Crazy Weather, Crazy Busy

First the Crazy Busy part.

I have been working on my table runner in the hopes that I can get it put together and quilted before December 1. However, look at the back of this block. These are swap blocks and I don't expect everyone's 12 1/2" blocks to be the same size as my 12 1/2" block, heck, even mine aren't always the same size. But I would think that any sewer could see that these seams are being "pressed" wrong.







A n y w a y, I worked on them and finally got my blocks all sewn together. And I really am likeing how this is looking.

Then I stuck the 1" border piece on there to see how this was going to look. Great, huh? What I like about this runner, my first since we only recently got a rectangular table, is that it will not only be good for Christmas but for January too as it has a Winter theme with Christmas colors.

Now, what else is keeping me busy, besides not quilting my quilt, is that I am supposed to be studying some new stuff for Weight Watchers. And for some reason I have been avoiding it. It is just reading some stuff and watching a video but between leading my 4 meetings, the 400 miles I drive to do the meetings, sewing, housework (uck), and traveling to spend money with DH, I just haven't had the time to sit and concentrate. Oh, well, it will get done, sometime.



Crazy Weather

Ok we had a week of cold weather, 50F during the day and 30s at night. This week, and especially today, it has been in the 80s during the day and 70s at night. Seems it is either Summer or Winter here this year.


We have had Fall, however.

Oak trees are not the best for color but even they have been showing yellow and orange leaves. And, of course, dropping little acorns all over the yard: very difficult to walk on, both for people and animals. We have one dog who almost insists on being carried when we walk under this tree.

The front yard is looking decidedly fallish but the hammock is looking like death. I sat down on it the other day and several of the strings were shredded. Now I know I'm not that heavy, WW remember, so I guess next Spring I will be buying a better hammock. The one I had in FL lasted 17 years and was never taken in. It looked terrible but held itself and me together.

My ever blooming roses seem to have given up, and I don't blame them. The contrast between the fading flowers and the ground cover of leaves is striking. I would rake those leaves but we can't burn them anymore and that was the gratification of raking. I really miss the smell of burning leaves in the Autumn.

Anyway, it's time to get off the computer and get busy, again.

Design Wall 10/3/11

This is my design wall for the first Monday in October 2011.  These blocks are from an internet swap a couple of years ago.  I have had them on the wall a few times with no certain idea of what to do with them.  This week I decided they will be a gift and began the design process in earnest. 

 

First I put the blocks out on the wall and, of course, move them around several times.  Then I decided on the sashing and borders.  Originally I planned to have the sashing, which is also the second border, be just that fabric.  However, when I put it on the wall it looked way too busy.  Using the cornerstones, made from the first border fabric, calmed down the already busy center.

I have the center rows sewn together, not an easy feat since several of the blocks were poorly made, and am ready to sew the first border. 

All this sewing will have to wait.  I have a new WW meeting to lead on Monday and two on Tuesday and since I have to travel a little over 100 each day I will probably only be up to feeding the animals when I get home.

 

Speaking of animals, we seem to have a new one here.

Meet our newest member (?).  We found her a little over a week ago, wandering the streets in downtown.  We have placed ads in the newspaper and on the radio and visited the two vets, attempting to find where she has come from.  The plan is that if no one has claimed her by Tuesday, she will become part of our family.  We have not named her yet, that would mean she was staying and we don’t know about that, yet.

 

Here she is with Abby.  We figure she is about 6 months old but we will know for sure when we take her to the vet for a check up and shots next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is finished.  And I got it done before the end of September.  I really like the scrappy binding and it almost finished that 30s fabric.

 

 

I did get the URR on the frame.  The backing is a batik fat back I bought at MQX in 2008.  It has been sitting around, waiting for a quilt to come around that fit it and finally it did.  I can’t show it yet since it is all rolled up on the pole, but will later. 

 

Now, if I could just come up with a plan for the quilting.

 

 

 

 

 

And now, one last picture.  This is for people who think we have no Fall color in the South.  This is a maple tree that is just beginning to turn.

This poor thing was cut down a few years ago and this is what has grown out of the stump.  It is about 15’ tall now but has about 7 small trunks.  I don’t know how this effects it’s growth but it makes a very pretty sight in our very green yard.

And now it is time to pour yourself another cup of coffee or tea and hop on over to Patchwork Times to see what other quilters are up to.

Design Deck

This is my Design Deck for today.  It is my Underground Railroad top, complete.  I love it and it is perfect for a new fall quilt.  With any luck I will be getting this on the frame sometime this week.

 

This was where I was on Wednesday, got the center done with the 6” center panels and the 1” black sashings between and on the ends of the blocks.  I really like how the little black lines separate the blocks from each other.

 

Here we are with the first two borders on.  I do have to admit that I put one of the borders on backward, you know, right side to wrong side.  Those are pretty long seams to have to unsew but unsew I did.

 

And then yesterday I got it finished. 

 

After completing the above I decided to use my time wisely and make the binding for my tumbler quilt. 

It is a scrappy binding using the scraps from the front as well as pieces of the backing.  I’m afraid I got carried away attaching the pieces together and I think I have enough binding for two comfort sized quilts.  We will see when I sew it on today.

 

In addition to sewing, I walk.  DH and I walk 2 miles almost every day.  On our walk the other morning we saw this:

 

This spider web was more than 3’ wide and almost perfect.  We looked and looked but couldn’t find a spider.  It had rained very hard for two days prior to that so it had to be spun that morning.  And can you see the fog?  That stayed around until about 10am.  Spooky, huh?  Perfect for getting in the Halloween mood.

 

This is Buffy.  She has felt left out since both Ms. Murphy and Abby have been spotlighted on the blog and she hasn’t.  The sweater is one that Abby had on when she came to live with us.  It doesn’t fit her anymore but is perfect for Buffy.

 

 

 

Buffy is primarily DH’s dog and he is way proud of her for being an Auburn fan. 

 

Besides being an Auburn fan, I am also a Patchwork Times fan.  I encourage you to drop over there to see all the wonderful projects her other fans are working on. 

Very Happy Thanksgiving

Here in the South we had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a beautiful day.

This is what we see as we step out our front door. It really looks so peaceful, doesn’t it? However, Thanksgiving was being celebrated at our DD and DSIL’s house so we passed right by all of this and left.

And this was what we came to see.

This is a charcoal grilled turkey. Even though it looks black no part of it was burned. This bird was perfectly spit grilled and smoked by our SIL, Gary.

He loves to cook: having his picture taken, not so much. Heh, heh!

So we ate, talked, laughed, and ate some more. And then it was time to come home.

I did get a little sewing in after our return and completed the applique. After being “scrunched” under the machine, one can’t say this is a fragile top. But later this weekend I will be putting it on the quilt frame.

I also made the star for the top of the tree. Well, attempted, I should say.

Look at those square points. I tried several times to get pointed points but I just can’t do it. So I have come up with an alternative for the tree top but will save that for when it is ready.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Don’t spend too much on Black Friday. I plan to stay home, sew and quilt.

:-( No Design Wall Monday

I have had a very productive week and I completed all of the handmade Christmas gifts I plan to make. And, as a design wall photo, I am showing my leftovers.

But, that being said, I haven’t yet had time to start new projects or even get UFOs out to see if one of them can be completed. But starting today I will be packing up the gifts and bagging up the quilts I am going to put in the guild show in November and then I will be looking at what I want to work on next. I do have a comfort quilt that needs quilting and a flannel quilt I want to make and the jacket I just bought fabric for, so I guess it won’t take too long before I am busy again.

Friday DH and I went to a quilt show in Dothan, AL (and I forgot to take my camera). The quilts were very nice and some were outstanding. But the highlight of the show was a collection of vintage victory quilts, at least 20. Many were made during WW II but some were much older and some even from more recent conflicts. The owner of the quilts (I didn’t get her name) had excellent reproductions of the patterns and some of the history surrounding them.

One highlight of the show was that I got to play with an Accuquilt GO. And since I knew more about it than the girl vending, I got to show it to DH and demonstrate it (my first time). I told him that I keep trying to win one but so far I have been a failure in that arena.

Saturday morning I took some time to check out the “color” of fall here on my little piece of South Alabama.

We don’t get the brilliant color that can be seen further north but we do enjoy just enough to experience seasonal change.

Then I went into the studio, turned on the iron and sewing machine and just as I was getting started DH came in and wanted me to go to the school with him to watch Auburn play football. They have a projection TV and a 6’ square screen. So off to Subway we went and then got to the school just in time for the kickoff. And, I must say, we had a good time watching another great game where, of course, Auburn won. But no sewing got done.

So Sunday I locked myself into the studio and finished off my biggest project (see above). However, even that got interrupted when I remembered that I was supposed to be cleaning the PVC poles that we will be using for the quilt show. 2 hours later I was back at the sewing machine. It is not easy getting things done around here.

Our weather has been picture perfect: nights in the high 40s and days in the low 80s with blue skies and lots of sunshine. We need rain but since I am not a farmer and we had lots of rain during the spring and summer, I have really been enjoying the beautiful days and taking breaks sitting outside. I even drove to NWFL with the windows down because the fresh air blowing through the car felt and smelled so good. And while there on Thursday I spent about 30 min at the beach, watching the water and fishermen. It was so peaceful.

Well, those new projects won’t get started unless I get off this computer. Have a great week!

Spring?

OK, this has been a winter to complain about, so I thought I would show the beginning of spring here in the South.

These two are very tiny flowering weeds in our front yard.

Here we see the new growth leaves on one of the rose bushes: right under the old rose that I didn’t trim off last Fall. I am now waiting until we stop having below freezing nights to prune back these bushes.

Also, note that the Hydrangeas are even leafing.

All of the trees have buds on them, still tightly closed, but ready for it to be just a little warmer.

This is the oak tree that is closest to the house. Look at what I found on it today. That is quite a bloom, isn’t it?

Yesterday I went to get the beads I made in class last Saturday.

OK, these are not professional quality by any means but I don’t think they are bad at all considering this was my first time staring at hot glass through open flame. ;-)

Tomorrow I am going to be taking a class on digitizing embroidery designs. I have noticed that my computer skills are not as good as they used to be: I do not assimilate new techniques as fast or as well as I used to. I attribute this to the fact that I no longer work with the computer as much as I did and am not forced to use new software like I did when I was working. However, DH has some ideas for designs he would like that I have not found online so he is paying for half of the class just so I can work for him. We’ll see how that works out later.

September is over

There has been NO sewing/quilting here since Monday. So I walked around my yard (5 acres) to see what was going on in the Fall. As I stepped out I saw the sky.


It didn’t even look real.

I came upon wild Morning Glorys growing at the side of the driveway.

I wanted to get pics of them closed at the end of the day but keep forgetting to go out at that time.

I also got some pictures of one of the older trees here.

Look at the character. We are so lucky. We have these older oak trees all around the perimeter of our property, kind of like a very large fence.

I have been involved in routine household tasks and getting ready for my first WW class. Tuesday I was on the road : I drove DH to one of the campus’ where he is teaching and then I went to the local WW office to get all of my materials and learn, kind of, what all I need to do each week. After that I went to the Babylock dealer to get my machine back from being repaired. However, today I didn’t have any time to even check it out. This morning was taken up with finishing the laundry and reading all the WW material in preparation for my first class this afternoon. And, how did that go?, you ask. Well, it went great! The ladies in the class were responsive and after only one week, everyone had lost weight. I got a little nervous while weighing everyone: afraid I might write the wrong weight or weight loss, but we all got through it and the time went really fast. I have to say I drove home smiling all the way. But tomorrow, after I finish the WW paperwork, I will be in the studio and may not come out for a couple of days. One cannot go too long without a little sewing therapy.

Home Alone

5 days. I have 5 days all to myself. DH is gone to judge a county Jr. Miss pageant and I have 5 days all to myself. Both yesterday and today were primarily devoted to quilting on All That Jazz (the black and white pictured in the header). I am doing feathers and straight line ruler work in the log cabin blocks.

For some reason it is harder to get pictures when the backing is black and I have to get under the frame to snap it. LOL Anyway, I am again trying to quilt the outer border along the lines in the fabric print, am doing loops on the piano key fabric and the feathers and ruler work on the log cabins. I swear, the next three quilts I do are going to be edge to edge. LOL

I did do a little real sewing, putting the sashing parts

on some of the Puppies blocks and sewing the rows together.

Tomorrow there will be no quilting here. I am driving to Mobile to see a quilt show and visit the “vendor’s mall.” I also hope to visit a couple of quilt shops as well as some place good to eat. I love road trips.

And then when I get home I will be greeted

by this beautiful tree.

It sits at the side of our yard, right where we park. Isn’t it beautiful? I love the lacy leaves and the fuzzy flowers. All of our trees are volunteers so I don’t know what they are but we really have quite a variety. I really need to get someone to walk around with me and teach me about what is growing all around me. All I really know is that I love nature in all her beauty.

Easter = new life

I went for a walk today, hoping to be able to take some flower pictures. However, after all the rain of last week, most of the garden flowers were missing in action. God, however, provided.








I love the little flowers that come with the weeds.







Honeysuckle is one of the sweetest smelling flowers. It grows on some of our trees and I love it when the whole yard is scented with it.

And the different ways the trees grow: isn’t it amazing?

Even free food grows wild.

What a great way to get quilting inspiration!