It has been a long time since I posted, but it isn't because I haven't been making anything. 8-) These shots are of my latest endeavors. I'll post other things as I come across them in my photo files.

I love making free-standing lace! Just completed are a few more of Sonia Showalter's beautiful Angels of Light. These are a bit more colorful than the ones in the past. It's too bad that a couple more were mailed yesterday to two women who are terminally ill with cancer; too bad on both counts. My heart grieves for the women who are suffering and their loved ones.

Gobbi got me stitching FSL earrings and these are some of the ones just completed last night. The flip-flops are to fulfill orders from friends at church. They are fun to make!

That's it for now. Gotta finish filing my county taxes. Bummer!

Fighting the Fog

Fibro-fog, that is. For some reason, I just can't get out of the horrible foggy feeling I have been in for months! About all my body wants to do is sleep. A person, me in particular, has trouble focusing on tasks, and just life in general. Please, Fog be Gone!!!

I can't remember the last thing I embroidered. It was probably something for one of the new babies in the family. I did do a cute duckie blanket for Liesel and Luke. Liesel's was done in January and Luke's in April. Here are the pictures:

Back at Christmas time I embroidered pineapples on an acorn table topper for the woman who has me put pineapples on something for one of her friends. I didn't think pineapples and acorns went together, but when I coordinated the thread colors, it didn't turn out too bad. Here are a couple of pictures:

That's all I have for now. As soon as the fog lifts, I have several projects I want to finish. 8-)

More Pineapple towels

I was asked again this year to embroider towels with pineapples. There was a bath mat and a set of washcloths as well. The pineapple design is from Embroidery Library and the writing is font 5 in Embird. This is not my favorite design to stitch due to all of the jump stitches that need to be trimmed in the dark brown spots on the pineapple. I am hoping that I won't be asked to do this again next year. 8-)

Currently I'm working on free-standing lace snowflakes to give as Christmas gifts. I'll post those as soon as I have pictures. FSL is absolutely my favorite form of machine embroidery!

Some of my latest projects

Time has flown and I hadn't realized that my latest projects haven't been posted. These pictures were sitting in my camera all this time!

For our last Project Linus Q-Bee, I finished up a few fleece blankets to take along. Since these blankets are fairly large, they usually go to older kids. With that in mind, I tried choosing designs aimed at this age group.

The R-W-B sailboat is one that was done for the first time. Our chapter has been very supportive of organizations that reach out to the children of our fallen and wounded warriors, so I like to do blankets sometimes with those children in mind. The design is from Embroidery Library. The dog design is from Stitch It Cheap, the Girls Rule is from SewTerrific, and I am not sure where I got the I Heart Music.

I also embroidered a cookie from Stitch It Cheap when our young friend Bruce was here. He found some dish towels I had in stock and wanted me to embroider something for him on one. Since he likes making chocolate chip cookies, we thought that was appropriate. It was the first time embroidering on microfiber for me. It turned out pretty nice, I think.

That's all for now. When I take pictures of some other things I finished, I'll upload them. This old brain forgot to grab the camera after the napkins I embroidered were finished. UGH!

A new venture--paper piecing!

While in my current slump, I decided to try getting some joy and interest in life back by signing up for Portuguese classes on Rosetta Stone and also to learn to do foundation piecing, a.k.a. paper piecing, with a Craftsy class. This old brain is trying desperately to absorb these new things, but it is taking a while for everything to click.

One would never know that I once taught an arthritis self-help course by the way I overdid it on Tuesday. I spent most of a morning ironing, which I HATE to do--too hard on the back and legs, and then worked for a few hours on top of that shredding zucchini & carrots and slicing up cucumbers and onions. Our little garden is supplying us with abundant produce! My body has been paying for that stupid mistake ever since. Why can't I remember what I taught others: PACE YOURSELF!!!

Here is a picture of my first attempt at paper piecing; it's not perfect, but I am satisfied.

Now it is on to finish up my next blocks--Sunflower, which I am hoping to hang on my kitchen wall. We'll see how that goes. 8-D

Baby Buddies Chucky Butty

I am way overdue with doing a gift for the little guy next door. Jackson is about six months old now and I just found this little cutie at All Stitch. I hope Jackson will love the little monkey as much as I do. 8-D

We have desperately tried to stay cool these past many hot and humid days with heat indices at 100 to 105 degrees and the dew point in the mid-70s. I haven't been stitching much, but I have been studying my Portuguese with Rosetta Stone. I'd truly like to be able to converse more freely with my friends in Brazil when I visit them the next time. Stay cool and safe, girlfriends!

More Hoodie Towels for Hannah

Here are two more towels for Hannah. It seems that all of her friends are becoming grandmothers and this seems to be her favorite gift. I plan to hand them off to her when we get together on Wednesday. It will be cheaper than shipping them. 8-) The design for Chase I adapted from a freebie I got on the Sew Forum from Hollypops.  I digitized Graham's name in Embird from a font called BaaBookHmKBold.

I have been going back and forth to doctors' appointments and having tests done in order to determine what is causing my ongoing headache and jaw pain of almost four months and the swelling and pain in my left wrist and hand. So far I have managed to stump three doctors! I have a CT scan scheduled for Monday morning, so perhaps we will get the head pain figured out after that. I can only hope and pray. Maybe then I can get back to being busy here in my sewing room again.