Another UFO completed!!!!

I can’t believe I am chatting with you 2 weeks in a row with yet ANOTHER finish to share 😀

The newlyweds are LOVING their quilt and sleeping under it on their bed… no pics yet but I am fine with that as it is being loved and slept under 💑

And while I am very excited to share my finish… I really wanna share this photo!!!

 Look what the Color Catcher’s caught 😀

And look how beautiful and unstained the finish quilt is…

None of this quilt was pre-washed as I bought the top my daughter found already made from an eBay seller…

From the above pic it is 90″ x  90″.  She then picked out the pattern I would use to stipple in black thread on the white background from one of the online stencil companies and helped me decide on a pattern for all those carpenter star blocks… the outer border has a simple “s” design we both liked in red big stitch… and the binding is something fun and snazzy she liked!  She named it Starlight Starbright during the quilt designing process 😀

This quilt was meant to be her graduation from high school quilt… yet she has yet to graduate from high school.  She has chosen a different path right now and has quit school to work and pursue other interests… so I will be holding on to this quilt until her life settles down a bit I think 🙂

This quilt was purchased about this time of year in 2016 when I look back in my blog archives for a history moment.

It was officially started on my February 24, 2016 in a hoop…

Soon after this was started I realized it was gonna be an arduous journey this way so my honey built the PVC quilting frame for me from 1″ pvc and his own ingenuity to my specifications ❤

Here is a pic I took once this quilt came out of it…

It was surely dusty from being in this frame for 2 years with only small movements to reposition it for quilting… when I took it out to bind it dust flew everywhere!!!  lol

BTW… my previously cut binding???  Well I had just this 5″ piece left!!!  WOW that was close 😀

Then to wash it I also wanted to remove all the markings… mostly pencil markings on the white fabric… I really didn’t want to scrub with a toothbrush on it with Palmolive dish soap which is my secret weapon to remove even a stubborn prewashed pencil marking… so I washed in cold water with detergent… then when that didn’t remove the pencil I washed again with detergent and 2 tablespoons of Palmolive in my front loading washing machine and left soaking once it was good and wet overnight (about 4 hours honestly )… then checked it and all the pencil appeared to be gone… I washed it on warm with no extra soap just what was in it and as you can see in the pics… it is all GREAT!!!!  No pencil marks found by my meticulous eye at all!!!!

Above you can see the pencil marks in the white that I made… pretty heavy handed I got !  Then had to remark most of that as it wasn’t very good for stitching really …

So I have learned A LOT with this quilt.. and I am happy to call it done… I have a 100% cotton pillowcase this quilt will be calling home until we get moved… then I will display it occasionally and change it’s folding pattern occasionally as recommended… until the time my daughter is ready to receive this gift of love!

While working on this I have also started drafting a future quilt pattern as the pattern comes in 70″ square size and I want it 105″ square size…

And another UFO has shown itself on my PVC frame…

The colorful whole cloth quilt I am making… look at the fun backing I added… it is a wide back… I started this some time long ago and am happy to be calling this one my current project.. maybe til summer???  Not sure how long it will take… I am only about 1/4 or 1/3 done with the quilting on it.

So that is all that is keeping me busy and out of trouble… how about you?!   What are you doing to keep your hands and mind busy this year??

Thanks for visiting with me … I hope I have left you inspired to pick up a new project or return to an older project and finish it up!  Linking all this to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday HERE… she has the flu so come cheer her up !!!  And she has a new idea to share for 2018 linkers too 😀

In closing here is a large view of the quilt itself for your enjoyment…

Have a blessed Sunday whatever you do… try to spend a bit of time doing something fun with your hands too … but most importantly ….

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Resetting for 2018!

It was just a few days into 2018 that I finished that great big quilt that was on my frame… well it has been washed a couple times and checked for any issues then dried and gifted!!!

My son and DIL loved it sooo much they put it right on their bed my son built for them!!!

So now it is time to start on something new… or should I work on a UFO to free my pvc frame I haven’t used in over a year or more!!! lol

Well I have decided 2018… while we are waiting for the right buyer to come along to buy our home… will be a good year to work on UFO’s too… once this quilt is complete… Binding IS cut and ready to sew together and attach… I will work on my colorful wholecloth quilt that hasn’t seen light in a couple of years!!! Wow!!!  This will be earth shattering for me to finish both of these UFO’s… and I will I think because I am ready to face this challenge in my life.  Here is a quote from Bonnie Hunter that is quite fitting for me right now…

I can look at this as a goal as well as a focal point for where I am in life 🙂  Can you??

So as I make slow but sure progress on this Starlight Starbright quilt meant to be for my daughter some day…

 And I also make slow but sure progess on these Kaleidoscope Krazy blocks… need 132… have 26 hahaha!

 I am pondering my next quilt to piece… for our bed that my honey has helped me choose the colors on and my bestie will help me fulfill those requests…  I also wonder…
 What are you all up to??  What are your plans as we are biting into 2018???

Are you living the life you love right now??  I certainly hope you can look back on decisions you are making and life you are living and be happy with yourself and your decisions 😀

So until my next post…

Linking this very hand work happy post to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday linky party HERE

Come wish her sickness to go away soon and see what other hand focused people are making and doing this fine new year!!!

On your mark… get set… DONE!

Wowee ya’ll!  My last post just a couple weeks ago showed me at 3/4 done… I have now got this view to enjoy!!!

The goal had been to have this off the frame for New Years day … we need to disassemble it for our upcoming move… but this morning I was able to finish the quilting on the quilt that was on this frame and take it all off!!

Now to make up binding and attach it and decide on wording for the label and embroider it on there too… and sew it on!  I am just so excited still though that I am looking at this empty frame a day early if not more !!!

 I worked on this quilt every day as we have packed, cleaned, sold, and gave away things to downsize and prepare for our upcoming move…

Here is a nice shot I took but didn’t date… I think it was 1 1/2 weeks ago though…

 I had lots of questions in my hand quilting facebook group so I made this photo tutorial…

 And shared this one too…

 Someone asked if the chank and Mark B Gone went away easily and they do but I also made this photo to show it! 🙂

 Here is the quilt with just a bit more quilting left to happen in the borders…

And with EVERYTHING marked!!!

 Here are some highlights of some personalizing I embroidered on the center top of the quilt for the newlyweds…

 The layer cake I used to make this quilt with…

 A fresh photo of the newlyweds they shared for Christmas…

I think my son looks like a mountain man at 6′ 7″.. and his wife is only 5′ 1″ lol!!!  But aren’t they cute 😀

Meanwhile I have still been aking slow but sure progress on a quilt to be hand quilted!!!

 And dreaming about a wall hanging I like for my future sewing room once we sell this home and find a new smaller home 🙂

Sharing this post with Kathy’s Quilts today… come see what other hand stitchers are linking up on this cool day for most of the USA HERE!

Here is a preview of my focus for 2018….

 And with that… I am out of time for now so will post and answer each of your comments if you are able to accept a reply.

Have a blessed day and a Happy New Year 2018!  Make sure you take time to Love One Another today!!!

3/4 Done with Amethyst Stars and MORE !

Hello All!  Hope you are have a happy holiday season wherever you reside in the world !!!

I have been plugging away at this quilt … Amethyst Stars and am now over 3/4 done 😀

Actually it calculates to 80% complete on the rows I have done but the top edge… that is starting to show when I rolled to Row 12… in this shot…

with the next roll a row of green will then be visible!!!  Stay tuned to see if I finish this quilt up though before the New Year!!!  That is my goal is to have this off the frame before we move!!!

And speaking of moving…

 Our Casa del Loro is officially on the market for sale!!

Here is what I posted on Craigslist before the house went up for sale though in the back yard…

Which left us here….

 Then with some hard work by my honey and our yard folks…. we got it to this 😀

While all this change was happening in the back yard… look who I was hanging out with ….

And I even did a bit of retail therapy for the Season … for myself! lol

I got some hand knit wool socks that are made of a wool that will let me wash them too!!!  I got them off Etsy… just leave a message if you want more info on these!

Now that we are talking again about hand done things… let’s chat about quilt marking…

I am using chalk… both actual chalk pencil and Pounce mainly for marking but some squares are light enough to mark with a blue wash away marker too….

Above you can see the Pounce pad and the chalk pencil as well as my thimble by Clover 🙂

Now you can see the perle cotton big stitched on those lines below!

I am linking all this fun slow stitching progress… and where I will be spending most of my time today as well to Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday Linky… see what others are slowly making at her linky party HERE!

When I quilt I occasionally indulge during the holidays in a bit of Peppermint bark by Dove!! Yummm

I love the holiday sayings on them too!!!  Do you have a fave snack you indulge in during the holidays???

Although I haven’t worked on this this week… I have been making a bit of progress on a future hand quilting project… by getting some blocks machine pieced… here are 9 all done and laid out on the carpet….

this is really gonna be a Krazy Kaleidoscope quilt too I think when all done!!!  all but the greys I used are from my existing stash too ~  LOVING IT!!!!

One thing we will certainly miss in our location in Florida is seeing the rockets launch from our back yard… look closely at this shot and you can see the comm trail rising toward that big cloud… it is the trail left by the Space X rocket earlier this week from Cape Canaveral Florida due south of our home 😀

Finally from our home to yours we wish you a Happy Christmas!!!!

Take time to listen to some Christmas tunes… Pentatonix has a new album out and I have been enjoying it via headphones and even on the Bose speaker… quite remarkable what they do with little to no actual instruments but those given to them by birth !

Have a blessed Christmas… please keep our home sale and subsequent purchase of a new smaller home in your prayers and thoughts!  We are excited to start this new chapter in our lives and look forward to sharing the highlights here as well!

Most important we find it hard to remember for most drivers but show your love for one another and have extra Christmas  cheer when driving this Holiday Season!  This seems to be in short supply when shopping and when driving around here anyway!

Blessed Holidays to you all and don’t forget to….

Amethyst Stars… 2/3 complete!!

Can you believe this…

I had to come back to my blog and see when the hand quilting on this big quilt started today…

July 15, 2017!!!

WOWEEE … I am thrilled… I thought it had been a couple months longer! lol

Check out that blog post HERE!!!

Well today I am here to share with Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday HERE all that I have been up to… including some delicious shots of my progress hand quilting this intricate pattern 😀  So buckle up and read along my bloggy friends!

Here was the end of row 9 and a shot of the threads this project is taking….

 I am really enjoying the variety of stitching in each of the charm square blocks along the way.

Marking out the rope border is quick n easy with my Pounce pad 🙂

 Soon that and the argyle finish are complete too!

 And as promised a pic of all the threads I am using… Aurifil 28 wt, YLI 40 wt, and perle cotton 12 wt are all present and accounted for here …

Can’t decide yet but I think I will need more of the gold perle cotton I am using for the rope outside border… if so that is the only one that will need to be obtained… unless I need more Ecru DMC for the charm squares… I must order the gold online as it is Valdani and I am unable to locate locally… but the DMC is nearby at Joann’s… so I can pop in there if need be to finish this quilt in the next few weeks!!!

And here is a shot of my frame and ROW 10 … 

I have finished on the outer borders and ready to start the charm squares and stars here now 😀

I hope you each had a great Thanksgiving … me and my honey enjoyed the day immensely…

I heard from my kids and sent shout outs on facebook to those near and dear too!

Here was our table including the place mats I made…

Ready to be dressed with ham and turkey and all the fixin’s…

Yummy!!!  It was really good too.  At this writing all the leftovers have been consumed so we did a good job of estimating our need and not having so much excess food in the house to be tempting… we are still working on weight loss goals and getting in better overall health.

Those place mats got made just in time before it was time to pack up the sewing room in prep for selling our home and moving a bit north… that is our goal anyway! lol

We also got to watch a rarely shown episode of Leave it to Beaver on Thanksgiving…

It is called “The Scrapbook” and it was the final episode… not sure why they don’t play it when they play all the others over and over… but this episode and one other we hadn’t seen played Thanksgiving and we were thrilled!

My son James and his wife (the ones the Amethyst Stars quilt is for)… built themselves a new table over this holiday weekend too…

 Above was them working on finishing it up and below it is in their bedroom ready to give them respite!

Doesn’t it just look amazing!!??  I LOVE that he got some untapped handy genes somewhere/somehow!

So here is my sewing room today with my latest sewing machine project I fiddle with when I need a diversion from hand quilting and packing more stuff up….

Gloria… my Singer 301a is doing a fine job of precisely piecing the hexi centered blocks… I need quite a few to make us a quilt for our bed though… lol!

My 401a and fabric chest and cutting table and ALL OF MY STASH (meaning Bonnie Hunter’s … On Ringo Lake mystery is getting printed for making once we are relocated!!!) is packed away except for what you see above!!!!  We couldn’t believe how many boxes it took to wrangle my sewing stuff … and I am NOT DONE YET!!! lol  I have sewing items in EVERY room… but by the end of THIS DAY TODAY those should all be boxed and ready for a new home somewhere north where seasons again exist 😀

Please keep us in your thoughts/prayers as we look for God’s will in our move north of here… are you doing Bonnie’s mystery this year??  I would love to hear about that too!!  I am a HUGE fan and this will be my first time to try out her mystery 😀

Hope all is well for you and yours!  Please take time if you like to go visit the others who are linking their slow stitching hand done projects at Kathy’s quilts today and remember until my next post to…

Highs and Lows… and Thank a Veteran too!

Did you recall yesterday was this day??

I thanked my veteran and every veteran I came across… and although this may be an American inspired day each country can participate in thanking a Veteran for this freedoms they now have in the place we call home!

I have been busily quiet… I did get tagged in the latest facebook post to share pics each day in black and white… 7 days with a picture each day… check out my facebook feed to find what I have shared so far  HERE 🙂

I also have fallen into watching this…

 Which ended with this quilt …

WoW!!!  Thumbs up on this series!!!

So today and all weekend I have focused on hand quilting and house cleaning… I am linking my hand quilting progress with Slow Stitching Sunday HERE 🙂

Kathy is asking for tips on lighting … I use very cheap light stands (see the black one in my blog header) with expensive bulbs… they are fluorescent bulbs from Lowe’s in “Daylight” and they work great giving me lots of clear white light to quilt by day or night! 😀  Hope this helps you in your ability to attain good lighting!!!

While I watched the Netflix Chik Flick… I also stitched away and reached the halfway point!!!

 The receivers of this quilt read this blog… so I am including this shot for Heather to enjoy a look at row #8 at the midpoint of the quilt for her and James 🙂  ….

I am really enjoying every turn of the frame on this quilt and happy to share such good progress since my last post here on Sunday’s with Kathy.

We have also been very busy… and decided to take a much needed break to see the leaves change in North Carolina!

Here are some snippets of our journey above…. it was not a relaxing vacation like we planned tho! lol

We did have a great friend keep Daisy for this trip and that was a blessing for sure!!!

Next time we get a wild hair to go north it will not include going through Atlanta though!!!

I took multiple pics of the fog coming up in the mornings off the Appalachian Mountains and not 1 of those shots came out well… so this is my fave pic of what did turn out …

Enjoy the colors of the season wherever you are!!!

Back to quilting and laundry for me… hope you find productivity & bright light in your day!

Happy Surprises!

Last Sunday I posted that I planned to slow stitch and just enjoy the day… and I did … until I was awakened by my honey and a knock at our front door!!!

Here I am fresh as a daisy after a great nap and my front door knocker … my Bestie!!!  Connie 😀

She drove over 11 hours y’all!!!!

And a group shot… my honey had no idea either she was headed our way for a few days of quilty fun!!!

Here she is after SHE had a little nap after her travels… hand quilting a wall hanging/ future baby quilt for someone very lucky…

 Daisy loves Connie and was by her side most of her time here… we also got another quilt layered… for her oldest daughter to snuggle once HAND quilted…

 We took a tour of the beach too…

 But the waves were up and still lots of trash on the beach from Irma so no driving on it this time.  Then we visited all our fave restaurant.. .a local restaurant and had a belated birthday celebration while we were there…

We also got pedicures while she was here… all in all a lot of quilty and friend soaked loving fun we had for 4 full days and 4 nights… sleeping here and there and quilting LOTS!

We chatted a lot while she was here about goals and plans … for us each… and Rick and I decided now that she had made this spontaneous visit and closed some loose strings really during her visit it was time to get a move on moving to cooler climate and getting our seasons back… so we spent a lot of time researching and came out with some answers…

We want a log cabin style home and we want southern North Carolina area… so we are moving forward and listing things on local sell groups and eBay too… so far we quickly sold these 2 things..

 And this was bought by a lady who will pick it up on the 6th of November… as she was on a Caribbean cruise when she contacted me and made the purchase via Paypal!!!  WOWEE 🙂

Facebook spotting of my son Mike… with my brother and his kids!

Can you believe too that in this next week we will enjoy costumed kids… and adults in a tradition we call Halloween… greet November in … and change time too!!!  Back to Standard time!!!

 My honey and I have been very successful selling things so we went and bought paint for a fresh coat on the house… but this wasn’t mixed right so we had to return it and have a remix….

 Meanwhile… I have been hand quilting ROW #7!!!!

 Here are charms #4 and #5 freshly spritzed and scrubbed clean of the chalk markings…

 And if I didn’t believe this before with all the changes and surprises happening around here I believe it now!!!

And here is a cool “Chrome Locomotive” as it was named… that we saw while driving around our town the other day!!!  Wouldn’t it be nice to have this traveling home for vacations???!!!

Well… time to get back to quilting this morning for me… and who knows what the rest of the day will hold as we have lots of things on local swap shops as we are clearing out the clutter and excess preparing our home to go up for sale. 

I am linking this hand quilting post up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching linky… come see what everyone is Slowing Down and Stitching!!!  HERE <<<

Keep our sanity in your thoughts and prayers PLEASE as we prepare to change all we know as “normal”!  So for now remember to …

Forward Progress Happening Here :)

So happy to have some positive progress here this week to share at Kathy’s.. for Slow Stitching Sunday 🙂  And this is where you will find me today too!!!

Yep… I rolled the quilt on the frame again… now on row #7 of 15 rows total to do so ALMOST HALFWAY y’all!!!

I am sooo excited with this progress… here is a close up of the beginnings of row 7…

I am really enjoying the border and planning out the motifs for the charm blocks too… it is all quite fun for me 😀  Linking this post to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching come SEE!!!  HERE <<< and praying this is gifted by Christmas!!!

I can’t stitch all the time though… I am not as handy with thimbles as I could be so my fingernails break off frequently… thus I have also been working on some machined projects while increasing my use and ability to stitch with thimbles! lol

I completed this cool table topper…

If you are interested in my thoughts on the pattern I purchased and the overall construction of it in more detail look at my post from yesterday right HERE!

Earlier this week my kids met up in Tennessee and I got these photos sent to me…

 Above is James and his wife Heather with my son Mike… and below is Mike with my dd Brandi 🙂  So nice that they all keep in contact with each other!! 💗

Meanwhile I have been thinking of upcoming holidays and treated myself to an early Christmas present in the form of the new Quiltfolk magazine… focusing on middle and eastern Tennessee!!!

This is a completely ad FREE magazine that is 170 pages of vintage and historic quilts in pics.. plus a few newly constructed too… but the focus is on quilt history in each state.. this quarter it was focused in Tennessee … where I am from!!  They cost $22/each or $75/year subscription and there is no postage fees and it came well wrapped for safe transport via USPS… I hope to order more interesting ones in the future as I find them quite pleasing to enjoy on my back porch as the weather cools a bit.

Also on the Countdown to Christmas in my mind has been making some placemats for our dinner table… and I found a youtube tutorial I felt inspired by… here is the photo that inspired me…

And here is my fabric choices for MY placemats…

 Here I am actually doing it.. see the negative fussy cutting template I made at the top of this pic below??  A first for me … just made from cardstock though 🙂  I got 4 of these 6″ x 10″ hexi images from a fat quarter!!! PERFECT 😀

 Then I had the inner border on…

 Then the outer border and a good pressing was had!! lol

 Finally a look at my completed idea after re-auditioning bindings… not sure about the backing yet… should I go with plain fabric or make them multi seasonal with some print on the back that would also look nice with a black binding…

Well I made 2 of the 4 I need so far and now will ponder this quandary as I slow stitch this Sunday away 😀  These measure now 12″ x 17″ so that is a good size for us.. we use smaller sized lunch plates anyway 🙂

Are you making any crafts for your home for Christmas??

Finally… my honey has been making me a built in office in our bedroom… and he has painted the wall a soft gray color!!!

 Now here it is once all had dried well and I could move back in to this space 😀  I LOVE IT!!!

 I especially like the little shelves above… holding my overflow, a pic of my bestie and me from last summer’s visit and some decore items…

 We continue to ponder a move in the springtime… please keep us in your thoughts and prayers… anyone near Graham, NC?  This is in the center of the state … would love to get some pics from you if you live near this part of the world!!

Thanks for stopping by to see what I am up to… I would LOVE to hear from you as well!  Please leave a comment and have a blessed day my friend!  And don’t forget to follow the link I left for you to see what all hand work others are up to on this fine Sunday!!

Make sure to also ….

Wall Hanging is FINISHED!! And more to share too!

Happy Middle of the Month Y’all!  Fall may finally make it to central Florida’s east coast where I am by next week I hear!  Morning temps in the 60’s are predicted!!!  Yahoo 💖

And I have such a fun finish to share with you all!!

This is probably the most fun I have had making a wall hanging for my foyer yet!!

It all started September 23…

Bonnie Hunter… a scrappy quilter I follow… had been showing some string piecing… and how she turned those paper pieced strips into fun little pumpkins… I wanted to try it!!!  I had never done any improv piecing really….

 Well I loved how my 15 little pieces of phone book finished up and de – papered so nicely so I made a pattern…

 And I bought some border fabric but when it arrived it was short by JUST THIS MUCH!!!

 Well the seller made good but I had to change my mitered border idea to something a bit different I realized…  So I went to my computer and decided to do a search for acorns… they are fallish too!! lol

This is what I came up with…

 And here is the flimsy I soon had… with none of that darling border fabric to spare!!!

 Soon I had it layered up and pin basted it in my kitchen on our rolling island cart… amazing the things that become quilting necessities throughout the house ! lol

Remember my frame is taken up with the quilt for my son and sweet dil… and my hoop has a project in it too…

 Above you can see how I was quilting… but I had areas that needed more quilting in the center too… in the end the only place I used a stencil to aid my hand quilting of this wall hanging fun was on the outer border waves.

Daisy, our doxie, was my constant companion as a wagged this project around too!!!

And soon I had a quilt ready for the wash…

In case you were curious… this Fall Wall Hanging…

Is hand quilted and lovely but isn’t funky and eclectic as our theme… so it is up for sale on eBay! lol

Along with these cute drink coasters I made with leftovers from this fall quilt…

And now my foyer looks like this!

 And here are a couple close ups….

I think this project turned out just right… can you see the whimsical stitching in light green thread I did on the turquoise blue center background… I did heart shaped leaves and swirls to fill in the spaces that had too much openness left for the cotton and wool batting I used.  The package said quilt at least 4″ or less apart… so I had to be creative.. & I enjoyed it!!!

Kudos to my bestie for helping me stay creative through this 3 week process of making and quilting this!!!  I couldn’t have done it so fun without her long distance encouragement and ideas exchange 😀

Linking this hand quilted finish to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching  HERE!!!  Go see what other slow stitchers are working on this weekend!

Once that quilt was in the washer I was at loose ends.. and finally settled back in on the quilt on my frame for my son and DIL… soon I was ready to share this pic..

That is row 6 of 15 rows y’all!!! So still a ways to go on this… hopefully by Christmas it will be off the frame and ready to gift though 😀  They are anxious to have it and it is needed in their home they say so that is exciting and keeps me working on it!!

Now I will work on piecing a few projects I have percolating in my brain along with the Kaleidoscope quilt I have cut out… as well as working on a table topper I have had almost a year now and still haven’t done! lol  While I continue to make slow and sure progress on this quilt for them.

I did get a new tattoo of sorts for our vehicle…

I ordered the medium size… but it shows up across the parking lot so it will soon be replaced with a size smaller one! lol  But I do LOVE it!!!  I found it on eBay searching “needle heart decal”.

In the news… which I try not to focus on so much!  There is so much craziness in our country and in the world… so I want to leave you with this thought V V V

Have a blessed rest of your weekend is my wish for each of you… And make time to…

Another row in the books and soooo much more!!!

Happy October Y’all!!!

We have been really busy since my last post a couple weeks ago!!!

I want to link up to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday HERE… so first let me share the hand work I am doing first 🙂

I am happy to report I have finished the 5th row….

 And moved on to row #6  … this makes me 1/3 done with all the quilting on this big quilt 🙂

My son and DiL are sooo excited to get this as they currently are fussing over the available blankets and quilts they have available to use at their home… there just aren’t enough!  Glad I can solve that issue for them.

And I am also excited to report… I have started some hand applique via needle turn glue stick basting.. I am following another blogger at “fabric therapy” and she has a tutorial section on her blog that chats all about this method HERE… here name is Teresa and she is quite witty and fun… I have enjoyed how she does her award winning applique so I am finally starting to get the hang of it 😀

I first did some string piecing to build a fall wall hanging that is whimsical with inspiration from Bonnie Hunter’s string pumpkins posts…

 So here is my beginning…

 oranges/ yellows/ browns and some black for my stems plus plenty of teal blue for my background….

and pretty soon I was having a BLAST making improv pumpkin rectangles .. using a smaller stitch length for easy paper removal was a GOOD THING!!!

 Once I had my 15 pumpkins made I took a break on my back porch and drew out what I now knew my design would be…

 and got the corners and stems cut and put on my pumpkins slowly but surely…

 then filled in the rest…

 And now it was FINALLY time to pick out fabric for the appliqued lettering I had planned this whole project around! lol

 I use Teresa’s method (and Karen does it this way too I believe) with letters all drawn out at actual size on Freezer paper and ironed leaving 1/8″ room around each letter for turning under as I glue…

 then I went to the Dollar General store and found the purple that turns clear school glue stick…

 Soon all my letters were turned under… and I removed the freezer paper as I glue basted them whimsically in place…

 Finally the center of my wall hanging is ready for stitching the letters down!!!

 So as I stitch those down using a binding stitch method on the stiff glued under edges I am sooo happy that it was much easier and less painful from the needleturn I have tried in the past!!!

I have arthritis in my hands and legs/feet/knees/hips that limits my ability to be as nimble as I once was… so now I can add to my projects!!!  So far I am almost done stitching “Happy” down on my words!!!  So that is the extent of hand work… except I did complete 1 binding by hand this week…

I fashioned this Mug Rug for my side of the bed… I shared my honey’s mug rug last posting… it is similar… but for this one I made a North Star with floating points… just a bit different … and a bit smaller than his as my bedside table has more “stuff” on it! lol  I just like that it features a fussy sewn patriotic doxie actually though 😀

Otherwise quilty I had a request from my friend I made the pillow for… to make one for her hubby… they like it as a neck and head rest while watching tv… so now all those hexi flowers are GONE!!!  Yippeee…

His fave colors are red, blue and black… so I made a red white and blue hexi positive and negative… and used a red/blue /black batik for the side and black batik for the backing of his pillow!

I changed out the foyer decor to fall theme…

That was just when I got inspired by Bonnie to make some string pumpkins… wonder what those 7 leftover pumpkins will become?? lol!

I also have gotten ALL of this bowl shown below… it is a LARGE bowl for halloween candy… almost empty and all the pieces and parts of my Kaleidoscope Krazy quilt to be… organized for sewing!!!

 I also used these 2 fabrics… the one of the front is from a friend who lives up north here in the US… she we traded fat quarters or something and I got this… I love it!!!   Then the fabric on the back was 1 from a friend who lives in the outback of central Australia.  She is very kind and sent this a while back with a batch of other stuff… I am adding these to this quilt cutting 😀

 Here is the grey pindot fabric I am using for all my corners… along with some of my sets ready to be mixed … then I thought of that big bowl I could mix them up in!!!

And here they are mixed and in process of getting matched into blocks… I pinned each “block” together to make sure I had good variety and made fun scrappy sets … that quilt is ready to be sewn into blocks now.. 132 of them!

And we are decorating our bedroom still… and painting the walls… notice the wall with the window is light grey… it only has 1 coat of paint… the second coat will come soon…

 I just love this big old rocking chair… we picked it up for $25 on craigslist.. the big painting was $25 from goodwill and the lamp with foot controller to turn it on /off easily was only $9 at a local thrift shop!  Such a fun grouping there now and a nice place to relax in the eves for my honey!

Here on the LEFT is a cute shot I sent my daughter to let her miss home a bit… she is doing well overall in Tennessee though… so it was in jest as bagels are her fave breakfast/snack and I have a mini bagel wiht cream cheese for breakfast most mornings…

The K on the RIGHT was a find at Goodwill for under $5… and looks nice next to my ruler holder in my sewing studio 😀

 This spoke volumes to me so I wanted to share this weeks Bonnie-ism with you all…

 Happy October and Happy Fall Y’all!  Enjoy doing a bit of slow stitching today!!

Do something nice … just because you have the ability to today.. something not expected 😀  Make this world a better place to live in!