Hello, my name is Peggy and I'm an embroidery addict

Yes, you've read correctly, I'm an embroidery addict all of a sudden....I started with the Cinderberries Girls and moved onto some Bird Brain pieces and now I'm working on at least 4 if not 5 different projects at once.

I did the parts to a table runner at retreat all in gold floss, which is super cute, I have a crow block of the month I'm doing with my friend Deb Smith's quilt shop in Missouri, I have 2 elf Christmas projects going and yesterday I got my kit for my newest block of the month called Berry Picking...it's a Crabapple Hill pattern. I hope I can keep them all straight.....This little elf has his string of lights wrapped around himself and I'm doing this one in a green variegated floss. The "Twas The Night Before Christmas" one here has larger embroidery pieces and I'm doing this one in all garnet red variegated floss. It was supposed to be a block of the month but I'm kind of an impatient annie so I wrote to the shop in Australia and she's mailing me the remaining 6 months of instructions so I can get them going quicker. Once school reopens I will have lots of time to do these stitcheries on lunch and break time.

I WON!!

I won a blog contest about a week ago....it was a BUG A LICIOUS pattern from Cheryl at Willowberry Designs. Today's mail delivery brought the prize...Thank you so much Cheryl for such a fun pattern.

Peggy

I actually turned my machine on tonight

Yes, it's been ages but I did turn my sewing machine on and worked on a small project. Back in May I was at retreat in Indiana and one of the girls, Conni, had an unfortunate accident... We were right in line with a tornado which happened to drop a tree right on her car. Talk about feeling bad....I had downed wires on my car but heck, I was able to drive it back to New Jersey from Indiana...Conni had to buy a new car to get home...We tried to make the best of the retreat even though the tornado the first night kind of put a damper on things. At retreat we swap out quilt blocks, brown bag surprises, mini quilts and even pincushions. Conni and Lori hadn't made pincushions but when us that had put them out on display, and they started to ooh and aah over them Robin, Michelle and I jumped into action and without any patterns or anything we made up a set for each of them, which made both girls very happy...

Well, over 4th of July weekend I was in search of a pattern in an old magazine and Conni said she had it and would send it that week. Well, not only did she send me the pattern, she sent me this kit with a note thanking me for helping her and Lori make up their pincushions and to help make the best of a bad situation.

I love This & That patterns, they work up quickly and are super cute projects so, after dinner tonight I couldn't decide what to work on so I pulled the pattern, charm pack and coordinating fabric out of my project basket and worked on it. It's a note pad holder with a pocket to put the pad in and another to
store your pen or receipts for fabric or anything else you need to hang onto.... It finishes up to be 6 x 9 which is a great size for my travel embroidery bag that I take to school and work on at lunch time. I found lined pad in Staples that fits perfectly and I have my favorite Uncle Sam pen in the other pocket.

Thank You Conni for such a great thank you gift....I really love it!!!

Peggy

Tomatoes

Can you see em? Darn things are so tiny I can barely photograph them....

This is my first attempt in my life to grow tomatoes. Sorry....but I'm a city girl. NO ONE in my city grew any kind of fruit or vegetable. You went to Shop Rite if you wanted those things :) Anyhoo, this year I decided I'd take the plunge and throw one of these tomatoe hangers up on my only backyard tree and see what I get. I have 4 very small tomatoes on the vine.... I'll keep an eye on them and report back as they get bigger. NO, I will not be getting any overalls and a pitchfork, 'cause I don't plan on doing this very often....

Peg

Brown Eyed Susans and Snowmen?

Today was a vacation day for me so I slept in a bit, did a little cleaning, did a little laundry and even did a little sewing. First off though I want to show you a picture of my brown eyed susans...they're one of my favorite outdoor flowers and for some odd reason, they're the one of the only flowers that like growing in my yard. This is just a tiny batch of them...I have hundreds out back.

Then I thought I'd do some catch up sewing. I'm in a birthday block of the month with some gals on the internet. The July girl was asking for a very nice lily block BUT it had 6 set in seams. Well, I can't even get 1 right let alone 6 so I emailed her and she said to make a snowman block. No size or colorway so I just used what I had in my scrap bin and this is what she's getting....

I think he came out kinda cute, i'm just hoping Linda thinks so too.... I kinda made him up as I went along, using a pattern but then I had to alter him a bit to fit the background fabric that I'd already cut..oops.... LOL

I'm going to go outside and peek at my tomatoes and see if they're big enough to get a picure of....

be back later.

Peggy

Good Morning Bloggers..............

Yes, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood and it's actually starting to feel like summer...not that I didn't enjoy keeping the windows and doors open with only ceiling fans running and at night throwing a light cotton blanket over me but the family is getting cranky at not being able to enjoy the pool....so, we'll take some warm days for a little while.

I was not working yesterday so I took the opportunity to clean my house and do a little sewing.

My daughter's best friend is getting married in October in Puerto Rico and I'm invited so Jen asked if I'd make her a little quilt. I made the quilt and yesterday made a label for it...

I usually use premade labels but I decided this one needed something special so I designed one myself.

Here's the quilt that I made using the Jamestown blocks that I did monthly from Michelle probably 2 summers ago??????? (sorry for the bad picture, all my quilt holders were out when I wanted to take the picture)

I was so happy with this quilt and it will be hard to part with it but I know Samantha and Jason will appreciate all the work I put into it.

Then last night, exhausted (LOL) from all my hard work, I decided to put my feet up to watch tv and do a little embroidery. I started a new bom called "Twas the Night Before Christmas" with an Aussie designer. I got the first of 7 sections on Monday and put off sitting down with it but I just couldn't help myself yesterday, I had to thread that needle and start stitching....Here's a picture of what I got done last night....I'm using a garnet red variegated so it will have quite a few varieties of red thru it. So far I'm loving how it looks....

I do have some work to do around the house and more laundry today so I am going to have to put this guy aside and get things done around here before I pick it back up again.

Happy Saturday to all.....

Peggy

I'm a Winner

YAY...I'm a winner!!!
Cheryl's random man inside her computer pulled #1 to win one of her beautiful stitchery patterns and you guessed it, I was the # 1 person to comment on her blog. I'm so excited, I can't wait to see my pattern.... If you go here http://willowberrydesigns.typepad.com/willowberry_designs/
you can see the patterns she was giving away.

Hope everyone has a good Friday....I'm off from work so any day off is a good day, especially when it makes it a LONG weekend...

Peggy

YAY, it's a finished project

YAY....I did it, I started a project today and finished it today too!!!

This little project measures 6 x 22 finished and even comes with it's own little hanger each month...a hanger that fits the theme!

I have it hanging next to the window in my sewing room so I can enjoy it every night while I'm sewing.....

I see that a couple of blogs were doing the "show me your first quilts" but I never did go get mine and take a picture of it....I will though this week.

It actually is a nice looking quilt considering it was my first. NOW, the 2nd one I made and quilted myself...that one leaves a LOT to be desired in the accurate/neat department....

Be back soon with more pictures...

Peggy

A Mini Project

I am doing a BOM and they are the Patch Abilities Mini wall hangings...well, project #1 came yesterday so being the impatient annie that I am I couldn't just look at the project and set it aside...NO.........I had to trace and cut everything out last night. Today I assembled the little top and couldn't wait to buttonhole it to show you a picture of it... It even came with the cutest backing fabric.... I think I go and do the buttonhole stitching on it now since I have a little time before I make dinner.

I also went to the quilt shop this morning looking for some teal/aqua christmas fabric for Robin, which was not an easy feat, BUT I did find some cute stuff for myself....I'm doing an "elf" stitchery courtesy of Michelle and since I'm already doing one Christmas project in red variegated, I thought I'd do the elfs in green variegated...so, here's the fabric I'm using...

Goodies in my Mailbox

I got me some goodies in my mailbox the past 2 days....I'm so excited because it's been kind of a dry spell here at Casa Aront, almost thought hubby had paid the mailgirl and UPS to do a drive by but not stop by :) Anyhoo, I got 5 Crabapple Hill patterns yesterday, my woolen bom and a package from Liz in California who was the hostess for our BPF UFO contest. She sent me 4 fq's, a small purse pad, some basting pins and a nice card. Out of 15 projects on my list I only truly finished 4 but I did finish a lot more that just weren't on the list so all in all, the first 6 months of 2009 were wonderful in the finishing department.

Now, today I received a magazine from Conni . I'd posted to BPF that I was looking for a pitcher of flowers stitchery that was on the Crabapple Hill site. It was in Quiltmaker magazine in January. Conni had the magazine and said if I could wait a few days she'd ship it out to me, so today was the day it arrived....but not only did she send the magazine, she included some charm squares, some yardage just like the charms and the cutest This & That pattern for a notebook cover... Conni is just the best...thank you!!! And, last but not least, I got my Part 1 of the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" BOM that one of the fabulous Aussie girls is doing online. I can't wait to sit down and start that one.

All in all, a nice mail day for me.....

Hope you are having a great day too.

Peggy

I'm making some progress

I'm making some progress on the Truly Scrumptious BOM that I started 2 summers ago...

It's not the borders that are taking so long, it's the embroidery part that I dragged my feet on.

I hadn't done embroidery since I was a kid so the thought of all the work on this was daunting so I started, didn't like what did, set it aside and moved onto other things. This easter when I was trying to find a project to take to Myrtle Beach with me I pulled this project out and ONLY brought that with me so I was forced to work on them. I have 5 totally done and borders on.

I have 3 more blocks that need borders and 1 more in the hoop to finish the embroidery on. I'm hoping I can get this top assembled before the weekend is over....what do you think? I don't have anyone in mind for this quilt but then again, most times when I start projects like this I don't....I usually make em and set them aside till the appropriate recipient comes along.

We're Done

Welcome to the apartment. As you walk in the front door and go up the stairs to the second floor you make a quick left. There are 2 steps up to the new apartment. This used to be my attic :( Now all the stuff is in storage....anyone have an attic they want to store my "stuff" in? Straight ahead is the bathroom with the bedroom on the right and the living room/dining area on the left. Don't worry about that mat, just step on in.... Here is the living room. Jen picked a nice warm light tan color...

Here is the bathroom.... Didn't love the green at first but it's starting to grow on me. Jen did a nice job accessorizing...

The living room is to my back in this picture so to the right is the area where she'll have a bar top table and 4 chairs...no kitchen. And the last picture is the bedroom.It's painted a light grey.... She's got a walk in closet to the left....

The U Haul comes on Saturday...anyone free to help move Jen's 200 pr of shoes, purses etc? You know how a 25 year old is with their stuff...she's got a lot of it!!!

Happy 4th of July everyone.......Hope everyone has a happy and safe day.

Here at the Aront house we're just laying low and barbecueing at the house with the family.

I have some hand sewing lined up and yes, as usual I have some laundry too... What's everyone doing today?

Peggy

Happy Birthday Dan

Here's my boy.....24 years old today ! Happy Birthday Dan, hope you have a great day and get everything you want......

Love,
Mom

Miss Izzy and Miss Delish

I'm not working fast on these, but I am working....Here's a picture of the first 2 blocks side by side. I do have some grocery shopping to do and dinner to make but I might start the 3rd one before I get to that.....

What's everyone out there in blogland doing today? It's 71 and sunny here in New Jersey with a gorgeous breeze blowing...I'm enjoying the day tremendously....

Peggy

You Can Call Me Izzy

Let me introduce you to Isobel...you can call her Izzy for short. Isn't she cute? She is the first block from the TRULY SCRUMPTIOUS Block of the Month that I started last summer that I've actually finished and got the fabric borders on. I was searching yesterday thru my stash for fabric to use for the borders and came across this bundle of Moda's "Summer's Basket of Flowers", which I thought would go perfectly with the blocks. So, I washed and dried them all up and since they were out I decided to cut into them and start the borders.

Each block finished with the 4 borders finishes up to be 16-1/2 X 18-1/2 so with making 9 blocks for the front, this will make a nice size top. I'm not making it for anyone in particular right now but my daughter Sarah just loves their striped stockings so you never know...Sarah might just be the recipient of this one in the end.

Now to get moving on the other 8 blocks....

Tomatoes

Has anyone used one of these hanging tomatoe gadgets? I'm not a gardener at all but I wanted some home grown tomatoes this year so I went to Home Depot a few weeks ago and got this. The plant has gotten huge since I put it in but no buds yet. I think it might be because I bought Jersey tomatoe plants, which I think don't really start till August but I'm hoping I get something.....

Another challenge top finished too. Back in April I think one of the bloggers did a stimulus where she quilted any top for $25 plus shipping and handling. It really got me to moving along on this top because I wanted to bind it and have it ready when the addition was done. I'd like to give the builder and his wife just a little thank you gift. I got the binding on in 2 nights in front of the tv...which if anyone knows me, knows this is lightening speed. I hate doing the binding and label but when under the gun, I git er done! The top is made up of all 6.5 inch sampler blocks that I had laying around the house. The background is all Kona white. I had a ton of strips cut from another project so the piano key border worked out wonderful on it.

I'm thrilled to have it done early so I don't have to scurry around either next week or the week after.

2 Posts in One Day

2 posts in one day, and on a Thursday no less....that is totally unheard of!

So, after dinner, I finished the project I'd shown the sneak peek of in the earlier post today. It's one of my challenge projects. I started this "Sangria Splash" table topper at least 3 years ago.

The fabrics are gorgeous and it's going to look great on my dining room table. I took a picture of it on the coffee table because the lighting is better in the family room.

Have you seen these ruler holders? I finally found one last week at the quilt shop and I LOVE how it has organized my rulers all in one place.

So, now what do I start working on?

Peggy

Lotsa Things Goin On

Lotsa things going on around here.....We're heading into the home stretch on the addition. Next Monday starts the sanding and staining of the hard wood floors so with a LOT of luck and the construction inspector gets here, we can have Jen in her apt. by July 7th...YAY. The sun came out this afternoon....YAY....and I had a vacation day today to do with what I wanted.

I started out the morning my mailing a birthday present to Robin and a little something to Michelle, did some banking, and then took a quick trip to Quilting Possibilities... I needed a quilt shop fix, besides, I had a gift card from Mother's Day that was burning a hole in my pocket. I found some fruit ladies fabric for one of the girls I work with. I bought the end of the bolt which amounted to just about 1 yard. I got my last kit for the All Roads Lead to the Sea quilt, 3 fat zippers to make some zippit bags and the floral fabric is already quilted and it's for a tote. Then I found a mint green with white dots and a white with mint green dot for an old project I'd like to work on. Robin is a little nervous that I'm turning into a fru fru girly girl but I'm not....I still love my Thimbleberries but it's summertime (at least that's what the calendar keeps saying) and in the summertime I like to work with some fru fru fabrics....

Then, I went and got my nails done (OK Robin so I am turning into a girly girl, who cares LOL) and then came home and worked on one of my BPF UFO Challenge Projects. Here's a quick peek at it.... I need to finish the binding and then I'll show a full picture of the finished project.

I will have some pictures of the addition after tomorrow.

The builder will be here at the crack of dawn to do more so I'll take some pictures later tomorrow. Most of today's stuff was leaders, gutters, air conditioning unit etc.....

Peggy

Month 5

Oops....guess I got my months out of order on this BOM. Regardless, I'm up to date and that's all that matters.

And here's a sneak peek at one of the embroidery projects I've been doing at night while I watch TV.

It's one of the Cinderberries Girls....

Off to See the Wizard

I've had a charm pack of Wizard of Oz fabrics that I bought specifically to make a table topper for my daughter's apartment. Since she'll be moving in in 2 weeks I thought I better get started on it today. I cut the charms, sewed them up, added 2 simple borders and then even quilted and machine bound it....All ready and waiting for her move. I'm sorta in a state of shock that I finished something BEFORE it was needed...

Month 6

I only had the TB BOM kit for a week or so, so I'm feeling quite good that it's finished and will be set aside for finishing later in the year.

And the answer to the question I KNOW you are all wondering is YES...it is still raining here in NJ. I'll have to start back on the ark...

Peggy

The Ark

If any of you live on the east coast I KNOW you can sympathize with me when I say that instead of making quilts, I should be building PEGGY'S ARK....We have had more rain this month than I can remember in a long time. I now know how people in Seattle must feel...it's been quite a depressing week....

I wanted to show you some blocks I received yesterday from a block swap on Pat Sloan's site.

It was a Mad Hatter Tea Cup Swap.

Pat posted a pattern for a teacup and you had to send in 6 blocks using "fun" fabrics. I used fabric that looked like puzzle pieces. I thought they came out really cute so I was really looking forward to seeing what I got back. I was not disappointed yesterday when I opened my envelope and these cuties were inside . The girls all used fun fabrics for their teacups and also for their handles. Now to figure out what I'll do with them.

I'm also in another Yahoo group with girls that I've known for a lot of years. We each have a birthday month where each girl gets to pick a block and fabric and you get one block from each person.

This year I thought I'd pick a 4 inch paper pieced pinwheel block to use with other 30's blocks I've collected over the years. I don't have all my blocks yet since I requested 2 from each girl but I'm almost done....

Some girls are not comfortable doing paper piecing so they sent blocks in different patterns and sizes, but I like each one and they'll all go nicely with the blocks I've been collecting.

Sweet Gatherings

I'm doing an embroidery block of the month with Stitch N Tyme quilt shop in Missouri which happens to be owned by a friend, Deb Smith and her mom. I don't think Deb has an online shop yet but she offered it to friends thru one of the yahoo groups that I belong to. "As the Crow Flies" is the name of the bom and for block #1 the crow is flying a kite. Isn't it cute?

I've been bitten by the embroidery bug so that I've not done any "quilting" in over a week.

Hope everyone had a nice week...this upcoming week for me will be CRAZY since it's the last week of school for our 7th and 8th graders and you know how that age kid is in school...they just want the school year to be over and summer to be started. I know I'll survive but every year I ask myself "how did I manage last year?".

Peggy

Blue Chinese Coins

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I did any kind of update to my blog. The weather here in New Jersey has been HORRIBLE. I can't remember a week when it's been so rainy. Because of that it made me feel very lazy.......ok, ok, lazier than usual LOL

I did start working with the blue/white/yellow fabric last Saturday and last time I showed a picture, it was just piles. Here's what I did with all those piles:

I absolutely love that chinese coins pattern!!

I unfortunately, did not have enough of either of the fabrics I wanted to use for the final border so I cut the strips and connected them and came up with a half and half kinda border. What do you think? I like it personally.....the whole top is scrappy so why shouldn't the border kinda be scrappy too? Now to go to the quilt shop and get a backing for it so I can get this one quilted lickety split.....

Now....what should I work on????

Peggy

Here's How We Look Right Now

On Sunday, April 26 I posted about our addition, which at the time had just begun....Well, here's what the outside looks like now. I can't wait for the day I can rip the labels off and we can put the furniture in the rooms.

This indoor picture was taken with my back to the big sunburst window in the front of the house. This room will be the bedroom and the boxes on the left are outside the bathroom. The remainder of the addition will be a living room.

It has all the electric, heat, AC and insulation so all that's left is the sheetrock, hanging the light fixtures and flooring.

Peg

Starting Something New

I know, I know, I'm not supposed to be starting something new, I'm supposed to be working on my BPF UFO Challenge List but heck...I couldn't resist this pile of blue, white, yellow fabrics that my friend Laura sent me a while back.... I'd sent Laura a bunch of bright chinese coin strips and as a thank you I got a beautiful collection of Eleanor Burns fabrics. I added some strips from my stash yesterday and this is what I have laying on the sewing table waiting for assembly.....check back later in the weekend and I might just have something to show you :)

I also have been getting in some blocks from a birthday block swap I've been doing for a million years. This year I asked for some small 30's blocks. I haven't gotten all 14 from the girls but I do have a few.... I don't have anything in particular in mind for these blocks but I do have a lot of assorted sized 30's blocks laying around that I could make another sampler with them....

Heading out to Home Depot soon with hubby for some pet screen to make a few of those handy dandy zippy bags for quilt projects and also we need a few things for the house construction.

I'll post a picture or two later on of the progress... We're hoping to get Jen in her apt. by this time in June...lets all send some positive energy in the direction of the builder...

Peggy

Another Finish

YEY......another finish!!! I showed a picture of the Chinese Coins quilt a while back but never had it quilted or bound...well, here it is in all it's glory, all finished and ready to be given to my daughter's godchild Ariana. Only thing is, Ariana's 3rd BD isn't until October so I haveto put it away and save it till then.

I found some purple Laurel Burch flannel fabric in the sale room at the local quilt shop that I bought for the backing and used the leftovers for the binding. I think it's going to be something Ariana will LOVE.

Peggy

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to everyone out there.....

Lets try to celebrate the day and remember the reason we are celebrating! Thank you to all servicemen who gave their lives so we can live in our country.