A Work in Progress

I think this is the first time I've every posted the results of my Friday Night Sew-in "on time."  Participants are supposed to report back on Saturday and most times I just don't get around to it.  Unfortunately, I have pitifully little to show for my efforts last night.  I decided to pick up New Mercies from Tree of Life Samplings.  I started this on January 1 and it hasn't seen the light of day since. (Sorry the picture is so dark.  It was tough to get enough light this morning when I was running out to meet a friend for breakfast.)  Last night there was some frogging involved as I changed thread colors for what will be the sun and then miscounted somewhere along the line.  Let's hope the rest of the summer is more productive!

Here's what I worked on during this month's Friday Night Sew-In.  It's Sergei by Plum Street Samplers.  I find that I'm more and more drawn to pieces in a primative style these days and I'm having a lot of fun stitching this one.  I started it on my guild's retreat at the end of April and was stitching it with two threads over two.  When I got home, I decided I didn't like that and so started over with one thread over two.  I'm using the called-for Sampler threads and an NPI.  My goal is to finish it by the end of May. We have had lovely weather this weekend and it has felt so good to be home for a change. I've spent all or part of the past three weekends out of town at the guild retreat, moving my daughter home from college and my son's graduation.  All good things, but it does feel nice to have my house cleaned and to have some time to sit on the deck and read the paper.  I'm hoping all of you are enjoying the weekend as well!

 Thanks to a significant amount of time on the stitching couch on Friday night, the ABCs of Aging Artfully went from  this                                            to this.  I apologize for the poor picture quality.  The first picture was taken in the early evening after a marathon day at work (it's report card time) and I grabbed the second shot right before I headed out to Weight Watchers and then on breakfast with a friend (definitely not a Weight Watcher's event).  There wasn't any stitching yesterday, but I did get the taxes done and filed for my children.  Even though I still have to finish ours, I feel that a big job has been accomplished.  I'm hoping for some time to stitch this afternoon and would really like to finish th...

Go on over to  http://www.craftyvegasmom.blogspot.com to sign up for the first Friday Night Sew-In of 2012 and join in the fun.  I'm planning to plant myself on the couch with Grace Mason, and hope that I have significant progress to show you on Saturday morning.

We're not even through this weekend yet and I'm already planning for the next one.  Good things are coming up--the Pennsylvania National Quilt Show in Oaks, watching my son run cross-country during his university's homecoming weekend, and spending some time stitching while Miami plays Ohio State.  I haven't even mentioned the Friday Night Sew-In.  You can sign up here and join the fun. Measi sent a correction to my last post about WIPocalypse.  She's going to accept sign-ups through the first few months of 2012, so start thinking about which WIPs you'll finish next year. I promise the next post will contain actual pictures of my projects!

You can still sign up for Friday Night Sew-In here . I'm planning for a finish or two tonight. Jane Longstreth is soooo close to being done and I have a quilt that just needs three outer borders to be completed so perhaps I'll have a couple of pictures for you tomorrow.

I spent Friday night working on "Snow Garden" ( not Snow House as I said in my earlier post). It's the first in Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart Series. I'm stitching all twelve of these on one large piece of fabric. This was my New Year's start and the plan is to finish one chart per month so the sampler will be done by the end of the year. That's the plan, anyway.

It's that time again! Head on over to Heidi's blog to sign up. I'll be working on Snow House from the Anniversaries of the Heart series by Blackbird Designs. We had another snow fall in the Philadelphia area last night and have a 2-hour delayed opening for school. Our second one this week. I'm getting a bit too used to these leisurely mornings, but not to shoveling the snow--better pack my lunch and get out the door! Look for a picture of my FNSI progress tomorrow.

Heidi is hosting Friday Night Sew-In two times this month. I'll be curled up under one of the quilts I'm binding. I got three of them back from the quilter on Sunday and need to have all of them done for Christmas morning. One is done and I've finished about half of another. With the cold weather we've been having, this is the perfect way to spend Friday night.

Who am I kidding--it's been a heck of a school year. This new assignment has me working my tail off. I'm usually in between 7:15 and 7:30 and most nights I don't leave school until after 5. I'm getting way too old for this and quite frankly, I regret that I didn't take the early retirment package last spring. I was hoping to leave by 4:30 today, but thanks to a phone call from one colleague and a visit from another, I didn't get out until 5:15. And I still brought work home this weekend. But in a few minutes, I'm going to get comfy and settle myself at the sewing machine with a book on tape (Laura Lippman's In a Strange City) and a cup of tea and sew the night away. Hope all of you are doing something nice for yourselves this weekend too.