Winter Wonders

I finished this cross-stitch pinkeep over this past snowy/icy weekend; I hope and pray that you were spared any dangerous conditions and/or power outage. We are experiencing severe cold today; but thankfully, we only received several inches of sleet which didn't accumulate on the trees or powerlines. I've begun another cross stitch piece, this one is a sampler~ Sarah Barker. 

If you've been a reader here for a while you may recall a post that I did many years back regarding a thimble that my grandmother gave to me. I am including the link here, for context. A friend discovered this sampler pattern and alerted me to it a few years back. I have done some research through my hometown document center to see if this sampler could possibly be one made by the original owner of my thimble. The dates align. There were six nine year old girls named Sarah Elizabeth Barker living in the United States in 1840. Considering the fact that this child had her own gold, monogrammed, thimble; and the high quality of needlework skills exhibited in this piece of work, chances are high that this sampler was made by the same person as the one buried in my hometown. I am going with that. And so, my version of Sarah's sampler has begun, I am switching out the colors of mine from the original, though. Here is the pattern as printed:

This magnificent Amaryllis continues to bloom forth and be a bright spot on the kitchen table against the frozen landscape beyond. 

Patience has received a border! This particular black-on-black print has been in my stash since the late 1990's. I was glad to put it to good use at long last! I hope to add another, wider, border beyond this one but I have stalled out on the decision making process for now; and so, Patience is hanging neatly in the closet while I ponder what's next.  There was supposed to be a quilt retreat this past weekend, it was postponed and rescheduled due to the weather. It's just as well, I have pulled out a mostly completed BOM from a few years ago and am using the time between now and the upcoming retreat weekend to cut pieces for the blocks to finish up this one. All the blanks will soon be filled in with smaller pieced blocks. 

Sew...what's new and exciting at your place?

Stay warm and safe!

Life is Good!

It's March...

... and it's coming in like a lamb here today; what's the weather like where you are? Up at my Mom and Dad's in New Hampshire they're buried under snow with more forecast to fall on Saturday. My Dad loves it but my Mom has had enough already! Speaking of my parents, today is their 71st wedding anniversary! 

This picture was taken a while ago, but you can see how cute they are! Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

The rest of this post is going to be one of massive catch-up; there's a lot less time devoted here with a new puppy in the house, but I'm going to try to do better this month. I was lucky enough to go on a weekend retreat at this fabulous facility a few weeks ago. 

I got all of these string pieced blocks done while there and am auditioning inner borders, that's as far as I've gotten; this beauty remains on the design wall while other sewing is going on. 

I covered a kneeler cushion for church, there was a big strip of high density foam rubber to trim up for this job. 

As you can see, the hunk that fell on the floor, the excess, was immediately claimed! "What, for me? Oh, yes, I like it, it's very comfy!" He used it for a couple of days to rest on, I'll need to make a cover for this soon as he began a little nibbling of the corners and I've taken it up until I can get to that task. He'll be delighted to get it back. 

I've got five blocks done for the Cream and Sugar BOM, these measure 20" square.

I quilted up the above two quilts for friends, they were both great quilts to work on; bright and happy!

Again, that hunk o' foam was well loved during naptimes under the longarm while I worked.

Sometimes when I can't find Augie I catch him hiding right in the basket with his toys!

Yes, this catch-up post was one that's gone straight to the dogs! Augie is 21 weeks old today, he just completed a six week course on Puppy Manners and Socialization and will  start Beginner One Obedience Training in April; wish us luck!

 

Take time to smell the flowers today, wherever you are! 

I'll be back again soon. 

Life is Good!

Checking it Twice?

It all started here, with the Great Granny Squared quilt pattern. Simple enough, right? Everything's cut out at one time and after this one is pieced together (72" X 85") there are enough left over pre-cut squares to piece another, bonus, quilt. Who doesn't love a bonus? 

And here it is! This one measures 54" X 66", a perfect lap or picnic quilt. Easy-peasy, right? Think again! If only it had been as easy a rolling out of bed. I was lucky enough to spend last weekend on a quilting retreat and came home on Sunday with the entire center section of the bonus quilt pieced. It was mindless sewing, I know better than to carry any complicated piecing on retreat; that would interfere with all of the chatting and snacking! So, on Monday morning, I pieced those top and bottom borders only to discover that they were eight inches too long! Huh? Something major was wrong here. So much for mindless sewing! A quick recheck pointed up the error of my ways. Each of these long rows was supposed to have a one inch spacer strip attached so that those blocks could "float" between the pieced columns. I hadn't inserted the spacer rows. There they were, in the bin, all cut and ready to go. Groan. 

Let the ripping begin! Each row needed un-sewing. It took half a day to begin to see some positive results. 

The circled area here highlights the repaired rows and the proper spacing. 

There's a big difference, those cute little blocks now have breathing room!

By dinnertime on Monday I had all but one row repaired. I'd lost an entire day! I wish I could say that this was the first time I'd made a mistake on a retreat weekend, but that wouldn't be truthful. I'm  more than experienced with the seam ripper! It's said that Santa checks his list twice. Had I done that with the directions, I could have saved myself a LOT of time and effort and not had to remake this one. Whew! Anyway, after all that, you might think that it stops here. Great Granny Squared and the Bonus Quilt would be two terrific accomplishments from all those precut squares, right? Well, guess what, it's not over yet! Nope, not by a long shot. I still have enough left over squares in my bin, from these same fabrics, to make a table runner too. Stay tuned. So, I'll be reading the directions completely through on this next project, and then I'll read through them again; to play it safe. Just call me Santa!

Life is Good!