A couple small finishes.........

Well so far I got 2 of  my January goals done.   Where is the month going so fast?  I still need to finish up Lizzie-Kate's "Dog Lessons" before the end of the month.  Maybe I should go back to pulling "all-nighters" like I was famous for back in college LOL.

This is my Quaker Hornbook which I purchased about 4 years ago with a group on the Legacy bulletin board.  This pattern is only available when you have a group order of 10 or more so that's why we did it that way and we purchased the wooden hornbooks as well.   I have no excuse for why it sat in my stash this long but finally here it is!   I'm going to get some of my smalls done this year no matter what, somehow, someway.

"Quaker Hornbook" by With My Needle Designs

stitched 1-over-1 on 32-ct linen with silk threads

 

I also finished my first ornament of the year this week as part of my goal to stitch one per month at least.  There are so many ornaments I want to stitch!  I did a few Prairie Schoolers and some from magazines back in the late 80's/early 90's but then I wasn't too interested in them for a long time.  Over the past couple years I've fallen in love with so many of your wonderful ornaments posted on your blogs that I now have a long list to do!  I joined the LHN ornament blog and will try to slip in one of those maybe every other ornament. 

This is "Winter Joy" from Little by Little Designs. It was in the 2006 JCS ornament issue.   I'm going back through my issues and pulling favorites out.

Not too much else going on here in Willowtree Land.....I signed up for a quilting retreat the end of February and am already looking forward to it. I plan to spend half of my time quilting and the other half stitching.   We can work on whatever we want at the retreats  - there are no classes or planned projects - so it will be a good mix.     Yesterday hubby and I  booked a trip to Hawaii in April  - it's been a long time since we took a 'big' vacation - it sure will be wonderful to get away and see the ocean (you get a little water-crazed here in the desert).   Does anyone else get frustrated trying to read through those reviews on TripAdvisor??  You don't know what to think  - one person writes a glowing review then the next person trashes the place.   I'm having information overload!

Thanks to all the kind readers for their comments on my projects and especially the American Sampler.  I am going to give it my undivided attention for a bit the beginning of February and see I can make some more progress.   I am continually amazed at how some of you crank out huge projects so quickly!  Do you have the Keebler Elves helping you while you're sleeping?

Spring update........

Happy Springtime readers & friends!  I hope spring is sprouting around your home like it is for us.  We’re having beautiful weather here in the southwest - everything is blooming....the temperatures are great...we have gentle breezes...the birds are nesting......life is good!   I've been away for a bit - went out of state to visit my mom for her birthday, then I went to a quilting retreat weekend up in Show Low Arizona and we had relatives visiting all last week. Now things are getting back to ‘normal’ finally so I can catch up on my blogging.   

I've been more in a quilting than a stitching mode the last few weeks but I did finish up my Jenny Bean pin tuffet recently. It was love at first sight when I first saw this on someone's blog last year and I finally sat down and stiched it up.  I admire it every day while I’m in my office/sewing room even if the DH wonders why I keep making more pincushions just to look at!  I LOVE all things "Jenny Bean".  :)

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"Jenny Bean" by Shakespeare's Peddler

My own silk conversion on some sort of 40-ct linen

Don’t you just love the pins that Just Another Button company is making now? I picked up this little wool kit called Stuck on You that came out at market and it’s got adorable pins in it too. I can’t wait to make this up as soon as I get a little time.  The chocolates look good enough to eat!

Now I’ve got to share with you some framing I recently got back from Jill Rensel’s studio. I’ve never sent anything to Jill before but have admired her framing that I’ve seen posted on bulletin boards and blogs over the years. I had 2 projects that I had framed a few years ago locally on a sale - I got a discount if I let the framer pick out everything but in retrospect I found that doesn’t work too well for me – I need to see and stress (yes I do stress!)  over what it’s going to look like before it’s done. The workmanship was great but it just wasn’t what I had envisioned and so it’s been bothering me ever since. It was even worse when I thought about all the money I spent and then to be disappointed makes a sad situation.  Everytime I walked by them hanging on the wall I was a little bit peeved at myself.  Well long story but I finally got around to packaging them up carefully and sending them to Jill back in October to have some rework done. She was very busy with holiday framing and all so I didn’t get them back until March but it was worth waiting for. Yeah Jill!!  I’m so happy I had them re-done! The two projects were already professionally mounted from the first framing, and we were able to reuse the big frame on An Open Heart so the rework dollars weren't too bad actually.

St. Peter's Fair by Shepherds Bush was originally framed with mats and a frame that I thought were just too dark for the soft colors used in the piece. Jill used the same mat design she sells as a pre-made set for this design but did mine in blues & greens instead of the usual lavender/pink ones.

"St. Peter's Fair" Before:

"St. Peter's Fair" After:

This Drawn Thread piece when originally framed just seemed so
b-o-r-i-n-g.  It’s a very large piece and the neutral mats just didn’t do much to show off the piece in my opinon. I like the new moss-greeen mats Jill added  much better.  It’s another task I can mark off my list and I’m looking forward to sending some more pieces to Jill.   I made a lot of progress with my framing list over the past year but I still have about 6 things waiting in line - that's the downside about finishing things -then you've got to tackle the framing!

"An Open Heart" Before:

"An Open Heart" After:

Our quilting retreat 2 weeks ago was fabulous as usual – I didn’t take many photos this time. I’ve been there several times so end up taking the same photos of the place it seems – not to mention I barely took any breaks from non-stop sewing except for eating great food and doing as little sleeping as possible LOL.  But drum roll please...I finally finished my “Winter Memories” quilt top.

"Winter Memories" - pattern by The Acorn Quilt & Gift Co

(just ignore the chain hanging down from the ceiling fan!)

I started this hand-applique quilt almost 2 years ago so really glad to put it over to the finished column. I made some substitutions in the pattern (I can never leave things alone) replacing an embroidered wreath block with an appliqued sled (thank you Yahoo images...) and I re-drew the mitten block as I didn't like the one in the pattern. What's funny is a friend and I fell in love with this quilt at a quilt show vendor mall a couple years back and we went crazy hunting down the some of the same fabrics used in the model.   We found everything we needed through a combination of quilt stores, eBay, and a friend's wholesale account at Moda Fabrics..........but now I have enough fabric left over to make about 5 more of these quilts!  When will I learn to stop over-buying??    Now the quilt top needs to go off to be quilted by a longarm quilter. I’m not doing much machine quilting of my own quilts these days – I don’t enjoy it and it is hard on my shoulders. (I can’t bear going through any more shoulder surgeries!) I’ll do baby quilts or wallhangings but that’s it. The longarm quilters  can do so much more and do it so much better  than I can do on my regular sewing machine.  It adds to the cost of course but to me it's worth it rather than struggling along and doing it myself.  I just don't have the time to hand-quilt very many quilts either.

Hope to be back soon - next week is a 4-day workweek for me as we have Good Friday off (or in the politically-correct corporate world, it's "spring holiday").  Whatever you call it, I can't wait for a 3-day weekend!

Goode Huswife finish & my special birthday!

Here she is in all her glory!

(no there's nothing on my linen on the left - just some shadow that sneaked into the photo!)

I love this sampler! It goes great with the colors in my house. Doing the verse on top was a bit boring but hey that's usually the case with samplers isn't it? There usually is some boring part of it you've got to trudge on through. I want to thank Terri B for inspiring me with the one she did last year - I shamelessly (okay I do have a little shame...) did mine in similar colors after falling in love with hers. But hey isn't that what blogging is all about? We share with each other, we inspire others, we enable, we cheer each other on even when we're in a stitching slump. It's hard for me sometimes to find the time to update my blog and read everyone else's (over 200 of you!) but I would miss it very much if I wasn't a part of it all. Sure I can show my finish to DH but he just doesn't appreciate all the work that goes into stitching and how excited we get about our projects. (he just wonders why it costs so much LOL)

This one will go on the framing list ......I've made good progress this year on reducing that list down by 8 or 9 things but I've still got about 5 more to do. The trouble is, while you try to catch on the framing you're still completing things and adding on more! I keep hoping I'll win the lottery and can run (a) to the needlework store or nearest computer to start ordering, and (b) grab all my finishes and run to the framers!

And....all of a sudden it’s that time of the year again – how quickly those birthdays roll around it seems. Normally I don't talk much about my birthday on my blog updates but this year it’s rather special. My birthday is Saturday – the tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year........10/10/10. And not only that.......but I was born in ’55 (adding up to 10 again), and I will be turning 55 this year (another 10). Hey, how did I get so old?? I don’t feel any different inside but the alternative to not getting older is a lot worse LOL. So I plan to celebrate my life and have lots of fun because I’m still young at heart. (and I have a LOT of stitching still to get done in this lifetime!)


My dear husband and I are heading to Disneyland/California Adventure for 4 days to celebrate. I can’t wait to go. We went there for my 40th birthday and that was when I discovered that I am the same age as Disneyland because of all the special decorating they had in the park promoting “40 years of adventure” for Disneyland. I felt that was an accurate statement on my turning 40! So of course we had to go again when Disneyland and I turned 50 together and we had a fantastic trip staying at the new and luxurious Grand Californian resort. Now we are going again to celebrate me turning 55 and I know we’ll have a great time. We have reservations for dinner at a restaurant at Disneyland called Steakhouse 55 - can you believe it? This is getting very strange – I’m going to buy lottery tickets this week - – since the universe seems to be aligned maybe I'll be lucky! Thank you dear readers for stopping by to visit me!

I'm dreaming of autumn..........

"See off yonder; see them tepees? They kind o' look like corn shocks from here, but them's Injun tents, sure as you're a foot high. See 'em now? Sure, I knowed you could. Smell that smoky sort o' smell in the air? That's the campfires a-burnin' and their pipes a-goin'. "

"Injun Summer" by John McCutcheon, 1907

(link to the complete poem)

Every fall when I grew up in Illinois the Chicago Tribune newspaper would reprint the famous story by John McCutcheon about "Injun Summer".......... I sure do miss midwestern things at this time of year....leaves turning colors, pumpkins, crisp autumn air, cornstalks, gourds, corn mazes and best of all....Halloween! Our summer is fading here in the Southwest but we still have about a month to go before we can breathe a sign of relief that the heat is gone for this year. Mornings and evenings are cooling off and it's such a relief. I've enjoyed seeing some of your posts with your fall decorating... I need to get out those boxes from the garage and pull out some things. I can't believe all the fall and Halloween items in the stores - Michaels seems to have gone all out this year promoting Halloween. Pretty soon it's going to be as big as Christmas just without the gifts!

Goode Huswife's "With My Needle" is coming along - the skirt on the woman seemed to take forever to complete but I'm now feeling like this sampler is really shaping up. I have about 4 stitching projects that I MUST get done this year so no time to waste!

I also did a little framing job on my own this week. I'm embarrassed to tell you that I stitched this likeness of Thomas Jefferson's Virginia home 'Monticello' back about 1990! I picked up a book of patterns called "Historic Virginia" when I was visiting Virginia & Maryland. I just love colonial architecture, Williamsburg, and all that sort of thing. I don't know why I let this little piece lie unframed so long. Since I started doing a bit of my own framing this year I found that this piece fit perfectly into a regular 5" X 7" frame so I found a perfect one at JoAnn's for $8.00. Can't beat framing a piece for that!

I've decided I no longer want my stitched "Mount Vernon" the home of George Washington. If anyone wants it please email me (address in my profile). If I get more than one request I will draw a name - not sure if anyone would want this but I kind of hate to just dump it in the trash. It too will fit into a 5" X 7" frame.

I also picked up this little framed piece by Blackbird Designs I stitched a few years back. I did the stretching and just had a local shop do the frame and glass. It was hard finding a frame that looked good with this as it's stitched on an odd green color linen (R&R's Glen Ellyn?) but I think it's turned out well.

I am getting ready for a new start too (no I will not listen to the little angel on my shoulder whispering to me about all the projects already started..........). I'm joining an SAL with Heidi & Saskia next week to stitch "It's Cold Outside" by Blue Ribbon Designs. I'm so happy they have included me - I love BRD patterns and stitching these is kind of like quilting because each motif is it's own little block and so you feel good each time you get one of the blocks done. I just love the little penguins!

"It's Cold Outside" by Blue Ribbon Designs - kitted up with 40-ct Lakeside Linen Wintry Sky and Crescent Colours threads.

I thank all of you for your wonderful comments on my Pride & Prejudice sampler last time I posted...they're keeping me encouraged to keep going on this big project. Anyone wanting to know the patterns I have been using - I posted a link at the top of my blog to the pattern list. Until next time......hope you are having a great autumn!

Tiny finish for July 4th! (and giveaway winner...)

Edited: I almost forgot about posting the winner of the Plymouth Sampler chart. Out of the 8 people interested, husband pulled out #2 which was Jackie. I have emailed you Jackie and will send it out as soon as I get your snail-mail address. Thanks for visiting my blog!

I don't know why this little kit has been sitting in my stash for years but I finally got it out this week and stitched. It was a little freebie from Sunflower Samplings some years back and fits into a 2" X 3" frame! Not sure what to do with it, but it's done at least.

Today I'm picking up my long-awaited framing that is finally ready at my local needlework shop. Can't wait to see it and will post pictures next week.

Wishing a wonderful 4th of July to all my US readers. Usually we can see some fireworks from our backyard so hoping it's true again this year. It's too hot here to go anywhere and sit outside for hours!

Plymouth Sampler finished!

Hello stitchers one and all - I'm excited to report I finished up Plymouth Sampler a few days ago. I'm doing the happy dance to be sure! I finally had time today during lunch to press it and get a decent photo. It was a lot of stitching as it's fairly "solid" but lots of fun especially once you get the houses done This was designed after the 9-11 terrorist attack by Brenda Keyes of The Sampler Company as a tribute to America. It is stitched on Vintage Meadow Rue 40-count linen by Lakeside - I purchased this lovely mottled piece of linen some years ago and glad I did. The linen the Lakeside ladies are dying these days is not nearly as mottled as it used to be - maybe because they are dying in bigger lots of linen? I don't know but even my LNS owner was commenting on the changes she's noticed (not that we don't still love Lakeside Linens!). It's charted for DMC floss but I stitched the conversion to Needlepoint Silks that my LNS provided some years back.

If anyone in the domestic U.S. would like the chart please mention it in a comment to this post and I will draw a name in a week or so and pass it on to someone else. It's "gently used" but still totally usable - I wrote the conversion on the chart and it does have a piece of scotch tape along the center where the chart (it's big) was folded in half - I was afraid it would get too worn there so I taped over the crease. It comes with all the accompanying extras included in the original pattern - a chart of alphabets, some history of samplers, etc.

I also finished a little self-framing project (patting myself on the back). This was another piece I pulled out of my "waiting to be framed" pile and decided I could do myself. Once I realized the piece was not as big as I remembered it, I had a brainstorm that it might fit into one of those pre-made frames for panoramic photos. I found this frame at a framing shop on sale for $8.99 - it was pretty ugly when I bought it (see before and after below) but I spray-painted it white, added a little Martha Stewart fine glitter, and it worked out great. This is a Shepherd's Bush piece that was stitched a few years ago in a round robin. Total cost of framing was $13 as I used my 50% off coupon at JoAnn's for the spray paint. :)

"Snowpatch" by Shepherd's Bush

Stitched on pale green linen with silks

Now I'm concentrating on working on With My Needle by The Goode Huswife and Quakers & Quilts by Rosewood Manor. I was sort of stalled on both of them for a bit but now getting going again. It's hot here this week so I'll be taking a dip in the pool this evening and I want to catch that new show called "Boston Med" which looks interesting. Here's a photo of our dog Abby - we call her "Princess Bea" and you can see why. She's got a wonderful life let me tell you!

Some finishing work...........$$ saved!

Well I hope all of you are doing something fun and relaxing on this Memorial Day and taking a moment to remember all those who have served our country and the thousands who have lost their lives doing so.

Hard to believe it is almost June already! It's been a busy weekend for us getting together with friends etc....and DH and I are taking a trip back to the midwest in a few days to visit various relatives on both sides of our family. I'm hoping the recent heat wave there is over by the time we get there....I'm not good at handling humidity anymore! It's hot here in the southwest but very dry this time of year so as long as you are in some shade, the heat really isn't that bad.

Lately I've been pretty annoyed at the high cost of framing. I have 2 things still at my LNS I've been waiting for since early March, and another piece at a local framing shop near my home. I had gotten a coupon in the mail from the framing shop as I've had other things done there, so I figured I would take advantage of it. How do the rest of you feel about these coupons? I'm beginning to believe it's a huge scam - I think the craft stores as well as the framing stores (who have to compete with the craft stores) have all raised their prices in order to offer you "coupon savings". I took my "Peppermint Twist" to the framing store, and with mounting, the frame, 2 mats, museum glass, "labor", and taxes, the 50% off price was $215!!! Is this crazy or what? Now I admit I am picky about my framing.....and that comes from years of learning what I like, bearing the cost of redoing things I wasn't happy with, not liking the work certain stores did, etc. So for "special" pieces I am willing to pay to have it exactly like I want it, but I am outraged just the same!

With all this in mind, I recently went through my box of finished pieces waiting to be framed and reassessed the projects. I was able to pull out 5 things that really don't need to be framed - either they are things I can finish into something else, or I can use small ready-made frames and do the mounting myself. Some of them have been sitting rolled up in tissue paper for many years and it's crazy that I haven't finished them up by now.

Here's what I got done last week. This Thanksgiving banner I did not stitch myself - it was a from an exchange I did 3 or 4 years ago and was finished into a banner....I had been wanting to get it framed but instead I did a flat ornament-style finish that fits better where I want to hang it for November. It's about 6" wide and 11" long - I'm really happy with how it came out, I used some autumn-themed fabric on the back.

I made the flatfold below out of snowman I stitched many, many years ago. It was from a book by Alma Lynne. I always intended to stitch the companion snowman and frame the both of them ........I have abandoned that crazy thought LOL. I love how it came out....I even added some glittery snowflakes I found in my craft supplies. The good thing about being a stitcher as well as a quilter is that I usually never have to buy any fabric to finish things - the total cost of these projects came to about $2.00.... I had to buy some extra DMC in the same color to make the cording. (so take THAT, you framing stores!)

I'll see you all when I get back from vacation. I'm making progress on Plymouth Sampler and back to finally working on Quakers & Quilts and hopefully I'll have some good progress to share by then. Keep on stitching!

Beatrix Potter finish, trades anyone? , & my P&P sampler

Hello friends - I'm back in Blogland finally. After a bit of AWOL time, I am back trying to reconstruct what I’ve been doing the last month or so. Mostly I’ve been on a mission to finish up my Beatrix Potter and here she is! I’m so happy – I’ve been stitching with the online SAL that Hazel put together in January. I had a bit of panic when I ran out of the lightest color of thread a few weeks ago. Big thanks to Nicole who answered my post on the HDF Forum and had more of the matching dyelot. Thank you Nicole! I’m thrilled to have my first Quaker sampler done.

I also dragged out my Pride & Prejudice Neighborhood Sampler which was lurking under my stitching table feeling very unloved. I had put it away after not being happy with some of my silk coverage - once I get annoyed with a project I have to take a break from it. I added another half-stitch over the entire tree trunk and I am happier now with it. I still want to do the same for the roof on the house but I’m putting that boring task off for awhile. After doing a bit of landscaping, the Bennett sisters' home (which is about one quarter of this sampler), is complete! Next up is Netherfield Place, the home of the infamous, very handsome, and eligible Mr. Bingley!

Here you see some of my inspiration - the Bennett family and their home from my favorite A&E version of P&P (hey don't look at that car in front of the house, I'm just glad some lucky tourist took some pictures and posted them online):



I have a couple of trades I’d like to make if any of you are interested. I recently brought home LHN’s “Home of Needleworker (Too)” from my LNS – thought I didn’t have it but it turned out I do own it already. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done this to myself! Anyway I have a brand-spanking-new copy of “Home of a Needleworker (Too)” up for trade and also two used patterns in good-as-new condition - LHN’s “Captain’s Inn” and “Peppermint Lane”. I always make a working copy so my used copies are in great shape. Is there anyone who would like to trade for some of these? There are tons of other LHN or Country Cottage patterns I’d love to trade for especially Liberty & Justice, most of the Dear Diary patterns, Two Roosters, Mayflower Landing, Traveling Stitcher, Gingerbread Trio, Beach Cottage and Cherry Hill. My email address is in my Profile.

I’ve also started on the My Quaker Lady SAL but I haven't gotten around to taking a photo yet to share - I've been concentrating on Miss Beatrix this month. I do love the pattern though and will likely end up getting the Gentleman Quaker to go with it.

AND….it’s market time again! More temptations and to-die-for patterns to add to our stash – HELP! Okay, so I have to live to 110 – as long as I can have my big Daylight magnifying lamp in the nursing home and they let me have needles I’ll be okay! I’ve been watching Kathy of CHS unveil each of the blocks of the new Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow and it’s on my list! I’ve not stitched any of the others from this series – not that I didn’t want to but they’re so big and it’s expensive to get all the silks. I’ve already determined that I’m just going to arrange my 9 favorite blocks from the CoHRH pattern for my own version of it – the other 3 blocks I like but they don't seem to really go with the rest that well so I'd rather do something different with those. I likely won’t start it until January though as I have plenty of other things going already that I want to focus on for the rest of the year. I know there are those over-achieving stitchers who will be posting finishes of CoHRH in no time at all but I’m content to go plodding along in my little stitching universe at half-speed LOL. My free time has to split between quilting and stitching and there's only so many hours in a day.

Hope this finds you all well, enjoying your autumn, and getting ready for October - my favorite month of the year! Pumpkins, leaves, cool weather, Halloween, and my birthday - what's not to love??

We're all Irish today!

Happy St Patrick's day everyone! A friend of mine at work was wearing the cutest button today - "Roses are red. Violets are bluish. A leprechaun told me St. Patrick was Jewish!" My friend is Jewish and celebrates the more secular side of many of the Christian holidays so it's perfect for her.

Here's a few updates on what I've been up to. I finished my first house on my Pride & Prejudice neighborhood sampler – the Bennett sisters have a home! This house took a while to do and I could not go to bed on Sunday night until I finished it at 11:45 pm. You all know how that goes! You can see my finished "Longbourn" and a couple of the photos of the house used in the mini-series which I modeled from. I still have 2 of the sisters to stitch and then I will take a picture of the whole piece so far to share. I am just about finished reading the book - it's an easy read and I can tell that the mini-series from 1995 pretty much went right along with the book. The one thing I've learned though is that Lizzie (the main character) is spelled "Lizzy" in the book . Who would've thunk it? I already stitched in "Lizzie" in over-1 so now I'll have to fix it of course.

I cannot believe the month is half over already – I am so obsessed with my stitching lately that the days are flying by as I try to get my March goals done. At the beginning of every month I am wildly optimistic of how much I will get done but generally disappointed in myself by months’ end. I did finish up this little patriotic pillow on Friday. I stitched it one evening and finished it off the next night. It's very small - done over-1 and it was fun to get something done quickly for a change. I tried the matching buttons that came with the pillow but I wasn't wild about them so I replaced them with these flat red ones. I'm not a fan of shank buttons - don't like the way they stick out and wiggle around.

DH and I worked very hard this weekend in our backyard. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we replaced 5 plants, and spent many hours sealing all the flagstone surfaces we have. It took over $150 in sealer – ouch – but it is something that you need to do every few years. The sun here is so intense it really fades things and the sealer brought out some of the color again. However, I now look like I have some kind of awful skin disease. The label said “cleans up with soap and water” – NOT! I cannot get the stuff off of my hands even though I have washed them at least 70 times, scrubbed, rubbed, tried turpentine, tried nail polish remover and finally have given up. What was that Lady Macbeth said? "Out damned spot!" Remember putting Elmer’s glue on your hands as a kid and peeling it off? Well it looks like that but it just won’t come off. I guess it’s going to have to wear off gradually but right now my hands look like I’m about 80. As soon as this stuff comes off I’m off to get a much-needed manicure that’s for sure.

I think I was one of the few people who never have seen Phantom of the Opera – at least the modern version. So I put the Andrew Lloyd Webber version on my Netflix list and watched it Sunday night while stitching on the Bennett's house. Quite a disappointment I must say and apologies if it’s anyone’s favorite! I knew it was a musical but it is more like an opera with very little actual dialogue that is not sung. I just did not care for it but at least I can check that experience off my list and be thankful I didn’t pay a lot to go see the musical. Luckily DH was watching college basketball so at least I didn’t have to hear his complaints about the movie – he never would’ve lasted through it that’s for sure! March Madness is one of my least favorite times of the year because it's non-stop basketball on the television at my house. Normally DH goes to Las Vegas for the first weekend of the tournament but this year he is not going due to the darn economy. Luckily I will hide out in my sewing room as much as possible until the games are over – I’m just not into it at all. Gonzaga, Florida State, St John’s, Indiana, who cares?? I don’t understand being excited about college games when you never even went to any of the schools! And the worst thing is, as soon as it’s finally over then the NBA basketball playoffs begin and that leads right into the start of baseball season!

I’ve decided to make another new project start – it feels so deliciously decadent! I’ve got a bin of kitted up projects and some of them have been in there for YEARS. This is a sampler called Kona Coast by Ewe & I & Friends. It used to be a model in an LNS here that sadly closed up a few years back. I loved that little shop (sniff sniff) and they hosted an annual teaching getaway to Hawaii every year. Sadly, I never went to any of the retreats but I believe this sampler was designed especially for the year they had EEF teaching. I always wanted to stitch it and am finally going to get it started at least. I love houses and this is so cheery – beautiful tropical colors and special stitches although I probably will not stitch the wording on it. I need another start like a hole in the head but when has that ever mattered??