Progressing....

Thought you might be tired of looking at my last post with all the pictures that would only upload sideways, so I thought I would show you what I have been up to for the last week or so.

I am working on the borders for "Beyond the Cherry Trees".

I have traced the pattern on the bottom border.

Stitched all the cherries down (those have been made for months!).

Making enough vines to start my own vineyard.

Glue basted the vine down and my baggie of leaves will be ready to go once the vine is stitched down.

Of course, if that wasn't enough for me to do, I found a new (to me) yarn shop in Berkley, MI called  "....have you any wool?"

I bought this.

Three skeins of Firefly in the color called Venice (to me it's more of a raspberry which is what I was looking for to make the pictured eternity scarf).  The scarf pattern is called Jeweled Cowl by Knittimo and I believe I got it free on Ravelry.

Anyways, it calls for 728  seed beads, so I stopped at Aladda Beads which is a shop in, I believe, Clinton Twp., MI.  Well, 728 beads sounds like a lot of beads to me and I certainly didn't want to buy too many, so this is what I came home with.

Now mind you....I didn't want to over-buy.  I had about 15 of these tubes in my hands because you know, I like scrappy in quilts, so of course I am going to want a lot of coordinating colors of beads for my raspberry scarf.  Sooooo...I had the gal at the shop "count" how many beads were in one of the tubes.....but let me get back to that in a minute. 

The first tube is "chartreuse", a good opposite on the color wheel.

Second tube is called "flame red", which even though the yarn is raspberry, this matches well.

Third tube is "dark topaz" which picks up all the other colors.

Fourth tube is "dk coral lined crystal" which appears more pink and has lots of sparkle.

Fifth tube is "dk smoky amethsyt which is very complimentary.

Sixth tube is "emerald", but is more teal with some purple to it. 

Now back to my NOT wanting to over buy.  Remember, I only need 728 beads.  Welllllllll.....

I had 15 of these tubes in my hot little, color-loving, hands and when I found out that there are 800 beads in each tube, I put 11 of them back and now I have

4,800 beads!!!! 

I hope this scarf is easy to make because I may have to make  another one to sell so I can justify buying so many beads.  I guess I thought I would go into the bead shop and buy individual beads (how naive!!) and then I could get just the right mixture that I wanted.  Actually, I figured I would have to make 6 1/2 of these scarves to use up all these beads.  Oh well.....I guess I have started a "bead stash".

Happy quilting!



Moving along....

House warming was a huge success.  Lots of friends and lots of good food and drinks.

Now.....

I have started #20 Cherry Tree block.

Next birthday block (fire engine red/tea dyed color tan) is on its way to Maine. Neen, if you see this, happy birthday.

It's, also, that time of year that the hydrangeas are ready to pick and dry, so I told my dear husband that I was decorating the garage.  Isn't it lovely?  LOL.

He's already asking how long they will be there.  Apparently he just doesn't appreciate all the loveliness.  LOL. 

Gotta get some stitching in tonight.  There is a terrible storm abrewing and I don't want to lose my light.  

Celebration day....

#15 is done!  It's been a long time coming and it hasn't been without it's problems.  I ended up ripping out a couple pieces and replacing them,  I thought I was done....twice....and found I was missing pieces and had to cut out more, but it is DONE now and I am ready to move on to the next one. 

Today is my daughter's housewarming.  This is the daughter who moved in with us for two months while they worked on getting their house liveable.  Most of the rooms are now to where she wants them, so she is having the housewarming to show everyone their progress.

So, I whipped up some artichoke dip to take.

Recipe: 

1 can artichoke hearts

1 c. mayonaise (not miracle whip)

1 c. parmesian cheese

add:  garlic sale and oregan (or Adobo Criollo) to taste

1 onion (small) chopped

Mix altogether: Place in microwave uncovered on high for 7-10 minutes. 

Also, whipped up some

Bean Salsa

1 bunch green onions chopped

1 can fiesta corn drained

1 can black beans drained

2 firm avocados chopped

1 med. red onion chopped

4 med. tomatoes (gutted and chopped)

1 pkg.  Zesty Italian dry seasoning

1/4 c. olive oil

1/4 c. vinegar

pinch of garlic salt

Mix and serve with corn chips....yum!!

Also, got this book in the mail.

I want to make the jewelry rolls that are in this book.

Then the best thing of the day came in the mail. 



This is my third featherweight (I figure I have two daughters who will inherit my other two).  It came with all the fixin's, too.

My hope is to pick the one that is in the worse shape (although all three look pretty good) and have my husband sandblast it to death and have it painted in candy apple red. I was hoping he would find one that was so badly chipped that no one would want it, but seems everyone out in Ebay land wants them all.  

So, I will keep you updated on the progress of the "candy apple red" featherweight, the next Cherry Tree block and the success of the housewarming.  

Now to get ready to party! 

Look who is moving into my house.

This is Annie.  Isn't she adorable?

I saw these Annies  first on Sharon's blog ...  http://redgeraniumcottage.typepad.com/my_weblog/

She collects them and after she posted pictures of ALL of hers, I just couldn't resist checking out the website where she gets them from which is here... http://www.raggedyoldannies.com/ .  I have fallen in love.

If you are into folk art, this is one good place to find some adorable "Annies". 

Also, pulled out the next Cherry Tree block that I intend to work on.....#15

Had it out last night to work on and ended up arranging seating for the wedding and that took a little while, so maybe tonight I will get in a few stitches. 

Probably won't get it done too quickly with the wedding coming up, but at least I will have something to work on while my nerves are getting to me.  

Well, keep cool.  It's in the high 90s here today and sitting here with my laptop isn't all that comfortable, so I will be back later.  Happy quilting.