Thankful and Fortunate

Today in the United States, we celebrate Memorial Day. We celebrate those who have served, those who came back and those who didn't. The words Thank You aren't by any means sufficient.

Due to Tropical Storm Beryl, which made landfall nearby, we've had a quiet weekend inside due to the heavy rain and high winds. We watched a couple of movies and I sewed a bit when I felt comfortable having my sewing machine plugged in. We're fortunate that we're not experiencing the flooding or the power outages that some of the city (currently 22,000) is experiencing. We did have one downed tree limb but it wasn't one that caused any damage. We've been very lucky.

Here is what I accomplished this weekend - seven Cotton Club blocks. As you know, my mojo has been hard to raise lately - I think work is getting most of me these days. This weekend, I enjoyed the time I spent at the sewing machine. It felt good!

I'm now all caught up and even have this months blocks completed! It's been important to me to stay up to date on these blocks because they take so much time. They're only 5.5". I can't see sitting down and making all 40 something of them one after another.

For those of you stitching Ann Dale, did you see this post? Or this progress post from Lanie? Both have made me feel completely comfortable about stitching Ann as charted. Lanie made a change in the over one box but has otherwise stitched as originally charted making a few color changes. Both are absolutely beautiful! Expect to see a progress pic in the next couple of weeks.

Wishing you happy stitches!

I had a great weekend and hope each of you did too. I didn't get much sewing done but I did get my bee block sewn. My bee mate asked that each block have a theme. I don't have much in the way of themed fabrics so I picked this color palette as my representation of a Florida sunset.

I also got my Cotton Club blocks from last month completed plus one of the blocks from the month I skipped. The block on the lower left gave me fits - I'll end up playing around with that one some more. It's not as wonky as it looks in the picture but it needs some work. The blocks seem to be getting less simple each month. Just a few months to go and then we'll be ready to start assembly. I'm sure I'll end up lagging behind when it comes to assembly.

I'm so looking forward to Memorial Day weekend. I just need an extra day off, you know?

Theme-A-Licious April Update

I'm late posting the April Theme-A-Licious update. It was a crazy month from a personal standpoint and it translated to my lack of stitching. There was a lot of ripping out this month. Some (a fair amount) was due to chart errors and some was due to my own issues (out right corner wave border). Aprils theme was Amazon April - in other words work on BAPs. Here is Ann Dale as of this afternoon.

There is still more ripping to be done on the part I stitched quite a bit on - the left outer wave border. As charted, it's going in the wrong direction and I stitched it as charted. I know this project has resulted in some frustrations for many stitchers but I still love it. And so I don't mind making it right. Who knows, I might reach the point where I want to throw it in the corner but that hasn't happened as yet. She deserves to be stitched!

May's theme is May Memories which is all about those class projects. I haven't taken a lot of classes but I do have a two projects I'd like to devote some time to.

While there hasn't been much quilting going on, I haven't put the breaks on stash acquisition. My latest purchases are from Jo Mortons new lines. I'll use these in my Jo's Little Women projects.

Thank you for your visits to my little piece of the web. I appreciate it and love reading your blogs too. May your stitches be happy ones!

Catherine of Bramblewood Stitches is the winner of my homemade vanilla! Catherine, I'm sending you an email and hope you enjoy it! I decided to send out another bottle and Kathy P of Cotton Cellar wins that one. Kathy P, I'll send you an email as well.

I was fortunate to win this gorgeous needlebook from Jeanne at Willow Tree Stitcher in April. I haven't posted about it because I wanted to take a photo. My photo isn't all that great so do hop over to her blog, which is fantastic, and check out her picture. Jeanne's finishing is absolutely exquisite - thank you Jeanne!

Several of you have asked about my mother in law. This week, after 3 weeks and 2 days in the hospital, she was released from the hospital in Las Vegas. She is staying with a friend and after 2 weeks of home health rehab there we expect the doctor will release her to fly back home here to Florida. We're all ready-thank you for your thoughts and emails!