I'm just now starting to feel human again after battling my very fierce head and chest cold for over a week now.  I still don't have a lot of energy so I'm taking things slowly.  I am convinced there is a major design flaw when it comes to sinuses.
I've been letting my wonderful boyfriend take care of Lucy and Ethel so today was the first time I've gone out to feed/water them in over a week and look what I found!!!

We'd actually had to buy eggs a couple of times while the girls took a break due to the cold.  Let me tell you, I am tickled all sorts of pink to be back in with fresh eggs.  You can tell which one Ethel laid, she gives the speckled ones.  Is it bad that I want to add an Ameraucana or two to the mix?  They lay the colored "Easter eggs" that I just adore and they're so cute!  Don't tell my boyfriend though, he thinks two chickens is plenty... and he's probably right, we sometimes end up giving away eggs because they lay them faster then we use them in the warmer months, but still...
Living with a big field in my back yard means there is frequently something of interest going on.  Yesterday as I was making Chocolate Toffee Apple Scones I looked out back to see a parachute billowing in the wind. I ran for my camera, but this was the best I got

I'm pretty sure that they were just testing it and he wasn't actually a jumper, it seemed much to windy for that, but with no lines and no trees it's a good spot if you need a place to land.

I haven't made it back to my sewing room, but I've been keeping my hands busy with my drop spindle and this lovely Blue Faced Leicester wool that I've had for a while.  It reminds me of spring and sunshine.  Don't ask me what I plan to do with it once it's done, I've really no idea.

They're just the singles here but once I get the full 8oz. spun I'll ply them together.  I hope that I'll be back on track soon, I'm tired of feeling ill and I want to get back into my sewing room.

Love is Bliss Wall Hanging

I've not been very productive.  I've contracted my daughters head and chest cold and been more of a mind to stay in bed watching BBC shows on Netflix than doing any sewing.  If you enjoy a bit of British TV I recommend Doc Martin.  The best way to describe it is All Creatures Great and Small meets House.

I did manage to finish my wall hanging top which I'm calling Love is Bliss since I used a Bliss charm pack for this.  I think it turned out quite well and my kitty loves it.  I put it on the bed to show it to my boyfriend and not even half a minute later I got this.

 

All together now...Aaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

I'm sure you want to see the full thing. 

And a close up.  I used the larger prints in the charm pack for the whole blocks and the smaller prints for the HST's.  

Once I'm feeling better I'll figure out backing, quilting and binding.

Rainbow Challenge - Red

Oh my, we're only into the second month of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and I am already challenged!  I do not have any red scraps.  I had two 2" strips of a burgandy fabric with stars but other than that I was coming up completely dry.  So I went digging through my stash and found a beautiful red batik.  Then I came across this (does the happy dance)!  Add those and the rest of my Bliss charm pack and we have a plan!

Forgive my bedroom door, we've got a shortage of blank wall space at our house. 

It's coming together sew (as Madame Samm would say) beautifully, I'm super excited!

Bits & Pieces

I've been feeling a wee bit crafty, wanna see? 

I thought that we needed a touch of lovey colors about so I set myself to making some hearts to hang from the light fixture in our entry way.   I used this tutorial from Carol at A Path of Paper.  Hers are much nicer than mine, but they were fun to make. Then I added some cut out hearts to the mix

It's a craptastic picture but you get the idea. 

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Last night I decided to make another block from the Block-a-palooza Quilt Along.  I'm just doing the ones that apeal to me rather than all of them.  Call me picky but I like having a certain amount of continuity I may design a couple of my own blocks to replace those that I don't follow along on or just make duplicates of my favorites. 
This one is called Shoofly Geese by Sasikirana Handmade. 

Again, all fabric from my stash.  I'm going to keep the white of the geese as a constant.

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I decided to try my hand at collars for the animals, I used my embroidery function on my machine for the first time.  They turned out quite well but I forgot to take pictures of the cat collars.  I should because it's rather funny, I made the collars black with the letters in colored thread but I've no black elastic so they all looks quite priestly with their black collar with white front.  Especially Midnight since he's all black. 
Here is Baby with her collar so you can get an idea how they looked.I've blacked out my phone number since you don't need it. :)  Her name and my phone # repeat around the full diameter of the collar. The gems are just glued on so she'll probably scratch them off at some point but I think it turned out quite cute. 

Isn't my my BooberBear cute!!

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Earlier I brought out my big cutting mat so I could trim selvages.  I left for a moment and when I came back I found this...

Whatcha gonna do? *sigh*  I think I have a few other things I can work on for a while... 

What Do You Do When...

One of these show up at your door???

♥♥♥♥♥Let him in of course!!!♥♥♥♥♥

Creative Space

It may seem silly, but my most creative space is my bed.  I've done many a paper craft and jewelry project on my bed and nearly all my knitting and crochet is done here.  Here is my current project, just a K1P1 scarf from some Lion Brand Homespun that a friend sent me.  Love the colorway!

My other creative space is my ironing board.  Lots of laying out goes on here.  See my new book?  I won my first give away and Julie over at Sew Jewelry sent me a lovely prize that I'm having a wonderful time playing with. 

For more Creative Spaces visit kootoyou

Something Wonderful...

Arrived in my mail box.  

 

No Toulouse, "wonderful" not comfortable!  

Something Beautiful...

Yes, Berlioz, you are a beautiful, handsome kitty but I'm talking about something else.

Something Colorful...

 

Look at that center piece, can't you just see that on a bag!

Something Creative!

 

Can you guess which is mine? 

 

A huge thank you to Julie over at Sew Jewelry I won her Made it to 100 give away and she sent me this lovely book (which I used the moment it arrived) and yummy fabric!  (the tissue cover was made from my stash, the lovely fabric Julie sent is from the Soul Blossoms collection by Amy Butler.  Yummy big prints that are perfect for making...Bags!)