Scissors and Fob Exchange

My online stitching group has exchanges every now and then.  Today I go a package from Gaby who lives  in Germany.  I always get a little excited when I get a package from another  country.  I've been out of the country only a few times, and I've never been to Europe.  Here's what Gaby sent me:

(I've tried several times to get this picture oriented right, but it won't turn.)

I love the shape of the scissors handles.

I like the way Gaby wrapped the seed beads around the cording.  The back is pretty too.

If you don't embroider by hand, you may not know what this is.  It is a holder for skeins of floss.

Yellow Irises

My yellow irises opened overnight.

These irises were given to me about 15 years ago by my husband's Aunt Linda. I split them several years ago and gave some to my mom.  When we moved into this house, my mom split hers and gave some back to me. The best part about these is how quickly they multiply.

I only have a couple of these ruffled irises. They are fancier than the others, but they don't multiply as quickly, and they didn't bloom last year at all.  I got them at the backyard plant sale in Ashland, VA a couple of years ago. (backyardplantsale.org)

My false indigo is just starting to bloom.

My pincushion flowers look pretty good. I started with 3 plants, but I only have one plant left. The flowers are a light purple, not blue as in the picture.

Stash Report Slacker

You may not have noticed that I've skipped stash reporting the past couple of weeks.  It seemed like a waste of time since I haven't added or used anything in a  long time.  I worked hard this week, hoping to get my Pineapple Passion quilt done.  I made a little progress, got the inner border on and got the half square triangle borders made but not sewn to the quilt.

Used this week: 0 yards
Used year to date: 32.5 yards
Added this week: 0  yards
Added year to date: 18.25 yards
Net used for 2012: -14.25 yards

More Flowers

I haven't taken pictures of my flowers in over a week.  The second wave of azaleas has bloomed.

The purple-pink azaleas always bloom about a week and a half after the baby pink ones.  They look a lot better now that the big tree that was shading them has been cut down.

These are dark pink ones are  getting old, and I've had to cut off a lot of dead branches this spring.


This has been a good year for columbine.

Most of my columbine came from my friend Brenda's garden.  I took seeds from her plants and sprinkled them in my beds.  This is a hardy strain, and the plants are very sturdy, not delicate like a lot of columbine.

Just a few of my Dutch irises came back this year, and they are all white.  Last year I had yellow, and 2 shades of purple too.

I'm not sure of the name of this plant, but it looks better this year than it ever has.

I can't remember what this is either, but it usually blooms in June, not April!

Finish-A -Long, Phase 2

Phase 2 of the Finish-A-Long includes one of my oldest UFOs, a cross stitch project that I started about 8 years ago ( Long Dog's Mouline Rouge).  I know it was 8 years ago because I wrote the date I started it on the chart. My plan was to stitch one page of the nine page chart each month until it was complete.  I did well for about 3 months.  Then it sat for a while until I decided I could never complete it on my own.  I sent it off to some of my stitching buddies (Ming & Juli in Canada, Gaby, Dane & Ilsa in Germany, Angela in England ).  They did most of the rest of the stitching, and when it came back to me I had only about one and a half  pages left to stitch.

You would think I could complete the rest of it in less than  5 years, but it has been sitting in my stitching cabinet since it got home.  I keep moving it around, and  every time I reorganize my stitching stuff, I look in the bag and feel guilty.  Time to get it out again and finish it!

The next UFO to complete will be my zipper quilt.  This is a scrap quilt I started last summer after seeing something similar on someone else's blog. Sorry I don't know who inspired me.  I like the way this one looks from far away.  Close up, the zipper pattern is lost.

Then there is my pineapple passion quilt.  I have completed the center and just need to get the borders on.  I really need to finish it, though before I start on the zipper quilt, or I'm afraid I won't get back to it. 

There is a slight chance I could finish another quilt, so I pulled out my second spider web quilt.  I think I have about 1/2 of the blocks done.  I like making the blocks.  I dislike putting the blocks together, so we'll see how far I get.

The final quilt I need to finish is a quilt I'm making for my sister.  I had it long arm quilted in July of last year.  I got the binding sewed on the front, but I still need to hand stitch the binding on the back of the quilt. 

Considering how little I've been quilting lately, this is a lot  for me to get done in 3 months.  Here's the link to see what other quilters hope to accomplish. http://gapquilter.blogspot.com/2012/04/pre-second-quarter-linky-party.html

What's on Your Bed?

Bonnie Hunter is having a What's on Your Bed  linky party today. http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012_04_09_archive.html

 Here's what's on my bed:  the quilt I finished in February.  It is 116 in. x 116 in., the only king sized quilt I've ever made.   It was a  sampler class I took at my LQS. I learned how to miter a border, how to machine applique, and how to do a bargello pattern on this quilt. 

LQS

I took a trip to a LQS (Quilter's Corner) last week and got permission to take some pictures.  I am not sure how to post a slide show of them.  I tried following Blogger's directions in the help area but got nowhere.  Instead I'll post a few pictures here, and if you want the rest, here they are http://www.flickr.com/photos/47892556@N02/sets/72157629749207997/.

First post of April.  Remember to back up your blogs!

http://craftingdotdotdot.blogspot.com/2012/02/blogger-scare-please-read.html