Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Cursed & April Goals

 I think I am cursed! Every vacation I have I always end up being sick. Of course this week is my spring break and we planned to meet my sister and her family in Salt Lake City to entertain my niece and nephew while their dad had his first week of chemo and radiation. I woke up Monday morning with the stomach flu, we made it 45 minutes from home on our way to SLC and we had to turn around and get me back to bed and a bathroom. Needless to say it was a major bummer! My teen did not get to see her cousins, drive for hours, or shop in a big city and I lost two days of my vacation to staying in bed. The good news is my brother-in-law's treatments are quick and he is not having any terrible side effects, so they have been able to do some fun family activities.
 I signed up for a new embroidery BOM and it arrived yesterday afternoon. It is called Journey of a Quilter and is through the Material Girls in South Jordan, Utah. (I was planning on visiting while on our trip that did not happen.) The first block's arrival has been my only vacation highlight so far! It came with these lovely embroidery floss colors, but I prefer to use perle cotton and was able to find most the colors in my perle cotton stash. The colors I did not have were ordered on-line and have already shipped. Got to love Internet shopping if you live in a rural area!!!
Aren't these fabrics happy? So happy in fact, I dragged my behind out of bed yesterday afternoon and put the block together. I don't think I messed it up which is amazing considered I had a decongestant in my system!
I actually followed the instructions and pieced it before doing the embroidery. I still need to trace the embroidery designs on, but I am so thrilled I splurged for this BOM project. I am going to back the whole block with Warm and Natural batting to provide stability and hide my ugly embroidery stitches from the front.
Here is the picture that forced me to sign up. All that Bonnie and Camille fabric and bright happy colors at least inspire spring, but we had bits of snow today and may get an inch tonight. Not feeling much like spring...
 Here is another embroidery BOM I have been working on. It is called Let It Snow. I have half of the embroideries completed and started piecing the blocks today.
 I had several laughs because my teenager was learning how to drive a stick shift in our driveway this afternoon. The windows from my sewing room have an awesome view of the driveway. We borrowed a friend's old Jeep truck for her lesson. My hubby managed to show her the basics, vacate the truck, and then she just drove it in circles on our big driveway. She managed to use a quarter of a tank of gas. She may not have been able to drive to SLC, but she drove lots of circles! She has also been looking at cars online and has realized many of her favorites like Mini Coopers and VW Beetles are sticks, so she is determined to conquer driving one.
My April goals are:
1. Complete my Goodnight Irene blocks for the quilt along
2. Finish up the Let It Snow embroideries and piece its top
3. Make a tote bag for a swap on Flickr
4. Piece my top for the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2014
 
I think four goals are enough for me this month!

12 comments:

  1. That is a bummer especially when you have the vacation time planned before you get there! Your first stitchery is by an Australian Designer who does the cutest things. I have done another BOM by her that was called "The Simple Things" and I loved every month...enjoy the process I guarantee you will love the end quilt

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  2. Sorry to hear about your cancelled trip and you feeling unwell... hope all good now though!
    Love the projects you are working on too. :)

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  3. oh no, sorry to hear about your holiday being ruined.

    those blocks are gorgeous!

    I'm always amazed at how many American's can't "drive stick", (or, as we call it in England "drive"). We have to pass our tests in a manual car and I know very few people with an automatic. They're so boring to drive! I have a Mini, and yes, it has a gear stick!

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  4. Oh, Tanya! Sorry to hear you were hit with the flu bug and hope you are feeling better by now. Your first block of the Journey of a Quilter BOM looks fabulous! Looking forward to seeing your Let It Snow top completed.

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  5. It's always horrible when plans go awry - but at least you have that gorgeous BOM to look forward to!

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  6. It is my Spring Break, too, so I feel your pain! Sometimes I think we are so exhausted that we get sick when we finally have a chance to relax. I love your embroidery! Have been looking for an embroidery project to get started on.

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  7. Agh! Life a buh, but at least you've got some beautiful projects to brighten it up!

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  8. Beautiful work! Hope you feel better soon! Thanks for sharing! Marie (mlismore@optusnet.com.au)

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  9. UGH so sorry about your flu and cancelled trip :( The embroidery projects look wonderful!

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  10. I love your embroidery projects! It's been ages since I did any quilt embroidery, and you've made me long to get back to it. Thanks for inspiring me. Hope you get feeling better before your vacation ends and that your brother-in-law's chemo continues to go so well.

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  11. We have the same likes.... I just finished my "2nd" let it snow quilt. I did my first one a couple years ago and decided to make 1 for my daughter for this Christmas... I can't post it because she will see.
    Glad your feeling better... Just in time for work, :)
    Donna

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  12. I am so excited that you have started a journey quilt...you will just love it!

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