SSCS Swap

My package from my Secret Santa in Chookyblue's swap is sitting under my tree. I received my gift from Miriam in Australia. My gorgeous ornaments are on my tree
Miriam also included this beautiful cross stitched card
My other gifts are under the tree, waiting for Christmas morning. I hope I can wait that long...its sooo tempting to open them early! Thank you Miriam!!
I sent to Valerie. I hope she likes what I sent to her as much as I liked it! I think I'm going to need to make one of what I made her for myself!

a few projects

I haven't finished much of anything in a long time, but I have been making little bits and pieces of progress on lots of progress. One of these days its going to all fall into place at once and I'll have a big pile of finishes. I don't know when that will be, but someday! LOL. Part of my lack of recent posts is being away from home and my internet connection a lot lately, and the other part is an extreme facebook addiction when I have been near my internet connection. I am thinking about blogging, but it just hasn't been happening. LOL

I've been working on Bea's fairy tale blocks. Blocks 1-4 are completed, and the other 4 are traced and waiting to be stitched. They still need the embellishments, but I'm not adding those until the top is quilted.






More tomorrow, hopefully.

Two Christmas in July Swaps - Sent

I participated in two Christmas in July Swaps.

The First was hosted by Linda I sent my package to Bec This is what I sent to her:


I already posted the picture of what I received from Jeanette here

The second, was hosted by Karen. The partner I sent to was Kimberly. In this swap, we had a specific list of things to send to our partner. Among things that Kimberly said she liked were Scotty Dogs, fuschia and candy, so I tried to acommodate her preferences in what I sent her. This is her pile of goodies:



Kimberly made me a beautiful stitchery (awesome job for her first stitchery!) which I love (I told her I love the retro-ish christmas stuff, and love snowmen, so this is perfect), she sent a great fabric and buttons that I love, a yummy scented candle and a fabulous papercrafted banner that will look great on my mantel at Christmastime. She also included a great magazine that I didn't have (which I forgot to put in the picture). The other things on the list are still under constructions, and I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the rest of my goodies. Will update you all when they arrive

So, time to update on my crazy life. Last time I posted, my Dad was undergoing pherisis for TTP, and the doctors were trying to figure out what was going on with him. Long story short, on May 22nd, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, of unknown origin (they couldn't pinpoint the source because it was so advanced). He went home on oxygen for a couple of weeks and had chemo as an outpatient. Then he got sick with pneumonia, spent a few days in the hospital and then went home on June 18th, with the intention of Hospice at home startign the next day. But on the morning of June 19th, with Mom, my nephew, and a friend of my nephew's at home with him, Dad passed away. The weeks since then have been busy, with my brothers and I helping Mom as much as possible, and trying to just get over our grief. The good thing about it all was that Dad passed away without suffering from pain, it went quickly, and he was at home (like he wanted.

During this time, I've also been working quite a bit, and finding that I am loving this job.

At home, Thing One is at day camp this week (and I'm enjoying that break!), and Thing Two is happy to have me to himself for a while. I'm working on sorting out some of my scrap bins...I've been cutting strips into various widths and sticking them in ziploc bags according to Bonnie's system. I've also been working on some block of the month stitchery projects that I'm behind on. No pictures of those yet. I've completed projects for two Christmas in July Swaps, both of which were mailed last week. I'll share pictures of those once they arrive at their destinations (one here in the US, the other far far away).

I did complete this tote bag back in early June. I like it a lot, but it is a little on the small side for me to use as my everyday bag. I also made myself a lunch bag for work. I'll get pictures of that to share tomorrow.

Linda's Christmas in July Swap

Last night when I got home from work, I had a fat package waiting for me from Finland! Lucky me, my swap partner in Linda's Christmas in July Swap was
Jeanette In my package were all these wonderful goodies: An adorable Santa gift bag, two beautiful crocheted potholders and a hook to hang them on. a set of purse handles, two spools of thread, a measuring tape in an adorable little tin (perfect for in my purse!), a new pair of scissors and a small needlecase (perfect for in my little bag of stitching that comes to work with me!). Thank you so much, Jeanette! And thanks to Linda and Stephanie for organizing this swap!!


I can hardly believe that it is has been two months since I last blogged. So much has happened to keep me away, but now I hope to be back on a more regular basis. I'll tell you all about it in the next few days. At them moment, I'm having some computer troubles...my laptop's space bar sticks which makes it impossible to type anything, but I've got a new keyboard waiting to be installed (fingers crossed).

Test

Test

Retreat Weekend

Two weekends ago was my quilting groups annual retreat. We had lots of fun, and as you will see, we did a lot of sewing!
We all did a pattern called Contra Dance, which was fun. Basically you sew a four patch quilt like this:



Then you cut it apart on the diagonals, like this:



You rearrange it like this:




And then you sew it back together, and add borders. Then it looks like you pieced it on the diagonal. Pretty cool, huh?


This one is my Mom's:

Sharon's:

MaryAnn's:

Mia's:

Mine:

Debbie's (hers isn't done because she made king size!):

Marissa's:


There were four other ones as well, but somehow I didn't get pictures of them. Too bad, because Marilyn's was made of all purple batkis and was to die for!!

Slow but steady...

I have in fact been working on a number of projects, just in small increments, and without much posting. I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel though, so all this craziness here is about to slow down (I hope). I haven't had many actual finishes, but I am working on block of the month projects, secret swaps, a project for Thing Two and a few other things. Hopefully I'll have lots of COMPLETED things to share very soon.

Dad is still in the hospital, he is on his 19th day of plasma pherisis, and he is improving a bit, but not as much as I've been hoping for. Today I went and donated blood for the first time since I was in high school. I do plan to keep doing that.

The quilt pictured above is the one I finished for the neighbor girl a few weeks ago. I got a lovely thank you note from her Dad...apparently she is very happy with it, and so I am pleased.

I've been at a lot of training classes for work, and I've also been away from home a bit in between. Last weekend (okay, two weekends ago now, the 1-2-3 of May) I was at a quilting retreat in Vermont...I'll be sharing pictures from that in my next post just as soon as I can get myself a little bit organized.

a giveaway

Lyn is having a Blogiversary Giveaway on her blog for this lovely little wallhanging. If you run over to her blog by the 15th, you can have a chance of winning this lovely little quilt. Or don't, so I have a better chance of winning it! LOL. Isn't it cute?