WELCOME HOME

Ah, it's always so nice to be home, especially when I'm greeted my the sweet little eyes of all these (and many more) pansies and violas!

But I did have a  wonderful visit with my daughter and her children (and Oh, yes, her little Fiona--a red long haired miniature dachshund.)

I was visiting on March 25 which is an Orthodox Christian holiday, so I was able to attend Liturgy with her and see our former priest who now is her priest in Columbia SC.  After church we visited the Children's hospital and I was taken on a personal tour--wonderful for this former NICU nurse!

On Thursday we spent the day in Charlotte NC visiting several bridal shops, looking for the perfect dress for her upcoming marriage ceremony.  We found a few that were possibilities, but it wasn't until Thursday when we returned to the first  shop (in Columbia) that she had been in before that she knew she had found "it".  Going "outside the box" of tea length wedding dresses (very difficult to find) or gowns of typical length that would be shortened, she  found the PERFECT dress for an "encore" wedding.

A longer than usual drive home last night (through lots of rain, though thankfully not in the mountains) got me home safe and sound.  And I brought with me more goodies for some sewing projects.  My daughter is an interior consultant, so she provided me with lots of fabric pieces (discontinued samples) that I can envision in all sorts of ways:  pieced comforters, pillows, purses, etc., etc., etc.

A friend at church gave me this small piece of fabric last week to see if our little group could use it in quilts.   (She says she has about 20 yards.)  It is decorator cotton.  I know we will not be able to use it in our Project Linus work, but I am going to wash it, piece it, and rewash it to see if it will be worth working with her generous donation.  (Yep, those are my flying geese sashes on the side there.)

But for tonight, I think I'll just "chill out" and work on the baby blanket.

By the way, for those of you who think that you know who this is for and therefore know the gender of a certain expected baby:  Don't be so sure.  I also have a goddaughter who is expecting.  So you don't know who this blanket is for.  SO THERE--you still don't know yet about whether  that May baby is a boy or girl.  I have some pink  yarn in my stash too!

Off AGAIN

This week I'll be visiting my other daughter.  But I am going to be good and keep up with my 25th of the month devoted to Christmas handiwork.  I'll be making another shamrock dishcloth--this time for my Christmas recipient.  Have a great rest of the week!

HONK HONK

Well, it looks like my flying geese have no trouble staying in formation to get the sewing part done;

however, I think they might be doing some serious honking at me as I'm afraid I've clipped their wings.

(Their beaks are pretty much intact, hence their ability to HONK!)

Good thing the patterns are so "fussy", 'cause I don't think it will be too noticeable in the finished quilt.

In the meantime, some ladies at church and I had a good time together this week working on some 6X9 inch rectangles that will be assembled in to afghans for wounded military personnel.

This completed one is just plain garter stitch and the one in progress will be basket weave.

In the meantime, I'm still working on knitted goodies for grandchildren.

STASH BUSTING

Although this little knitted dish cloth has nothing to do with my recent STASH BUSTING, I thought I did need to share it with you and let you know that I just had to keep this one for myself and use it yesterday!  I'll just have to make another for my special Christmas recipient.

But on to the business at hand.  Can STASH BUSTING be considered spring cleaning?

And therefore housework?  If so then I've done a lot of cleaning the past few days!

This is the first I made from my already cut charms--all leftovers.  The solids are all fleece.  I love putting something "tactile" in baby blankets.

And speaking of tactile, this one has flannel, fleece, and chenille.

Another with flannel, and fleece, and cotton.  It's all finished since this photo was taken.  Hooray. 

And this is now a quilt with a red flannel back.

OK, so now that I've done some "housework" I guess I can play with my log cabin quilt some more, right?

A WONDERFUL TIME !

Ah, my trip to my daughter's was indeed wonderful.  Too short, though, as always.  

Yes, I did find what I think will be the perfect backing for my log cabin quilt--from her new Good Folks line of fabric:

No, I didn't finish the leg warmer for my granddaughter.   There were too many other things to do.  A special treat for a grandmother is always getting to see the youngsters in a school program.  Somehow a lot of my trips seem to just by chance be timed just right to take in a few.  This trip was one of those lucky times.

But this might just have been the most special of all.  I taught young Isabela how to knit!  And as you see, she's able to move right along on her own.  My daughter has a few shots of the teaching process on her blog.

So, now I've got lots to do:  finish that leg warmer (Will that ever happen?) and get back to work on the flying geese sashing for the log cabin quilt.  

Busy, busy, busy.  At least it's rainy here today, so it should be a perfect day for that sort of thing.  Oh, and DRATS, vacuuming too!

SABBATICAL

Well, there won't be any updates here from me for a few more days.

I'm going to daughter, Anna Maria's.  Ahhhhhhh, I'll get to play in her fabric piles and I'm sure I'll find just the perfect fabric for the backing of my log cabin quilt.  So who can blame me for taking a little time off for that?

Hopefully while I'm there I'll also finish knitting granddaughter's second leg warmer so I can leave it with her.

See you in a few days.

AROUND MY HOUSE TODAY

Move over, baby blanket and second leg warmer;

I've got a prayer shawl to knit for a hospitalized friend:

That chair is one of my favorite spots to sit and knit. For a prayer shawl, I prefer to NOT be in front of the TV--for obvious reasons.

Knitting is still usually an evening only project, though, so I'm still busy on the quilting front too.

Lots and lots of squares cut and ready to be sewn in to flying geese sashes.  As you can see, I still need the directions--haven't done enough yet to know how without a reminder each day I begin anew.

And speaking of new:  Look at this odd little blossom on my Peace Lily.  I think it wanted a twin and got just a little runt of a sibling!  Looks almost like an orchid.  And no, there's not one of those in the house so it's not cross pollination--doubt if that's even possible.  If there are any horticulture experts out there, let me know; it would be an interesting trivia fact.

In the meantime, my dryer just stopped, so it's time to get back to my laundry/sewing room.  Yep, the sewing is lots more fun than the laundry, but doing both at the same time does make the laundry not quite so boring.