Christmas update

I didn't follow through with my plan to get busy on my post-Christmas post right away. Part of the problem was that I didn't have pictures of one of the projects and had to wait until after the package was opened. I know, lame excuse, but it is what it is!


When the box that went to my sister's house was opened this little quilt was near the top...

I made a block like the inner block for one of the Quilt Block Exchanges and thought about how cool a Blue Willow quilt could be. Since my sister collects things that are blue and white I thought it would be a perfect Christmas gift. Not sure exactly how she is going to hang it but that isn't my problem! :-)

Further down in the box were these 4 quilts. 

You have seen them all as flimsies but not the finished quilts. These are my sister's 4 kids who received the finished products. I used hi-loft batting and did minimal machine quilting and tying to hold them together but keep them fluffy. 


My niece, Brita (third from left), did some pressing on her quilt while I was working on it at the quilt retreat and her sister, Katie (next to her), has helped me put together many quilts from this pattern. She got the one that was put together, shall we say, unconventionally, as that tends to happen at least once in every quilt we put together!


The little minis that I showed in the last post all went to good homes. I am sure I will make more of those!

We had a quiet Christmas at home with our son and his little maltese, Mandu. Here she is on my lap at the sewing machine. It seemed that whenever she found me sewing she had to come on my lap. I was working on those little minis so I didn't sit for long at a time!

Mandu is a little over a year old and a bundle of energy! Mostly Lucy just ignored her unless she accidently bounced on her or something!

On the morning of the 26th we all headed across the state to our oldest daughter's house. Enjoyed opening presents with the grandkids and then I drove about an hour and picked up my second daughter's husband from the trucking terminal so he could spend the night with us. We arrived home in time for dinner with my sister, brother-in-law, and two of their kids included. Daughter #2 arrived a while after dinner. Let's just say that house was very full with 11 adults, 2 excited children, 1 large dog, two small dogs and a cat!

We spent the next few days playing with the grandkids, painting the downstairs bathroom (it has been in the remodel process for quite some time), eating and visiting. Thursday we did some shopping and ended up at daughter #2's home for the night. Yesterday morning, after breakfast at a truck stop with our daughter (she had just dropped her hubby off at his truck for a run to Chicago), we headed back home. 

We got the car unloaded and bags unpacked and that is about it for last night! Today is the day for laundry and getting the house a little more organized again!

I hope everyone has enjoyed the holiday season and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I think the 5 weeks or so that it has been since my last post is the longest I have gone without posting. Life has been crazy with only a little sewing and most of it not 'post-worthy'.


The church is all put back together after the water damage in September and the rental is ready for new tenants so those jobs are off my plate.


All Christmas sewing is finished and will be revealed after Christmas. Christmas shopping is done and everything is wrapped. I haven't done much baking/cooking for the holiday. Mainly because of food allergies/sensitivities. Hard to make most holiday treats without cane sugar or dairy! I will make a couple things today though - peanut butter fudge and creamsicle fudge. Yesterday was lefse day - we got around the dairy thing by using soy milk and vegan 'butter' for some of them.


I have been working on owl hats recently but didn't get pictures taken. These are some I had on hand.

I got several requests for hats in the last month or so. If anyone is interested in one or more, let me know. I am charging $10 and all of the money goes to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

These little cuties have been a last minute project. 

I saw the paper pieced patterns on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville blog on Monday and decided to make some for my crafty friends at Tuesday Night Craft Night so on Tuesday I got 4 ornaments made (finished the last one minutes before I headed over). They turned out so nicely I made these yesterday after the lefse cooking party. They are 4" paper pieced blocks that I backed with a piece of flannel and bound, adding the ribbon while sewing the binding on. I am thinking it would be fun to make a bunch of these using  green for the background and then put them together for a Christmas Tree quilt. Maybe next year - yeah, right!

I finally got all the frogs made for the baby quilts so I have 5 quilts waiting for borders and four need quilting. That will be right after Christmas and then on to the girl baby quilt. All 5 of the babies I am making quilts for have been born and there are 4 boys and 1 girl. I have had the honor of holding two of them so far. Hope I get a chance someday to hold the other three!

As soon as those baby quilts are done I will get started on the drawing quilt for Relay for Life. The theme is "The Magic of Relay" so I am thinking a Harry Potter themed quilt. There are some great paper-piecing patterns out there.

I am going to get started on my post about the Christmas projects right away so I can post it as soon as the gifts are opened. 

Hope everyone has an Amazing Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever holiday you celebrate! 

It's a Shower Curtain!

Yesterday morning I put the grommets in the shower curtain, hung it on the wall for a quick picture,

 and then hung it in the bathroom in its rightful place.

Unfortunately, the bathroom isn't big enough to get a very good picture but I think it is great!


Today I am doing painting at the church's rental and if I have energy left this afternoon I will work on some frogs!

"Mahusive Giveaway"

Just a quick post to let you all know about a giveaway over at Lily's Quilts. If you like Kona solids this giveaway is for you! She is also posting gift ideas for quilters so you can send the link to your friends and family and they know what you might be looking for under the tree or in your stocking.


I am heading in to put the grommets on the shower curtain and then I can post pictures!

Sixteen Dancing Bullfrogs

Here is the first quilt top before borders. I managed to get the last four frogs done this morning and got the blocks all together.

I was in a hurry to get to an appointment once it was done though so I only managed this shot of it hanging on the ironing board. 


After taking care of all those things that keep me from my sewing room I got the borders sewn on the shower curtain and got the sheet I am using for the back prepared to lay it out tomorrow when I am fresh. I would love to have that project off my list tomorrow!


This evening I will do some work on the bindings on two quilts of my niece's that she quilted this weekend on my machine. She quilted a total of 6 and I think she has a couple of others at home that need the bindings hand-stitched also so I figured I would help her out with these two.

Frog-stitch

Almost a whole week since my last post! So much has been happening but not much to show. 

In the bathroom we now have the toilet paper holder and towel ring installed. I also picked up a toothbrush holder, soap dispenser and shower curtain hooks. The new shower caddy got installed today so we can start using that shower again. I did find a border fabric for the shower curtain and grommets but I haven't gotten it finished. That is on the list for this week, for sure! Hubby got the main body of the new medicine cabinet made and at least one coat of finish on it over the weekend. Maybe I will have some pictures for my next post.

On Friday I decided I was going to roast and shell all of the chestnuts I picked up in the yard. My soup recipe calls for 1# and I had 10#! It took me 9 hours to get them all done and my thumbs were so sore! But the soup was delicious and I have soup and more chestnuts in the freezer because of all my work!

I have done a lot of fabric shopping this week. Besides the shower curtain border fabric I was hunting for background fabrics for the baby quilts I need to get made. Do you know how hard it is to find two blue fabrics - a light and a medium - that go together? And you don't want to buy one at one shop and hope you find the second at another shop so you drive all over!!!!! I did finally get suitable fabrics and also got all the frogs cut out. I am using a pattern called Bullfrog Boogie from Time To Quilt. Today I cut out backgrounds for the first quilt and started sewing the frogs. I had finished my 3rd set of 4 frogs when I discovered I hadn't put the last 4 together right so I had to do some 'frog-stitching' (you know, rip-it, rip-it) and put them back together the right way. Luckily, it was only 4 seams per block. What do you think of the first 12 blocks?

The eyes will be appliqued later using some method. Not sure if it will be yo-yos or just circles appliqued. I plan to get this tip finished tomorrow morning and then I will probably finish up the shower curtain and then get busy with the next 4 frog quilts. I need to make quilts for 5 babies - 4 boys and one unknown. I will make 5 frog quilts and one butterfly quilt and I should have it covered.

Pleased

It has been a good day. I accomplished what I hoped for and managed to get a few other things done too!

First and foremost I got the main body of the shower curtain put together. What do you think? It still needs a dark blue border but I don't have that fabric yet. 

Here it is pinned to the shower liner. (It is so hard to get a good angle in this bathroom!)

My husband isn't too sure about it because 'nothing stands out' which is great because that was the plan!


In addition, I managed to get two loads of laundry washed, dried and folded! This evening we got the new door inserted into its pocket, the trim on that little section between the tub and the cupboard and I sorted through the junk that was in the old vanity and loaded into the new one.

Weekend Wrap-up

I did scrub the tub and floor but the tub is going to need something stronger to get it clean. You know, that dried on film that just doesn't want to come off. Got some product for that problem so I will head back in there tomorrow.


Meanwhile, we got the vanity moved back in, the tank back on the commode, a fancy new seat that doesn't slam shut and has a removable potty training seat, the shower curtain rod up and new switches and outlets. I also got the new door painted and Hubby has gotten started on the new medicine cabinet.


I did a little shopping on Friday and found a few more batiks to go with the ones I had.

The one on the bottom is the background. I didn't find a dark blue for the border so I will have to do some more shopping I guess. Oh darn! The fabrics went in the washer Friday afternoon and on Saturday I got all the cutting done and started on the sewing.


After church today, I raked up the first trailer load of leaves from the yard and tidied the house a bit before a lovely visit with a good friend I haven't seen for a couple of years. She is one of those friends that even though you don't see them for long periods of time you can pick up right where you left off. The visit was too short and makes me want to go spend some time in Virginia!


When I got home I did a bit more sewing and now I have these little piles waiting for me on the sewing machine to get started with tomorrow.

Painting done

At least the wall painting. There will be a good bit of trim to do yet but first the trim needs to be purchased and cut. There are also two doors, one of which is a special order so we won't have it for a couple of weeks. Today I 'get' to scrub the tub/enclosure and the floor. Then either this evening or tomorrow we will start putting things back in. 

Yesterday evening Hubby and I went shopping for accessories for the bathroom. We got the toilet paper holder, towel holder, shower curtain bar, hooks for on the door, light switches and outlets and their respective covers, and various other things. We also bought one of the doors and ordered the other.

The other night as I was working on falling asleep I had an epiphany. I was thinking about the bathroom (as if there is something else to think about around here right now) and I realized I could have the perfect fabrics to make a shower curtain. The batiks my 2nd daughter brought me from Alaska for my birthday a couple of years ago. The next day I pulled them out of their hiding place along with the other batiks I bought to go with them and held them against the new paint and it works! Here are the fabrics I have.

So then it was down to what pattern to use. I have been looking for the right pattern as it needs to have some bigger squares to highlight the salmon on the two fabrics from my daughter. Anyway, I went to my quilt guild meeting on Wednesday evening and for the first time ever, I won a door prize. It was Atkinson Designs Slide Show pattern. The large squares are cut 8" which should be great for the salmon. I drew out the pattern on the computer last night and colored it in as well as I could using the colors available.

I think it is going to work out well. I do need to get a fabric to use for the background and border. I think the background might be a kind of medium batik and I might get a couple more batiks to add in there. Darn, I guess I have to go shopping!


Anyway, as I said, I need to do some scrubbing so I guess I had better get busy!

So Revealing!

What a fun evening! Lots of laughing and catching up and the quilts were awesome. 

Once everyone was there and settled in, we drew numbers to see what order the quilts would be revealed. I was lucky because Linnea drew #1. I headed out of the room while Linnea hung my quilt on the wall. Look at what I came in and saw on the wall! The colors are perfect for my living room and each of those circles is machine sewn into their respective cut-out. I need to find out more about how she did that!

Next up was Nadine. She made this quilt for Linnea, her sister. 

She is a bit of an over-achiever and had this quilt done in February! Nadine was a little stressed for the past couple of months while Linnea was working on my quilt. Linnea evidently (I wasn't allowed to know) was going on and on about not liking appliqued circles and Nadine was sure Linnea wouldn't like her quilt so she was considering making another quilt for her! In the end she didn't and here you can see Linnea examining these circles. She loved her quilt!


Next up was Sally who made a quilt for her best friend, Nadine. She bought a kit a few years back thinking that it would be perfect for Nadine so this was the perfect opportunity to use it.

I think she liked it, don't you?


I had drawn #4 so Sally headed out of the room for a few minutes while this went up on the wall. 

She had requested neutrals with maybe a little color. I bought a huge pile of neutrals and found this pattern in Scrap Basket Surprises by Kim Brackett. It is called Snail Takes a Detour and is an adaption of the traditional Snail's Trail block. I had the center done and started looking for a border fabric that worked and suited Sally. I was fabric shopping with my niece, Katie, in June and found this mushroom fabric. It was just perfect - the right colors and Sally and her husband, Jay, are avid mushroom hunters.


Next up was Mary. She made this quilt for Cindy. 

Cindy asked for brights and this is definitely bright! Mary didn't get the quilt finished for last night but the top is done and she has a great backing fabric so it should be done soon. I think she deserves a break though since she designed this one herself and it has 529 3.5" squares separated by black strips. Each piece was sewn individually! Cindy was so happy with this one!


Finally, it was Cindy's turn to hang her quilt for Mary. Mary asked for red and white and this is just stunning!

Cindy did such a great job on this! The points are all perfect! I also love how she added smaller blocks for the border corners.


After delicious treats, we drew names for this next year. We will be celebrating our reveal on November 12 next year and I will be making a quilt for Nadine this time. Not sure what it will be but she did say she likes red or purple and has always wanted a quilt with blue bear paws. It has given me some ideas but that one will have to wait till after the new year!


Today my goal is to get two coats of paint on the bathroom walls. Yesterday I did the spray on texture and primer so I am good to go first thing today!

All was revealed

Only 8 of us were able to be at the reveal but all the blocks were there. It was so much fun watching the blocks going up on the wall  and trying to figure out which ones we each made. 

Here are the blocks I got to take home with me!

My plan a year ago was to use the blocks for place mats but as the blocks went up on the wall I was thinking quilt! Now I just have to get some other projects finished so I can work on it! You can see the rest of the group's blocks on flickr.

Two who will be joining the group for next year were with us on Saturday and we started passing around next year's packets. It is going to be interesting and fun this coming year!


Tomorrow evening is our local quilt exchange reveal at my neighbor's. I am excited to see what my quilt will be like! I guess I had better finish the label on Sally's quilt or I won't have anything to trade! 

Preparing

Getting things ready for the trip to my sister's for our quilt block exchange reveal on Saturday. I will have a series of pictures of everyone's blocks after Saturday but today I can share my plan for the next round robin. You see, not only will we see all of our blocks from the last reveal but we will also be starting our next round robin.

This past year there were 10 in our group and we each chose a 'layer cake' and then everyone made 2 blocks for each person using those fabrics as the packets were sent around over the months.

This year we are each supposed to provide the background pieces for 12.5" Sawtooth Star blocks. We can also provide the star points if we want to. Then we choose what colors/style/theme we want for the center squares. I decided that I want 6 blocks with black star points and whites for the backgrounds and 6 blocks with whites for star points and blacks for the backgrounds so I got those all cut up and put into little bags as sets. Then I had to decide on the centers. I had been thinking brights as I planned and then when I pulled fabrics I found the bright rainbow-y stripe that I used for the grandkids' quilts this summer. I used that in my block along with some pink, green, blue and orange. It turned out pretty cool

until I went to add the star points and discovered that my block was 6.75" instead of 6.5". Instead of tearing it apart to try to make it smaller I decided to just make a different block. I think I like the new one better anyway!

Here is what the first one would have looked like with the points and background.

I haven't decided if I will end up ripping this block to make it the right size or not. That decisions will probably be made when I get all the blocks back and see if I want to make more blocks.


I am sending the striped fabric along also for people to use in their blocks if they so desire. I am also asking that the leftover triangles from the flying geese units be returned so I can use them as I put the quilt together. I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up getting other leftover triangles from this project also! Somehow I have gotten the reputation as the person who will take that sort of thing and use it!

Last one done!

Yes, I finished the last of the 5 Christmas quilt tops.

I also stopped and got some flannel to use for the back and it is currently in the washer. 


I am hoping to get the last bits of Christmas fabrics put away so I can take care of some other projects before I head out for the quilt reveal this weekend. 


The walls and the ceiling of the bathroom are clean and the holes are patched. Tomorrow I should get the sanding done and get things primed so I can do the spray on texture and get the painting done. 


I am already tired of using the laundry/bathroom for showers, etc.  after just two days!

Quilt Show Part 2 plus some

I spent last Friday in the sewing room. I got two comfort quilts basted and quilted. I even had one of the bindings finished before I headed for bed. Friday evening we went out for 'date night' and also picked up the paint for the bathroom. 


Saturday I spent several hours at the quilt show. I arrived in time for my first job only to find out I was told the wrong time so I had my hour to look at the quilts, check out the venders and take pictures at the beginning. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and had to use my phone so the pictures are not the best. I mostly took pictures for future inspiration. Here are some of my favorites.

To see the rest of the pictures you can go to Flickr.


I had fun working at the show. I was one of the quilt turners. There were about 20 or more quilts laid out on a bed and as one guild member told the story of each of the quilts another member and I folded them back so the next quilt was revealed. Then I had to hustle over to the raffle table. It was fun talking with the guests as they were filling out their raffle tickets. I really enjoyed getting to know some of my fellow guild members a little. 


I was back at the quilt show as it closed on Sunday afternoon to help take down the quilts and the hangers. It is amazing how fast things come down when you have a huge crew helping. 


Today I spent the day on the road with Hubby fixing appliances or at least watching him fix them since he had an appointment this morning with the eye doctor and had his eyes dilated. This evening I got a little closer to finishing the last of the 5 Christmas quilt tops. I really hope I can finish tomorrow so the Christmas fabric can be put away for a while!


I really need to get some other projects finished like baby quilts, the label on Sally's quilt (the reveal is a week from tomorrow!) and my block for the next round robin - Saturday is the reveal for this past year's round robin and the beginning of the next.

Guild Quilt Show Part 1

But first, a bathroom redo update. The night before last Hubby got the bathroom sink drain all hooked up and it works! Last night he finished the rest of the cabinet work so today I can start loading it up so the drawers from the old vanity can get out of the guest room. He has some other ideas about customization but those will wait. We are pretty sure about paint color but today I will paint a larger area and do two coats of our favorite so we can be sure.

Yesterday morning I headed out to the fairgrounds to deliver my quilts (no one ever called me to drop off their quilts) and help with setting up the show. 

The first job was laying out all the quilt stands and getting them hooked together. At one point we had to call in everyone so we could move one section with one person for each upright. Wish I had a video of that to post! Once things were set-up and straight we started distributing the quilts to their spots. We had great maps but it was so easy to get turned around!

Then the quilts started going up. There are spots for 12 extra long quilts (over 90") and my Out of the Darkness quilt was chosen for one of those spots. The funny thing is, someone else made one from the same pattern and the plan had them hanging back to back but as we were hanging them we made an executive decision to have them hanging side by side for comparison. Here they are:

Mine is the one on the right. The main difference is that she hand-quilted hers and I had mine machine quilted by my friend Deb Barth in Montana.


We had about half of the quilts hung by lunch time and after a quick break for a delicious box lunch we headed back to the quilts and finished the hanging. As the quilts went up it was hard for all of us to stay focused on hanging and not stop to examine the quilts!


Once things were up there were some adjustments. There were also about 4 quilts that never showed up for hanging so we found Community Quilts (charity quilts) to hang in their places. A last check for extra poles or empty bags, etc. and we were done.


There are a lot of great quilts in the show and I will be bringing my camera tomorrow when I will be there to do a couple of volunteer shifts. I definitely need pictures of a couple of great scrap quilts.

Installation

I don't know what happened yesterday but I didn't ever make it into the sewing room! I did get the garden roto-tilled one more time and finished the mowing so if I don't get those jobs done again this year it should be okay!


I did get the hanging sleeve sewn on the largest of the quilts for the show. I need to finish up the last two today since they need to be at the show tomorrow am between 8 and 9. I got a call from the guild member in charge of volunteers for the show and I am now signed up to help set-up the show tomorrow and then on Saturday I will be turning quilts (not sure exactly what that means) for 1/2 hour and selling raffle tickets for two hours. Then I think on Sunday I have to pick up the quilts again.


My husband had a slow day at work yesterday so he went to work on the plumbing and cabinet adjustments and by evening the new vanity was in place.

Now it isn't totally ready to go. The water is hooked up but Hubby didn't have ABS cement so the drain isn't finished. The top drawer needs one of its rails reattached and the vanity also isn't attached to the wall and the sink isn't attached to the vanity so that we can pull it out when I paint. We haven't been able to find a hickory medicine cabinet, just a mirror so hubby might replace the oak on our current medicine cabinet with hickory. 


Today I plan to get some paint samples to help decide what color we want and then we will start taking everything off the walls so holes can be patched and then I will paint! Then we need a new light fixture, shower curtain, drawer/door pulls, tp holder, etc. Oh, and there will be two new doors and trim that needs to be taken care of. We might have it done by the end of the year!

A Snag

So yesterday had its ups and downs. One up is that I finished the 4th Christmas quilt top. I even got a little done on #5. Maybe that will get finished today.

Once that was done I created hanging sleeves for the three quilts heading to the quilt show on Thursday. Now they just need to be sewn on.


I also spent some time outside and got all my berries weeded. The garden is looking good for fall, in fact, it is looking better than it has in years! I am hoping to keep it roto-tilled over the winter as weather permits.


The down came a bit later in the day, after dinner. Hubby and I were discussing the floor and whether we should get new flooring. Hubby said it wouldn't be too much trouble to take out our current 48" vanity and sink so we could put the new one in to make our decision. Famous last words! Got the old one out and there was the requisite 20 years of dust underneath. (A hidden upside to the night was getting the drain cleaned out so our current sink will drain better.) Moved the new one (36") into the room and here is what we  saw...

Yes, 2 of the 3 plumbing components under the sink run into not only the back wall of the cabinet, but the drawers themselves! Very disheartening. We headed back to Home Depot to see if there were any options out there. The answer was no, unfortunately. You can't order a cabinet that is a mirror image (which would work) and they didn't have a 48" option. The two guys helping us did give Hubby some ideas for adjustments. 


We made a stop at Lowe's before heading home just to see if they had anything different. They did have a 48" option but because bathroom vanities/sinks are now a couple of inches deeper than they were 20 years ago that would cause problems with the door trim and would make the bathroom even more crowded feeling than it is currently.


After sleeping on it, Hubby has come up with some fresh ideas that might work for adjusting the 36" cabinet so we will see what comes of that today.

Looking nice

I still haven't finished top #4 but there has been progress in the bathroom. Yesterday Hubby took care of that small leak and then covered the wall with hardy board and with some finagling we were able to get the cabinet in place. Doesn't it look nice?

In the evening we headed into town to get some supplies and decided to pick up the vanity and sink/counter top so we could pick a paint color that will go with it. The top is granite and the vanity is hickory. When the box came off Hubby discovered a few modifications that will have to be made to accommodate our plumbing under the sink. 

We are pretty sure about our faucet but haven't picked that up yet. I am not sure about how the granite will look with our current floor. The color is okay but this is kind of fancy and our flooring is commercial vinyl like you would find in a hospital. It is still in good condition but we are a little tired of it so we might decide to redo the floor too. I think we will be going with a greyish paint for the walls with our usual white trim. Before a final decision is made on paint I will have to get a test sample and put it on the wall.


Today after church and grocery shopping I got everything put into the cabinet that we installed yesterday. It isn't as deep but it is higher so it is about the same amount of space as we had before. We will see if we like how things are placed but I think this will work. 

Since I got the grocery shopping done today and a couple of other errands I hope to be able to stay home tomorrow and get some gardening and sewing done. I got the garden roto-tilled last week and mowed some grass but there are weeds around the plants that should be gotten rid of this week before the rain starts again. I am not sure if Washington's nickname of the Evergreen State has to do with the trees or the weeds!

First Step

We have started redoing the bathroom this week. The first step is to install the cabinet we bought last week. Here you see the shelves in the cubby where the cabinet will go.

I am being kind and not showing you the frightening monster dust bunnies that were on the floor! You see, we have had a fire safe here in the bottom of the cubby for the last 19-20 years. It just fit so it hasn't been out since it was put in there and the dust under there was scary! 


Well, we tried to just slide the cabinet in but it is probably about 1/8" too big so we pulled it out again to think about how to get it in. My hubby decided that taking out the drywall on the left side which backs the bathtub was the best choice. He took that out a couple of nights ago with minimal mess (and he cleaned it up himself!) and this is what it looks like now.

A small leak at a soldered joint was discovered in the process which will be fixed first and then some thinner material will be put over the opening and hopefully the cabinet will fit in and then the rough edges will be covered with trim wood. Maybe by Monday I will have pictures of the cabinet in place. I need to be thinking about paint colors for the bathroom so I am ready when it is time for that step.

Wednesday afternoon during a break in the rain I headed down to the garden to bring in the last of the produce. I pulled all the squash, pumpkin and bean plants and got them hauled off. I also pulled the last of my carrots and the few kohl rabi that grew to a size worth eating. Here is the haul.

There are 5 pumpkins weighing in at 39, 32, 16, 15 and 15 pounds! I am pretty amazed at the size of these pumpkins especially since I planted them and never gave them any fertilizer at all. Just water! I am hoping they will orange up by Halloween so the grandkids can use them for jack o'lanterns. There are 9 acorn squash and one of those is huge! Also got my last picking of green beans. The onions that are drying there were planted last year but never did much until this year. This year's garden produce has gotten me more excited about gardening again and I am looking forward to last year!


Yesterday morning I finished Christmas quilt top #3

and got started on #4. I am looking forward to being done with these tops so I can move on to the next project. I think that will be getting the hanging sleeves on the quilts that are heading to the show and then I can get started on the baby quilts I need to get finished. Two of the babies are already here with two more coming in December.


Yesterday afternoon I headed over to the church and helped tie 11 quilts that will be heading out into the world through the work of Lutheran World Relief. There were only 5 of us working yesterday but the fellowship was wonderful! Just like the quilting bees of yesteryear.

Back to business

I came home to rather rainy, wet weather which means I can work in my sewing room. That is, if I get a chance! Monday I had some errands to run which took several hours. When I got into the sewing room I pulled out the quilt that I didn't get to work on at the retreat along with the pieces that got left at home and got started on that. I got all but the border put together. Then my husband and I started doing some work in the bathroom. Just some preliminary stuff, taking out the storage shelves and cleaning things up. We tried to put the new cabinet in but it is a little tight so out it came and we need to do some more thinking and planning.

Yesterday I had coffee with the woman from the guild in charge of receiving the quilts next week. I am one of the receivers for the quilt show and she explained the procedures and we had a great visit about quilts and kids and life. The quilt show is Oct. 21-23 and I am looking forward to seeing 3 of my quilts hanging. 

When I got home I got the borders on the quilt I had worked on Monday.

It is a little different as I used 4 fabrics for the center instead of two and then used one of them as the wider border with no narrow border so the center seems to float. 

I then pulled out the second Christmas top and worked on it a bit. My mistakes on that one continued but nothing too bad, just rearranged the rows a bit. 


This morning I finished off that Christmas top.

Can you tell where I made the mistakes? When it was done I got started on the next one. I have that one fairly close to being done so I should be able to do that in the morning and maybe even start on another before I head to the church to tie LWR quilts with the ladies.

Featured

A week or so ago I was contacted via email by Marina and Daryl over at Quilt Inspiration about using photos of my denim quilts on their blog. They were preparing posts about the use of denim in quilts. I gave my permission and today I am featured there! 


I am getting back into the swing of things following my retreat. It was probably one of the best ones I have been on so far. 


I drove across the state on Wednesday and spent the evening and night with my daughter and her husband. We had a lovely dinner of soup and fresh bread followed by pineapple upside-down cake and a viewing of The Lion King. In the morning, following pancakes with some of the plum syrup that Rebecca had made the previous day (it was supposed to be jam but didn't set up), Rebecca and Drew headed into town for a visit to the optometrist. I spent some time playing with my grand-kitten, doing the dishes and showering and then headed over to the camp. I was the first arrival since I was only 5 minutes away so had first pick of tables in the quilting room. 


It was a smaller retreat than some recent ones - only 24 crafters in our room - which was part of what made it such a great retreat. Once all the machines were running and people were talking it just wasn't as loud and overwhelming. You could listen in to conversations around the room and get caught up on the latest news in everyone's lives.


I got going on Thursday morning and by bedtime I had two quilt tops finished.

Now the first one might look familiar as it is out of the same fabrics as the one I made the week before but that one was finished and delivered before I left for the retreat. I had another quilt cut out using this pattern but about one-third of the pieces didn't make it into the bin and were still on the cutting table at home! 


I also brought along that fall top that needed borders that I made last week. I first made another top and then added the borders to both. I was done with those by Friday evening.

Saturday morning I got started on the Christmas quilts. They actually are made like my denim quilts and normally I can put those together blindfolded but I struggled this time. I did have some distractions including a visit from my oldest daughter, the grandkids and my niece. We had good weather so we took a walk down to the lake and around camp to give the kids some outside time. After they headed over to Rebecca's house I still had problems. I just don't know what was going on. I did get one top done thanks to some pressing help from my niece when she came back over that evening. 

I also started another top but didn't get it quite finished at the retreat before it was time to head back across the state to reality.

Heading out

I am packing up this morning and heading across the state to quilt retreat. I get to spend tonight with one daughter and her husband and then I get to spend Thursday - Sunday with my sister and many quilty friends! On Saturday, my other daughter and the grandkids, my niece and maybe my son and nephew will be coming up for a visit at the camp. This means I will be offline until at least Monday morning but hopefully there will be lots of pictures of finished quilt tops!


Yesterday I did finish the binding on the green comfort quilt but forgot to take a picture of the finished quilt before delivery but I might get a chance to get a picture yet this morning.

Some Finished And Some Not-So-Much

The first finish was the margarita, of course! The owl hat, not-so-much! My laptop seemed much more interesting than sewing on eyes and beak!

Yesterday afternoon I worked on sewing together the rest of that quilt that I had started and set aside. Well, it isn't totally finished as it needs borders but I do like how it is turning out so far.

The pattern is Nova from the book Scrap-Basket Sensations by Kim Brackett. The pattern in the book uses more of an off-white for the background but I wanted more of a fall feel so I used golds instead. I was a little nervous as I was putting it together thinking it wasn't enough contrast but it turned out well which is a good thing since I cut out another one when I cut this one!


My husband and I went out for dinner last night and then stopped at Home Depot for a couple of items. We wandered back to the bathroom vanity and kitchen cabinet sections. We have started talking about redoing our bathroom as it needs some new paint and other updating. I think we are going with hickory cabinets and right now the kitchen in-stock cabinets are on sale and we want a pantry cabinet for the bathroom so I think that will happen before the sale ends and then the vanity and other items will wait until we are ready or it goes on sale!


I was fairly tired last night but after laying in bed for almost an hour I just wasn't sleeping so I got up and headed to the sewing room. In two hours I got a back ready for one quilt so I can baste and quilt it today and then cut out 3 more quilts. That means I will have at least 9 quilts I can work on at the retreat. I might also get the border fabric for the above quilt and have that to work on also (unless I get it taken care of before I leave).