photo

this, that, and some more . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

The calendar has been full, full, full, but I've still been managing to daily get at least (at least) 15 minutes of time towards some aspect of stitching. It makes me so happy to be able to do this! I did manage to finish my bee quilt in time for the guild's "parade of mystery quilts" . . .

Not great pics, but I'm so in love with this layout ... it's very pleasing to my eye. I'll use this again, soon.

We had a great wrap-up of our mug rug swap, too . . .

It was fun to end the ...

added by Denise :) 3 weeks, 3 days ago. under bom , fabric , friends , grandchildren , guild , hospital sketches , hqh , mug rug , mystery quilt , photo , retreat , wool

a weekend of quiltiness . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

What a lovely weekend! It was filled with a lot of quiltiness. For one thing, I've been very diligent about getting in at least fifteen minutes of 'quilting' in each day. Whether it's hand-work or sewing or shopping or designing or organizing in the Nook ... I've been very successful in hitting my goal and actually exceeding it on most days, which is very exciting to me!

Thursday kicks off my weekend (we work four, ten-hour days), and Thursday evening I did a little more embroidery sketching and then spent some grand time with the girls!

This little ...

added by Denise :) 1 month, 1 week ago. under board member , fabric , granddaughters , guild , lake , lqs , mystery quilt , photo , quilt , shop hop

feeling sketchy . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

I like to doodle and draw and sketch. I'm not a great artist (by any stretch of the imagination), but I do enjoy taking pencil to paper and sketching things out. After finishing up the bike and the squirrel stitcheries (which, let me be clear, were transfers I purchased), I decided I wanted some more autumn-ish designs to stitch out.

So I started scribbling . . .

My struggle in converting a 'doodle' to a pattern for a stitchery is that I have a hard time with clean lines! But it was fun to spend time on them and I feel confident ...

added by Denise :) 1 month, 1 week ago. under autumn , doodle , draw , embroidery , monogram , patterns , photo , sketch , stitchery

hitting re-set . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

My blogging missed all of June ... and a good portion of July. And would be about 1,000 pictures long if I tried to catch up at this point. Sometimes you just need a reset.

Welcome to my "re-set" post . . . Who am I kidding? I'll try to keep the pics to a minimum.

Life is going well. Busy, but good. I'm sleeping better (thanks to the second shoulder surgery I had in February ... which should hit full healing in about seven weeks) which makes such an amazing difference to quality of life!

Got a hair cut this past ...

added by Denise :) 2 months ago. under anniversary , granddaughters , guild , handwork , photo , quilt , teach , travel , vacation

i've fallen . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

. . . and I can't get back up on the proverbial blogging horse!

I hesitated using that title since I have had shoulder surgery recently and didn't want to alarm anyone, but every time I went to start a post, that commercial went through my mind. But I also couldn't bear to put a pic of a woman sprawled out on the floor at her most vulnerable hour of need (I know, I know, it's a paid actress). Besides, the turtles are starting to show themselves in the sanctuary ... hibernation time is ending!

We've even found a ...

added by Denise :) 5 months, 2 weeks ago. under boat , lake , mug rug , photo , shoulder surgery , turtle , turtle sanctuary

touching base . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

Greetings! Just checking in real briefly to update my shoulder progress . . .

Which, all things considered, is going extremely well! I'm very pleased, as are my PT gurus and my doc. What I need to be careful of is not getting ahead of myself; I feel so good I want to do things it's not time to do yet. Yikes!

And to say Happy National Quilting Day! I'm totally bummed that I'm not ready to do any quilting (or stitching of any kind, for that matter--typing is exhausting enough), but when I googled "national quilting day", I ...

added by Denise :) 6 months, 1 week ago. under embroidery , national quilting day , photo , recovery , shoulder surgery , tea , wool

christmas ornament swap . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

Greetings!! It's been so CRAZY! I love this season so very much, but it is time consuming, ya' know?!?

Stephanie, over at The Enchanting Rose, hosted a sweet ornament exchange this year, and I participated in it! I was gifted to by Deb, a non-blogger, who took some time to get to know me (via my blog) and really found the perfect little ornament for my tree . . .

Isn't that precious?! A s'more snowman! Just perfect for me! In addition, she added some fun little happies to go with the ornament:

What a happy package!

I had the ...

added by Denise :) 9 months ago. under christmas , decorating , granddaughters , grandson , handwork , homemade , nutcracker , ornament , photo , rv , swap , wool

pick a pumpkin winner . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

I ~~PROMISE~~ am almost sure that this will be the last post that begins with "pick a pumpkin" . . . at least for another year!! It was a nice solid run of seven. :)

I had the random number generator do my dirty work and it pulled number 36. Congratulations to Karen of Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats! Karen, I'll send you an email to get your particulars. :)

So I did bake a batch of those Ginger Spice Cookies I blogged about yesterday. Oh they are SO good!

I like the ones rolled in the chunky colored sugar best . . .

Isn't that ...

added by Denise :) 10 months, 1 week ago. under cookie , ginger cookie , giveaway , hexie , photo , pick a pumpkin blog hop , slow stitching , sugar , veteran , veteran's day , winner

pick a pumpkin baking . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

You'd think I'd be tired of if by now, but I'm not. Yesterday I closed my post talking about seasonal baking. I thought it might be fun to share the recipes of two of my very most favorite homemade autumn treats. Cheesecake Brownies is the first -- a recipe that I found in Country Living magazine in 2007, and Ginger Spice Cookies -- a recipe I found compliments of Bon Appétit in 2000 (found on epicurious's site, link below) and is my absolute FAVE ginger cookie, perfect with a cup of tea.

Cheesecake Brownies (click to go to ...

added by Denise :) 10 months, 1 week ago. under baking , brownie , ginger cookie , photo , pick a pumpkin blog hop , pumpkin , recipes

pick a pumpkin outtakes . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

Bet you didn't expect to see that in a blog post title today! But I thought it might be kinda fun. I shared the final projects on my Pick a Pumpkin day (which included a giftaway!) . . .

But you didn't get to see the *process*.

I shared that originally I was just going to do the valance and added the placemats on the spur. But that's not quite true. Originally _first_ I'd thought to do a wall-hanging . . .

Designed it in EQ and everything. Not sure what changed my mind, but it was after I'd done the ...

added by Denise :) 10 months, 2 weeks ago. under autumn , book , jokes , neesey's nook , outtakes , photo , pick a pumpkin blog hop , process , pumpkin , recipes

pick a pumpkin; day four . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

Did you see my Pick a Pumpkin post yesterday? Have mercy, I sure hope so! Click here if you missed it and the GIFTAWAY! For that matter, if you missed my postings on Day 1 or Day 2, feel free to go back and check those out, too!

Today is the final day of the hop -- Day Four - and here's the lineup of blogs to check out today:

Creatin' in the Sticks

I'm going four for four on the ...

added by Denise :) 10 months, 2 weeks ago. under book , jokes , photo , pick a pumpkin blog hop , pumpkin , recipes

pick a pumpkin; day two . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

Were you able to check out all of yesterday's participants in the Pick a Pumpkin Blog Hop? Such creativity!

Today is Day Two and there's a whole new set of blogs to check out today:

Life in the Scrapatch

Clever Chameleon

Songbird Designs

Kathy's Kwilts and More

VroomansQuilts

Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Super Mom No Cape

Quarter Inch Crafter

I found another Kindle freebie to share with y'all today, too. (Aren't I nice?) Simple & Easy Pumpkin Drink Recipes by Hannie P. Scott. I've gotten a number of her cookbooks and they're fun ...

added by Denise :) 10 months, 2 weeks ago. under book , jokes , photo , pick a pumpkin blog hop , pumpkin , recipe

early darkness . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

Daylight savings time ends tonight! To that end, this cartoon made me laugh, laugh, laugh!

It's funny ... but it's also very true, no? Be sure you turn your clocks back ... and enjoy that extra hour of sleep in the morning! It's a little ironic to me that we get that extra hour of sleep on the morning that sun rises an hour earlier. Why can't we get it right?! LOL!

The girls were SO cute as the fairies from Sleeping Beauty!

Aren't they just precious?! Of course, they were the tip of the iceberg . . .

Jason ...

added by Denise :) 10 months, 2 weeks ago. under christmas , christmas tree , costume , family , granddaughters , guild , halloween , mug rug , photo , slow stitching , snowman

pick a pumpkin blog hop schedule . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

Here' the schedule for the upcoming Pick a Pumpkin Blog Hop:

Monday, November 5th

MooseStash Quilting

QuiltFabrication

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Tuesday, November 6th

Life in the Scrapatch

Clever Chameleon

Songbird Designs

Kathy's Kwilts and More

VroomansQuilts

Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Super Mom No Cape

Quarter Inch Crafter

Wednesday, November 7th

Adventurous Applique and Quilting

Beaquilter

Thursday, November 8th

selina quilts

Seams To Be Sew

That ...

added by Denise :) 10 months, 3 weeks ago. under blog hop , photo , pick a pumpkin blog hop

busyness et al. . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

It has been a busy month, which makes me feel a little justified in the huge gap between my last post and this one. Of course, this is the (so called) blogger who skipped out on blogging from December 2017 through May 2018. What's 26 days?!? LOL!

But I realized I need to get on in here and plug the upcoming blog hop I'm participating in! I'm so excited . . . and if you know me at all, when you see what it is, you'll know why!

It's the Pick a Pumpkin Blog Hop! It kicks off ...

added by Denise :) 10 months, 3 weeks ago. under autumn , birthday , costumes , grandchildren , guild , halloween , handwork , hexies , mug rug , photo , pick a pumpkin blog hop , pumpkins , sewing , slow stitching

Preparing Supper for Sheila from Life as a Quilter -- Julia Graber

From an old photo of my Mother peeling potatoes while my next younger sister Sheila watches with her dolly ...

... I tweaked it with a photo filter and printed it on fabric and ...

... and quilted it for a piece of fiber art. Sheila is delighted!

Preparing Supper -- 8"X11"

Linking to Nina Maria's "Off the Wall Friday."

added by Julia Graber 11 months, 1 week ago. under art quilt , fiber art , my mother , photo , photo editor , preparing supper , sheila

crazy cubed . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

I had every intention of posting over the weekend, but life is crazy and work is crazy and our weekend was crazy (with Boy Scouts, Disaster Relief training and church picnics all at the camp). Even so, I had time to do a little fall baking on Saturday . . .

I saw a recipe for and Apple, Honey and Brie Crostata in the current issue of Southern Lady and decided to give it a go.

It was very good with a cup of spiced tea as an afternoon snack!

I got some autumnal decorations out, too . . .

You know it's October when ...

added by Denise :) 11 months, 3 weeks ago. under baking , birthday , granddaughter , hexies , october , photo , presents , pumpkin , rv

weekend wanderings . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

Busy weekends and busier weeks (gearing up for our annual meeting at work) make for longer gaps between posts. But I am pleased to note that I've surpassed last year's number of posts by five, with this post. It's the little things, right??!

Todd and I did make time to take the boat out this past Friday. It was the first time I'd been out on our boat since prior to the surgery. I'd missed it ... but I was a little anxious about it, too. Turns out I had nothing to worry about . . . except how ...

added by Denise :) 12 months ago. under boat , epp , fish , friday , handwork , help , hexies , lake , photo , slow stitching , wildlife

bloggers quilt festival: ellie's quilt from Count it *all* JOY!

Greetings! It's been a LONG time since I participated in the Blogger's Quilt Festival (hosted by Amy's Creative Side), but I decided this was a new day of the week, and it would be fitting to get back into the swing of things . . . so here goes!

I went back to 2012 for today's offering. It was the year my dear little dolly, Ellie was born. My firstborn's second born. Her firstborn, Everett, was born to heaven the previous year. I'd made a sweet little owl quilt for him . . . but for Ellie, I couldn't ...

added by Denise :) 1 year ago. under blogger's quilt festival , ellie , grandchildren , hand-quilt , hearts , photo , quilt

stitchers in the wild . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

The week finally settled down (personally) a bit. Of course, with September here, things at the Camp are in full swing! We had three different groups scheduled over the weekend! The first was a big senior adult group that hadn't been up here in many years. They invited us to eat with them, so we spent time with that group. The next group was an overnight children's event -- this group frequents the camp, so no hand-holding required. The third group was . . .

Gals from my Stitcher's Etc. group!! (Doing the obligatory group shot with the Camp MACOBA sign--we ...

added by Denise :) 1 year ago. under camp , camp macoba , handwork , neesey's nook , photo , picnic , slow stitching , stitcher's group

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