Mauve Sampler & Braid in a Day Quilts

Mauve Sampler Top; QUILTED with Triple Loop Meander (freehand)

Braid in a Day Top; QUILTED with Daisy Meander (freehand)

Is anyone experiencing Spring yet? We've had a couple of "teaser days", but we're back to being rainy & raw out there today.

I haven't shared a silly dog story in a little while. So even though it was raining a bit this morning I decided to head out with Smokey the Lab for a morning walk anyway. He's a water dog, right? I grabbed my umbrella from the car & off we went. All was good until we got about a mile from home, and the wind picked up, and my umbrella went inside out on me & poor Smokey got startled & tried to bolt. I hung on, lame umbrella flapping in the wet breeze. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), the wind was pretty steadily gusty, and so by positioning it just right, it righted itself with a loud fwap. 5 minutes more & the rain had gone from "raining steadily" to "pouring/pelting cats & dogs". We did an about-face. We started to jog home in hopes of shortening the actual time spent in the rain & I was hoping to keep my poor puppy warmed up. So I come barreling home, round the corner to my road, umbrella popping around spastically as I try to hold onto it even though it's impeding my gait & still being blown around by gusts, huge puffy winter coat/hat/gloves/wet sneakers, slipping in some mud, and of course there's some strange man standing on the Railroad House's front porch watching us splashing home, laughing... sigh... I laughingly explained that it wasn't raining so hard when I left. 

Truth be told I love walking/running in the rain, and I even enjoy the brisk winter walks. I don't enjoy making a spectacle of myself or almost falling down in the mud while a strange man watches :) Such is life (or at least mine!)

Take care & enjoy a Slow Sunday

Cat & Mouse Quilt

Be sure to scroll down to see how cute this entire quilt is showing cats & mice within a maze. So clever!

Cat & Mouse Top; QUILTED with Swirls & Curls (freehand)

AQS Lancaster Quilt Show

Had to share pictures of my goodies & some of my favorite quilts seen at the show: 

These two items are unrelated. Some cute snowman fabric & fabric dye, which I'm going to play around with to try to perfect THE PERFECT "tea-stain" effect. So far my efforts have been lack-luster.

I actually bought two kits! I typically avoid kits since I have so much stash; however my felted wool stash is nowhere near my cotton stash, AND that the moment I felt it'd be nice if I could just start now or whenever the whim strikes my fancy!

Oop... three kits (the felted snowman pillow on the left!) & a preprinted stitchery project I picked up for my 17 year old daughter.

On the left is a contender for the yearly Christmas ornament & more lovely stitchery patterns on the right.

Necessities... 

Inspiration for back home...

More ornies on the left... and below is a woolen/stitchery combination! HELLO?!??! Stitchery is popping up everywhere!

Now for the eye candy of the completed kind:

The gold coloring of this quilt shows up better in the close up which comes next. Truly spectacular.

The detail is amazing!

I particularly liked the use of crystals in this top.

Have I mentioned how much I love stitchery? Some in these parts would call it embroidery, and I'll acknowledge it IS simple embroidery. In my mind's eye, however, I picture embroidery as more filling, whereas stitchery is more of outlining a picture. 

Scrappy Strips Quilt

Scrappy Strips Top; QUILTED with Sea-foam Meander (freehand)

This wasn't today's quilt but one I did earlier in the week. 

Sampler in Lavender & Tan Quilt

Such a beauty this one is! 

Sampler Top; QUILTED with a Leafy Swirl Meander (freehand) 

I think a touch of spring is in the air today! Not only did I see evidence in something green poking up through the ground on my morning walk, but we've hit the 50's today! How refreshing it was to be out for lunch & not bundled up like an Eskimo to go from the car to the restaurant :)

Embroidered Blocks Quilt

I didn't do the embroidery within the blocks but rather did SID around them & some leaves in the borders. Even though I didn't do much with it, I felt compelled to share these beautiful blocks. I should've taken some close-ups ~ just beautiful & my pics don't do them justice!

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend :)

Day 59 & 60

Day 59

Day 60