1st Things 1st, Sept.

Have you heard about the new linky party over at {Sew} Allegorical, 1st Things 1st?  If you haven't, go check it out.  I'll wait for you.

{Insert quiet humming to self here}

Ok, so now I know you are just dying to know about my prep work, am I right?  :)
Well, I have been wanting try my hand at embroidery, so when Joanns had a sale on DMC floss I picked up this little pile:

After a few nights of tv watching, I had this

Nice and tidy and all ready to go :)   I  think this new linky is going to be a good influence on me - normally I would just jump in and start stitching from one of my new skeins, still living in the plastic bag they came home in.   Eventually that bag would have a big floss mess in it, and probably be lost somewhere in the depths of my sewing room. 

I've even written the DMC numbers on each little bits of cardboard they are wrapped on, so I'll always know what color is what :)

And then Joanns had another sale, hehehe

I guess I have some more tv watching/prep work ahead of me.  Only, I finished the tv series I was watching on Netflix {Doc Martin}  Any suggestions for a series to start on?  I prefer to keep my entertainment light & fluffy.  {sounds like whipped cream, doesn't it? which is also something I could use...}  I'd love to hear what tv series you all are enjoying right now :)

Basting counts as prep work too, right?  I mean, it's that necessary step no one likes much that you have to do before you can get on with the fun quilting, right?  {If anyone out there is thinking 'hey, I love to baste!' please come to my house.  I'm sure we could come to some sort of agreement like I will feed you good food and coffee and you can baste my quilts.}

I finally stopped procrastinating, and now I'm flying through the quilting, woo hoo!   I'm not sure if I will hand stitch the binding on this one.  Machine would save me a lot of time, since this is about 72 inches by 90 inches.  I'm at the point where I just want this quilt done and crossed off the WIP list already - you know how that is, right?

Follow this link to see what everyone else is getting prepped for {I feel like there should be a yellow brick road or something.  probably has more to do with a lack of sleep than anything else}  :)

One of these things is not like the other...

One of these things just isn't the same.

Do you remember that song from Sesame Street?  I think of it every time I look at this picture:

Please pardon my wrinkles, these little hexies have done a lot of traveling! 

I've sewn on them at the lake, in the car, watching tv, at church, & at the park during the summer concert series. 

{I'm already missing summer evenings of good music and good stitching in my lawn chair while the boys play on the playground...}

Anywho...

This is as big as my hexies are gonna get, the plan is to make a table topper from them.  Since my kitchen table is round in it's smallest form, I think the hexagon shape will complement it nicely.

All of the hexies in the outer ring are attached by at least one side, now I'm going around and sewing the other sides.  I'm doing it that way to help avoid sewing oopsies while listening to concerts...

I just have one teensy tiny problem - I have no idea how to finish this.  I'd like to keep all the nice pointy edges of the hexagons, but I'm not sure how to back/baste/quilt&bind my EPP.  could you help me out?  Any suggestions would be very much appreciated :)

In other news, I got a new nail polish color.  It's called Beach.  I love it :)

I'm linking up to the Handmade Parade & Slow Sunday Stitching & Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times, {even though I don't actually own a design wall, so pretty much any flat space I can find is my design spot - hope that doesn't break any rules}  :)

What I haven't been cooking this summer...

Yesterday was Farmer's Market day in a nearby town.  Taking the boys at least once was on my summer 'to do' list  :)

My youngest son picked out this little carton of tomatoes.  With orange, purple, yellow, and green mixed in with the red, I was very proud of his adventurous selection :)   {I have some very choosy eaters}

Some blueberries came home with us, too, but they disappeared much too fast to get photographed :)  My oldest chose a Silver Queen corn on the cob, which we will be enjoying tonight.  And I couldn't resist bringing home these sunflowers!

That little platter of tomatoes is basically how our dinner table has looked this summer.  The lunch table and breakfast table too, actually :)  I've done very little cooking, and instead have just served a selection of raw fruits and veggies along with some meat.  And you know what?  The kids love it!  They are eating more veggies with far less effort on my part, plus less time in the kitchen for me.

For example, if I served a salad, they might nibble it.  If I put out a bowl of lettuce and my little platter with cucumbers, carrots, celery, etc, they devour it!  They usually pick cooked veggies out of anything I make, but if I serve it raw and all by itself, they can't get enough.  Peaches, plums, and all sorts of fruit are flying out of our fruit bowl.

I am seriously loving this no cooking thing :)
Linking up to Tuesday at the {herbal} Table!
I'd love it if you'd leave a comment sharing your adventures in summertime eating :)  {cause I'm nosey like that}
Happy Quilting everyone!

simple patchwork

I have a quilt top to show you today {!}

I started it almost a year ago,

but it has barely gotten a mention on the blog.

It's just a little something I pull out every now and then,

do a bit of stitching on,

then tuck away

until the next time.

Oops, I forgot and took a sideways picture.

I really need to learn how to turn them around.

Sorry about that, folks.



Can you tell what the quilt is on?

A stegosaurus spine! hehe :)

The local playground turned out to be a great place to take pictures -

happy, busy kiddos

plus

a dinosaur to hold the quilt

equals

success in my book! :)

I used leftovers, scraps, and odds & ends

some of which came from my mother originally

and made a top approximately

72 inches by 90 inches.

I amazes me the large, useful quilts that can be made from

seemingly insignificant quantities

of scraps that are just sitting around.

(maybe partly because I have a tendency to way over buy?)

I have been stalled out in the waiting to baste stage

for too long.

This quilt really needs to be finished

 and snuggled by a child :)

If you don't see evidence of basting and quilting around here soon,

you have my permission to give me a hard time about it :)

i'm linking up over at

 
and WOW at

Really Random Thursday... on Friday morning

How awesome is that sign?  I love it! :)   It makes me wish I had a Granny Square quilt to go with it...

you've got to smile at a shoe-shaped house :)

I'm not sure these things count as random, though, since we were at Storyland in Glen, NH - great fairytale fun is everywhere at Storyland.  :)

My boys, their father, my Dad, and I had a blast riding swan boats, giant cukoo clocks, antique cars, and all sorts of fairytale inspired rides, but one of the big highlights was definately finding these:

Fried Oreos!!!  if you ever get a chance to try them, do! they are fantastic!  my boys love them so much, they had me take their picture beside the fried oreo sign :)

I tried to get a picture of the inside, so you can see the Oreo, but they were all blurry.  I took three pictures, then I just couldn't wait to eat them anymore :)

I'm linking up to Really Random Thursday - which was so kindly left open for late partiers like me :)

chaos on my table

hello! :)

I just thought I'd share a glimpse of what my sewing table looks like right now

my two main focuses are spread out all over the place.  the squares everywhere are part of a postage stamp style quilt I'm making for my father {shhh! don't tell him}  I have joined a swap over at The Curious Quilter for 2.5" charm squares to bolster the variety of my own stash.  even with some repeats, there is going to be somewhere around 1,600 different fabrics in this quilt when it is done.  I love getting these little treasures in the mail! :) 

The other piece I'm working on is my slow progress EPP hexies - made even slower when I sew pieces on backwards :) 

On the plus side, I now have an entry for Allegory's new flickr group :)

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday & checking out what everyone else is working on :)