update

C is fine. Everything went well. She is not happy, but is home, sitting on momma's lap.

Progress on turtles, about as slow as they are

I am making slow progress on the turtles. Here is a handful of parts to make the scissors weight. I was so afraid I was going to lose something because these parts were so small. I was keeping them in a baggie, just so they wouldn't get caught on anything.



It took a little pulling and I broke the thread once from stitching so tightly, but here is the smallest of the turtles. He is called a scissors weight because the cord allows you to connect him to your scissors to help keep track of them. He doesn't weigh very much though. I am wondering if I should have put a dime inside to make him a little more substantial.



I am very pleased, though, with how he turned out. Here he is with his big brother. They will be close, because the pocket on the bigger one is to hold the scissors the little one is attached to. Best friends!



I finally located the pattern I was looking for to finish March--Daffodil on my Monthly Flower sampler. It felt so good to stitch on a temari last night! I hadn't stitched on one for a couple of weeks! I finished wrapping another base last night and started najiri (interlocked) squares on a new one. I have to run to the grocery store now, but I hope to work on it this afternoon.



The sun is out! It is a beautiful day. I hope you have a good one.

(C is having oral surgery today. I heard from DD2, and things are going well, but we are concerned. Pray that everything will turn out.)

Flowery Goodness

This weekend, when DD2, and P&C arrived, they were bringing gifts! I love the springy flowers they brought, and I love the thought and caring that went into their selection. DD2 is making baby steps toward getting stronger, as well, way to go sweetie! Thank you!



I finished stitching the "tulip meadow" on my Holland Springtime Mandala, but did not get a picture of it this morning, plus there are already plenty of pictures in this post. I will make sure to get an overall picture when I pick it up again, hopefully in a week or so. You can tell I am not too good at doing a rotation. For me it tends to be "out of sight, out of mind." That's one of the reasons my sewing/craft room is so messy. I can find everything, but I get afraid that if I organize and put away everything, I will forget I have it. Of course, right now I can hardly get into the room, so there must be a happy medium somewhere.

I didn't lose this sashiko stitching that I did a couple of months ago. I had picked up a pillow form for it, so yesterday I put it together. I am very pleased with how it turned out. It is a little plump pillow, but very cute! I think it took less than an hour to put together, but of course, the sewing machine was already out.



When that was done, I looked into my sewing basket, next to my stitching chair, and found it very organized! (I was surprised, like I said, out of sight, out of mind.) I had stashed my stitched turtle backs there, with the supplies I had purchased to finish them, and one of the next projects I want to start. I looked at the instructions to "finish" the turtles, and started to get overwhelmed and put them away, but then I said to myself, "what does the first paragraph say?"

Well, the first paragraph said to trim the embroidery, and cut out 2 lining pieces and two interfacing pieces. Well, I could do that, so I did. Then the next paragraph, and the next, and by the end of the evening, I had this!

top

bottom (the poor turtle has fallen, and cannot get up!)

Taking it one step at a time made the instructions very easy to follow, and I am quite pleased with this little fellow. Now to finish the other 3.

Our family always says "Off like a flock of wild turtles" when we leave to go somewhere, so this little flock is an appropriate image for us. I would like the shell to be a little more domed, but I think I know how to accomplish that with the next one. I am going to run out of the dyed thread it calls for, though. I will have to look for a substitute if I do run out, or pick some more up this weekend. It is Weeks Dye Works, color Juniper. I had ordered the coordinating felt (woven wool, felted) and the very turtly looking lining fabric, which you will see better on the needle-book turtle. This one has a little pocket under the shell to store things, probably a very short scissors would fit there perfectly.

When I was just getting going on the turtle yesterday afternoon, there was a knock on the door, and when I went to look there was a box on the front porch:



Beautiful roses, from a former co-worker, saying that she misses me! Aren't they beautiful! Thank you so much D!

Missing the people I worked with every day is the worst part of staying home, but the best part... Look at everything I got done yesterday! There are plans afoot for fun outings too. Mom, my 2 sisters and I live in 3 different states, but we are talking about getting together for a day. We shall have to see if we can work it out. Plus a day out with Moonsilk-stitches. I'm so excited!

Birthday present!

As I mentioned yesterday, my good friend who writes Moonsilk Stitches, gave me a belated birthday present last Monday. Isn't this amazing? She copied a picture from my blog, and then embroidered it on a dishtowel! (If you look toward the bottom of this post, you will see the picture she used.)

Receiving a gift like this makes me feel so special! She worked on it when she was on vacation, so she was even thinking about me then! Thank you so much!





This is too nice to use! But if I do not use it, I will not see it as often as I would like to. (Right now it is on the arm of my chair, where I can see it all day!)

Thank you for the gift, and thank you for being my friend.

Weekend

I am sorry for being so scattered last week. I received a beautiful gift on Monday night that I haven't even taken pictures of yet, but Monday was the last day at my job, and I am still working at setting a new routine.

I am loving how the Holland Springtime Mandala is turning out. There are so many wonderful details in this piece. This is how far I got on Thursday:



I did not notice while I was stitching that the brown on the right side of the picture is piers for a bridge. The railings and lift mechanism of the bridge are done in long stitches that will be one of the last things I do on this project (probably even after the beads).

This is how far I got on Friday. All the picture stitching is done, and some weedy looking plants have sprouted along the top.

I love the lit windows in the little house, and how the light reflects (with metallic stitches) on the water outside. I also like the fat cattails. They look even better in person.



Once I reached this point, I had a distraction. On Saturday we were here:



It is outside of Cabela's in Indiana. But I wanted you to look at the posers at the base of the statue:



It was not a nice day, weather-wise, but we had a lot of fun, nevertheless. This was after breakfast, and we still had to make it to a couple more stores, but it was entertaining. We had to pick up a couple of birthday presents for DD1, which is always fun, and then we got to give them to her on Sunday, which is even more fun. So you can understand that I did not get as much stitching done as the previous couple of days.

The flowers on top don't quite look like tulips yet, but they have a little bit of color, and the onion frame is filled in as well.



As soon as I finish this section, I am going to put it down and do a couple of other things: a temari, or two, a little notebook cover that was a guild project last month, and I want to finish my Quaker turtles. I have all the supplies for that, but always felt I didn't have the time; now I've got nothing but time! I also bought some supplies for a flower pouch/purse, and I want to play with those, and that is leading me to some intriguing thoughts about my HEG summer project...

I will be back later today (or early tomorrow) with pictures of my wonderful belated birthday present!