A Little of This and a Little of That

      I spent the past week or so doing a variety of things... and enjoying it all. My garden is coming to life and it's a joy to meander through the yard and see what's in bloom. The weeding of the flower beds is not such a joy.

     I worked on my next Jo Morton Little Women's Club quilt top. This month we selected the Keystone Medallion quilt. There were lots of half square triangles and flying geese blocks. I'm always thrilled when I'm able to line up all the seams on these tiny quilt tops. The quilt measures 25" square. There is the slightest wave in the outer borders... but I'm confident that it won't be noticeable once the quilt top has been quilted.

     My framer called and I was happy to pick up Emma's Sampler, along with Deerfield and the Bell Flower Quaker.

Emma's having a hard time deciding where she wants her sampler to be hung. I vetoed rearranging the entire sampler wall and positioning her sampler in the center of the wall. I'm suggesting we hang it on the opposite wall so that she can gaze at it while lounging in her favorite spot on the sofa. No final decision has been made.

      I'm not sure I picked the correct frame for the Bell Flower Quaker Sampler. What do you think?

I've hung it on the wall and it doesn't look bad... but it's a bit too woodsy looking for my tastes. I'll live with it for a week or so before making a final decision about keeping or changing the frame.

And last, but not least, is the sweet Deerfield sampler. 

     I worked on the sampler from the Blackbird Designs Honeysuckle Manor book. The sampler is finished except for the personalization. I'm leaning towards stitching Honeysuckle Manor instead of a person's name and using the date 1776. They mention that the long s, in Louisa's name,  was used in samplers from the 16 and 1700's, so I thought the year 1776 would be a perfect year to select.

     Thanks for stopping by and visiting us at Corgi Cottage. We love reading your comments and thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.

Hmmm... Emma looks like she might be up to no good...

The Wonder Pups

     My niece's daughter, eight year old Isabelle, created a spectacular Easter egg diorama featuring Emma and Owen. 

Isabelle won third place in the egg decorating contest. Emma, Owen and I think she should have won First Place. Isabelle will always win  First Place in our hearts.

     I spent time at the sewing machine piecing the third block pattern for My Favorite Things BOM. I'm not too jazzed about this block... I wouldn't have made the same fabric choices as the designer did for this block... it looks a bit muddied to me. I made eight of these blocks for the quilt top.

Old Maid's Puzzle

     I also stitched up Block #4 for the French General BOM.

      I completed both houses for the Anniversaries of the Heart sampler. I thought I was never going to finish the brick work on the Valentine Rose. It looks like a small block, but there is lots of stitching to be done. 

     I'm leaving all the personalization to the end because I haven't decided how I want to personalize this sampler. I also want to see all the designs before making my final decision.

Anniversaries of the Heart

      I'll leave you today with a snap of the Primrose blooming in my back garden.

     

 

 

Easter Weekend

     We've been blessed with temps in the 70s the past few days. It's wonderful to be able to turn the furnace off and open the windows. There's a lovely breeze blowing through Corgi Cottage as I write this blog post

     Even though I've been tempted to sit on my sun porch, relax and enjoy our springtime weather... I put temptation aside and kept busy at the sewing machine this past week. 
      First up is my completed  Jo Morton's - Little Women's Club quilt top, Daffodil Hill,  from  Club#9.

 

The quilt  measures approximately 22" x 26". I'm thinking of quilting the top in a grid fashion with diagonal quilting lines through the center of the squares. 
      I stitched up the next three blocks of the Civil War Tribute BOM.

Double Aster

   Western Valley  

Barrister's Block

 
       I received a wonderful box from Deb, Artisticneedle, in the mail this week. It's always a good week when you receive a package from Deb. She finished my Blackbird Designs -Halloween stockings and Milady's Needle - In the Garden box and fob to perfection. Thanks Deb!

     I've also had some time to stitch. I've put a few more stitches into Hannah.

Hannah Lovina Joslin - 1836

Blackbird Designs - Honeysuckle Manor

36 ct. BOAF Sandpiper 

GAST, WDW and Crescent Colours  

      I'm still suffering from 'startitis' and decided I couldn't wait one more moment to start the new Anniversaries of the Heart series from those wonderful gals from Blackbird Designs. AotH is being stitched on a mystery piece of 40 ct. linen with the called for fibers.

      Wishing you all a wonderful Easter weekend. May it be filled with the promise of Spring and new beginnings.

Quilts, Framed Samplers and Signs of Spring

      I love to hear the phone ring when it's my long-arm quilter or my  framer on the line. I've got lots of snaps to share with you today.

      First up is my Cheddar and Poison Green Stars quilt... notice who just happened to be included in the snap! I really enjoyed  collecting the fat quarters of the cheddar and poison green fabrics on my various quilt shop hops. It was quilted on the long-arm by Pat Butikofer. She used a pantograph of a wonderful leave design.

      Carolyn Clark did a fabulous job of free-motion quilting on the Heritage Birds quilt. She stitched the Baptist Fan design on the pieced blocks, a large feather design on the bird stripes and a smaller feather design on the borders of the pieced blocks. That woman can sure stitch a fabulous feather! This quilt is currently taking pride of place on my bed.

       I can never praise Anja  enough for the fabulous job she does in framing my stitched samplers. The woman has the patience of a saint and we carefully pick the perfect frame for each sampler.  Here's a close-up of The Evil Serpent's frame.

 

      Margaret Pence, Mary Corey and Sarah Seifer framed. I now have six framed samplers for my A&E Wall.

Life is Good!

Tree of Life - Close-up

      I'll leave you today with some snaps of Signs of Spring around Corgi Cottage. 

A Really Bad Case of 'Startitis'

      First things first... my 'Kids' are Stars of the Day on The Daily Corgi. I am one proud Mom! When I look at my wee beasties now, it's hard to remember how small and defenseless they once were.
      If you were expecting a progress snap of AAWFAA, I'm sorry to disappoint. After finishing Emma's The Queen's Crowns sampler I came down with a severe case of 'Startitis'. Here's what I've been up to since last I posted.

 Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow

Carriage House Samplings

40 ct. Zweigart Sand linen w/NPI

 Alphabet Piddlings

Little by Little

35ct Milkweed by Examplars from the Heart

Crescent Colours

      I plan on stitching all the Piddlings on one piece of linen. I may have to get creative as the sampler progresses as I don't know what the stitch count will be on the future letters of the alphabet. I left plenty of border just in case I want to get fancy and stitch a decorative border. 

Hannah Lovina Joslin - 1836

Blackbird Designs - Honeysuckle Manor

36 ct. BOAF Sandpiper 

GAST, WDW and Crescent Colours 

      I also worked on some quilt blocks. Here's a snap of the latest block from the French General BOM.

       I also stitched up eight more blocks for My Favorite Things BOM.

      I thought I still had some free time to spare and went ahead and joined the Jo Morton - Little Women's Club #9 being held at my very local quilt shop right here in Decorah.

      Here's my progress on the first mini quilt of Club #9, Daffodil Hill. I chose a different colorway, so my Hill has multi-colored flowers blooming.

      I haven't made a final decision on the fabrics to use for the border, but I'm sure these two fabrics will be included. I'll post another snap when I've completed the quilt top.

      I wanted to share a snap of a marvelous Jo Morton quilt that another member of the Club completed in the last session. Elaine is holding up her gorgeous Holiday Inn. 

       I want to say Thank You to Cari and Melissa for honoring me with the Beautiful Blogger Award.

Here are the rules that come with the award:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.

2. Paste the award on your blog.

3. Link to the person who nominated you.

4. Tell 7 interesting things about yourself.

5. Nominate 7 blogs and post links.

I've managed to accomplish the first three rules... but, being the rebel that I am, I will ignore Rule #4 and #5. I'm just not that interesting dear readers! 

I also can't single out just seven other blogs to award this honor. I would want to award each and every blog I read. My interests are varied and I love reading blogs on all forms of needlework, rug hooking, woodworking, books, quilting and the list goes on... you just have to glance to the right and see my blog list.

      If you, my dear reader, have reached this point in my blog post... you too deserve an award!

      I also want to say Thank You again to Cari in VA. I was the winner of Cari's blog, Serene Stitches, giveway. I now have my lovely chart, Blackbird Designs - Snow Garden,  in my hot little stitching hands. I can't believe i haven't started this one yet!

       Owen wanted to make sure I remembered to thank every one of you who were concerned about the lack of a sampler or quilt in honor of my sweet little man. He wanted me to reassure you that he is happiest when the two 'women' in his life are happy. He doesn't need a quilt or a sampler to know that he is a cherished and loved member of Corgi Cottage. He knows that he is 'Man of the Hour' because I sing the Nora Jones' song to him often.

...So I chose you...Because you're sweet... And you give me lots of lovin'... And you eat meat...And that's how you became... My only man of the hour... You never lie... And you don't cheat.... And you don't have any baggage tied... To your four feet... Do I deserve... To be the one... Who will feed you breakfast, lunch, dinner... And take you to the park at dawn?... Will you really be... My only man of the hour?......

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      Wishing you a week filled with stitching, quilting, good books and lots of sunshine.