It's the third Friday of the month which means it's Friday Night Sew In (FNSI) with Wendy of Sugarlane Designs.

I'm working on my project for the Polar Bear Plunge blog hop with Moosestash Quilting next week. It looks to be another fun blog hop, hosted by Joan.

The directive for this hop was something to do with bears, blue or cold. I went down the blue direction with an improv piece.

As you're probably already aware, I do love hand stitching, so I've spent a little bit of time today (and will again tonight after I press that "publish" button) and big hand quilting stitches between the machine quilted lines. 

I'm using Aurifil 12wt cotton thread which gives really nice definition and texture to the project but isn't so thick (like a traditional perle 8 cotton) that it's tricky to thread the needle in the evening. Fellow glasses wearers - you'd know what I mean.

Pop over to Sugarlane Designs to see what everyone has been working on.

In other news, Charlie had his first visit to the groomers today and he was not a happy boy when he came home. I was reading about it and apparently dogs can come home from the groomers embarrassed after having their fur cut. Poor Charlie! If nothing else, he'll be much cooler through these warm summer days without his big fluffy coat.