Short and Sweet!

I'm on the road all day today - on the way to get our sweet granddaughter so she can spend some time with us!  Yippee!!!!

So I'll just quickly share my Yellow Hootie...... yes, I chose THAT one for the feathers LOL!!!

And also as a bonus - because you're all so nice! -  a new Happy Dance Block from my wonderful YELLOWS....

See  more lovely yellow projects HERE for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

I'll share more tomorrow about some of the other things I have been up to :*)

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Hello Yellow!

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for June is the audacious YELLOW!!!

"Audacious?" you ask?  Absolutely!  What other color unashamedly takes over quite the way yellow does?  And what other color is the color of the Sun, around which our entire universe revolves????  And what other color can make you smile, just by looking at it?  Yes, I think YELLOW knows that it is special, and it is audaciously smug about it too :*)  But you just have to love it, right?  It's like puppy dogs and kittens and babies - what's not to love????

But before we continue with our love for YELLOW, I have a little unfinished business to attend to....

Ta Da!!!  

Here is my GREEN Soul Searching block, finally finished!!!!

I was determined not to let this block slide - I've been really good about keeping up with my monthly blocks and I didn't want to fall short now!  I just love this GREEN one - such rich color!!!  And for once, I didn't have problems finding fabrics with interesting things going on :)

As soon as I had Soul Searching caught up, I happily dove into the YELLOWS and began washing them up so they could be ready for some serious playing!

It didn't take too terribly long to wash this color, considering I don't really have that many of them.  Which is a problem since I'm making my Happy Dance quilt in the Pink/Orange/Yellow colorway!  I'm finding that yellows are quite hard to find in something other than plain and boring.  However, I did run across these fun yellows while traveling a few weeks ago....

All washed but not yet ironed :*)

I found quite a lot of the yellow and black combination (top row) - so fun!!!  Don't you just love those glasses on the end of each stack on the right?  And those FUN bees?  They make me feel ready for summer!!!! 

I bought only quarter yards of these sweet prints.  I simply couldn't afford 1/2 yards of each at today's prices, and the shops did not cut fat quarters.  I think next time I'm in that situation, I may spring for at least a third yard.  Those quarter yards look so tiny!

I also picked up a few black-and-white prints - you can never have enough of those, right?  My favorite?

This fun monkey print - it makes me laugh!!!

(May camera makes some of the monkeys look stained black, but they are not :)

I haven't had time yet to begin with my usual RSC blocks for this month, but I've already begun to play with the new yellows, putting together the pieces for a Happy Dance block....

I've recently finished two more HD blocks....

This is going to be one bright and happy quilt!!!!

And remember the picture I showed you yesterday of my latest sock project?

I want to thank you all for your kind comments *blush*

And I've decided to name these my Happy Dance Socks!!!

I thought you might also like to see something I won the other day at Guild - it has YELLOW in it as well ...

A lovely mug and mug rug made by one of my favorite people in the whole world - Starr Howell!!!!  Can you see here that she even hand quilted around the flowers?  I'm not sure how I can be expected to actually EAT anything off of that lovely quilt!!!!!

Starr always makes everything so wonderful with her special touches!

And did you notice the beautiful green spatula in the above picture?

It came in a set as a gift from my lovely friend Lynn, who recently visited from Seattle!!!!

(They are not yellow - but lime green and aqua always win with me - every time!!!!)

While she was here, I loaned her one of my machines so she wouldn't have to bring hers on the airplane.  She was able to sew at retreat and then all the following week at her sister's house.  

And I was delighted to be able to help of course :*)

This week I hope to get my YELLOW Soul Searching block done.

But tomorrow will be more work in my sewing studio - if I have time I'll share some photos with you!

What will you be working on?

Check out all the fun projects in YELLOW at

SoScrappy's Rainbow Scrap Challenge

And see more Stash Enhancements at

Judy's Patchwork Times

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Slow Stitching on Sunday

On Sundays, I look forward to taking a break from the hustle and bustle and doing some slow stitching with Kathy and friends at Kathy's Quilts.

I'm excited to have all the hand stitching done on the May Bertie's Year BOM!

That simple border stitch was a nice break from some of the more intense stitch patterns
of previous months.  Not that I'm complaining - I love learning new stitches!!!

This is one of my favorite months - Bertie is so happy to help Spring come to her neck of the woods!  She's even willing to help it along by carting in some of those lovely, colorful Spring flowers :)  That's a look of determination on her face my friends!  I don't think she'd let too much get in her way, do you?  And wouldn't you just LOVE to have a Spring hat like that one?  Bertie is such a fashionista!!!

These flowers turned out really bright and colorful after I substituted some of the flannels in the kit :)

I also plan to work on the Tree Vase block for The Blue Collection this afternoon ...

Progress so far......

Since it won't be very long before I have the vase finished, I'll also spend some time this afternoon preparing these leaves for applique next....

There are quite a few of these, but they are fun and fairly quick to prepare, and will be just as fun to stitch down too.  I will take this project to my sit-n-sew tomorrow morning and enjoy stitching and chatting with friends - Life is Good!!!

One cute little hand repair project that took WAAAAYYYYY too long to get around to....

I love my little Diva Chickie pin cushion!!!  I bought her at a retreat about 5 years ago from a girl who had made up about a dozen of them to sell for $4 each.  Doesn't she look like something I would fall in love with immediately?  Of course I picked out the brightest and most colorful one *VBG* 

But it didn't take me long to realize that a pincushion filled with this...

                            ...  will not sit still while you pull pins out or poke them back in!  

After several attempts at trying to pull out a large pin without the pin cushion flying across the room, I gave up and just kept it as a decoration on my shelf in the sewing studio.  I kept thinking "someday" I would take that worthless stuffing out and fill it with something heavier like crushed walnut shells.  

Well, this week "someday" finally arrived!!!!  Diva Chickie was wheeled into the operating room and went under the needle - no anesthesia either, my friends!  This is one tough chick now that she is made of sterner stuff :*)  Here she is in the post-op room, almost stitched up and resting comfortably on her side after her brave ordeal.  

I'm happy to announce that the surgery was a huge success and she is back at work, thrilled to be doing what Diva Chickies do best :*)  Just look at her proudly sporting pins and needles with a big ole smile on her face!!!

As for larger projects on my Design Wall this week, my biggest goal is to finish the sashing on Fantasia.  I pieced quite a few sashing pieces at my Divas Club meeting last week, but I still have a lot to do.....

Sorry this is a little dark - we've had storms this afternoon!

And I've cut pieces for 4 more Happy Dance blocks!  

Ooooooo I just love this quilt so far!!!!

You can see more Design Wall lovelies at Judy's Patchwork Times every Monday!
Also linking up with Connie's fun Tuesday Linky Party!

Wishing everyone a wonderfully fruitful week!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Charity is Another Word for Love

One of the "charity" projects our Guild sponsors is Phyllis's Angel Babies - making baby quilts for children born with Down Syndrome (DS) in the Nashville area.  We began making quilts for these precious little ones after one of our members (Phyllis) welcomed a Down Syndrome grandson into the family.  Today, that child's mother, Alecia Talbott, is the director of the Down Syndrome Association in Middle Tennessee.

Needless to say, this is a charity that is near and dear to many of our hearts!  So when one of our members was gifted with a large amount of fabric, she gave it to the DS Committee for making Phyllis' Angel Babies quilts.  And this past Thursday at our monthly sit-n-sew, a large group of us got together and made quilt tops.  The committee chose a simple pattern - the Scrappy Bargello from Quiltville (Bonnie Hunter) which you can find HERE.  

This is my finished quilt top....

The ladies on this committee spent MANY hours cutting all that fabric into strips!

This picture was taken about half-way through the day, so this is only HALF of the strips we started with!!!  By the end of the day, it honestly didn't look like a whole lot less either.  I think we'll be making these again at our next month's sit-n-sew :*)

While we were working away, Alecia (on the right below) came in and thanked us all for making quilts for these sweet children!  Then she announced that she would be presenting a quilt that day to a little DS girl who had been struck by a car last month.  We were very excited to see a child receive one of our quilts!

This precious little girl innocently chased a ball into traffic and was struck by a car.  Fortunately, she survived, even though she will still have to undergo surgery for some remaining brain injury.  She is a very brave and sweet girl... you can tell she was pretty overwhelmed by the sight of all of us in that big room staring at her LOL!!!!

I'm planning to try to get my quilt top sandwiched, quilted and bound by our next meeting on May 6.  I've also volunteered to bind some for those who are only able to sew up the tops.  It really makes me feel good to know that my Guild is part of a greater community of people who give to others in need.  And I am humbled to think that a little child will someday own this simple quilt I have made, and hopefully feel all the love and joy and prayers I have poured into each stitch!

The Scrappy Bargello baby quilt is now OFF the Design Wall!  But I still have Fantasia ...

and Happy Dance ...

           .....up on the Design Wall, ready to receive some love.  I've resolved to make 4 of these Happy Dance blocks each week so it doesn't get stagnant - they are so much fun and go so quickly, I don't think that will be a problem :)

Check out the other projects on design walls at Judy's Patchwork Times!

And I'm linking this up with Sharon's Let's Book It linky party
because Bonnie's Scrappy Bargello has been in my Patterns to Try book for ages now!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Doing the Happy Dance!!!

I started this blog 2-1/2 years ago because I thought it would be fun... and it has been :)  But I continue to blog because of all the wonderful relationships I have made along the way!!!  This week has been a wonderful week for me because I've gotten to know two really wonderful blog friends better!

First, remember how I told you that Mary who blogs at Needled Mom is really to blame has been so encouraging to me and got me started on my wonderful Japanese x&+ blocks?  She even helped me choose the name for it, Happy Dance!

Well, this week I received an AMAZING squishy package from Mary ...... she made 4 blocks for me!!!!  How sweet is that????  Like I said before, Mary is a very gifted Encourager!!!

Oh MY!!!!  I am so IN LOVE with these beautiful blocks!!!  Didn't she do a fabulous job?  They are the perfect colors, and those fabrics.... wow!  Look at the fun prints on this one...

....... the cow and pig are hysterical :*)

And I love the beautiful patterns in this one....YUM!

Bright orange always makes me smile!  Love those orange dots on the yellow background ...

The mixture of soft patterns with bold geometrics in this one....perfect!!!!

Mary, I am thrilled and so happy with these blocks!  What's most amazing to me is how much these fabrics look like the ones I have in my stash, yet I don't have a single one of them!  I would have made these exact blocks myself if I had those fabrics... we must be quilting twins!  I bet we would have a ball playing in each other's stash LOL!!!  THANK YOU so much - these blocks will have a very happy home in my Happy Dance quilt, and I will smile every time I spy one of your blocks in it :*)

Then, on Tuesday, I met with Libby who blogs over at Life On The Hill.

Libby is a fairly new blogger who lives very near me and we decided that we'd like to meet up one day and share blogging tips and get to know each other better.  What a great time we had!!!

It was almost the meeting that never happened though, because I confused it with my Wednesday meeting.... I was waiting for her at the wrong place and time!!!  Once I realized my mistake of course I rushed to the correct place, and she was sweet enough to ignore my confusion and wait for me.  See what I mean about meeting such nice people in Blogland?  I had to laugh at the two us sitting there at McDonalds with our computers and tablets, like we were techy queens!!!  Of course, we both forgot to get a picture of us together :(  But we'll do that next time - and there will definitely be a next time!  Thanks Libby for such a fun day! :*)

Please be sure to go over and check out her blog and give her some love!!!  She blogs about our meeting too, HERE, as well as a fun new quilt tutorial she will be starting soon for one of her own designs called Dusk to Dawn - I love that quilt!

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Since this is Friday, I have to share some On the Needles progress too, right? .....

This has been such a busy week, and there hasn't been much time for relaxing, but I've managed a little knitting in the evenings.  I've gotten these about 10 rows into the increases for the heels.

I also picked up some beautiful and funky yarn at Goodwill the other day for a song!

Look at these luscious colors!!!!  And the texture is really nice!  That dark color is really a deep forest green, not black.  I have no idea what I'll make with this, but I'm thinking a nice cowl.

I wish you all a Blessed Easter weekend!

Good Friday is always so bittersweet to me.  

It represents the day my Savior suffered and died for me and you. 

and it breaks my heart that He had to go through that for me.....  

But I'm so glad He did!

And I'm so glad that was not the end of the story.....

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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