I could....I should...

I spent the whole summer playing the I  COULD..I SHOULD game. Have you ever played?  It's where you spend your day at the computer looking at all the cool stuff everyone else is doing and thinking---I could do something...I should do something...I would do something..only I didn't. I just spent my summer enjoying everyone else's creativity.

But there is something about this time of year that energizes me with new creativity. I seem to make more resolutions this time of year. Maybe it's because  school is starting a new year. It's also my birthday and that is the beginning of a new year for me. Anyway, I decided to get doing.

I started on a quilt from a tutorial I found here from The Missouri Quilt Company, one of the places I spent many, many days playing the afore mentioned game.

Here are the completed blocks laid out---

I used a jelly roll from Riley Blake's Sweet Nothings line and a Moda Basic White jelly roll.

I LOVE my pre-cuts.

I've got the blocks all sewn into rows and now I'm working on sewing the rows together. Matching those points is not easy for me but I'm using it as a learning process.

Thank-you to all the wonderful bloggers I follow for your inspiration.

Blessings-

Megan

It's a NUMBERS Game

Okay--it's not really a "game" but very interesting.

My friend Sheri over at Sheri Howard Designs posted this and I asked her if I could repost it here. Hope you find it as fascinating as I do.

YEAR OF 11's

This year we are going to experience four unusual dates: 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11, 11/11/11,

and that's not all---

Take the last two digits of the year you were born and the age you will be this year and the result will add up to 111 for everyone!!!!

This is the year of MONEY.

Also, this year, October will have 5 Sundays, 5 Mondays & 5 Saturdays. This happens only once every 823 years.

These particular years are known as Moneybag years.

I just love stuff like this!! Hope there will be a Moneybag for me this year.

Spending time with needle and hoop---

Lately, as I've been out touring in Blogland, I have visited several blogs that feature hand embroidery. It brought back memories of my "hand embroidery days" way back when. I remembered how much I loved the feel of the needle in my hand and the peacefulness I felt as I stitched designs with thread and floss.

I checked out some books from the library and just knew I was going to have to do some embroidery.

You can find these book at Amazon as well. I may have to buy them for my collection.

I love to stop by and visit  with Carina at Carina's Craftblog, where I always find beautiful embroidery and lots of inspiration. When she mentioned a stichalong over at feeling stitchy , I thought I'd drop by and see what it was all about. And that's when I decided to join in.

This is the pattern that was being used--

So......I rummaged through some drawers in my craft room and found--

a hoop, a needle and a sweet crocheted egg to use as a pin cushion.

After a little more searching I found--

some leftover cotton craft thread from a long ago project.



Now what to stitch on--

I have lots of scraps left over from projects--so I though this brown piece might go well with the thread colors that I had.

I enlarged the design, photo-copied it,  transferred it to my material using some tracing paper, and started stitching--

I spent the afternoon on Sunday, sitting in my rocking chair in my craft room with the windows open, listening to the birds singing, and embroidered.

It was a wonderful, peaceful way to spend an afternoon.

.

Here is the finished product. I'm a little rusty with the tension and stitches. I just used three stitches, a couple of different versions of the daisy stitch, french knots and the stem stitch

I'm thinking of making this into a pillow.

Thank-you to all my new "hand-embroidery" friends, for re-introducing me to this wonderful past-time. I will be spending many more peaceful afternoons in my rocking chair--stitching away.

Can You Guess------

Guess where I went today---

Here's the first hint-----

It's 80 degrees and I'm headed east.

Need another hint?

It's a Sea Grape bush/tree.

That doesn't help you say.

Wait--What's that in the background?

The Beach---

Isn't is beautiful?

It was!

It is!

I feel so blessed that this is what I get to see every day.

Happy Valentine's Day

What is Love?

May your Valentine's Day be filled with the blessing of Love---

Hit the Road Jack----

Mr. Procrastinator has overstayed his visit here. Actually I think he has decided to live here permanently.

 He is not a good house guest at all.

There's piles of piles in the guest room. There are half finished projects in the craft room.There is dirty laundry overflowing the hampers. And if Mr. Procrastinator stays any longer, his friend, Ms. Anxiety will come to visit.

And she is a brutal house guest, who never fails to bring me to tears

So today, I have informed him, in no uncertain terms, to be on his way. No lingering goodbyes. No sad stories. I have things to do.

I have items to photograph and list for my Etsy shops.

WILDFLOWERKIDZ




BEACHHOUSE341

I have a garden that needs tending.

I have housework and laundry that needs to be done.

So--Good-bye Mr. Procrastinator---

please don't stop by again.


Of course it might not be ALL his fault----

I Have a Dream

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."


I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

— Martin Luther King Jr.