Fun weekend and my handsome pup

We finally had a great weather weekend. On Sunday I went with friends to the Elkhorn Flea and Antiques Market in Wisconsin. A beautiful day to be outside, sunny, warm, with a nice breeze. Enjoyed looking at the antiques, but the greenhouse/farms there had awesome deals on flowers. I got this pretty planter from Kathy's Blooming Creations, LLC, Burlington, WI.

I also found some good CQ embellishments. My friend Karen gave me 4 hankies to use in CQ blocks.




In my last post I showed a picture of my dog Penne at the beach playing frisbee. Here is a picture of our other dog, Sydney or "Velvet Face" as we call him. He is the sweetest puppy boy.

Still working on my "One Block Swap" crazy quilt block, may finish it this weekend but I can mail it until July 27th.

Happy 4th of July to all. Have a happy and safe holiday.

Reading and One Block Swap

Still getting settled back in the house. Weather was finally nice enough to plant the deck planters and containers. So our deck is in pretty good shape, of course now we are having "heat advisory" weather and it is too hot to sit out on the deck.


Our pups have been enjoying some walks on the beach, playing frisbee, tennis ball, and a little swimming. Penne loves to play frisbee, she barks to say "Throw it again".

This is the shore of Lake Michigan on the Illinois side. Having grown up in Michigan, I think the Lake Michigan shore is sandier/less rocky then the Illinois side. Both shores are beautiful views.


I have been working on a "Favorite Things One Block" Swap. I am making a CQ block for someone that choose: Pink, pale green, cream, angels, flowers, and hearts as her "Favorite Things". We are only allowed to show two sneak peeks, the blocks have to be finished and delivered by Aug. 1. Here is my progress so far, hope the owner isn't reading my blog. I have quite a bit more to do before shipping it.


Reading two books, both recommended by my COF friend Kathi, Art Quilt Workbook: Exercises & Techniques to Ignite Your Creativity and City of Light.

In January I started reading about and planning an "Art Journal Quilt". I have some of the pieces cut out and a layout planned, just need several hours to assemble it.

Mermaid Block

We had Chinese Food for Dinner this was my fortune:
"More art in your life at this time will help you feel better"

Hope this means stitching creative time for me.

We did move back into our house, last weekend. It is good to be back here, even though the house isn't finished. Sydney and Penne, our pups are very happy to be back home, running around in their yard and chewing sticks. We still have moving to do and lots of work to be done on the house, but we're HERE.

I'm very busy at work getting books to press and preparing for the launch of the 2nd level of our NEW Latin Textbook.

Stitching time?? What's that? hopefully this weekend as things settle down a bit here. In my last post I showed a photo of Kathy's mermaid block. Hopefully Carolyn doesn't mind, I am posting her photos of my block. Carolyn was the first person to stitch on my mermaid block, here are the photos she posted.
I printed the treasure chest on fabric, added the beads, sea shells, and silk roving around the treasure chest. Carolyn painted, did I mention she is an Artist "Painter", the background around the treasure chest. Her painting blended the treasure chest into my pieced block.

Another view of Carolyn's work. Along with painting around the treasure chest, she stitched the "net" over the appliqued seashell.



After adding beauty to the treasure chest, Carolyn painted my mermaid's tail. I used my mermaid image as the center of my block. In the image I chose the mermaid's tail was cropped out of the photo. But thank you Carolyn, my pretty young mermaid has a tail. She also added some seaweed, a fish, and a seahorse.

I did get to see my block in person at the COF retreat. My block is now with Kathi, can't wait to see a photo of her work. Kathi, like myself, works outside her home M-F so creative time is limited. Some much to create so little time!!!


Along with the Mermaid RR, I'm in a "Favorite Things" One Block Swap. I'm working on a block for LadyJ66, from HGTV, her favorite things are pink, pale green, angels, hearts, and flowers. She wants a very girly block. I have the fabrics gathered and will piece her block this weekend.

I did do a little stitching last weekend. I worked on my "CQ Encrusted" class block. Will take and post photos this weekend.

Happy Stitching

Mermaid progress and moving back to the house

I am finished with my round of Kathy's mermaid block. I will be mailing it on to Carolyn.

I used silk roving to create seaweed mermaid hair. Used silk ribbon to embroider flowers with bead centers. Then added sea shells and pearls.

To the right of the mermaid I couched seaweed fibers and stitched beaded feather stitches.

On to Therica's mermaid block. I will be the second person to stitch on Therica's block, Kathy started it off with some amazing stitching/embellishing. I'll post a photo when I do some work on it.



We are planning on moving back to our house this weekend. The remodel is not finished but the bedrooms are finished so we can live in the house. We will have bedrooms, kitchen, and family room for living space. It will be good to be back in the house, our Pups will have their back yard to play in and we will have a little more living space then we have in the townhouse.

Happy Memioral Day weekend to everyone.

How Time Flys!!!!

COF was WONDERFUL all that I hoped it would be and more. I had the honor of spending 5 days in the company of 69 VERY talented and creative women. It is a wonder the committee was able to find a room large enough to hold all of that talent. I met and made some wonderful friends.


Along with the COF Retreat activities the Mermaid group got together for a little bit to share our work so far. I have been working on Kathy's Mermaid block. I have a bit more to do, but I made progress this past weekend.

I couched slik roving to create seaweed/hair and added treasures from the Sea. I will be adding some stitching and beads before sending Kathy's block off to Carolyn

Carolyn was the first person to work on my block. She painted a beautiful tail on my mermaid. Kathi posted a photo of my block on her blog - Thank You.

I finished the last round of the HGTV CQ RR. I will be mailing the finished block off to MsBananas/Tammy, tomorrow. She should have it by the end of the week. I've done a little more work on my CQ Encrusted Class block. I hope to get back to it in the next few weeks.

Along with my Crazy Quilting projects, I am trying to finish my first Art Journal Quilt by the end of May. I have the idea, fabric pressed and ready to sew. I have some images etc. ready. I am trying to print on fabric using Golden's "Digital Grounds" product. I did try printing an image on fabric after treating it with "Digital Grounds". It worked, but I should have printed it on lighter colored fabric. I quickly rinsed the fabric, most of the ink washed out I have a plan to reprint the image. I will post photos as soon as I have something printed.

I read about Digital Grounds on Gail Schmidt's blog. She is offering a workshop on using Digital Grounds.

I should have some good stitching time in the next couple of weeks - the Red Wings and the Blackhawks are both still in the Stanley Cup playoffs - I have to say "GO WINGS"!!!!!

HGTV COF Retreat

It is finally time...I am off tomorrow a.m. for the HGTV Circle of Friends Retreat - 5 days of stitching, learning, fun, and meeting new friends.

I'll post photos when I return.

Happy Stitching

Making Progress...One Step Forward...Two Steps Back

How can that be progress? In 16 days I leave for my first ever Stitching/Quilting Retreat. On April 23rd I will be attending the HGTV COF Retreat in Manchester, NH. There are a few projects, challenges, and some pre retreat homework.

I have started my FQ Challenge, will finish it this weekend. Have ideas for my "What State You Are From" T-Shirt. I'll start assembling it this week. I have collected and bagged my FQs for Bingo. My retreat group project "Homework" is finished. I've started packing supplies for the classes I will be taking at the retreat.

Two Steps Backward....well I am making progress on my COF stuff, but have fallen way behind on the 6th Round of the HGTV CQ RR. Need to finish my stitching so I am ready to send Alex's block on to Ms Bananas on April 15th. Good thing my taxes are done!!!

Mermaid block, I've had for three weeks now. I have started stitching on Kathy's mermaid block. Lots of ideas just need some time to stitch.

Ok...getting away from this computer to do a little more stitching tonight.

Happy Stitching