The Blue Screen of..... Uh Oh!!!

Talk about a scary way to start the day!!!   I was just minding my own business this morning, happily enjoying a relaxed Sunday at home by reading some of my favorite blogs, when all of a sudden, the photo I was viewing pixelated in some totally weird ways, and then.....POOF!!!  The Blue Screen of Death popped up!!!  I wasn't quite sure what was happening, but I was pretty darn sure it wasn't good!  Good thing my very own Personal Technical Expert (my wise and all-capable hubby) was in residence and came running when I screamed LOL!!!

Friends, I don't have a clue what he did to our computer - he tried to explain it to me.... something about drivers and service packs and downloading a bunch of stuff (of which I understood not one word) - but in no time flat he had it back up and running - Hooray!!!!

We do have another computer - our desktop system upstairs - but this laptop downstairs is so convenient and only a few years old.  It would have been a shame to lose it.  Plus, I'm pretty sure there are quite a few pictures on here that we have not backed up on CD or flash drive.  You can be sure that will be taken care of this afternoon!!!

So, while my husband worked to keep our laptop from going to computer heaven, I picked up my Dreambird bag and headed out to the side patio to knit and calmly reclaim the peace of my Sunday!

I have 11 feathers done now and this project is really getting into a rhythm.  It's going quickly now that I pretty much know what I'm doing.  Of course, just saying that guarantees that my next feather will develop some sort of problem, right?  LOL!

One of the bloggers who has been instrumental in inspiring me to pick up the knitting needles is Denise Russart at Just Quiltin.  She is always knitting something new and beautiful, and making it look easy in the process too.  She's also a very talented quilt designer and offers some amazing patterns, often for free.  She's got a sale going on right now for a fun set of patterns - Dog Pound Pals Adoption Society.  These are some really adorable dog patterns, so check it out HERE if you are interested.  This past week, I received this fun mousepad that I won from Denise in a giveaway she held last month......

Don't you just love the design and colors?

Believe me, I was pretty tickled when I saw I was a winner!!!

Thanks Denise!!!

This weekend, I've managed to mark off a few tasks from my list....

I finished off the BABY BLUE scraps for the September Rainbow Scrap Challenge, making the above Lone Starburst block as well as my Hatchett blocks and left-over HST's (not pictured).  I'm not sure what I was thinking when I put these together - how is that fabric in the bottom right a "baby blue"???  Oh well... sometimes my brain just goes on vacation!  Thankfully, this is not a block by itself, and all these sections will be mixed up with the other colored sections I've been making all year for a scrappy rainbow quilt, and that darker section will fit in great with the overall quilt :*)

I managed a little slow-stitching embroidery on my Winter Wonderland, but not enough to post a new picture yet.  I also prepared the next pattern for my Summertime wool applique project......

Darva's Daisies by
Mary Lou Designs

I just couldn't resist doing the cat block next!

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The pattern needed to be reduced by 54% to get it to the 8-inch square-ish size to fit in with the other blocks for this project.  I will probably not do the dragnfly unless I can find a way to make it fit without distorting the block.  It also occurs to me that it might be fun to have a few colorful dragonflies floating free over the quilt... hmmmm.

My friend Daryl, who blogs at Patchouli Moon, shared a few tips with me about how she works with wool applique.  She doesn't use fusible because she says it makes the pieces harder to stitch.  She just uses an Elmer's Washable Glue stick and no staples.  I think I'll try that with this next block :*)

The rest of this week, I think I'll be busy doing some quilting.  Have to get ready for Oktoberfest the middle of October!  What are you up to this gorgeous Sunday?

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Linking up with:
SoScrappy - Rainbow Scrap Challenge
Kathy's Quilts - Slow Sunday Stitching
Freemotion by the River - Tuesday Linky Party

Slow Sunday Stitching

It's a gorgeous Sunday here in Music City Tennessee!!!  I'm looking forward to some slow stitching this morning.....

Remember Winter Wonderland?  With all the knitting I've started lately, my embroidery has suffered, but I did manage to get a little in while at my daughter's house.  This is my third block, and it is coming along nicely.  I just love these little snow-people!  And there's nothing like a gentle embroidery project to work on while thinking about things of the Spirit on a beautiful Sunday morning!!!

Later on I plan to start work on Genevieve's Live-Love-Laugh baby quilt.  I have quite a lot of planning that has to be done before I can put needle to fabric, so I'll work on that for a few hours.  Then I'll grab my knitting and sit with my hubby watching the Bridgestone Invitational golf tournament the rest of the afternoon.  Yep, it's looking like a perfect day!!!

Oh yes, and I almost forgot to show you a picture of my completed Lone Starburst blocks in AQUAS....

There were not many scraps in my AQUA box, but there sure were some fun ones!  

I love that flower in the bottom left :*)

Linking up today with Kathy at Slow Sunday Stitching and SoScrappy's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Mixing up the Stars!

I finally did  manage to finish up my YELLOW Lone Starburst yesterday.  And I couldn't wait to start putting some of the pieces together to see what a scrappy version is going to look like.  So on my Design Wall this morning, I give you ......

TaDa!!!!

Whatcha think?

Do you love it?

I think I love it!!!

Of course, this is with only six colors done so far, and there will be six more colors to add to the mix by the end of the year.  I had been wondering if I would rather just keep all the colors together and  make large stars of each color.  But I'm really liking them all mixed up like this.  I suppose I'll make the final decision at the end of the year when all the different colored sections are done.

Here is the final photo of the finished YELLOW block pieces for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this week....

These block sections have been so much fun to sew!

Have a great week everyone!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Also linking up with:
What a Hoot - BOMS Away!
Freemotion by the River - Linky Party
I Have to Say - Show and Tell Tuesday
Freshly Pieced - WIP Wednesday

Easy Like Sunday....

Just a reminder to all my wonderful followers.... if you haven't already, please be sure to go over to the Bloglovin icon on my sidebar and click there to follow!  Google Reader is going away very soon, and I would really hate to lose you ♥♥♥

It's a hot one here in Music City today!  The sun is shining brightly .....

I couldn't resist using the last scrap of my little YELLOW suns fabric for one of the Lone Starburst blocks this month!  All I have left now is a tiny piece - and it went into the crumbs jar.  I just can't throw away even a scrap of this sweet fabric - it has brought me so many smiles  :*D

Here are the blocks I managed to get done yesterday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I'll finish up the remaining two sections today, and maybe put some of them up on the design wall to see how they will look with the colored sections all mixed up scrappy-style!

Also today, I plan to do some Slow Sunday Stitching with Kathy's Quilts.  I'm almost done with the LAST Promises & Borders block - hooray!!!!  This is a banner-type block that spans the width of the quilt....

I did have to make one little adjustment to Jenny's pattern on the "o" in each of the promise tracings .... can you see the original line tracing at the right of it in this picture below?  When that was stitched out, it looked more like an "a" to me, so I took it out and moved the transition line to the top of the "o" - now I'm much happier with it!

Aren't these little birdies SO cute????

All that remains to be done is the green leaves and the centers of the flowers.  When this block is done, I'll be able to sash these blocks and put them together for a great UFO floppy finish - WhooHoo!!!!

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What are you doing on this lovely Father's Day?  Although when I was growing up there were few good father figures in my life, the good Lord has blessed me today with many wonderful Fathers!  And I will definitely take the time to let them know how much I appreciate them and thank God for their hard work as Fathers!

My husband has shown me time and again what a true Father really is.....

And now both of our sons are Fathers, and we couldn't be prouder of the wonderful job they are doing raising the next generation!

Josh and his family

Todd and his family

This is what I made for my sweet hubby yesterday to celebrate Father's Day....

YUM!!!  Meatloaf made from my momma's recipe!  This is his favorite meal!  Of course, most of you know that cooking is NOT my forte, but when the Best Father in the World asks for meatloaf - he gets it!!!  For side dishes, I made mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli cole slaw, pickled beets, and toasted garlic-butter ciabatta bread!  Yes, we chowed down!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful & blessed Father's Day!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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A BLUE Memorial Day Weekend!

I have had so much fun digging in the BLUE scraps this month!!!   My basket of scraps has been whittled down to this....

So, okay, it really doesn't look like it has gone down that much since I started making BLUE blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, does it?

But as I started digging through looking for pieces big enough to make my Hatchett blocks, I realized there are really not that many scraps left after all.  Here are the blocks I was able to make....

..... and here are the resulting HST's from the cut off corners....

A nice batch that will work well with all the other colors at the end of the year!!!

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As a reminder, here are my other BLUE blocks completed for the RSChallenge this month....

Fantasia

and Lone Starburst sections

It will be sad for me to say goodbye to the BLUES, but it's always fun to look forward to a new one each month!  Wonder what color Angela will pick for June?  Why not come join us and find out!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Getting Rid of the Blues =^..^=

I've had so much fun playing in my BLUE scraps!!!  They are dwindling down, bit by bit....

Here are the completed BLUE pieces for my Lone Starburst quilt.....

Oh my goodness... I'm in LOVE!!!!

And just in case you missed it, this is the Fantasia block again that I made last week....

I'm hoping to dig in and get busy with the Hatchett blocks and HST's later today.

Be sure to go over to SoScrappy today to see all the other lovely BLUE projects happening there for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

Since today is Stash Report day over at Judy's Patchwork Times, I have to share with you a little Stash Enhancement!  Oh yes, I did it again!!!  But this time I simply couldn't resist!!! (hehehe!)

At Guild last Tuesday, I spied a quilted bag sitting on the table halfway across the room!  It caught my eye and I was hooked like Moby Dick!!!  I was irresistibly drawn to it because of all the bright colors and happy designs.  I ran over immediately and asked Martha if she had made the bag for me - of course she laughed in my face LOL!!!  Dummy me forgot to get a picture of her purse, but I found this picture on the web - it's not as cute as hers was in "person" of course, but you can get the idea...

This cute little bag is made using three panels from a line put out by Lakehouse Designs called Totes on Bolts.  It comes with a white or black background.  As you can see, you can mix and match the fabrics any way you like.  The panels are a sort of patchwork of different colors and designs that work together.

Although it had been a while since she made her bag, I was lucky enough to find the panels in my LQS and bought all three so I can make my own bag!  Here they are on the bolt, spread out and ready to cut....

Panel #1 - I absolutely LOVE the rick-rack in all those yummy colors!!!

Panel #2 - Reminds me of my 70's days and Flower Power!

Panel #3 - Lots of black background in several different designs :*)

Here are the 3 panels folded together to show most of the different designs available

My favorite part of the entire design is this cute little patch....

*Swoon*

I don't yet have the pattern, but I can't wait to dig in and make up this cute purse!  I'm going to call it my Flower Power Purse =^..^=

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I want to thank everyone who stopped by for Giveaway Day and commented for the prize package.  

Mr. Random Number Generator picked a number .....

And our winner is....  Tanya at Richard and Tanya Quilts!!!!  Congratulations Tanya - I hope you enjoy the little bear wall quilt and bobbin tower!  I've sent an email to let you know about your win and get your snail mail address so I can ship it out to you :*)

It's looking a little like a gloomy weekend here, but warm and springlike, so I'm happy!  I'll leave you with a few pictures of my beloved peonies....

This is how they look when they first bloom out - so full and gorgeous!!!

This is how they look today as they are almost finished and ready to leave me for another year....

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Bring on the Greens!!!

I really enjoyed playing in the GREEN scraps today!

Here are my GREEN Lone Starburst sections....

My biggest problem was making myself use the dark greens - I am so in love with lime green right now, it's all I want to use LOL!!!

Did you notice this one?

       ........ I didn't notice until I was taking the pictures that the "dot" fabric had the word "DOT" in the gray word fabric - too cool!!!

I had to do quite a lot of scrap taming to get these to the point where I could use them.  I started with this....

And after a few hours of ironing and separating into value/size stacks, I finally had this lovely working basket full of GREENS  :*)

I'm a little bummed that I haven't used any of my crumb scraps so far this year.  Last year, my Rainbow Pineapples came exclusively from crumbs, so they got thinned out a good bit.  However, they've begun growing again.....

Looks like I'm going to have to add a block to the mix that uses up these sweet little crumbs :*D

Have you been playing in the GREENS?  

Share your work with us at SoScrappy!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Last Orange Saturday!

I'll be on the road this Saturday, going to pick up my granddaughter from North Carolina so she can stay with us for awhile :*)  But I played in the ORANGE scraps last weekend and had so much fun!!!

Here's my Fantasia block in oranges....

And here are the Stretched Stars blocks with their resulting Half-square triangles....

I really had to dig in my small bin of orange scraps to find squares large enough for these blocks!  

And just in case you missed it, here is the orange Lone Starburst block sections I made earlier in the month....

It's never too late to join in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge fun!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Do You Remember Creamsicles?

Oh boy, I do!!!  

They were my favorite ice cream when I was a child!!!  Orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream swirled together - pure heaven on a stick!!!!  (I wonder, do they still make those?)

That's what I think of when I play with ORANGE fabrics =^..^=

For March, Scraphappy Saturdays will be filled with lots of bright, bold orange scrap blocks, as well as some mellow peaches, and let's not forget those deep, rich pumpkins! Sounds good enough to eat, right? LOL!!!




I was a little surprised when I pulled out my ORANGE bin to find that I really don't have that many orange scraps.  The drawer holds oranges and yellows, and somewhere along the way they had managed to get all mixed up in there.  I can't imagine how that happened LOL!!!

So before I could even begin to plan my RSC blocks, I had to go through and separate the scraps.  Here they are, all tamed and playing nicely in my scrap work basket - dig that wild orange animal print LOL!!!

As I said, not many there, but I think it will be enough.  The larger scraps are in the basket, while the glass jar holds the crumbs.

There wasn't a lot of time left for sewing today after all that organizing, but I did manage to get the ORANGE Lone Starburst blocks done....

These paper-pieced blocks are so much fun!!!  And I love the quilty words in that gray text stripe :*)

Stash Enhancement Report -

I added these two half yards of Kaffe Fassett oranges to my stash this past week, but they won't be used in the RSC - that's strictly for scraps!  The colors here are a little washed out, but take my word for it, these are YUM!!!

In addition, a group of us made a road trip to Whittles in Kentucky this past Monday.  My plan was to try to find backings for my current and upcoming projects - and I was very successful!!!  I found six pieces for backings at a GREAT price - whoohoo!!!  I don't know about you, but I really hate to spend a lot of money on the back of a quilt.

The first one I picked out was a wonderful aqua fatback for Easy Street so I won't have to piece the backing and it's now ready for quilting.  Then I couldn't believe it when I found this fabric on the clearance shelf  .... can you guess the quilt I will back this with?

Oh yeah, Daddy-O!  Cool Cats!!!!  This was not a fatback, but at only $2.50 a yard I'll be happy to piece the back for that :*)  And could it be any more perfect for the Cool Cats quilt?  No way!!!

Why not hop over to Patchwork Times to see what others are adding to their stashes?

March came in like a lion here in our neck of the woods - Here's hoping it goes out like a lamb, can I get an AMEN?  We even got a little snow this morning although it was all gone very quickly.  It looked really pretty on the trees....

It looks like I'm not the only one wishing Spring would hurry up and get here!

Gypsy looks pretty wistful doesn't she?  She keeps crying to go out, but when I open the door and that cold air blasts her in the face, she shudders and backs up, looking at me as if I've played a nasty joke on her.  Poor girl, I know how she feels!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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