Need Advice Please

Several months ago, I joined the Name Game Swap #2.  I made a lovely little quilt for my partner, and then I waited and waited to get a quilt of my own.  Eventually, I got an email from my partner telling me that life got in the way, and she would be very late but would eventually send my quilt.  I understand that life does sometimes get in the way, and that there are certain risks when swapping.  So I decided to make my own quilt.

So I incorporated all my ideas, and I really don’t like it.  I totally lost interest, and it’s just dull and uninteresting.  Any ideas for redeeming it?  Or should I just bury it on a shelf somewhere.  It’s quilted and bound, so maybe some embroidery?  Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been joining One Flower Wednesday, but I’m going to take a break for awhile, and make yoyos instead!  I started making some many months ago for Yoyoville, and somehow they got pushed aside and forgotten.  So here’s to Yoyo Wednesday!

What have you been up to lately?  Are you being kind to yourself?

              ……….Sunny……….

FNSI Results

Lucky me- I had two FNSI’s this month!  I got an early start yesterday because I came home from work early, so I was able to finish this scarf before dinner.

After dinner I went down to my cave and made a sun.

This is the last element of a wall hanging, so it should be showing up here soon.  I’ve been dreading this sun, but it actually went quickly.

Then I started another new project that’s been on my pile for awhile.  It doesn’t look like much yet, but it’s the background for a wool applique design.

I’ll be working hard on Sunday to further these projects.

Today was our ‘play day’.  Because of the uncertainty about the snow, we planned to stay close to home.  We went for a drive around the county, and took some back roads that I’ve never been on before. 

We only had a couple of inches of snow, and it was very pretty in some places. 

Click on this last tree pictures to make it larger,  The tips of the branches look like they’re frosted.

Are there any Nora Roberts fans out there?  Have you read her Boonsboro Trilogy?  We drove through Boonsboro today and stopped at the Bakery, which is right next door to the Inn.

They have some very tasty treats, believe me!!

This second picture of the Inn was taken a couple of weeks ago.  I was too lazy to cross the street today for the front view.

And across the street is Turn The Page bookstore.  In real life, it’s owned by Nora’s husband. 

We finished the day with some shopping and then came home where my personal chef (DH) made some awesome crab cakes for dinner.  You haven’t lived until you’ve had Maryland crab cakes.

Be kind to yourself……Sunny

A Snowy FNSI

 

It’s not a lot of snow, but it’s very cold out, and the snow made the roads very slick, so we decided to skip our monthly Dinner Club with friends, and order in Chinese.  I’ll miss seeing the friends, but I’ll have more time for FNSI!  Follow the link to see what everyone else is doing this month.

Actually, I thought FNSI was last week, so I sewed like crazy, and got most of this little table topper finished.

I wanted to bind it in the blue fabric, but I didn’t have enough, so I found this wonderful stripey fabric last weekend in Baltimore.  This is for a gift, and for another gift, I made this little guy on Sunday.

This went together quickly, and I really like the finished    product.  I didn’t take pictures of the backs, but they’re both from clearance fabric that I also got in Baltimore, and I wish I had purchased more of both fabrics!

And don’t tell anyone, but I actually left work early today, and when I got home, I finished my first pink scarf for the Pink Scarf Project.  My fingers are itching to start a second scarf, but there are other projects calling out to me first. 

In the mail this week, I received pretty pink hexies from Pat in the UK.

I am slowing down in my hexie production.  While cleaning and organizing and making my lists of what I’d like to accomplish in 2013, I came upon my yoyos for Yoyoville.  I think I’ll devote my Wednesday nights to making yoyos for awhile instead of hexies.  But I’m still in the Inchy Swap, so I’ll be making at least a couple every month.

I also received this beautiful mug rug from my swap  partner Ida.  It’s a seasonal swap, and we had fun reminiscing about decorating shoe boxes in school and making “Balentimes” for our classmates.

Let’s see, what else is happening.  Uhhh…I got new tires on my car this week, and an oil change, and oh yeah ---  I START MY NEW JOB ON MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!  It’s actually the same job I’ve been doing for nearly a year, but I’ll no longer be a temp, and I’ll have BENEFITS!!!!!  Like health insurance and paid vacation.  This has been in the works for several months, and I’m so glad it’s finally happening.  Happy Dancing in my cubicle on Monday!!

Who were you kind to today……..Sunny

Exploring Maryland–Part 2

 

Saturday was supposed to be about 50 degrees where we were headed.  It wasn’t.  And it was windy.  Rest assured that nobody had swimming in mind. 

It was a pretty, sunny day however, and we did some exploring along the lower Susquehanna River.  I didn’t take many pictures because it’s just not a pretty time of year, and I haven’t been able to post pictures, so I haven’t been blogging.

I’m trying a new product today, and will hopefully be able to insert pictures.  When I switched to Firefox a couple of weeks ago, it worked for two posts, and now I’m unable to access my dashboard.  How frustrating!  My wonderful friend Maria suggested Live Writer, and it looks good so far.

Not blogging allows for more sewing time, though. I'm nearly finished with two table toppers that I'm making for gifts, and I've completed and mailed a mug rug for a swap.

I'm crocheting a scarf for the Pink Scarf Project. There's a button on my sidebar if you'd like to learn more about this wonderful project, and perhaps contribute one as well. A scarf is a great project to work on in the car, because my ripple afghan was getting a little to large to work on in a confined space.

I was able to make some progress on my scarf yesterday as we took another little road trip to explore another part of our beautiful state of Maryland. The most important stop of the day was at Bear's Paw Fabrics.   It's a lovely little shop just north of Baltimore. The ladies in there were so friendly and helpful. They helped me find exactly what I was looking for. The store even has a small section of wools, which is very rare around here.

After a couple of false starts, and changes in plan, we found ourselves near the Conowingo Dam, on the lower Susquehanna River. Having never been there before, we stopped in to the Visitor's Center. Once again, we found someone who was very friendly and eager to help us. She directed us to a park below the dam, and told us that we would certainly see Bald Eagles. And so we did. I didn't think to take my 'big girl' camera today, so we're planning to go back with better cameras, big lenses, and tripods.

The waters just blow the dam make for excellent fishing for the eagles.  Click  HERE if you’re interested in more info on the eagles and other birds.  The largest number of eagles is found November thru February, so we’re planning to go back in a couple of weeks.  There was also hiking trail for wildflower viewing that I’m anxious to explore.

We headed south to the Susquehanna State Park, and found a nice walking trail there as well.  I’m sure it will be beautiful in the spring, but it was a little cool for walking this weekend.

Continuing south took us to the pretty little town of Havre deGrace, which is located right where the Susquehanna flows into the Chesapeake Bay.  We’ve been there many times before but found some improvements this time.  They were building a boardwalk/promenade several years ago that was wiped out by a hurricane.  Isabel maybe?  It’s now been rebuilt and extended and terminates at a new marina.  At the other end is the star attraction:

We had an early dinner  of seafood at the Tidewater Grille and then headed home. 

Today is my weekly ‘jammie day’ complete with sewing and football.  I love Sundays!  I hope to have pictures of my table toppers later today, and a couple of arrivals in the mail this week.  I’m crossing my fingers that this posts with pictures!

Be kind to yourself today………..Sunny

A day at the Bay

My apologies to my friends Down Under, who are suffering from sweltering heat, and to my friends in the Midwest who are buried under snow.  Here in the Mid-Atlantic, it was a beautiful spring-like day.  A wonderful day to go to the Bay.  Officially, that would be the Chesapeake Bay, the largest, most productive estuary in the United States.  Around here, it's just The Bay.  There is one area I've always wanted to visit, but we never seem to find time.  Today was the day. 

Our first stop was in the small town of Deale.  We went to the city pier, took a few pictures, and asked a local gentleman where the best place to eat was.  He suggested the Happy Harbor, which we had just passed.  If you're ever in Deale, be sure to drop in for the fried oysters.  Oh My!!!!  I love this historical marker on their deck.

Next, we drove down to North Beach.  They have a lovely boardwalk, although not much beach!

We may have stopped into a little bakery for a sweet while we were walking around.  Chesapeake Beach is next in line, and it's a little more upscale than North Beach.  One of the bad things about the Bay, is that much of the property is private, so it's difficult for the common person to get close to the water.  This is very evident in Chesapeake Beach.  We did find a park just past town, so we took a short walk down to the water.  There were a few dogs chasing very large sticks, and several people hunting for shark's teeth along the edge of the cliffs.

As you can see, there's not much beach here, either!  When we left here, we drove around a couple more tiny towns, and then went to a favorite restaurant for dinner.  I was in the mood for a nice salad and some grilled shrimp.  Although that wasn't a choice on the menu, when I told the server what I wanted, she told me she would be happy to get it for me.  Now that's what I call service.

Now that I"m home watching football and reading blogs, it occurs to me that I haven't stitched today.  Gotta go!

What kind deed did you do today..............Sunny

(photo by Mr. Q.D.)

Oops, One Flower Wednesday on Thursday!

 One Flower Wednesday ~ on Thursday!  Better late than never, right?  I think I need to start planning for Tuesday, and maybe I'll be done on time.

I've received some lovely mail the past few days.  First up, my December BSA block from Jen- my final star! Isn't it beautiful?  I usually end up taking most of my pictures at night, so the color is always awful, this is much prettier than it appears.

 
This lovely table topper, which is hand quilted, was a PIF gift from Annamarie. 

I swapped BSA blocks with her mother several months ago, and at that time, she sent me some extra fabric from the block.  I made a couple of hexie flowers with it for my Grandmother's lLower Garden, and now I see some of the same fabric in this little quilt.  I love that I have the same fabric in three quilts!  Thanks so much, Annamarie!

I also wanted to share one of my Christmas gifts.  I'll be stitching Santa's Village this year!  I received this house on Christmas Day, and another will come in the mail each month until I have an entire village of 12!  I don't have a good track record with BOM's, so I'm really going to try hard to keep up with this stitchery.  The second one arrived yesterday, so I'm already behind.  Must.  Get.  Started.

                                                                          Sunny

Have you been kind to yourself today?

Sunday Snippets

It's Sunday, the football play-off's are on, I have a cup of chai tea and some stitching in my lap.  Does it get any better?

If you're visiting from Cheryl's blog, to see what I accomplished for FNWF, I didn't get any stitching done.  We had family from out of town, and had a big dinner gathering that lasted much later than I thought.  It's all good.  I'll stitch double next time.

If you're visiting from Stitching By the Lake, welcome to the neighborhood.  I blog about quilting, cross stitch, crocheting, cats, and my travels.  I hope you'll see something you like, and become a regular visitor.

I normally have pictures, and I took several this afternoon to show you what I'm working on.  But blogger won't let me add pictures today.  I guess that means I can't even prove that I've been stitching, but I have.  I'm currently working on a redwork cross stitch that I started about a year ago.  It will be beautiful, and I have one small section to finish, and then a pretty border.  I will probably turn it into a wall hanging when it's done.

My old stand-by project is a ripple afghan that I started back in September.  It's a great project for travel or low lighting situations, or when I just don't want to concentrate very hard on something.  Both of these projects are long-term WIP's, and they should get finished in 2013

I'm also doing some applique and embroidery on my little quilt for The Name Game Swap #2.  My goal is to have it finished by the end of January.  Unfortunately, I had to make my own, because my partner ran into some life issues.  If you're reading this, partner, I hope things are looking up!!

I'll close with a quote that appeared in my inbox this morning.

Quote of the Day

"Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind."
– Henry James

I have to admit, I'm not feeling very kindly towards Blogger right now.

Sunny

Have you been kind to someone today?

edited:  A day later, the IT guy (DH) switched me to Mozilla at Roxanne's suggestion, and we have pictures!!

 

 

A New Year and a New WORD

It seems like just a few months ago that we were worried about Y2K, and now it's 2013.  Where does the time go?  2012 was an interesting year with a mixture of good and bad.  2013 is already shaping up to be better, and we're only on Day 1!

As I was putting away my Christmas items today, I took pictures of the gifts I received from my friends in blog land.  From my lovely friend Maria, I received this wonderful Lynette Anderson book, and an Australian calendar.  Thanks Maria!!

Di sent a package that contained several things:  some little wee teddies to hang on my tree, stickers that will be incorporated into my scrapbooking and card making, and a wooden BELIEVE that has a picture holder attached to it. Di and I both like the word Believe, and exchange a gift with it each year. I just this minute decided how I'm going to use this new one.  I also won a charm pack from Di, and she included it with my gifts.  Can't wait to turn it into something wonderful.

 

I also received my first ever fabric postcard from Sheila.  Even my DH was impressed with it. Thank you so much, Sheila!

 

 

 



 

I've been giving a lot of thought to my WORD for this year, and I've come up with KINDNESS.  I decided to participate in 26 Acts of Kindness in memory of the 26 lives lost in Newtown Connecticuty, and I've gained more from it than the recipients of the acts of kindness.  I think this world needs more kindness, from being kind to ourselves to being kind to total strangers.  While I've read many stories about financial kindness, an act of kindness does not have to cost anything.  I helped a neighbor shovel snow on Saturday!  Imagine a world where strangers are kind to one another.

 

 

Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.

Scott Adams (1957)

 

Be kind to yourself......Sunny