Sitting around on Sunday

Last Saturday, I did something that I am very excited about. 

In reality,  all I did was take a cross-stitch that I completed to the framer; something I've done dozens of times. What is so special about this one you ask? Well, it's the first time I've ever had something framed for myself. I've made many many things. Quilts, cross-stitched items,  knitted things,  but pretty much the only things that get completed are the ones that I give away.  

Don't get me wrong,  I have purses, scarves, a hat and a pillow case that I made for myself,  but until my trip to Phoenix,  in February,  to visit my friend Stella, I had never completed a quilt for myself.  And now, my first cross-stitch.

 For clarification, my definition of "complete", means to the point that nothing else can be done to the project.  For me, a quilt isn't truly finished until I and sew the label on it. A cross stitch isn't completed until I have it framed. So even though I've stitched a ton of patterns and completed the patterns, I've never had one framed for myself. So that's why I am very excited about this. 

Here is what I dropped off. She's the Emerald Mermaid by Nora Corbett of Mirabilia. The picture really doesn't do it any justice. There are a bunch of beads and she's quite sparkly.   I can't wait to see it officially framed and finished!

It's that time again!!  Barbara at Catpatches is hosting her monthly NewFO challenge! 

And continuing with my mermaid theme, my NewFO for August is a black work Mermaid (well actually green work).

  I've actually gotten much further with her, but didn't get a chance to take a picture yet. Maybe tomorrow before I do any more work on her, I'll take one of the progress.

Our friend, Dave, went in for a heart valve replacement, and after the surgery, he suffered a stroke. He's doing ok, but has lost the majority of function of his right and left arm. He has some hard work ahead of him, so to keep him company during his stay at the rehab center, when his family and friends aren't able to be with him, I made this teddy bear. Dave is a big University of Michigan fan, so I found this cute, bandana style, Michigan fabric. So a NewFO and a finish!!

 This is Dave and his wife Marcia with their new friend.

 

I also started two donation vests for one of the dog rescues that I support. The dogs wear these at rescue events and collect donations. The lettering is painted on. First I make a stencil, then I paint them, then I sew.

 

They asked me to make one to fit a puppy. Since I didn't have a puppy, I used  a couple of my cats as a size guide. Lilly wasn't exactly thrilled to model the finished puppy vest. "It says 'DOG' on it, Mom, Do I look like a DOG to you?"  Sorry sweet Lilly, but you were there and I couldn't resist.

 

Here in Florida, we have tons of lizards. I like them. Even if the ones you mostly see are the invasive, Brown Anoles. They have chased away the pretty Green Anoles from most of the populated areas. You can still find them occasionally in wooded areas, but around our house, it's the brown ones. I think it's adorable to find them sleeping in my plants at night. I like to walk around when I let the dogs out to potty, and try to find the lizards in their sleeping spots. It's like a nightly treasure hunt. What an exciting life I lead.  :)

This one is a little too big for the leaf she has chosen. She sleeps here almost every night since she was just a baby. (I know it's a girl, because she has a red head).

I almost didn't see this little guy, hiding in the pineapple.

And another little girl in the outer edge of our Orange tree. There were quite a few in the tree, and a couple of baby tree frogs. Hopefully, they will all eat, whatever little creepy bugs have been eating at our tree! See the leaf to the upper right?

Speaking of tree frogs, I didn't have any way to scale this guy, but he's almost 4 inches long! I was all excited about having such a big bug eater around, until I discovered that he too, is an invasive species. He's actually a Cuban tree frog and in addition to the bugs, he will also eat the smaller, native, White's tree frog. 

  Today, I dropped off my Dad's sewing machine. An antique Domestic (which I forgot to take pictures of - DOH!), at Ember Sewing Machines to be checked out and tuned up. Here's one corner of their shop.  They repair, refurbish and also sell sewing machines. I love this place.

Oliver says that this post is almost as long as he is, so I should stop and go to bed. 

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

Stitching a tail

This past Saturday was fantastic.  We went scalloping and had one of our best trips ever. The weather and water were perfect, the company was fun and we limited out on scallops! Here I am with some of the ones I collected.

Sunday was a day of getting things done. We cleaned the scallops and I did some chores. We visited some friends and the puppies they're fostering. 10 adorable fur balls and their sweet mommy.

I decided to postpone the last few chores I had intended to do, and workk a little on my niece's quilt. I got all of the white cut, but am a little annoyed at myself for misreading the quantity of the blues and purples that I needed to cut. So there is still much to cut and sew (and possibly buy). Since funds are extremely tight right now, it may have to wait for a bit.

I had a bad head ache and neck ache, so I took the day off and slept it off.

Meanwhile, I have started a new black work project the other day. It's a little bigger than the last one. Here's where I'm at now.

 And here's my favorite stitching buddy, Oliver

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

Great Giveaway!

 First of all, TGIF!

 What a wonderful surprise I got when I checked out one of my favorite blogs today.  The absolutely fabulous, Barbara, over at Cat Patches is having a

Just-for-the-Fun-of-it Barn Quilt Giveaway!!

She's giving away a 12" x 12" Barn Quilt, just click on the link above, or here and follow her ridiculously simple instructions to have a chance to win.  It is only open to U.S. readers, due to shipping costs. 

Here's the one I want, if I win!

 

Good Luck if you enter her giveaway!

And Thanks Barbara for being so awesome!

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

Hot Streak

I'm back! It's been a while, but I didn't want to miss out on this month's

 NewFO Party over at Cat Patches!

 

 I have been pretty busy, so I'll just get right to it!  

First, I took a class at the end of June at my favorite LQS, Country Quilts and Bears, with my Sister-In-Law. She had never used a sewing machine, so it was fun to share the craft and knowledge with her. The quilt is called "Color Splash", and is made from a package of charm squares and a solid fabric.  Actually it will be two quilts, a big one and a small one. The small one is made from the scraps of the first. Pretty cool!

Here are a few of the big squares laid out. I think there were 64 in all, so I will have much arranging to do, sometime in the future. The photo makes the fabrics look darker than they truly are. The main fabric is a bright green.

Here are the leftovers that will be made into a smaller quilt. 

 

 Back in May, I signed up for my very first Quilting Bee. My friend was telling me about how she had done it several times and maybe I would like it. As if I needed another project! Ha! It actually was enjoyable, as all sewing and quilting should be! Well, that is after it took me a month to decide which block I was going to make.  The way the Bee works is that each of the 7 "Bees" in your Hive share which 3 colors they would like in their block and their fabric likes and dislikes. Then each Bee is free to make what ever block they want, the same block for all six fellow bees, in the colors they asked for. You have 3 months to make them and there is a deadline for everyone to mail their blocks out.  I started off with over 50 blocks patterns and it took me over a month to finally pick the one I wanted to make. I actually went out and bought all the fabrics before I even had the block picked out. One of the bees asked for "rainbow colors, in order", which at first made the task of choosing the block extremely daunting. Finally, I had a breakthrough and here is what I ended up making. It is called a Dutch Rose (click the name for a link to the free pattern)

 

 

 

 

 

These are the blocks I received. My colors were Bright Green and Pink. Pretty aren't they?

  

I also started a quilt for my niece.  I have promised her and her two brothers that I would make them each one, and now I'm on my way to fulfilling that promise. She's kind of a tomboy and her favorite colors are blues and purples and black.  I just went with the blues and purples.

 The pattern I'm making is Hugs & Kisses by Jaybird Quilts and can be found here 

Here's their version, just to give you an idea of what's coming. 

I've been neglecting my cross-stitching for a while, and I've been missing it, so I started (and finished) my first Black work project. 

Oops! When I first drafted this post, I accidentally posted the above picture, which is actually the back of the piece. I decided to leave it up, just to show you how proud I am that I kept the back pretty tidy. Hiding tails in a cross-stitch isn't very difficult (well, I've been doing it for over 20 years), but this was new to me and I gave myself a little "atta girl" for my efforts. I still have to wash it and iron it, and frame it.  

 That's all for the crafty stuff.  In other news, Bruce made these adorable little awnings for the front of the house. We get full afternoon sun and with the old windows, it gets mighty warm. The window on the left, is my cat / craft / office space. I can testify that the awnings have cooled it down and kept me from having to close the blinds and hang curtains over them to keep the temperature and glare down when I'm sewing after work. And they added some much needed character to the front of the house. It still needs some fresh paint and landscaping. One thing at a time!

 

 A few months back, I went to my first ever Green Thumb Festival. Apparently it's been going on for years, and several of my neighbors go every year, but no one bothered to tell me about it! It was actually the wonderful man at the nursery where I bought the flowers for around my Palm tree, who told me about it. I loved it. I purchased three of these adorable "Desert Rose" plants and this one, just got it's first flower! I am very excited about it.

 

At the Green Thumb Festival, they also gave away free plants. I was given a tiny little thing, and was told it was a "Spider Plant". I potted it a hanging basket and look at it now! I wish I had taken a picture of it when they gave it to me. It was a scrawny little thing with 8 or 10 leaves sticking up. All the rain has got it off to a booming start. I can take the little bunches off the stringers and plant them to propagate it. Very cool, self replicating plant! 

Whew! That was a marathon post! 

Dot says it's time to stop and relax, and who am I to argue with her? 

 I hear my recliner calling my name, and there's a new black work project nearby..... but that's for next month's NewFo post.

  Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

Stitching and fishing

Riley and Oliver said it was about time I updated this, since I've been  busy sewing, planting, fishing, critter snuggling and unfortunately, working.

I really liked seeing the "Hello Sun" blocks that Barbara at Cat Patches made, so I joined in the "Hello Moon" Quilt Along. I have made the first four blocks and I am pretty pleased with them. Quilters who sew for enjoyment will understand that one of the first things you have to learn is how to let go of perfectionism. Not that we don't want our work to be perfect, because we do, but we have to learn that it's ok if it's not perfect. I had to remind myself when doing the stitching around the edges of the applique. This is my first attempt at fusible applique and I wasn't thrilled with my stitches at first, but now I have accepted them as a learning experience and they add to the character of the pieces. 

So for my April NewFo submission, here they are:

So there's some of the sewing I mentioned I was doing, now here are some pictures from fishing. Our target catch for the day was redfish.  Educational note: The red drum, also known as channel bass, redfish, spottail bass or simply reds, is a game fish that is found in the Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts to Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Northern Mexico.We ran into a friend of a friend, as we were puttering around in Tampa Bay,  who told us of a good spot to try. This dock was it. 

You may have noticed that something is wrong with the top of the boat in the lift.  A pair of Osprey decided that the T-top of the boat looked like a lovely spot to build their nest. Normally, Osprey build their nests in tall trees, near water. This is a very low spot, considering their normal preferences.

They are protected birds, so maybe the owner was afraid to make them go away, or maybe he is a fan of the beautiful birds and doesn't use his boat much anyway. We also found it amusing that the birds built their nest around a plastic owl that is supposed to frighten birds away (seen on the left in the photo below). Obviously, the Osprey were not impressed or intimidated by the owl.

 The female was sitting in the nest, while her mate kept bringing more building supplies.

Since we got right up next to the dock, the female moved closer to keep an eye on us. You can tell she's the female by her "necklace". 

Our friend's friend was right! I caught my first redfish! Actually it was the only redfish we caught all day. And I out-fished both Bruce and Tim. In this rare photo, I'm in front of the camera.

 Here's a close up of the male Osprey as he was coming in to land. They are really fantastic looking creatures.

Here's the "after" shot of the redfish.. Ha ha.. Bruce cleaned and cooked the fish that night and it was tasty.

 In other news, I finally got Bruce's clothing cabinet assembled and squared away, so I have begun trying to get my fabric stash organized. Riley, my ever diligent helper, had to check out the dresser to see if it was a good fit for the fabric.

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

Marching along

 Another month has flown by.  I am getting so far behind in my posts.... When I returned from my trip to Arizona in February, we were very busy at work, preparing for St. Patrick's Day events, and no sooner are we finished setting them up and then taking them down, and BAM! Get ready for Easter events! I didn't have much time at all for sewing. I also have been trying to reorganize my sewing / cat / computer room.  I bought a new cabinet to put Bruce's overabundance of clothes into, but I have to wait for two of the shelves to be completed. I can't wait to get that out of the way. And get all my laundry baskets back!

For now, I am linking up to the NewFO Party for March. Hosted by Barbara at Cat Patches.

 The only thing I got started in March was finding and buying some of the fabric for projects I want to do. I did get to sew the beginning pieces together for the Hello Moon Quilt Along.  

I am looking forward to participating in this fun project. It will be my first Quilt Along.

I had planned on getting so much done last weekend. I started out on Friday night by getting our new cabinet assembled and then discovered it was short 2 shelves, which I am hoping will be here by Tuesday. Then I was all set to get my errands run and go to JoAnn's and maybe even a quilt shop to get some of the materials I wanted for projects I want to start. I got as far as depositing my paycheck into the ATM when I received a call from Bruce. He had gone to the storage yard and picked up the boat and towed it over to a friend's workshop to install some new electronics in it. When he unlocked the cabin, he discovered 5 furry surprises. 

I spent most of the weekend caring for the little loves. They were approximately 3-4 weeks old and needed to be fed about every 4 hours. I had to prepare formula and feed them and clean them. It took about an hour and a half each time, since there were 5 of them. Funny how Bruce found them, but I did all the work! Monday morning I finally found a rescue who had a nursing mom cat.  She took them in and they are doing great. It was very hard to let them go, after getting quite attached to them, with all the feeding and care.  I would have loved to keep one, but Bruce said "NO".  Insert big lip pout here.....  I know that I don't need another cat, with the six I already have (plus the two dogs), but when has need ever had anything to do with me getting another furry family member?  In the end I did what was best for the kittens and am keeping in communication with the rescue about possibly trapping the biological Momma cat (and any other strays in the vicinity of the storage lot) to get her spayed and released. 

So, in my defense, I was a little too busy to get any of my projects worked on.  Yesterday was all about getting my Jeep's issues straightened out. Today we slept in, and then after a lovely little boat ride and boat wash, I was finally able to work in my craft room for a while. I am hoping that this week, after work will be a little more productive and fun. I am currently hand sewing the binding on my Arizona souvenir quilt. How nice it will be to have something to post in the 2013 Finishes! 

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

February NEWFO

Wow, February is over! I know it was a short month, but it seems like it was shorter than short!

 I had a fun trip to Arizona. It was fantastic to see my longtime, good friend and see new things. I have started a post about my trip, but things have been quite busy around here since I got home. We spent the last 3 days battling fleas. Ugh. Dreadful little nuisances. So, I am trying to get this post done in time to participate in the February NewFO by Barbara at Cat Patches. 

While in Phoenix, Stella and I took a quilting class at a wonderful shop called etc. They are a quilting and scrap-booking store. Stella told me my head would probably explode when I went in and she was almost right! I am sad that I didn't take any pictures while we were there, but I was too busy having fun in the class and then shopping afterward! I am trying to learn to enjoy things I am doing and seeing, instead of just taking a zillion pictures.

It was a nice group of ladies and I think all seven of us completed our quilt tops in class. I've never gotten so much done in one class! We even learned a new trick for basting! Our instructor has an aversion to pinning her quilts together for quilting and introduced us to using the spray adhesive method. I have to say, that I am impressed with it. Since we didn't have quite enough time to do our quilting in class, I rolled and folded up my "sandwich" and put it in my suitcase. Three days later, when I got home and unpacked, it was still "basted" together and looked great! I started to quilt it the other day, but other things needed to be taken care of and I didn't get it finished yet. Here is my fun and useful Arizona vacation souvenir. 

As always, Riley and Oliver (that's his back half on the left), are always ready to inspect and help hold down my projects.

The lighting isn't the best, and the only place I had to take the pictures was on my bed. I will take better pictures when I finish it up this weekend. 

 My other little NewFO is a cute, little cross-stitch kit I picked up at one of the shops we visited in Arizona. I've been working on it a little as I watched TV the past few nights. Normally, I would have had it completed in one night, but with doing all the laundry and re-assembling rooms, and of course, cat wrangling after work, I've been pretty tired by the time I got to sit and sew. 

So that's all for my NewFOs this month! I'm hoping to get a couple of things finished this weekend and then I can start my March NewFOs!

 

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy