Ahhhh..... It's Good to Be Home!

I really enjoyed my recent adventures at the Red Rooster Retreat and then visiting with family in North Carolina!  But it's always nice to come home again, isn't it?

This is how I spent yesterday morning .....

I love this view from our covered side porch :)  My Guy put up the hummingbird feeder (yes, we are a little late!) and repotted some luscious red summer geraniums while I was gone, and my favorite oriental lillies are blooming - everything just looks so relaxing and inviting!!!

I got SO MUCH done at retreat!  In addition to finishing up and hand-delivering little man Hudson's carry-around blankie (see post HERE), I also had tremendous fun playing with Jacquelynne Steve's lovely Cottage Charm fabrics!

Panel square from Cottage Charms - designed by Jacquelynne Steves

Everyone was ooooohhhh'ing and aaaahhhhhh'ing over these fabrics!  Which, by the way, are NOW available on her website - JacquelynneSteves.com !!!  Fat quarter bundles are HERE and the cute panel prints are HERE.  Go see them now!!!!

I also am happy to report that I have my June Bertie all stitched down and embroidered!

Machine stitching around the pieces.....

Hand stitching the embellishments .....

And the top is now a finish!

Now I just have to find time tomorrow to get it sandwiched and quilted so it can go on the wall June 1 :)

 I also crafted a removable Luggage Strap for my Vera Bradley bag that My Guy gave me for Christmas....

I didn't want to check any baggage on the plane trip to Carolina, so I packed my smallest suitcase and carried my essentials in this bag - it worked out perfectly!!!

And On the Needles, I finished up my Purple Kroy Socks!!!  This is my second pair in this yarn because my daughter claimed the first pair before they were ever even off the needles LOL!!!  They are just Plain-Jane design, toe-up, two-at-a-time with Magic Loop.

This bright and happy yarn is going On The Needles for my next pair of socks!!!

Not very shapely yarn cakes are they?  LOL!!!

The day after I got home from retreat, I had to be at the airport at 7am for my flight to Carolina!!!  While there, I got lots of time with the sweetest grandkids in the universe!!!  I was blessed to be able to attend this granddaughter's performance of a lead part in her school play.....

Sara with her mom (our daughter Christy) after the play

And we all came together as a family to celebrate our oldest granddaughter's graduation from high school - GO EMMA!!!!!

No, she is NOT happy about the cap-and-gown get-up!!!

Watching my son giving his little first-grade soccer players an impromptu bible lesson on the field at half time was a blessing I won't forget soon either..... notice there are players from both teams in that huddle :)

It was a lovely short visit and I miss them all already!!!

Thanks to all of you who asked about My Guy's knee - he's doing great and getting around with barely a limp!  We'll be finishing up the studio redesign soon and I'll share pictures as we do :)  Several of you also were curious about the tables in the picture I showed of our sewing area at the Red Rooster....



As nice as that would be, the Sew-Ezi tables were not provided by the Red Rooster.  Most of us at the retreat sew together often, and when one finds a tool that they love (like the Sew-Ezi table!), we all have to have one!  You know how that works, don't you?

Hope you have a HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Down the Rabbit Hole......

Spring is rabbit season!!!!  I know, because we have them hopping about all over the place in our backyard, and there are even little babies in our neighbor's yard - those little babies are just too darn cute!!!!

Some of you may have been thinking I had fallen down one of those rabbit holes LOL!!! 

Down the Rabbit Hole
Original Acrylic Painting by Carolee Clark
Credit Source - Etsy

I know!  

I've been gone from Blogland for WAY too long!!!

There are - as always - lots of reasons for my absence, and I promise not bore you with them all.... pshew!!! Aren't you relieved?  :*)  Suffice it to say that things have been a-hoppin' and a-jumpin' at the AQAP household!  Well, all except My Guy, who is doing NO hoppin' or jumpin' for a little while....

Nothing like a little knee surgery to slow a guy down, right?

Our upstairs Heat & Air unit finally bit the dust, which of course required lots of men in jeans and boots tromping up and down the stairs for a few days.  No getting in the sewing studio during those days!  Then, when the HVAC guys did their survey, we discovered there was no insulation in the outside walls or the floor of my sewing studio (over the garage) - and that's why it's colder than a .... (well, you know the rest of that phrase) .... in there every winter!  We had to cut holes in the walls .....

.... for them to crawl through and stuff in the insulation.  And then they punched a million holes in the ceiling of the garage (with hammers!!!!) in order to pipe the insulation between there and my studio floor .....

My sewing room was a wreck with my stuff piled everywhere!!!

(This was the only picture fit for public viewing!)

I couldn't find anything or get to my machines for a week, so no sewing for me.  We decided since everything was in an uproar anyway, it was time to do a little rearranging and reorganizing.  This wall used to have a long table with fabric and projects loaded up on top of it, and boxes of projects stuffed to bursting underneath it - pretty messy!  Now it looks like this.....

Of course, I still can't find anything LOL!!!  It may take me a while to figure out where I've put everything in the new organization :)

You should all thank your lucky stars I don't have any "before" pictures to show of my studio closet - it's a wonder we didn't find fossils in there!!!  But here are a few pictures of the wonderful shelves My Guy put in for me.....

And before anyone gets the bright idea that all this work is what caused My Guy's injury, let me put your minds at rest!  Actually, he did a lot of this after his injury and before the surgery.  I never cease to be amazed at what that man can accomplish, even on a pair of crutches!!!

Unfortunately, things aren't going to settle down any time soon around here either.  I'm preparing now for a much-looked-forward-to retreat at Red Rooster next week with a group of my bestest friends - yippee!!!!  And the day after I return from retreat, I'll be heading out to Carolina to see my 16-year-old granddaughter perform in her school play.  So, I apologize in advance for being away from the blog for so long, but LIFE in capital letters sometimes simply takes control of our days.

However, while I'm at Red Rooster next week, I'll be working on some fun stuff....

The June Bertie is in the house!!!

And because I'm such a lucky girl, I get to play with these beautiful fabrics from Jacquelynne Steve's newest collection, Cottage Charm - YUM!!!

Little Man Hudson has grown very attached to his quilt I made for him when he was born and wants to carry it everywhere, so his mom asked if I had any of the minkee fabric used on the back left, and could I make a small quilt for him?  I was delighted to find just enough in the scraps and just need to decide which fabric to use for binding....

That will be a quick finish at retreat, and then I hope to find time to play with a new project.....

It's from this book by Piece O'Cake Designs...

I've been wanting to make something out of this book in quite a while, so I'm really excited about this little wall quilt project :)

I've washed greens for the May Rainbow Scrap Challenge until I feel like Elphaba - you know her, right?  The green Wicked Witch of the West?

Hahaha!!!  

Hey, wait a minute... you are laughing, aren't you?  

Okay, just checking!  

No blocks done yet though and it's not looking good the rest of the month either.  I may be doing a lot of RSC catch-up next month.

I'm taking my knitting along to retreat for relaxing in the evenings.  I got quite a lot done on the purple socks while waiting for My Guy to come out of surgery, and now they are almost done .....

..... and I've popped this fun spring-colored yarn in my bag for my next pair!

I'll do my best to send post some updates from retreat to show you what I'm working on.  Really looking forward to checking out your blogs too, to see what you've been up to while I've been gone :)

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Linking up with Judy's On the Needles

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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On The Needles - 4-4-14

I'm making some good progress on the Swing Cowl.  It seems the designer is now calling it the Wavy Cowl, but it will always be the Swing Cowl to me :)  I think I am a little more than halfway done ....

Pardon the quality of this picture please!  That muddy "browny" color in the middle is actually a plum-purple.  I had hoped to take a good picture in the light this morning, but it is not so light here.... stormy and rainy and dark.  Just yesterday, Gypsy and I sat out on the side porch and enjoyed the lovely spring sunshine....

Ahhhhhhh....... There's a reason for that old expression, "Like a breath of fresh air!"  It is heavenly to have the warmth and sunshine back after the bitter cold of this past winter.  I know some of you still have cold temps and even snow - UGH!!!  I am glad to have my faithful friend to sit with me in the mornings again this spring.  This is one of our favorites things to do together!  I am sad to realize it will probably be her last considering the way her health has been failing this past year.  She'll be 18 in August, and she's had a wonderful life, so we really can't complain, can we?

I also got a good bit done on my current pair of socks while at Guild this week...

It always makes me smile to think about how much the first stage of these two-at-a-time socks on the magic loop look like knitted bra cups LOL!!!!  I tried to start these at the same place in the color strata, but as you can see, they are each taking on a life of their own :*)  I don't mind at all - I think it makes them more beautiful!!!

Sharing with others who love to play with needles at Judy's Patchwork Times today!

Have a lovely weekend my friends!!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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New Red Socks!!!

I finished up my red House Targaryen socks while I was at Mom's!

Aren't they JUST TOO COOL???

This was a really fun pattern to work, and I just love the effect!  I had a lot of the yarn left over, and once again I wish I had made the leg section longer.  Will I never learn???  Also, because I made them with dpn's, the top edge of the cuff was the cast-on row, so it is tighter than I really like.  I didn't think of that or I would have researched a more stretchy cast on for it.  I figured with the ribbing it would be fine.  I can wear them, but they'd fit a lot better if I lost about 20 pounds LOL!!!

They have a very pretty lacy look :*) 

Anyway, my focus now is going to be on finishing up the Swing Cowl which is over halfway done and looking marvelous!  And I'm hoping to start giving Rocio some love as well now that I'm home again :*)

I like to have at least one pair of socks on the needles at all times, so I've cast on a new pair out of this yarn....

I have already made one pair out of this beautiful yarn, but I gave those to my sweet daughter for Christmas, so I need to make a pair for me now :)  They will be just plain jane socks, and I'm using my favorite Toe-up, Two-at-a-time, Magic Loop pattern.  I'm off to a great start....

Stash Report:  I'm adding 300 yards of yarn to my "Stash Used" column for the red socks, which leaves me at 1,500 yards stashed for this year so far.

I'm linking these fun knitty projects up with On The Needles at Patchwork Times!

Just a few more things to share before I go.....

Jacquelynne Steves of The Art of Home is putting the final touches on the next issue of her free e-newsletter!  You won't want to miss it, so if you are not already receiving it, visit her blog HERE to sign up.  Remember - its FREE :*)  I love Jacquelynne's artwork, so whimsical and happy.  She'll be coming out with a new fabric line too very soon!  She has an Etsy shop HERE that sells her lovely artwork in various products - my favorites are the adorable notecards....

And I really want to say a huge THANKS to a few generous friends!  

I won these gifts in a giveaway from Clover & Violet just before I left for my mountain break.  Jennie and Clara are a mother-daughter team that design the most adorable things and share lots of fun tutorials.  I love their blog :*)  Wow - I was SO excited!!!  Both of these are very handy tools to have around when free-motion quilting.  I'll be sure to let you know how they work out for me :*)

And my friend Carla gave me this totally CUTE needle-keeper that she made.  Isn't this the most beautiful fabric - YUM!!!  She sure knows my colors, doesn't she :*)

When you lift the flap, it opens up into a very roomy needle keeper!  I can actually organize my needles by size or type!  The beaded necklace is for "reading" glasses, but I think I'm going to adapt it to hold my guild name tag.  That way I'll think of her and remember her kindness every month :*)
      Thanks again Carla!!!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!  

I think our weather is supposed to warm up a little....

 - will Spring ever get here???

Hugs &  Blessings!

Teresa

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