FNSI and Christmas in July

Yes, I worked on a Christmas project on Friday night!  I saw this:

on Teri’s Blog back in November, and I knew I wanted to make it.  So I waited until Red was the color for RSC15, and here is my version.  I still need to sew on my buttons.  I’ll do that later tonight or tomorrow.

Although I’m posting a couple of days late, I actually finished by Gifted Gorgeousness early this month.

 

In other exciting news, I finished my quilt from the Christmas Bee 2011 as my Guild UFO challenge this month.  I had pieced it and even started quilting it some time ago, and quickly gave up.  Now that my Sweet 16, which I have named Patience, and I are becoming friends, it was time to finish the quilting.

Each of the six other participants contributed two blocks.  I requested a star block for one, and their choice for the other, highlighting their specialty.  I received embroidery, applique, and paper piecing.  They each also included a small friendship block that was incorporated into the back.  I forgot to photograph the back, and it’s too dark now to attempt anything. 

And if that’s not enough exciting news, I became a Great Aunt!  The little one arrived six weeks early, at 4 pounds, 12 ounces.  She is healthy and strong, and went home from the NICU after only 8 days.  I can’t wait to meet and snuggle her.

Hope you all had a good weekend!  It’s too hot here to go outdoors for a few days, so there’s more stitching to come.

waiting for snuggles…..Sunny

RSC15 Mid-year check in

Our fearless leader, Angela, has been keeping us motivated all year to use our rainbow of scraps.  We’ve done dark blue, pink, yellow, dark green, purple, light blue, and now red.  Pop over to her blog to see what everyone has been up to so far.  I feel like a total slacker compared to some of these energetic quilters! 

Whereas most people are making numerous blocks each month, and might have the makings of several rainbow quilts at the end of the year, I’m making one Dresden plate each month.  Do you like my ‘design wall’?  The only place I can get a decent picture is out on my deck. 

Although I haven’t photographed them yet, I’m embroidering flowers each month in the appropriate color and they will be the centers of the plates.  I’m still contemplating how I might put them all together at the end of the year. 

I’ve also made a doll quilt each month for Get Your Mrs. Claus On.  I love working with this size, and trying to think up something different each month that will work with my available scraps.

I’ve also made several wall hangings and baby quilts from my scraps, as well as 30 placemats.  I’m amazed and excited to see how much can be made from leftovers.  But just when I think I’m starting to get things under control……..

A box of fabric landed on my doorstep today!  My friend Di is preparing for a move, and she’s cleaning and sorting and reducing her stash.  And she sent all her plaids and homespuns to ME! You see, she has a little quilt made from plaids that I just love, so she’s enabling to make my very own!  She had a few other very special items in the box for me, too.  Thanks Di!!!!

I’m very hard at work finishing my Guild UFO project right now.  But today was a beautiful day, so I took the day off.  Bet you can’t guess what I did!

We didn’t actually see a lot to photograph today, so we just enjoyed the water, the blue sky, the wind in the trees, and the birds singing.  In other words, a perfect day.

Enjoying summer……Sunny

A Red FNWF

There was a good chance of rain all day on Friday, and it wasn’t terribly hot, so DH and I grabbed our cameras and took a little tour around the county.  I was hoping to find some old buildings, and perhaps some interesting flowers.  We found both. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red winged blackbird – we never see these in our town.

   

Black-eyed Susans are our state flower.

Oreo cows.  Seriously . Google Oreo cows.

We had a lovely lunch while we were out, so there was no need for a big dinner when we got home.  That left plenty of time for stitching along with the ladies of FNWF.  I’m working with red scraps this month for RSC, so I put the finishing touches on my doll quilt, and made my monthly Dresden.  Visit either link to see what others have been up to.

Today, in celebration of the 4th of July, I’m quilting my Christmas quilt.  It’s made from blocks from a Christmas Bee.  In 2011.  I think it’s high time it got finished, don’t you?  It’s my UFO for the Guild Challenge this month, and I WILL have it finished!

I hope everyone in the US is enjoying a long weekend, and celebrating with fireworks tonight.

Stay safe . . .   Sunny

Finishes and a Trip to Tangier Island

I ran out of steam for light blue scraps for RSC this past week, so I pulled out a light blue quilt and got it quilted.  I AM going to get proficient at quilting, and it’s going to take a LOT of practice.

 I did some ruler work, some stippling, and some free motion feathers. 

Another quilt I found that was already basted was this applique quilt.  I bought the fabric several years ago and did the pre-class homework for a Pat Sloan class, and then the class was canceled.  I eventually put the top together and now it’s a finish!

I have 3 more quilts that are basted, and I’ll start working on them this week.  Deciding how to quilt them is the hardest part.  The largest one is for my Guild UFO challenge, so I really have to get it done soon.  And then I can start basting the others.  I haven’t actually quilted much in the last couple of years.

That’s it for quilty stuff.  The remainder of this post is about our step back in time as we adventured to Tangier Island, a small island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.  It is only accessible by boat or by small plane, and has a population of around 500.  There is only one school, which serves K-12.

Methods of transportation include golf carts, bicycles, and scooters.

“Tangier Taxi”

There are several restaurants on the island, and lunch at Hilda Crockett’s Chesapeake House was included in our package deal for the day.

When we exited the restaurant, several ‘taxi’s” were lined up to offer tours of the island.  After eating all that food, DH and I chose to walk!  We walked past churches, the school, several little shops, a museum, and the Post Office.

The mail is brought over on The Mail Boat six days a week, and taken to the Post Office.  There is no residential delivery, so the Post Office is a community gathering place.  The mail boat also serves to deliver other goods.  When we saw it docked in Crisfield, it was loaded with sodas and paper towels!

The residents of Tangier Island are watermen, depending on crabs and oysters for their livelihoods.  It is not an easy way of life, and the population of the island continues to drop as young people leave the island for other jobs. 

We were there on the hottest day of the year, so we popped into a couple of the tiny shops to take advantage of their air conditioning.  The ice cream shack was also doing a booming business.   We were only on the island for a couple of hours, but I’d definitely like to go back. 

On the way home, we passed through an incredible thunderstorm, followed by the most amazing sunset.  I have no pictures to share, because we were on a bus, and stopping for sunset pictures was not on the itinerary.

Every day is an adventure……Sunny

Can’t stop Stitching!

Every time I think about blogging, I’m in the middle of a stitching project, and I think that if I just finish it, I’ll have one more thing to blog about.  Ever have that problem?

I’m late with my Gifted Gorgeousness this month for a variety of reasons.  I was too busy working on other things, we took a short vacation, and I broke my eyeglasses!  But I persevered, and I’m happy to say that I’m halfway through!

I’ve definitely rediscovered my love of cross stitch!

The Club at our LQS has issued a UFO challenge for the next three months.  Since I have many UFO’s, most of which just need to be quilted and bound, that’s what I’m concentrating on right now.  This is probably the best quilting that I’ve done to date!   I’m practicing on some small quilts, working up to my Christmas quilt.

I also got back to my placemat project this month.  They were each made from leftover parts and pieces of previous quilts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have seven more tops completed, but I have to wait until I have some appropriately sized batting scraps before I can continue.  That means more sandwiching and quilting to come.

I participated in another postcard swap over on Sheila’s blog, and received this wonderful card from Linda.  Our theme this time was beach/summer. 

I need to learn to do thread painting, because I love what Linda did with this.  If you’d like to see more postcards, visit either of their blogs – they’re masters of the craft.  I forgot to take a picture of the card that I sent Linda, so perhaps I can get one from her blog later. 

Of course, we have managed one kayaking trip between rain and heat waves.

And now, I have stitching to do…….Sunny