PLAYING HOOKY

I guess you would say I have been playing hooky from here lately.  Actually I've been busy in the sewing room making  Christmas and Halloween items.   I have had Christmas spirit since mid Summer.  The Morse Code quilt in my last post is done.  I made a matching pillowcase also.  It's stippled and has a nice light gray scroll backing.

So many things are in the works I had to make a list to keep up with myself. 
 
I took a week from sewing and did load of machine embroidery.  Here are a few of the gingerbread men I plan to turn into banners.  These were fun to make except the tedious trimming.  They will be cute when they are strung together and embellished with satin bows ~~~

Our neighbor wants some Christmas pillow shams, so these embroidered and quilted pieces will become shams for her for Christmas.

There are stacks of bindings for table runners and small projects everywhere. 

I hope your holiday projects are coming along well. 

Wishing you and yours a great day!

ANOTHER FINISH

I've spent a bit of time sewing the past two weeks.  I finished a 60x70 inch quilt using the Morse Code pattern.  I picked up a random mini jellyroll and have no clue what fabric line it is.  Please let me know if you know.  I would love to buy more of this gorgeous fabric.

The border fabric is not part of the jellyroll line.  I added a strip of the border fabric to the body of the quilt so it would "make sense".  The colors in this quilt are soft and frosty with quite a bit of silver metallic (a bit challenging to work with).  Yesterday I took this top to my quilter in hope she can finish it before Thanksgiving. 

We are off for a busy day of work.  Wishing everyone a blessed day.

A FALL SUNDAY

It promises to be another beautiful Fall day here in the Ozarks.  Hubby and I took the weekend off to slow down a bit and give him time to recover from a bad outbreak of poison ivy. 

I have been busy in the sewing room working on Christmas gifts and items I need to turn in to Reggie, my quilter, before the end of October.  After that date she won't accept anything else until January. I'm thinking of making a few table runners and embellished Christmas stockings.  I already finished a quilt for our neighbors and I'm working on another one for a special friend.

Meals have been real simple around here lately.  I made a large pot of chili last week and we enjoyed it as bowls of chili with toppings, chili dogs and finally as chili mac.  Today I will be making a batch of stuffed peppers (red) that will give us two meals plus a meal for the freezer for later.  In the Fall and Winter we enjoy homemade soups and stews with homemade bread and rolls. 

Life is especially good right now.  I wish the same for you and yours.

HAPPY FALL!

Fall is slowly edging out our summer days.  The trees know it's time to begin turning colors and the hummingbirds have all but moved out.  Last week they were eating two quarts a day and now we seldom see one at the feeder.

It will soon be time to change out the summer quilt for a warmer Fall one and before much longer socks, sweatshirts  and flannel shirts and pajamas will become my uniform ~~~ I can't wait!

Our food in the Fall is a little heavier.  Homemade soup, stew and chili, huge pots of beans cooked with ham will be on our table almost every night along with skillet cornbread and homemade rolls. 

In the sewing room my thoughts have been on Fall.  I'm working on a small Halloween quilt that can be thrown over the back of the sofa or on a kitchen chair.   I love the colors of Halloween. What are you making for Fall this year? 

I love reading your comments.

Happy Fall Y'All!!

A LITTLE SHOPPING TRIP ~~~~

We live in a very small rural community but we have a nice fabric store geared mostly to quilters.  This week the quilting cotton was $2.99 per yard so a trip to town this morning was very much in order.

Despite my self-imposed fabric diet I had to sample just a few of their offerings. 

Two darling Halloween prints.  I've used the bat print before on table toppers I made recently.  The cute ghosts with the toothy smiles are really cute.

 

 

These Christmas prints are so pretty.  I'm especially fond of the gray/purple/gold combo.  Nice for table runners for girlfriends.

 

 

 

 This print reminds me of Cotton & Steel fabric.  I will make a jellyroll quilt and incorporate a little of the fabric into the strips and use it again in the border. 

 

Not to be outdone, this darling Happy Haunting layer cake came in the mail today. 

I see lots of happy hours sewing in my near future.  I think I did very well without breaking the bank.

What are you making for the holidays??

CURVED LOG CABIN

The Curved Log Cabin I made for our neighbors for Christmas is finally done.  It took a few days for me to hand hem the binding but I enjoy the process so much it was worth it.

I wanted to make a Christmas quilt that wasn't totally Ho-Ho-Ho.  The fabric I chose is the luscious Incarnadine line by Robyn Pandolph.  The cream fabric is French Vanilla by RJR.  I seem to have a knack for falling in love with discontinued fabrics, but after a bit of internet searching I was able to come up with enough fabric to make two quilts.  Yes, I will be making another one for us.  The machine stippling was done by my LAQer Reggie, who always does wonderful work.

The Curved Log Cabin pattern is a basic log cabin with half of the strips 2.5" (prints) and the other half 1.5" (cream).  This particular pattern was built on the center square adding strips and trimming them as I went along.  I prefer this to having to cut stacks of pre-measured strips.  As long as the seams are a consistent 1/4" everything works out well. 

This is where I have to say something about the fabulous Stripology ruler I bought recently.  If you cut a lot of strips for your quilts I can't recommend this tool enough.  It's a little on the pricey side ($50) but worth every cent.  Yesterday I cut three yards of fabric into perfect 1.5" strips in 20 minutes without measuring anything!  The bonus for me is that the edges are clean cut rather than pinked, which I really prefer for accuracy. 

It feels odd having a Christmas quilt done in August but I prefer this to burning the midnight oil the night before the gift is to be given, which I've done so many times in the past. 

Wishing everyone a sweet weekend!

HEAD START ON THE HOLIDAYS....

I've been binding a few pieces I just got back from my quilter, Reggie.  I posted pictures of these items before quilting and here they are quilted, bound and ready to mail off. 

 

My daughter has a birthday this month and she wants the topper with the gray inner border as part of her birthday gift.  I made both toppers from half of a layer cake pack plus a little black and white and borders.

The curved log cabin I posted pictures of is in the process of being bound.  The hand hemming is torture on my hand so I have to take a day or two off from hand sewing.  Someone asked me if I got arthritis....I said no, I just got old!

Happy sewing everyone!