June plans

Time to decide what I will work on for this month as I link up with Carrie at a Passion for Applique  . Pretty easy this time as I still need to finish off this little mini quilt .

Pretty sad I know but there are just so many hours in the day and I seem to have a hard time making everything fit in these days. I also need to make and sew on a binding on my nine patch quilt , hopefully that will be finished by the 15th for our quilt show.

And #3 on the list is my cottage quilt , I have the binding made , sewn on and now need to sew that down and I am thinking I will add a sleeve for hanging this quilt , it would look nice on a wall.

I am using the green striped fabric that I used for the sashings for the binding , I love stripped bindings.  That should keep me busy for a while , hard to sit and sew down binding in the heat :-(
I thought I would also share my kitchen hutch with the new paint job , I am very happy with this color, however my granddaughter was visiting last week and said she preferred the green , oh well can't please everyone :-)

Thanks for stopping by , have yourself a wonderful day .
 Hugs Sheila

Make that two :-)

On this sunny Sunday I am happy to share that I have completed not one but two of my projects , yeah !! Which one would you like to see first , maybe the oldest of the two , ok .

This Autumn Bounty , a free BOM  a year ago here, the pattern is still available if you are interested in trying it , I enjoyed this project as it was a great way to use some scraps. I am over the moon happy to have this finished , it took me a while but all good things come to those who wait lol!
Next is my Simple Country Sampler by the Rabbit Factory , I did change it up a bit by adding an extra row .

If you recall I photographed this on the railing when it was just a top so I thought it was fitting to do so again now that it is completed. I had this machine quilted by Lynda at Fiddle Stitches in Mabou and I am very pleased . Again a great fun quilt to make , just loved every part of it and I really did use scraps on this one too , if you knew my other work you would see lots of bits and pieces from lots of other projects , the only fabric I purchased for this project was the backing even my binding is pieced , how great is that . You know the funny thing is I could quite easily make this again without going to the fabric shop , do you think I have too much fabric or maybe too many scraps .

Here it is spread out on the grass so you get a better idea of how it looks , the last row is an extra and the rooster pattern was not in the quilt pattern either ,I love my rooster and my cat both additions.

All rolled up in the crook of our maple tree , I always wanted to do this ;-)

Now the surprise of the day is this quilt , are you ready ?

That's right it is off the frame and is now trimmed up and ready for binding , I actually forgot what this looked like it was on there so long , sad really as it is not a large quilt and should not have taken me that long but such is life right  .

Want to see my mushroom ? I found an appropriate dish on the weekend , not quite what I was hoping for but it did work and I was surprised how difficult it was to find a clear glass dish so I grabbed this one in hopes it would work and I think it does  .

Kind of cute don't you think , thanks to Fiona of Bubzrubz fame for sharing this cute idea , I love it ! And now for a more natural setting for a mushroom , here it sits in my garden , not quite sure if this is the final resting spot but it was the first place I placed it and there it sits for now.

Kind of hidden so I may have to choose a better spot later on . I will be looking for other glassware for more mushrooms to join this one , after all mushrooms usually are found in multiples .
 So that is it for today , I am off now to enjoy this glorious sunshine , don't want to waste a nice day . Hope you enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by .
 hugs Sheila

WIP WEDNESDAY

It is Wednesday again so time to share what progress I made this week . I finished making the 48 log cabin blocks for Darlene's mystery quilt but do not have them attached to the quilt just yet but here is how they are looking on my design wall, they won't all fit but you will get the idea.

I am really loving this quilt so far :-)
I sent off three quilts to Lynda of Fiddle Stitches to be machine quilted and was pleased to receive those on Tuesday ,so far I have made bindings for this one ,

This has been around for a while and was a BOM that I took part in a while back and I am really pleased with the quilting Lynda did to complete this , now I just need to sew that binding down and it is complete.
Then there is this one ...

This is my country sampler which I will share once that binding is sewn down , I do have it sewn to the quilt .
And finally this one , my nine patch quilt which I will need to buy some fabric for the binding .

I am also want to share my cottage quilt so you can see that I have made some progress there as well .

This is likely my last turn , I think I can reach to complete this border or I will try ,so close :-)
Now to change the subject we finally have some blessed sun , how wonderful it is to step outside to sunshine instead of rain and cold weather . So I just had to grab my camera and take a few photos of the apple trees in bloom  .

This is a flowering crab apple tree , just loaded with blooms , gorgeous , you can see another in the background too . Then there is this little one , also a crab but a different variety  and not quite open yet.

I love forget me knots they are one of my favorite flowers and I am pleased they are growing well in my little flower bed , so pretty .

I am not much of a gardener , love flowers but I am too lazy to weed ,I do try to maintain my gardens but don't do the best job , I'd rather be quilting  ;-)
Now I know these are just weeds but you have to admit they are pretty , how can you not possibly like this magnificent sea of yellow .

Our mower was on the fritz so this did not get mowed yet but I quite like it  .
 I am linking up today to the Needle and Threadnetwork  as well as with Carrie for Just UFO'S , I was successful in completing my messenger bag which was on my list and you can see that post here and I also made lots of progress on my quilt but sadly my other little mini did not see much stitching , better luck next month .
Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy your day .
 hugs Sheila

The mailman has been good to me :-)

Don't you just love it when the mailman brings you something fun , sure you do , I know I do  and it was a lovely surprise to receive this pattern in the mail from my friend Annette  .Annette designed this bag for the pom pom bloghop .

This is a great tote for summer so I am planning on getting busy and making this real soon . Thanks so much Annette !
You all know how much I love fabric postcards , why I belong to two postcard yahoo groups and exchange postcards on a regular basis but this card came to me from my friend Linda ,what a great surprise .

Life is a mystery , how true are those words , Linda used fabric scraps from her mystery quilt she is doing along with Darlene , gorgeous fabrics Linda ! Thanks so much for the great card and this is Linda's first postcard she sure did a fantastic job .
 I will also share one I received from an exchange, remember my little card with the bird with the postcard in its beak , well this is the card I received in exchange for that card from Terri in Ohio .

Yes this is the front of the card , the theme was "you've got mail" so unique I love it !
Another past time I enjoy is looking for treasures at yard sales etc. , the fun of the hunt is really wonderful , well last evening I went to a local large yard sale that took place as a fundraising event at the curling club . My mission was to look for sewing treasures and I was successful ,just look what I found .

A large tin of vintage buttons , there are some wonderful old buttons in the can ,how large is the can you may be wondering , well it is pretty large , it was too heavy to carry around while I looked for other treasures so asked if I could pay for it and leave it with them until I was finished which they were happy to accommodate me .

I think my granddaughters will love the can and guess what ,when you lift the cover a little tune plays . Oh it cost me $2 , pretty good huh :-)

 I found some fabric scraps as well nothing much but a few pieces which I will share once I actually use them, then I went to the dishes table , don't need dishes but you never know what you might find right  . I saw this hint many years ago on Martha Stewart and loved the idea so when I spotted this bottle I quickly snatched it up for a measly $.50 ,how could I go wrong ,right.

Since I am a tea totaler I have no idea what would be stored in this bottle but liquor of some kind for sure , I am now using it for my dish detergent , looks so much prettier than a detergent bottle don't you think . There were some really beautiful wine decanters there for the same price but this one takes up less space on the counter , I am happy .
 I also found a pretty green bottle and a very old green clear glass vase , you can see the little bubbles in the glass , I was hoping to find a glass bowl so I could make a garden mushroom like I seen Fiona do ,however none to be found , maybe the next sale ;-) Oh you want to see them do you , ok here they are .

I think I paid $.25 each for these , happy camper here  . Some of those vintage buttons will find themselves displayed in the green bottle and I might just make a little pincushion for the top ,what do you think ?
 Now I haven't just been treasure hunting I have been sewing up a storm on my mystery quilt which I am also sewing along with Darlene  , yikes that is a lot of log cabins but I love making them so no problem here .

I am not finished by any means but I do have a good start , funny thing is I am not sure if I can't read or can't count but either way I should have 48 of these started and only have 46 ;-) I am using lots of different scraps which I hope will give this a nice look .
 I guess I should let you go I appreciate you stopping by , hope you have a fun day doing something you love and thanks for the visit .
 hugs Sheila

"You Shine Like the Moon "

"You Shine like the Moon " yes that is what my granddaughter Elise thinks anyway . I was a little under the weather on the weekend and my granddaughters decided to make me get well cards and Elise who is four made this card for me.

Do you see it written at the bottom of the card , oh and the whole envelope was filled with colorful sprinkles and she wanted to know if I spilled them all over my bed :-) So sweet . You can't see it here , but along the right hand side she wrote open mine next , I guess she was assuming I would open Nila's card first .

This is Nila's card with the funky little faces as explanation marks , they are both so creative.  It sure made my day when Chad dropped these off to me yesterday on his way to the airport . I asked Chad what Elise meant by here little quote and he said he had no idea , she is unique .
 I want to show you my cottage quilt as it is now , I am on the last row of cottages

This was the first block I made which was for January 2012 , then you can see February next to that one and so on , I will just have the top border to do once I finish with the houses . I have learned a lesson, it is not a good idea to hand quilt anything that has been machine appliqued with steam a seam or such a product , not that easy to quilt through .
I will also share my little tea project , well two actually . First is the project for our tea room at the quilt show on June 15th ,just a little table mat nothing large .

I used the free pattern that Debbie Kravtovil shared for the tea pot , I loved the shape of it , I also used a vintage napkin for the table cloth under the teapot and cup ,  I made a similar project in a mugrug size as a gift for my friend Annette for her birthday and also one for my Mom for Mothers Day so she could have a special mat for her lunch but I neglected to take a photo of that one .

Same teapot pattern just downsized , fun to make .
Time to link up with the Needle and Threadnetwork for WIP Wednesday , be sure to stop by and see what everyone is up to this week and thanks for stopping by .
 hugs Sheila