A Few More Things

A few more things have wandered into the studio and requested attention............


Temecula Quilt Company had a quilt kit for this petite Pinwheel............ This seemed to be a quick pattern and a nice break from some of my larger projects..........


Bird Brain Designs sent out a news letter that contained the instructions for a free candle mat. Yes it was in wool and I have never done wool but............these candle mats have been intriguing for some time. They had a kit to make the candle mat so I thought I would give it a try.



They also had this in the newsletter. It looks exactly like what I wanted for my table in the fall. No, I doubt that I will get it made in time for this fall but I will not put it aside till it is ready for next year.............


Look at the lovely fabrics that came with the kit..............


I have seen Schnibbles mentioned everywhere and I thought they too would be a good break from larger projects. This is the first one that I chose.............



Peg gave me her magazines that she no longer wants............ This was in one of them....... I really want to try one of these blocks..............


But I am still making Christmas presents and I need to work in the kitchen for several hours today.

Yesterday was taken up showing the house and doing errands. I hope to stay in the studio for at least two hours before duty calls...............

Sometimes I Wonder

As I mentioned earlier this week, while sitting in my studio sewing I noticed all of the projects neatly stored in their plastic boxes and correctly labeled................. And as I reviewed the labels, I thought about just how long it would take to finish each one...........

So now I Wonder? Why when I have all the items to make these lovely things why do I continue to look for more? You are probably thinking that I am going to announce another NO BUY.......

Nope, not me, they don't seem to work for me................ I will say that this weekend I am going to do some more removals in the studio............. A nice big stack will make its way downstairs to the nether regions to sit for a wee bit so that I can concentrate on the things that are on my plate right now................. I would like for 2011 to be a year that I finish more things than I have recently.

Honoring Our Quilting Heritage

I signed up for the "Honoring Our Quilting Heritage" by Lori Smith BOM from Homestead Hearth. Every month I get the fabric for five blocks..... I started late so I began two months behind. I am not trying to catch up, just fitting in a block when I can. I have six of them done.

This is Block Five. It was one of the easier blocks.



All the fabric for one block ready to be cut. I am being careful with my fabric and I save the small pieces in my CW Repro drawers. One day I will be able to make a log cabin quilt with the 3/4 inch pieces that are left after the fabric is cut.



Here it is cut and laid out to sew..........


I have an old salt dish that I spray starch into.



Then using a paint brush I can put the starch exactly where I want it. I have found that using steam or spraying starch on the entire block sometimes makes the bias edges bloom and they never press flat again.








And here we are...................All done...................

Finds...........

Saturday a neighbor was having a yard sale.......... Even though Lem said that we did not need anything she had called to invite me to see what was there so I walked up the hill to say hello. W wandered around a bit and found these items......... Hand done. For some reason when I find something like this at a yard sale I realize that the owner has no idea the time that went into making these lovely linen items. All but two have tatted edges and the other two have crochet edges. I knew that I had to bring them home. I asked the price and she says, "Oh, $2.00....." Clearly she had no idea what the real value was. I could not take advantage of her that way but all I had on me was $5.00 so I offered her that............... Yes, I do know that they are worth more but at least they are in a home that appreciates the effort that went into making them.


And now to show the finished product.............. My little Tea Towel with the free design from Bird Brain Designs............. I have 10 with the scallop edge sewn on and all marked and ready to stitch. I suppose we know what I will be doing every evening this week.................



Yesterday was a delightful day................ Lem watched sports on TV and I stayed in the studio and played. I got my tea towels prepped and ready to stitch, I finished my baby sweater (picture shown yesterday) and I took the time to dust a bit and put things away. I even found time to sit and knit on a wee yellow sweater (more on that later)................ All in all it was a lovely time spent with my needle and thread.............. As I sat and looked around I could see one project after another that I wanted to dive into and make........... But for now I have a choice few that I will keep doing bits on each day till I can have another finish...............

A Finish....

I am delighted to have a finish this morning.......... I just kept pegging away on this project and when it got to the stage where I usually put it down and start something else, I worked on it for 30 minutes a day till it was done. Didn't take long either. The knitting is much more fun than the putting together. But nothing is better than finishing................



And didn't I find the snazziest buttons to put on it?


You can click on the picture to see it closer. Now back to my Christmas gifts..................

A Little Here and a Little There

I have finally gotten my sweater with legs this far along......... Sleeves have been knit but not added yet......... I am not to thrilled with the placket and plan to do that over...... This morning I began the hood portion of this project and it does seem possible that I could have it finished this weekend.


I also finished my tea towel (the one in the center). It is from a free design provided by Bird Brain Designs........... They have some lovely free designs. The towel was made from White Kona... I can get 6 tea towels from two yards of fabric. Then a bit of stitching and it is all ready to embroider.

Another Bit of Progress

The scallops are all marked and stitched.........


The little darlings are trimmed and clipped...........


and turned right side out and pressed.............. Now to the next step.............

Hexagon on Wednesday

This is the fifth day of rainy, cold, windy weather. As I have said many times before, I am a sunshine girl and in this weather it is a struggle to remain pleasant.. This is the view out of my studio window.....................


And this is my only offering for my Hexagons on Wednesday. Yes it is a sad showing but perhaps next week will be better...............

Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

There, I've said it..........

I prefer to wait till after Thanksgiving to think about Christmas but this year I need to make most of my gifts.......... And that takes time.......... So I have begun already..... I know you are wondering just what this could possibly turn into.......... We shall see............

Where Did I Put My Shotgun?

Here they are............two wild turkeys............. wandering around my front yard........... just in time for Thanksgiving..........


They really are safe because I am not sure I know how to clean a turkey for cooking although I did help my Aunt Irene clean a chicken for supper once...........

This Week There Are Three

This week I managed three more flowers for my garden. They are rather small and I have been wondering what I could do with them.

When I stopped to by the fabric needed for my Christmas presents I found a piece of ecru fabric on the 30% off table and got that for stash. It will be the perfect addition to these blocks and I will make a dresser scarf.

I started yesterday by being Susan Goodwife..............

I cooked some macaroni (and learned that one cup of dry macaroni is all I need to fix for Lem and I....)


Cooked 1/2 half an onion and one stalk of celery in two tablespoons of butter.


Added two tablespoons of flower to the pan and stirred it till the flour started to brown a bit.



Added one cup of milk and one cup of shredded cheese.



Stirred that till the cheese melted and added it to the drained macaroni along with 1 1/2 cups of cooked chicken. Well really the chicken is from the rotisserie chicken that Stop and Shop had on sale for $5.00 Friday. We had the sliced chicken breast on Friday and now I have gotten all the rest of the chicken off the bones for this casserole. I had enough to fill two small individual casserole dishes to give to a friend and after we had dinner there was still enough left for my lunch for several days. This chicken is really going places.







To give the day an added advantage my dear friend Jean Mello from Mequon stopped in. She was on the Cape for quilters retreat and was good enough to share some of her time with me. She looks great and it was wonderful to see her once more. She is the friend that made the baby blanket for our new great grandbaby, Drew..........

What !!! Monday Already

I had great plans to spend at least one day in the studio. Only made it upstairs for 30 minutes. Then duty called and the weekend errands had to be done. And things put away and dinner prepared and then I sat and knit for the rest of the evening.

I have put the quilt aside for awhile. Barbara loaned me her pattern for a cute little baby sweater with legs and Peg donated some luscious sage green yarn and I am making that right now.

I will need to get on with my Christmas presents so it might be a month or more before I work on the quilt again. I really needed to take a break from it to give my fingers a chance to get a rest.

Friday afternoon I did a bit or work in the studio getting something ready for Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times but never did get anything finished.

Sunday I made banana nut muffins................ They turned out great............. Our neighbor (and realtor) was having a yard sale and had left a message for me to drop in (she lives three doors down) because she had a bag of fabric for me............. Lem and I walked up there (we live on a small hill) and took her some muffins. She had a great two tiered stand that was just what I wanted for the kitchen. Yes, I do know that we are moving but this thing was just what I wanted.

We got home and I made a batch of dog food for Wade Hamilton and then moved on to the next item on the list. I did pause to make us a sandwich for lunch (it was 2:30 by now) before I started the chicken casserole for dinner. On Friday nights Stop and Shop has Rotisserie chickens for $5.00. I indulged in one and we had sliced chicken breast with mashed potatoes and garden peas for dinner. I had planned to use the rest of the meat for a casserole. For some reason I got real light headed and quite queasy. I thought I could lie down for a bit till it passed but sad to say it never passed. I had gotten out the recipes I had printed and my recipe notebook. Saturday I had purchased more sleeve protectors and another notebook. All I got done for the rest of the day was to put recipes in the notebooks. Lem called for take out and I had a few oyster crackers and sips of Coca Cola.......

I did take pictures this morning when I was assembling my casserole. I will try to get them posted for tomorrow.

Now I am blogging around and already I have found a great holiday gift idea at Pleasant Home for Scrappy Mug Rugs......... She also had some great Halloween ideas the day before. Make sure you check them out.

Kate at Life in Pieces reminded me of a Layer Cake Quilt Along being hosted by Moose on the Porch Quilts......... That looks like fun.. And she also reminded me of Bonnie Hunters upcoming Mystery Quilt. I will have to pass on both of these parties but I can print the instructions for a later date.

There is a great recipe for Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars over at Country Whispers.... I sure will have to give them a try.

Well, break time is over so I had better get back to work. I might even get some pictures up for tomorrow.

A Journey Begun

Everywhere I have looked lately there is a button for One Flower Wednesday.......... I was intrigued enough to check it out. Karen at Journey of a Quilter began this journey and asked others to join. It seemed like a great idea to get a quilt finished rather effortlessly so I of course joined in. I found my hexagons that I had printed on card stock and began cutting them out.

I selected the first fabrics from my scrap bags.


Then I traced the hexagon onto an index card and added 1/4 inch all around. That will be the pattern I trace onto the fabric.



Traced them, cut them out............


And got out the lovely bag that Nadine of Friendship Threads sent to me several years ago.


It did not take long to get the first Hexagon made so now the journey is begun. Yes another project. But then, why not?




Blogging around I discovered a cute Halloween ghost that Barb is sharing on Fun with Barb and Mary.

I also discovered that I had almost missed a Stitching for Christmas Quilt at Nadine's. As soon as I post this blog I will be adding the button to my sidebar for that fun filled stitchery.

Loris posted for Stash Manicure today and she shared a link to another Little Quilt that I would like to make.

Now I must get back to work............. I hope everyone has a great day...........

Remembering that one of the things I wanted to get done this weekend was to trim Wade Hamilton. He was getting really shaggy and needed a trim. I try (and the operative word here is try) to trim him once and then let Paula at the Hair Club for Dogs trim him next. He hasn't seen Paula since May and this is the second time I have trimmed him since then. She charges us extra because this 8 pound ball of fur does not like to have his little self touched........Anywhere.


He likes goldfish crackers so I decided that Lem could divert his attention with them while I trimmed. He is a wiggly little darling so sometimes the clippers got more hair in places than they should have. Now he won't touch another goldfish. Last night I had a few and as always he came up begging. I would give him one and he would go put it down. He kept coming back till I realized that he was not eating them, just putting them on the floor.

Well, I think he knows how he looks and is not too happy with me right now. Someone even asked Lem yesterday just what kind of dog he was..........Lem told them that he was a German Shepherd................

I do know where the weekend went and it wasn't to sewing. I even took pictures but never got them online. I will give it a try this afternoon so tomorrow won't be so boring.

I am blogging around right now and some things just must be shared. Madame Samm showed some ideas in her studio and then sent me to Rae Ann with a great idea on storage containers for fabric.

Kathy of Kathy's Quilts has a great scrap quilt on her design board. She even made kits for friends. How kind is that?

Barb of Fun with Barb and Mary has a nifty idea for a quick wee giftie and a link to a great Halloween idea.....

Most everyone else was out and about enjoying family, friends and fall.........

THE WEEKEND COMETH

And it is time once more to have a plan for those two days so that they don't get wasted.

I made bread on Thursday so all I need to make this weekend is muffins.

Wade Hamilton needs a day of beauty. It looks like Lem and I are going to have to do it ourselves this time. He does not like to be groomed so this could take some time.

Candace at Wraggedy Patches had a link for a great Pumpkin table topper. This is the link to the pattern.. I really wanted to give it a try because it was small and used so little fabric but I doubt that will happen.

I am still working on the Winter Clothes Swap and that will probably take the rest of the weekend. I sure do hope I get to work upstairs at least a little next week.

I finally reached the half way mark on the baby quilt. This is close to the actual color of the backing.




This picture was taken without the flash and it sure made a difference in the color. I am pleased to be on the downhill side of this project. Now that Drew is here he will be needing his quilt.

Here At Last

We are pleased to welcome to the family our latest addition.

Andrew Wade McCausley

7 lb 10 oz - 20 inches

Born Monday at 6:30 PM.

Looks like he has already selected his college..............

We are now officially Great Grandparents......

This weekend was not at all what I expected. The plan was to spend most of Saturday in the studio enjoying myself...............

But the realtor called Friday night to arrange a showing on Saturday at 11:45. That meant getting up and making sure the house was vacuumed and dusted and everything was put away. I even take down the ironing board in the studio when we show the house so that was put away.

We took off the garbage and did the grocery shopping while the house was being shown.

At the Transfer Station is a Hope Chest. A little building where you take things you no longer use but are still in good condition. I have been wanting something for fall decorating but funds are low so Saturday we stopped there.

I found this pumpkin. It was originally a Hallmark Candle. I think it is just the right touch for this table.

I also found this sheath of wheat. You are supposed to put a candle in the center of the wheat and if I can find one the right color I will do that. Otherwise I think it is still an interesting tchatche.............

We came home from grocery shopping and put away the groceries and then headed out again to get haircuts............... By that time I was ready for a wee toes up......... I so enjoy a good nap.

Then cooking dinner and the rest of the evening was spent quilting.

Sunday was spent doing the rest of the weekend requirement. We put the velvet drapes up in the living room. I unpacked a few more winter clothes, did laundry, baked bread and quilted.


I never did make it upstairs again till this morning when I downloaded these pictures.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. This afternoon we have to take one of the clocks to be repaired so I know I can't sew then...........

But I do have Soup in the Crockpot for dinner..............