A Good Day Off

An ideal day off . . . starts with one hour of house cleaning and a couple loads of laundry.

Then, a little of this . . .

Brita Meng Outzen/MLB.com

His return . . . I'm so sad he lost . . .

Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

and all afternoon working on this . . .

Top it off with Sesame Chicken, Rice and Butternut Squash for dinner and a bubble bath. Ah . . . one day of bliss . . . Priceless!

Sweet P

Interested in a Coffee/Tea block swap?

The other day Lynn wrote that she was thinking about making a coffee cup or tea cup quilt for her new house. She said it would be fun if a few quilty friends would like to play with her. I commented that I've been thinking about making a coffee cup wall hanging for myself. I know, can you believe it? Coffee Time Stitches at Home does not have a coffee cup wall hanging.

I'm thinking of hosting a coffee cup or tea cup block swap. I'm wondering how many bloggers would be interested in playing along with Lynn and I. If you're interested, please let me know. I will draw up some guidelines based on how many people reply. I'm thinking of four 8" blocks from each participant. The blocks could be paper pieced or applique. Any takers?

In other news, look . . . I'm knitting. This sample is not large. There's only 10 stitches to a row. It's a start and probably won't become anything special. It could be a scarf for one of my teddy bears.
I finished the Merry stitchery from Gail Pan. I have an idea for these little stitcheries. I just need the time to execute the plan.
I have two days off the end of the week. I'm hoping to spend some time painting the trim in our living room and kitchen area. I need to get it done before the baby shower for DIL in three weeks.

Until next time, happy stitching!
Sweet P

Sunday Sewing

It was supposed to snow today, instead we are getting rain. I'm not complaining too much. I only hope it doesn't freeze overnight, otherwise tomorrow morning will be nasty.

DH is traveling again and I had the day to sew. DIL came over after church and we worked on a few baby projects.

For the upcoming baby shower I'm making Penny Pockets for the party favors. Winnie-the-Pooh is the shower theme. Pooh's favorite colors are red, orange and yellow. With red linen leftover from Thanksgiving napkins, orange fabric from another project, a spool of red organza and yellow buttons, I have a growing collection of Penny Pockets. I'm going to fill them Bit O'Honey candy because Pooh loves honey.
Next up we worked on receiving blankets with taggies. I bought four spools of ribbon on clearance the other day that will work with all the flannel we bought a few weeks ago. Here's a couple of the blankets. Notice how the ribbon on the top blanket is inside out? That's what I get for not thinking the project through entirely before stitching.
I finally sewed the sleeves and the hem of DIL's maternity top I started three weeks ago. Of course, I had to get a photo of her in it. Doesn't she look so happy?
The requisite side photo of the growing belly. She's not sneering at the camera, she was eating chocolate while posing for the photo.
Baby is due two months from today. It seems like only yesterday when she found she was pregnant!

I'm off to work a late shift tonight. We are resetting the notions wall at work. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Sweet P

Butterfly Stitching

I've been working on my Butterfly stitchery from the Giggle Club the last few days. I love how it looks so far.
Sonya used pink, blue green and purple for her butterfly. I was lucky to have variegated hand dyed thread from Desert Sky Quilting in those colors. The outside line of the butterfly wing was green. The thread I had was a green and purple variegated. It worked great against the purple satin stitched dots.
I may work on the rest of the project tomorrow. I work the closing shift so I have the morning off. I plan to spend some time sewing unless there's too much snow and I have to shovel in the morning.

What are you up to these days?
Sweet P

Did You Hear The Sound?

Did you the thwack the bats? The thud of the ball hitting the glove? Those sounds, my friends, are the sounds of Spring Training. And our beloved Captain, Jason Varitek (affectionately known as V-Tek) is back and ready to go.

Photo from RedSox.com (Brita Meng Outzen/MLB.com)

There are 9 days and counting until the first spring training game. The season (and home opener) is April 6. Woohoo! I can't wait. Can you?

Sweet P

I Have a Winner

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you had a good day. I worked early today and was home in time to take a nap before DH and I cooked dinner. We grilled porterhouse steaks, made loaded smashed potatoes and green beans. For dessert I made triple chocolate cupcakes.

DH commented I don't take enough photos of him so I took this one of him just before he ate his first cupcake. See the wall behind him? That's the last wall we need to paint in the condo.
I asked him to pick a winner (and forgot to take a photo of the drawing). He chose Fiesta of Quilting Fiesta . Thanks everyone for entering the drawing. I wish I could send something to each and every one of you.

Happy Stitching!
Sweet P

Thoughts on Stitching

Yesterday morning I traced two stitchery projects: the Merry block from Gail Pan and the butterfly stitchery for the first Giggle Club project. As I was tracing the projects I wondered how do you trace your projects? Do you draw all the lines or do you make a mark to show you what to stitch?

For example, on the Merry block I traced the entire circle and the flowers. I only made a slight mark where the lazy daisy stitch will be and I didn't draw the cross stitches or the french knots. Before you ask, I use Aunt Martha's Tracing Pencil and Paper. The pencil washes out when the stitching is done.
How do you keep your threads together for a project? After Christmas I bought a Christmas ornament cross stitch project kit dirt cheap. There are lots of threads with the project and I didn't want to mix them in with my own thread nor did I want to spend money to buy a floss bow so I made my own thread keeper. I cut a piece of cardboard about 3 inches wide and 8 inches long from a soda box. Then I took my hole puncher and made enough holes for the thread. I labeled every color with the color from the kit and added the thread. It works for me.
I do have an ivory thread keeper for smaller projects. This piece is about 1 1/2 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches long. Right now it's holding the thread I'm using for my butterfly.
Don't forget to enter my Give Away for our one-year condo anniversary. Just leave a comment on the entry below. Also, I'm doing a similar give away on my home blog, Coffee Time at Home. You can enter both drawings if you'd like.

Until next time, Happy Stitching!
Sweet P

Prayers for Fire and Flood Victims

I've caught up on ready my blogs for today. So many of you are being affected by the awful fires and floods in Australia.

I'm sending plenty of prayers and positive thoughts to everyone who is affected by the devastation. May God take care of you.

Sweet P

Welcome to My New Home and a Give Away to Celebrate

Welcome to my new home! I hope you like the new look!

Not much has happened here in the last few days. Today has been a "change" day at Coffee Time. Here's a before photo of our living room color. We really hated the color. We've always said it looks like something you'd see in a baby's diaper. The gray swatch on the wall was one color we thought we would use in the whole living room, but ended up deciding to use it on one wall only.
Here's the color we chose - Warm Sienna #1203 from Benjamin Moore. It is a dramatic change and color. It took us about two hours to complete the room. We still need to paint the trim, but then again, we haven't painted any trim even though we've now painted four rooms in the condo.
The only major space we have left to paint is the stairwell going up the stairs. Not bad for only living here one year. Yup, that's right. Next Saturday, Valentine's Day, we will have lived in our condo for one year.

So, to celebrate my new blog home and our one-year anniversary in the condo I will be having a Give Away. To enter the drawing leave a comment and tell me what one quilty or crafty technique you would like to try and why you want to try it. I'm not sure what the prize will be, but it will be fun. I will take names until next Saturday, Valentine's Day. If you'd like an extra entry, post a link to my new blog address and let me know you've done it.

Thanks for stopping by my new place!
Sweet P

Learning New Crafts

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before or not, but I have been promoted at work. I work for Jo-Ann Fabrics and am now the Hard Lines Supervisor. Basically I am in charge of every department that is not fabric or home decorating. This includes: seasonal products, florals, storage, jewelry, paper crafting (scrapbooking and stamping), Wilton products, kids crafts and needle arts (knitting, crocheting, needlepoint and embroidery). I'm happy with the promotion, but there are three areas where my skills are non-existent or lacking: knitting, scrapbooking and jewelry.

I asked my supervisor what order should I learn these skills so I can be more helpful to guests. Her response was: knitting, jewelry, then scrapbooking. She recommended the knitting book below to get me started. It's written for young girls, but the instructions are great and the projects are simple. The other magazine is my newest reading love. The sewing projects in the magazine are great and always inspiring.
DH had given me a large gift card to Michael's for my birthday for getting some of our menus framed. I had enough money left over on the card so I decided to purchase some knitting needles. I also found this Scrapbook in a Box. I figured this is a good way to learn the basics of scrapbooking. I plan to use it to highlight our special meals.
I don't need any beading supplies. I purchased those supplies last September when I was thinking about starting beading.

This doesn't mean I'm giving up quilting. I think of it more as I'm expanding my skills. I doubt I'll ever become a master scrapbooker or a master knitter. But I intend to have fun trying!

PS - If you know of any great knitting or scrapbooking blogs, please let me know. Thanks!

Sweet P

First Photo, Sunday Stash and Super Bowl

In two weeks DH and I will have lived in our condo for one year! This past year has gone by fast! The view from our deck is almost the same as it was one year ago - winter gray and icy. We have had a lot of snow this winter. I am almost ready for spring.
Here's my latest fabric acquisition for my home decor. The fabric on the left is actually corn yellow. The fabric on the left is very textured. The green matches our kitchen. The burgundy goes well with the half bath color. Yesterday we bought rust-colored paint to use in our living room. Both of these fabrics are remnants so I have to be judicial in using them. I plan on making valances for the kitchen window and patio doors with them.
We are waiting for the Super Bowl to start. We have plenty of food and will be celebrating DS #2's birthday. If you're not a football fan, I hope you have a great day stitching!

Sweet P