Thursday, October 22, 2009

October Charming Girls quilt projects and pumpkin patch











October has been a busy busy month, but I have managed to get the binding on the 3 quilts and my table runner quilted and bound. The amazing part is that I did it by the 21st! So my Charming Girl projects are DONE! The pink and brown quilt will be in my new Etsy shop as soon as I get it open. That is taking longer than expected, but it will happen in the near future. Oops, I just realized that I left out a picture, but you can see the quilt to the left of the pink and brown one. It's pink and white. They are hanging on the balcony to my quilt room/loft, which is a total disaster right now. It really needs a good organization - or perhaps finishing some projects will help the mess clear itself.
I also managed to get a knitted hat and sweater set finished for granddaughter number 1 and given to her when we went to her house for granddaughter number 4's first birthday. I think I took her more things than I did the poor little birthday girl! Not to spoil her, but I know when I make or buy her things that 3 more little girls will wear it eventually too.
The picture shows granddaughter 2 and 4 in the pumpkin patch along with 2 of my kids and son in law. Quixote, the Akita /Pit Bull mix enjoyed himself in the pumpkin patch too. The only downside to the day is that in the middle of October it was 100 degrees.. tooo HOT! Way too hot! Do they look hot in the picture? Sunglasses and hats are the norm for us. I'm lucky if I ever get to wear any winter clothes.
Now I have to decide what projects I want to start and or finish for November. This is a big decision!
I still have those prairie points from back in the summer to finish, so that is on the list - and I need to work on some Christmas projects. I have a feeling that the holidays are going to sneak up on me.
Happy quilting folks!

Friday, October 16, 2009


Okay, I admit it, I'm an old hippie.. I go around in Clarks slipons everyday, although in my younger years at work I wore the 'cute one' shoe. I have never worn heels, and the last time I was in a dress was over 6 years ago at one of my daughters' weddings. At the other daughters' wedding, I wore pants. I'm pretty low maintenance, and although I have a lot of shoes, they are all the comfy kind. I'm really short too, so one would think I'd go for a little height, but really only models wear heels and jeans right? Not me. Ouch! Comfort all the way.
I'm working away on my October projects. I started the binding on the 3rd quilt today, and then I will move on to quilting the table runner.. perhaps I'll even finish early and move on to other projects! I have 4 more red applique fleur de lis, and then I only have to do the setting triangles.. stay posted, I'll be excited to finish that one. And no, I haven't been able to find any more fabric so I'm going to have to squeeze it out of my last yard. I hope I can, I hope I can!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Bloggers Quilt Festival







For the Blogger's Quilt Festival, I wanted to show a redwork Mother Goose/Nursery Rhyme quilt that I made my daughter. First I picked the fabric, then I went looking for matching floss because it isn't a true red. It took forever to pick the style of block that would compliment the embroidery. I had to add in some flowers because at the time I didn't have enough nursery rhyme blocks, but I have since seen several more in magazines. I seem to be drawn to embroidery and quilting because I'm in the middle of a little pumpkin wall hanging right now, and I just bought a pattern of cute little houses to do in black.
This quilt is hand quilted and truthfully, I never let my daughter use it! How sad is that? Never used or washed and I'm sure it has cotton batting in it. Hope you all enjoy it!

Thursday, October 8, 2009












It's finally cool here and I felt like getting out the fall decor. I haven't done too much yet, just got the quilts out of the cupboard. I love the cat and pumpkin quilt, made years ago. I had found the perfect background with little cats and pumpkins on it that set it off perfectly. The tablerunners are my own concoctions, one made around the large square of Halloween print in the center. The little ghost embroidery just sits on a side table. I like redwork, orangework, blackwork, in other words doing embroidery in just one color. Maybe this weekend I'll get down the tubs of pumpkins, silk leaves and old fashioned figurines that I picked up at Michaels last year.. It's fall! It's finally under 100 degrees! This week the highs are only 80! Time to decorate!



Monday, October 5, 2009

Charming Girls Quilt Club











My October projects for the Charming Girls Club! I just got these three quilts back from the quilter - she did a fabulous job, and now my job is to trim and bind them. Plus my tablerunner (shown on the chair), which I am going to machine quilt myself and bind. It's little, I think I can get all this done!
The second pic is a little bit washed out, but it is the peachy pinks from Moda's Wuthering Heights line from several years back. The tablerunner is leftover scraps from a queen quilt I just put together. I think you can tell that I like pastels a lot from the pinks and greens. The second to last quilt is half square triangles from Kashmir IV put together with pink and sea foam green scraps I had. Just leftovers in my own pattern. The other pink and green is a Jacob's Ladder variation. There you have it, I will finish these 4 quilts! Yay!

Little Getaway

We did another long weekend trip to California and slept on the sailboat at Dana Point. This trip we did a couple touristy things we had never done before. One was to take the ferry over to Catalina Island.
Isn't this pretty? I know the pic isn't that good, but this is our full moon cruise back to the mainland from Catalina Island and Avalon. We decided to brave the wind and sit outside on the return trip. It was a beautiful ride, just about an hour and 20 minutes.
For all the 'Beaches' fans out there, this is the cottage from the movie. For those of you who don't know the movie - go watch it! Bette Midler - it's very good. The cottage is in disrepair, but they have plans to restore it. It is at Crystal Cove which is now in the California State Park system.
Hope everyone else had a great weekend!