Hot Sunday Hand Sewing

It's definitely summer here in Upstate NY. We're having temperatures in the high 80's. That's out of my comfort zone for outdoor activities so I decided to spend my Sunday working on some hand sewing projects.

First up was this cute kit I ordered from Alicia Paulson's web shop.

 If you've never visited her blog, you need to head over there right now! She is the most amazing photographer - she makes the everyday seem spectacular. On top of that, she's a fantastic designer of felt and embroidered projects. She recently released a set of patterns and kits for stuffed animals - complete with Liberty of London clothing and hand knitted accessories.

 I started with something quick and easy and embroidered and put together the dark purple boots.  I love them!

 In the afternoon I worked on hand sewing the binding on and embellishing a new July mini quilt that I'll show you later this week.

I'm linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Head on over to see what others are working on today.

With the knee replacements, I'm not able to kneel to garden anymore so the hubs suggested a raised bed vegetable planter. We considered wooden beds, but decided we should have something more permanent. We ended up designing a stone planter and hired a mason to pour a foundation and cut and install the capstones. Over the last week, hubs built the walls with a tiny bit of help from me (I brushed dirt off the stones and squeezed out the adhesive). Then we added 50 bags of soil and manure to fill it up before finally adding the plants. We love the finished planter and the height is perfect to sit on the edge and work in the garden.