Overwhelming UFO's

 UFO's upset me.  Do they bother you?  I have several; some are knitting, some cross stitch, others embroidery and some are quilted.  I like to keep life interesting so I change it up a bit.  This year, the cross-stitch group I belong to thought it would be a good idea to get some of us to move on some projects that have been put aside for one reason or another.  They all needed to be cross-stitch (it is a cross-stitch group afterall) except for one and there could only be five.  Easy enough!  So I chose this embroidery/quilting project that is so near done I can taste it.  That's my one non-cross-stitch project for this game.  I think I can get this one checked off my list at some point.

 Now this project is a different story.  It is a learning hardanger project.  I'm not much of a hardanger girl but I do love the look of hardanger, just never ventured into those waters.  As you can see from the picture below I'm nearly done except to fill in the spaces.  I have one HUGE mistake that is holding me up.  I cut threads that shouldn't have been cut.  With all the work that's
been put into this piece, I hope one of the more experienced stitchers in my group can save it and me!  I could just cry... this one I've chosen to set aside for now until I can get help for it.

 It is a pretty one though, isn't it?

 This project will be a Christmas exhange ornament for my group.  I have to keep it secret though, because I don't want anyone peekin' til it's exchange time.

 This one all packaged up and ready to stitch is a free hardanger ornament.  I think I can handle it; it's not too big or complicated.  Glad I got my feet wet on the  other disaster listed above...  My friend, Rose, stitched this one already and it's a pretty one, and free, too!  It's called Holly Quilt Block by The Victoria Sampler.

I have a fair start on this one.  It's called Fall Snapperland by Bent Creek.  Embarrassingly enough I started it last year and didn't get too far.  I hoped to finish it up this fall but I'm not so sure about that.  I feel pressure to get some Christmas projects out of the way before I do stitching for myself.  I still have five more washcloths to knit for someone and a Christmas stocking to make for my grandson.
I do have some lovely Christmas stockings that I just completed yesterday, though.  I'll be back with a post and some pictures on those next time!    

Snow in October?

Well... this will be a quickie post. Our power keeps going out due to the heaviness of the snow. I just nearly completed my post and the power went out, then came back on a few minutes later so I'm giving it another whirl. My husband just called to tell me there are a lot of downed power lines and it's very slick out on the roads. I've lived in New England all my life and I don't ever remember snow before Thanksgiving. We're expected to get 10+ inches with expected power outages.

I picked up these babies, all 48 of them at a flea market last week! Ten dollars for all of them! I plan on making either one big quilt or two twins out of them!

Casey was a good sport letting Caressa make up his face, yesterday! These are the moments I'm happy to have my camera handy!

Small-town fun here, today! Seeing that we have no sidewalks in town, not even one, it is illegal to go trick-or-treating in our town...with the exception of our street, which is a private road. Guess where all the kids in town come?

To make the towns' kids happy, they had a Halloween Party at the Village School. Lots of games, a parade (in the snow!) down Main Street from the town green up to the school, escorted front and back by our Town's Finest... two police cars, and yummy baked goods!

Caressa was a little Angel; just like she is in real life! I'm so thankful to live in this beautiful area and small town. Truly a dream come true!

New Sewing Chair & Quilt Show Pics

I picked up this chair at Saver's, a thrift store chain much like the Salvation Army, for $2.99. It was an old, oak school chair with a plastic seat cushion, a bit dirty and not so pretty. Looking beyond the obvious, I saw an adorable look-a-like DIY project that I had pinned on my Pinterest, here. I cleaned it up, sprayed it a pretty color blue, covered the seat in red and white gingham and made a cute little pillow from some scraps I had. Viola, my new sewing machine chair! Pretty cute, huh?

Over the weekend we enjoyed our small-town country fair. One of the highlights (for me, anyway) is to go to the Old Meeting House and look at all the hand made quilts the area townswomen have made over the past year.

The meetinghouse itself, is an enjoyable visit. It's very rich in town history.

Makes me want to dig through some of my stash and materials I have on hand and get busy! Are these quilts beautiful, or what?

Just Checking In

Sorry I haven't been here for awhile. You all know how spring is; lots to do and not enough time to do it in. That aside, I have been enjoying the beautiful weather we finally have. We had lots of rain and a tornado that passed two miles from my house but since then nice weather has come.
The baby crow, above, has a hurt wing. Yesterday, Kaleigh and I heard the crows making quite a racket. She went out to see what the fuss was about and the crows were swooping down trying to attack our kitty, Misty. She is the sweetest cat out of the three that we have but who could blame the crows? Misty was "playing" with the baby crow! Kaleigh was able to scare off the crows back high into the trees and my husband went out and picked up the baby bird and put it on the sky fort. Hopefully, the baby will be able to fly back up into its' nest. Naughty kitty!

I'm still plugging away on the Little Miss Shabby BOM. This one is the May block and the next one...

is April. As you can see, May brings flowers and the April one has little Easter eggs in the trees. So much thought is brought into each block. They are very cute. I'm halfway done and stitching one block a month is just my speed; nice and slow.
I haven't done any knitting lately. I think I have arthritis in one of my fingers from repetitive motion. It started about a year ago and I ignored it and plugged along. At this point, it's swollen and hurts so I'm giving it some TLC and rest. I'm drinking tart cherry juice and have some raisins soaking in gin to eventually, hopefully, relieve the swelling and pain.
So instead of knitting I'm embroidering, cross-stitching and reading. I also have some sewing to do so those things should keep my hands busy, for now.
Kaleigh is off taking her SAT's this morning. I hope she does good. Cassidy just told me she asked for the intercession of St. Dymphna and St. Thomas Aquinas to help Kaleigh along! I love to see the kids live their faith!