Plugging Along...

Hike we made to a waterfall near our home.

Hi to all my bloggy friends! I know I've been a bad, bad, bad blogger lately. I have been trying to finish some projects so I can actually have something to show. I'm showing you progress today, because nothing is really getting done as fast as I would like!

School is out, so what is the deal? How did my time evaporate? Between scouts, church, WEEDS, dentists, hiking, and cleaning, my sewing projects are not getting done, according to my unrealistic expectations! I have visions of stitching entire projects in a day, and quilts that somehow sew themselves in the night! I do wish I could hurry my projects along sometimes. I know I am not unique, in having project start-i-tis! I think I managed to do much better with my monthly goals, and will be reverting back to that after this month!

In the meantime, Here are some of the things I've been doing:

We finished our stitching project for our friend Cindy who is suffering from breast cancer.

I finished the Needle book, and snippet box, and Rachel finished the biscornu and the scissor case. Melanie (my sister-in-law who does not have a blog) finished the darling bag.

We were able to take this gift to her last week. She is such a sweetheart. She has been given many challenges the past few months. Not only has she had cancer, but she has lost her father, whom she took care of. To make matters worse, she was opening a window a few weeks ago, and tore her rotator cuff, so she needs surgery on that as well! Pray for Cindy! There is only so much stress a person should have to take!

Cindy has a great eye for decorating. I asked her is I could take a picture of her darling wall, because I love how she has decorated it. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing it with you. I love how all of these stitching projects look so great together. The addition of the the shelf and iron pieces makes the wall dimensional and classy, don't you think?

"Abundantly Blessed" by Cotton Way.

This was a really fast fun project that I decided to do on the weekend. I think it honestly took about 2 hours to complete. It has the look of a cathedral window quilt, but is actually a charm pack (5" squares) sewn together and then about 60 of these oval shaped pieces layed out and sewn down. (The hardest part of this quilt is cutting out those shapes!) It is a "quilt as you go" method, and is raw edge, so there is no binding, and no finished seams. I loved doing it. I need a wedding gift tomorrow, and I'm thinking of making another today. What did I say earlier about unrealistic expectations?

I joined "crafters choice" book club, and was excited to add these books to my library. I got all 4 books for about $10 with shipping, and I only have to buy one book this year, with no automatics send. Great deal, and the books are all fantastic!

Progress on "Shores"

I've been stitching away on shores. I am working on block 5 now. The plan is to have it done by the end of the month! (Sorry no picture, as the camera battery decided it was done for the day!)

I decided to leave out all of the single stitches on block 4. They were suppose to look like stars, but I don't really like working with single stitches, especially with silk thread. I will wait till the end to decide if I need them or not!

I've gone to the beach! (How I wish!) "Summer Snapperland" by Bent Creek

I just got the bug the other day to finish this project. It is stitching up fast! I have to finish this today. It has been pure therapy to work on. I love the colors and soft "feeling" of this design. It reminds me of San Diego. I want to use it for summer decorating, so I need to get it to the framers quick!

And last, but not least, this is my "Sunshine and Shadow" Amish quilt that I'm working on. The squares finish at 1", and this has been more of a challenge than I anticipated. For one thing the squares are small, but I couldn't really find a great pattern to use. My Mom lent me a book that had a good strip-pieced method, but I have still unpicked more than my share on this quilt. I'm making two of these. One is for my friend Kim. (see prior post about spring quilt market for the story). I left the calculator in the photo. I could not have done this quilt without it! My "plan" is to have this finished next week so she can take it home and have it quilted. We shall see!

Take care to all! I hope you have more stitching and sewing time than you want! HAHAHA, does that ever happen? If it does, then let me know your secret!