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After a few blustery days, I needed to rearrange and spruce up my door wreath but Mother Nature had other ideas for me.






  It seems that I have some “broaders” for a few weeks.  Between working on this flower bed and that I tried all day to get a photo of this lodger.

I finally got a photo by sneaking around the back of the car at dusk and zooming in from the driveway.

Sorry, little momma.   I'll leave you alone now.


So if you find yourself in my neighborhood and stop for a visit, you are going to have to use the side door for now!

In the Mood

No really, I was in MOOD!   If you don't know what Mood is, think Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn and Project Runway.   Project Runway is one of only two reality shows (the other is the Amazing Race) I watch.

I took a bus trip from Mt. Airy with the Handcraft Workshop to NYC yesterday with my daughter. What a great day we had.

You know you are in the garment district when you see this giant button and needle.

Overwhelming....where to start!

Alcoves and alcoves like this filled with trims.

and aisles and aisles and floors of floor to ceiling racks like this.

Women on my bus actually had suitcases they filled with fabric.  And I am not talking the weekender sized suitcase!  

And this is what I bought.
Chinese braid.....we were told by the tour leader, when in doubt, buy three yards.   At $0.75 a yard, that is what I did.  The cutters were very interested in what I was making with all these trims.

These are the only thing I bought at Mood with a project in mind.   Albeit, one project and one button is needed but I am not sure which one would work best.    A finished to be shared soon.

 Seam binding, this was 4 yards for a dollar.    A no brainer right?  I don't know why I gravitated to the same colors.   Next time, I will take a list!




























Mini pom-pom trim.    See why they wondered what I was doing.   They must have been thinking I was making one wild garment!

 1/4-inch twill ribbon....this may have been $1.00 a yard.

 There were so many colors to choose from.  I don't each have a project in mind for anything but the buttons!

 The city is an overload to your senses.   City streets and pretty parks

The weather was perfect and it was a beautiful day to visit the Big Apple.

 Lunch was at Pig and Whistle on 39th Street.   A great Irish Pub that Heather I found.  I recommend the Jamison Honey Bee and Ginger Ale.

 On to Gotham Quilts.  For yardage,  I got a yard of this cute winter themed fabric.   I plan to stitch the Lizzie Kate Snowman series as ornaments and this will make a great backing for them.

 Also at Gotham Quilts, I got this roll of fat quarters.   The girls and I plant to revisit our 4th of July sew-a-thon long week this year and we are making project bags.  I've got the fabric!


We also went to Purl Soho.   A great yarn and fabric shop.  I didn't take any photos there because I had discovered at this point that every time I took a photo, Heather took a photo of me taking a photo and was subsequently posting them to her twitter account.  Brat!  hmm, I will have to see what I need to do to get her back.

Next up for me, yard work and then to figure a way to stow and store my goodies.  Have a great week and keep on stitching.

I Did a Bad Thing

.....I am not going to even start with justification.......Ack!    I signed up for the Just Another Button Company's monthly button club.    We all love their buttons.   They add just the right touch to finishing.   Check out their blog and clubs page.  I can't wait to get my first monthly order.

Lucky me

Sharon at MooseCraft USA ran a contest and I was the winner.   Woot! Woot!  I was thrilled to get home Saturday to find the package.    Look at all the goodies!

A Brenda Gervais chart using mixed media, two magnetic note pads and a DMC Color Chart.   I had one of these years ago and gave it away only to regret it later.

The caddy is awesome.   I can see me using it many ways.   A bag of scraps which is always an awesome thing, pretty brown and pink fat quarters, a candle and more do-dads for finishing.

This is making me think I need to go through my stash and assemble a give-a-way.  



Not only was it fun to open and discover all the goodies......it is going to be fun adding them to my stash and using them in upcoming finishes.

Thanks again Sharon.     If you haven't checked out her blog, please do so here.

.....and keep on stitching.

Catching up

in more ways then one......how is it sometimes you just seem to find stitching and crafting time galore and other  times you can barely eek out ten stitches in a week.   Even my lunchtime smalls have taken a hit.

All that said, I did have a fabulous visit with my grandson.   He finally has a name for me....dam mom...and it is so adorable.  Love those little boys hugs and kisses and him grabbing my finger as we walked thru the neighborhood.  As if dam mom is not cute enough, somehow “Heather” became “Fred”.  There was help from his ornery dad.   I even found a shorter route which took me through the heart of Lancaster County (which wasn’t a chore to me at all) and took almost an hour off the trek.

 I took his birthday present albeit 4 weeks early.....but I won't be out for a visit again until the end of May and well, you know toddlers, they love the boxes just as much as the presents.

 In the car, while my daughter Amy drove, I finished hand stitching a quilt binding.  It was a joy to come home and wash and dry it to have it crinkle up and get that well used look.

Here’s my lunchtime work......  One completed, one almost completed and a start to my pre-stitch for my Prim Stitchers Retreat.  It is amazing what 20 minutes here and there on these smalls can get accomplished.

Prim Stitchers Pre-work

This design is a strawberry is from Blackbird Designs.   I am considering it as the exchange piece at Prim Stitchers Retreat.  I used the called for threads but I did not get as much color variation as the sample in the book.

This next lunchtime stitch is also a Blackbird Design.   This was my first stitch idea for a retreat exchange piece but truthfully is looks a little like an alien to me.  But more important, I am not sure I can finish as nicely as the photo in the book.

 I thought it looked like a real sweet prim piece.

Not much progress to show on Corsica River but I am still plugging along and still enjoying this one. I need to make a big push to fill in the blue long armed cross and tackle the next bit of blackwork.

I have been taking the time to go all the way back to January 1st to catch up on posts from some of the blogs I follow.  Recipients of my comments must think they are in a time warp as I commenting on months' old posts.   Well....I enjoy getting the comments so I figure others enjoy comments too.....  I have seen some great projects and pretty finishes.  One more blog to catching up on and then I hope to keep current.

I am longing to get out in the yard but, what, we are expecting more snow this weekend.  3 to 6 inches.  I laugh at you Mother Nature.  I do love snow but the desire to get out in the garden is a bigger pull now.

Well that’s all I have right now......thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching.