My Ta-Da Moment

Well, I had my quick-fix finish. The stitchery part finished and the flap completed. What was I waiting for? So today was the day that I finished it. Ta-Da...

The envelope section just needed to be machine quilted - yikes, that's why I had stalled. For the first time, I used spray basting to put it together - I think I like it. Then I grabbed some multi-color machine quilting thread and sat myself down at the machine and quilted it with a grid pattern.

And, now it is loaded up with my next stitchery project, ready to grab and go...I love the size of it. It's large enough to hold a booklet, and an 8" hoop. It also has a pocket for scissors and floss.

I really enjoyed working on this project and may make a few more for Christmas gifts. I'm so glad to see stitchery making a come-back.

I found this poem that I just had to share.

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when loved ones are too busy to give you time,

If you can overlook when people take things out on you,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can face the world without lies and deceit,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can do all of these things,

Then you are probably the family dog.

It's A Beautiful Spring Day ....Finally

I woke up this morning to the sun shining and birds chirping, what a difference a week makes. I have all of the windows in the house open - I love the smell of Spring. And, if the temperatures keep rising - it may feel like summer by this afternoon - Break out the capri pants.

It's too nice outside to be inside the house, but I want to spend a little bit of time playing in my sewing room. I could/should spend some time cleaning up my sewing room, but, then that would take precious time away from sewing - and I need to strike while the iron is hot. After all, I could save the cleaning for a rainy day - we have plenty of those but there's no rain in sight for the next few days - just beautiful, gorgeous Spring weather.

I have plenty of projects to work on, but, I really need a "Ta-Da" moment. It's time to resurrect something that has been lying dormant for a while. Hmmm....what do I have in my bag of tricks that I could finish quickly? You'll just have to check back later.....

Weather Update and Ramblings

The rain has finally stopped (or at least it has been reduced to a drizzle), the water has receded from most of the area roads and today, for a brief period, the sun made a welcome appearance. I know they say that April Showers bring May Flowers and being an avid Gardener, I understand this, BUT, this was a bit excessive. However, with all of the wind, the ground is not that wet.

Meggie asked how Bailey reacted to the storm. He slept through most of it. Ahh, the Dogs Life. The only thing that Bailey doesn't like is thunder and fireworks. We live rather close to the minor league baseball stadium and they set off fireworks a couple times a month. Oh, speaking of Dogs Life - here is a quilt from the QHC show depicting a Dog's Life. It's so bright and colorful and the workmanship was to-die-for. Can you imagine how many fabrics went into making this?

My thoughts and prayers go out to all of the families affected by the massacre at Virginia Tech this week. I just can't imagine how they are coping with this tragedy. I'm also tired of the media being armchair quarterbacks with their woulda, shoulda, coulda mentality - just let these families grieve.

I did file my taxes today (nothing like waiting until the last possible minute) and now that that black cloud is no long hanging over my head, I'm ready to start playing with some of the goodies that I got at the quilt show.

I'll leave you with a few more photos of quilts from the QHC Show. I'm just crazy about Flamingos (no pink flamingos in my garden, tho) and I couldn't resist snapping these shots. The photo on the left is titled "Happy Flamingos" and the one on the right is "Margarita Party". Hmmm...a margarita sounds pretty good about now.

Nor'Easter - April 15, 2007

Ok, so it's a week since it was Easter Sunday, but this Sunday we are in the midst of a Nor'Easter - not fun. We have had a record 4.22" of rain as of 8:00 p.m. and it's still raining with another inch of rain due overnight. The wind is howling with 40-50 mph gusts, the windows are rattling, and the lights are flickering. Unfortunately, it's a slow moving storm and not supposed to go out to sea until Wednesday. Many area roads are flooded. I will be so glad to see the sun shine again.

A Whirlwind of A Week

I think this is the first time this week that I have sat still long enough to write a post.

We had a wonderful Easter despite the cold weather - at least the sun was shining for part of the day but the wind made it feel like winter. What could be more wonderful than having the whole family together? We even had the Easter Egg hunt outside and wore winter coats over our Easter outfit -- the Hunt Must Go On.....

After all of the cooking I did on Saturday, Easter Sunday was one of the most relaxing days I ever had. I even worked a little on the stitchery portion of the Irish Chain table topper. But, the dogs were so entertaining as little Toby thinks he can do anything that Bailey, the big guy, can do....however, stealing the tennis ball was just too much.

Mom surprised me the Byer's Quilter as an Easter gift.

On Thursday, April 12th, we celebrated my Mom's 80th birthday. I think she looks pretty darned good for 80. She's been wanting a digital camera. Heck, if she can handle using the computer and having a new puppy, she can master a digital camera.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

On Friday, April 13th, I went with my friends, Deb and Susan, to the Quilter's Heritage Celebration in Lancaster, PA. We had such a great time shopping, looking at quilts, shopping, laughing, shopping, inspiring each other, and did I say, shopping? I'm surprised that the East Coast didn't feel a power surge with the friction created by all of the credit cards that were being swiped.

I'll tease you with one of the "First Place" Pictorial Quilts titled "Through Tuscany" by Cynthia England. You actually felt like you could just step right into this quilt.

When I got home from the show, tired, happy and a little lighter in the wallet, I dumped all of my purchases on the floor to look over what I bought. It was like Christmas all over again, no it was better than Christmas -- it was all quilting stuff.

And, I finally finished the stitchery portion on my Scrappy Irish Chain. I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking with it. Now, to put on the final border and get it quilted.

The Heat Is On

It's hard to believe that Easter is only minutes away, so I want to take this opportunity to wish you and your's a very Happy Easter.

The title of this post "The Heat Is On" is because even though the calendar says it's Easter - the heater is running, we had snow flurries today, it's cold, it's windy, which makes it feel even colder than it really is. Brrr....the only saving grace is looking out in my garden and seeing daffodils, tulips, hythacins and forsythia all in bloom. I spent all day in the kitchen cooking (and if you knew me well, you'd say Huh? You? Did you know it was the kitchen? Were you just sewing at the kitchen table???). Every year I make the Betty Crocker Easter bunny cake - and it always turns out so cute - here's a peek at the cake. Of course, that didn't take me all day, I also made potato salad, macaroni salad, ham and scalloped potatoes, but they're not as cute as this cake.

Not much happening on the quilting front. I'm working on the stitchery portion of the spring table topper and I do have 6 of the 12 flowers embroidered. Halfway point - Woo Hoo. [Note to self: keep going - don't quit now]. This is small enough that it's portable - so I may take it to my mother's tomorrow and work on it a little in between the Easter Egg hunt and fixing dinner. I really enjoy working on the stitchery, but it seems to take a L-O-N-G time to complete a block.

No fabric diet for me this month. Next week is the Quilter's Heritage Celebration in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I look forward to this show all year. I'm going up with two of my friends from work on Friday. One friend is a quilter and the other friend is just learning to quilt - and I know we'll have a great time. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas.

Bailey is sporting his Easter outfit - an Easter neckerchief and he's ready for the Easter Bunny to bring him a new toy and a sleeve of tennis balls.

Happy Easter from Kim & Bailey

April Fool's Day

It seems a little sacrilegious that today is both April Fool's Day and Palm Sunday.

Did you ever have one of those days that you knew Candid Camera was hiding just around the corner? Or you were dropped into an old "I Love Lucy" skit. Well, I had one of those days today. Every time that I attempted to do something, there was something else that needed to be done and it seemed like it would be a quick fix so that I could get back to doing what I wanted to do, but instead, it took much longer and I wondered why I even started. Whew, how was that for a run-on sentence? Even Blogger wasn't playing nicely for me today. It has taken me forever to do this posting. Maybe it is fitting that it's April Fool's Day after all - I really felt like the April Fool.

After a few really nice days of 70-degree temperatures, today was dismal, cloudy and chilly. Mother Nature is letting us know who is the boss. I worked in the garden for a bit yesterday and that was a nice surprise, since it was supposed to rain and never did. We have gone 7 days without rain - that is a record so far this year. I just adore Spring flowers and they seem to be bursting out of the ground.

Today was a good day to sit down and do some mindless sewing, once I made it up to the sewing room. I have a few projects that I could have worked on, but nothing was singing to me to work on it or it required more thought than I wanted to spend time thinking about. I do have my Stitchery finished and even got the rick-rack sewn on, but I'm having a difficult time trying to wrap my mind around how to put it together -- so I shelved it for the time being.

So instead, I sat down and just started sewing together some 1-1/2" strips together to duplicate a pattern from the Handmade magazine. 1-1/2" strips are really small - since they only finish at 1" -- but, I'm pretty happy with the result even though it will only finish 35-1/2" square. Mindless sewing is just so therapeutic. I want to get two of the three borders on so that I can transfer the embroidery designs of different flowers in each of the open space blocks. Doesn't this just scream "Spring is Here"? It's going to be a table topper for my kitchen table.

Speaking of new beginnings, my Mom got a Yorkie puppy, Toby, and he is just so cute. Look at that sweet face. He's going to be a lot like Bailey, he just loves to mug for the camera.