Baby it's cold outside!

We are in the middle of a cold snap here in Northern Illinois. This morning when I get out of bed it was 1 degree Fahrenheit - for you Celsius people that is what, -17 degrees or so? That is not even including the wind chill factor. By Saturday and Sunday the low will be -5 Fahrenheit/-20 Celsius. Now that is cold. My poor koi! It's a struggle to keep a hole open in the ice for CO2 exchange.

After yesterdays huge mental debate over which project I should start next, when I pulled out the storage box last night to plan today's train project, the first thing I saw was Blackwork Garden Fantasy. Funny how I never even thought about that piece yesterday. ;-) So I started back with it on the train this morning and after two threads lenghts, promptly fell asleep! LOL! This project is like a sleeping pill to me. :-0 I'm almost finished with the second green knot and I'm determined to do it tonight on the way home. In a perfect world I'd start on the third knot also but I don't know if I can stay awake that long. The upside is, I'm almost done with the cross stitches on this piece and I saved the shortest knot for last so I should be able to finish this up in February (I HOPE!). I'm ready to put this one behind me and move onto Cirque des Cercles. I found on a website somewhere (I didn't save the link and should have) that Tracy is making a large red sampler similar to Garden Stars and Sea Stars. I can't wait to see it so I need to get moving with my other two. And I still want to purchase Garden Starts. So many projects, so little time!

Yesterday evening I finished off all the over two work on My Treasured Workstation. I even had a chance before agility to start on the over one words. It's too hard to work on over one on a moving train so I'll finish it up tonight or tomorrow night at home.

Last night in agility Molly was a star - she has her mojo back! It has to be the change from 12" jumps to 8" jumps. My teacher said in a couple of months I can try to move her back to 12" but by then I might have a novice title on her and won't want to redo it for 12" (I hope, I hope!). Of course she started something new over the past few weeks - she has been coming to a complete stop at the top of the A-Frame! Now you just have to picture this, the a-frame is over six feet tall at the peak and here is this little dog just standing at the top looking down at me. It's like she is saying, Look at me! I'm king (or queen) of the mountain! It's hard to be mad at her when she is having so much fun and when she looks so cute, but it's a bad habit I have to try to break quickly. It should be easy, I just have to give her a treat at the bottom of the a-frame everytime she gets there. Then she will stop playing king of the mountain.

progress :-)

I made a ton of progress on My Treasured Workstation yesterday - just the border and the wording and I'm finished with part 3. I should be able to rap it up but tomorrow evening. I took seven photos this morning and only one was even half way visible. I'll take a better one tomorrow for sure! Part 4 will be available by Thursday and it should be a couple of smaller sized pieces. In total it will be six monthly releases with nine pieces to stitch. I'm really looking forward to the finishing. That is why I signed up. I hope to learn some new things and improve on what I know so far. And I don't know much! LOL!

I don't know what to start next - of course I do need to finish Bluebird's Message but that will be just a couple of train rides once I get the thread. I want to start on the Drawn Thread piece Sampler of Stitches but I think the correct thing to do would be something from my 10 projects lists (which still contains 16 items!). Somehow it's not getting any smaller. :-) And I already have two things on order from Drema that are being released at Nashville. Maybe I'll play around with my stuff tomorrow night after Clancy's agility class. I always get home around 7:30 so I'll have plenty of time.

Tonight is agility with Molly. I entered in a trial for the weekend of February 24th. They expected so many applications for the trial that they are having a draw to fill the positions. I hope we get it - the draw is today or tomorrow. Many people from Molly's class have entered as well as my teacher. It would be fun if most of us can get in.

A couple of smalls and a pillow

I had a smoking weekend. :-) First I stitched everything I could on Bluebird's Message - now I just need my brick thread and I'll be all done. I will turn this into a pillow I think for sure. This has been fun to work on because of the nice bright colors. I was thinking of maybe driving out to my LNS to buy another brick but why drive 40 miles round trip for one skein of thread I have already paid for from somebody else? It's not like I need this finished today. OK, I would like the pillow done before Valentine's Day but not enough to drive 40 miles for.

Then I turned Moon Garden into a pillow. I'm happy with how it turned out but it was a bit of a learning process. The fabric color with the fall-like vines all over it and with the reddish/tan trim really looks good I think but the fabric material choice could have been better. That shinny fabric isn't right for the piece. And it's the first time I have used such a large trim and that took forever to get right. I'll use a smaller one next time. I'll order a down pillow insert for it this week. It's now 14" x 13".

Then Saturday evening I turned my attention to my SAL January ornament. I was going to do one of my topiary trees but last month's three took at least 12 hours to stitch and I didn't want to put that much time into it this month so I stitched Christmas Heart from La-D-Da from the 2005 JSC Ornament issue. I did it on Silkweavers 28 count in Heritage - one over one! My first one over one. I think it turned out ok. It's so tiny, I should have put a pair of scissors next to it. It's smaller then they are.

On Sunday I wanted to do something from my "waiting in the wings" list rather than start a new chart (I was thinking Drawn Thread's Sampler of Stitch ABC, DEF) so I pulled out the Tin Pin Carrot - another over one kit from Twisted Threads. I did it on 32 count Dirty Linen using the recommended threads. I even managed to make it into the tin pin on Sunday night. That makes two over one projects this week! Yeah for me.

For my train project this week, I tossed in my bag My Workstation from Judy Odell. I need to finish part 3 by Thursday so I'm current with the SAL. No problem. Nothing much to show yet, I'll take a photo tomorrow.

super fast progress

I'm more than half way finished with Bluebird's Message (this is a pretty good picture of the real color of the linen) - it's a super quick piece to stitch. Of course since I left early from work yesterday I was on the slower train so I had an hour and a half to stitch plus I worked on it while watching tv last night for over four hours. I'm almost at the point where my lack of brick thread is going to hold me up. I've completed everything from the heart up (excluding the eyelets) that I can and hope I can do everything below the heart but some of it is long counting and I really can just wait a week to do more. It's not like I need it for anything. :-) I'm thinking this would be a cute pillow also. And I just bet I have a jewel tone allover floral print that would work in my stash.

No plans for the weekend. I do have to take Molly and Clancy to the training center on Saturday for a little work. Molly needs work on her tire jumps and Clancy needs work on his tunnels but that will only take an hour. Maybe I'll take the long drive to my LNS and see what's new in person. And pick up a skein of brick..... LOL!

I'm planning on working on my ornament for the SAL (planning on a second topiary tree) and hopefully having time to complete most of part three of My Workstation project. I'm going to love the piece when it's finished into the workstation but I hate stitching it. Boring, boring boring. I did receive all my silk threads for my Drawn Thread ABC Sampler from Vikki Clayton. They are just lovely. Maybe I should give that a go.... :-) So much to stitch and so little time!

Thanks for all the lovely comments you have left over the past couple of weeks. They all warm my heart. I don't really think I'm a super fast stitcher, but rather an average stitcher who has a lot of extra time. :-)

I did call Drema yesterday to order my Peacock Stitching Chair and she mentioned that she had over 90 emails with questions about it! WOW! So she asked me to mention to be patient and she will get to them all but it will take a several days. Right now she has the price for the chart, fibers and linen for $39.00 but said she expected it to go up because she thought the piece of linen would be too small and would have to include a bigger piece.

Bluebird's Message - I had to start :-)

I did start Bluebird's Message yesterday. I'm using a Silkweaver 32 count linen called Porcelain. It's a very light pink despite how it looks in the picture (I need to get better at picture taking). I tell you, when I opened up my package of threads from the retailer the bright colors just jumped out at me. I've gotten so used to working in fall colors and holiday colors so I really mean they JUMPED at me! I love the jewel tones and the timing of this start is good. I need to start back using two threads on certain designs. I think some do look better and this might be one of them. And I do think I've made a big mistake using only one thread on Blackwork Fantasy Garden. I saw a WIP online that was using two threads and the colors really pop more than mine do in the knots. Oh well, way to late now!

I'm not sure how long this will take me but I think I will work on it part of the weekend with the addtion of my Christmas ornament SAL piece. Of course I won't be able to finish it no matter what because I'm still missing Brick from my package and there is a lot of brick in this piece - the border, the heart and half of the alphabet not to mention several of the flowers. I also need to get to My Workstation - part four will be available late next week and I don't want to get behind.

I'm half way done with the Village!

I finished up block 9 of the Village of Hawk Run Hollow last night - I'm half way done! I can't believe that I have hung on so long. I thought for sure I would have quit a couple of months ago. Breaking it up really helps me I think because I never get bored with it. Now onto block 4!

I received my threads for Bluebirds Message with the exception of the color brink - it's on back order from the lady I ordered it from. If I would have know that of course I would have purchased it somewhere else. That really bugs me. But in any case I'm going to give it a try today. I should be able to work around that one color for several days.

almost done with Block 9

I finished up the middle section of block 9 of the Village last night - I'm so close to finishing this month up I can taste it. I'll do a little before I take Molly to agility tonight. I want to finish up by the weekend. I love the bits of grass sticking up everywhere. I wish more of the blocks had this sort of detail. It really makes it pop. I think I'm going to go back to the left hand side and start row two with block four. It's the boarding house block and I have already charted out Molly's Boarding House to replace what is there. I'm personalizing block four and block six with my pug's names. Molly's Boarding House and Clancy O'Shay Blacksmith. It should be cute.

I continued work on the second greenish knot on BFG. I'm really getting close to finishing this knot and I should do the right thing which is to finish the knot before I start on something new. :-) But I truly don't know how strong I am. Blackbird is calling to me! My threads should arrive tonight, tomorrow at the latest. I'm not sure if I have any linen that will work. I have a couple of pieces that have hunks out of them that would look nice but it would be a tight fit. That should not be a problem since I frame everything myself. I'll see how I feel once I get the threads in.

What a weekend

I had such a busy weekend. :-) On Friday I had a great mail day with my charts for the new Drawn Threads Samplers (and fabric) and the new Loose Feathers charts arriving along with the final order of NPIs for my Village of Hawk Run Hollow. I love the Drawn Thread piece and I want to start sooner than later so I ordered silks from Vikki Clayton. There was a conversion listed on her site so I went for it.

On Saturday I machine quilted the backing for my dog bed. I used a wool batting and it turned out so nice. I did a simple grid pattern and after I washed it up and dried it on low, the pugs laid right down on it. It really is soft and warm with the wool inside it. I need to quilt the sides and still take care of the top. This is starting to feel like the project that never ends. :-)

On Saturday evening and most of Sunday afternoon (while I watched the BEARS! GO BEARS!) I worked on block 9 of the Village. I'm pretty close to finishing this block up because all I have left do to is fill in some more grass and the letters at the top of the piece. I'm thinking about five to six hours. I hope to finish it during the evenings this week so I can spend the weekend doing my Christmas ornament of the month with my SAL group.

And then on Sunday morning, I wanted to do some sewing but I didn't really feel much like quilting. I did sew a little on a JoAnn Fabrics Block of the Month quilt that I've had sitting around for ever but after an hour or so I wanted to move on. So I looked under my sewing table and found a tote bag that I had cut out at least a year ago. And here it is! The pug fabric is a Lee Jofa called Pugs & Petals - those of you in the UK should recognize the designer. Super expensive - I picked it up on eBay for around $30.00 for an entire meter! What a deal. I need to take better photos - my camera ran out of juice while taking these pictures.

And of course to work on the train this week - or until I can't stand it anymore, is Blackwork Fantasy Garden. I would like to pick up a project from my "Waiting in the Wings" list but I really want to work on the new loose feathers - my threads should be at my house today or tomorrow.

Back to the garden again

I continue to work on Blackwork Fantasy Garden on my way to and from work. How boring this piece is to work on! I'm just following along the knots and falling asleep every time I start on it. :-) I almost done with the first green knot and I'll manage to start on another one this evening. Or maybe a couple more blackwork sections are in order? Just to break things up? For sure I will need to work on a different piece for my train rides next week. Or at least part of time.

No plans for the weekend except to watch the Chicago Bears win the NFC title game against New Orleans on Sunday (I hope, I hope!). I will work on Block 9 of the Village and maybe do a little quilting on my dog bed. I've had the plan and fabrics for over a year now and I'd love to tie this one up. Despite the fact I have purchased a really pretty template for the top quilting, I'd love to send this piece out just to get it done.

Thanks for all the lovely comments on Moonlit Garden. In case anyone was curious about the bottom border, all I did was copy the top border - I did make a few adjustments to make sure it fit and changed up the color order. Easy as pie!

Moonlit Garden Happy Dance

Moonlit Garden - Loose Feathers #22

Blackbird Designs

Linen - 32 count Silkweavers Antique Gold

Thread - recommended Weeks Dye Works

For those of you who read my blog, I think you know by now, when I'm almost finished with a piece, I will just finish it up rather than work on a planned WIP. :-) Well such was the case last night with Moonlit Garden. I only had ten stars to go so I went ahead and finished it up. As you can see, I added the bottom row of stars and left off the saying. I'm planning on finishing it into a pillow.

I'm happy with how it turned out and if you like fall colors (and you know who you are :-)) this is one for you.

I started back with Blackwork Fantasy Garden on the train this morning. And almost fell asleep. It's boring to work on when all I do is follow the outline. I'll try to stick it out for a couple of days then I need to get back to My Workstation project to complete part 3 by the end of the month. I LOVE the new Loose Feathers #23 and I have all the supplies ready to go - just waiting for the chart to arrive from Drema.

just stars

I can do 4 1/2 to 5 stars per train ride! :-) So only three more train rides to go and I'm finished with Moonlit Garden. I will for sure put stars along the bottom. It just won't look finished without something. I had thought about maybe putting vines along the sides and stars at the top and bottom but I'm feeling lazy and that would require more charting work than I'm willing to do at this point. I want to get moving along to my next project. There is always another project....

I started block 9 of the Village of Hawk Run Hollow last night before I took Molly to agility. I didn't take a photo as all I have completed at this point is part of the border. I'll try to finish the border up tonight and start on the guts Thursday evening.

Speaking of Molly she was just fine last night at agility. I set all her jumps at 8 inches and she had no problems whatsoever. So the question begs to be asked, is she faking because she doesn't like 12 inch jumps, or was something really wrong. I need to be cautious and continue her with 8 inch jumps but I'm leaning toward her diva complex. What Molly doesn't like, Molly won't do.

A tisket, a tasket... It's a basket HD

I worked on Moonlit Garden Friday night completing the moon. I really love this piece and have decided for sure to make it into a pillow. The plan was go ahead and finish it some time over the long weekend.

Well.... On Saturday I just didn't feel like working on any of my WIPs including Moonlit Garden so I went through my stash and looked for something that would only take a day to stitch. And I came up with a Lori Birmingham basket I had purchased at Hobby Lobby several weeks ago. Since my Hobby Lobby for the most part, getting rid of their cross stitch section, I picked this up for less than $15.00 for the entire kit including the basket . So this is what I did on Saturday. I think it turned out cute. I even lined the basket. :-) I might go back to Hobby Lobby and pick up one more - this would be a cute shower gift.

On Sunday and Monday I worked on Marquior ABC part 4 and finished it! Yeah! And on time - my goal was to have it finished by the 15th. The new part comes out today. I'm 25% done with this piece! I only have a year to go (yikes). I really love how the red turned out. I will start to remove the blue in part 1 when I have time.

I also managed to get the backside of my pug quilt marked for quilting. I'm going to do a simple grid pattern. I wanted to mark the top also but of my four blue marking pens, only one worked and I needed all the ink for the back. bummer

For my train ride this week, I plan on finishing up Moonlit Garden - I have twenty stars to go and then I plan on getting back to Judy Odell My Workstation project. I need to get part 3 finished before the end of the month.

the house has been built

I made a ton of progress with Moonlit Garden last night. Instead of working on Marquior I worked on it. I figure the sooner I get it done the sooner I can start back on Blackwork Fantasy Garden. And I have Monday off for MLK Day so I can stitch all that day. Maybe I can start on the moon before I get home from work. I'll do the little tree to the left first and then the moon. I think I'll make this into a pillow when I'm finished. I could use a cute fall pillow. And I might only put stars on the top and bottom and leave the sides empty. I'll see how it looks when I get to that part.

I had an excellent mail day yesterday. I was RAKed by Cathy who also belongs to the same Christmas Ornament Stitch-A-Long as I do. When I finished Topiary Ornament III, I mentioned that I'm looking for I and II (I have IV) and if anyone knew of any leads on where I could find them, I would appreciate it. Well Cathy did one step better. She had number II and very graciously sent it to me. Isn't it cute? It's the first time I've seen it. Thank you so much Cathy! The generosity of stitches is truly incredible. I can't wait until I have enough stash to also do RAKs! :-)

No major plans for the weekend - and I'm so glad it's three days long! I plan on finishing Moonlit Garden and finishing part 4 of Marquior. I hope to also get back to part 1 where I plan on frogging some of the blue and added back red. The Chicago Bears are playing in their first of what I hope are three post season football games! Go Bears! I'd also like to draft out my quilting pattern also for my dog bed. But I'll see how it goes. Have a great weekend!

Jeanne, here is the information on Marquior ABC - it's a freebie! A huge 16 part freebie. :-) Link to Marquior page. These kind French ladies post a new part on the 16th of each month. Part five will be out on Tuesday. I'm doing mine on 32 count linen that I hand-dyed myself.

and now a roof

I continue to work on Moonlit Garden. Today I start the house proper. Thanks for all the wonderfully nice comments. The colors in person are incredible together. If you are a fall person, this is a piece for you. I will try really hard this weekend to get a shot of it in the sunshine. I can't for the life of me, seem to get an accurate photo of how they really look.

Last night was agility with Clancy and I tell you this little guy continues to amaze me. He is so fast and so enthusiastic for the whole thing. And I'm a better handler now that I've had a year of experience. I can't discount that. But I can tell he will be leaving Molly in the dust by summertime. I hope we can even enter a trial to two. That would be so sweet.

I continue to keep an eagle eye on Molly to see if I can tell if anything is physically wrong with her. This morning on her first potty outside, she did favor her right back leg a bit by lifting it up and running off the deck with only three legs for maybe three or four strides. Maybe this is the trouble? I won't be able to get to the vet before the week of the 22nd because I have to wait until payday. Until then I'll continue her on baby aspirin and watch her closely.

fall is back

I continue to make progress with Moonlit Garden. I didn't quite get to the house - but I'm knocking at the door! I'll start the roof today on the way home from work. I love the colors on this piece but it feels very odd to be working on such a obvious fall piece when I am in the middle of winter. I really long to do something for spring or Easter - I'm thinking bunnies! So I think my next piece for my "get out the stash" plan will be Spring Arbor from the Drawn Thread. That seems more appropriate to the way I'm feeling.

Last night was agility with Molly after a two week break. She really struggled with the 12 inch jumps. She is starting to hesitate before every jump. My teacher suggested that maybe something is wrong with her physically. I honestly don't think that is the case because she runs around outside with Clancy and in the house and never shows any signs of anything being wrong. But I'm not a vet. So I'll plan on taking her for a check up before the end of the month. A new session starts for her on the 30th of January and it doesn't make much sense to pay for another session if I have to stop running her. That would just break my heart. I love doing agility with her and we put so much time (not to mention $$) into getting to this point where we are ready to compete. But I have to do what is best for her not for me. And there is Clancy after all. But he won't be ready for trials until the fall. It will make me so sad to send my friend and agility partner, Peggy and her pug Molly (yes we both have a Molly) off to spring and summer to trials this year without me.

a bit of red

I worked a bit more on Marquior last night. I did add the bit of red where I planned to on part 4. I'm not sure if I like it or not. Today I like it but last night I hated it. Maybe I'm just so used to stitching/seeing blue that the red is standing out? Opinions? Do you like the red mixed in or just the blue? I'm really torn at this point. There is one more motif to add to part 4 that I had planned on mixing in some red. I think I will go ahead and see how it looks. In parts 5 through 8, there is lots of places I can add a splash here and there.





I also worked some more on Moonlit Garden. Hopefully soon it will start to look like something! :-) It looks so sad now... I'll finish up on the tree to the left of the house on my way home from work tonight and start on the house tomorrow I think.

Productive weekend and a sad flower

I found this tiny flower starting to bloom around my pond yesterday. We've been having a warmer than average January and this poor Snowdrop is confused - and now cold! It's under 30 degrees currently. Back to normal.

On Friday evening I did work on Blackwork Fantasy Garden but I didn't get the first green knot completed. I did however start on some of the blackwork. It's really going to be pretty when everything is filled in. I'm putting this down until I finish my new train project this week. A break will be good.

Here is the quilt top I made for my pug's dog bed. The fabric is from the Buttercream and Figs line from Fig Tree Quilts. The two blocks I used are a simple nine patch and a nine patch variation. I'm a little disappointed in the fabric line I picked out. It's much more yellow than I wanted and actually I'm wondering what in the world I was thinking when I purchased it. I actually thought I had picked out a Blackbird Designs fabric line but when I pulled out the package this is what was in there. I'm still waiting for my wool batting to arrive - next weekend I will draft the quilting patterns on the top and bottom. I don't think I will get to any quilting though.

On Saturday and Sunday evening, I worked on Marquior ABC. I'm going to add a little more red to part 4 and that means to match it with part 1 I have to go back and frog a little. I figure around 200 stitched need to come out of part one. But it will be worth it I think to have a bit more red thru out my piece. I've seen some with extra color and I like it.

And lastly, my train project for the week, Moonlit Garden Loose Feathers #22 from Blackbird Designs. I'm not going to do the words at the bottom but add a bottom border of more stars. I can't stand that saying.... To each his own! The change was good - I didn't get the least bit sleepy this morning stitching.

TGIF

For someone who only worked three partial days this week, I sure am glad it's Friday. :-) I think I'm getting a touch of a cold because I sure am tired. I didn't stitch a thing last night and slept most of the way home from work on the train. Oh and took a long nap once I got home. The pugs love nap time. Well so do I really....

I worked on Blackstone Fantasy Garden this morning but have to admit, I fell asleep again. In an effort to stay awake, I thought I would start on one of the blackwork sections and I planned on working from the inside out. The first one I tired was the center in Elk Snout (how about that for a name) but the movement of the train combined with the bad lighting and light colored thread I had a hard time seeing and counting what I was doing. So I went back to the cross stitches and promptly fell sleep. LOL! At least I don't drool!

No major plans for the weekend. I do have my monthly pug meetup tomorrow and then I plan on starting my dog bed quilt. I have a lovely selection of pastel prints and I'm doing a pretty simple pattern with a scrappy plan. I'm planning on quilting it in a circular feather pattern since the finished bed will be a 40 inch circle. I'm using wool batting and making a removable pillow insert with a stuffing of feathers and down. It will be reversible and I'm quilting that side also in a nice block pattern also with wool batting. I have a really pretty green and cream twill for that side. Only the best for the pugs. :-) For stitching, I'd like to do the center motif for Blackstone in the Elk Snout where I can see it and start working on part 4 of Marquior ABC. I'm way behind - it's a good thing part 4 is a less heavy stitched part or I'd have no chance of getting part 4 complete before part 5 comes out on the 16th.

I was super bad yesterday. I was just killing some time at work looking at the Needlecraft Corner website and I found one of the Barnyard Wool Whimsey's on sale - the chicken. I had to have it. I love these little guys. I plan on getting all four and stitching them together in the same piece of linen. It will be so cute in the kitchen. Anyway, since I was going through all the trouble to call Drema (who now knows my voice! that makes me laugh!) I thought I would pre-order the new Drawn Thread Sampler of Stitches, part one and part two along with the 18 x 20 inch piece of 30 count Custard Cream Dower Quality Legacy Linen so I can stitch all 9 pieces together (it will go 3 charts by 3 charts on the linen). I didn't order the NPI silk - I'm hoping Vikki Clayton will have a conversion. I almost purchased Toccata Number Three but I have to get real here. I need to get some other things finished first.

one down

One knot down and three green ones to go! Yeah! I finished up the brown knot this morning on the way to work and started on the first of three green knots. I LOVE the color inside the green knots. It's called seaweed by Carrie's Threads. It's incredible. It goes from an army green to teal to light purple. Love it! I tried to take a close up picture of it because my skein has less army green in it than the sample does. But I could not get a good clear picture. Maybe tomorrow.

I think I might use this color in one of my upcoming projects, Celtic Birds by the Sunflower Seed. I had been planning on using the Gator Green from my Blackwork Fantasy but I really like this seaweed color more. I'll have to do a test and see if it works. I didn't want my Celtic Bird to be to splotchy if you know what I mean but this skein I have of the Gator Green just might work out great.

back to the garden

I'm working on Blackwork Fantasy Garden again. I'll try to do it for the rest of my train rides this week. Next week I think I'll pick something up from my 10 challenge list (which has 16 items on it LOL!). I need to break up the boredom a bit. Or maybe I'll start on a couple of the blackwork portions on the Garden. That would certainly be different. :-) I listed my new goals for January - they are quite modest again this month.

Back to work for real this week - bummer. At least I have a ton to do so the remainder of the week should fly by. Clancy is back to agility tonight after his week off. Molly next week - she had a two week break. I needed a break also. It's a drag driving out there twice a week. I can't wait until they are in the same class.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments you have made to my blog over the holidays. Happy New Year all!

Village Happy Dance

I finished up Block 8 of the Village of Hawk Run Hollow. I'm using the recommended linen and the recommended NPI silks. As you can see, I changed the name of the mill to my last name. I could not fit in the word "grist". There are too many big letters in my name! LOL! Moving right along - I'll be half done soon!

My first ornie of the year and a quilt top too!

After many many months of no quilting, I managed to put together a top over Saturday and Sunday. It's called Evening Harvest by Kelly Corbridge and it's make up from fabric from Cherrywood Fabrics. It's a line of just beautiful hand-dyed suedes cottons. The feel of them is incredible. I picked this kit up last April at the Spring Quilt Show in Rosement Illinois. I'm planning on machine quilting it myself after I practice a bit.

I also completed my first ornament for the ornament SAL I'm participating in. It's called Topiary Ornament III from Hillside Samplings using the recommended linen and fibers. I also have Topiary IV and I'm looking for I and II if anyone knows where I can find them.