They Say I'll Miss Them When They're Gone

So it started with new tile flooring. Then the oven broke, then the dishwasher. The refrigerator was soon to follow.


Before we knew what was happening, all of our appliances were new. Then Rich decided before he started his new job, he was going to finish remodeling the kitchen. We've hated it since we moved in 7 years ago. Now I also have a new counter top, back splash, range hood, kitchen sink, faucet, microwave and paint! The pictures don't show the color well but it's a really pale celery. Sherwin Williams calls it Heart of Palm. It's brighter than I expected but I LOVE it. It's still one of the smallest kitchens I've ever seen, but it's a WHOLE lot prettier:)
The new curtains will get made next weekend...

It never ceases to amaze me how surprised my children get at the notion of doing their chores every Sunday. For as long as I can remember, we do our chores on Sunday. Everybody is responsible for their own room and each has a variety of other small jobs to do. Sunday comes along, it's the same, week after week. For some reason, it still takes them by surprise that they have to work. Whining, fit throwing, complaining. I won't name, names, but I've got one kid that acts like a 2 year old every time! Boy are they quick to ask for money, though! Well, a certain someone will be quite amazed how quickly I say no the next time I'm asked for cash. I've about come to the end of my rope with this routine.

Anyways, I was just told this week how awful it is when they move out. I'm having a hard time believing it today. Rich & I decided we should take a vacation without them. I thought, we should take that Honeymoon we never had. Ah, to dream. But then, we couldn't agree on where to go...heavy sigh.

Well, I've been pretty busy these past couple of weeks. With sick kids, broken kids, and various dr. appointments and dance classes. But, I did manage to make it into my sewing room once or twice.

The Jack O' Tablerunner, that I wasn't supposed to start until I had other projects completed. I'm so bad at following rules. Especially the ones I set up for myself... but at least I'm ready for Halloween now.
I took a class from Cindy Hagen yesterday and we made these snazzy, swirly table runners. I didn't realize how quick they went together so I didn't buy a backer or binding for it. The edges will eventually be smooth and I think I'll bind it in the white dot print. Or maybe, the red? I don't know what I'll do with it, it doesn't exactly match my Christmas decor but I love it any way!

Hot Cakes for my friend Silvia. Her last day at work is tomorrow & we're all going to miss her:(


The quilt is called Happy Hauntings, I think. It was a block of the month from 2 years ago! The skeleton has 114 bones. And, it's all hand appliqued! It's been done for a couple of weeks but I didn't have a picture to post. I love it! and apparently, so does Fred, he's asleep on it every chance he gets!




These are my latest pincushions, doughnuts. YUM.

I'm getting really bored with these state flowers but I guess there's no deadline to do them. I'm disappointed with how sedate the coloring of the embroidery is.

And, I believe the fat lady is singing, because I need to sleep:) Happy Stitching.

My Life in Stitches

I suppose this is another pincushion project. There were several little projects like this that I wanted to get done before school started. I've always wanted to buy one of these thread catchers when I see them at quilt shows but I never like anyone's choice of fabrics. And, you know I love cupcakes.

Let me just say, moving pictures around in this blog sucks. These are the State Flower embroidery blocks that I've been working on. I started them while we were in Minnesota. I'm doing this instead of hand applique for a while. While we were in Minnesota, someone was looking at my work and asked "What are these, cupcakes?" So...I guess my embroidery skills are a tad lacking. By the end, I sould have it squared away. Don't ask me why Utah is upside down, I can't figure out how to fix it. These will all be set on-point in the quilt.

So, don't be too impressed with how much I've done on my Civil War blocks. I had several blocks that I just hadn't taken a picture of yet. They are really bad pictures. I couldn't bring myself to re-take them once they were done. I almost started to cry on Saturday when I sat down to put all the blocks in order. At first, I was going by just the blocks that I'd photographed but luckily I found the others and I wasn't as far behind as I had thought:/ Then of course, I got frustrated & gave up before I was caught up with Barbara Brackman's blog. The Y-seams in the lily block did me in!

So, that's what I've been up to. My to-do pile is: quilt my Haunted Halloween, and Pride & Prejudice quilts, get caught up on my Twisted Mystery quilt and I'm also doing Bunny Hill's BOM Henrietta Squirrel. Ideas running around in my head are: a family tree quilt for the Purdy's, Hearts n' Hands BOM in 30's, a new fall bag, & a new Quilt of Valor. I've got fabric for them all, I just need to start them. But then, I feel like I should finish something else first. Maybe next week.

This hansome dude is my oldest son Hunter. He's modeling his sister Bethany's new dance bag. We saw a baby quilt in a magazine with this super cute owl on it & decided to make a hybrid of that pattern and the bag pattern I just got. Hunter drew the owl for me because the original was really big. Such a good boy :P The fabrics were found on my recent trip to Paducah. It doesn't show very well, but, my friend Pat Boker helped locate the stripe on the owl's belly at Eleanor Burn's shop. Now I have lots of leftovers to do something else later.

I've been planning this State Flowers quilt for so long, I don't remember when I started thinking about it. I've had several customers come in with their finished blocks trying to match fabric to them. So, I decided to match my blocks to the fabric before I even got started.

Originally, I wanted the blocks to be on a black background so that the thread color really pops off of it. Then I started thinking about how much work it was going to be to trace all those flowers on to black fabric. So, I found the yellow gingham instead :) I saw a really cute cross-stitch sample at Mom & Me Forever that used a lavender gingham background and LOVED the look. We'll see if it turns out, or not.

Since I apparently agreed to go camping with the family:( I thought I should get these prepped to take along if I need to.

We've also got a trip to Minnesota coming up at some point.

Last but not least, my lastest pin cushion. Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream, anyone?