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.

So, my husband and his cadets had a commissioning ceremony to go to the other night and I was asked to watch over the lovely little Lilly. As I was still running a fever off and on I didn't want to handle her too much, so I enlisted the help of my daughter, who has never really been around babies!

Haley was telling her they would get along just fine as long as she didn't vomit on her...lol!

Meme's Quilts has long been a favorite of mine for her beautiful primitive doll patterns. I decided that maybe I need something to do in conjunction with cross stitching for now. I used to make alot of dolls and sell them or give them to friends. I tried my hand at ceramics and tole painting too and had a lot of fun! So, yesterday I searched out my old doll patterns that were my very favorites and ordered a few more. Here's what I ordered:

This one is called "All Rag Dolls" by Meme's Quilts. Moda has a line of fabrics out called "Bistro" and I thought she would be adorable in coffee type fabrics :) I LOVE it!!!!

My daughter and one of her "best buds", Clayton, decided to set up the tent he won at the Post Prom Party last week in our very small front yard. It was hilarious watching two people try to do something with no one having read any instructions. I took several videos, but for some unknown reason the sound didn't work. Wouldn't ya know!! Now if it was something I didn't want anyone to hear it would be playing over the PA system over at the ball field!!!!!