Lately – End of April, Early May

I am late with my ‘lately’ post.  Whoops!

You can read the last Lately post here.

I don’t like the weeks and months passing by in blurs, but sometimes it’s really hard to control.

But I’ve been taking moments and purposely making them slow.  Doing with my hands, very S L O W movements.  Most of it has been hand sewing and embroidery and I cannot go on enough about how much I’ve been enjoying that.  But during April we also went on a camping trip with our nieces.

We pitched a tent, cooked on outdoor grill, sat around a campfire (I even managed to make my cinnamon tea), and snuggled up under a sleeping bag.  One night I even woke to owls above us in the trees.  It was dreamy.  And slow.

I went slow biking, slow canoeing, and took many slow baths this month.

If you remember last month I said I wouldn’t start a novel until I finished the LOTR quilt, and I did that.  Then, I found myself in a book shop and came across a book I’ve wanted to read for awhile.

Maya Angelou’s I know Why The Caged Bird Sings.  I’m not quite half way yet through it, but I am enjoying it.

 

I’ve also been enjoying BlogLovin.  I am new to BlogLovin.  I tend to enjoy getting my favorite blog posts by email, but there has been a few that just don’t offer that and I can never remember to go to each site and read.  With BlogLovin, they take all my favorite blogs and keep me updated.  I just click an app on my IPad and boom!  There they all are in one place just like a newsfeed.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Paper Girl by Mary Fons – Mary writes about many things on her blog, but I love each and every little post.  I get a kick out of most of them and my day is not complete until I’ve read it.

Stitched in Color by Rachel Hauser – I have been reading this blog for several years now, but I love the new look of Rachel’s site.  And I really love pretty much all of the projects she takes on.  I’m also drawn to this one because of how personal it all is.

In Color Order by Jeni Baker – I have really read this blog for a very long time, maybe one of the very first blogs I read.  But I love Jeni’s voice.  When I had a subscription to Love Patchwork & Quilting, her article was my favorite in the whole magazine.  I don’t even know if she still does that article it’s been SO long since my subscription ended.

I don’t have any new music.  I can literally listen to the same stuff for years and be perfectly content.  But I have still been listening to Roots Revival on Spotify and my personal playlist called Lazy Days here.  I LOVE the Lazy Days playlist.  Many quilts have been stitched to those tunes.

I do have a few new podcasts.  I’ve been listening to The Vanished.  Please don’t listen to this one if you want to feel happy, as these are sad tales of missing people and their loved one’s trying to find them.  The podcast is trying to raise awareness about missing persons who the media did not focus on.

I do listen to Modern Sewciety religiously and I love the new atmosphere there.  If you are looking for something lighthearted and from one of our very own, discussing fabrics, sewing, quilting, and all the sewlebrities this is a good one.

If you have any recommendations for podcasts or music, PLEASE send them my way.  I can never have enough.

I got a lot of stitching done this month.  If you follow my blog, I know you can see what I’ve been quilting so I won’t go in to all my quilts all over again.  Instead, I’ll tell you what I’ve been working on behind the scenes and what might be coming up.

I’ve been embroidery on a daily basis.  We opened up our pool in April, and so embroidery is something I can do while I’m lounging out there by it.

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Another hand sewing project that I over the moon excited about is Pat Bravo & Mister Domestic’s EPP party.

This project is not on my list.  It is not planned.

However, when you see something that excites you, makes you smile, and warms your soul all up, you should DO IT.

If you have not watched all these amusing and lovely little videos, you completely should.

I used my Silhouette machine to cut all my hexie templates for the first block, so I didn’t have to spend any money.  I’m going to sew baste them, because I don’t have the glue and I enjoy that part anyway.  And I’m using all my 2.5″ scraps.  Which is good, because they are coming up out of their box and I really didn’t know what to do with them.

I have never English paper pieced.

So I’m gonna learn!

You can find all the videos here.  Fun!

I am still working on my Priscilla quilt.  Just very slowly.  But that is fine by me.  I’m enjoying looking at this one on my design wall all day, everyday.  So pretttttttty!

I have a tutorial for this block here.

I really wish someone was making this one with me, but so far I know of no other takers.

And finally, I went digging in a basket and found this little project from last year that I started.  It is literally covered in dust (I need to clean more!).  I’m not sure what the other cut pieces were for.  I did not write this one down.  I guess I was just playing with scraps.  As you can see it’s super scrappy!  It looks kinda cool though.  Dare I finish it?

XO, Melanie

P.S.  Remember the 30 day project from last Lately post?  I did start that.  I just didn’t get past day 4.