Wordless Weekend

Saturday:

Sunday:

Monday:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kindness matters…..Sunny

Your Reviews on HQ Sweet 16

A girl’s gotta dream, so I might as well dream big, right?

Do you have an HQ Sweet 16?  What are your thoughts?  Love it?  Hate it?  Would you do it again?

I appreciate any input you can give.

Sunny

Where is Spring?

I’m ready for it – where is it?  We had snow and sleet and freezing rain on Monday.  I think it’s supposed to snow a little tonight.  I don’t want snow.  I want flowers and sunshine and warm breezes!!!!

This past weekend was rainy, snowy, dreary, and just the perfect weather for a Quilt Retreat.  It was my third retreat in four weeks.  Why do they all come at the same time?  We sewed, and ate, and talked, and laughed, and made new friends.  It was a wonderful weekend.  I don’t feel like I accomplished much, but I’m happy with what I did.

This little wall hanging was so tedious, but it had been rattling around in my head for a couple of months. so I was very pleased to get it to this stage.  Snowball blocks are very tedious, and as I was nearing the end of them, I had an ‘aha moment’ for a way to speed them along.  Next time.  I have 10 extra blocks, that I was planning to add to the left side, but it didn’t look right, So I can start another one as a gift, or make them into a smaller project.

I didn’t take many pictures at the retreat, but I had to capture this quilt

Imagine if you will, 331 basket blocks, all from different blue fabrics!!!  It was incredible!  The same woman was also working on another basket quilt with larger blocks, and when she discovered she had miscounted and had an extra basket block, she gave it to me!  It’s an odd size, so I’m thinking of appliqueing some flowers on it, adding a couple of borders, and having a lovely wall hanging.

I made one flower this week, from scraps from a friend at my other quilt retreat a couple of weeks ago. 

I’ve challenged myself to do a certain amount of crocheting each day this month, so I must get to it.  I have other things to share, so I hope to be back here in a day or two.  I’m also working on some personal improvement projects, so I’m keeping busy!  See you around…..

Kindness matters…..Sunny

OFW, Snow, and Squishies

Wow – It’s not even close to midnight, and I’m posting my One Flower Wednesday results.

The reason I’m so efficient is because today was a SNOW DAY!!  I got word at 6:45 this morning that our office would be closed for the day.  Our snow accumulations were predicted to be in the 10-15 inch range, and possibly even higher.  I texted DH yesterday and asked him to take a couple of pictures of the yard, so we could compare them to the piles of snow today.  Here is the view before the snow.

Notice the crocus’?  They’ve been opening up during the day, and closing at night for several days now.  And here is the view after/during the snow.

That’s right – this snow storm completely fizzled in our area.  The really great part is, I got a snow day, and I didn’t have to shovel!!  Some areas not far from here were hard hit, but our temperatures went up just a degree or two, and it made all the difference in the world.

The squishies have been arriving on a regular basis here lately.  I received my Seasonal Mug Rug from my swap partner, Mary, and she included a few extra goodies.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I received a nice package from the lovely Maria, to celebrate my birthday.

Aren’t these the cutest spools?  And look at the fabric she sent with it!!      

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Monday, I received another birthday gift, totally unexpected. Look at all this loot from my friends at Rugs with Friends. 

 

 

 

 

 

And then….. I received a package from Lisa of Lydia’s Treasures, where I won a fat quarter awhile back.  Apparently Lisa can’t count, because there were THREE fabrics in the package.

I don’t know why the postal service is struggling to stay afloat.  I’ll do my part tomorrow, when I mail 3 packages, 6 cards, and my February and March Inchy Swap envelopes.  You’ve already seen all the items I’m mailing, I just haven’t said where they are all going.

I’ve been keeping busy this week with some applique and crocheting, but nothing worth showing yet.  I’ve accumulated a few pink scraps lately, so there will be more pink hexies in the near future!

If you were affected by this latest snow storm, I hope it all melts soon, and you’re not without power for long.

Be kind to yourself……Sunny

Goodbye February!

Thanks to those of you who have come looking for me the last couple of weeks.  All is well at our house, just super busy.  I started a blog post about 10 days ago, but I was just too tired. 

My sister came for a visit!  And we took advantage of every minute she was here.  Which didn’t leave us much time for sleeping.  We had a Girl’s Day, complete with mani-pedi’s, Margaritas, and a long walk.  The following day, we let DH join us, and we went touring  When we reached a higher elevation, we found beautiful winter wonderland scenes like this

At lower elevations, there was no sign of snow.

Then we went back to a higher elevation

We took her out for a ‘real’ Maryland crab cake, and there may have been some Krumpe’s donuts-hot and fresh- for a bedtime snack.  But then we didn’t go to bed until after 4:00

On Sunday, we went to Virginia for a surprise birthday for our sil, and I left my sister with them for the last couple of days of her visit.  I had to go to bed early a couple of nights to try to get rested.

Then this past weekend, I went to a Quilt Retreat.  I went up Thursday after work, stayed up late, then got up and went to work for half a day on Friday.  Because I’m new at my job, I haven’t earned any paid time off yet.  At lunchtime, I raced back up to the retreat, and sewed like crazy until Sunday afternoon

I took a couple of older projects that I purchased over three years ago,   This is the only one I’ve photographed so far.  I have another top that is almost finished – it just needs two borders  I hope to get everything finished within the next couple of weeks, but first, I have a Scrapbook Retreat this weekend  I should probably be packing right now  Unfortunately we had a plumbing emergency, so tonight went down the tubes 

I’m off now to do some stitching.  I need to be kind to myself.

Sunny

I’ve been busy…

Do you remember this from a couple of weeks ago?

I asked for your advice, and took it all to heart.  I’m so much happier with it now.  I’d still like to add beads for the cat eyes, but I haven’t found my beading needle yet. 

 

 

 

 

 

The other project that I finished is a wool applique.  I bought the pattern from Cathi of Shakerwood Woolens. 

I am in love with wool!  I even bought another pattern a couple of weeks ago when we were in Baltimore.  Then I started shopping online, and found that I couldn’t find the size pieces of wool that I needed without spending a fortune for shipping.  So I contacted Cathi to see if she did special requests, and she was able to fix me right up.  So don’t hesitate to ask her if she can help you.

Be kind to your Valentine….Sunny

Can you help? Google can’t

I think Google is one of the greatest friends a person can have.  But if I want to do something, and I don’t know what it’s called,  Google can’t always read my mind.  Sometimes, but not this time.

I’m making a pillow.  I bought some cording and I plan to make something like a piping for the finish.  But I want it to be full, and somewhat gathered.  Does this technique have a name?  How much fabric do I need?  Do I double the measurements for the pillow?  Triple them?  Please help.  I bought rather thick cording, because I want it to be substantial, not just a thin piping. 

Please be kind to me!!!!      Sunny

One Flower Wednesday

Had to feed my addiction!

Be kind to a stranger tomorrow!

Sunny

Eagles, and Pelicans, and Geese - Oh My!

Yesterday’s adventure took us to the Eastern Shore area of Maryland.  Destination:  Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.  Back in about 2006, I became addicted to watching an Eagle Cam at NCTC, not far from my home.  I was also introduced to the Osprey cam and Eagle Cam at Blackwater.  It’s so much fun to watch the Eagles preparing their nests each year for raising their new families, and then watching the  eggs hatch and grow.  A few short months later, they are larger than their parents when they take their first fateful flight from the nest.  I’ve read that the statistics for first flights aren’t very good, but all the eaglets that I’ve watched have made it back to the nest safely.

Yesterday we went to see the Eagles.  And the Snow Geese, and the White Pelicans.  (for you Maria!)  A couple of years ago when I posted some pelican pictures from Florida, my friend Maria asked why they had so much brown on them.  Ummmm….because they’re Brown Pelicans!

Maria had only seen White Pelicans, and I had never even heard of them.  So we send each other pelican pictures and postcards from time to time.  I recently read that a rare flock of White Pelicans winters at BWNWR!  I must see these!  So off we went on our weekend adventure.  We went to the Visitor’s Center to ask if the pelicans were still there, and inquired as to the best place to see them.  In the past few days, there had only been a couple of sightings, and only of one pelican.  I was crushed.  What are the chances that we would find the one pelican on the whole refuge??

 

 

 

 

Pretty good chances, as it turns out!  These pictures were taken by Mr. QD, as my camera batteries died earlier in the tour.  He also got some nice shots of a Great Blue Heron.

There were some Eagles, but we didn’t get very close to them.

I am still in awe of just seeing them.

When we saw the enormous flock of Snow Geese, we took pictures, but kept hoping something would agitate them and cause them to take flight.  \

What an awesome sight!  I’m so glad I’m not a bird in weather like this.  This is how I was dressed, and I certainly wouldn’t want to be in the water.

After completing the Loop road through the refuge, we followed the road down to Hooper’s Island.  There is a small community on the island, but not much to see on a cold windy day in February. 

When we drove back up past the refuge, the field on one side of the road was covered with Snow Geese.

Cars were lined up along the road taking pictures, and I was able to get a few shots with my pocket camera.  Then we were off to dinner.  We went to a restaurant that one of my bloggy friends had recommended a few months ago, but I don’t remember who it was. 

Dinner was delicious, seafood for me and duck for DH.  then came the worst part of the day – the drive home.  It started snowing as soon as we left the restaurant, and it snowed the entire way home, a nearly 3 hour drive.  Surprisingly, we didn’t encounter any slippery roads, although DH was driving, and I wished he would slow down.  He missed one exit that we usually take, and when I asked him where he was going, he got all flustered, and said he couldn’t be expected to watch the road and everything else!  Ha!  I thought that was the driver’s job.  silly me.  But we made it home safe and sound.  But I just this minute realized that I didn’t take a single stitch yesterday.  Must get off here now and make up for that!

Be kind….. and GO RAVENS!!!!….Sunny