FSL Bookmark!

Yesterday I got to embroider for the first time in a long time. Since getting a new lap top just before Christmas, I have not been able to use my Ultimate box to transfer designs because it has a serial port instead of a USB port. My sweet husband learned of my dilemma and immediately ordered me the right cable so I could do that. It arrived on Saturday and I got to embroider again. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so I decided to make a free standing lace (FSL) bookmark. I couldn't find one that I liked, so I downloaded one that had a poem for mothers day (which is great for mother's day by the way), and then used Embird to edit it and put in my own verse.

I used variegated thread to do the border and it came out looking like multicolored flowers around the edge -- which was an extra bonus.

Anyway, I had a great time making this and it felt so good to be back in the driver's seat of my embroidery machine. I am going to make a few more bookmarks while I am in the bookmark groove this week. I want to find a different one to download that is not so feminine looking, and then make a bookmark for Timothy and Kurt - as well as one from this design for Hannah - probably with her name on it.

Snowy Day

Boy is it coming down out there. This one caught PennDOT and the schools by surprise. Schools went on as scheduled because this started in between the time of high school and elementary school. I kept Timothy home. I didn't want to walk him to school in this, and the roads were getting pretty bad so I didn't want to drive him either.

It's a great day to do some sewing/quilting/smocking, embroidery or *something*, but I can't seem to come up with a thing to do.

I would love to do more machine embroidery, but my Vikant Ultimate Box has a serial port rather than a USB port. It was fine for years because I had a computer with a serial port. Now I don't, so I have not been able to use it for quite some time.

Hmm.... I have 2 hours and 20 minutes until I have to start working. Hmm.... what to do.... what to sew....

Not Amish Country!

Nope - this definitely isn't Amish Country, but isn't it beautiful? We were blessed to be able to visit New York City this past Monday. It was an amazing experience as we had never been there before. We were able to go because we had won a trip through our church. We were picked up in a limo and driven to NYC for the day. It was an experience none of us will *ever* forget!!

We had lunch in Times Square at Hard Rock Cafe. We rode on the 3-story tall Ferris wheel in Toys R Us. We visited "Top of the Rock" (the observation decks at Rockefeller Center), Saks Fifth Avenue, the American Girl Store, and more. It was an incredible day!!

I Spy Quilt Finished!

Yay!! The I Spy quilt went out in the mail today. I had a lot of fun with it. It is very simple - obviously nothing fancy, but I hope it helps this sweet little girl and her family.

Now that it's finished, I have to decide what to do next. I have several options. I have two quilts that are works in progress - still making blocks. One, I thought was a total wash, but figured out how to salvage it. The other is a disappearing 9-patch. I had been working on these quilts, but then didn't have anything to do with them once I was done, so I shelved them. I may go ahead and complete one of them so the next time I find a need, a quilt is ready to go.

Another option is to work on my I Love Lucy quilt - this one would be for myself. A while back I bought several prints of I Love Lucy chocolate factory fabric for $2 a yard. I have enough to make an interesting quilt. I pulled it out last night and think I know how I would go about it.

My other option - which can be done in conjunction with either of this is to make more quilted greeting cards. This is something I tossed around the idea of making to sell on etsy - or just to give as gifts - make sets of them.

Natural Ribbons

Kurt and I went to Longwood Gardens today. It was just beautiful. We saw many gorgeous plants, but the one I wanted to share on my sewing blog was this one. I forgot the name of the plant, but I loved them because the leaves look like ribbons. The colors are great together too. This gives me an idea to use nature as my guide when mixing/blending colors for quilts and other sewing projects. I would have never thought to put these colors together, but they compliment each other so well.