Catching Up

I've been home for a couple weeks now - had a good time on our getaway to Southern Utah where the weather was lovely - then we came home to the first cold snap of the winter. Hubby & I found out there was a shooting range nearby so we took shotguns with us - he loved it - me, not so much. Ended up with a huge bruise on my shoulder that is just now fading away. But we also did some hiking, and rode our bikes - I got a lot of fun shopping in while he was in meetings - and I didn't have to cook any meals for nearly a week - WooHoo!

I finished sewing all my little hexies together and now this quilt is ready to be quilted. Can't decide whether to add a border or call it good. The finished size is 19" x 22".

Without even realizing it, I won a giveaway on Janet's blog last week and my prize arrived in the mail. A mini charm pack from French General, and two bars of her yummy homemade soap - I wish you could smell it through your computer screens!

When I was looking through the pictures on my camera recently, I realized that I had never shared this one. Early in the spring while on vacation, I saw a cool garden 'sculpture' in a shop but it was way too expensive for me to buy, so. I showed a picture to my son who is good at welding metal and he recreated it for me. I found the large metal ring at a yard sale during the summer for only $15 - it used to be the rim of a wooden wagon wheel and was exactly what we needed.  It looks great in my yard and is titled "Rolling Stone".

I had a great Thanksgiving on Thursday (except for the Roto-Rooter episode) and have a good start on my Christmas shopping. Now I need to get the tree up try to make the house feel festive. My mother-in-law recently went to Israel and brought us home this 8" Nativity hand carved from olive wood - the grain is so beautiful and it's the perfect beginning to the holiday season.

This & That

I recently found a nice recipe box at the thrift store for $1. I don't know what used to be in the lid, but there was a large open area that I thought would be perfect for a punch needle insert. I traced the opening onto weavers cloth and drew on my design - thinking that I was making a crazy quilt. My friends quickly corrected me and told me it was stained glass instead - so that's what I'm going with!

The finished design turned out to be a bit bigger than it started, so I had to add some padding underneath it to take up the slack.  This happens to me often and it drives me crazy - anyone have suggestions on how to prevent this from happening? Maybe I should add some fusible interfacing to the back before I begin punching and that would stabilize it? Hmmm......

My Margaret Shaw crow hooked rug is finished - just need to steam it one more time to get those edges to lie nice & flat after being whipped with yarn.

Show & tell at my rug group on Tuesday was wonderful. Jeanette brought two little pincushions and they were adorable. The star was a free pattern we received at our recent hook-in - I love how she added colored pins to add to the design. It's stuffed with wool snippets leftover from her rug hooking projects. She found a quilty mug at a yard sale during the summer and made it into a pincushion that was embellished with some standing wool circles made into cute little flowers.

Jeanette also showed us her finished poppy rug - a Sharon Smith design. For some reason my favorite part is the single line border that changes color around the edge. Gorgeous rug!

She's now working on a dancing elephant rug for a granddaughter's Christmas gift. This design combines the girl's two favorite things - so clever - what a happy rug!

Victoria finished her Daniel rug that was designed by Tonia - she liked the original so much that she made it exactly the same. You can purchase the pattern on Tonia's website here.

And this is Tonia's newest design - a great floral. She has the knack of choosing colors that give a real old feel to her finished rugs.

I've been doing a little stitching on two projects with English paper piecing - hubby & I are taking a little trip next week while he attends a conference for work - so these will be perfect to take with me. I'll share a picture when I get home......