A little anniversary jaunt

Earlier this month Mr. Books & I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary.


We stayed at Tanglwood Resorts in Hawley, PA, which is very near Lake Wallenpaupack.


As Mr. Books is a railroad fan I try to find tourist trains that are near we are traveling. . .and low & behold. . . .Hawley, PA is not far from Honesdale, PA. . .which is the home of The Stourbridge Line and is considered to be the birthplace of the commercial railroad.


They take that history very seriously.


Here is the cross walk that is near the train (and directly in front of the police department:

The crosswalk is painted to represent train tracks (in case you were not sure)!


I had to make sure that I got a picture or two so that Mr. Books could have "Show & Tell" back at our local railroad meeting.


Both Honesdale and Hawley were small towns and we had a great time visiting the area.


We would like to go back during the warmer months so that Mr. Books can take his boat and do some fishing . . . but then again maybe I will stay home and he can take a buddy that likes to fish with him.


I have been working on secret projects so I do not have many fabric pictures, but here is the last block for this year in the Stash Bee swap:

Applique is not my strong point; however, the woman that is getting this block said that she would be willing to do the stitching around the edge to complete the block.


We had our choice of any Christmas design we wanted. . . . and I have always loved this type of reindeer design.


Ok, that is about all that I have at the moment so I'll be signing off.


Have a lovely day.


In peace and pieces,


Sherry






This content was originally posted on the quilt blog Books, Hooks, Sticks, etc. (www.bookshookssticksetc.blogspot.com). If you are reading this on any site other than the original or quilterblogs.com it is WITHOUT my permission and the content has been stolen.

I've been a busy beaver!

August has started out as a great month to get things done.  I don't know what has changed, but I seem to have more "umph" to get things done.


I was in a swap through a Facebook group (small swap, only 4 of us) for Churn Dash blocks.  Here are the blocks I sent out:

The swap was to make one Churn Dash dark and the other one light using colors requested by each person.


I am also in Stash Bee this year.  Here is the block that I did for August.

The directions given had the flying geese made with the technique that created 4 geese at a time.  I don't remember doing that technique before (but I have seen it tons of times). . .wow!  It worked great and I was really pleased with the result.


YouTube has been providing me a bunch of inspiration, again, and I followed a YouTube video from Tea Quilts (the link will take you to her web page) to make a "back rest" for my iPad:

The directions she provided were easy to follow and I am so pleased with the way it turned out.


Now I can watch my videos while I am sewing since I won't have to hold the iPad to see!


There was some forward movement on a couple of other projects but I did not get pictures of those yet. . . .


All in all this has been a great month, so far, and I am looking forward to spending more time in my sewing area soon . . . . I need to get projects done, at least to the flimsy stage, so I can make some room.


In peace and pieces,


Sherry


This content was originally posted on the quilt blog Books, Hooks, Sticks, etc. (www.bookshookssticksetc.blogspot.com). If you are reading this on any site other than the original or quilterblogs.com it is WITHOUT my permission and the content has been stolen.

Fun blocks that I just made

I think that I have mentioned that I am taking part in the Stash Bee for this year.


Each month there is a different block to make for a person in my "hive".  Some of the blocks have been easier for me than others. . . .but each one has been completed within the month that it was due so that is good.


For July we were given the task to make "Polaroid" blocks for a quilt for a baby boy.


Here are the blocks that I made:

I had to dig through one of my fabric bins to find prints that had small enough figures for the center squares. . . they are only 2 1/2" square.


These were fun to make. . . but I do not think that I have enough "eye spy" type fabrics to make any size quilt.


But, making these blocks has given me some ideas of what to do with the other conversation prints that I have in my stash.


In peace and pieces,


Sherry






This content was originally posted on the quilt blog Books, Hooks, Sticks, etc. (www.bookshookssticksetc.blogspot.com). If you are reading this on any site other than the original or quilterblogs.com it is WITHOUT my permission and the content has been stolen.

OMG (One Monthly Goal) -- Fail or No Fail?

My goal for March was to get the felted wool table runner that has been languishing for about 20 years done.


There was some forward motion on that front.


Here is what it looked like at the beginning of the month:

And here is where it stands today. 

So, technically my OMG was a fail.


However, I have not been idle for the month!


I quilted and bound a quilt top (Turning Twenty pattern in 1930's repros) as a gift to a banker friend that is having her first baby.  Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of it since I could not find my camera and time was of the essence to get the gifting done.


I completed piecing 60 blocks for a Four Patch Stacked Posy quilt.  I don't have a picture of those yet. . . . but I will be able to post them soon.


A quilt top, to be donated through the Hands 2 Help program.  The crazy fabric was provided by a quilt forum I belong to as part of a charity challenge.  I had just enough of the fabric to piece one of the small squares in order to complete the top.

There were also several spool pin doilies made, much like this one:

Not all of them were done in white.  They were given out to some of my friends.


And there was other crochet work done:


This doily was made and sent out as part of a swap through a crochet group I belong to on Yahoo!.

This smaller doily will be given to one of my friends. . . . and I have several more to make.

I sent out my Stash Bee block earlier in the month. . . .

I also completed the body of a memory quilt for a friend of mine that lost her mother over a year ago.  I just have to sew the borders on, get batting and backing cut and then I can get this quilted and back to her.

I had never done a t-shirt type quilt before and I will admit that I was very nervous about cutting into the garments because I did not want to screw up any of the fabric.  This piece measures 39" square at the moment. . . .when I am done I think it will be about 45" square.

There is also a blog hop that I am participating in during the month of April. . . .and here is the block that I will be working with:

There will be more details about the blog hop later.


So, all in all, I am pretty happy with the progress that I was able to make. . . even though it was not on the stated goal project.




In peace and pieces,


Sherry






This content was originally posted on the quilt blog Books, Hooks, Sticks, etc. (www.bookshookssticksetc.blogspot.com). If you are reading this on any site other than the original or quilterblogs.com it is WITHOUT my permission and the content has been stolen.

The end is near. . . . .

Yes, the end is near!  The end of my talking about the dreaded "pink & green" quilt.

I have been working on this quilt on a regular basis.  One to two blocks quilted per day (although this past Sunday I was able to get three blocks quilted, yay me!) has gotten me down to five blocks remaining.


Then, of course, there comes the binding.


If I did not work I could have had this thing done & dusted a while ago. . . .but, I need money to feed the pups so I work.


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In other "action". . . .this year I am a member of Stash Bee.


Each month there is a new "Queen Bee" who chooses a block for all of us to make for her using our fabrics in her colors.


Here is the January block that I mailed out:

I think it is pretty cool.  We had our choice of color for the geese. . . and I love yellow and orange so that is what I went with.


I hope it plays well with the rest of the blocks that are received.


Well, that is what I have been up to. . . . .I am looking forward to our guild meeting this weekend. . . where the binding will be sewn to the quilt and I can get to making quick work of hand stitching that on.


I know that I have lots of other hand work projects that I can do. . . so a decision will have to be made as to which one gets "aired out" while I quilt it.


Have a lovely day.










In peace and pieces,






Sherry










This content was originally posted on the quilt blog Books, Hooks, Sticks, etc. (www.bookshookssticksetc.blogspot.com). If you are reading this on any site other than the original or quilterblogs.com it is WITHOUT my permission and the content has been stolen.