Grow Your Blog...Photo Heavy

I am participating in the Grow Your Blog 2015 Party organised/hosted by Vicki at 2 Bags Full and I hope to meet many more bloggers from around the world by visiting their blogs and, hopefully, as they come to visit my blog as well.  To participate, I need to tell you something about myself and my blog.

Welcome to my little part of the blogsphere...I started blogging in 2007 as a way to record my adventures into crazy quilting and stitching...over the years it has become a place that I share all my crafty endeavers...anything from knitting, crochet, stitching, quilting, ledgers, crazy quilting can be found here...sometimes I will post about family as well...I love to share about what I am up to on the crafty front...

I am a fourth generation quilter as well as needle worker, which I think is awesome...even though I started out young I did not really start to quilt until later in life...always just small items...in 2007 all that changed and I became more involved in quilting... I love epp as it is so portable and have several projects on the go...two scrappy and one which is not scrappy...

Embroidery is another area that I truly enjoy and use a lot in my crazy quilts of course...over this past year I have developed a love of making lace from being in classes with Karen Ruane...you can find her here...through her classes I have also developed a love for ledgers to record and keep records of my needlework samples in... I love needle work of all types, but I am developing a true love for free form stitching and quilting...I do love epp for traditional quilts, but my love for embroidery and stitching has grown over the past year.

I do hope you will come again to visit and if you do please leave a comment to let me know that you were here...I love getting comments and then being able to answer them back to those who leave me one...I always try to comment back within a day or so of your leaving a comment...if you would like to become a follower that would be awesome as well...I always love having new followers...looking forward to meeting new friends.
Wendy

A Ledger Day....

Such a dreary drab day here and now it is sprinkling rain...I did get some ledger work done today though and played with paint chips...

Swathed In Stitch

A new year and a new class with Karen from here. I always enjoy and learn something new in her classes. These are the start to some design sheets for my ledger. From these I will be making samples of stitch and maybe a full project down the road a bit. There is still time to join in if you feel inclined, you can go here. More of this coming soon.

New Year....

Bliss and my mom

I am trying to get things back on track after the holiday season and getting my dd back to university. Missing her terribly already, but am so very proud of her. Lots of changes have happened here on the hill the past six months. All good but it has been an adjustment for all of us. Slowly I am getting there and will have much to show soon. I normally don't set new years resolutions at the first of the year as they can easily fall to the wayside and never be thought about again. I do have a plan for this year though and that is to work on some of my projects that are languishing in my wip piles. So for me this year will be about finishing up those wips I have and some new things as well. I have some posts that are scheduled for the coming week. Hope to be back to posting again soon.

Crochet

This is my year long project for 2015...I will be making star flowers for 365 days...I have 15 so far joined together...some days I will make more than one flower, like today I made three...the new ones are the pink, green and white ones.

This is my cozy crochet along from Attic24 that Lucy was hosting...I started this one in bright colors while waiting on the color pack she used to arrive...I have added another four stripes to the original 17, so it is growing...this is one of my wip that I hope to finish soon, so I can start the autumn color pallet for this blanket.

Wendy

Pledge

MAKE THE 7 STEP PLEDGE

It's TiMe

to take the 2015 SwaP PLeDGe...

I took the PLeDGe...

I Wendy will try my utmost...

·        To always swap on time.

·        To always email a THANK YOU to my partner.

·        To be considerate and thoughtful when choosing a gift.

·        To give my partner the quality of gift that I would like to receive.

·        To communicate when it’s required.

·        To NEVER over commit and let a partner down.

·        To advise the swap mama when I receive my gift.

This I sewomly pledge....

Happy New Year....

Pic courtesy of my daughter from her pics of the 4th of July this year

Wishing all of my readers a Happy New Year! May this coming year be the best year yet! May your needles always be stitching and your fingers be nimble enough to stitch in the coming year.

Packing, Sorting ect....

missing my roses

I will be taking a short blogging break to help pack and sort my sweet daughter out for school. She will be going back to uni on this coming Monday, so I want to spend all the time I can with her without worrying about trying to blog and take pics for the blog. I will be back sometime next week after things settle down here. In the meantime have a wonderful week/weekend.

A Year Ago...

 closeup:

I was in a mini swap over a year ago and the theme was "Flowers"...my little mini was kidnapped by whales in the crossing...so my partner Michell said she would make me another as time permitted as she was in the process of a move...I had totally forgotten about it, now fast forward to last week and this little jewel arrived in the mail...I am in love! I don't know what the original one looked like, but this is so beautiful...the tiny stitches she made is wonderful and I love the rose fabric that she chose to use...I am one happy camper...Thank you so much Michell for my little quilt...

Christmas Post 2...

This is my SSCS post for this year...I have participated in this swap every year but one I think and it is always so much fun. This year was no different...my partner to me was Melanie and she sent out this wonderful little pouch for me along with a cute pair of earrings...I love it and it will come in handy when I travel about. Thank you so much Melanie...and this is what I sent out to my partner...it was dark and rainy on the day I had to make the pic, so not a very good one...hope my partner makes a better one...this is a pocket to hold lace, notes or whatever she would like for her sewing room...

Thank you again Chooky for another wonderful year of swapping! I always enjoy this swap immensely...

Christmas Post....

 Cookbook from Mobile, Al....(did you know I love cookbooks)

 A new coffee maker and enough coffee for 6 months

 A new leather coat and a fur coat from my parents, but it has been hard to take a good pic of it because of all the rain

 Season 4 of Downton Abbey

 A tablet that I am learning to use, which will be great when I travel for conferences and such...much easier to take on a trip

I am finally able to make my Christmas post after a very longgggggg weekend...we had three different family celebrations to attend, actually (four if counting just ours)...this is the first time I have gotten on my computer in nearly a week! Time surely flies when you are so very busy...we had a wonderful Christmas here and I hope that all my readers did as well...this has been a good year in the south, even though there were a few road bumps...our family had a wonderful time gathering together and having fun as a family...of course there was plenty of food and sweets thrown in as well as our favorite dirty santa game...loads of goodies were given and received by all...I was so very blessed and spoiled once again...my new favorite kitchen item is my new coffee maker, love it! Now off to make a quick cuppa.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing each and everyone of my readers/followers a very Merry Christmas! May your day be filled with much love, happiness, joy and peace. May your time with family and friends be all that you want it to be. And as we each start our day of celebrations may we take a moment and reflect on the true reason that we celebrate Christmas. May the joy of Christ's birth bring each of you a warm and wonderful feeling of love. And please take time to remember those who are serving our country in the military and are not able to be home with their families. Say a prayer for safety over their lives while they sacrifice being home with family for our continued safety. To each person who is now serving in our military and is away from home, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family while you put your life on the line for us. May God bless and keep each of you in HIS embrace this holiday season.

Happy Mail...

My birthday gift from dear hubs has finally arrived...when I first ordered they were out...then they were at market and no orders were being filled...finally I was able to place my order and have now received my book a starter pack of papers and the templates to cut the fabric with...this will be my hand project this coming year...I am so excited about this...I also ordered the fussy cutting template for the Lucy Boston POTC which will make fussy cutting for them easier...I had been using a card stock template window, but this will be much better...

Santa Sack 2014

Yesterday was opening day for the Santa Sack swap that I participate in each year...this is what I received from my partner...thank you Sherry I love what you sent out to me...a wonderful tote, needle case, doily, bookmark x2, two small fabric baskets, pin cushion, candles, tea and hot chocolate...

Bling Cloth

I have worked some more on the bling cloth adding more bumpy bits, beads, knots, buttonhole stitch, silver bullion, bullion loops as well as bullion knots, gimp and square beads...this is coming along nicely and I am almost finished with the titivations. More to come soon I promise. I cannot seem to fix the gap between the first two pics today. Blogger is not playing nice today. sigh...

SSS Swap

My swap parcel from my partner in the Secret Santa Sack Swap hosted by Cheryl has arrived...now to wait until opening day!

 This is my sack and goodies that I sent out to my partner...we can choose either a stocking, sack or tote and my partner has plenty of totes, so she opted for a sack this year...this one is made of non Christmas fabric so that she can use it throughout the year per her request...I have enjoyed making gifts for her and hope she enjoys her new sack...

 Also my parcel from my secret santa in the SSCS which is hosted each year by Chooky has arrived as well...my santa is being very sneaky as there was no name on the envelope or on the inside to give me a clue as to who they are...so santa, if you read this my package has arrived safely...

This has been a busy time for me and my blogging has suffered for it...with the holidays as well as planning and getting things ready for B to go back to college the first week of Jan. it has been busy around here...Now we are sorting, buying supplies and packing up things for her to take back with her...I also have a bit of sewing to do yet for her in the form of pillow cases...busy times around here...

Bling Cloth

I am so in love with the making of my bling cloth. I am taking my time and adding so many wonderful things. The bumpy bit is made from silver lame and is so pretty in person. I like how it comes up through the stitch on the buttonhole lace. I am currently working on the stitch aspect of the cloth. So far there is french knots and buttonhole lace, bullions with more to come. I have also pulled out my silk ribbon to do a bit of sre on this cloth as well. There will be more bumpy bits, beads, fancy thread and maybe a sequin or two along the way. This is such a relaxing way to spend an evening. Hope you enjoy the sneak peek at my "bling" cloth.
Wendy 

On The Hooks

 I have been working on several knit and crochet projects lately and have finished several. So I started two, yes two new ones. I have started two separate poncho patterns. One is the traditional granny type poncho in blue. I am working it up in Lion Brand yarn that is so soft and cuddly.

The second poncho is a pattern of my own making and I am really liking it. I am using all the leftover yarn from all the shawls I have been making recently. You can see them here and here. Very simple but really nice in the way it is coming together. I am working on them both a bit everyday so they will finish about the same time. I am also working on a bit of cloth that is just wonderful to work with, more on that in a post of its own soon.
Wendy