3000 Kilometres or 1900 miles

Yep, that's how far it is from my sister's house to my son's. That's 3000 km of stitching and did I stitch!

Just before I left Arizona, I got my "Questionable Outcome" quilt back from the quilters. I sewed on part of the binding before I packed up the sewing machine. The hand sewing of the binding I did in the car. The quilter did her part beautifully - the stitch pattern is called "Flowing Feathers". So here is my first full size quilt finished - all 1100 pieces!

I had Rachel's Mirabilia RR kitted and ready to stitch in the car.She chose her RR theme to be the Mirabilia Mermaids.  Here is her finished piece. I stitched one of the "Mermaids of the Deep Blue". For me, this RR is now over and I miss it already.
 

I am seriously thinking of starting another Mirabilia RR in the fall - anyone interested?

When I packed the car to come home I found my friend Ann's RR in the bottom of a trunk. With great embarassment, I sorted my threads and started stitching. But first, I designed my own home.

I got 2/3 of it stitched and realized it was too small to fit into her RR. So, after 4 hours of frogging, I started again. I think I will figure out how to enlarge the design and stitch it again for myself.

I then stitched this lighthouse from a freebie that I had on file. I think it is more the correct size.

Here is her RR ready to be returned to her next week.

I am now filling in some of the extra hearts on my Friendship Sampler RR while I wait for the next one to be sent to me. I have two RR's left to stitch and it will be done.

And I wanted you to see this. I made this little calico dog for a family friend who has the most gorgeous new little girl named Maddie. I hope to meet her this weekend.

Dh and I are leaving our son's tomorrow to go home and unpack and pick up life at this end. We are looking forward to seeing our family and friends and spending time with them.

And the reason for the detour to our youngest son's house was to pick up this little baby - a 2006 VW Jetta TDI. My Dh had seen it online for a while and when the price was right, we had our son pick it up for us. He's out there washing and polishing it now. It will go home with us tomorrow.

I probably won't get much stitching done for the next little while when I am unpacking and setting up my home but I will keep in touch.

Till next time keep stitching!

Meeting a new friend

What a wonderful day I had yesterday!

I met Missy Ann !

Missy Ann and I have done a couple of round robins together and have been in contact by phone and email quite often this past year. Dh and I decided to visit with my sister in Texas before heading home to Canada. Missy Ann lived within driving distance of my sister. She and I managed to meet in person.

You would think we had been friends for years. We started talking the minute we met and we did not stop talking for 5 hours. We covered a wide range of topics and laughed lots.

We started our visit in the parking lot of a lovely needlework shop called Needlework Cottage. We were at the shop for 2 hours. The shop owner was wonderful and let us browse to our heart's content even hauling out boxes of Christmas and Halloween designs that were not on display. To top it all off, the store owner is a fellow Canadian and is from an area about 30 miles from me in Canada. It is indeed a small world! Here is the awesome stash that I accumulated there.

And here is a photo  that a store employee took of Missy Ann and I amidst all those beautiful threads.

From there, we went to a lovely quilt shop.   Here are my wonderful purchases from that store.



 I had the hardest time leaving this shop. They had a " Block of the Month" Nutcracker quilt that kept calling to me and it was tough to walk away. Shipping to Canada just did not make it practical to sign up. Maybe next fall when I head back to AZ.

We then adjourned to the Charleston Tea Room for lunch. We had a delicious lunch in a gorgeous little restaurant and kept on talking. It was with sadness and joy mixed that I said goodbye to Missy Ann after lunch. I look forward to seeing her again when I next come to visit my sister.

Missy Ann had hinted, after seeing other work I had done, that she likes my swedish weaving. I obliged her by making a table runner for her on huck towelling. I also included a beaded bookmark.

Until we meet again, I can only say thank goodness for the internet and telephone.

I also received a package in the mail just before I left AZ and forgot to post it. Here is my Friendship Sampler returned home!

 It is beautifully stitched and I look forward to finishing it. I have one Sampler left to stitch on and this RR will be wrapped up.

I left those darn frogs in San Antonio (WHEW). I started and finished Rachel's Mirablia RR but have to wait for a bit before posting it.

I finished hand sewing the binding on my mystery quilt and consider it a finish. I will post a photo later. My sis has 4 dogs and 2 cats and I don't know how to take a photo and not have the quilt covered in pet hair.

I have Ann's Neighborhood RR beside me and I've been stitching away. It is a little tricky as I have designed this one myself and have to make changes along the way. I  hope to have it finished by the time I get home to Canada.
 
We were heading out in the morning but the weather forecast for tomorrow is nasty - torrential rain, damaging winds, hail, and possible tornadoes. I think we will stay another day.

Sunday is supposed to be a beautiful, sunny day and so we will be on our way.

Until next time - stay away from San Antonio - I left some serious frogs there LOL.

Those bloody frogs

jumped in the car when we left Arizona. I was exhausted yesterday and just read and relaxed as we drove to El Paso. Well, this morning, I took out my stitching and those bloody frogs hopped out from behind some of the boxes. I tried to work on my neighborhood and got about 30 out of 100 or more stitches that actually stayed in the piece. Threw it (gently) in a corner and picked up the Mirabilia RR I have. Well, I started it in the wrong place and had to frog all that. Then I have frogged her hair more times than I can count.
We have stopped for the night in San Antonio and I am tempted to take them down to the Riverwalk and drown them!!!! - no more parties for them till they get their act together!

Maybe tomorrow????????????

I Got Nothing.................

zip, zero, zilch

I think I burned out stitching two Mirabilia's back to back like that. I did a little stitch for a gift - can't show you a pic as I made it twice and the second one hasn't been sent yet. I made another little gift but it hasn't been received yet.

Been packing, sorting and cleaning. We are ready to head home to Canada. We will leave here Saturday, travel to Texas and spend a week with my widowed sister and her children.

There is one special thing that I am really looking forward to.  I have made arrangements to meet Missy Ann at a local needlework shop near where my sister lives. If we like each other (LOL) we will visit a quilt shop and have a little lunch. Missy and I have emailed, facebooked and phone chatted many times over the past year and I am looking forward to meeting her.

From there, we will wander our way home. I have packed my stitching in the car - I have one more Mirabilia RR to stitch and a friends's RR to stitch a house on. I also have a good book and the binding to handsew on my quilt. That should help with the 2700 mile trip home!

Iwill do my best to stay in touch as I travel. I know my blog reading will get behind again but I will do my best.

Take care everyone and see you on the road.

A Plethora of Mirabilia

Wait till you see these.

I have had two Mirabilia RR's land on my doorstep in the last week. I have been madly stitching away. And, my RR has come home.

To start.
I stitched Winter Queen on Autumn's RR.

Here is her RR as it left my home.

Then I stitched Emerald Mermaid on Kaye's RR.

Here is her RR as it is ready for mailing.

And the most beautiful thing I have ever seen - my RR is home.

The stitcher's have done the most incredible job ever. To the 7 wonderful ladies who stitched this - Autumn, Kaye, Melissa, Sophia, Rachel, Jenn and Annette - my heartfelt thanks and gratitude for this heirloom.
The photo does not do it justice. In person, it is stunning, simply gorgeous.
I will be taking it home and my BFF Beatrice will finish the last block for me. I was going to make a pillow with the finished product but now have decided to have it framed. It is just so special and it deserves to hang where everyone can see it.

I also received Rachel's Mirabilia RR in the mail yesterday but will save that for the next posting.

We are getting ready to pack up and head back to Canada. We will be leaving here on the 17th, going to visit my sister in Texas for a week and then wander home. We should be back in Canada by the 28th of April.
Please do not send me any mail to my Arizona address after the 10th.

There are over 400 posts in my blog reader. I am so sorry, I have been stitching like crazy and just couldn't do both.  I will do my best to catch up on all your wonderful projects this week. I have not forgotten you.

Keep those needles smoking everyone!