Weekend News : :

What a wonderful weekend! Kevin and I took a little road trip down to Harrisburg for him to run the marathon. He had trained all Summer for the Erie Marathon back in September, but unfortunately tore a calf muscle during a long run just a few weeks before. He worked so hard to rehab and thankfully felt strong enough to run. Since he started running a few years ago he made qualifying for Boston his goal, and he did it!! It was amazing to see and we are all sooo proud! I shared lots of snapshots of our trip on my Instagram, which I especially love for special moments like this one!



Today, Haila is home with a cold, keeping me company while I play catch-up! Right now I'm having two sales -- A Wool Blend Felt sale with Coupon Code: FELT20OFF and if you mention with your order that you love scraps, I'll include a generous designer fabric scrap bundle with your order!



And, a Fox Pillow flash sale that ends tonight, with Coupon Code: SAVE5 for $5 off any Fox Pillow Cover and you'll receive a FREE pillow insert, too!! 

 
I wish you all a great start to your week!  ♥  Maureen 

You & Me Quilt

Yesterday morning I made an extra, extra long roll of binding in Denyse Schmidt's Complex Plaid in Maple and finished off another new quilt, with enough binding left for at least one more!



Of course I turned to that trick using the extension table that came with my Janome to neatly feed me my binding, I love that!!



All that red plaid against the navy parts of my quilt, along with the bright yellow Aurifil quilting, looks especially nice to me! I was a little nervous about the bright yellow at first, but I'm so glad I went for it!





We took a quick drive to the fields for this photo shoot, where lots of sunflowers, black eyed Susans, Queen Anne's Lace, Goldenrod and Vervain are in full flourish. It was so, SO beautiful!









This photo of the back of my quilt, with all that warm flannel, is one of my very favorites!





I had originally ordered the entire Shelburne Falls collection by Denyse Schmidt with a picnic quilt in mind. Once it arrived, I immediately sketched out my idea with no particular meaning behind my plan other than wanting to come up with a pattern that would showcase the three different palettes in this collection nicely. I did struggle there for a little while, but once things clicked this quilt became something very special to me, very quickly. While I worked away the plaid and various floral prints returned me to a very special memory of mine. Just a little more than twelve years ago, almost to this day, when I was just twenty years old, Kevin walked from his Mom's house on Main Street where he was staying, to my parents house out of town to see me, picking a few of each of the different wild flowers he found along his way. Wild flowers are my very favorite! That day he came to the door holding a bouquet for me, wearing a red and navy plaid shirt that he wore almost everyday back then, along with his sweet smile and adorable dimples, of course. That image of him is a permanent fixture in my mind and one I will always treasure. Like a beautiful song that seems written just for you, the mix of vintage-y florals with the stripes and plaid, along the colors and charm of this collection brought me back to those sentimental days. And so this quilt quickly became OURS. A special memory embraced in pieced together fabrics and lots of quilting stitches. An assemblage of wobbly pieces beautifully blended together to make OUR quilt, perfect. So, I'm calling this my You & Me Quilt and we both already love it so much!









Wishing you a nice start to your week!   ♥ Maureen

Be Back Soon : :

The last several days have been so full, I can hardly wrap my head around everything.

First, there's the wonderful! My husband ran the Buffalo Marathon a little more than a week ago and then another as part of an amazing relay team for our little town's God's Country Marathon this past Saturday. We are all so proud of him. There is no one who inspires me more than him!



Here he is on the cover of this year's brochure. This picture was taken at the finish line of his very first marathon, a year ago this past Saturday. Amazing, right?!



Now for the bad news... I actually haven't had the chance to sew a single stitch since last Thursday, when I finished my first little project for Janome. By today I had hoped to finish up all my orders, a few other projects, and maybe even my last quilt top. With a little embarrassment, I didn't even get my May bee blocks out the door.

For the last few weeks we had been pretty consumed with buying our first house. It can be such a challenge to keep something so huge private, especially when it's all you're thinking about. Unfortunately, as it turned out those dreams of picking paint colors and curtain making and all the things that flood your thoughts during the process, just weren't for this house. It's hard not to be a little disappointed, which I am, but it simply just wasn't meant to be.

Then this past Friday morning, the first day having all the kiddos home for Summer vacation, we found out that my husband's Gram passed away. We are headed out of town, so I'll be taking a blog break for at least tomorrow.

Thank you, as always, for taking time out of your own precious day to stop and say hello. I thank you and, I'll be back soon!  ♥ Maureen

Weekend Away : :

Thank you for all of your enthusiasm on this past weekend's giveaway, it was good one!

My husband and I had such a lovely weekend away, my goodness! It was such a wonderful break to celebrate and reflect on the first 10 years of our marriage! It really was magical!


He's a pretty good date, I have to say! It was so nice to just be together -- walking around, eating yummy food and visiting with the locals. Yes, we pretty much ate and drank our way around Lake George!  



Of course there was a little sewing, too! You'll either think I'm a really good Aunt or not so much -- but I had thought my nieces birthday was the 10th of May all month and then the morning we left I was reminded that it is this Wednesday, the 2nd. A special crown and simple quilted pillow were in order and had to be made by noon Saturday to make it to her in time. Thankfully my husband didn't mind, or notice, I'm pretty sure he was sleeping during all the making anyways. Hotel sewing = not too bad!



I had even planned to work on my Polaroid bee blocks, if the weather turned out to be nasty, but there just wasn't the time. The weather was sunny but cool, and so we made the most it. I am looking forward to finishing these up today!



Before you think I'm crazy for sewing on our little trip, my husband was just as bad! He ran in the Lake George Half Marathon on Sunday morning. I still can't believe how well he did considering how much fun and how little sleep we had both Friday and Saturday. He finished with a time of 1:29:52, came in 10th out of hundreds of runners and took 2nd in his age division. I'm always amazed by him and his attitude. He is truly the most inspiring person I know!



It's been an amazing 10 years. I can't wait to see how much more our love, connection and memories will grow in our next decade together!!

Wishing you all a wonderful start to another new week! ♥ Maureen

{this moment} : :

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

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