Weekend progress

Although I didn't get a lot of sewing done over the weekend I did manage to finish off my sample piece for the workshop . This candle mat was designed by Annette of In Stitches and Seams and is a real fun project to make . I have another in stages that I will also finish up real soon .

Now you may have realized by now that I enjoy making things from basically what  most would toss , I must be cheap ;-) Well this project gives you scraps that are not exactly straight and far from uniform in shape however I took the time to sew them together and made this mug rug , the good part about this is it gave me a chance to try some more FMQ , Not so sure you can see it but there is a raw edged appliqued flower which I did entirely free motion then echo quilted around it and added a few leaves , I love doing those leaves .

 I know I should have chosen a different fabric for the flower it blends in too much but I was determined to just use up those fabrics . Now some of  the gals who took the class passed their scraps to me as I also save the unusable pieces to eventually make a dog bed , I have an old pillowcase just about full now with odds and ends of scraps . Hey it will make Luke really happy and better than giving it to the landfill .
  I have been playing along with Rana and doing the BOM with the autumn theme , to check it out just click on the pumpkin icon on my sidebar , it would be easy to catch up and I think it is a fun project but then I love anything fall.  I am all caught up now and like how this is looking , what do you think ? Dear hubby said "it isn't my thing" oh well can't please him everytime .

 I will have to say it was tough to cut through those stars , didn't want to mess them up but they look interesting in their new setting .
 Finally I did the fourth block in Pam Buda's Pocket Patchwork  little sew along , I still have some catching up to do with this one as it is time to add some sashings , I was so glad I had enough of the black to make that final block as I was not able to find anything similar ,wonder how this will all go together .

I don't use a lot of black and I have had this fat quarter so long I have no idea where or when I got it and I do love it in these blocks.
 We had some heavy frost over night that I believe was detrimental to the health of my Rhododendron blossoms , they had started to open on Sat. and now look all wilted , such a shame . It is a cool but sunny day here on the east coast , hope the sun is shining in your neck of the world. Thanks for stopping by and come again real soon.
 hugs Sheila

The postman arrived :-)

If you love a rainy day come on over , it is just dreadful , rain and wind and yuck. However the postman arrived with a delightful surprise for me ,the first one arrived on Tuesday morning on my way to quilting , sorry I just have not had two minutes to post. My friend Annette surprised me with this sweet postcard , I love sunflowers so this is  just perfect and oh so creative .

 Don't you just love it , it sure brightens a dreary day :-) Thanks so much Annette  .

 Today I was going to head down to visit my parents for the weekend but my body thought otherwise and I guess this weather is a huge part of the reason so I was feeling a little sad about not going when the mail arrived and Bill brought in this little package for me filled with the most gorgeous wool pieces and aren't they sweet the way they are held together with buttons.

 This wonderful surprise was from Cyndi , you sure made my day Cyndi , thanks so much I will sure enjoy using these in upcoming projects . Cyndi knows how much I love wool :-)

 I had a busy week , on Wednesday I had my first ever try at teaching a workshop for our guild , I was worried that I would not be up to the task but I think it went well , everyone achieved success and I think they enjoyed the afternoon . I have never had so many questions thrown at me at the same time before and I hope I explained things well enough. I am not that comfortable standing up in front of a group but it did make it a little easier that I knew them all . The pattern we used was designed by Annette of In stitches and Seams  and she gave me permission to teach the class , thank you Annette , I know the girls all loved your pattern.

The name of the pattern is Crazy for Candles , a lovely variety of colors in this group . Great job ladies !!
 In preparing for this class I made a candle mat as well but mine is not quite finished , however when I made this before I had a block left over so decided to turn that into a mugrug and practice this months FMQ , I did not have a good marking tool so had problems seeing my design however I think this is a really great way to put some wonderful designs on our quilts , in the areas that I could see well it was an easy way to FMQ , so don't look too closely but here is my little sample .

I also have a second Christmas item for this month , the first being the snowman stitchery I showed in the blog hop and then just today I finished off this pillow top .

 Oh my it shows up the scratches on my old church bench , Luke our dog loves to get up here and ask for a treat :-) Anyway this pattern is by This and That and is called Comfort and Joy , cute pattern .

 The last time I was home my Mom asked me to finish off a baby quilt she had started , the top was complete and it was all sandwiched but she didn't feel she had time to quilt it , I have nothing to do don't you know ;-) , so I brought it home with me and I got it quilted on Sunday as I was at that time thinking I would be going back down today but that is ok I will take it the next time.

I took this picture yesterday when the sun was shining beautifully , see the grass in the background , it is getting so green and lush , just gorgeous , you can almost see it growing .
I think I have kept you long enough and I really need to go anyway ,time to stretch . Thanks for stopping by and have yourself a wonderful day .
hugs Sheila

And the Winner is !

In this beautiful box that my friend Dianne gave me are all the names for my blog hop giveaway ,I had to do this the old fashioned way as I have no clue how to do it any other way .

I had Bill draw the name for me after he stirred them up for a while , this is the name he drew out .

  Can you read it , well it says Charlie and Wendy ,Wendy of Charlotte's Web 

Here is a close up of the winning name ,congratulations Wendy , please send me your mailing address so I can mail off the little mini to you .
 Thank you to everyone who entered and to those who became followers , welcome and I hope you will return often .
 Thanks for stopping by and hope your day is special .
 hugs Sheila

WIP Wednesday and the postman arrived

I know it is Thursday but yesterday was just too busy to post but I wanted to link up with the Needle and Thread Network for WIP Wednesday :-) 
 I am really enjoying the Home Sweet Home Penny Rug BOM from Melody of the House on the side of the Hill and am pleased with myself as I am all caught up for this month .

 A really fun project . I also got the star block finished up for last week with Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts ,I am enjoying these as well.Here are the three so far , it is not too late you can easily catch up so why not check it out .

 This is rather pitiful but I started this little stitchery maybe two years ago , it is part of a runner and each end has embroidery , I even have the main part of the runner sewn together and it was when I came across that part of the runner that I realized I must find the stitchery and get that finished , well I have one end completed now and have started the second end , hope it won't take another two years to complete that ;-)

 The pattern can be found in Australian Country Threads vol 7 No.4 and is designed by Brenda Ryan ,maybe I will show you the completed runner real soon .
 As my post title says the postman arrived with some goodies for me , a short while ago I won some magazines from Terry of Terry's Treasures and was only expecting magazines but Terry was more than generous and included a few extras , there were three wonderful American Patchwork magazines, a sweet little pincushion that she made , plus two patterns  "Gardens I Dream About "by the Hopskotch Quilting Co. and a Project Pocket pattern by Blue Willow Designs .Thanks so much Terry I really appreciate your kindness and for making my day special .

Thanks for stopping by , be sure to visit the Needle and Threadnetwork , I promise you will be inspired . Oh and if you have not entered my giveaway be sure to go here  .
 Hugs Sheila

Bingo Card

I am running late in posting my bingo card, I did show the card a while back but did not give my list so here goes.

              

                 B -  butterfly, waves , sun, fish, ladybug 

     I-  bear , swan, stripes, fairy,dots

N- giraffe, mouse, santa, stars  

          G-  ghost, horse, tiger, snake, button

                     O-  spider, flower, butterfly, spiderweb, car 

This fun event is being hosted by Tonya of Hillbilly Handiworks ,go here for all the rules and tutorials for making the cards, you have a couple of days so don't waste any time, I am sure this will be  alot of fun and did I mention there will be lots of prizes :-)

Enjoy your day !

 hugs Sheila

Spring is in the Air

This is day two of the" Spring is in the Air" blog hop hosted by Madamme Samm and I am thrilled to be taking part . When Madamme Samm first mentioned doing this  blog hop I didn't have a table topper stand but my dear hubby gave me  one for Christmas so I was happy to start making some minis. They are such fun to make, quick and fairly easy  and you can change them with the seasons or" just because" .
Thankfully the season has passed for us with snowmen but I just recently finished this little topper and it will be considered my one Christmas item for this month . The pattern is designed by Sherri Falls of This and That Pattern Co.. I love their patterns and have made several over the years.

For those of you who have been following me for a while  know that I love working with wool so I figured a mini in wool would be perfect and I came across this cute pattern in a 2002 Better Homes and Gardens "Quilting Ideas ".I had to change the size slightly but that was easy enough and this combines my love for wool and crazy patch style quilting.

I then starting thinking spring , afterall we are just a tad tired of snow around here  and glad to see the warmer weather arriving and the birds arriving back for the summer  . This pattern is by Patch Abilities  ,another pattern company I love . Again I had to make some slight changes as the original pattern is 6x22 but it was the idea I was in love with as I love butterflies :-) I really enjoyed creating this one , the background fabric I felt was perfect .

Now no blog hop would be complete without a giveaway and this next table topper mini, a pattern by the Chook Shed Pattern Co., will be my giveaway . To win you must be a follower and leave me a comment telling me   what you like best about spring . I will choose a winner on Sunday  the 22nd,  Earth Day . 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have lots of fun in this Spring blog hop . Be sure to  stop by the other blogs participating in today's hop and here is the list for the entire blog hop so you won't miss out on any of the fun and just incase you missed Monday's hop I have included them here as well because there are some really lovely toppers to see so hop on over and see for yourself. Enjoy your day and as the mini says " Pour a cup of Kindness " it will make you feel good ;-) Hugs Sheila 

Monday April 16th

Jacque (Snoodles)

Lesley

Sharon

Dawnmarie

Piece Peace * please visit her on Wed April 18th

Tuesday April 17th

Kris

Marcia

Jenny

Sheila 

Josie

Wednesday April 18th

Vickie

Shanna

Deonn

Mrs Pickles 

Sharon 

Piece Peace 

Thursday April 19th

Leslie ( lesquilts)

Jennifer ( that girl)

Karen 

Katherine

Friday April 20th 

Marlene 

Charlotte 

Leslie

Darlene 

Jane

Michelle

Cherry

Monday April 23rd

Christine

 Just Carol 

Patty D

Wendy

leanne

Elaine M 

Judy C

Tuesday  April 24th

 Jennifer m

Roxanne 

Syd 

Selina 

Connie

Patti

Jane

Wednesday April 25th 

Mary 

Marianna

Thearica

Kelly

Marnie  

Pauline

Mdm Samm

Macro Monday

Spring is just beginning to feel like spring , today it is super windy but oh so warm , 18 C. last time I checked . It was a great day for laundry , they dried without a wrinkle. No I am not going to share my laundry but I am going to share some spring photos , my garden is just starting to poke through so doesn't look like much but is oh so wonderful to see .

 I hate to admit it but I am not 100 % sure what these are but I think they are forget me knots , how appropriate huh . Then there are these English Buttercups and oops I forget what the others are called too but my father in law always called them rabbit ears :-)

 My Rhododendrons are also showing some buds , this variety is an early bloomer and oh so pretty  and no I do not know the name of it either , not much of a gardener am I :-)

 All this gardening made me hungry so I came in and made these , are you hungry , go ahead help yourself .

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to take a cookie as you leave , I am linking up with Lisa today for Macro Monday . Hugs Sheila

Table Topper Blog Hop

Are you ready for a fun time with lots of wonderful table toppers to see and some giveaways to win , well take note as tomorrow is the opening day of a wonderful blog hop of Spring is in the air table toppers hosted by Madamme Samm .
 For me this will be my first time participating in a blog hop and I look forward to sharing my little toppers with you all on Tuesday the 17th and I promise there will be a giveaway as well . Here is the list of participants , you might want to take note and make sure you stop by to visit all the wonderful blogs , it is sure to be fun .You will have from April 16- 25 to visit all 46 blogs , sounds like fun :-)

                                Table Topper Blog HOP Schedule

Monday April 16th

Jacque (Snoodles)

Lesley 

Sharon

Dawnmarie

Piece Peace 

Tuesday April 17th

Kris

Marcia

Jenny

Sheila (me)

Josie

Wednesday April 18th

Vickie

Shanna

Deonn

Mrs Pickles 

Sharon 

Thursday April 19th

Leslie ( lesquilts)

Jennifer ( that girl)

Karen 

Katherine

Friday April 20th 

Marlene 

Charlotte 

Leslie

Darlene 

Jane

Michelle

Cherry

Monday April 23rd

Christine

 Just Carol 

Patty D

Wendy

leanne

Elaine M 

Judy C

Tuesday  April 24th

 Jennifer m

Roxanne 

Syd 

Selina 

Connie

Patti

Jane

Wednesday April 25th 

Mary 

Marianna

Thearica

Kelly

Marnie  

Pauline

Mdm Samm

The postman has been busy and so have I

Yesterday my mailbox was brimming with fun mail , these three packages were waiting for me to discover what was inside . A little while back I won a fabulous giveaway from Fiona at  http://bubzrugz.blogspot.com and yesterday this book arrived in the mail. The book is Country Cottage Quilting by Lynette Anderson , incredibly beautiful book ,I will give you just a small sampling of what is inside .

Aren't these just adorable , can't wait to try out some of the many lovely patterns , thank you so much Fiona !
 Next to this book is a magazine I won from the Needle and Thread Network , it is called a Needle Pulling Thread and is a Canadian publication full of incredible work and in this issue Monika of My Sweet Prairie is the featured artist .Monika is host of     the Needle and Thread Network where each week Canadians can showcase their work and well worth visiting . Also if you have never visited Monika's incredible blog be sure to do so as you will be very inspired by her lovely work , it is a treat to visit.  I sure wish she lived closer I would love to attend a class . Thanks so much Monika !

The last brown envelope I can not reveal as it is the final chapter in the crazy patch RR that I have been taking part in and I don't want to spoil the surprise for Dianne , I have to make a block for her and then it will be heading back home , yeah . You are going to love these Dianne :-)

 Now for what I have been up to , trouble you say , no not really but I have taken on two more BOM'S , oh I know I really did try to resist but there was no stopping me this time. First off I have been making these 6" star blocks by Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts , hope I have that right . I am not sure why I have been so fascinated with miniatures lately but when I seen these I just had to make them. There should be another block today I think , I must check  later . These are one a week .



Then I have been printing off these sweet house blocks from Shabby Fabrics with the intent of doing them someday , well that day came yesterday . I did start backwards as I did the fourth block which is April's block and I have yet to do the other three .

 I am not quite finished of the applique but almost . I think these are adorable and look forward to catching up ,if you are interested in taking part the link is here  Now come on , how can you possibly resist.
 Dress number two is also finished now , the sad truth is I don't really think it is any smaller although a size smaller but hey she will grow into it and I just love this fabric too .

 I know the fabric is rather busy but here is a close up .The color is off a bit in this photo , it is closer to the correct color in the photo above.

Well I am probably a little late but I am going to link up to the Needle and Thread Network for WIP  Wednesdays ,yesterday was just too busy :-) Thanks for sticking with me this far I know this has been a long post , hope I didn't bore you. Enjoy your day .

 hugs Sheila

Tuesdays Treasures

Tuesdays Treasures  is hosted by Melody of the House on the Side of the Hill , it is fun each week to choose something or someone we treasure , it makes us realize just how blessed we are. Well this week I have another very special treasure to share with you , first you might want to go to this post and read the history behind today's treasure ,it isn't necessary but it will give you a better idea where my treasure came from.
  My friend Linda has a friend who makes jewellery and I asked Linda if it would be possible for her to make my little treasure into a pendant for a necklace and she said she was sure she could do that so I brought my small little piece of smooth beach glass to Linda who passed it on to her friend and I was absolutely delighted last Tuesday when she passed  me this beautiful piece of jewellery .

 Isn't it incredible, the glass is tucked safely inside this masterpiece of twisted wires .I can't wait to share it with Elise , I hope she will remember giving me the glass , I do think she will , she might want it back when she sees this but it will remain with me for a few years and someday I will give it back to her.  We had hoped to see the girls over Easter weekend but mother nature had other plans as we had a snow storm , yes in April , so much so that many churches had to cancel their services , I do not ever remember that happening on Easter before. The snow is now melting as we had a lovely sunny morning which now has changed to rain so the snow is a short term pain in the rear but the farmers are probably happy , we can always use a little extra moisture for the upcoming growing season. Things will grow won't they?
 I didn't get much sewing done over the weekend , ok none is more like it , I did some hand stitching but that was it so this afternoon I hope to finish up another dress, I 'll update you when I finish or actually have something to show , at the moment it is in pieces :-)
 To see more treasures be sure to hop on over to visit with Melody ,there is sure to be some lovely treasures for you to view . Thanks for stopping by on this wet Monday , I am getting this ready a head of time so I can go quilting in the AM. I am on lunch tomorrow .
 Hugs Sheila

A small finish

Although I didn't do any machine sewing over the Easter Weekend I did manage to get a few hand sewing projects finished up . I had shown a sneak peak of this project a while ago and finally got the binding sewn down while watching a movie on Sat. evening.

A fun little pattern to make and instead of adding hearts as the pattern calls for I changed it to flowers as I felt it was better suited to this spring fabric . The pattern is called Welcome with Hearts by Sugar Pine and designed by Castilleja Cotton 

Henrietta and Hannah also had some work done on them , I finished the embroidery for this block but still need to sew on the border blocks and attached it to the other blocks which won't take a long time . 

 When watching TV, I often have some handwork to do , it seems like a waste of time to just sit there with idle hands so I also managed to finish off the embroidery on Melody's BOM penny rug , a really fun project 

Hmm wonder what the next addition will be ? Whatever it is I know it will be great . 

How was your Easter weekend , I hope you enjoyed a lovely weekend . Our weekend was very quiet , a snow storm kept us home on Sunday , a little disappointing but you can't control the weather . Thanks for stopping by I am off to the sewing machine now. Take care .

 hugs Sheila