will accommodate those requests on my new Christmas present Cleo!!!

We added some new ornaments to our stash of Christmas displayed ornaments this year… the star at the top is new as well!

We got a Santa glass blown ornament with glitter accents from the year we got together…

And if you look to the bottom right of Santa you will see a small daisy painted ornament.  There are 6 of these in the set and these are in memory of my honey’s sister who died of heart problems too early in her life.. she holds a dear place in his heart and memories!  So these commemorate her 🙂

Finally are my 2 favorite shots… lights on … and lights off on the right… I love Christmas twinkle lights for sure!!! ❤

I got several rounds of fabric in this past week as well… here is some fabric for replenishing my Christmas stash a bit…

 All of that is vintage and it is various designers before designing fabric was trendy.  Here is a photo of things I want to make this month before Christmas….

And here is my first focused work…

 And once they are sewn and turned right side out with different threads and ribbons pulled to go along side this little wall hanging tree creation…

 Buttons pulled from my stash to adorn it…

 Stuffing each triangle is a slow and steady process… I then hand sewed all the openings closed…

 And then hand sewed all the junctions together where the triangles meet….

Now I am to sewing the buttons on over the junctions… and this is my hand sewing focus today… so I am linking this slow stitching progress to Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching HERE!  Kathy is quilting on a many year old ufo with great pleasure today!  She and her grand dog are 😀  Go check out her blog post and other linkers posts too!!!

I have made some other slow stitching progress earlier this week but due to lots of things the end of the week no slow stitching on the quilt Stars Among Us has happened… Monday starts a new week though 😀

Here is a close up of my progress this week… I went from the border to the mid point of this row…

 Meanwhile… our pup Molly went from this….

 To THIS!!!!

 In one day!!!!  Tomorrow she will celebrate 6 months old too !!!

 I have a pair on gingher pinking shears up for sale… they are like new and are $25 to include shipping in the USA.. nothing wrong with them as you see the cutting in the photo 🙂

I acquired these things this week…

 The fabric, Best Press, and small rotary blades were a great sale Craftsy was having and I ordered through my friend Karen’s affiliate link you can find at the bottom of THIS blog post.

Here is a close up of the 40 different fat quarters I picked up for about $33 all together

 They fill gaps in my stash just right too… the top one is fun prints and the bottom one is tone on tones 🙂

And our Christmas cactus we picked up earlier in the week is doing GREAT!!  It gets good sun in the sewing room window 🙂

 I got this new shirt… Mountain Mama… and a long sleeved winter shirt too

 And a hair cut myself as well!!!

So it has definitely been a BUSY week at Daisy Meadows 🙂

How about you… have you been busy this week and if you have is it because it is December and you are tying up loose ends or because you have just been busy  or has it been holiday related???!!!  Inquiring minds want to know!!! lol

For now I wish you a Happy Holiday season and a very Merry Christmas to come.  Thanks for visiting ❤