Sunday, October 30, 2016

Two more and Halloween/Christmas


Two more blocks for  the 1857 quilt.  I think I have reached my limit.  I have appliqued 30 blocks so far in this QAL and 30 is enough for me.


The lower triangle is a bit wonky and that is after repairing it.  You should have seen it before the tlc.

I am in the process of sewing them in one unit, 5 blocks by 6 blocks.  I have already appliqued the fleur de lis border units.  Soon I will be able to show all that I've completed in one whole.

October went by so quickly.  I still haven't decorated for Halloween.  I don't think it's going to happen this year.

Cute crocheted decorations my daughter Tina made a few years ago.


I need to get busy on my Christmas Shopping.  I like to shop this time of year because the stores are full of merchandise and not too many shoppers.  People are waiting for the DEALS that come on Black Friday and afterwards.  I don't have very many people to shop for since I just give my grown up kids $$$$.  That has simplified the shopping for me.


Notice the quilt made into curtains.

I decided that some people are true gift givers.  My sister is one of those amazing people. She loves to shop for just the right item and is so delighted to present the gift.  To me, it is just too much stress to be responsible for all that happiness.  I'm not a Grinch, I'm simply not a natural at this.  Although I descend from the greatest gift giver of them all - my mother.  Nothing brought her more happiness than figuring out an idea, hunting for just the right item at the right price, carefully wrapping the gift, (she had a knack), and then offering her heart wrapped up with the bow.  She was terrific and she made Christmas magic.  Instead of inheriting her ability, I was carefully trained to become a gracious gift receiver, trying to give her the reaction that would please.

(It's crazy what we figure out when we analyze things.)

Back to Halloween, I hope your day is filled with fun surprises, great costumes, yummy treats, and family.

Robin

I'm linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Seldom happens. . .

Every once in a very long while, a project turns out exactly as I had envisioned.  I am so tickled with the way this little quilt looks.



It measures 24" unfinished.  It is based on a pattern from a QAL on Lori's blog " Humble Quilts.  She called it Cheese and Crackers.  The link to part 1 of the instructions is here.

This is a picture of the one I made at the time, it looks nothing like today's quilt.  I wanted to sew it in just blue and cheddar.  My blues are too close to the same hue.  I loved making it and knew I'd make one again someday.



This picture shows my hand for scale.  The small squares finish at 1 inch.



I wanted to make something for my friend who knits.  When I found this focus fabric in Kansas on our way home from seeing grand kids in Kentucky, I knew it would be perfect.

The fabric has balls of yarn and knitting needles on it.  I tried to match some of the colors on the selvage edge.  I ended up using two different reds; one is and orange red and the other a blue red.




I'm going to hand quilt it.  I better get busy because there are additional things in the queue for Christmas gifts.




Grandpa was a hit with the grand kids.  This is a picture of our grandson trying to get between Grandpa and the harmonica to figure out what he was doing to make that sound.




This is our sweet granddaughter, look at all those dimples.




We went to the Nashville Zoo one day while we were there.  We saw a baby sloth (picture turned out dark) and pink flamingos.



We stayed in a motel on the way home that was behind the Ozarkland building that was right out of a Charles Wysocki painting.


 Image 1


Except, technically, Charles Wysocki didn't paint things from the south.  But if he had, it would have looked like this with all the signs all over it.




We left before it opened the next morning.  Tsk tsk!

Off to layer the little quilt.
Robin

Two Weeks under the tree was his record.

 Well, it didn't exactly turn out like I could see in my minds eye. . .  And it had a few make-overs as well a drastic designer revision...