One Flower Wednesday

I've been a bad blogger lately.  I'm getting behind on reading your blogs and commenting.  I hope to get caught up with all of you soon.

While looking through my stash for another project, I found a few more pink scraps,

The other project was a Maple leaf block, which I turned into a mini cushion. My plan is to eventually have a little basket for each season, with cross stitches and mini quilty blocks.

I'm not sure I like this as a cushion, because you can't tell what it is.  Would a small border help?   Or should I just 'unstuff' it?

I also stuffed the acorn I stitched a couple of weeks ago.  Not thrilled with it either. 

To wrap up the month, here is the mug rug I made for a swap.  It has now been received on the other side of the country, so it's okay to show you.

This was inspired by a wall hanging made by Paulette over at Sweet P Quilting and Creations.  This is an OPAM for October. 

I haven't finished anything for CTTY the last couple of months, so I'm happy to have this little cushion this month.  Have you noticed I did all small projects this month?  At least they're finished.

And now I must go post some of these projects on other sites, and do some link-ups.  Tomorrow night, I'll be packing for a scrap booking retreat, and then away for the weekend.  See you next month!

Keep on stitching....Sunny

 

finding the 3 of them together is becoming more common!

 

Are You Sitting Down?!?

I did it again!!!!  As you may recall, I made an entire flimsy last Sunday, to alleviate the guilt of buying new fabric.  And it felt so good, I did it again today.  Granted, it was a small kit, but I bought it just over a year ago, and it was collecting dust.

I still need to add the Jack O'Lantern face, but that won't take long.  I don't know if you can see it or not, but the outer border is candy corn!  I think I have something in my stash that I can use for the backing, but I don't think it will be ready for hanging in time for Halloween.

A couple of other small projects are almost finished, so I'll show them later in the week.  Assuming I have power later in the week.  Prayers going out to all who are in the path of Sandy.  Even as far as we are from the coast, we're expecting several inches of rain, and Tropical Storm force winds.  Major power outages are expected, and I'm hoping we won't be affected.  If so, I'll be pulling out the crocheting to while away my time. 

The last of the flowers on my deck

 These leaves will all be gone by this time tomorrow night.

Keep on stitching..... Sunny

 

 

One Flower Wednesday

Two more  for my pink project.  I think I need to go to the quilt store for more pink fabrics.  That could be trouble!

Yesterday was an awesome mail day at my house.  First, there was the cutest little mug rug from Linda.  I'm in a swap and we're swapping every couple of months, based on the seasons or holidays.  We know who our partner is each time, and Linda and I both chose to go with a winter theme this round, instead of Christmas.  That way, we can use our rugs longer.

Isn't he the cutest thing?  And he was wrapped in more of the red snowman fabric, which sparkles! 

A somewhat larger package arrived from Maria in Australia.  A couple of months ago, she posted a picture of a cushion that she had made for a swap.  It was beautiful, and I commented that I was sorry I had missed out on that swap. she suggested that we do a one-partner swap, and this is what I received from her.

It's so perfect!  I need to get an insert for it so it can be put in a place of honor.

And here are a couple of cross stitches that I completed last week. 

I'll leave you this evening with a picture that I took while I was driving to work this morning. 

I go to work entirely too early!!

Keep on stitching.....Sunny

 

 

I Did It!!!

If you're here for the weekly travelogue, it's later in the post.  We have stitchy news today!!  A little background first.  Earlier this week, I popped into the LQS to purchase a half yard of fabric to finish a swap project.  (waving to Maria!)  Would you believe that a half yard cost me over a hundred dollars?  No?  Well maybe I should mention that this came home with me as well.

And this somehow found it's way into my possession.

Now you might wonder why I bought a kit that uses the same fabric as the FQB, but I couldn't help myself!  I just had to have them both.  I saw the fabric online a couple of months ago, and knew it would be perfect for a pattern I had seen in a magazine.  And now it's mine.  But for a couple of days, I've felt guilty about spending so much money, when I already have well over a zillion projects/patterns/ fabric in my sewing room.  I know that many (most?) of you can sit down and churn out a flimsy in a day.  I am in awe of you.  And you do it on a regular basis.  So yesterday, I decided that I was going to get up today, and make this flimsy.  In one day.  Me.  And I Did It!!!!

I have the binding cut out, but I didn't put it together yet, because I wanted to post about this.  And I haven't bought the backing fabric yet.  I wonder how much that little trip will cost me?!?!

Before I could start this morning, I had to clean off my sewing table and my ironing board.  They weren't buried too deeply this time.  And I've moved this little project several times, so I decided to just take the time to finish it.

 

It has a little pocked on the back, to hold something very special, but we can't talk about that before Christmas.

 

I also baked bread today.  Several months ago, I purchased the book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  I bought  some ingredients, and then realized I needed a few special tools.  By the time I had everything gathered that I needed, I had lost interest, and then I got a job and just didn't have the time.  Because it really takes more than 5 minutes a day.  I recently got the urge again, reassembled the ingredients, and here is the result.

 

I need to reread the section on yeast, because it didn't rise very much, but it tasted good, and I'll continue to try to make improvements.

 

And now for a summary of my Saturday.We've had such beautiful weekends, we had to head out once again to search for more fall color.  What we discovered was that areas near by our town are peaking now, and some hillsides are absolutely glorious to look at.  We spent the day in southern Pennsylvania, and  I'm glad we didn't wait another week.  Our primary destination was the Flight 93 Memorial.  It's a very somber place, and a fitting tribute to those who lost their lives in that field. 

A large boulder in the field marks the spot where the plane went down.

 

   After we left the memorial, we spent the rest of the day looking for windmills, covered bridges, and geocaches.  In my experience, there is almost always a geocache on or near a covered bridge, and we were very successful in finding them yesterday.

 

 

We found a total of 7 bridges in Somerset County.  I think there are three more, but we were running out of time and daylight.  The weather was cooler than we expected, the skies were overcast, and we had a couple of rain showers, but I predicted that the skies would clear when it was time for us to head home.  Yep, the sun was shining as we started home.

The rest of the day will have to wait for another post, it's past my bedtime.

Keep on stitching.....Sunny

A rare sight - all three in close proximity.  The one in the middle hates the one on the left, and they avoid each other.

One Flower Wednesday

Actually, it's Three Flower Wednesday at my house!  I made this one for myself.

This is one of my favorites so far, and I think I'll be making a couple more.  I'll use different centers so they won't be identical.

Then there was a lovely squishy in the mail today from Erica, my partner in the Inchy Swap.

They're so pretty - one even sparkles!!

If you'd like to see more flowers, pop over to Karen's blog for more inspiration.  But be warned, hexie's are very addicting.

Keep on stitching........Sunny

 

 

Show Me Your Apple Cores

Do I need another new project?  No.  Sometimes I just can't help myself.  I had to order some new hexagon papers, and somehow, a pack of apple core pieces fell into my basket.  Now quite sure how that happened, since i was ordering online, but it happened.

I've been thinking about apple cores for awhile, and since I was already placing an order and paying postage . . . . . . .  I don't know what I'll make, so if you've posted a great project, or if you have a favorite tut, please share with me.  Pretty please?

Today was another beautiful Autumn day.  Once again, we went for a drive, looking for autumn colors.  We started out by following a drive through a state forest, but after following a fire tower road through an oak forest for awhile, we decided that we needed to look for a little better road.

Although there is a map for this drive, and there were no warnings about the road, I don't think it's really intended for the average passenger car.  And if you're looking for pretty autumn colors, a very dense oak forest is not the place to be looking.

We were near another state park, so we drove over there for our picnic lunch, and a little geocaching.
It's a place where we often kayak, and it was strange to see the beaches deserted, and no shouting children.  There were a couple of kayaks and canoes on the water, but not many.

One of the nice things about the day was that we put stew ingredients in the crock pot before we left home, so when we got home,  dinner was waiting!  No fuss, no muss.  A perfect day.

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.  Sunday will be a day for sleeping late, sewing, and maybe trying out a bread recipe.  I'll let you know if it's a success.

Keep on stitching.....Sunny

 

A Walking Stick - we saw two today!!

 

I've been doing a lot of cross stitching lately, but I haven't done anything with them after I've finished stitching.  One night while I was reading Faye's blog, Carolina Stitcher, I realized that she does finishes for others.  So we chatted, and I sent off two stitcheries to see what she would come up with.  And this is what I received back in the mail today!

a wonderful needlebook

a wee little cushion

Aren't they wonderful?    I've stitched a lot of Christmas ornaments this year, and now I'm venturing into other holidays and seasons.  I like having a small project in my purse to work on during my lunch hour, or in waiting rooms, etc.  Faye would like to create a finish for you, too, so pay her a visit.

My most recent projects are secret, so here's a tiny little peek, and the rest will be revealed in a couple of weeks. 

On to some bigger projects soon........Sunny