Hanging with my peeps and Easter Joys

Plenty of Easter Dreams and projects were done with some pajama days thrown into the mix.......

There wasn't any school this past week so the peeps were around.  

Their schedule didn't have the typical dance and hockey practices but still we were busy.. Busy.....

Had loads of fun.

Their elder cousin stopped by to see them and play with their new to them toy.  He was giggling like a youngster which made my heart sing.  Wasn't too long and he was trying to do stunts with it which proved too much for the thing.  The track is now loose and Papa has another job on his to do list.


Was up at 5:30 this morning, thus the darker photos.   It still is cold around here and would you believe we had a 1"-2" dusting of snow this morning!

            E*N*O*U*G*H!

Even though I know it won't last long.



Was able to finish sewing all 24 BQ quilt blocks with the Woodland Fairies Fabric line that I learned how to do at Lorene's class on Saturday.  Will share those at another time.  I think this may be wonderful project to take to my next retreat.  That will get it into the quilt top stage at least.  Another Dr's appointment in town so need to get going.  Enjoy your blessings.

Jane

Slow stitching Sunday again and it's still winter here....

Oh how quickly the time flies around here.  Can't believe it's Sunday again and not too much to share of what I've been able to accomplish this past week.  I hope to get my motor revved again to get done what I hoped to for March in the next few days.

Linking up with Kathy Quilts again today.  Finished up my bottom section of the Lizzie Kate Winter Alphabet which I had listed to get done this month (patting myself on the back here for a realistic accomplished goal).  Next month I hope to complete this design.  Only the upper two rows of letters left.

I did change the color of the smoke rising out of the chimney.  The design called for the aqua color which I thought that it was too pronounced, so changed it to a softer grey, DMC#452.  Looks better, there but not there.















The grand children received a new to them Snow mobile and are lucky enough that there is still snow to ride on.   Good for them, but I surely wished this white stuff would go away until next December, I've had enough of it and the cold.  Can you see that bit of brown in the background, I am hopeful that a tinge of green will be there in a week.

Both of them take turns and are becoming allies with this toy instead of fighting with each other.  It's nice to see them growing up and taking responsibility with their stuff.  The pink helmet came with the sled and their Mom had a leftover helmet from her days of playing like that which goes nicely with the little man's outdoor gear.  A huge plus of not having to buy additional gear to outfit them safely.

They'll come in after an hour or two with such rosie cheeks and sparkles in their eyes.  Am so glad the electronics are being put down, another win in my book!

Enjoy your day!  Jane

Amy Cheng Exhibit and Cooking with KIDS

Not quite Mardi Gras preparations going on here, more like a blend of Holidays from Valentine's Day stretched in towards  St. Patricks but oh well,  they had fun.  This all occurred while school was on their Spring Break.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Let the Good times Roll......

We all had fun.   Going out, cooking at home, watching Movies, sewing and craft works.  That's what winter vacations are all about!  It was way too cold to allow them to go outside to play with these sub zero temperatures so alternatives were in order.    A certain someone spent hours creating a lot of Perle Bead goodness.

A great assortment and she started running out of colors.  Her younger brother started making a huge heart with rows of color and then it got messed up.  He had enough by that point so went to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, his now favorite TV show.  

Too cute -right?

Circular designs, some were given as Coasters to her family.

We also managed to see an Artist exhibit at a local gallery who did a series of Mandala artworks that was incredible.  Amy Cheng has such talent.  The SUNY college in our area held an exhibit of her works.
Here are just a few photos that I grabbed:

(All photos are clickable to see in a separate window so you can see more details if you wish.)

This first one was my favorite.   Can you imagine working with textiles to emulate her art?

Many of her works offered a transparency to what lay just below the surface and lured your mind in further.

this one gave the illusions of Pearls setting on canvas in a three dimensional effect.
 Absolutely mind blowing! 

With all of these dots it reminds me of George Seurat's art.

 Imagine painting the above canvas with all of those dots.
There were hundreds of thousands perhaps millions on this painting alone.

This looked like a technique of scratching off color in a certain
area to show what's hidden under neath all that color but truly a mastered art.  

It was a beautiful exhibit and one I am grateful to have witnessed.  Thank you Amy Cheng.

Blues making me happy and January's summation.

Blues are making me very happy this month.  The RBSC has been a great incentive to work through some of my blue scraps. Those 2 additional projects I mentioned several weeks ago that were a brain glimmer are now done.  Yippee!

Another snap bag, this time to hold those electronic adapters in the den near the computer.
For this I used the selvages of the fabric as the pull tabs to open the bag with.  
Ahhh,  gotta love a Free spirit fabric and especially since it has Nap Sack written there for all to see.  lol

The other blue remnant that was used was an apron panel thrown into the scrap basket.
So I rummaged through my stash for a different blue suitable for the lining and voila.
Another languishing pig is DONE!  That's 6 pigs done this month!
I think this PIG may very have been at least 12-15 years old if not older.   Sad isn't it that it took so long.

The directions says Winter Wonderland Apron, but I think it more Christmas themed.  

The only weird thing is that it has two Santa-s with sleds directionally heading right for each other.  

The fabric looks black here but trust me, it's dark navy.

The pin dot is what was used for the lining.  Any leftover navy pin dot will be used to make some more HST units for another community quilt project.   I'm on a new kick with making those HST units. For the apron it seemed easiest to sew right sides together then flip it inside out to finish with a top stitch.

Since it's finished, I'll pack it away for Christmas 2015.    Happy !

So the tally made for January is:
 1 circle ear bud zippered pouch,
4 snap bags,
1 apron,
10 quilt blocks for the RBSC and
more blues are ironed and cut so they're ready for a quick use  at a later time,



Made some hats with the grand children for the kitchen island's illuminated Birch tree.


 It's so cute!   There are 6 hats hanging on it now and I thought some ice skates or mittens out of felt could be made next year to continue the winter  theme .


Also finished reading the book: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, a nice read.  (Pulled me in quickly but I didn't care for the ending,  Just saying.)


AND the Quilting is so close to being done on another community quilt for my guild that I'm calling it done!



Not too shabby.



Hopefully I can keep this momentum going for February since the color for the month is PINK.

Another project I recently started is this wool table mat.  This will serve as my portable one which will be easy to take to basketball games, hockey  practice/games when the fan area is warm enough to stitch that is and then speech at the local college for the youngest grand child which also will be re-starting soon, so that will make another hour I could stitch after chaffeuring him to that.     ; )

The only thing wrong with this kit is one of those wools is shredding terribly without any abuse.  I'll be trading  that one out as I have some  red remnants left over from the valentine wool wall hanging I did last year and they didn't seem to fray at all.  4 hearts stitched so far with 4 more to go then the vine embroidery to stitch.  It mentions buttons but I'm thinking beads will be used on mine instead.  Making me  happy,  happy!

For my bigger quilting project for January with the Q-1 and a ALYOF I am almost done quilting it.

Yippee!

We celebrated our 41st anniversary this evening so I know I won't get to it tonight, but will finish it when I get up in the am which is close enough for a January finish in my book.

A different quilt design was stitched and I will share this finish at the beginning of next week.    Promise!  I have the binding all made so it'll be a relatively quick finish.  lol


As for the counted cross stitch project, that has progressed  nicely this month too.

My February endeavors and dreams are:  

Catch up with my BOMs is top on my list,
RBSC- PINK HST units in sets of 4.
Start working on some of the bird projects in my PIG pile,
Quilt the brown sashing areas of the Tweet Camping Quilt,
then if enough time quilt the bird themed  fabric squares too!
make the pink Rose pillow (that's a PIG),
A March themed wall hanging or two? (both of these are more PIGs),
make another doll blanket,
then make another table mat/runner or progress/finish the wool heart table mat shared on this post,
Get the snow scene finished on the bottom left section of counted cross stitch Lizzie Kate Winter's alphabet.
And Finish reading The Round House, by Louise Erdrich. It's really good so far. I'm up to page 100.

Goodbye January 2015, it's been quick but a good one.

Jane

Football games, youngest grands here.....

So much for posting once a month!  What's that they say against the best laid plans?   Well of of my blogging plans were thrown out somewhere and I've had all I can do to keep up.  Since the last post DH and I have had more Doctors appointments, heart work ups for him (another catherization) and surgery for myself.  The gardens are being closed up and finished up until next year and there's yet more to get done for them.  Landscape blocks laid around the perimeter being one item, etc....

So I'll give some bits that happened through our summer.

PGS#2 had Prom with his beautiful girlfriend, Kayla.

Josh and Kayla May 2014
 

PGD#1  and family went to Disney- Of course they had to let her be a princess 2014 they all enjoyed themselves immensely.

 

PGS#1 received 2 awards at school in June and we were able to get to Mass for it.  :)

 

Youngest grandson, PGS#3 graduated preschool with super star and a more serious photo of him in the center,

way to go, lil' guy

the whole family attended the ceremony

 

Husband and his two sisters at a nephew's graduation party

 

 

grand daughter acting silly with her favortie 'spaghettios"

First time fishing for each of them and they each caught 7 fish!

A great time and a picnic near Lake Champlain

Our maple tree is glorious!

DH at one of our favorite spots after a football game near Lake Placid.

Daughter participated in her first race with friends and coworkers. The Muderella in Maine and she had a blast!

It's been a rush and there's so much more.  Sewing and quilting have taken a back seat for a bit but I was able to attend a quilt weekend to attend a Hunter's Star quilt class with a friend, Trudy along with another friend Cathie who did another class and studio time too.  Was able to have fun, sew, and make new friends, (Elsie and a few others) so was a very nice "me" time spent in September.   : )   Will be sharing that project on another day. 

TTFN,
Jane