I can't believe that I haven't posted anything since the 20th of last month!

I have been working a bit on some things. Probably not as much as I should, but here's what I have.

First up is All You Can Eat by The Prairie Schooler. These little fish are just too cute! I absolutely love how this company uses only DMC floss and the same fabric on all of their designs. It's a refreshing change of pace! I have my eye on a few other designs of their's, but I'm trying hard not to start yet another project...lol!


I got another day of stitching done on The Simple Things by Blackbird Designs. Not bad for only 2 days of work so far. I'm way behind on my plans for stitching from this company, but hopefully I'll get caught up to where I want to be soon.



There was no way I could resist getting started on Mediterranean Mermaid by Mirabilia when I got it in. I had in my stash a piece of 28 ct. Stormy Seas Lugana Opal by Polstitches and it seemed perfect to me. Here's a shot of the entire piece so you can see how beautiful this fabric really is. I'm not making as much progress as fast as I would like on this project as I'm using a hoop instead of stitching in hand like I normally do. The holes on the opal fabric aren't quite the same as on regular fabric to me. Maybe when I get out of the area that needs backstitching I can manage to get back to my "normal" style of stitching and accomplish more faster.

I haven't so much as picked up a needle or done any type of sewing for several days now....but I do have some more planned wip's coming up. I've just ordered the four designs below and I'm just waiting for them to come in :) And..... I also went by River City Quilts and picked up the next three months for the Thimbleberries BOTM Club yesterday. I know, just what I need....more wip's, but who can resist? :))











I found a great E-Bay deal on this just this morning...$14.40 total. It was on sale and there was no shipping charge added....love it! This isn't my usual type of stitching, although Just Nan's designs are quite beautiful and I have quite a few of them on hand (and some wip's)....I love the stitching mermaids on this particular piece. I haven't ordered any materials for this one yet and I think I will wait to pull all of the necessary colors before I look at fabrics. I think though that something with sparkle would be lovely. Look at that whale on top...too cute!!

This is not a new design, but I loved it the moment I saw it and have ordered everything necessary to start stitching it....I'm just waiting for the linen and threads to get here. Aren't those birds the sweetest?!!!

On another note, I watched one of the sweetest and sadest movies yesterday. It's called A Walk To Remember. The movie is based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks and was just an absolutely wonderful love story about two high school kids. Of course, I couldn't make it though the movie without tears and couldn't help thinking that that is the way it should be.

Until later....happy stitching!!

Here's a little more progress on the Light colorway of the Thimbleberries BOTM quilt that I have been working on. This block presented more of a challenge for me to align all of the diamonds up!! As you can see I was a little off in some areas, but all in all it's not too bad. By the time I get to the third quilt I should have it down...lol!

I don't know if I mentioned before that I decided to buy all three colorways for this fabulous quilt!! What a HUGE task I set for myself…lol! So I decided that I had better get going on the work ahead since I have three times to do :) I have ripped apart and restarted so many times that I could have one half way done by now….it’s so important to read and read again!! All of those numbers start running together for me after a while. I ran into some problems with the precut pieces as well…some of them were just a little too small, which presented problems in the overall measurements, so I don’t think I will go that route again. I found things went better when I cut the pieces myself. All in all I did enjoy spending the last two days working on the quilt and seeing my squares come together :)

This is Block #1 in the Light colorway: I cut the upper square the wrong size, so will have to wait until my fabric comes in to make the three smaller squares that go with this…..but most of my points turned out well and all of the background fabric is going in the same direction....that's progress :)

On one of my visits to River City Quilts, they had a model of this purse hanging up and I thought it was so pretty and just the size that I like to carry around most of the time :) Their purse was done in lime type colors which wouldn't go with any of my clothes, so I picked out the fabric below instead..I have several brown shirts that will look nice with it. This fabric is called Al Fresco designed by Michele D'Amore for Marcus Fabrics. I started and finished this purse up yesterday morning....how gratifying to be able to have a finish so quickly :))) I will definitely be making more of these cute little purses.......


The button shown here is just for looks as it doesn't really close this way. I have attached small velcro pieces inside for closure.


I have only put one pocket in, but you could add another one easily on the other side of the purse or several smaller ones. Maybe a smaller pocket especially for your cell phone :)

Except for the button....I'm finished!!! I have not been able to locate my bag of buttons as of yet in my very messy craft room. And I'm sure I stashed them somewhere where I wouldn't forget where they are...lol :) This project was so much fun. I love all of the little things the designers did to make this such a nice needlebook .... the herringbone stitch around the needlebook and the cording in the middle of the book are great touches for a wonderful finish! I'm not sure if I mentioned here before that I found the feather charm I used at Hobby Lobby for $1.47 in the beading section of the store!!

I couldn't wait to get started....so here's my progress for the first day of stitching. I just LOVE those loooong birds!!!! I think they are what really caught my attention first on this design :) I know, I haven't finished my needlebook as of yet, but who could resist those birds...lol!



I think I have become a Blackbird Designs "junkie". I mean look at the beautiful quilt I came across while searching for more designs I'd like to stitch....I have plans to purchase this book in the near future and hope I can work on the quilt you see here! As I've mentioned before, I'm not a quilter, but I'd definitely like to give this a try :))) Isn't it just beautiful!?! And those colors are just perfect for my tastes. The book this quilt is from is called Birds Of A Feather.

I spent my afternoon yesterday making strawberry jam :)))) I let the kids taste test if for me when my daughter and all of her friends came in from school. There's nothing like having handy guinea pigs and hungry ones at that!! I spent my time shoving strawberries in as fast as I could inbetween sips of unsweetened coffee while making the jam, so I couldn't really tell if it was too sweet or not...lol! It had been quite some time since I had done any canning and I couldn't find my usual receipe that I love for this jam, so I ended up using one from another book that I had.

I LOVE this wonderful pinkeep!! It was such a fun project to work on. It's already full of pins, needles and anything else I could poke into it :)) It's so big it will hold tons of your favorite goodies!

An absolutely wonderful design by Moss Creek Designs....and tons of work!! I started this project a couple of weeks or so ago on 32 ct. Belfast. It bothered my eyes so bad that I ended up scrapping it and re-started on a 28 ct. evenweave. It's much easier now!! :) It's slow going as there is quite a bit of over one stitching and speciality stitches and I'm also working on Peacock Pinkeep by Blackbird Designs. When I re-started the project I decided not to start with the same panel as the first go round, so right now I'm working on the back of the etui. The Hollie Stitches on the front panel shutters are probably glad as they have no new vocabulary words to learn for now :))))

This doesn't seem like much work, but I felt like I accomplished quite a bit in the couple of days that I worked on this.

Isn't this just the cutest little hut to hold your stitching supplies? I just love the bright colors used on it and I also loved the fact that all of the beads and other accessories can all be found at Hobby Lobby.


Here's my couple of days worth of progress on this piece. It was such fun to work on...speciality stitches are used to create the walls and roof of the hut :)

Yesterday while I was over at River City Quilts picking up the Bistro fabric that I mentioned in one of my other posts, they had this beautiful quilt hanging up. I inquired about it and was told it was a block of the month. I went all of the way home with that beautiful quilt on my mind and ended up going back to pick up the first 6 months worth of charts and fabrics :))) I am by no means a "quilter", but I think I will really enjoy working on this. It is so much more beautiful in person than in this pic! There are three color ranges you can choose for this quilt...I chose the Traditional theme. Here is the link to the Thimbleberries website.

I think spring has finally come to stay here in our little town. The trees and flowers are in bloom all over town and the farmers have been busily plowing and planting their fields. I can't wait until they are selling the fruits of their labors down on the corner street.....there's nothing like fresh fruit and veggies ....... the corn is amazing! Here a couple of pics of the trees at the college here in town showing off their beautiful blooms and tulips from someone's front yard.

by Meme's Quilts. I have always loved Raggedy Ann and this sweet birdhouse is no exception. I love the antique look you add to the details of this piece.....a tea dyed collar and sanded body parts. When I get to her legs the socks will also be tea dyed.

A tea dyed collar and pretty fabric torn bow. The model has a button attached in the center of the bow, but I elected to leave this off as I liked it better without.