New Signature

Finally decided to use a new signature line after my posts. I had been thinking about it for a while but never had gotten around to using it. Hmmmm.....I might make more changes to my blog soon or not. Depends on how much time I have to do it in. Free time is a highly precious thing at the moment.
Happy Stitching Everyone,

CQI RR Update

Finally an update with pics of a block that I am working on. This block belongs to Carol from CQI RR Sampler. The block came to me with a stain in the upper corner of the beige patch. The more I thought about it the more I decided I could not let this block go home to Carol with a stain on it. So........I took matters in hand and used the trusty Spray & Wash sprayed the patch down really good and let it sit overnight. The next morning I took a toothbrush that I use for removing stains and rubbed until finally the stain was removed. Then I rinsed the patch with warm water to make sure all the spray and wash was out. Now we have a block with no stains to send on to the owner! I hope Carol does not mind that I took the liberty to remove the stains. I just could not allow myself to send it to her in the condition in which it was in.You can see the stain in the upper right hand corner of the block. The pic below is of the now clean and stain free area!

Below is a pic of one seam that I am finished stitching so far. I may add some beading later as I am still trying to decide what to put if I do. I am also working on a spiderweb motif and spider for Carols block. I will show a pic of that area when I have completed the web and spider. Carol's block has some very pretty work done already, and we are winding down with this rr. I can hardly wait to see my block and all the work that has been done to it.

That's all I have for today unless I finish something later on today. Until next time, Happy Stitching everyone.

More Great Finds

Not much to post about on today, mostly some updates and a few finds. First I am on my third project for my "Stitching Angel" swap so that is almost finished and then I will be mailing out. Since this is supposed to be a secret swap I cannot show the items yet. I did find this silver skillet? It has a handle and another silver dish on the inside so I am assuming it is a skillet. Of course it needs cleaning, but other than that it is in good shape.

The next item is a cute pair of shoes that will soon become two pin cushions. They are size 5 and will make a very nice size Victorian style pin cushion. My daughter has already claimed one for herself. She wants a red and black design.

That's it for today, I should have a better update at the first part of the week as I have a few projects that will be finishing up over the weekend. So until then, Happy Stitching,
Wendy

A Little Bit of This and That

Well it has been a little bit since I last posted as things have been busy on this side of my world. I have been working on some projects though some I can show and some I cannot since it is for a swap that I am in that is a secret. I am a part of Stitching Angels swap over on Helen's blog http://hugsnkisses.typepad.com/hugsfromhelen/ you should go on over there and visit. There are free patterns to download and use from seven designers that have put their awesome talents to use for the angels in this swap. We can use them if we like or use patterns that we already have. We have to make three handmade gifts for our partners by the end of October. I am having so much fun. I have visited my partners blog and she does really beautiful work. I would tell you to go visit her, but this is a secret swap so I cannot give you her blog addy. Although if you go to Helen's blog she has a list of every ones blogs on her site, just do like I did and go through all of them. There are some really talented ladies around the world. Anyhow, I have one made and am working on the second. I am undecided whether to mail out all at one time or do them seperately.Hmmmm.......may just mail as I finish them.

This is a thread bucket that I made this past weekend. All I need to do is put the straps on and the lining.

I also have been going to thrift stores in search of some finds. Boy did I find some great things this past few weeks. I had wanted a set of wicker furniture for the porch since we moved in here in June but could not find any. Well I hit the mother load this past weekend and was able to get three love seats and two chairs. All in great conditions except for one that had a few loose strands that can easily be fixed. All for under a $100.00, way under!! Now I only need a couple more and maybe a swing and the front porch (or maybe I should say veranda) will be furnished outside of some small tables and such. You have to understand this porch is a honking large one it goes from the front all the way down one side of this house. Can anyone say huge!lol And I love it, lots of places to sit and stitch now.

I also found these wonderful punch bowl cups. I have an antique punch bowl that did not have any cups. Well I found these little beauties of cut crystal this past weekend and thought they would go really well with the bowl I have. Are they not wonderful! I just love them.

Next I have added to my milk glass collection so I just made a few pics of some of the things I have. I fell in love with this type of glass about two years ago and the rest is history as they say. I am always looking to add to my collection. I also purchased these little jewels they are swans inside seashells with roses and such. They are so cute I just need to clean them and then put them out to enjoy.

Last but not least is this dish I happened to find at the thrift store also. I believe it is a candy dish although I could be wrong and it is a nut dish? Does anyone know? Anyhow, I like it so now it has a place in my home. I just love the colors and the roses in this dish.

That is all the pics I have for now I think. I do have some stitching to do and will get to that soon. Not for swaps or rr just some stitching for myself. I really need to get some of it finished and I will in the coming weeks. Still progressing on my redwork "peacock" and he is really looking good if I do say so myself. I am also putting together the blue ocean quilt and getting it ready to quilt. I decided not to put the two bright orange blocks in the quilt and I will make two blocks to replace those. I will however be making pillows out of them since they were from a swap I was in and I do want to use them all. As for the fall quilt I am looking for some chocolate fabric with small print for the backing on this one and the strips between the blocks. The wildflower will be getting either hot pink or lime green for the backing not sure which at the moment and the strips as I said before will be black. I am also working on a baby quilt for my niece that is due on November 2nd, I told her to wait until the 6th which is my b'day.lol This is her first so who knows it could happen.lol


Well that is all I have for today, I will try and post more on tomorrow of the things I am doing. Happy Stitching Everyone,
Wendy

Blog Giveaway at........

Hi everyone hope you are having a wonderful weekend and are stitching away. No photos today just a quick post and I will be out of here. Just wanted to mention that Debbie over at http://makinquilts.blogspot.com/ is having her 100th post giveaway, you should go over and have a look see at her blog. She has some wonderful things posted there.

Also I have emailed everyone their swap partner for the pc swap on stitchin fingers pc group, we will have until the 5th of Oct. to make and mail them out. They are fall/autumn themed and I am really looking forward to the swap. I will be swapping multiples and will post the ones I receive as well as the ones I mail off. Also, a really small friend of mine (she is going to be 5 this month) is going to get a pc for her birthday. She lives in TX, so I will send it out next week sometime.

And I am so happy for my best friend in TX, she just got engaged and I am now planning on a wedding quilt for her and her future husband, which is also a very good ministry friend of ours. We are so happy for both of them and wish them many long years of happiness.

Now, I need to get off here and start on my Stitching Angel project so that I can get that in the mail to my swap partner. I will post pics when I finish the project. Happy Stitching
Wendy

Christmas Bell Pull

Whew, three post in one day! I promise this will be the last one. I tried to do all this in one post but for some reason blogger just would not let me. This is a Christmas bell pull that I am working on. This may be a gift for someone special, I have not decided as of yet or I may give this away as a blogging gift for my 100th post coming up I guess it will depend on whether or not I get this finished before my 1ooth post or not. Anyhow, hope you enjoy the pics. I have got to get off here and get some sewing done.

Happy Stitching,

Wendy

Trying to Get Inspired to Quilt

Fabric that started my "Wildflower" quilt"Wildflower" quilt top
"Blue Ocean" quilt top

"Block in a Block" quilt top
I am so trying to get inspired to quilt these three quilt tops or at least get them sewn together. I have decided to put them up on a temp. design wall and see if I will be inspired to finally decide on how I want them set and then just do it. One is a fall swap that I was in over a year ago called Block within a Block, the blue one as well as the floral one was a f8 swap, where you send in a f8 (fat eight) of your focus fabric and everyone in the swap makes you a block with your focus fabric using his/her fabric from their own stash. Sometimes you have to buy fabric if you do not have anything to match in your stash. I have enough blue focus fabric to make my strips, and on the floral one I am going to use black on black for the strips between the blocks. The fall one I have no idea as to how I am going to do it. I had wanted to get these put together before the year was out and then quilt them over the next year with my mom. I have the pink and black one put together, and another of the same colors with different blocks that needs to be sewn together. I think on it I will use strips and cornerstones as well. Then if that was not enough I also have enough blocks cut out to do two lime/black quilt tops as well with enough fabric to do three more!lol. I have not done much sane quilting over the past year as all my stuff was in storage because of the move and my taking care of my mom during her surgeries and recovery. Now she is better and we have leased a house close by and she asked me on today was I ready to get a quilt in a frame so that we could quilt it. Now I have to get one ready so we can spend lots of time together quilting and chatting. But I just don't seem to be inspired to get moving with it, so I am putting them where I can see them and think on them to give me a jump start if you will. Time I guess to put up the little projects until I can decide. I need to buy backing and binding fabric for all of them and I have decided to start with the fall quilt first. I cannot make up my mind as for the color that the strips should be or the backing. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Stitching,

Wendy

Season to Season Share Block Is Home

My Season to Season Summer share block from CQ4N is home finally. Ms. Courtney was my partner and she did some really pretty work on my block. Glad that it is finally home. I am working on the other three seasons and this will eventually be a wall hanging. Here is how I will do the others:

Summer: flowers with teapot

Fall: deer

Winter: wolves

Spring: flowers in bud

Happy Stitching,

Wendy

Redwork Peacock Update

Just thought I would post an update on the big peacock that I am doing in redwork. This is a slow go project as I only work on it when I have snippets of free time. I use this mainly to relax with when I am on overload. I guess I need to bump him up to "lets finish you soon" category or he may just take forever to finish..lol I am sure I am not the only one who has slow going projects now am I. Anyhow, here is a pic of what I have done. I decided to do the flowers and branch before I finished him that way it will look like I have a lot less to do. There is quite a bit of stitching on the bird himself, not that I am complaining because he is going to be beautiful. But, I would like to feel like I am getting something done on him at the same time. Which I know I am its just so slow in the going. Hmmmm........yes I will definitely be bumping him up the list to get finished with soon. Happy Stitching,

Wendy

Mail Call

My prize from Blue Nickle Studios arrived today. Scott is a very generous person and has sent the most wonderful selection of 10 fat quarters, a charm pack of 5" squares, a quilt label, a pack of batting in craft size (just right for a small quilty), a candy necklace and some business cards one which was quilted. I am going to have much fun with this and ideas are already swirling around in my head with projects for these fabrics. Below is a pic of my winnings. Thank you Scott for your very generous gift. When you get the time you need to go over to http://www.bluenicklestudios.com/ and pay Scott a visit and check out his quilts as well as his project page which has a challenge that you can vote on. Also, while there hop on over to his wife's site at http://www.missmabelstudio.com/ she has some really nice things also, especially her dolls. Go take a look see at their sites. She also has some two headed bears and such that she makes. They are both talented artists in the varied crafts and mediums that they use. Below are some pics of what I received, enjoy the eye candy. The whole package at a glance


I am so thrilled with my package. Hope everyone is having as good a day as I have had today. Now I must finish the curtains for my kitchen so I can start to use this fabric. Happy Stitching, Wendy

Fabric

I found this bolt of fabric back in Feb. of this year at a local thrift store. It has almost 25yds on it and only cost 3.88!! It is made by Waverly and is chintz. I had forgotten about it until we moved, as I had put it in storage. I am going to use some of it to make curtains for the kitchen since the fabric is light in color. The kitchen window is facing west and gets all the afternoon and evening sun which makes for a hot kitchen to cook in even with the air. So, I thought the white in the fabric would help to bounce some of the heat off. The previous tenants have black curtains and it just draws in more heat. This being an old Victorian home, the windows are not insulated which does not help the heat problem. But I do love this house as it has high ceilings and all the rooms are big. I am sure I will have some left and will have to decide how to use it. Maybe some pot holders to match the curtains.

There are lots of possibilities for this amount of fabric and I am sure that it will be used for more than just the one project. I have a small round table that I may make a cover for as well.

Happy Stitching,

Wendy

Ribbon Has Arrived

The ribbon that Lesa on CQ4N sent out has arrived, not only did she send the ribbon but also a silkie was inside. I was very pleased when I opened it up and saw the wonderful ribbon and silkie. I cannot wait to use it. Thank you Lesa for sharing the wealth of the extra ribbon. I will definitely put it to good use.

Purple RR Home

It is so rainy here no thunder or lightening, just nice steady rain from all the storms in other areas. The last few days have been just for laying around doing nothing! Which would be nice, but I have had a really bad migraine that just did not want to go away. Finally I have gotten some relief today. Anyhow, I wanted to show everyone what I received in the mail on Saturday as well as today. On Sat. my purple color study block came back home to stay. I am glad this block is back. I am going to do some more work on it then it will be finished. Below are some pics of the work done on this block. I would like to thank all the ladies who worked on this block, so a big thank you goes out to : Lindy, Peggy, Judy C., Velina and Lynn. First pic is the whole block.Next is the white peacock

Next is the feather

Some flowers

A basket of flowers

A beaded peacock

And a button patch

I WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I WON!!! What might you ask did I win? Well I won a great package from "Scott" over at Blue Nickle Studios you can reach him here http://bluenickelstudios.com/ . He has some really great stuff on his blog. And right now you can breeze right on over there and vote in a challenge that he has going on his site, it is located in the projects section. While there to cast your vote in tootsie pop challenge, browse his site and check out what he has. As soon as my goodies arrive I will post a pic for all to see. Happy Stitching and don't forget to go over and vote.
Wendy

OK I have tried to give away the third and last prize on my blog giveaway and the third person still has not contacted me. I left her a comment on her blog hoping she would get in touch with me. So I guess I will wait a while and do another giveaway later in the year, unless I hear from her this week. Melissa, I really wish you would contact me so that you can receive your prize. If I do not here from her by Friday I will just give up on giving the third prize away and will hold onto it for another day and another drawing. I finally have gotten the second one ready to mail and it will go out on Friday. Gerry has received her book and said that she liked it. I never thought giving something away would be this hard.lol

Anyway no pics for today, I am working on several things though so pics will be posted soon. Some will be updating progress on wip, and a couple of new items. I am starting on Christmas gifts soon and will be posting pics of those. Of course I have a niece who is expecting in Nov. and I will be doing a quilt for her, so I must stay at the sewing. I will try to post a couple of times a week with updates and pics.

My family is very homesick for Texas, me included and we are dealing with all the emotions that come with that. Not that we don't like being around family, but all Bliss and Coy know is Texas, so this move has been hard on them. We just don't seem to be adjusting to being here like we thought we would. Bliss will be going back to Dallas next year to Christ For The Nations, it is a Bible College and she will be there for 4yrs. Who knows, we may just move back when she does. Time will tell.

My mom is doing so much the better now, this time last year we were not sure that she would be here for another birthday. My dad's birthday is tomorrow he will be 75 and moms is on the 26th and she will be 73. God has been good to us. My sister is on the mend finally with her back. The bones have healed and she is now under going compression therapy for the herniated discs in her back.

That is my update for today and hopefully I will be able to post a few pics before the weekend. Will have to wait and see if time will allow for that this week. Happy Stitching everyone.
Wendy

Been a while since I last posted, but have been away the family and have not had time to post. That said this post will be a little bit long with a bunch of pics.

We went on a family outing to Cheha National Park and we had such a great time. The weather was nice and it was not hot as we had a nice cool breeze. We hiked six miles to the falls and had a great time. My oldest daughter and her children and I went up the trail, while my hubby, Bliss and Coy went up the creek bed to the falls. By the time they made it up the creek bed they were soaking wet but having much fun during the process.

Today's post is about our family time, hope you enjoy the photos of our fun. I have been stitching and will post pics soon. I just finished my purple rr and am waiting on my block to return home. I am still awaiting another block to arrive for me to work on and as of yet it is not here. Maybe soon. Anyhow, enjoy the rest of the week.

Happy Stitching Wendy

Bliss on the rocks


Coy and Bliss Butterflies

Coy and Bliss on Baldrock


Coy on the Rocks

Coy swimming

Creek Bed going to the Falls

Frostie and her new puppy, he is a blue head pit bull. He is so cute!

This was a huge hornets nest hanging from a tree branch near the picnic area where we ate.

Ray, Bliss and Coy on their walk up the creek bed.

okay that is the last of the pics for today. I have tons more of our little trip, but will spare the posting of them here. We had such a lovely time as a family and it had been eleven years since we had been here. The last time we were here Bliss was four and Coy was two. Then we moved to Texas, I really enjoyed being in the mountains again. Not at all like the flat of Texas that I love so much. We plan to go back in the fall so that we can see the change of seasons with all the colors in their showy state of the season. Hope you have enjoyed my ramblings on today. See you soon.