Slow Sunday Stitching

After stitching away on Three Boats exclusively for a few weeks, I needed a break. So I turned to October Morning. I started teaching my university class this week online and I guess that I am in the Autumn mode despite it still being Summer for a few more weeks. This is where I was the last time I showed this piece.

This is where I am now.

I have finished the grass below the church and have started stitching the church's roof. There isn't as much confetti stitching and that is what I needed for a few days. 

My daughter has been visiting since Wednesday night. She will be leaving sometime today. It has been so nice to see her again. 

My high school job is supposed to start this Thursday with faculty training. I have requested that I work from home as my math tutoring is going to be online anyway. I don't know yet if my request will be honored. We shall see. It is scary times for teachers, students and parents.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I will probably go back to working on Three Boats later this afternoon after my daughter leaves for home. 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Reading

I have been reading like crazy this summer. I recently finished "The Geometry of Sisters" by Luanne Rice.

I almost didn't finish reading this novel, but I am glad I did. I have to admit that it is a little depressing, but it is the story of a broken family with some of its highs and lows. I would recommend it.

Following that book, I decided to read "Stars of Fortune" by Nora Roberts. This is the first book of one of her classic magical romance trilogies. 

Oh I just couldn't put this book down. It was fun, full of mythological creatures and introduced the 6 main characters in wonderful ways. There was just enough suspenseful action and romance. Of course, once I finished book one I had to move on to book 2.

This second book was just as good as the first and I finished it in no time. This book followed the second couple of the six characters. There was no let down from the first book. I was worried that I would miss some of the unique attributes of the main characters of the first book, but they were represented well in this book as well. Of course when I was finished I had to move on to book 3 "Island of Glass".

I finished that this morning. Following the interactions of all six main characters and specifically the third couple was so very interesting. It is a Nora Roberts trilogy, so you can be pretty sure of a mostly happy ending and I wasn't disappointed. I hardly put down any of these three books. Needless to say, I didn't get much stitching done these past two weeks.

I just had to share what I have been reading. 

Thanks for stopping by!

SAL Update

 I have been working hard on Three Boats. Here is where I was for the last update. I had almost finished Page 1.

It took a day or two to finish all the confetti stitches in the bottom right-hand corner to get that page finished. I added some pretty salmon colors.

Since then though, I have just been stitching my little heart out. I am well into the next page now. 

I am so pleased with how this is looking!

Thank you so much to Avis from Sewing Beside the Sea for hosting this Stitch-along. Please take the time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy,

 Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah,

Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, 

Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen

Thanks for stopping by!

Goodies.

Chocolate chip cookies and fabric. I baked again this past weekend. Sunday was a rainy, cool day. Perfect for baking more Chocolate Chip cookies which are my favorite.

Thank you so much to those of you who gave me recommendations for purchasing fat quarter bundles. The first of my bundles arrived from LolliPop'sFabrics on Saturday. 

The second of my bundles arrived from TheRedHenShop on Monday.

I still have one more order on the way. I think I will then have all the fabric I need to make my daughter's quilt. Oh I love getting goodies in the mail!

Thanks for stopping by!

Page 1 completed!

I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and I just had to go for it. This is where I was the last time that I showed a Three Boats update.

Well, I just couldn't leave that little bit of white around the edges of that page. Mind you, those few stitches involved over 10 different floss colors. I finished them on Tuesday to get to here:

Page 1 is done! Woohoo!

I have since added several more stitches. I am on a roll.

I am working a swath of black again, but I don't mind at all after all the confetti stitches needed to finish page 1. 

Hubby and I enjoyed a short visit from our son. 

It was hot enough to enjoy a dip in the pool. They were also able to get in 9 holes of golf while he was here.

I have picked up my Breezy Infinity Scarf again. I've been adding a couple of rows each day. 

It is lace-weight crochet and hard on my hands, but I would really like to finish it. The color is much more a greenish teal than this picture shows. 

I have added a few light green grass stitches to October Morning.

I made a mistake with the light green just below the church and used two different colors on some of the stitches. I was going to frog it, but it would require much more effort than I was willing to put in. I made a design decision and decided it really didn't bother me and I would rather just move forward. This has been such a long term WIP, I just didn't want to go backwards. I don't think anyone but me would notice it.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. I will probably be adding more stitches to Three Boats. I'm on a roll with it now. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Almost there

I am almost finished with the first page of Three Boats. Last week I showed you this picture:  

I have added a whole lot of confetti stitching this past week to get to here:

I am very close to finishing this page, but Hubby and I are enjoying a visit from our son, so stitching is going to take a back seat.

I did try another new recipe this week that my mom found in a local newspaper years ago. It is called Summer Crumb Cake and can be made with fresh apricots, nectarines, blueberries, etc.

I made mine with peaches. It is so delicious. 

I will be making this again.

One of our resident bunnies came close enough to our back yard deck for me to get a few good photos. 

Isn't it adorable?

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I probably won't be stitching until tomorrow, but you never know.

Please excuse the weird large font in the middle of this post. Blogger was giving me fits when writing it and that particular font was either large or extra small despite my continuously requesting normal. Ugh!

Thanks for stopping by!

A new start and a question

I decided to finally jump in and make a sample block for the quilt I am hoping to make for my daughter. Here is the quilt from Judy Martin's Log Cabin Quilt Book.

 Of course the quilt is the most difficult one in the book. My block is not perfect, but it is definitely doable. This first block required the use of my seam ripper several times, but that is how you learn what to look out for and how precise you have to be. I need to make 196 of these blocks in total so there will be plenty of practice.

Now what I really need is fabric. The queen-size of this quilt takes 32 fat quarters of dark fabrics (I have 15) and 33 fat quarters of cream fabrics (I have 13). So my question for all the quilters out there is where do you shop online for quilt fabric.....specifically fat quarters? I am still not comfortable with in-person shopping, especially for something that is not essential, so on-line it must be. I know this will not be inexpensive, but this will be a keepsake quilt for my daughter and her husband. 

I have been baking again. This time it was Blueberry Buckle from Brown Eyed Baker. It was delicious! The crumbs on top are amazing.

Thanks for stopping by! 

August SAL #1

It is time once again to update you on my progress on Three Boats.

This is where I was three weeks ago. 

I had added all the blue near the top as well as some more palm leaves.

After finishing Patriotic Bunny, which you can see here, I set my sights on working on this almost exclusively.

I have made quite a lot of progress recently. I have finished the tree trunk on this page and added some more blue and green. I have also stitched all of the black stitches on page 1.

I just have to fill in all those open spaces now with floss that is NOT black. I hope to have this first page completed by the next update.

Thank you so much to Avis from Sewing Beside the Sea for hosting this Stitch-along. Please take the time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy,

 Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah,

Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, 

Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen

Thanks for stopping by!