Oct 31, 2015

Happy Halloween!

This is as spooky as it is going to get around my home!  Really it is just a chance to enjoy the various Halloween themed pieces I have done over the years.


c. October 2013  made for the main entry in the Wicked Blog Hop Hosted by Sew We Quilt.  It is hanging in the master bedroom wall that occasionally is used for a pseudo-design wall.



I love this one so much that I made three of them.  Two of my FAB pals have fall bdays and they each got one and I had to have one for ME too.  Amy Bradley design that was in an old Quilter's World magazine that I clipped.



 This was a Bird Brain Design "Witches Hooray" that is hand embroidered.  Originally designed as a table runner, I decided I wanted it for a wall hanging.  Above my bed at the moment.  While not my original Wicked Blog Hop 2013 entry it did get it done in time to share for the hop.



Happy Halloween  Pattern Source:  Joined at the Hip BU#19   Completed 4-26-13




Nancy Halvorsen's Calendar Quilts & Stitcheries  c. 2010


Okay, now that I've done the nostalgia trail and shown you that I USED to get quite a bit of quilting done.............let's move on!  What has been happening around here?


Tuesday Belles met and I got one more Granny Square block completed for a grand total of 6.  Not touched it since as you may have suspected.  We had planned ahead of time to go to Olive Garden for lunch so we bugged out after Lois, Jane with help from Beverly got three quilts pinned.  Bev was working on hand work but Beverly had gone off without her embroidery hoop so her embroidered pillow cases had to wait.   Bev shared this fun table runner she had been working on.  The Jack o'lantern scare crows needed mouths completed.  Isn't it cute??


I did go to the afternoon quilt bunch but mostly to drop off the Belles' big board for Donna to use to press and king sized pieced quilt top she had completed at the retreat.  Well completed except for the borders, that it.  The whole body of the quilt is pieced neutral toned fabrics, mostly white on whites as I recall.  Once the borders are on she is going to applique on scattered fall leaves.  Her aunt had commissioned her to make the quilt.  I'll go for a bit this coming Tuesday and get another block or two done.  Jane, Aline and I are making plans to attend the guild sew-in one of the three days that they are doing it as well.   That's coming up.

Thursday I spent a big chunk of time in the kitchen again.  Jane had given me a copy of eat. drink. MISSISSIPPI  that she had picked up on a recent trip there with her husband.  Lots of good recipes in there and I tried the Spicy Apple Cake with Orange Glaze.  It uses apple butter so the "apple pie" type spices are dialed back.  The link is not from the magazine but to an almost exact ingredient list on sugar dish me.  As I was taking some of the fresh baked cake over to the neighbor, Jane was walking into the beauty shop so I sent a plate home with her to try.  I roasted some sweet potatoes at the same time because some of my Pilgrim Turkey Loaf was due to go in the oven next.  (After a couple days of leftovers, I still had enough for three plates for the freezer.)  I finished off the cooking binge with a pan of Quick and Easy Carmelitas that I will taking down to one of the neighbor's this evening as they invited me down to their chili/hotdog cookout once the great-grands are done Trick or Treating.  Hopefully the rain will stay away till afterwards!

Yesterday Jane and I went down to the Monster Quilting Sale.  One of many of area's quilting friends lost her battle to cancer earlier this year and this was her quilter's estate sale.  Her husband and BFF were in charge of it with the help of other friends and family members.  Borrowing an image from Vicky here.  This was not all of it or the table of books and such as they were still getting things organized in this photo.


We ran into three of our quilting friends, two who were back for round two.   This is what came home with me---31 fat quarters, the equivalent of three yards and misc scraps and charms.   All batiks or batik-like.  I'm thinking I might try that Rubix pattern by Stacey Day with some of it.  (Google"rubix quilt pattern stacey day"  as there is a free pdf.  If I link to it, it will just open the file.  The 2nd google link on AQS link is locked for members only.  Use the first one to the pdf.)

 They were charging $4/yd.  Vicky let me have the triangle on a roll which were not opened for 2 bucks each---these were 1 1/2", 2 1/2" and 3 inch finished.   I only have 2 and 4 inch finished on hand--till now.  The other is a product I am not familiar with Sew and Fold on a Roll and I think this one is for Flying Geese and Braid, also unopened.



The books were $5.  These were the ones I chose but I seriously could have done way more damage with books and let's be honest, fabric.  There was one large bin of batik yardage that I spotted after I had checked out.  It would have been nice to have some to try a Hunter's Star but I had set a limit to what I was going to spend.


The Sloppy book Strips and Strings had quilts that looked familar to me BUT I think Jane or Terri might own this one and I had looked through their copy at some point??   I have her 40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts and love it, with several pages flagged for possible choices down the line.  Mom and I got one planned out on one of my trips back to Illinois some years back.  Still love that one!

While it is nice to have something to remember Jackie C. by, I think we all would rather have her back and sewing amongst us than picking through her things, after the fact.  What a dear lady!  Her mother-in-law also quilted so I think she probably had her things augmented from the MI's estate.  It makes me wonder what will happen to my things when I leave this Earth.  If anyone hauls it to the dumpster, I WILL come back and haunt you.

I had not even put away the things I got at the retreat till this morning.  I've got all the fabric put away and the large decorative container cleared out.  I filled it right up again though!   There were enough books, especially with the "new to me additions" of the last two weekends, that were either piled on or under the coffee table to contain them there.  But first, a cleaning out of the old catalogues and cooking mags in the basket on the coffee table----serial cleaning!   Now the reading material/inspiration is nearby for evenings on the couch with the critters.

Other than that, the usual home chores keep me busy---like I have said, I am always washing something around here!  The critters better keep out of my way or they are next, LOL.  If  not that, then errands or walking.  The female dog up the road is in heat and I cannot keep Oscar from wanting to take extra walks lately.  Plus there are a couple other dogs sniffing around too.  Oscar and I have to give them a wide berth.  He is driving me nuts though---put him out and he wants right back in, gets back in and he is whining to go back out upping the lane trips to 5 and 6 times rather than 3 or so.

 I posted some pictures of them on Facebook the other day but here's another view.  Try to get a cat to look at the camera when they are only interested on going up high.


Oscar, meantime, has taken to digging to China again.  I caught him whining and poking his nose through the fence as though he had seen varmits under the shed. He did not even try to disguise that he had been tearing out the grass.  The ground is softer from the three days of rain earlier in the week so he is going to town on making a muddy mess.  The kitchen floor needs mopping badly but it is going to wait till this front has moved through.  



I have thought for three days that I would be getting started on the newsletter but I am still waiting for submissions.  Frankly, I got busy with other things.  Once I come back from walkie #4 I will consider getting started on it since I normally have it out by the first day of the month.  One more after this and I am finally done with this job and the guild gets someone else to do it for a two year term.  Not going to be me is all I know.

And sew it goes, sometimes, LOL------------


3 comments:

  1. Oh, my goodness, but you sure keep busy! Halloween looks like fun at your house!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The strips and Strings book is one I have. That maybe where you saw it. I guess it is true, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! lol.

    ReplyDelete
  3. love your halloween row quilt! hope all is well with you :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by. If you comment will require a reply back, please include your email addy. Unless I am involved in a blog hop, my posts will be moderated and your comment will not appear until I am notified. THX for understanding--this option beats word verification!