Bloomers, Tiny Tueday, & FNSI!!

Earlier this week I managed to finish up a couple more blocks for the Bloom SAL. I believe they're blocks 7 and 8. So far not doing too bad keeping up with the rest of the gals sewing with Cheryll at GoNe StItChInG.

Block 7

Block 8

As you can probably tell, block 7 stitched up WAY more quickly than block 8 but I think they both turned out cute. Notice I took the picture this time with all the beds in block 8 positioned correctly!

Friday Night Sew In worked out perfectly for me. I sat back in the recliner and listened in on sports since the MOTH (man-of-the-house) kept tight control of the remote last night. Lol! I had already made quite a bit of progress on my cross-stitch project earlier this week and I got even more done last night.

Before last night's FBSI

Right before shutting down

As you can see, I finished up the right hand side of the tree and also the rabbit hole. Might not look like much but that's a whole lot of Xs! Thank you, Wendy, for hosting this lovely, monthly party! Head on over to Sugarlane to see what the other 21 stitchers got done. We came from all over -- USA, Europe, and of course Australia!!

I'll also be linking up larter this morning with Em at So Scrappy to show off my Tiny Tuesday block from this week. Don't know what's wrong with me. Woke up at 1:44am, tossed and turned until pushing 4am, then decided enough was enough. Crept downstairs, put on a pot of coffee, and stitched up this little cutie.

Wonky Long Cabin

The colors don't show up so good but each and every fabric is green. Have I mentioned how much fun I've been having with these and how much I look forward to Tuesdays?

No pictures but I sewed dresden petals for the Merry Christmas SAL as leaders & enders to the Tiny Tuesday block so more progress was made on that front. The binding for the ABC quilt also got cut and stitched together.

My hands have been busy in so many pots lately. You think that might be why I can't sleep? Haha!! I'll probably snooze through the NC State softball game this afternoon. Game time is 1pm CDST. Have a great weekend!

String Class and FNSI

Tonight is FNSI -- Friday Night Sew In. So far there are 20 -- count 'em 20! -- of us that will be sitting back, cyber-stitching together. It's not too late to sign up, go HERE and add your name. Then, later this weekend, go back and check out everyone's progress through their posts. It's an amazingly talented group of quilters and so much fun.

Speaking of fun and talent, Tuesday night was our guild's monthly meeting and we had Teajuana Moore of Tea Quilts visit us with her lecture and trunk show. Oh boy! Was she fun!!! So many beautiful quilts with Tuesday night's show focused on string quilts.

On Wednesday I was able to attend Teajuana's class with a great group of ladies. We started sewing scrappy string blocks, added background corner squares, and then did a bit of partial seaming. Everyone EVENTUALLY got one block done and someone actually got four finished before packing up the sewing machines. Here's a "group" picture of the blocks. Pretty, huh?

This morning Gracie & I took our daily walk. It was so nice outside this morning -- 40 degrees, cloudy, & windy. Not too cold for me, not too hot for Gracie! We ended up going 2.8 miles which is quite the distance for the pooch. When we returned, we filled the bird feeders and took a check on the garden. Well, I'll be (say that in your best Gomer Pyle voice!). I knew I had greenery poking through but today I saw official buds!

Daffodils - Must be the minis since they bloom first every year

 

Hyacinths to the right of the front porch

Hyacinths to the left of the front porch.

Now back to the game at hand. Watching NC State vs Virginia Tech softball. Go, Wolf Pack!

Happy Monday!

The sun has finally peeked out this afternoon and makes me happy. I've been lazy due to the time change and I can't keep up with keeping meals on time. Dinner last night was at 7:15! Ugh!

I managed to finish my string-a-long block for this month. I tied it in with RSC's (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) color of the month - green! It's a beauty -- can you tell green is my favorite color? Haha!

I added it to January's & February's blocks here. Looking good ... except I just now noticed I need to spin the red block a quarter turn to make the nice hourglass block like between the yellow and green blocks.

This weekend I also managed to play catch-up with Tiny Tuesday. Somehow I fell behind a week and then a new block was introduced this past Tuesday. Here are the two completed blocks. I'm so ready for tomorrow when we get another one!

The yellow block was the last Tuesday in February. March's color was announced to be green and the 2nd block shown is for the first Tuesday in March. It's called Multiply. There's a tiny 4-patch in the bottom corner which measures 1-5/8". It became a square in the medium 4-patch which squared up to 2-1/2". It then also became a square in the large 4-patch which measures 4-1/2". Whew! Did you follow all that??!!??? Anyway just notice that there is more going on then a simple 4-patch, ok?

I've got a busy week coming up as Tuesday is guild meeting and I need to run off more publicity flyers for our upcoming quilt show. I also started trying to figure out which quilts I want to enter into the show. It's important to get my entries turned in to the registration committee. I also need to sew up five dresden plates for the Merry Christmas SAL. Wednesday will be here before I know it and there will be another assignment. I signed up for an all-day class on Wednesday so that day will be shot as far as "necessary" sewing is concerned. However, it ought to be a fun day so I'll be blowing off my commitments that day! We all need to do that every now and then, right?

For a change of pace, I think I'll advance my cross-stitch tonight. Enjoy your week!

Linking up with Em at Movin' It Forward
and Lori at Humble Quilts.

Frigid COLD!

This morning it was 4 degrees with a windchill of -11. Brrrrrr!!!! Yesterday we received about 3" of snow and have now surpassed 2 feet of snow total for the year. To keep it in perspective, our weather folks have told us last year's total was barely 7" and our normal is 18". As if that isn't enough to set your teeth to chattering, we're supposed to get more snow towards the end of the week! Of course, that's a "long-range forecast" so it will probably *hopefully* change. In the meantime, here are a couple of picture of the view from my deck this morning. Yes, pretty. Yes, cold!!!!

On to the sewing report, my Bloom SAL has picked up again. I must confess that it was largely due to the Bloomer Party on Saturday. I still had only 6 blocks completed so I set about to prep a few.

I actually traced all the pieces for the next 6 blocks and then managed to pick out fabrics for two  of them before my mother arrived for the weekend. Time to set aside again.

The next morning while everyone slept I sewed my pieces and later turned them right side out. Ironed them in place to the backgrounds and worked on them that afternoon into the evening. I finished this one while watching my niece play softball in Raleigh, NC at NC State University. Did I mention that I love that we can stream in her games???? Here's my girl iced up after one of her games.

At the end of last night, I finished this Bloomer .....

 and had a good start on this one.

I should have taken this picture with the green bed of the pink petal on the top. I fussy-cut the beds so they would all be positioned correctly in the finished quilt. I'll probably forget all about this when I assemble! Hahaha!

I managed to finish a few other things this week. First up was my string block with Rainbow Scrap Challenge. February was yellow.

Red meets yellow. I love both blocks and LOVE the gray hourglass formed between them!!

The Merry Christmas SAL is finishing up the embroidery blocks. Here's a picture of my finished block for week #4. Wonder if we'll be starting the piecing or the applique this week??!!

And last but not least, the cross stitch project has made a bit of progress. The bunny quilt is just about finished, the ladder to the right is finished and needs the tree next to it, and the bunnies at the bottom left have been started. I know they're hard to see because they're white but you might be able to see the pink in the ears and the cheeks!

It's the start of a new month and RSC is green. Prepare yourself for green blocks -- right after I finish the last of the yellow Tiny Tuesday blocks!

Have a great week!

Linking up with Movin' It Forward and Bloom SAL