zipping along

The first two rows are all stitched up on Alpha Birds and today I'll start on the largest of the three rows. It's the band with all the birds. I really need to start to think hard on what I want to do with the fourth row of each of the three charts. Since this series of three was designed to be stitched separate, the fourth band on each design is a personalization row. Name, date etc.


I can't decide on whether to leave two off, only personalizing the last row of the third piece or leave them all on stitching something different in each of the three. Right now I'm leaning toward stitching in all three and maybe having a three part saying or maybe something like wrought by me, my name and then the date on the last row. Or maybe even include the town I'm from.


Any ideas? :-) I'm pretty sure I want to stitch the bands in. But what to say?

not much crafting done

Between the agility trial and nice weather I didn't get much done over the weekend. On Sunday I finished off My Quaker House from Blackbird Designs into a bellpull. My mom's birthday is this week and this is her present. I had planned on quilting a bit on Sunday but after I sat down at my table and pulled out some stuff I really didn't feel like it so I put it all away.

Instead I started on a new piece - Alpha Birds from Sheepish Designs. There are three separate designs to the series (Alpha Menagerie and Alpha Sheep) and I'm doing all three on the same piece of 32 count linen. I pulled out a half yard cut piece of Wichelt Latte linen that I picked up at Hobby Lobby for $5.00. I had planned on using a custom cut from Silkweavers but I thought I would save the money. It's working ok I think. I'm not sure if I will stitch all three pieces at this time. I might just do the first chart and then move onto something else. It all depends on my mood. :-)

I have several dahlias in my flower garden. Above is just one. It's a dinner plate variety and it really is the size of a dinner plate. It's just gorgeous so I thought I'd share.

Since I mentioned that I had an agility with Molly over the weekend I thought I should report the results. It was disappointing - Molly ran around the ring during all four runs. Dogs do this when they are anxious and nervous. I had a chat with my agility teacher just last week about her and we both decided it would be best if she didn't perform well in the next two trials that I would stop running her. In the year that we've been doing trials, this is her usual behavior. Since I have another dog who is ready to break out, I really don't have any reason to work with her to break this behavior. She does agility to please me rather than because she loves it. So we all think it's best to end it. I will continue to bring her to trials to keep Clancy and me company but she will not continue in classes after the current session and no more trials at this time. I'll take the money I'll be saving and put it into Clancy. I'll be able to take him to class more and do twice as many trials. I'm a little sad but at the end of the day I just want happy dogs and this will make her happy. :-)

Barnyard Quartet finis

Barnyard Quartet Wool Whimsy - Heart In Hand

32 count Belfast - Summer Khaki

Recommended floss, wool and buttons

I finished up the Barnyard Quartet series today. These four designs were in individual kit form. Each kit contained a small piece of linen, floss, wool and buttons. They were meant to be four separate pieces but I put them together on one piece of linen. I like how they turned out. The chicken is missing a button - yesterday when I got to work I was missing one. It broke off on the train and I didn't notice. So I have ordered two more so they match. Hopefully they will come in the mail next week.

I'm not sure what I'm going to start next. I have around 10 things kitted up and I need to do some work on St. Reatham. But I've been in a new start mood lately. So I'll go though my stash and see what jumps out. :-)

Tomorrow is an agility trial with Molly. It's a three day trial but we are only doing tomorrow and Saturday. Wish us luck!

one down, two and a quarter to go

As I predicted yesterday, I finished up with the sheep Wool Whimsy last evening. It was super quick and the chicken is stitching up even faster. I'll be finished and start on the cow before I even get home from work tonight on the train. Since these are going so quickly, I will probably stitch all four before moving onto something else. I'm usually not a fan of the cutesy stuff but these four really appealed to me. So I'm calling them folk artsy rather than cutesy. ;-)

Summer Arbor Finis and more!

Summer Arbor - The Drawn Thread

32 Count Antique Tan Wichelt Linen

using recommended NPI and Gloriana silk thread and beads

It was quite the finishing weekend! I finished stitching up Summer Arbor on Friday night. This completes the series of all four seasons. I love them all and I'm now on the search for the matching mats. On Saturday I participated on the Focus on Finishing Pin Keep class. I used my finish from last week, Joy of My Heart as the basis. It was a great class and even though I've done a pin keep in the past, I learned a few new things and this is definitely the best I've done so far. I'm still working on how/where I put my bow but the photo shows it on the side with some beads that came with the kit.

On Sunday, and I mean all day Sunday, I finished my dog bed! :-) Of course there wasn't much else to do as we got over four inches of rain on Saturday and Sunday!

Who knew that when I start this two years ago that I would take so long and I would spend so much money. But the results are worth it I think. And the pugs are very happy and that is all that counts. It's big but I wanted it to be large enough for three pugs to use it a once. I'm hoping there is a new pug puppy in my future. :-) It's two pieces, the zippered cover which is the quilted section and a down/feather insert. I quilted the sides and back also in a simple grid pattern and I made the zipper placket wide so I can flip the bed over so the pugs can use that side also without rubbing on the zipper. Now I just need to get my matching quilt quilted! :-)

Dog Bed - based on a quilt pattern from Miss Rosie's

Fabric - Chocolat from 3 Sisters by Moda

Machine Quilted using 100% wool batting

Stuffed with a feather/down pillow

After all that I did find time to start a new stitching project - the Wool Whimsy Barnard Quartet from Heart in Hand. The four in the series were sold as kits and packaged separately. I purchased them all at half price and I'm stitching them all on the same piece of linen. I started off with the sheep and I'll be finished with the first of four by the time I get home from work tonight. This will also be my train project for the week. I'm not sure if I will stitch all four right away, I might just do one or two and do something else and then pick it up again in a couple of weeks. This is from my "waiting in the wings" list. I'm really moving along with that. I'm moving along with it so well, soon I'll be able to start planning what I want to buy next.

almost finished

I'm almost finished with Summer Arbor from the Drawn Thread. I know, the plan was to grab St. Reatham for a couple of days but yesterday morning I was so tired from only five hours sleep I forgot to replace Summer Arbor with St. Reatham. And this morning I knew I only had a couple of hours worth of work left on SA so I decided to finish this one up before the weekend instead. I'll plan on doing some SR over the weekend along with making a pin keeper out of Joy of My Heart.

I have no major plans again for the weekend - yeah! Next weekend I have an AKC agility trial with Molly so not much stitching will happen so I'll try to make up for it this weekend. Molly's agility trialing days are almost over. She has never performed well at any trial in the year we have been doing them and I can use the money I have been spending on her for more classes and entry fees for Clancy. So she only has two more trials to go. Next week and Pug Dog Nationals in Harrisburg PA on September 26th. Of course if she turns everything around I'll keep her in but I don't think that will happen. We will continue to play in the backyard of course and I'll take her with Clancy and me to trials, but I won't be spending anymore money on her. I very disappointed - while I knew Molly and I would never set the agility world on fire, I was hoping for at least an AKC Novice title. At least there is Clancy! :-)

Rain rain go away

Here is my progress on Summer Arbor - so far it's my least favorite of the four Arbors. This center section is so boring with it's mostly green trees. There is a bit more color in the bottom and top sections. Let's hope it helps. And maybe once I get the red beads on the center tree that will help a bit also.

Tonight I have organized a work event to Ravinia Park, an open air concert venue to see Hootie and the Blowfish. And it's thunderstorming outside right now! There is a 60% chance of rain and thunderstorms tonight. Cross your fingers for me and hope that I get the 40% chance of sunshine that I need. :-)

Tomorrow is St. Reatham Thursday. I totally forgot about it last week because I was so close to finishing up Beneath the Sunlit Sky. To make up for it, I think I'll work on it tomorrow AND Friday. :-) I'd like to finish the alphabet across the top and get a start on finishing up the dog border.

Joy of my Heart Finis

Joy of my Heart - Lori Birmingham

28 count white evenweave linen

Recommended fibers

I finished up Joy of My Heart last evening. I'm planning on using it for the pinkeep lesson being posted this coming weekend on Focus on Finishing. I thinks it's perfect for it. I love finishing things that have been laying around for months and months. I purchased this piece from Hobby Lobby over a year ago when they first started to sell off their cross stitch section. I think I picked it up for less than $5.00. I also love a good deal. :-)

The weekend was mostly about having company on Saturday night. My friend Peggy came over with her husband and six pugs! Oh, what a good time we had. My two slept all day yesterday. :-)

This morning on the train I started stitching Summer Arbor from the Drawn Thread. This will complete the four seasons for me. This one has been in my stash also for over a year. I'll be finished by the end of the week. Not sure what I'll work on next but I have a feeling it will also be one that has been laying around for a while. I still have nine fully kitted projects ready to go. The plan is to do a couple more before I move onto something really new. Of course the exception will be the new Loose Feathers from BBD. Their fall pieces are always particularly pretty.

Kathy posted a comment about what a quick stitcher I am. I really don't think I'm really much quicker than the average stitcher. What I do have is time. I have a 90 minute train ride to work twice a day. So before I do any stitching at all in the evening or on the weekends, I have a solid 15 hours in a week. And I do usually stitch every evening a couple of hours while I watch tv. And that adds up to almost 30 hours a week. That's a ton of time. :-)

Beneath the Sunlit Sky Finis

Beneath the Sunlit Sky - Blackbird Designs

Silkweavers 32 count Rock Quarry linen

Recommended fibers

I finished up with Beneath the Sunlit Sky last night - I'm very happy with how it turned out on the linen I picked out. I want to buy more Rock Quarry since I think it would go with many projects - I'd like to find mono-color design to stitch. I'm happy I frogged the house, the dark pink does show up much nicer. Click on the photo for a close up if you like.

No major plans for me this weekend, just dinner with friends on Saturday and a lot of quality stitching time. :-) Have a great weekend!

the missing house

As you can see from today's progress photo, my obsession with my house has been solved! LOL! I received a very thoughtful comment yesterday from Teejay and after reading it, I realized she was spot on. As much as I was thinking about it, I knew I wanted to fix it but didn't want to frog it. So last night the last thing I did before I went to bed while I watched Top Chief was to frog it out. The lighter pink did look ok but I think it will look better with the darker pink. And I would always wonder what it would look like correct. :-) Tomorrow you all can be the judge because I'll post the finish photo. I only have a couple of hours worth of work left. Tomorrow I'll start on the Lori Birmingham piece for my pin keep lesson.

Last month KarenV from the UK posted about a really cool idea - and she had a great finish to show off. A zippered bag. I have not been able to get this out of my head no matter how hard I tried. And then it came to me. I have something that I can make into a bag like this! My Celtic Birds! It's not as big as maybe I would like but I think it will be perfect for such a use. And since Karen so kindly provided the links for the instructions, what is stopping me now? I'm hoping to give it a go this weekend.

much progress

I'm making quick work of Beneath the Sunlit sky. I still haven't decided yet if I'm going to rip out the pink house. Last night I thought yes but today I'm thinking no. :-) And at this point, I'm not sure what will put me over the edge either way.

I really need to start framing my finished pieces. I have a box just full of them. And I think I need to start doing smaller pieces that can be finished in other ways rather than just framing. I love the clever ways that other people are finishing their work. I'm also thinking that maybe I'll start joining in the various exchanges that are going around. At first I didn't think my stuff was good enough to give away but now I'm happy with how it looks. And it always looks like fun when I see what people are exchanging. And I love fun!

I've been cleaning up my blog in preparation for designing a new space. I purchased a couple of Adobe products and I'm hoping to make an original looking space. I spent a couple of hours yesterday working on my online photo album and getting all my projects posted and labeled. I'm still missing a couple of finished photos but I'll try to get to that this weekend. I'm also setting up my Weblog account. I have been visiting as time permits, all my favorite blogs but I have so many now it will be nice to know when they are updated. I visit many more than I have posted links to and I know I spend much to much time trying to see them all. :-) I figure it will also be easier for me to make comments if I free up some time.

I've also been visiting my favorite blogs and looking at what I like most about those sites and I've been making notes. Mostly I seem to like a clean looking space and mine is kinda cluttered. So I'm hoping to set up sub pages with photos and such. So watch this space for changes. :-)

Many thanks for the comments everyone has left me over the past couple of weeks - I don't acknowledge this enough but I really appreciate each and every one of them.

Loving it

Here is my progress on Beneath the Sunlit Sky - the more I work on this piece, the more I like it. :-) I was unsure when I got started but at almost half way finished, I'm finding it a quick fun stitch. I'm having a hard time getting a good photo of it because some of the colors are close to my linen but irl, the colors show up just fine. I found a huge mistake last night. I did the house in the wrong pink! It's supposed to be stitched in the darker of the two pinks and I used the lighter. At this point I'm not sure if I will take it out or not. In person it doesn't look bad at all and I might just be ready to move onto my next project when I finish up. So I'll see.

I went through my stash last night to pick out the next couple of things I want to do. I will for sure do something from my waiting in the wings list. I have several that have been there for over a year now and I want to get to them. The two oldest are the Joy of My Heart flat fold from Lori Birmingham and Summer Arbor from the The Drawn Thread. The flat fold will be perfect as the next finishing project for the Focus on Finishing pin keep class (August 18th and 19th) and will only take a couple of days to stitch. And I know from past experience that the Summer Arbor will only take a week of train rides to complete because that is all the other three took.

Delivering Spring finis

Delivering Spring - Homespun Elegance

32 Count Silkweavers Cocoa linen

Recommended Fibers

Here is my progress on Beneath the Sunlit Sky from BBD - I'm stitching it on Silkweavers Rock Quarry. I love the colors even though I'm not sure about the piece. Actually I'm wondering why I'm stitching it when I have so many projects that I really love. But I feel somehow compelled to do my auto delivery charts. :-)

I'll end today's post with a photo of Clancy. He followed me outside when I took my photo of Delivering Spring on Saturday. He is such a cutie and is very much a mama's boy. :-)

St. Reatham update

Here is my progress on St. Reatham. I'm using Golden Promise by Silkweavers and Hand Dyed Fiber's Mermaid Blue 2327. This is a pretty bad photo of the true color of the fabric. I'll try to update it next week outside so it golden yellow color shows up. I love this piece. I might start to work on it a bit more than just Thursdays but of course, I'll see how my time turns out. I still have a ton of stuff on my to do list and for some reason, it's not getting any smaller. ;-)

Have a great weekend!

almost done

I just have the grass to complete on my Delivering Spring and I'm all done. :-) But it's St. Reatham Thursday so I won't get back to it until tomorrow. And I'll be sure to post a picture of St. Reatham this week for sure. I haven't in the last two and I have made some progress. I love working on it.

Not a whole lot finished

I haven't been stitching much over the past couple of days. But I am making some progress on Delivering Spring. I have to push a bit now because the graduation party starts at 3:00pm on Saturday. :-) I should be ok. I'll plan on stitching tonight at home.

Molly has to go to the vet today (it always seems to be Molly). Last night before I went to agility, Molly came in from outside with blood all over one of her back feet. She had an abscess break! I didn't even notice the bump. :-( Poor baby - I can tell it really hurts her. She'll need ten days of antibiotics and lots of TLC.

Celtic Heart finis

Celtic Heart by M Designs

two over two

Silkweavers 32 count French Vanilla Swirl

DMC Variegated Floss - 4065

I finished up my Celtic Heart yesterday. I'm happy with it although the colors are light and unless you look very closely, much of the design is lost to the casual eye. I plan on doing one more for sure, the letter M, and I'll make sure I pick a more contrasting combination of floss and linen.

I had to go to Hobby Lobby on Friday evening. I was planning on buying a fat half yard of Natural Brown linen for my Sheepish Designs alphabet sampler that I wanted to start next - they still sell the packages of big pieces there. Or at least they did. I was very distressed to find when I got there that Hobby Lobby is continuing the destruction of the cross stitch section. They no longer carry most of the colors of Wichelt linen they used to, just cream and white. But the trip was not all lost because in the super clearance section, I found the below five packages of linen left - all for $5.11 and all fat halfs. 28 count Natural Brown, Sandstone and Ivory and in 32 count Twilight Blue and Latte. I bought all they had. It was five packages for the price of one. How could I resist? I don't use much un-variegated linen and hardly ever use 28 count but I'll have it if I need it and in nice neutral colors. Just perfect for ornaments. And I can always over-dye them myself if I really want to.

For my train ride this week, I'm stitching Delivering Spring by Homespun Elegance. I'm planning on giving it to my niece for her college graduation party this weekend. Last Christmas she was the one who ended up with my Secret Santa gift, Delivering Winter. She really liked it and all but begged me to make the other three seasons for her. She is one of my favorites so how could I not? For a college graduation I should make her all three or even something really spectacular but she wanted this and it is the only one I have time for right now. I'll look for the other two charts and surprise her during the next year so the celebration will last all year. :-)

Thanks :-)

Thanks for all your wonderful comments on my Village finish. I had a couple of new or newish commenters (thanks for stopping by) and I have added your blogs to my list of stops. :-) I've been behind on my blog browsing and when I have the time to browse I haven't been commenting much. Hopefully things will slow down at work so I can get back into my routines.

I actually hung up my Village without a frame at home just so I could look at it at night. :-) I really want to get going on the Houses now - one block a month like the Village. Hopefully by September I'll have the first months worth of silks so I can get going with it.

Here is my progress on Celtic Heart. Depending on my mood when I work on it is how much I like it or not. Today I like it, yesterday I didn't. The tan portion of the variegated thread I'm using is very close to the linen I picked out. So in some places it's hard to see and the design is fading. I would love to do a series of these hearts in different colors and hang them all together in the same frame. I think that would look really cool. But do I ever think I get around to doing two more of these? And framing them?? I doubt it but it's a nice wish. ;-)

Yesterday was St. Reatham day and I got in a solid four hours of stitching. But I went to bed before I took a progress photo and forgot to again this morning before I left for my train. You are not missing much, I'm working on the top border with the dogs and the alphabet right under that so it doesn't look like much as been done at all. I figure I need to do some of the boring stuff instead of leaving that for last - I'd never get the piece finished if all I have left is solid rows of lines.

Have a great weekend! I'll be at a Jimmy Buffet concert tomorrow! It should be fun.

The Village of Hawk Run Hollow finis

The Village of Hawk Run Hollow

Carriage House Samplings

32 count Lakeside Linens Sand Dune

Using the recommended Needlepoint Silk colors

Well it's finished! This is my biggest project to date and I started it on August 5th of last year. There were many times where I was surprised that I was hanging on and still working on it. :-) I made changes to blocks two, four, six and eight.

I love how it turned out and I do plan on starting the House of Hawk Run Hollow sometime in the early fall. I have the chart and the linen but I need to start buying the silks - I'll use Needlepoint Silks also for the Houses, one over two like I did with the Village and I'll buy them a month at a time. It helps to spread the cost out over the year and if it's anything like the Village, the most expensive months will be the first four or so, after that many colors are duplicated.

Here is my progress on Celtic Heart - I'm hoping to start work on the actual heart tonight.

My Harry Potter Weekend

Like many many other people, my weekend was all about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. My local library called me at 9:00am Saturday morning to tell me that my reserved copy of the audio CDs had arrived and was waiting for me. Of course I was already a couple of chapters into the book because I had picked it up at 7:00am that morning but I dropped everything and ran out. I was listening by 9:30am. :-) And quilting. First on my list for my HP weekend was machine quilting my dog bed. Below are the results. I think it turned out ok. I had planned on finishing up the dog bed this weekend but to my dismay, I did not have enough wool batting in my stash to work on the bottom piece so I had to put this project aside to wait for more batting to arrive from my online source. This has been the never ending project. I actually started this over two years ago! And in the process have pieced two separate tops (for the first top, I hated the fabric I picked out after I pieced it - too baby quilt looking, all light yellows and peach), quilted a bottom (which matched the first top and was too small for the second top) and have spent a small fortune. I had to order two more king size down/feather pillows for the insert on Friday (but I knew I would have to and I was relived to find out on Friday that four would work and not the six that I had first feared). I think I'm way over $250 for this odd project. :-) I could have purchased both dogs their own top of the line Bowers Bed in what I've spend on this. Oh well, live and learn. And of course I'm still not finished. I have to quilt the bottom in a simple grid pattern and quilt the side panels AND put the whole thing together. At least two more weekends I'm thinking.

When the dog bed top made it into the washer and drier, I moved onto the next project on my list. Finishing the piecing of my matching lap quilt (it's 80" x 80") using the Chocolat fabrics from 3 Sisters/Moda and a pattern from Miss Rosie's. I'm happier with the colors now that it's pieced. I do plan on sending this one out to be quilted. I have too much to get caught up on to quilt this one myself and in any case I'm not that good yet at the style of machine quilting that I want for this quilt.


By the time this was finished it was close to 7:00pm and I was ready to get comfy and stitch. So I picked up my Village and worked on block 3. Above are the results of Saturday and Sunday evening's stitching. I'm almost finished! Just one color thread to go. :-) I listened to HP and stitched to close to 11:00pm. I really wanted to get half way into the book before I stopped for the day so I would be able to get to bed Sunday evening at a decent hour. It's worth mentioning that while I could have completed reading the entire book on Saturday, listening to it took over 21 hours. But I love Jim Dale's interpretation of the HP books and I never really considered experiencing Deathly Hollows for the first time in any other way.

On tap for Sunday was piecing a quilt wall hanging that I have had in my stash for over two years. I went through a period a couple of years ago where I thought I needed to expand my quilting horizons and I purchased a couple of bright batik quilts kits. I have since decided that there is nothing wrong with just working on what appeals to me and this kit just sat on a shelf. These colors are just not me. But they will be perfect for a friend I have who lives in Alaska. She can put this in a dark corner in the winter and brighten everything up. I had planned on machine quilting this also but as I wrote before, I didn't have enough quilt batting. That's too bad as I would like to send it to her sooner than later and I won't work on it again until the dog bed quilt is complete. And who knows when that will be. :-)

Here is my progress on Celtic Heart from M Designs. It looks much better ILR I think.

Now onto my review of Deathly Hallows. Stop reading if you don't want to hear what I have to say. I have mixed feelings about the book. I'm happy with the epilogue - I loved the way JKR tied everything up. But I'm really sad about a couple of deaths that she put in. They just seemed so senseless and didn't advance the story one bit. And with one of the deaths, she didn't even say how it happened! Harry just saw the bodies laying there. That actually made me angry because it just happened to be one of my favorite characters. :-( I just didn't get why she did it. And I was not happy with the Severus Black resolution. I always felt he was on the good side but didn't like how she got there. I'm kinda sad it's all over. And what really struck me as odd was this is the first book that I don't plan on re-reading right away. So I guess it really is all over for me. But my hats off to JKR - she really created something wonderful. I don't think I have laughed and cried and felt so involved with a story as much as these seven books. I look forward to reading what she creates next. If she does...

Awake the Dawning Day finis

Awake the Dawning Day

Blackbird Designs

32 count Silkweavers Purely Primitive

Suggested Weeks Dye Works fibers

I finished up Awake the Dawning Day before I left for agility last evening. Am I ever glad this one is finished. I don't even remember the last time I worked on a BBD piece for as long as I did this one. I put it aside for a couple of weeks when it just wasn't doing anything for me. I made a huge push after the train ride home Monday evening. I just wanted it done no matter what. So I stopped work on the Village until late yesterday evening.

I did manage though to make a start on the building. In a world without a Harry Potter book being released in three days, I would finish this up over the weekend. But as it stands right now, my weekend will be all about Harry. I am going to purchase the CDs and the book on Saturday morning as soon as Sam's Club opens and the plan is to quilt while I listen to it. When I'm finished quilting for the day, I'll pick up where I left off and read. Even so at 700+ pages, I doubt I'll finished before Monday. Too bad I took off last Friday - I could take off this coming Monday and finish it off. :-)

Of course I have a new start so I have something to stitch on while on the train back and forth to work. Any guess as to what it is? I doubt anyone could pick this one out in it's current state so I'll just come clean. It's Celtic Heart from M Designs. I'm stitching it on 32 count French Vanilla Swirl from Silkweavers using one of the new variegated flosses from DMC - 4065. I spend a very pleasant hour or so picking out what I wanted to do next. I told myself the only conditions were 1) it had to be something I've had around for a while and 2) it had to be on my "waiting in the wings" list. I think it will be pretty and I'll make it into a pillow when I done.

Productive weekend :-)

WOW - what a crafting weekend I had! :-) And most of it quilting. How about that for a change. I made it a goal last week that I would find some time to work on a couple of outstanding quilting projects - namely, my dog bed quilt and it's matching bed throw for me. Well I managed to complete the dog bed top! And complete the insert for the bed. I made the insert out of pillow ticking because the plan is to stuff it with down and feathers. :-) Nothing is too good for my pugs. :-) It's larger than I first planned coming in at 42 inches. Oh and it's square! At first the plan had been to make a round bed but the quilt pattern I used looked better square. I also was thinking to send it out to be quilted so it would match the throw but I want it done fast and right now my favorite quilter has an eight week waiting list for quilting so I'll do it myself. It won't be as pretty but at least it will be done - at least some time this year. ;-)

Part two of the weekend goal had been to finish the matching bed throw but I found when I was done with the dog bed, I was too crabby to take the time and care to do a good job in joining the blocks into rows so I just pinned everything together (mostly because I had it all laying out to select the block placement) in preparation of joining the blocks into rows. One good Saturday and it will be finished also. I'm a little disappointed in the overall color with the bed quilt - it's really reading RED. I was hoping it would be a little more on the tan/cream/brown side but the red really just took over. I love red but I'm not really a red person. I'll have to tone it down by matching it with a lots of tan and cream accessories.

On Sunday I wanted to continue piecing but I didn't really want to work on my new quilt so I took a look through my stash of unfinished projects. What good quilter doesn't have a stash of unfinished projects?? lol! To my amazement what caught my eye was the very first quilt I learned to rotary cut and piece on back in 1992. I did the twelve blocks to learn what was for me, a new technique. You can tell from looking at the colors that I had no clue about color and patterns. It's all lights and dark with no patterns. And the colors are so 90's. But I still love it and hung onto it because I felt that I should finish my very first rotary quilt project. Every so often over the years, I would pull it out and look at the blocks. Yesterday I pulled it out of it's box and was just driven to complete the top. It took all day but it's finally finished. I think I'll quilt this one myself also. It's very basic and all straight line quilting will look great after it's finished - newbie mistakes and all - boy are some of my points off! lol! But I think it's important to show how far I've come in the past 15 years. :-)

I also found time to work on my Village - block three. I'm about a third of the way with the last block. My Village goal for the weekend was to finish up the sign and everything above it. Tonight I'll start work on the building itself.

Here is my progress on Awake the Dawning Day. I'm tempted to just finish it up by working on it at night but the month is half over and I still have a ton to go on the Village and no matter what I want to finish that this month. So it will stay my train project until it's finished - hopefully this week.

making progress

I'm making good progress on Awake the Dawning Day. I'm liking the piece more and more now that the color is coming into it. And once I finish up the top half of the piece it will fly because all that will be left will be the saying and a quick border. No stitching tonight because I have a working dinner but I hope to get some major stitching time in this weekend as I have no plans. :-)

back to Awake the Dawning Day

I started back on Awake the Dawning Day from BBD. Now that I'm adding some more color to it, it's going a bit better. The addition of the greens really made it pop. I'll be working on this piece until next week for sure.

I also have started to make progress on block three of the Village of Hawk Run Hollow but not enough yet for a progress photo. I got a much later start this month than I thought I would. I actually had it in my mind that I would be able to finish it during my vacation last week! But I ended up quilting a lot more than I thought I would. I finished up all the blocks on my dog bed and matching lap quilt - now I just need to put it together. :-) Maybe my next vacation at home.

back to the grind

Coq Au Pins by Twisted Oaks Designs

32 count Silkweaver Goldspinner Linen

Needle Necessities Floss Overdyed - #1101, Clearly Blue

Well it's back to work for me. But it should be a light week since my boss is out all week. That's a good thing. :-) I promised more pictures of Coq Au Pins and here they are.

At the agility trial over the weekend the temps were as hot as the weather forecasters predicted. It was up into the 90's on Sunday. Molly didn't fair very well with the heat - she actually gave up on her run on Sunday and walked off the course! :-) I guess she told me. Clancy on the other hand, showed no ill effects. He got six first place finishes and two second place finishes with one qualifying score. He is amazing. I'm starting to think it's time to retire Molly and spend my effort and money all on Clancy. He really does enjoy it more and I only have so much time and money to go around. I think I will decide after the Pug Dog Nationals in late September. If she has a bad show I will finish out the current classes with her and just concentrate on Clancy from that point on.

Here is my progress from last Thursday's St. Reatham day. I'm now 1/8th complete. :-)

busy weekend :-)

Coq Au Pins by Twisted Oaks Designs
32 count Silkweaver Goldspinner Linen
Needle Necessities Floss Overdyed - #1101, Clearly Blue

Here are my finished smalls from Coq au Pins. I love how they turned out. I did a few things different from the instructions. I put emery into the scissor fob so I could clean my needles while stitching. The added weight is a bonus. I also added a tassel to the scissor case. On Monday, I'll add more pictures so you can see it from all angles.

Today is my last day of vacation. :-( My how quickly it passes. The pugs and I have an agility trial in Antioch which is just north of me this weekend. It's going to be hot! 90+ both days. My pugs are not the usual pugs in that they are at their proper weight - Molly at 15 pounds and Clancy at 16.5 pounds, so they don't feel the heat like most pugs. But in any case, I will bring plenty of water for them to drink and to sit in. :-) Clancy is my water baby - I have a kiddy pool in the backyard and Clancy spends a lot of time in it splashing around. In fact, this year he has learned to hold his breath to retrieve toys that have sunk to the bottom on the pool. It's just six inches or so but he looks so funny. Now Molly is a different story. LOL! I have to put her in and splash water on her. And I get dirty looks the entire time. :-)

Have a great weekend!

Happy 4th of July

Coq Au Pins by Twisted Oaks Designs

32 count Silkweaver Goldspinner Linen

Needle Necessities Floss Overdyed - #1101, Clearly Blue

It's been almost a week since I last blogged! That doesn't happen very often. :-) I've been crazy busy at work and I'm on vacation this week - in theory that is. I worked all day on Monday and for a couple of hours yesterday and most likely will work a couple of hours on Thursday and Friday. As a result I haven't really gotten much stitching done since my last update. I did finish all the pieces to Coq au Pins last night and the plan is to do the finishing work today. I also quilted for about four hours yesterday. One of my goals for the week had been to finish my bed quilt top and matching dog bed but it doesn't look like that is going to happen during this vacation. Tomorrow is St. Reatham day and I plan on that then whatever stitching time I have left before I go back to work next Monday needs to be Block Three of the Village. I also want to find time to go through my craft cabinet and do some cleaning and tossing. I can't find anything in there right now and I need to make some space for all my stitching supplies. And I have a NADAC agility trial all weekend. So the end result will be I'm sure is that I will need more vacation at home. :-)