I need to count my blessings ...

I've been in such a funk lately ... nothing really appeals to me, not on a gut level. No joy. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not depressed, at least not the need-to-seek-professional-help kind of depressed. But I feel like I'm just going through the motions, not really living, just getting by. Have any of you ever felt like that? I just want to pull back for a bit, take some time for myself to give myself a good talking-to. But who has time for that? Then, recently, something got through the fog. I discovered this project a week or so ago and I can't get it out of my mind.I think I need to count my blessings, too, to remind myself that there are some wonderful things in my life. Things to be joyful about. I know in my head that I am surrounded by blessings, but I've lost sight of them. This is what I need a serious talking-to about! So I'm digging out my embroidery floss, scrounging up a piece of fabric to stitch on, and I'm going to start counting. Would you like to join me?

May's basket

Slow and steady wins the race! Finally finished the May basket for the Tisket, Tasket BOM ... on to June ... wonder how much I can get done before July's block is up next week LOL!

Opposites Attract

I've been home for a week now, and yet I still haven't started working on those dang car organizers ... need to straighten up my sewing area first! So in the meantime, I thought I'd share my pages from the altered art book page thingy (seeing as I promised I would share them weeks ago ... my bad!) As I mentioned in this post, I didn't allow myself to look at my finished pages until I finished my mom's summer pages. Now that those are done and returned to her, I can focus on mine ... here they are, up on my design wall, waiting for me to figure out how in the world I'm going to put them together.My theme was "Opposites Attract". Here's the pages I did first and sent on ... order and chaos.
My mom did the next set ... black and white.Now I don't know which of the other two ladies did which of these last two sets ... they didn't mark them in any way so I'll never know for sure, unless my mom is still in contact with them. The third set is spring ahead, fall back.The last set is blue and orange. The quote says, "All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites."Didn't they all do an amazing job?! Now I have to figure out how I want to put these together. The original idea was to make an accordion folded book, but now that I have them back, I'm not sure if that's the way I want to go. I need to think about it some more. What would you do? If you have any ideas, please share!

April's basket

I finished April's basket over the weekend.On to May's basket o' flowers ... I'm lovin' these baskets!

The next redwork block

I finally finished the February block of the A Tisket, A Tasket, Twelve Months of Baskets. So far, it's my favorite!Now I'm working on April's block and have May traced and ready. I'm really loving how they are turning out ... can't wait to see what will end up in future baskets!

I've been working on these blocks while watching TV with my husband or kids, and when we're out and about, but I have also found some time to play in my sewing room recently. I've been working on my Pie-Makin' Apron and on two Crooked Cabin quilts that I started back in 2006. Below is a sneak preview of the apron, and you can see where I left off with the quilts almost three years ago here.I'll share some of the progress on both of these projects in the very near future, so stay tuned!

My current handwork project

At Christmastime, my Bible study group had an ornament exchange ... being me, I couldn't just buy an ornament, I had to stitch one up. So, the morning of the exchange (do you see a pattern here?), I pulled out my fabric and DMC floss, dug out the lightbox, traced a button tree pattern I've had in a binder for who knows how long and got started. By working on it throughout the day (including over an hour of uninterrupted time during dance class ... yay for dance classes!), I finished it with about an hour to spare. But did I take a picture of it during that hour? No. And I'm still kicking myself for that ... it turned out so darn cute!

So, what does that have to do with anything? Well, it reminded me how much I enjoy embroidery. So I proceeded to make ... er, start some more ornaments for myself, using some redwork designs found in said binder. However, I didn't rush these like I did the button tree, so they aren't complete ... maybe Christmas morning 2009 I'll finish 'em up (or maybe even earlier, like Christmas Eve). But I'll give you a peek:Then a couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon Bunny Hill Designs. They currently have a free BOM (Block of the Month for you non-quilters) called "A Tisket, A Tasket, Twelve Months of Baskets". I'm usually not into BOMs, but they are showing the blocks in both applique and redwork, and, you guessed it, the redwork got to me. I immediately printed out the available months (January through April) and got started. I pulled a bunch of WOW (white-on-white) fabrics, cut 12 backgrounds, traced out the four designs, drove to Hobby Lobby to get the right red (because the 5 reds I do have weren't right!), and started sewing. Okay, okay, so I didn't do all this within five minutes of printing ... I had to wait a couple days until I went to the post office because Hobby Lobby is two doors down. While I was there, I also got some lightweight fusible interfacing ... I've never tried it before, but the patterns suggested it so I thought I'd give it a go. Boy, is this stuff cool! It's so lightweight that I can barely tell it's there, but it really helps prevent puckering. Plus if there needs to be any trailing between stitch areas, it doesn't show through the front. I'm hooked!

I've done January and March (I skipped February because the fusible interfacing wasn't completely fused, so I waited until the next time I had my iron on and got it fused properly ... it's in progress now):









Anyone care to join me? It's free!