Two Steps Forward...

I think my new motto will be "two steps forward, stand your ground till the nonsense passes, keep going". It's been a good year so far. I passed the first of my three certification exams for my Wound, Ostomy and Continence certification (CWOCN). I am really enjoying the work I do and have learned so much in almost a year of this. I decided to go back to school part-time in the fall to work towards a Nurse Practitioner license. I am starting the process of getting a few things fixed around my new house. I have been able to even take time to relax and work on some projects.

My quilting journey is definitely enjoyable, but I am still making time to cross stitch. Sadly, no photos since the lion (which Matt enjoyed as a late Xmas gift). I have made significant progress on my Letter R for the Black and White art deco project (which is nowhere near black and white) and on my Thy Needle project. Hopefully I will have a new pic to post in the near future of a stitching finish.

I went out to another stitching night at A Stitcher's Garden and had a great time. I even stopped by yesterday for a few hour to stitch with Gail, Sue, and Jan. Maybe I should study?

This morning I finished the quilt top for the project I'm working on for my bed. I started preparing the sandwich, but don't really have anywhere in the house big enough to lay it out for pin basting. So I pinned around a middle block and will do my usual method of winging it with things like this. I'm sure it will come out just fine. I gave myself plenty of room and just need to pace myself...but not this week since the next exam is Wednesday. Here is the photo of the quilt top...

The photo does not do the colors justice. The fabric in the upper left corner of the photo is the back of the backing. It is so shiny and gorgeous. I think I will be using teal thread for the quilting so it will show on the white. I haven't quite decided yet.

In the meantime, time to take another two steps by studing a bit more for my exam.

All the best!

New Year! Good Year?

Welcome to 2019! My goal for this year is to not take any classes for credit for work . Not that I don't love learning, but I would like to live a little poutside my work hours for a bit! And I would like to take some classes in stitching and quilting!

In the first week of this new year I put together a full quilt top. This is my first ever big quilt. I still need to sandwich, baste, quilt and bind it...no small feat. I'm pretty excited about this.

I saw this pattern online and figured out how to assemble it without a pattern. I'm feeling pretty good about how it looks. I learned so much assembling this. My next quilt top should be even better! I have one that I am planning to complete for my bed, but I wanted to try something else first so I don't mess up too much on the one I will be sleeping with every night.

I also finished up the last of the Zodiac sign projects which I bought from Thailand.

I find it amusing that the Thai company did Zodiac signs. It came out pretty good.

I am in the middle of studying for some certification exams, so I won't be able to stitch a lot during the first quarter of the year. But I am planning to start another letter in the art deco alphabet (Black & White) and finish Thy Needle.

Happy New Year!

A Little Quilting

So just a short little post as all the holiday hub-bub is keeping me quite busy.

I decided to try quilting again now that I have my new sewing machine. This week I made my first real quilt block. It may end up going in a full size quilt, or I may make a pillow cover from it and some other peices I have, or something else entirely. I am practicing for the quilt I decided to make for my bed.

I am rather amazed at how it came out!

I hope everyone's holidays are amazing...and 2019 holds nothing but good in store!

Fun Mini Finish and a Field Trip

This week was a little more settled than last week. It was a welcome break! I was able to do some work on my Thy Needle WIP (sorry, no photo yet). I also made a little ornament on some perforated paper I found:

I discovered working on silver performated paper rates with stabbing yourself in the eye with a spoon. The reflection off the paper was difficult to work with using indorr lighting. This might have been better made during the summer on a lovely 75 degree day while sitting under a tree in the shade. But now I am wiser...and have a cute little ornament. I decided not to finish the back of it so the lights from my tree would twinkle through the holes. It looks fantastic up. I do suggest using the perforated paper for ornaments because finishing is as easy as trimming the edges, but again not with strong indoor lighting on reflective paper.

I also got around to purchasing a hardanger pattern that looks amazing (Winter Wonderland) and retrieved the 3rd in the Summer House Stitche Workes Fun and Fancy Free series from my local shop:

Also, I assembled a puzzle (which you can see in the background above). 

I even found some time to go to A Stitcher's Garden bi-monthly stitch in last night! It was great seeing everyone and enjoying some odd and interesting conversation while stitching the night away!

Today is a cleaning and studying day, but I will hopefully be working a bit on stitching tomorrow :-D.

Little Fishees and Thy Needle

The last few weeks have been quite busy. It seems that everyone I speak with feels like they are in over their head with tasks. Likely it is in part due to the early season winter storms that came through. I thought I was prepared for winter; I had brought everything in, emptied my exterior water pipes, and even gotten all of my snow gear out. However, living in a town house for 6 years and an apparent for 2 years before that made me forget one important item: no one would be coming to clear my driveway! So it snowed and I woke up to 8 inches and got my shovel and went out to clear my driveway...and remembered that I just had shoulder surgery and can't shovel. Surprise! Of course this was the day before I was scheduled to have my snow tires swapped in.

I muddled through thanks to a delightful neighbor who brough his snow blower over and then pushed my car out of the driveway. I ordered a snow blower which I assembled today (40 degrees and rainy for that). I even ordered some snow melt. Good for me.

Despite all of the busy between work and the catch-up winter prep (the snow really was gorgeous and so much less mud in my house), I still was able to get in a bit of stitching.

Over last weekend I finished another mini project (even though I said I wasn't going to do another). It ended up going to a co-worker for her son's room:

I also spent most of that weekend learning how to assemble a quilt from the tops I made about 2 years ago:

The Christmas one is now hanging from my stairwell:

It turns out that I am maybe not so awesome at quilting yet. I plan to get better, but don't yet know when I will be able to budget some time to work on that. I have some exams I probably should get around to studying for first.

During the week I tried to make a little time to stitch and was able to get some work done on my Thy Needle project:

Currently I'm taking a quick break from it all to work on a jigsaw puzzle and enjoy the sun through the window.

Happy stitching!

Side Project

I ended up wanting to do a project that would come together quickly. And so this is what I did between Friday and just a few minutes ago...

...and now back to our regularly scheduled project :).

Winter is Here!

Last night winter came on strong. I went to bed with a few flakes in the air and woke up this morning with eight inches of snow and a few flakes running through it:

The dogs were having a great time running through the snow. I get the feeling we will lose most of this over the next day since it is predicted to rain, but I definitely enjoyed the winter wonderland. One of my neighbors was kind enough to clear my driveway with his snowblower as I still can't quite shovel due to my shoulder injury. Soon I should be back to doing all of the things I need to with both arms functioning.

In the mean time I still have been able to get some stitching time in. This week I completed the letter A in Black & White. I love how the shading in the stitching came out. I used Week's Dye Works Eggplant on a Silkweaver solo.

I have the letter R ready to go. But I made myself a promise that for every two letters I could work on another project. I started Thy Needle from The Primitive Needle (tribute to this delighful designer here). I have been meaning to work on this cute little project for years. I just have a bit done, but it is really coming together:

Next week the holiday season officially begins with my trip to Boston for Thanksgiving. Then I will be back to studying for a bit as I have some certification exams to address. But my projects will always be there for me!