Zoom… zoom… zoom <<< Come and see!!!

After such a very hot last couple of months here in the southeast US… we are beaconing in September with cool morning breezes and enjoyable evening chats outside 🙂

Do you like surprises??  

Is September apt to surprise you in any way???

I have had a productive and positive week …  how about you?  What stands out in your week as memorable??

Surprise #1…

My Kaleidoscope center of the quilt in progress for the guest bedroom is in 1 piece and it measures the same across the center vertically as it does horizontally!!!  YAY 🙂

Below is a 1 1/2″ ish of fabric for a  floating border I will add to make the orange peel applique blocks surrounding this panel here… 

be based on a standard 5″ unfinished block… Here is a “map” of the plan for this quilt…

 The center circle swirl area is the designation of the kaleidoscope blocks 5 across by 5 down … current measurement is 43 1/2″ square 😀

The orange peels will be these kind of colors now…

This is an orange peel pattern… the “football” shape is appliqued in your fave method to a 5″ square centered diagonally… then all those 5″ blocks are made into 4 patches where the points meet in the center….

…And then those 4 patch blocks make rows that surround the center Kaleidoscope 🙂  Isn’t the above photo quilting fun!!!!

I will then add a outer border to 3 sides from a new (to me) book I got in the mail a couple weeks ago… I read about this book on Karen who blogs HERE post a few months back.  I bought a used version on Amazon and am not disappointed at all!

Linking this fun quilty progress to the Peacock Party with Wendy HERE <<<

Intermittently I have been working on a secret project…

Gathering Supplies…

 Piece by piece making confetti then placing that fabric on the sticky surface I cut out….

 Finally to the binding in my front yard on a glorious evening as I big August adieu!!!

This is a project I can share more on later… my friend Jannessa is getting the finished project when it is released by Lisa Capen Quilts of YouTube fame HERE & who’s pattern and instructions this brainstorm was for!!!

Last to share is the ongoing hand work I do that keeps me sane >> hand quilting on Connie’s Swoon Quilt… last week I shared THIS photo as I turned the quilt in the frame…

 And I was focused on this area right here on the left far borders…

 And then it was finally all stitched there….

 And I scootched over to the first swoon and the big stitching after completing the in the ditch stitching for support was my next focus…

Hoping this week bring me MUCH MORE time to hand quilt … I sew enjoy it !!! LOL

Linking this slow stitching and all that binding I have done in the last week too to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday HERE <<<<

I did finish the binding and washed and dried this quilt and finally took good photos of BOTH quilts for these brotheres…

Seems I have been hopping all over the place this week and now I see why.. I have… but I have also taken time for myself and my friendships… with my honey and all my Patchwork Friends and those I know through my blog even!!!  Do you have good friend(s) in your life???  Each one fills a different need within me … I am soooo blessed!

I sure hope you feel blessed too!  Please take time to leave me a comment and choose a question I asked along the way to answer or sound off with a comment 🙂  I appreciate your time in leaving one!!

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Feeling better is an AMAZING feeling y’all!!!

Well… being totally under the weather for over a week is NOT anything I have experienced in a very long time… so yesterday I turned the corner for sure and today I woke early and happy and healthy 😀

This is how I feel today!!!  And I have been busy too!!!

While I was sick I organized my blocks for the crochet quilt… here are the 3 blocks Connie did for me to figure out my pattern…

Here are 10 of the blocks I have sewn and marked for blanket stitching by hand with the crochet thread…

 I love that this sweet little bird on a patriotic nest pin cushion and wonderclips and a sharp needle with just the right color thread on a bobbin fit nicely in the container that the bird sits on top of…

 I use this to close the opening from turning the blocks 🙂

On the left are the next 10 pairs of blocks and batting … when needed… and while I was at it I checked all my blocks… my friend Jannessa has some of my favorite kind of fabrics in a similar genre in her stash … so with HER HELP I will be making this a charm quilt !!!!

I am sew excited about this too ❤  All together I needed 80 block pairs… Jannessa will be supplying 30 block pairs in that mix to make it a charm quilt with NO DUPLICATES 🙂

So now that I figured that out I have a zip lock baggie with my 10 blocks in it and 10 lengths of crochet cotton thread with each and a needle that works well!  This project that is now a hand project mainly will be linked to Wendy’s Quilts and More Peacock Party HERE <<

This will be a long term project and I will learn to crochet like those first 3 blocks is the goal 🙂  First I need to get all the blocks done and blanket stitched though!

Earlier this week I finished the second scrub shirt of late for my honey …

 This fabric was given to us by Jannessa and then coffee stained to darken it a bit as it was BRIGHT white and navy blue.. now it looks black and cream… he really likes this one!

This arrangement of blocks on my design wall… (from my Kaleidoscope Krazy Quilt I decided to refocus)

Got sewn together this morning on my 301 – Julius… he did a great job … I haven’t seen the finish yet but I just need to press it and check all the seams then will share further steps in next weeks post 🙂

In teaching a friend the fine points and secrets of successful hand quilting I sat back down at my frame….

 And I got this done… which meant I was ready to roll the quilt on the frame 🙂

 I tried to take a wider angle of the whole frame.. it is a very sturdy Hinterberg brand frame.

 And this will be my focus today….

I am linking this slow stitching progress I am way excited to be back in the thick of to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching Linky >>> HERE   Check out her blog post today too… she has some interesting information on her blog!  You will find yourself intrigued if you indulge 😀

Here is a train engine BIRDHOUSE my honey designed out of cedar and hardwoods to withstand the elements for many years…  it is 18″ long and 6″ wide and about 12″ tall…  He designed it to sit on a 4 x 4 post !

 Here is a close up… as it ages it will gain patina as only cedar can do… the wheels and smoke stack will be sealed as they are hardwood but not as durable as cedar is very durable for the elements outdoors… we will have an ad for these coming out soon but if you are interested … email me HERE to find out more…

Price will be $99 to include shipping in the USA.  Payment via Paypal Invoice 🙂
It does have a 1 1/2″ opening for birds that fit that size or smaller … and it does have a clean out on the back side of the train.

Here is a silly pic of Ellie looking darling…  she turned 3 months old this week!

 Here is a tattoo my daughter designed from a meme I sent her and her beau is a tattooer .. so he did the black work first… next time he will add the color.

I hope you can be someone’s Sunshine when their skies are gray!!!!

Here is to hoping no more illness falls on this house or it’s inhabitants again for a while… I am tired of spending so much time sleeping in bed! lol

Thanks or visiting and have a GREAT week!

In LOVE with the Lazy Daisy !!

I can’t believe this paradise of a home is ours forever !!!  It is just so exciting 😀

I have NEVER felt as I do about a place as I do about this place… in the valley of the mountains in rural North Carolina is the place for me!  Now I am soo happy I left my retreat in Fla for THIS!!!

Rick got a RC boat that I snuck and ordered for him… watch the video here if you are interested…

It zooms around our pond for sure and was a fun kind of thing to get amidst all the work we have to do still! lol

Meanwhile I have been unloading boxes and enjoying the view from here as well…

I never tire of the grist mill running… we do have to divert the water to it when it gets below freezing outside but hopefully those nights are now behind us for the year!

I shared last week how Rick got my shelves in the closet for my fabrics… and how I filled them UP!!!

Well this week I have focused a lot on those Kaleidoscope Krazy blocks I have worked on for a while now!

Above you can see me working on them… and below you can see me counting my progress…

 Those little purple circular things are Dove eggs… dark chocolate… yummm!

 Organized my 60 finished blocks above

 And further organized the 72 blocks to go on top of those in a styrofoam tray I harvested for this project… works great 😀

Then I focused on my leaders and enders I had been building …

they look like they need a border and binding to be a baby quilt! lol  We will see if I make it bigger or finish it and call it done!  This was my 1st time to stick with a leader/ender project long enough to do anything with it!

I also put up some memorabilia decor in the sewing room…

And decided instead of buying valances for the sewing room I would somehow rework a vintage improved 9 patch I have been hoarding for A WHILE… to make a set of 2 valances 😀  So stay tuned for that feat!  I do appreciate having my ruler holder back up though!

In the living room area I have been working slowly on slow stitching on the wholecloth with no pic to share as it is BORING yawn… I need to focus and get something worth sharing ready for next week… and on the other side of the living room….

I have the relaxing rocker and the big frame ready for new leaders to be put on… meanwhile a flimsy I finished a couple years ago is waiting for borders to be reworked… then it will be ready for hand quilting… I already have the binding cut for this one but the outer border turned out ruffley for some reason so after examining it again I realized letting it vegetate for a while did NOT change it’s situation… so hopefully this week it will get a seam ripper to it. and get ready for the new leaders to be attached 😀

My honey … is a veteran… and we are both quite patriotic as well… so a flag was a must for our new home….

 He got it flying high… 20 feet high to be exact…

 You can see it from the post office and road above… very cool!

He also got the lawn mower back in working order and the deck painted… it was very chipped up!  It looks sooo nice now 😀

Also I was able to snag a full shot of our golf cart… the rear of it makes a seat for 2 passengers or as it is a flat area to carry stuff… that is our primary way to transport heavy things from the house/garage to the out building. 

Do any of you have these little but heavy pattern weights?  They have felt on the bottom but are plastic on the top and go inside a rectangle shaped box when stored… I saw these on a friends blog and she shared this pic with me… I want some!!!  lol

 Here is a little wall hanging I fell in love with… hoping to use my applique skills soon to make something like this for our home 😀

Here is a fun photo I choreographed for my latest guilty pleasure too! lol

Pretty fun that April 1… aka April Fool’s day is also Easter… so hope you are having a blessed Easter!

Thanks for stopping in … hope you enjoyed your visit… please share what makes you happy as this wonderful month of April begins !!!

February is speeding by here!!!

Happy mid February Y’all!  I can’t believe it is the 11th already !!!

After my last post we had a frenzy of showings on our home… then after a showing on February 1… we got a cash offer for our home and we accepted!!! 

The NEXT DAY they had us leave again for an inspection!!!  So to the beach we went 😀

It was windy but warm for the beginning of February… and the tide was out so it was good!  Negotiations after the inspection continued until we settled on the original agreement on February 6 with all things signed… now to find a new home for us to move to!

We had been looking north to get back to seasons and decided Appalachian foothills country would be closer to family in Tennessee and seasonal but closer for beach visits and more moderate climate WITH seasons … with trees and mountains… all the things we miss in flat Florida ! lol

Here is a view from an overlook near the part of the Appalachian foothills we will be calling home…

Click on the pic to make it larger if you like… it is near the clouds though!!!  Lots of ear popping happened on this trip!!!!

Soon we settled on a house but we are waiting on all to be final… so just a few shots of the house to show you what we have in mind as awesome..

 Soon it was the last time we would be entering Florida as actual residents … our trip up north only lasted 2 nights and 3 days but thanks to my honey’s prowess on finding properties online… we found a house we want to fix up to call home!!!

We looked at several houses and went back to this one a total of 3 times before making our decision final… but it has privacy, is newer all around that our current home, it is better sized for the 2 of us and an occasional visitor, plus it has TONS of potential and good bones about it as well!  And we got it for what we could afford to pay from the sale of the house we are selling so it a GREAT 😀

Meanwhile, I have been hand quilting mainly.. I did make up a few Kaleidoscope blocks … but my focus has been packing, washing, moving, and finding our forever home as well… as it should be!

Here is the section of quilting I was working on last post on my Colorful Whole Cloth quilt…

 And here it is laid out on the floor when I turned it to get to the opposite side…

 I am working from the center out… so once I had reached one side completely… I felt I needed to turn the quilt and work from the center that was done… to the outer opposite edge… so here it is back in my PVC frame ready for me to quilt…

 Here I am rotated and making quilty progress…

 And here is where I am working this morning ….

 Here is an overview of all I have done on THIS side 😀

I am enjoying the variety of colors and stitching this quilt involves… esp with so much going on in our lives presently… and this PVC frame hand quilting project will work nicely until my wood frame gets set up in our new home if all goes according to plan on that.  Linking this hand quilting progress and where you will find me on and off today with Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday link… come see what other hand stitchers are doing at her Olympic focused Linky Party HERE!

Here are some Kaleidoscope Krazy blocks I have been stitching a bit on…

 Here they are as I had cut and paired them up into sets and pinned them… these piles when sewn will bring me to halfway on block construction for this big quilt…

 While sewing these I am trying out leaders and enders Bonnie Hunter style…  making hour glass blocks!!!

 Above are the ones that I trimmed up 😀

And this quote sums up my life right now…

 A Wild Wild ride!!!!

Here is a cool barn quilt block I saw on saved on my computer… while up in the Appalachian foothills we saw lots of varieties of barn quilts… so if we are blessed enough to move there I will be looking for pointers on painting my own to show off on our home!!! Always wanted to do this too soooo awesome to get the house and the chance is all works out 😀

 And who doesn’t love doxie quilts for doxie owners… doxies in sweaters… love this layout and inner border of winding ribbon!!!

 So until my next post….

We are DEFINITELY doing this NOW!!!!

Making good progress here on my Colorful Whole Cloth Quilt and MORE!

Happy Slow Stitching Sunday to you all!!!  I am happy to be linking up magnanimous progress today at Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday Celebration day… check out all the linkers HERE 😀

Before I share my AWESOME progress this week I wanted to share this Needle Nanny  / Needle Minder / Needle Keeper Notion that so many of you asked about last week.  This one was gifted to me by a great friend…. but I have made them as well since receiving this one!

Here is how it works with craft magnets on either side of the quilt and attached to a flat backed bauble of your choosing.  I have even added a craft magnet to a magnet… just make sure you put happy sides together before adding hot glue ! lol

Glue the magnet to your object of beauty then put a magnet happy sides together on the other side of your quilt … they will hold on to each other THROUGH your quilt sandwich!!!!  Tah Dah 😀  Hope this helps you make or to at least understand how they work!  I also use mine to hold my thimble onto my tilted frame… keeps it from rolling off this way because it has the lip avoid the rolling! 🙂

This week I think I hadn’t made much progress until I looked at last weeks blog post and WoW!!!!

Here is where I am this week!

I started here just moving the quilt in my PVC frame….

 I did take a peek at how much was left and it was one more move in the frame to get to the cool border!!!!

 So once I determined how much was left I decided to make this quilt even more my own and not leave what I call the “honeycomb” sections open to be puffy once washed but to fill them in like this…

 Doesn’t that look sooo cool??!!!!

I did that using these items…

 I used my honey’s medication for his inhaler that has a convex top side to leave an indention on the quilt once rubbed in well…

 Like this … can you see!!??

 Then using colored chalk lead in my mechanical pencil I marked that indention… then quilted it …

Here is a section that is now completely done….

Here is the whole edge with the wavy outer border…

 And here is either side to see better is you like… I think you can click on the pics to get a big view if you are on a computer 😀

Here is where I am this morning though…

I hope you can see the circles I will be working on today… I have 2 more sections this size to do then I can move to a different side of the quilt!  Oh my!!!! Very exciting!!!

Many people have asked about the blue lines that come premarked on this whole cloth quilt as well… do they really come out after all that work… well go back and look at some of my shots but I am spritzing and erasing as I go so YES they do come out… but best to soak in the washer for a bit I think.. and that is what I have heard as well from other hand quilters who have done this sort of whole cloth quilt.

Here is a fun pic I made for a hand quilting group… maybe you will like it too!

So whatever kind of project you are investing your time in… use your own creativity to make it your own I say!!!

Here is a cute Solar Dinosaur we found at Dollar Tree this week!  It keeps me smiling as we make our way around our town…

And here are some blocks I have also been working on this week when I am not slow stitching on this quilt….

These blocks (40 of them ) represent about 1/3 of the quilt to be for us to use… it is going to be a cool quilt I think when finished but kind of a Bonnie Hunter style scrapiness to it 😀  Speaking of Bonnie… did you catch her Quilt Cam yesterday afternoon?  Check that out HERE on her blog post this morning if you are interested!!!  She is actually lining up to be near me tomorrow but the class is full and my wallet doesn’t have $$ budgeted for her this time… but hopefully once we are relocated closer to her neck of the woods I can catch a class of hers in real time!!!  Have you ever seen someone you adore in real life?  What was it like??  I saw Jenny Doan of MSQC a few years back… she is as adorable in person as she is on youtube if not moreso… I saw her trunk show and HIGHLY recommend you seeing her trunk show too if you ever get the chance!!!

As for facebook groups… I do have one…

We chat about hand and machine quilting and piecing there… It is a closed group so you are safe to share your hidden objects and ask questions or share advice and progress as you make it.  It is a small group under 100 people and I plan to keep it small.  If you are interested in being part of this style group then click HERE to ask for entry.  Right now I am asking what everyone plans to focus on for February 😀

I hope you have a blessed end of January and welcome February with open arms!  Make sure you …

along the way too!  Until my next posting… Happy Quilting!

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…

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!