Creative Retreat, Crochet Book and Cosmo Floss

Creative Retreat
Do you have plans for October 13 - 16th? Would you like to join me in a Creative Retreat? DH will be in Hong Kong and I've decided to take some time for playing and creating.

• Tuesday, the 13th, will be my normal Mr. E day (I can't give up my day with him). I may not get much creating done, unless Mr. E is involved. Who knows?
  
• Wednesday, the 14th, is a possible road trip day. I haven't been to Keepsake Quilting in a year and since I'm into yarn, embroidery and beads I think a trip to Center Harbor may be in order. Plus that time of year is usually a great time to drive around Lake Winnepausakee.
• Thursday and Friday, the 15th and 16th, are going to be used for creating and playing. I'm still trying to decide on what projects to work on, but they will probably be Christmas gifts.

You can join me on-line or in person. Let me know if you're interested.

Crochet Source
I'm looking for a crochet reference book. Ideally the book would contain the following information: a discussion about different types of yarn, what hooks to use with what yarns (this is important for me), directions for different crochet techniques and a stitch reference section. Do you know if this book exists?

Cosmo Floss
Last week Bunny Tales offered a special on Lecian Cosmo Floss and I couldn't resist. Yesterday the floss arrived in my mail box. It's even more yummy in person. Now I need to decide what project I'm going to use it on!

I hope you're having a great week!

Sweet P

Fall Swap and Date Night

My I Love Fall Swap package arrived from Tammy. She sent a package of fall notecards, a small pumpkin and and pumpkin salt and pepper shakers. Thanks, Tammy! I love these items. Have you received your package yet?
DH and I had a date night on Friday. Our date started with a trip into town. Now, a trip into town may not sound exciting, but for us it was fun. We lived in downtown Dover for 5 years and loved it. We moved out of town 19 months ago when we bought our condo. We now live on the "south side" of town. We live close to the highway and work further south so going into town doesn't happen unless we go to the butcher shop.

Anyway, back to our date. DH needed a hair cut. His barber lives behind our old apartment. While he was getting his hair cut I went to Spinning Yarns. I lived 100 feet from this store for over 5 years and never went in there! What a shame! Obviously I don't need another project, but I did buy these two balls of Melody 100% fingering weight sock yarn. I fell in love with the yummy fall colors. I have a scarf pattern I'd like to make with it. Maybe I'll get to it this year, maybe not. We'll see.
The rest of our date night included dinner in town and then we went to see the new Matt Damon movie, The Informant. The movie was OK, but not outstanding.

Saturday night one of our nephews came to spend the night. We took him to the arcade, spent time cooking with him and just hung out. Yesterday Mr. E was here for football Sunday. He has decided that it's fun to eat cereal. Yesterday he also had a banana for the first time and thought it was really yummy!

I'm still stitching away on my Angel Hugs and Stitcher's Angel projects. The Angel Hugs needs to get in the mail this week. I have a little more time on the Stitcher's Angel projects.

What are you working on?

Sweet P

New Pincushion

I have a few swaps this fall and early winter. Yesterday I received the first swap package.

Just look at this gorgeous sewing bear pincushion. Isn't she adorable? She is going to have a place of honor on my sewing table.

I've been busy working on the stitcheries for the Angel Hugs swap and my Stitching Angel partner. Soon those packages will be on their way to my partners.

I had Mr. E on Monday and Tuesday this week. He developed a low grade fever and couldn't go to day care on Monday. Lucky for him I had the day off so I could watch him. As luck would have it the football season started this past weekend. The first game for the New England Patriots was Monday night and he was ready for the game - Tedi Bruschi jersey and all.

Here he is with Grampa Boo (AKA my DH) watching the start of the game.

If you signed up for my I Love Fall Swap, don't forget to mail your package by this Monday.

Happy Fall!
Sweet P

Last Day for Sign Ups!

Today is the last day to sign-up for the I Love Fall swap! Read about it below.

I love Fall. It's my favorite time of the year. I love the changing colors of the landscape. I love the cooler temperatures. I adore the start of the football season. Would you like to share Fall with me?

I am hosting an "I Love Fall" swap. If you sign-up you will put together a Fall or Halloween package containing only three Fall or Halloween items (depending on your partner's choice) and your favorite Fall recipe. The items can be handmade or purchased. I'm trying to keep postal costs down so no more than three items plus the recipe are to be included in the package.

If you want join, send me an e-mail that includes: your name, mailing address, e-mail address, blog address, do you prefer a Fall or Halloween package and if you are willing to ship internationally. I will take sign-ups until Monday, September 7. Your partner's information will be sent to you on Tuesday, September 8. You will have until September 21 to mail out your package.

Remember your swap etiquette and participate if you sign up. Don't forget to post photos of your package when you receive. And, most important, remember to thank your partner.

Come on, let's celebrate Fall together!

Sweet P

Happy Creative Anniversary To Me!

September 4 marks the anniversary of my venture back into quilting. It was September 4, 2004 when I started my first on-line quilt class from Quilt University. It's hard to believe I've been playing with fabric and thread for five years! I've learned a lot, played a lot and spent a lot of money in the last few years. I started with making quilts and have expanded my creativity to stitcheries, cross stitch, crocheting and even into paper crafting.

Would I trade any of it? Not a chance! Fabric, thread, needles and yarn have become lifesavers time and again. They've seen me through a son's wedding, condo shopping, an long-term illness and the birth of Mr. E.

Here are few of my early projects.

This is the first quilt I made. I made it for DH. It has Red Sox and New England Patriots fabrics. I call it All Stars.

This is the first baby quilt I made for a co-worker.

This is my Wicked Girly queen-sized quilt. I'm normally not a pastel girl, but I found these fabrics in a bargain bin and couldn't pass them up.

This is a mini ABC quilt. I started the alphabet stitcheries from Bobby Sox and put four of them together in a mini quilt. I haven't finished the remaining blocks. I think I got as far as G.

When did you start quilting? Tell us about it and share some of your early photos.

Have a great weekend! We are doing our normal Labor Day excursion. Tomorrow we are off to watch the Deutsche Bank Golf Championship. A weekend of Tiger, Phil, Vijay and others. It's one of my favorite weekends of the year.

Sweet P

Mail Goodies and a Book Project

Wow! This past week flew by! Besides working six days in a row, I received three wonderful mail packages, finished the last Christmas Wish block and had Mr. E all day yesterday, last night and most of the day today.

I don't have photos of two of my packages. One was a cottage block for a Cottage Block Swap I'm in along with a book on Crewel Embroidery from Quilting Fiesta. Thanks, Betsy. The second package was an priority envelope full of cat fabrics from Amy at The Calico Cat. I have enough cat fabric to make a few quilts. Thanks for sharing Amy.

The third package was my Brown Paper Bag challenge on Snickerdoodle Dreams from Ruth. She made me this cute tote bag from the items I sent her. She also included a sewing-themed picture frame, a mini quilt kit and a lavender scented candle. Thanks, Ruth!

Here is my last Christmas Wish block. I am officially caught up now, at least until the next block is posted. It feels great to be up to speed with these small stitcheries.

I had Mr. E last night so mommy and daddy could get a good night's sleep. Lucky for me mommy put him to sleep at 8:15 last night before they went home and he proceeded to sleep until 6:15 this morning! He hasn't done that for them. Maybe he's starting a new trend.

I invited my DIL to come over for the day to work on scrap books. While she worked on Mr. E's I worked with an Amy Butler mini book kit I bought recently. I was disappointed in the kit. It has lots and lots of embellishments and cute papers. However, the mini pages were plastic sleeves and I had a lot of problems trying to fit two pages into one sleeve. So instead of having double-sided pages I could only make one-sided pages. Also the size is so small it was hard to make find photos that would fit. It's not an item I would buy again or would recommend to anyone. I did finish it though and here are the results.

Front Cover

Dreamer

Relaxed

Happy

Amusing

Back Cover

Next up on my list are my Stitcher's Angel projects. I wonder if you are my Stitcher's Angel!

You still have time to sign up for the I Love Fall Swap. It's a quick and easy swap so you know you want to join in the fun.

Happy Stitching!

Sweet P