Closer to finishes

 I have a few items that are getting closer and closer to being finished. I am working on the last part of the Woodland Babies birth announcement. The raccoon is all done and I am currently stitching the owl. Once the owl is done I will add my granddaughter’s name, birth date, etc. 

33 out of 36 blocks are completed for “Windows into my World “. 

I purchased the batting and backing fabric. 

I also purchased some fabric for Royal Squares. The yellow will be a thin framing border. The Liberty floral will be the outer border. Once these are added I will decide on backing and binding fabrics. I don’t have enough of any of the original fabrics to use as binding. I will have to think on it. I know how I want to quilt the main part of this quilt. I'm still deciding on whether to machine or hand quilt it. I will have to decide on how to quilt the borders. 

I baked again. This time I made Nestle Tollhouse Milk Chocolate Oatmeal cookies though I used semisweet chips as I prefer them. 

I shouldn’t be baking as I recently joined a local independent gym to try to lose weight and improve my fitness. The gym has a senior citizen plan that is reasonably priced and allows you to take unlimited classes each month. I’ve been to 4 so far. The fitness part is going better than I expected. I’m not at all as sore as I anticipated. I’m also able to complete most of the exercises without any accommodations. I’m actually enjoying the classes and the encouraging trainers and other participants.

 I will be joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching and Frederique at the Quilting Patch. Make yourself some tea or coffee and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

March Stitch Along Update 2

Why do the three weeks between Stitch Along updates seem to pass by so very quickly? I just don’t feel like I’m making any progress lately. I know that I’m spending time stitching, but there doesn’t seem to be much to show for it. Here is where Three Boats was at the beginning of March. 

To be fair to myself, there was a weeklong trip to California at the beginning of March. I wasn’t able to read or comment on the posts last time as I was watching my toddler grandson by myself with limited time to use my tablet. My daughter and her family visited this past week so most needlework was stored out of reach of my toddler granddaughter. Also there has been a whole lot of confetti stitching. I have lined up the next few flosses to be used.

 For a some of them there is exactly one stitch needed in a color. Arghhhh…. Other colors have one stitch here and then another 2 stitches an inch away followed by another single a half inch away then 2 stitches on the far side of the page. I feel like I’m spending a whole lot of time starting, stopping and threading the needle. All that being said, here is where I am now. 

I have finally finished the interior of the top boat and will start working on its side. Since most of the stitching that is to come below is working on the other two boats, I think I am going to be in confetti purgatory for several more weeks. 

This Stitch Along is hosted every three weeks by Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea who kindly sends us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world, so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post.  

Avis, Claire, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

 Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, 

Cathie, Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

Thanks for stopping by!

Family visit

My daughter and her family visited for 4 days this past week. On Monday, we went to the flower show at a local nursery. There were many different displays.

 My granddaughter had a ball! 

There were koi fish in the pond below that she enjoyed watching.

There was Scavenger Hunt to look for items in each display. I think the grownups had more fun searching, but she enjoyed seeing different garden animal statues. 

While she was here she played in the yard with her mom, and her pup, Ruby. 

I made Chocolate Crinkles to have for a treat. My son-in-law likes these a lot and missed them at Christmas.

 My granddaughter thanked me for making special cookies for her. She is so sweet.

Since toddlers and needles don't mix, my crafts were put away for those 4 days. They left on Tuesday night and Wednesday was spent stripping beds, doing laundry and putting away toys and such. I resumed working on the Woodland Babies birth announcement on Thursday and have made some progress on the raccoon.

I was able to sew some EPP blocks when my granddaughter was napping. I have 29 of the 36 blocks completed now. 

My daffodils are beginning to bloom. 

I made sure to get a photo this morning as rain is expected over the next few days. 

I will be joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching and Frederique at the Quilting Patch. Make yourself some tea or coffee and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Spring is here!

 Well, the calendar may say Spring, but the weather here on Long Island is still mostly cold. It seems like we are always dealing with a wind chill. You could have easily been blown away on Friday. I hope this weekend is somewhat better as my daughter and her family will be here for a 4 day visit. 

I’m still working on the Woodland Babies birth announcement. The squirrel is finished as is the blue flower on the left. I’ve started working on the raccoon. 

I sewed together most of the rows of the Royal Squares quilt. There are still two halves to put together. Then I have to decide whether to add a border or leave it as is and just buy batting, backing and binding fabric. There are very few scraps left from the fabric that I used.

I also sewed a few more EPP “blocks”. I have 25 of the 36 blocks completed.

I can't wait to start putting these blocks together.

Most crafting will be suspended for the next 4 days as needles and toddlers don’t mix well. We will spend time playing. Hubby got up on the storage shelf in our garage and brought down this box of puzzles and toys that I saved. 

I was happy to see that I did, in fact, keep the Hooked on Phonics that I used to teach both of my children to read. 

These items were also in the box. My daughter says that I saved too much, but now there are fun toys for the grandkids at Grammy and Grandpa's house and I don't have to buy more. They also don't have to bring a lot of toys with them. 

We are going to have fun playing with the “new” toys with our granddaughter. 

I will be joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching and Frederique at the Quilting Patch. Make yourself some tea or coffee and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

She’s Here!

 I spent a week in California taking care of my grandson for my son and his wife. He loves to be silly when waking up from a nap.

 My newest granddaughter, Eleanor Sophie was born March 9th. She was 5 lbs, 14 oz. I got to meet her on Monday.

I returned home on Wednesday. While I was in CA, I was able to work on some of my EPP “blocks” when my grandson napped or was in daycare. I also worked on them on the plane each way. I’ve definitely made some progress with them. 

Since I’ve been home, I am concentrating on finishing the birth announcement. I’ve been working on the squirrel. 

When this is completed I will bring it with me on my next CA trip and stop at the same framer in San Diego that did my grandson’s birth announcement.

I finished reading The Women by Kristin Hannah while I was away. 

This is a powerful story about the US women who served in the Vietnam War. I didn't want to put this book down. I always find Kristin Hannah's books easy and interesting to read.

It is starting to feel a little like Spring here in NY. My crocuses are in bloom.

There seems to be more this year than usual....or the bunnies haven't eaten them yet. There are a whole lot of daffodils growing also.

That’s all for now. I was away from home for a week and now I am trying to get back to a normal routine again. My daughter and her family will be visiting next weekend so that routine will be short lived. 

I will be joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching and Frederique at the Quilting Patch. Make yourself some tea or coffee and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

March Stitch Along Update 1

There will be two Stitch Along updates this month. This is the first. Here is where I was on Three Boats in February. 

This is where I am now. 

There isn't much of a change as there was a trip to Boston and one to California to babysit my grandson and await the birth of my granddaughter. She isn't here as of the writing of this post on Wednesday. Perhaps there will be more of a change on Three Boats in three weeks.

This Stitch Along is hosted every three weeks by Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea who kindly sends us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world, so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post.  

Avis, Claire, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

 Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, 

Cathie, Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

We say goodbye to Gun. I will miss seeing her wonderful posts.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheating

Do you sometimes feel like you are cheating on one craft when working on another? I've been feeling that way lately. Sometimes I want to work on a particular project, but feel like I really should work on another. It is silly, because I have two crafts that are a little bit time sensitive, but I am way ahead on working on them. 

So what are the time sensitive crafts? The first is the Woodland Babies birth announcement. I have added many stitches to it this week.

 

There are three animals to stitch along the top, but then I will have to stop until my granddaughter is born at the end of March. I will probably finish stitching this in the next week or two. I don't know why I feel like I am cheating when I work on something else.

The next craft that is sort of time sensitive is the crocheted kitty that is also for my future granddaughter. I am still working on the head. I haven't even gotten to the point of stuffing it yet.

 I don't know why I keep walking away from this and not just getting on with finishing it. Okay, so I am not way ahead on this craft, but it will be a while until she is old enough hold it. 

The rest of my crafts have no due dates, which is probably why I sometimes feel guilty when working on them. I added a few more blocks for "Windows into my World". 14 of the 36 blocks are assembled now. You can start to see the shape of a ball. 

I must say that I am loving working on these. I have definitely caught the EPP bug. I actually purchased some hexagon papers for future projects at Joann's going out of business sale this week. I also bought two specialty rulers. One for triangles and one for diamonds. The line for fabric was long and I wasn't interested enough in anything to just get 20% off the price. 

I finished sewing the last three rows of Royal Squares, the quilt that I recently reacquainted myself with. Here are all the rows laid out, ready to be sewn together.

Once I sew these rows together, I will have to decide whether or not to add borders. The pattern does not call for it, but I would like it to be a little bigger to fit a twin size day bed. 

As another diversion, I made Oatmeal Raisin Bites on Friday.

This is an old Weight Watchers recipe that is definitely not diet conscious. It is full of oats, sugar, butter and raisins.

My birthday was Wednesday. Hubby took me shopping on Monday and I got some new clothes. We had a delicious dinner at a restaurant that has music most nights. My son sent me two books that I have been wanting to read: 

I will be joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching and Frederique at the Quilting Patch. Make yourself some tea or coffee and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Dilemmas

I have so many great projects that I am currently working on, yet I am seem to be always itching to start something new. It's a dilemma. Right now, crocheting has caught my attention again.  I showed you that hat I made last week and I have since made another of the same pattern from various Homespun yarn scraps. It isn't pretty, but it will do for a donation. I have been going down the rabbit hole online looking at crocheted blankets. The last thing this family needs is another crocheted blanket. I think there are currently 8 of them just in my own home as well as an afghan that my mother knitted years ago. I am fascinated lately by granny squares specifically. In order to somewhat scratch the crocheting itch, I have started crocheting this cute little kitty for my future granddaughter.

I have been steadily adding stitches to the Woodland Babies birth announcement. I have had to roll the scroll frame. 

I am getting close to adding the animals that are on the top. This too is for my future granddaughter who is due in March. Once all the stitching is done, this will be put aside until her birth. Afterwards I will add her name, birthdate and vital statistics. 

I have finished a few more "blocks" for my EPP quilt "Windows into my World". I laid them out on the floor to see what is currently finished.

 I am pretty happy with how they look. I really want to start sewing the blocks together into "rows", but the directions recommend a certain order. I will have to wait until I finish at least half of the blocks.  

I have another dilemma. I want to get back to sewing on my machine. I was straightening up in my basement and took out a box that I knew had a languishing quilt in it. I had been struggling to match the many seams and put it aside. To my surprise, 6 of the 9 rows are already assembled. I really thought I had only made the blocks. The next three rows are waiting to be sewn together. 

I think I will start working on these this week and see if I can manage to get a flimsy done sometime soon. That should scratch the machine itch a little also.

My third dilemma is the desire to lose weight. I have been half-heartedly trying for quite some time. Sadly, I tend to add weight rather than lose it. I know my Hypothyroidism is one factor and my lack of consistent exercise is another. I know how to lose weight. I have done it before. Basically, I don't like to cook, but I do like to bake. When perusing the recipes that I have clipped, I think the baked goods recipes outnumber all the rest easily 2 to 1 or more.  On that note, I made one of those clipped recipes this week. Here is a link to the same recipe that I clipped some time ago. Chocolate, cranberry oat bars. They were so easy to make and very delicious.

To be fair I brought 1/2 the bars to a coffee get together with friends and 1/3 of the bars were given to my mother-in-law. That meant that only a few stayed in my house for me to eat. They are not to Hubby's liking which is why they were made when I could give them away. 

I will be joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching and Frederique at the Quilting Patch. Make yourself some tea or coffee and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

February Stitch Along

For this update I have made a boatload of progress. This is where Three Boats on a Tropical Beach was at the end of January.

I have almost finished stitching the portion of the interior of the topmost boat that is on the current page.

 There were a whole lot of blues and oranges to stitch. I will soon be working on the second boat. I wish I could say that I am close to the end of this page, but I have just passed the midpoint of it. There is also still another 3/4 page to stitch on the bottom of this column after I finish the current page. 

This Stitch Along is hosted every three weeks by Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea who kindly sends us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world, so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post. 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

 Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, 

Cathie, Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

Thanks for stopping by!

Wintry Weather

 It appears that the wintry weather in the Northeast of the US is interrupting our plans to travel to Boston. We haven't seen our daughter and her family since December, but they are expecting 6-10 inches of snow this weekend. It is only supposed to rain where we are, but it is no fun trying to travel on slick, snowy, icy roads. Hopefully we will be able to visit another weekend. Of course, there is also another storm expected to blanket Long Island with 12+" of snow this coming Thursday. Ugh!

Oh well, it just means that I will be "stuck" inside crafting. That is never a bad thing as far as I am concerned. I have been quite busy this past week with all my crafting. I managed to finish that hat that I was crocheting with the annoying Homespun yarn. The yarn looks grey in this photo, but it is a bright, light blue.

It came out quite pretty, though I don't like it for myself. This will be a donation hat. I have already started another hat of this pattern with the rest of the scraps of Homespun yarn I have. This will be a few different colors and then I won't have any more of that yarn.

I have been cutting and gluing fabric for the "Windows Into My World" quilt. I have also finished stitching two more of the "blocks". I have another partially stitched and one waiting to be stitched. 

The Woodland Babies birth announcement has been stitching up quickly this week. I finished the back stitching on the fawn and added two flowers and a bee.

We celebrated Hubby's birthday on Thursday with his favorite Entenmann's Chocolate Fudge Cake. 

It was just the two of us as he had to work all day. He enjoyed opening his gifts from me and the family.

I will be joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching and Frederique at the Quilting Patch. Make yourself some tea, coffee or cocoa and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Slow Snowy Stitching

 We’re expecting a bunch of snow overnight. I would guess that tomorrow will be spent indoors stitching. I love snow days, especially now that we have someone come to clear the snow for us. Hubby just has to clean off his car and we usually have to clear a path from the back door to the gate and the garbage pail. 

I’ve been doing almost exclusively slow hand work lately. The Woodland Babies birth announcement now has its fawn. I just have to finish the backstitching on it. 

I finished another two “blocks” for the Windows into my World quilt. There are 36 "blocks". I am stitching them in number order.

I also cut out the fabric for the next two blocks and glued them to the paper. One of these blocks has very tiny pieces. 

Since I finished Hubby’s hat, my hands have been itching to continue to work with yarn. A friend has been using scraps of yarn to make hats for the homeless. I started looking through my yarn and decided to make an easy hat with yarn that I just don’t like. When you are crocheting or knitting it is very difficult to see where to take the next stitch with this yarn.

I will save the hat for a future donation….unless I like it for myself. I have yet to make myself a hat that I like. I usually just wear ear warmers. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. I am also joining Frederique at the Quilting Patch. Grab yourself a cup of tea, coffee or cocoa and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!