Unintended Hiatus

It's been a few weeks since I posted last. My hiatus was unintended. A couple of Fridays ago I caught some type of stomach virus necessitating an urgent care visit. It was most likely food poisoning and it's taken me some time to recover and to gather up energy for anything other than work.

I have not stitched in over 2 weeks. I just picked up my knitting needles Wednesday (where I immediately messed up my project so bad that I had to rip and rip and rip). I did some sewing last weekend which was my first foray back into my hobbies. When I don't feel well I read - and there hasn't been much of that either. I'm glad to get back to my various needles.

I did pick up my framed HallowEden. My camera settings must have been moved as these pictures are a bit grainy. The linen color is off here as it's a light green in real life. I really enjoyed stitching on this linen.

Not where this will stay but another picture.

A close up of the frame. I've found I enjoy selecting frames, it's fun!

I have been reading blogs posts, just not commenting quite so often. I'll get better at that this week. This weekend I've purposely spent at home - not that I've accomplished much but these days Saturdays seem to be spent on the go and away from my husband. It's been nice to have two whole days with him without any list of things to get accomplished. I hope you all had a great weekend and I hope to have something else to show you soon! Happy Stitches!

A Need and a Special Treat

As many of you know, my husband converted our spare bedroom to a sewing space for me at the end of 2009. It's a small room, after all we have a small house. The room has been more than sufficient for my needs. The one thing I've really wished I've had is a design wall. I've been having some trouble with a fabric choice for my current Jo's Little Women project. So I hammered in a nail, hung a hanger on it and attached a bit of batting creating a makeshift design wall so I could play around. Wow! I can't believe what I've been missing! I sent a quick email to Karen Dianne over at Living Life at LeehHaven about what fabric she uses for her design wall (she has 3 of them). Flannel is now on it's way and a 6x6" design wall will hopefully be part of my sewing space soon!

I decided to cut out 4 fabrics to audition for the center solid blocks. Having this up on the wall all week has helped! I didn't anticipate it, but I'll probably change the setting triangle fabric too. One day it would be nice to feel confident about fabric choices.

I finished the first bonus block of the Anniversaries of the Heart series yesterday at a stitching gathering. This was a quick block - even for me. I stitched most of the border twice. Ugh! Counting is not an over rated skill!

Our sampler guild, The Azalea Sampler Guild, had a special visitor at our last monthly meeting. This link will take you to our visitor's post about the visit. I'll post a couple of my photos later on in the month. Needless to say, it was a very special treat!

Wishing you all a good week and Happy Stitches!

Quick Post...

I finished the second block in the Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart series recently. I must say that the satin stitch and I are not friends. I stitched that part twice and am not completely pleased. Chain stitch was a first for me. I'm really enjoying this project. I have a feeling that I'll love each block more than the last one. As with the first block, I'm saving the personalization until I have time to sit down and really plan out the entire set of personalizations. I do have some ideas!

Valentine Rose by Blackbird Designs

36 Count Lakeside Linen Vintage Light Examplar

Called for threads - no substitutions

Back in the Saddle Again!

I've been back from my business trip to Texas for a week and am happy to report that my presentation was great. Thank you all for your well wishes!

It's been three weeks since I've picked up a needle of any kind for any length of time. Last weekend was our monthly meeting of Jo's Little Women and being around like minded people had me energized.

As you know, our instructor is the wonderfully talented (and published author), Jan Vaine. Here is Jan holding up the project that we're working on now. I really like her idea of using a plaid for the setting triangles.

For Show and Tell, Cherie brought two of the Jo projects she's been working on. Both are beautifully pieced. I didn't make this one with all the half square triangles. It's definitely one I'll come back too as it's grown a little bit on me. I think I'll go with red and blue for my version. Or maybe something with black....

Here is Cherie with her Lizzy's Little Quilt. I managed to complete this one.

I've learned that these little projects appear to be quick. Very deceptive. So I decided today to not leave it for the last minute and get started. My color ability leaves much to be desired and I always agonize over every choice and am rarely completely satisfied. I also am not fond of the cutting out step. So it wasn't the most fun day for me. Especially after it seemed I cut for ages and ended up with this little bitty pile. Not even the complete project but just the pieces for the 9 pieced center blocks. 28 fabrics I think. Even though these parts of the process are not my favorite, it felt good to be back in the sewing room.

I also ended up with a mess in the sewing room. This picture was after I'd folded up a lot of the fabric that I'd pulled. I didn't follow my 5 minute rule today (clean for just 5 minutes when I'm done). Most of the time, I'm successful with that rule and it's amazing what can be accomplished in 5 minutes. Today just wasn't a day for it!

I've also picked back up my knitting and my stitching. I'll probably have a stitching update for you later in the week.

Though I've not been posting, I have been keeping up with blog reading. So many exciting things going on in blog land! I continue to be wow'd by and inspired by each of you. Thank you for visiting my blog!

First Framed Piece and Quilting Peek

I picked up the first piece I've had framed from the framers a week or so ago.

Close up of the frame. The fabric color is more accurate here than in the picture above.

Here is a peek of my 2010 $5 quilt in the process of assembly. I'm at the point now where I have hours of thread clipping and ironing in front of me. I decided I'm done with this for the weekend. Anyone who knows me, knows I hate to iron.

Here's a quick pic I took of Cody. He hates getting his picture taken. A second before he was sitting up pretty, looking right at me. A second after this picture, he'd taken off.

I'll most likely be taking a blog break. I started my new job this week and I have to give a presentation in Texas the week of the 14th. A one hour presentation on a topic on which I knew nothing about on the 1st. The yet to be created presentation I can handle, the questions I'm not sure about. So I'll probably have some late nights this week and possibly spend some time in the office over the weekend. While I won't be posting myself, I'll continue to read your blogs. I'm always so inspired by you! Happy stitches!