Sunny Days, Some Recent Features, and A New Linky Party

Today was gloriously sunny and warm, just the perfect kind of day to do some fabric shop hopping! While indulging in a bit (ok more than a bit!) of retail therapy, I also had the chance to get together with Sunni to make the ever important delivery of some 28 yards of lovely dotty-goodness. :) You see, over the weekend (which was also equally summery) I had the chance to pick up all of the fabric that Sunni and I ordered from Pink Chalk Fabrics for the Mystery Charm Swaps. Kathy was so sweet to meet me at the studio on a sunny Saturday, especially right before quilt market! I had the chance to chat with her a bit while also checking out the amazing shelves containing bolts and bolts of fabric and kona cottons for miles. It was impressive. :) Afterwards, my husband and I also had the opportunity to explore a few fun things while on Bainbridge Island (where Pink Chalk is located) including touring an organic distillery and eating lunch at a cool little diner.

 

This week, my blog and a couple recent projects have also been featured in few places. Yesterday the cool gals over at Stumbles and Stitches shared a list of some of the great blogs written by participants in the Feather Your Nest Contest. My embroidered owl pillow actually made the top 10 for the judged prize in this contest, and while I didn't win overall, I had a blast participating and getting to meet some new creative folks! You can read about some of the other participants and their blogs here.

Yesterday my hexi blocks from the Craftsy BOM were also featured on the Craftsy Quilting Club Facebook page. There is a whole community of quilters who stay connected there and share tips and encouragement along with some great quilting related links. I was glad to discover this page recently and also be featured!

Finally, my embroidered owl pillow was featured today, this time on the &Stitches blog. I was so excited to win a copy of the latest &Stitches e-zine after submitting my owl embroidery to their Flickr group. I love handwork, and &Stitches is great digital magazine that offers lots of tips and discussion around hand stitching, including a few free patterns in each issue. I am looking forward to stitching up a couple of my favorites soon.

Speaking of hand stitching, I also wanted to let you guys know about a great new linky party that starts this week. Katie, at There and Back, will be hosting a weekly Friday party, called the Handmade Parade, that will focus on celebrating handmade projects of all kinds. Here's what Katie has to say:

Lately in blogland I've seen more and more people embracing some type of hand stitching. Whether, it's quilting, applique, piecing or embroidery, there's a lot of it out there! At times it feels like those of us who hand stitch are stitching away in some dark corner of the internet where no one pays us much attention. I want to change all that by giving hand stitchers a place to find each other and show off what they've been working on! Who better to appreciate all your hand work than other hand stitchers?

I am so excited to be able to participate in this party and have a place to link up my embroidery and English-paper pieced endeavors! The first linky is this Friday, May 18th. You can swing by Katie's blog here for more info.