A Drawn Thread start

Since I just ordered the silk I need for The Drawn Thread Sampler of Stitches, I went with another DT piece, Spring Arbor for my train rides. I have already completed Fall and Winter so it's fitting to move onto the Spring piece at this time of the year. :-) These projects go super quick so I should be able to finish this up by next week sometime and then move onto Sampler of Stitches. The fabric I'm using the one of the recommended ones, Lavender Mist, although it's hard to tell from my photo. I need some sunshine to take some better photos!

I finished up Part 4 of My Treasured Workstation yesterday on the way home - part 5 will be available for the group members tomorrow. I'm glad I'm keeping up. And that this project will be coming to an end soon - just two more months of stitching plus a month to finish it. I can use one less commitment right now.

I did work on Marquior ABC before leaving for agility last night but really didn't get much done. Most of my time was spent going though my stash to figure out what I wanted to start next. Always a fun way to spend an hour or so.

A pug pillow palace

I could not resist taking this photo of the pugs last night. They managed to work the pillows and quilt on my sofa into a little pug palace. I woke them up to take the picture. Lazy pugs! That's Clancy at the top of the photo and Molly at the bottom.

Here is my finished part 5 of Marquior ABC. I even managed to get some stitching in from part 6. Everything from the right of the small F is part 6. Yeah!I'll work on this in the evenings for the rest of the week to try to get ahead of things. I've been worried that I've been balancing the bits of red in the piece so it's not too over whelming. I think so far it's working ok. This piece is getting so large it's hard to take a nice indoor photo. Once the weather clears up and I can take a photo outside, I will post it.

I'm almost finished with part 4 of My Treasured Workstation - I'll take a finished photo tomorrow.

I want to start the Drawn Threads Sampler of Stitches for my train project tomorrow. However, once I took a closer look at the Vikki Clayton silks I ordered last night, I have decided to go with NPIs instead. The colors I purchased just didn't seem right for whatever reason. So I'll order the NPIs today and I'll have to figure out something else to start. I've got a couple of small pieces in my pile so I'll pull one of those out tonight since I'll need something for tomorrow on the way home. Making good progress on my list! :-)

Tonight is agility with Molly and it's our last class before the Smack Dab agility trial this coming weekend. We will have two runs on Saturday and two on Sunday - our first full weekend. I'm so bummed my agility buddy won't be there with her pug - they did not make the draw. It will be a long day. But we have very simple goals, one, to have fun, two, to have a good start line stay, three, only three or less off courses and four, a good teeter! Molly has been struggling with her teeter the last couple of weeks, she has been stopping in the middle before it drops and then standing still on the board. It's not much of a problem in class where I can use a tasty treat to get her to move, but in a trial no treats are allowed.

and yet again, more snow!

Thank you so much for all the kind comments regarding my Quaker Samplings finish. I was quite overwhelmed. :-)

It's snowing again and did most of the past weekend. So all of my plans went out the window. But that means I did have plenty of time for stitching and plenty of time to get caught up. And I almost did! :-)

First, on Saturday, I finished up Block 4 of the Village of Hawk Run Hollow - Molly's Boarding House named after my pug Miss Molly. I'm now 58% complete! I think it's a sign that I want it finished since I know the percent complete so well. LOL! I now have a choice to move onto Block 1 or Block 5 - and both are wordy light stitched blocks! Am I ever happy about that. I think I'll go with Block 5 to progress in the manner in which I have been all along.

Then I worked on my SAL Ornament for February. And I finished it. :-) It's the ornament from JSC 2006 With My Needle. I added one of the motifs from Quaker Samplings that I liked to the back. I think it turned out cute. I used WDW Brick on 35 count natural linen. I find I don't have any trouble with the higher count linens. So I'll start working with them more.

I also worked on Marquior ABC Part 5 and I'm almost finished with it. I would have been done by Sunday evening but I finished one of the extra big letters from Part 6 - the C, before starting on the last of Part 5 that I needed to - the A, so that put me a little behind. I had been planning not to stop stitching until the A was complete but my poor eyes were tired out. :-) So I'll put the last stitches in tonight and take a photo. I could have last night but to take a good photo I would have had to take apart the Q-Snaps and I had it just right and I didn't want to mess it up. So tomorrow for sure. If I have any time Tuesday and Wednesday evenings before and after agility I will continue on Part 6 in order to get a little ahead of myself. It's a bit frustrating to be rushing at the end of every month to complete my goals.

This morning on the train, I put in the last stitches on the first part of this months My Treasured Workstation project. It's the front of the pin holder. Now I have to make another just like it for the back. I wish they were a bit different. I'll be done with this by Wednesday for sure. The front only took three train rides to do it and the back should be the same.

So for this week's train rides I'll finish My Treasured Workstation Part 4 and start a new project from my list. I'm planning on the Drawn Thread Sampler ABC.

I did a fair amount of online shopping last week - I purchased a 1/4 cut of Lakeside Linens 36 ct Vintage Autumn Gold for my Quaker Study from Carriage House Samplings - I have the chart and fiber already. The chart calls for 40 count but I'm not ready for that yet. I also purchased a full half yard of 32 count Vintage Autumn Gold for Carriage House Samplings The Girls series. I love these and I figure they should be done on the same cut of fabric. Drema is also trying to find me a 1/4 cut of Phantom Picture This Plus for my Cirque des Cercles. That might take a while she said. I joined a chart of the month plan from Shakespeare's Peddler's - Little House / Crescent Colors Pattern Packs. I love these little fruit designs and even though I have no idea what I'm going to do with them, I just had to have them. I was thinking all of them on the same piece of fabric.

Quaker Samplings I Finis

Quaker Samplings I

by With My Needle

Lakeside Linens 32 count Sugar Maple

Gentle Art Grape Leaf Thread

This was such a lovely piece to work on and because of that, I bet I get to Quaker Samplings II sooner than later. Or at least I hope to. ;-)

Have a great weekend!

just some letters

I only have the letters on the left to go - I'll start on those tonight on the way home from work. I think two weeks of train rides was really quick for this piece. Since last Monday that is around 20 hours on the train and around three hours work at home. I'd like to try and do Quaker Samplings II before summer starts but I have so many things on my list ready to start, not sure if that will happen. And some of those things are more Quaker designs. I'd like to get this piece framed right away but I know I need to wait until the second one is finished so they match.

The big question is for me, do I finish this up tonight or do I work on the Village and almost finish up block 4? I already think I know the answer, finish Quaker Samplings tonight! :-) Then I can bring My Treasured Workstation as my train project for the next couple of days. At this point, I don't think I'll finish what I need to before the next part comes out.

I do have plans for this weekend so I'm not sure how much stitching I'll get in. Hopefully Friday evening for sure and some time on Saturday after I take Molly to agility practice (she needs weave pole help!). On Sunday, I'll be gone all day at the Chicago Kennel Club Dog Show at McCormick Place so only stitching that evening. My agility teacher, Anne Riba, is trialing her Belgian Malinois, Temi, on Sunday. Temi is currently ranked the number 10 dog in the country and Anne only has time to run her at trials on Sundays! They are an amazing team. I told Anne last night that Clancy and I wanted to be just like them when we grow up. :-) Speaking of Clancy, he was wonderful last night at class.

Thanks so much for your super nice comments over the past few days! I really appreciate them all. I've added the new commenters to my blog role. Thanks for stopping by!

A little bird

Isn't the little bird on the bottom left cute? I just love all the little designs. I'm considering taking a couple and making some Christmas ornaments out of them. I think that would be really cute. Still making great progress on Quaker Sampling I, should be finished by the weekend. Only one more motif to finish and just A-J. :-)

I also managed to work on Block 4 of the Village - and I did get the words Molly's Boarding House complete. But I was running late for agility and didn't have time to take a photo. I'll take one tonight with the entire sign completed (I hope). Then it's finish up the little tree in the top left corner and complete the border and I'm done! Hopefully by Saturday also. Then I can move on to rest of my February commitments - Marquior ABC, my February ornament and My Treasured Workstation. I'm on Part 4 of My Treasured Workstation and it's a little bigger than I had thought it would be. I'll be hard pressed to completed it before Part 5 comes out in a week.

The end is in sight

Here is my progress on Quaker Samplings - I can see the end in sight! Just three tiny and one medium motifs and A through J and I'm all done. I love this part of a project. All I want to do is stitch, stitch, stitch! I love the little bug to the left of the center - how cute!

Here is Block 4 of the Village - closing in to the end here also. I have the words for Molly's Boarding House all charted out and ready to go. Hopefully I'll be able to start that tonight before I leave for Molly's agility class.

It's warming up!

It's going to be in the 30's all week long! And by the weekend in the 40's! Woo Hoo! I've had winter up to here. Yesterday I saw my first two robins in the backyard. Those poor two birds were sitting in a tree all puffed up from the cold. I'm hoping they know something I don't. I'm glad that for them, the snow will be melting all week and it will be raining by the weekend so there will be some worms for them to eat. I'm so ready for spring and a return to the sunshine.

Here is my progress on Quaker Samplings I - over half way done now. I hope to finish this off by Friday evening. We'll see if I can stay awake on the train all week. :-)

Also much progress was made on Block 4 of the Village. I'm almost half way with this block also. I so enjoy stitching this piece with the NPI silks. They are just the best.

Thanks for the suggestions to check in with Silkweavers about my fabric. You know it never occurred to me to do that - duh. I did drive out to my LNS for Market Night and I have to say I was very underwhelmed. They hadn't even unpacked everything yet so much wasn't out. And their tastes run different from mine so they didn't purchase some of the things I wanted to see. But I did pick up the Blackbird Designs book - I really like several of the designs and I purchased Quaker Study from Carriage House Samplings. I'll pick up the Lakeside Linen from Drema because my shop didn't have any. I did take a look at the Picture This Plus fabric swatch book and I fell in love with Mystic and I think it would be perfect for my Cirque des Cercles.

For the week I'll hopefully finish up Quaker Samplings and Block 4 of the Village. I need to stitch part 4 of My Treasured Workstation and finish part 5 of Marquior ABC. Then I'll move onto something new. Pretty sure I'll do the Drawn Thread Sampler of Stitches next. Oh and I need to do my ornament for the SAL. That will be a nice quick finish for me.

Progress again

As predicted yesterday, I felt the need for a sick day today. So I'm at home. :-) The pugs are very happy. I worked on Quaker Sampling I on the way home from work last night as well during the evening while I watched TV. Right now, I have so many big WIPs that I'm feeling like nothing is getting finished. And I hate that feeling. But I'm not sure what to do about it. I don't want to stop any of my large projects and I need to continue to work on what is in my basket that is ready to be stitched. I think what I need is a couple of super small projects so I feel like something is getting done. It really is driving me crazy.

Tonight my LNS is having their Market show so I might drive out to see that. I wish they had a day session since I'm home rather than just one tonight. I think I'll give them a call and see what I'll be missing if I don't go tonight. I also want to check out their supply of Picture This Plus linens. I'm still not really happy with the Silkweavers Midnight I received a couple of months ago for my Ink Circles piece. Here is a picture of the linen and I'll admit while it's not the best you can see just how splotchy it is. I wanted something more subtle that than. PTP has several really pretty dark bluish shades. I'm dying to check something else out.

No other plans for the weekend except work on my WIPs, notably The Village of Hawk Run Hollow and Quaker Samplings and hopefully finish cutting out my quilt. I'm still waiting for some fabric to show in the mail so who knows if I'll actually be able to start sewing this weekend. Oh, and I need to download Part 6 of Marquior ABC. Have a great weekend!

nothing to show

Well after part of an evening at home and almost three hours on trains, I have nothing to show today. That's right I didn't put in a single stitch! I got on the train last night and promptly found a counting error and pulled it out and then I just didn't feel like doing much of anything so I took a little nap for an hour. Felt great. Last night I had agility with Clancy - I know I keep talking about how wonderful he is a agility but he really is. :-) Poor Molly, little does she know, her agility days are going to be cute very short. As soon as I can start to do trials with Clancy, I think I'll retire her. Unless of course, I start to see some improvement pronto. But I doubt I will, she is so stubborn and just wants to do her own thing and I'm tired over fighting her on it.

This morning I was really tired so I didn't even pull my stitching out of the tote bag. I just went right to sleep and didn't wake up until the train pulled into the station in Chicago. I'll do something tonight for sure. And I'm already plotting a sick day for tomorrow. My extra quilting fabric for the quilt I started last weekend is starting to so up at home and I'd love to get that cut out and started this weekend. An extra day sure would be nice.

I spent some time yesterday looking at all the goodies available from the Nashville Market. There are several which I really want to own. Several Carriage House Samplings, notably the Girls Series and A Quaker Study (I'll order than one as soon as it shows up at Needlecraft Corner). I've already ordered from Cat Whisker's Design the Peacock Chair but I think I want to add the Alyssum Scissor Pocket. I already have the Ginger scissors that match it. Of course I want the Blackbird Designs book, With Needle And Thread, some of the designs looks so perfect for me. I also want the La-D-Da charts Mocking Bird and the two bunnies, In the Forest - so cute! And the last thing I really want is from Sheepish Designs - the Alpha series, the last of the three charts is now available Alpha Sheep, it goes with Alpha Birds and Alpha Menagerie. I want to do all three on the same linen as a long band. I guess that is not too bad of a list! LOL!

a late train

My train into downtown was late this morning by almost an hour. Most people around me were bitching and moaning. But for me, it's more stitching time! :-) Here is my progress on Quaker Samplings I. I wish my photos could do justice to just how pretty this green is. And I think it works great with the Sugar Maple linen from Lakeside Linens. The more I use their linens, the more I like them. I need to join a fabric club that sends out just those. I found one from Shakespeare's Peddlers that is a super good deal. And I can still sign up for the year. I really need to think hard about doing it.

Because of the snow storm that rolled in yesterday, agility was cancelled - I had almost a foot of fresh snow over the past two days at my house. I was glad I didn't have to go out back into the snow because the roads were really bad but Molly really needs the work since we have a trial in less than three weeks. :-( And once again, we are not ready. So I worked on Block 4 of the Village. Making good progress. It almost looks like a house now.

dogs on a fence

Here are my pugs at the fence in block 4 of the Village. Kinda looks like pugs, don't you think? :-)

I only worked on the Village for a couple of hours last night. I was just so tired. As soon as I finished up the dogs, I put it aside and watched tv in bed.
Here is my progress on Quaker Samplings I. These motifs are really moving along. No time for stitching tonight since it's agility with Molly. Of course it's snowing like crazy out there right now, so who knows? Maybe I won't want to drive out there. Of course, few people show up when it's this snowy outside so it's always a really good night to attend. We get a lot more time in the ring when there are just a few dogs.

some progress

I worked on a couple of different things this past weekend. I started back on Marquior ABC and got to the point where I was last week when I noticed another counting error on my part! Yikes! So out it came - again. I did manage to get the border in this time error free (I hope). Third times the charm I guess. I also started on the largest letters of the piece but really didn't have the heart to do much more than start.

I pulled out the Village of Hawk Run Hollow to start on my next block - not a bad start for just one evening. This is a pretty heavy stitched block. I'll work on this piece at night until it's finished and then go back to Marquior. I bet it takes the rest of the month.

And lastly for my cross stitching, here is Quaker Samplings I. I did work on it Friday evening for a while. I love to do these Quaker pieces. I'll work on this on my train rides until it's finished. Probably next week some time.

I also started work on my quilt made from the Chocolat line of fabrics from 3 Sisters of Moda. I ran out of fabric in three of the colors! It actually kind of pisses me off. The quilt pattern calls for all fat quarters which measure (in a perfect world) 18 x 22 inches. But from my experience it's seldom that the pieces that are cut from the factory to that size are actually that size. And to add to that, Moda often has a huge line of salvage. At least an 3/4 of an inch on several of the prints. And to have enough of two of the color ways, I had to have exactly pieces at were 18 x 22 because the width of the strips needed was 17 3/4 inches giving only 1/4 inch of extra fabric. So I was short on all the cream and tan colors. I did have several fat quarters left over from the group of 50 but there were butt ugly and I didn't want to use them in my quilt. So I have to purchase several more cream/tan fat quarters. And to make the dog bed, I have to order 7 red fat quarters because I had just enough for my quilt. So that at least two more yards of material. Bummer.

My boss is in the office this week so I'll be working all day and here in the office. I sure do love working at home.

rip, rip, rip

I was working on Marquior last night and almost finished with the border along the left side of the piece, when I noticed that two sections were slightly different than the rest of the border. So out came three entire repeats. That was all the work I had put in for two days. So I'm putting this piece up for a couple of days. But I did add a progress picture - I was just hoping to be a little farther along. The plan had been to start on the largest alphabet last night and I was on track until I saw my mistake. After I pulled it all out, I just didn't want to work on it anymore. I need to start making some progress on Block 4 of the Village in any case so I'll work on that and on Quaker Samplings over the weekend when I'm not working on my quilt.

Here is my progress on Quaker Samplings. I really love the color and this piece is moving along very nicely. I'm doing the biggest motif first - right in the center.

No major plans for the weekend - I have to take Molly to an agility fun run tomorrow morning for practice. I don't want anymore of the mistakes like she made at our last trial so I'll try to hit every fun run in the next month I can. On Sunday I'll be taking the pugs to a pug rescue event. They love to run around with a ton of pugs. It's an indoor event so we'll be nice and warm. Have a great weekend!

camera ready Bluebird's Message

Bluebird's Message - Loose Feathers #23

Blackbird Designs

32 Count Silkweavers Cameo

Recommended WDW floss

Here is my finished Bluebird's Message. Super quick project and the colors are great. So nice and bright! I still plan to make it into a pillow - I'll see what I can come up with this weekend.

Here is my new start for the train. I put the Sampler of Stitches and Quaker Sampling I in a bag and pulled one out. Quaker Sampling from With My Needle won the battle! I'm stitching it on the recommended 32 count Lakeside Linens Sand Dune using one strand of Gentle Art Grape Leaf. It's a lovely green that goes well with Milady's Teal which is the recommended shade - I'll use it for Quaker Sampling II.

I'm over half way finished with Part 5 of Marquior but you'll have to take my word for it because I didn't have my camera yesterday - I'll take a progress picture tonight. I even added a bit more red to this section than the previous sections. I really like the pop.

Last night was Clancy's agility class - our teacher left the same course up as Molly and her class used the previous evening. There were a few changes, the teeter was not at full height but perhaps half way and one of the jump runs was set up a little easier. But he did the course with only one mistake! He was better than Molly! What a boy!

A finish! But...

Well I did something stupid yesterday - when I left work for the day, I left my camera at work! So no pictures of my finished Bluebird's Message and no progress picture of Marquior ABC - I'm finally at a point where it shows that I've been working on it. And I'm working at home today so I can't even get the camera until tomorrow and that means I won't be able to load my pictures until Friday. Sorry! But take my word for it, it's super cute. :-) I might try to go to the fabric store today at lunchtime and pick up what I need to finish it up. It would be totally cool to show off the finished, finished picture. Since I'm not on the train today, I still have not picked out my next project but it's between the Sampler of Stitches and Quaker I.

I did receive my fabrics for my dog bed on Monday - the fabrics are just wonderful. It's always so nice when you order something online and have never seen the fabric in person and it exceeds your expectations when it arrives. In fact I like it so much, I have decided to make a full size quilt for my bed and make a new comforter cover for my bed using the wide size fabric that matches. So the dog bed will match! I'll have to make new pillow shames of course. And I sure wish I had a serger sewing machine. I wonder if I can rent one for a weekend? I should look into that. My sister has one but I don't really talk to her so it would kinda suck if I asked to borrow hers.

Almost there

I'm almost finished with Bluebird's Message. Just a bit of border to go. I think I will leave work a little early today and finish it up. I'll pop a new project in my bag tomorrow. What to do, what to do.

I could start on this, the Barnyard Wool Whimseys from Heart in Hand. I have all but the pig - and the fabric I ordered came in the mail yesterday. I'm doing all four on the same piece of 32 count Summer Khaki. Normally I don't go for cutesy stuff but these are more folk art than cute I think and I could not resist them. And I bought them all for less than $10.00 a piece - that is half off retail. I love a good deal.

Or I can start on Sampler of Stitches from The Drawn Thread - I'm already to go with the first two parts - my silks from Vikki Clayton came last week.

Or maybe something that I've had hanging around for a couple of months? I've had the Quaker Samplers from With My Needle ready to go since October. I'm doing them in different colors - one in Milady's Teal and the other in a beautiful green.

Tune in tomorrow to see what I pick next! LOL!

I had a bit of cool news this morning - there were several mentions in other peoples blogs this morning about the Silkweavers Showcase - the winners were announced. So I went over to check it out. I was a finalist in the medium category! Not to bad for my first try :-). From The Drawn Thread, Linen and Lace stitched on 32 count Cameo.

Congratulations to the winners! They are all spectacular!

A sad city

Things are pretty gloomy around here since the Bears lost the Super Bowl yesterday evening. I have to admit, I didn't think they would win but I sure was hoping. At least it wasn't a total blow out. Next year they will be ready for the big game for sure. They need to be a bit more seasoned as a team.



I didn't have much time for stitching over the weekend as I was distracted by many other things. On Friday evening I put some work into my Bluebird's Message - all done now but the border. I also took a couple of hours to sort through my freebie charts and put them into sheet protectors and get them into a binder. I had no idea I'd collected so many! There were dozens and dozens. That's a good thing. :-)



On Saturday I finished up the last couple of words on My Treasured Workstation by Judy Odell. Carol asked last week who the designer is. It's from Judy Odell and it's an group online class I signed up for via the Legacy Board. I can't wait for the finishing to start. That is really why I signed up for the class - to get more help into finishing my own stuff. I also managed to pull out all the blue from Part 1 of Marquior ABC so it would match Part 4. That took me all evening! But I had to be super careful. I didn't want to mess anything up. I did replace all the blue with the red on Sunday morning and Sunday evening while I watched the football game I started on Part 5. I barley got anything finished so I didn't take a photo.


I spent Sunday afternoon with the pugs at the birthday party for the owner's dog of the indoor dog center where I take my pugs for agility. They had so much fun and I took both of them to an animal communicator. That was an experience! Molly told me she wanted to go back to the beach for a visit because she likes it so much and Clancy told me that he cannot believe that something as much fun as agility exists and he gets to do it. :-) Molly also got a puppy message. She really enjoyed that. I'm going to have to get a book on how to do it myself.


For this week's train project I plan on finishing Bluebird's Message and then.... I don't know! I'll see what I feel like on Wednesday or so. During the evenings I need to get a move on with Part 5 of Marquior. There are lots of places I can add more red and I think I will. It's kinda fun doing my own thing.


The draw for the agility on March 3 and 4th was last week - I made both days! I was the only person in my group of friends that made it. I was hoping I wouldn't if they didn't because it's a long day and sitting there mostly by myself is kinda boring. But I think I'll do it in any case and I can also bring some cross stitch to work on.

Knots - all tied up!

I worked on my Blackwork Fantasy Garden for four hours last night and between that and my train ride into work this morning, I finished the last knot! Yeah! I'm so glad that part of this piece is finished. I know all I have done is bitch and complain about this piece for at least a month now but I truly do love it. I just wish I had used two threads instead of one. The colors would pop so much more on the looser weave lambswool that I'm using for this piece. So that and the fact that filling in the knots has been boring it's been a long hall. Now I can start the blackwork. Each design is repeated four times in the chart so I'll just pick somewhere to start and do each design before moving on to the next one. By the time I get to the fourth time, I'll be a pro at that design.

No major plans for the weekend except to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday - GO BEARS! And try to stay warm of course. Sunday will be the coldest day with Monday a close second. It's almost worth taking a vacation day just so I don't have to go outside. :-)

I plan on finishing up Bluebird's Message and starting on Part 5 of Marquior ABC. I might try to make Bluebird into pillow on Sunday but it really depends if I feel like driving to the fabric store or not.

And last but certainly not least, I have to give a super big thanks to Jacque. She read my blog and responded to my lack of WDW Brick for Bluebird's Message with the offer of sending me a skein that she no longer needed. I received a package yesterday not only with her gift of brick but with also a ton of beautiful Weeks threads in pinks, reds, creams and purples all in time for Valentine's Day. I didn't have a single one of those colors! Thank you so much Jacque! That was such a kind thing for you do. :-) I've been involved with various online groups over the years but I have never been the recipient of such kindness as I have experienced from my fellow stitchers. You are all the best kind of people.

Three down and one to go!

As the train pulled into my station last night, I put in my last cross stitch on my third knot. And I didn't fall asleep! Today I did start on the last knot and I'm judging from how long it took me, I have six to seven hours left for the cross stitching portion of this project. I think I just might work on it a bit this weekend. I just want it finished. :-)

I've mentioned the dog bed from hell that I have been working on since the holidays several times. Well over the past couple of weekends, I've pulled the quilt top out to start to mark it for machine quilting. And have stopped before I even started. I just hate the colors so much. I'm just not a yellow person and the overall look of it is so bright. It struck me on Monday on how much it looks like a baby quilt! So after a couple of days of consideration, I decided to scrap the entire top. I have a dozen nephews and nieces who are all starting to (many already have - I actually already have a couple of great nieces!) reproduce and I always try to give them a quilt as a shower gift. So I'm going to save this for a baby quilt and start over on my dog bed. I'll just take off the four odd pieces and it's the perfect size. And the perfect colors!

So over the past couple of days, I've spent the free time I've had at work looking for the perfect fabric. Yeah, I could have gone through my stash but I really wanted something new and special since it's going to be in my living room. And I found this line of fabric from 3 Sisters of Moda called Chocolat. I purchased the entire set of fat quarters - all fifty of them. I just love them. The blue isn't quite my shade of blue but as an accent color, it's great. Of course, now the backing piece I've already quilted for the bottom and sides might not work, it's a lovely green and tan twill strip but I just don't care. I love this stuff so much so if I have to make another back then so be it. But it just might work from what I can tell looking at the fabric swatches online.

Right now I'm planning on the dog bed and a lap quilt for me. All matching! I'll use wool batting for my lap quilt as well as the dog bed. It's so light but oh so warm. I can't wait to start to plan the design for the quilt. I have a ton of ideas. I've got my quilting mojo back!

Clancy was great again in agility last night. Our only mistakes last night where mine!